Sublurbia

worth the effort

2006-10-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody, long time no write. I've been busy. A friend of mine got married last week end, and It took all of us to pull it off. It was great and well worth the effort. It was like a good ol' fashioned barn raising. Without the black hats and zipperless shirts and dressses. I really give the Amish a lot of credit. Continuing their traditions in this society that is so hell bent on violence and media explotation and corruption at every level. They're trying to promote a sense of community and self fortitiude. Do they need three Walmarts in a 2 mile radius? I don't think so. They can make their own clothes and grow their own food. If there ever comes a time when our country stops functioning, for what ever reason, the Amish will be ok, because they can do for themselves and have not become lazy and complacent, like the rest of us. When I was young and visited Pennsylvainia, I saw the Amish for the first time and really felt akin to them. But I have always felt close the the earth and nature. And that's what I like about the Amish their connection with nature and husbandry of the land. I realize I am writing this in the wake of the insane goings on of late, and I don't mean any disrespect in writing about them today. I started thinking of this the day before the wedding, which was last Saturday. It was a good thought. I felt pride in all we accomplished in getting the house ready for the reception and equating it to the barn raising. We pulled together and in doing, succeeded in our goal. That's what I think about when I think of the Amish, pulling together to accomplish something. That's one of the good things about being human, our connection to each other and the selfless acts we sometimes do.
I wish the Amish community all the strength and love during this time of saddness.

flickr for you

2006-09-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

I've signed up for yahoo flickr photos and have added a link, so I can put more photos there. Not sure if at the end of the month they will disapear that's not spelled right. Anyway, I like how it's displayed on flickr and if I had more money I'd sign up for it because I think it's cool. My website is not really happening because I don't know how to add and change things so flickr is ideal. Check it out.
So right now in anatomy class we're studying neurons. thy're the little nerve cells that transfer info to and from your brain. they are very cool. They resemble sea creatures. Mostly jelly fish. They have a cell body from which and long appendage reaches out to different parts of our body and ends some where like your muscle or your finger. there are different types of neurons depending on what they are used for. I think all of them have synapses at their ends tho. It really solidifies my belief that we came from the water. Did you know sound travels faster in water then through the air? Weird right, it should be the other way around. Just a quick hello today, I need to get back to the books. Anatomy is easier for me then chemistry. I do like them both, but my anatomy teacher is really good, so he makes it doable. Ta

wanting to pump you up.

2006-09-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

Electrical transformers at Hazeltine, Long Island NY

Had a good day at work today. Busy, yet organized. I like that.
My employer asked all of us employees to write about what a great day at work and at home would look like. They're are very possitive people, and want to have a possitive practice and a positive experience for their patients. I really like them alot. They're just "good people". And I enjoy going to work.
For me a great day at work would be a busy but controlled day, with pateints who have gotten better and have benefitted from what I do with them, as well as the Doc. Having alot of laughs and some good snacks.
A great day at home would getting up late, eating waffles with fresh blueberries and real maple syrup. Strong coffee and rainy day. Or jsut overcast, so we could take a hike with the dogs, come back and get more coffee, make a yummy dinner and have friends over to play scrabble or cards. Dessert would be nice too!
I got a call from an orthopedic specialist who wanted me to come in for an interview for a billing position, she even was going to work around my school schedule, but after working today I decided I really like what I do and the people I work with and for. So I'm hoping for the best for all our sakes. Phone. Gosh I shouldn't even bother answering the phone anymore it's always telemarketers. How long has that word been in existance?
So even tho I'm really not making my bills I'm gonna stick it out doing the physical therapy. Send me all your good thoughts for prosperity and health and I'll do the same.

tv is a test

2006-09-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

So I did pretty well on my anatomy and physiology exam. 89 on the lecture but only an 82 on the lab. I made mistakes by erasing correct answers and putting the wrong ones. I hate that. And I know teachers always say don't erase your answers unless you're 100% sure. If you're ify about an answer, leave it. Well, I didn't follow that basic rule, and I lost a few points because of it. And the tissue samples from the library didn't quite match the samples from our lab so, it was hard to determine my transitional epithial tissue from my striated cubodial tissue. I did better then I thought I would so that's something. There was quite a variance in grades throughout the class. From 40's to high 90's.
I would love an A in this class. It's up to me I know, but "Lost and "The Office" will be on soon and I'm so addicted to those shows. And I'm sorry to say "24". It's just so action packed, I can't gelp myself.
Ok, now that you all know I watch TV and I'm not the super intellect you all thought I was, really lets me off the hook. I can stop pretending I don't care about pop culture and who the skinniest star is. Lara Flynn Boyle and Nicloe Richie are tied for first, I believe. They're both up for the role for the remake of "The flying nun" because they ACTUALLY can fly with that silly white hat. Sally Field was unavailable for comment.
So to kick off the fall season here's my picks for best shows;
Sunday, no brainer, Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad I'm one of the weird women who do not watch Desperate Housewives tho I would like to I just forget about it, we usually play cards or scrabble on Sundays and tape the cartoons and watch them later. It's lofi Tivo.
Why are so many shows centered around males? Three and a half men, that show with Jim Belushi, The ,War at home, I know there's more but I'm drawing a blank. Of course there are women in there but they're secondary characters, and way better looking then the guys. It's annoying, especailly since there are more women then men, in this country anyway. Sorry, tangent.
Monday; 24
Tuesday; I don't know, hubby like Scrubs, I can take it or leave it
Wednesday; LOST yeah
Thursday; The office and ER can be good
Friday; no clue, we go out, mostly
Sat; SNL { this is another one we tape because there are soooo many ads}
Does this make me a loser? I'm just tired of pretending I don't watch TV, when I do. So there.

credit please

2006-09-10T12:53:00.000-07:00

Lance at La Boutique

Ok this might sound really lame but yesterday I went to the Salvation Army to fine a better keyboard then the one I have and I was very excited because I had a credit, so I could spend w/out guilt. So we drive downtown which was packed because of an antique car show which is fine, parking wasn't bad. We go to Sallys, find some tools, a small, Coach, leather bag and a ergonomic keyboard that actually works. I'm very psyched, because today at Sallys its 50% off day. Which I just lucked into. So we get on the long line and begin to practice our patience because there is only one gal at the registar. Fine, no problem. But shes very frazzled because of the amount of people in the store,etc. still fine. It gets to be our turn and I get out my credit slip, which isn't a slip but an 8 by 11.5 peice of paper. I help the gal with the prices, arrange them in an easy readable order, with the credit out on the counter with my treasures.
"$5.75 total" she says, I say "great" I have a credit. She didn't like that and began with "oh no you didn't" and "you can't use credits on sale days". I was understandable upset but complied and gave her money, picked up the stuff and walked out. I got half way down the block and decided that wasn't fair, money is money, no matter what form, so I went back. I found the manager and told him what the cashier had said about "sale days" and he said that was not true and to tell her Cliff said it was ok. So I go back to the front of an even longer line then before, and she's mad at me. I'm not mad at her I just want to use my credit. She acknowledges me and decides she needs the manager. He comes over and after hearing the story again tells me " we don't give cash back, just store credit"
Um, that was about it for me and my niceness. I said "I just gave her money and I don't want credit for my credit."
Seeing I'm really in the right, he begrudgingly gave me my money back but as he was doing it, asked me if I had "shown the gal my credit" before being rung up. "No" I said, "but it was laying out on the counter clear as day". He said "you have to tell the cashier before being rung up to get your credit."
Ok now I've forgotten about nice and am down right pissed. I don't think a customer should be chastised for shopping in your store. And if the store has such rigid regulations about HOW to shop there they should be listed on the door when you walk in, or explained in detail by an employee prior to purchase. And it should be written on the creidt slip especially.
Am I wrong people? Now, I am not the most patient person in the world, but I know incompatence when I see it. And normally I would have let it go, and just paid the 5 bucks and used my credit anohter day, but since my boss retired, my pay is half of what it was, so 5 bucks IS a lot of money. Sad but true.
Hope you've enjoyed my daily rant.

cat obstruction

2006-09-08T12:55:00.000-07:00

The Martian drinking water from a cup in the sink

I'm very glad it's Friday. My hands are killing me from lots of "manual therapy" aka massage. Actually this keyboard doesn't help matters any, and the fact that Martain the cat is hogging up the the desk. There was a great "Rhymes with orange" cartoon in funny times a self portrait I'm guessing of a woman, probably Hilary Price at her desk working and in the first cell it shows her holding the cat out from her table ready to drop him on the floor and the next cell her hands are empty but still out stretched and the cat is already on her desk. Thats preety much the daily desk struggle at my house, the cat needs to be next to me, on my lap or in front of the monitor. He's very persistant, he's 14, he can do what he wants. I has been helping me with my typing because I can not see the keys so I have to rely on my typing talents. Which is limited. Also,
I have a sticky keyboard and I really sucks for typing and since thats it's main function i'd say it's not really functioning, I'd say it's time to upgrade.
To the salvation army I go, oh no you didn't.

the sandmans a thief

2006-09-07T12:42:00.000-07:00

Sara's paws from under the dresser

Ya know how when your almost asleep and really good things come into your head and your like oh man I gonna write about that tomorrow and then whne you wake up its gone. That has happened to me like three times in a row. Im thinking some real good things and then I drift off and its gone never to be thought of again. I really dislike that. So thats why this is very boring because all my good thoughts get gobbled up in sleepy time. I'll do the write it down thing. Sure.

Italian goods

2006-09-06T19:14:00.000-07:00

Delicous cookies

If you ever get to Bradley Beach, NJ, you must go to Del Pontes. Very good cookies and rolls and canoles. Don't think of the calories just think of the YUM. Thanks Louise.

to tired to rant

2006-09-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

Altamont Ny, or close to there

So since class has started and I have began my new job, I feel a bit less outraged and irate. Maybe because i've been too busy to focus my anger correctly. Instead of throwing daggers at Washington and the criminals that are running this counrty into the ground, I'm not using my direction to turn or deliberetly not saying that you the starbucks barrista. What a jackass. I need my time to be irate and vent. Otherwise the community suffers my wrath undoley.

I'll go turn on NPR right now and find something that I cant believe is happening in this century and get my ire up. Or I could just eat some Ben and Jerrys and ust say the hell with it all.

chemystery

2006-08-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

Altamont, Ny Bozenkill creek slate (kill means creek in Dutch)

So I'm taking chemistry this semester tho I like to call it chemystery, because it's a freakin mystery as to what my teacher is talking about. Theres a whole new set of standards that are going on. Why is the U S not doing metric? Thats a mystery to me. Seems like its way more effecient and user friendly then the inch. What is that based on, the inch? Some Kings thumb, nice. Very scientific. So we use grams and liters and kelvin and they all ned to coexist with each other so we need to know how they convert to each other. This is causing me such agada, and making me feel defeated.

We had a test last night and I was stumped by simple conversions. Going from kg to pounds when I only know how many grams in a pound, really throws me off. I look on line. Thats how I got thru bio. Internet, in particular, wikipedia. That is a great site. Let's see if it can get my head around specific gravity.

Gotta go terminate.

its in the air

2006-08-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

Cicada exoskeleton on a succulent

My hunny has set me up with my own computer so I dont have to use his. His sits atop his very messy desk which sends me in to a tyrade. so he was wanting me to get my own set up as well. He spent a long time setting it up and then took my files from his laptop to my tower. He sis this while we painted the house because the computers talked to each other info.Through the air!
He's a smart one he is. It's nice the computers get along. I know how hard it is to live with some one. Especially if they're similar to you.
It's that mirror, reflective thing going on. Things that you get mad at your partner for, you are totally guilty of doing yourself. It's funny how that works like that. Karma is like that too. i find it comes back in record time. Say I get mad at someone for doing something that I think is dumb, or is curious to me, karma will vome along and show me why they did that dumb thing or I will do the dumb thing and then the light goes on. And I say thank you karma for bringing me back to reality. Karma for President.

smelly dogs

2006-08-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

There is this skunk that is determined to make my house its domain. It is doing this by spraying my house for the past 4 nights. Not only does this Pepe le Pew want my house to smell like him but it wants my dogs to smell like him as well. The dogs have been skunk sprayed, washed, kept in the back room, then skunk sprayed again. We havent washed them yet, so the back room stinks !!. What does this skunk want from me? I already have to keep my windows closed in the middle of the summer. And the cross ventilation Dent lives for, has had to be put on hold because it draws in the putrid oily skunkyness from outside. I dont think this is an ordinary skunk. I think its working for the 'R's' who are trying to make me crazy and looney and disoriented so I vote for Jon Kyl. It will take a more powerful odor then Pepe to make me vote for Kyl.
PS, I keep changing my template because the titles are not coming out in the bubble template and I like my titles.

real good packer

2006-08-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

SF Peaks in Flagstaff as seen from Sunset Crater an old cinder cone.

I was thinking about things that I do well. Things I have done for many, many years. Things I would consider my strong points. And I was hard pressed to find any. Which got me to thinking about my life, and what if anything I've accomplished. And the one thing I keep coming back to is, I am a real good packer. I can pack and ship breakables like you wouldn't believe. I still have the same stereo from 9th grade, and it's gone from LI to Purchase NY to SF to AZ. It made a 4 year stop on the top of my friend Cathys closet when I went to Asia and ended up in Brooklyn for 4 years. That sucker still works. I have glasses and cups that have been with me since highschool. Fragile little do dads that have crossed the country with me 3 or four times. I can pack.
This came about because I 've move so much. I've moved every seven or so years since I was seven. From Queens to East Northport to Northport to Purchase to Mount Vernon back to Purcahse to San Francisco to Brooklyn back to SF and now I'm here in Prescott AZ. And I am thinking of moving yet again. My poor mothers phone book is a sea of black scribbles where my name is.
Maybe this is because I never satisfied, like my mom constantly told me. Or maybe my parents set the seed by moving every 7 years when I was growing up so it seemed normal. Or maybe I'm looking for something that doesn't exist. My fear is that I am never allowing myself to settle. Never considering anywhere my home. The perpetual outsider. I don't want to be that. I want to call someplace home and have it mean longer then a few years. Maybe that takes a kind of commitment I just don't have. What ever the reason it's enabled me to have the confidence to ship my frosted mermaid glasses with out cause for worry. I guess that's something.

prettify

2006-08-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

This weekend all I did was paint. I can't take our light blue house anymore so I bought some paint at the hardware store that was very close to the color I wanted for the trim. It was a goof so it was 4 bucks and I also got paint from a salvage yard and had it tinted by the hardware store. It was there brand so they would do that for a small fee. See Dent and I are not supposed to be spending money cause we have alot of bills to pay and to many unfinished projects. So we need to work with what we got and not start anything new. Except for painting the windows and the house. I'm doing that because it's all I can do pretty much. I can clean too, but I'm so sick of cleaning. So I have 3 windows to prep and paint then I can work on the light blue house. You wouldn't think 170,000 would get you a fixer upper. But it does, in this town anyway. This towns average income is 28,000 yet the cheapest home is 250,000. You can get cheaper homes if you want a 1950's prefab, but they do not appreciate so... We got a handy mans special, and Dent is a handy man, but lacks time. And I can only make things look pretty. I should have a picture to corrospond with this important info but I don't.
Once my computer is set up at home I will have access to the camera and can down load all my photos and have then at the ready. So your just gonna have to take my word for it, that I can make things look pretty. Until that time I'll put in just a ground shot.

invisible friends

2006-08-18T08:55:00.000-07:00

Me in the egg car that takes you to the top of the St.Louis Arch

I've discovered something.
I become the most elegant thinker when I am involoved in the most mundane of tasks.
As I folded the laundry yesterday, I realized that I was reliving my week at my new job. Things I said, things I wish I said differently. And all the while I was beating myself up about how I handled the situation. Chastising myself for doing a bad job. I noticed that I was looking for justificationfor my own being. Telling myself I was okay to be alive and I'd do better next time. That's kinda sad. Does eveyone look at themselves in this way? Constantly having to reassure yourself that you're aloud to BE. I wonder?
Where does this kind of internal dialogue stem from? I feel that I've evolved and have accepted my past. Have forgiven myself and others for the negative influence that bombarded me as a wee lass.
So whose in there trying to set me off kilter? What is this penetrating devil voice going to gain by trying to undermine me? You don't want to kill your host. That wouldn't make sense. You'd want your host to be healthy and sane, so it keeps you and nourishes you for as long as you live, right?
Unless this voice thinks it's helping. Like your mother who thinks she's helping by telling you your hair looked better that otherway you used to have it. Or helping you by suggesting another color would look better with those pants. Or that your voice is very annoying and why do you chose to dress like an old jewish man? Oh that last one was my father.
See Freud, fathers have just as much chance to completely screw up thier kids as mothers do. I guess I'm not as evolved as i'd like to think I am.So it's probably good that I have someone to remind me on a daliy basis that I may still have some issues in regard to my past.

It's like having my own personal assistant that I don't have to pay, but which is blatantly honest and never goes home.

irate

2006-08-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in St.Louis

My new job will not allow me the freedom to write while at work. For the last year and a half I had one of those jobs where I could get work done that wasn't the work I was being paid to do. Never had a job like that before. I've known tons of people who have. But this was my first. And since it's ending and my new job is rehabilitation therapy I'm not at a computer for 8 hours, so I won't be able to prattle on about my life on my bosses time.

Here's what I'm thinking about today.

For the most part I am irate 75% of most days. I listen to NPR at home and stuck listening to “lite rock” at work. Why they play the same songs over and over and over and over and over again I can not understand. Does the radio station own the rights to these mostly old, extremely overplayed songs? I don’t need to hear “Cats in the Cradle” ever again, I’m good.
And what’s with “Elton John” and “Hall and Oats”? They’re played constantly. Irate.
They penetrate my sub consciousness and reveal themselves about 10:30 pm when I’m trying to sleep.
I try to block it out but somehow Huey Lewis ends up singing in my head at odd times. My imagination is active enough; it doesn’t need 80’s pop songs clogging the flow up there. Very irate.
Being irate is not something I strive for it just happens naturally. There's just so much to be irate about. It keeps my heart pumping, and disbelief exaserbated.
Oh my God, Eric Clapton.
If my 16 year old self saw me now it would make so much fun of me. Having to spend 8 hours a day surrounded by “soft rock” what’s worse is I sometimes find myself singing along. "ooh I wanna dance with somebody, I want feel the heat with somebody"
Joey Ramone is rolling in his grave.

in my skivies

2006-08-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

Sunset Crater Flagstaff AZ

I've started a new job in another chiroprators office, but instead of doing office work and insurance billing I am doing rehabilitation. Stretching, light massage and excersize. It's alot more energetic. I'm not behind a computer all day and I am not sitting all day. That's a big plus. The other perk is that it's walking distance from my house and on days that I don't have school I can use my legs to get there instead of my car. Yesterday was my second day and I walked. But I had to return something first and get a cup of coffee. Everything here is in a mini mall type of situation, so next to the KMart is the Safeway which is next to the 99 Cent store {curious theres no symbol for cent} anyway you get what I mean. It's like Jericho Turnpike on Long Island. So I returned my stuff and went into the Safeway to the Starbucks, I have nothing against Starbucks, there coffee is consistently good and strong they treat their employees well{ I get this info from some freinds who work there} and they always have grinds I can take for my garden. So I got my coffee and I'm ready to walk back up the hill to my new job and I look outside and it's raining buckets. Serious sidways rain, puddles, lightning, wind. It's monsoon season here and rain can come and go, threaten, imply, and toy. So I didn't think to take an umbrella, cause the sky wasn't threatening. I ended up walking in the rain, getting to work wet and having to put on an examination gown while my clothes spun in the dryer. Luckily my employers and coworkers thought this was funny and I have to say I kind of did as well.

foggy and misty

2006-08-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

So I've been dreaming of San Francisco for 3 years now, ever since I moved here from the place I still call home. In total, I lived there for 9 years, tho at two different times. I had just moved there for the Oct 89 quake, then moved away and moved back in time for the dot com bust. That was a glorious time. Arrogant, young guys parking there beemers on the side walk or in the middle of the street beacuse they could afford the ticket. The city was filled to capacity and parking my bug got to be hard. Then as fast as it came it crashed and burned and these once rich kids all high tailed it outta there. And the city was itself again.

I had moved there this second time around with a boyfriend. The relationship quickly ended and I took up with some dancing girls called the Devilettes. It was/is an all woman synchronized dance troupe. God was it fun. We would open for bands and do a halftime show, or we'd promote shows to get money so we could go to Las Vegas to dance at music conventions.

It was an exceptional time in my life. So much creativity and excersize. I'm lucky now if I get to hike once a week. It's tough moving from a city to the suburbs. I love the nature aspect but the constant driving and implemantion of franchaises and chains that seem to dominate the landscape make me long for some good pho.

When I dream about SF, it usually involves the sea. This is the first time I've been away from the sea and it's EXTREMELY hard. I want to hear fog horns and seaguls. I want to gather shells and rocks and watch the seals. I guess I should be grateful I got to live there at all. Which I am.
But my dreaming brain has a mind of it's own.

Customer 101

2006-08-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

I think I'm gonna write a book called "Customer 101" because there are people who don't know what it means to be a good customer and if there was a guide book that explained things like "line etiquette", or the correct percentage to tip your wait staff and hair stylist then there would be no excuse for bad customer behavoir. And if you happen to run into an uneducated customer you could say " have I got a book for you."

What sparked this recent tirade? Ross dress for less. I happen to be shopping there for something I probably didn't need and as I waited on the expanding line another registar opened up. Now in my world when a registar opens up the next person on the line goes, not the one who gets there first. Apparently the kid behind me wasn't aware of the "first in line rule". Thankfully for him, I was behind him and set him straight on line etiquette. He can now go into any store, get on line and have the confidence to wait his turn.

He was about 18 and if no one stuck thier neck out he'd be cutting in front of people for the rest of his life. It had to be done, and tho at the time he was not to keen on being read the riot act, I know deep down he was glad to know the important things in life. And that now he can shop with his girlfriend and not embarrass her.

summer skin

2006-08-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

The days have been overcast and drippy and it's fooling me that fall is on its way. And it is. Which I don't mind really. In fact I love fall. We do have trees here, especially in the older neighborhoods. We have a huge maple tree in our front yard, which I can't wait to see turn red. The cool weather is such a releif from the scorching sun and the fear of fire at every turn. Altho the fire danger is still "High" and with the monsoon lighting, can be very dangerous, especially if the rain doesn't make it to the ground (verga; rain that evaporates before hitting the ground) we get that alot. So fall and winter are look upon with great joy and jubilation for the fear of dying in a firey blaze is put off for another season.

It's a different life living with the threat of fire and drought. I was use to the threat of earthquakes and skyrocketing rents. Now its just burning alive, skin cancer and gung ho Bush lovers. I think my chances were better with the earthquakes.

what the crow said

2006-08-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

This is a video made by Pat of his familys trip to Seattle and Vancouver.
Very good. Check it out. That Declan is so happy and extroverted.
He's a showman is what he is.

mms://wmd31sea.activate.net/sandp/windows/pb-seattletrip.wmv

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone. Very much appreciate it. This and the occational photograph is about as creative as it gets for me these days. Unless drawing amoebas is considered creative.

Trying to talk to republicans is hard, their answer to everything is to stop whinning and do something about it, but isn't that what voting is supposed to be about.
I was saying that the minimum wage is a joke and that it needs to be changed and this "R" said that they should do away with it all together. And I said, but there needs to be some standards or people will be working for 2 bucks an hour. That's when I got the " well get up and do something about it". If we make 2 bucks an hour we will always be working and have no time to "do something about it". Besides, isn't that what the unions were all about. Fair wage and working conditions. We'd still have kids working if people didn't demand unions. And yes I know they can be corrupt, but nothings perfect.

I'm trying to '"do something about it" and get my degree, but I need to work, so my availability is limited and I dont get aid, so the plan and the actualization of the plan are not the same. If I could just go to school that would be great, but who can do that. We need two incomes, so school gets pushed down the ladder.

This R, is not rich or a prima donna, she's not even a bad person, she's just a bit short sighted and very black and white.
I wish I could do something about that.

the 42 year old student

2006-08-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

So I'm off pounding the pavement for work. When I got home from NY my employer told me he was retiring on Aug 24. Yikes!! It toook me around 10 months to get this job. With the herniation of my back I needed a desk job and I didn't have experience doing that so it took forever.
Since he lowered the boom, I've been on 5 interviews, three of them with the same comapany. They like me and want to hire me but I have school issues. I set my school around my Doc's schedule and thats not working for the 8-5 ers, and the night class is now full. Not that I want to have 2 night classes, I'm taking chemistry tues and thurs 6-9pm, so a day class is nice. i may just have to drop that day class. Which will set me back a whole year so I really am opposed to that. It's way harder being an older student with dogs and cats and plants and a home. I can see the benefit of pursument(Is that a word) but man is it daunting. and exhausting.
well see.

The thing tho, that has been bugging me, is the questions I'm asked during the interviews. Questions like what are my weaknessess and strengths, how would I describe myself, how would others describe me, what motivates me to do a good job, whats my ideal job. No job.I didn't say that but I was thinking it. Is there anyway to answer those questions without sounding egotistcal or kiss ass ee? I do not want to be at the mercy of employers. Which until I graduate and get licenced I guess I am. Whats the power ball up to?

At least the cicads have emerged from their holes and are filling the trees with their deafening song.
love you all

more then you wanna know

2006-08-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

My story
Spicy food gives me the hiccups. Hi, I’m Christine, and this is where I am so far.
I’m well schooled, and yet still have no career.

I moved myself to AZ, after living in San Francisco for about 9 years. I am originally from Long Island, New York. Both my parents stem from Brooklyn/Queens and have the accent to prove it. My dad comes from Italian Immigrant parents who were lacking in finances but overflowed with lotsa love and meatballs and sauce. My mom, on the other hand, comes from Irish/German heritage and though they had jobs, they really lacked in the love dept. My mom, as the only girl, pretty much did the job of the mom because her own mother was not quite up to speed. She managed to have 4 kids even though she didn’t know how to care for them once they arrived. My dads family was tight. There were3 girls and 2 boys, and the girls ruled the house, even though in the Italian culture the men have the last say, Grandpa knew what side his garlic bread was buttered. The boys were the traitors in the family, marring out of their heritage, even though my mom can make an awesome pasta e fagoli, I’m sure in the beginning there was some tension. We ended up sticking to the Italian side of the family, not that it’s the better side, just that it’s the more welcoming side.
Most things in our house got decided by the “back of the hand” method, a tradition past down through the ages, only to be ended with my sisters and I who didn’t find the need for it. Well, maybe my sister Lorraine found some use for it, when yelling at the top of your lungs proved futile.
I try to think of the important times, this is a condition that comes with age. Remembering only the happy times is an affliction that seems to metastasize once you hit 40. Since I am 42 my memory can only confirm incidents that happened if no one was being hit and screaming, crying and wall punching, was not involved. Because when I think back about my past, the things that stand out in my mind are huge Christmas dinners, where you begin dinner at 3:30 pm and don’t stop till my dad is so full he’s sleeping under the table, or down in the garage sawing off his back cast that become too tight for him to breathe. Ah good times.
My Aunts and my mom would sit near the kitchen just in case the sauce caddy went empty, or we ran out of meat. Their aprons would remain on the entire night because their job, feeding us, would not end until we actually left the house. During rounds of food the women would be frantically scooping new entrees onto plates, washing up so the new course would have some where to go and wrapping the leftovers in foil for later. Although the leftovers were usually unwrapped and eaten, right after we gorged ourselves on black coffee(espresso) and pasties. It’s amazing how much we can eat because were not big people. My grandma and grandpa were only 5’2” tall or around there. On their 50th Wedding Anniversary, I was 12, they were about as tall as I was. And I’m only 5’1” at this very moment. So short and hardy would be a good description of my family.
These Christmas memories are among my fondest, under the family memory category anyway.
The best and worst times of my life were from about 16-25.
(God, they play way too much Elton John)
But since I can only remember good things, that’s what I’ll write about. I have the best friends in the world, I met them when I was in 10th grade, and I still know them to this day.
That’s 25 years folks, God we’re getting on in years.
I met them in Doris Roe’s art class, I didn’t have art that semester, but my old junior high school friend, Lousie did. I noticed her one day in there after school and quickly ended up spending most of my time there. I had to change schools in 9th grade because we moved, so I had lost touch with the kids I knew, and didn’t have too much luck making new ones, especially in 9th grade and being from a rival school.
Louise, Kim, Danielle, Pat, Lance, Jim and Charlie would turn out to be among the most awesome people I have ever met and my saving grace. This group expanded as time went on to included Ron and Jon,Adriane, Dina, Howie and Ray. Ron ends up marring Danielle and Jon ends up disowning me, but there’s so much before that.
We all were kinda in the same boat, a little too much creativity and not enough parental involvement. Most had divorced parents, or soon to be divorced parents, or parents that should have been divorced. So we had a common bond, insecure and turbulent home lives, which we masked with a lot of under age drinking and punk rock music. I was in High school from 1979-82, and being in the suburbs that was about the time punk rock hit our streets. Most kids at that time were listening to Led Zepplin and classic rock, or else they were into southern rock , with a few metal heads thrown into the corners to balance it out. For some reason they all seemed to co exist with out too much ado, but when it came to us, the punk rockers, the earth was off its axis and sent these kids into a tissy,and as far as they were concerned we were going to pay for liking the Ramones. Now we didn’t care too much about them, we had our sanctuary in Doris’s room which we claimed our own for the next 3 years. Doris would come back from lunch and find us in her room, which she thought she had locked, and indeed she had, to find us using the printing press to smush hamburgers flat as pancakes, all the pencils stuck to the ceiling tiles and every chair banished to the hallway. She loved us. She still talks about us as her favorite group of students. When we weren’t in school we spent most of our time between Kim’s house and Pat’s house. We went to Kim’s because she always had to babysit and Pat’s house because his mom was the most tolerant woman in the world. We hung out over Danielle, Jim and Charlie’s, but not nearly as much as Pat or Kim’s. We never hung out at my house because my parent’s were uptight. We had plastic on the good furniture for a loooong time. They did finally get over the plastic thing, which we all did rejoice.
So to make a long story a bit longer, we spent heaps of time together laughing so hard our sides would ache. One of our favorite pastimes was to put on the Brady Bunch albums we purchased from the Salvation Army, and reenact the dance moves while we lip sank?, sunk?. As if that wasn’t bad enough we video taped it just so we would never forget. We have lots of embarrassing things on tape. See, Pat is a film maker (he makes horror movies) so we always had as camera handy. Along with my FM2, our youth was very well documented.
We took a winter camping trip to Vermont and spent the whole time filming.
That’s how it was, we had fun were ever we went, what ever we did, we had the most fun. One time, it was me, Charlie, Pat, Lance and Ron, and we had no place to go for some reason and it was late, but we weren’t ready to go home. We went to Pat’s house which was being renovated. They were putting a 2nd level on it, and we ended up hanging out in an unfinished closet with a boom box and my FM2. Sounds boring right, but it wasn’t, it was so much fun, because we were bored together.
There are countless stories of the fun we’ve had. Perhaps later I’ll tell you more, like the one about garbage sculpture night or mic mac ma moe moe. Perhaps.