Merry Christmas!

I know I'm a day or two late, but the sentiment should be the same year-round, correct? Moo made it down for Christmas, which was wonderful, since he's moving to Spokane in two weeks, and I'm not sure how long it'll be before I get to see him again. MY Christmas gift came in the form of not getting anything terrifically wrong during the Christmas program, thank the good Lord. I also got the gift of illness, for the first time in three years, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't from God. Dorothy made me lovely little lime-green lace wristlets and I've been wearing them as I sit in front of the computer with my Thera-Flu and knitting, watching Eureka, a very entertaining show that Moo, Inc. is loaning me. Anyway, I hope that everyone else is doing well, and again, I wish you ALL a Merry Christmas!

Thankful

I'm thankful:

- that I have a job. Even if it drives me nuts, at least I'm employed.

- for the Community Health Center! Maybe getting my hours cut was a blessing in disguise.

- that I can knit. I don't know what I would be doing for Christmas presents this year otherwise! As it is, I'm not sure everything is going to get done in time and I can only stay up so late and still function in the morning!

- for friends and family. In my case, they start to blend a lot!

- that I have a place to live and very warm flannel sheets.

- that I have enough food to eat, and it's food I like. A lot.

- for enough self-control to usually get most of my bills paid before I go crazy with my money. Because when I don't have it, I get into plenty of trouble.

- that I have luxuries in my life like tea, books, expensive yarn and a computer that works.

- that I'm alive and able to walk, see, hear and speak without any help. It seems like a no-brainer until you think of how many people don't have that ability.

I thought perhaps it was time to just remind myself of how good I really do have it!

Medford Mail Tribune..... questionable intelligence

So, I just heard that our own, beloved Medford Mail Tribune wants to print a list of all of the people in the county who have a concealed carrier's permit. First thought in my head?

"Now there's a good reason to not get my concealed permit and just carry illegally."

I mean, honestly, what on earth are they thinking?? There is no reason at all that a list like that should be made public knowledge in such a blaring way. I'm sure they're going off the whole "public safety" angle based on the high school teacher case, but believe me, the people they need to be worried about carrying concealed aren't going to be on that list. I would go so far as to call this behavior harassment of people who have enough belief in our government and its policies to admit to carrying a handgun.

What are they hoping to accomplish? Do they want to shame (ha!) gun owners into changing their ways? Do they know where they are? This is Southern Oregon, and no amount of froufy vineyards or wonderful arts programs (I love Britt and OSF) is going to change the fact that the Rogue Valley is still populated by loggers, construction workers, hunters, rednecks and their children.

The Medford Mail Tribune, if they continue to pursue this, are stepping waaaaay out of line in their pursuit of "journalism." This isn't journalism; this is persecution.

Fog

I have ambivalent feelings about fog. It's cold and wet and repressive and very, very depressing sometimes, as those of you who live around here certainly know. But other times it's alive, mysterious and lovely. I especially like it when it's blowing in shreds around the trees or when I'm in the mountains and the fog is sitting in the valleys. This morning, though, I had one of the really good fog moments. I was driving in to work and the fog was burning off in one area and the sunrise was apparently coming over the mountain, because the fog I was driving through was rose-colored. Instead of being cold and oppressive, it was (from the interior of my car) warm and inviting. I think that even if I'd been outside, walking through the pear orchards, it would have seemed warmer. And it was lovely.

I got a new plant!

This one is special because it's staying with me at work, attempting to bring a breath of life into the windowless box that is my office. We also have an orchid that we have managed to not kill, although its sibling died tragically, and the survivor has yet to bloom again. In happier news, the Christmas cacti are beginning to bloom and a couple of plants got re-planted yesterday. Yay! And yeah, other than my hours at work getting cut, these are some of the more fascinating things going on in my life right now. Well, unless you count Chicago... and the mad rush to get presents made and cards figured out. This year's design is particularly challenging. Not sure what exactly I was thinking, but if I pull it off they're going to be fab! Katie suggested I emboss part of the image, but that would add, like, money and more time to the process, neither of which I currently possess! So, anyone else get a new houseplant lately? (Shout out to my girl, Mandy, for that idea we talked about and I'm attempting.)

Bored

Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored. I am bored. Work has slowed waaaaaaay down, a sure sign that I need to find a second position, so there isn't all that much for me to do. And I'm feeling antsy and bored anyway, so this is not a good combination. In weatherly news, it is drizzling and foggy.... which would be fabulous, except I'm not at home sitting on my couch wrapped up in a comforter with tea and a novel with music playing in the background. I don't even have windows in my office. So I'm watching Brotherhood 2.0 videos and blogging, with some paperwork thrown in here and there to spice things up. But I'm still bored.

What do you guys do when you get bored at work?

Ha!

I can't recommend the rest of the strips, but this one is great for the knitters in my audience! Particularly the knitters who also like physics. It's like scarves meet particle physics. And it looks like we haven't been sucked into a black hole yet, either! Also, I think some applause for Mandy is appropriate, as she has decided to attempt the NaBloPoMo 08. I will be looking forward to seeing where her novel takes her!

PS Except, it's not a novel. She's blogging every day for 30 days. And I'm a noodle brain.

I love the Rogue Valley...

So, we've had the most incredibly beautiful weather here for the last several weeks. Entertainingly enough for me, however, we natives can predict with wicked accuracy when it will be changing. I direct your attention here. Makes me kinda happy that I don't have small children to make all cute and take from door to door. It also make me even happier that I'm not going to dressing up in revealing clothing and dancing around the plaza in Ashland!!

Moments

I love moments, the good ones at least.  But even the bad ones stand out so clearly, so starkly against the everyday.  I just had a good one, listening to the Cast On podcast, Episode 67.  The podcaster, Brenda Dayne, was doing some work for the Smithsonian (I believe) and had stopped in a Welsh pub, where she met a group of older-than-us-or-our-parents gentlemen who burst into song during the course of the recording.

The main singer had a beautiful baritone voice and the rest of the men joined in, harmonizing, and here I was listening half a world away, sitting in an office stuffing envelopes, but seeing these people in my head breaking into song, for crying out loud, which totally proves that I'm Welsh.

I plan on having several more good moments this weekend, since Elm and I are headed to Ashland so she can buy herself some yarn and we can walk through the park looking at all the lovely trees as they turn.

The incident reminded me of the song "Moments" from Into the Woods:

Oh, if life were made of moments,
Even now and then a bad one-!
But if life were only moments,
Then you'd never know you had one.

Yarn Harlot

I love this lady! 

So, you've possibly by now heard the phrase "to kinnear" someone, meaning to surreptitiously snap a photo of them, usually used in reference to celebrities.  Well, she's the one who coined the term by attempting a photo of Greg Kinnear (of course!) and getting.... I can't remember, I think she did get part of him other than his leg.  Anyway, she has announced a charity drive for Doctors Without Borders (Medisomethings Sans Frontieres, since she's in Toronto, I believe) inspired by the success of a fellow knitter in convincing Mr. Kinnear to let her take a picture of him holding anon-the-needles sock! 

She explains it much better here.  It's nice to remember that the world is not all darkness and despair, even though it IS an election year.

Continuing with the knitting theme, the weather is here!  It is beautiful!  And cooling off!  But still sunny after our beautiful burst of rain!  Tonight is my knitting group at our local Starbucks (because we couldn't find a locally-owned coffee shop that stays open late enough) and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what people are making.  I myself have started a new little scarf in a variegated autumn-y alpaca.  We'll have to see if it gets finished before winter is totally here!

Autumn is here!

Yay, w00t and amen!!  The last week or so it's been in the 90s around here, although the leaves were starting to fall in places.  But today the wind started blowing and when I came home there were drifts of  pine needles in the driveway.  The weather site says a series of fronts is moving (are moving?) into the area and the clouds are definitely here.  I was thinking how much more fun it was before I started paying attention to things like warm and cold fronts and the weather changes were just these strange, inexplicable events that no one could predict!  Not that they always can nowadays, but you know what I mean!

Sacramento Special Meetings were this weekend and I went down with eleven other people in the church van.  It was definitely interesting!  Fortunately the smoke wasn't too horrendous before we hit the valley, so the drive was actually quite lovely.  I need to go visit Lassen.  Maybe later this month....

I got roped into playing some "fiddle" (quotation marks are to indicate my relative skill at that particular style) and by the end of the day, I didn't think I would be able to lift my arm for the last number!  I had a great time, got to see my family and friends, which is always wonderful, and connected with people I haven't gotten to see or know so well in the past.  And of course there was food, good food, and plenty of it!  Although I had plenty of stress leading up to the trip (my manager and permission slips.  Between the two I nearly ground my teeth to powder!) I must say that I'm glad I went.  The services were excellent and I must extend a huge THANK YOU to the lovely people who made it all possible!

Happy Autumn Equinox!!

I have to say, for my part I'm leaning towards blue body paint and bonfire dancing.  Okay, knitting and hot chocolate are probably what's going to happen, but a girl can dream, can't she?  Anyway, enjoy the day and the evening!

I miss the old Disney

I just watched High School Musical for the first time and I gotta say, I miss the old Disney.  Ya know, the one that wasn't constantly shoving feel good messages at you with every movie.  And the cast is so obviously ethnically politically correct that it's annoying.  But back to the feel good messages.  It just seems like Disney has gotten so saccharine sweet that their movies are nearly intolerable.  I mean, Disney has always been about escapism, but their movies and cartoons have gone to the point where I'd rather gag than cheer when the heroes win.  HSM itself isn't overly bad, I mean, it is a musical about a high school musical and Zac Efron likes to sing through his nose and the actress who plays Gabriela does that glottal stop thing that irritates me to death, but the tunes are catchy and there are some fun moments.  But I've noticed that even if bad things do happen in a Disney flick, like someone dies, now it feels overly contrived, whereas before it seemed like part of the story.

Perhaps this is what happens when I go from watching Buffy (admission: am partially in love with Angel, much to my dismay.  Curse you, brooding men!!!  Hope to be in love with Spike soon, because he's just so bad.) and Fast and the Furious to kids' movies.  .......  Or maybe not.  I don't remember the cartoons I grew up with constantly pushing a message at me, albeit usually positive message.   I wonder what Walt would say.  Especially at the ridiculous number of sequels that keep coming out.  Blegh!  I think I may need some Pitch Black or 10 Things I Hate About You to cleanse my palate.  Except I have to go, cause I'm about to be late for church!

*blip*

So before we get to the title, I just called this customer service line for some info I needed for work, and the guyI talked to had this fabulous British accent (not your BBC accent, either) and he called me "my love" twice and it was so charming!!  I know I'm supposed to be all offended that he was sexist and everything, but I'm totally not.  It may have repaired my day, in fact.  Also, I have started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Joss Whedon's version); I'll let you know what I think.

On to the title.  Apparently the end of the world has been put off another month or so, since right now the collider is only shooting particles in one direction, but yesterday as I was driving around I was thinking how strange it would be if the scientists did create a black hole (very highly improbable) and the planet (and, therefore, humanity) were sucked into it almost instantaneously.

*blip*

And we would never know.  Every one, every thing, just ... a black hole!  Just think, all of our wars, all of our pollution, reduced to the very atoms of the weapons and smog that form them.  In one way, it is beyond ridiculously depressing, but in another way.... it just kind of puts things into perspective, doesn't it?  All of our anger, our petty jealousies, hatred, racism, the Internet, things that exist solely because humanity exists, would simply *poof* into non-being.  And the elections would be over.  Hmmmm...... 

But for those of you who are wondering has the large hadron collider destroyed the world yet, click on the link, or come to your own conclusions!

Con-nec-ti-vi-ty

Remember?  The old Police song?  No?  Hmmm, perhaps I have the wrong word.  Anyway, just a quick note to let you all share in the joy, now that I have my Internet connection back.  Apparently my anti-virus software's firewall was blocking my access to the web and I didn't figure it out until last week.  But now I have, which means my music collection may grow a little more substantially than it ought!

Also, if anyone can even find me right now, you need to change any bookmarks or links to gringaenguadalajara.blogspot.com.  I tragically have not had my address purchased again for the year, so leaving out the "blogspot" portion of the address leads nowhere.  Bry, if you're reading this, drop me a line, baby, we need to talk! 

Anyway, hope you all had a lovely weekend.  I went to Klamath Falls with my mom and had a wonderful time hanging out and going to the Tulelake County Fair, which is all that a fair should be, instead of the ridiculous monstrosity that some have becomeJacksonCountyFairahem.  I also got the dates for this year's Mexican adventure to oh-so-friendly Tijuana with Uncle Jim's church, which I'm totally looking forward to, even if I'm not allowed to use handsaws anymore.  But the week stretches before us now, and so I will also hope that you all have a lovely week as we begin to ease into autumn.

Close Call

Well, so much for my accident-free discount on my car insurance. 

As I was turning from Foothill onto my street, this kid came up the hill behind me, going too fast and not paying attention, didn't see me stopped with my turn signal on, and swerved to the left to pass me since there's a concrete bridge abutment to the right.  Too bad he passed me just as I was turning. 

Actually, the damage to my car is really minimal, just some missing paint and slight body damage on the driver's fender.  It could have been so much worse, which I didn't even realize until I was talking to my dad about it.  If had started turning just a millisecond sooner, he would have t-boned me and probably killed me.  A very sobering thought, since I'm kind of attached to living and life and everything.  And a reminder of how much God watches over us.  And if I hadn't been turning, it would have been because there would have been a car coming, and he would have hit them head on.  So really, I got off easy.

After we did the info exchange and I called in the accident (stupid me, could have avoided the insurance up completely!), the guy went to get in his car.... and found he had locked his keys in the car.  And his cell phone.  So I gave him a ride to a friend's house.  After all, neither of us were dead and it was a beautiful day!

My Ex-Boyfriend's Family

So, how many of you kinda cringed or something when you read that?  Because, hee!!!  It is so much fun to fling that phrase around.  Seriously, the reactions I get from people are hilarious!  When Joel first broke up with me someone asked his parents something about still talking to me and their response was a rather incredulous "HE broke up with her, not us!!"  I'm having dinner over at their house tonight with my parents, and rumor has it (I accidentally made Mom tip her hand) that Dad made dessert.  And once I get my dictionary (and drop my violin off, which has been in the trunk since Sunday.  Doh!), there will be Scrabble.  This isn't all to say that there haven't been some awkward moments (specifically those involving the new-now-ex-girlfriend) but since I've been friends with that family for about eight or more years now, it does seem a little like chucking the baby out with the bath water for us to quit speaking to each other. 

Ohhhhhh yes, and, a quick reminder: Friends do not let friends clap between the movements of symphonies at a concert.  Just so you know.  Because at Britt this last weekend....  oh heavens.  And I got a drunken, bottle-blonde divorcee ghost-conducting while lying on her back for one concert!  Free entertainment!  She and her cohort left during intermission (before the best part of the concert, I would like to add), which is probably a good thing, because if she continued to clap between every movement, there could have been violence.  A noob is allowed two movements; clapping after the third marks you as an unmitigated boob.  And prolonged clapping when everyone else obviously isn't?  Inexcusable (for the second post in a row.  I rock!).  Anyway, I'm taking off, gonna get the Baby out of the trunk and into the house, grab the dictionary and go eat pizza.  With my ex-boyfriend's family.  Hee!

Signs that you probably aren't going to bond

At the staffing agency, we often received forwards from friends, family, whatever that were sent on to others in the office.  One day we were comparing favorite forwards and I showed my co-workers this, a clip that has always cracked me up to a ridiculous degree:

Really, the Numa Numa Guy has always embodied, for me, that certain quality, that je ne sais quoi, okay, the same thing that makes me dance in the car and makes faces out my windows at night.  And that makes me happy.

So, I showed this to my office mates and instead of gales of laughter (please, the eyebrow raise?  Ridiculously funny!) I got "some fat guy who was so nerdy he recorded himself dancing using his webcam?  Please!" 

.........

I should have known sooner, due to the post-luncheon "look at my new shoes!!" discussions and inability to keep necklines within six inches of collarbones, but I do believe it was at this point in our relationship that I really understood that we were never going to click.  At all.  Ever. 

To reduce the Numa Numa Guy to a nerdy fat guy was inexcusable.  Honestly, I think the Numa Numa Guy is probably way more interesting than certain of my co-workers.  By far.  To take what was obviously meant to be fun and jeer was inexcusable.  Numa Numa Guy, I think you rock.

PS  You know, I'm really not sure where this blog came from.....  I was trolling YouTube and for some reason decided to look him up and.... well, I remembered.  It's one of those things where the differing points of view can really signal a fundamental difference.  Not so much that they didn't like it, but how they criticized it.

The Only Living Boy In New York

Yeah, I know, I've already posted today. 

However....

Post title is also song title of a Simon & Garfunkel song and totally describes how I feel in this office!!!!  Seriously, am I the only person capable of answering a phone???  Even while doing something else, which, apparently, no one else can do?!?!?!?!? 

I should state very clearly that I do not include Becky in this rant.  She is very good about answering phones.  This rant comes from an entire week during which I multi-tasked and watched movies off YouTube while doing my work (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so I could avoid listening to the idiotic things my co-workers say (i.e. jokes about pre-choked chicken.  So classy.  And such lovely lawsuit potential if I were someone else.) while certain people  sat around playing solitaire, which is okay since, after all, the office girl is watching movies (while getting her work done), and hey!  Why should they have to answer phones while playing solitaire?

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!

*deep breathing exercises*

So, yes, dear readers, is it as I fear?  Am I the only living person left in this office?  Okay, yes, this is a tad irate and irrational.... and perhaps not entirely true, minus the solitaire part.  And the inability of other people to answer phones.  But still!  Makes me long for the days when my rants were about things like inappropriate behavior in the computer lab.

Lack of Connection

I have no Internet at home.  None.  My wireless router connects beautifully, clear signal and....... nothing.  Bry came over and spent a couple of hours twiggling toggles and searching through gibberish but the answer seems to be that there is something wrong with the wireless router and it's not getting the Internet to me.  My landlords' computer is working fine and I don't want to make them feel like they need to get a new router just for me, especially since I don't have to pay for access, and I don't have the spare change to go buy a new one right now.  All this to basically say, I know I haven't posted in a while, partly because the periods of air-gazing required for good posts makes me feel guilty when I do it at work and partly because there hasn't been all that much wildly exciting going on in my life lately. 

PCD (Post-Campmeeting Depression)

Okay, so maybe depression is a little strong, but there is certainly a letdown in coming home and leaving behind friends and family for another year, not to mention having to return to a distinctly different environment.  I think I'm having a little trouble adjusting to being alone all the time rather than constantly having people (the men I work with do not count, thank you very much) around.  A bunch of us had lunch together on Monday, as people were passing through, and that helped, and there's a BBQ in the works; as much as it is nice to have a moment to breathe, too many moments to breathe can result in excess thinking, which has plagued me most of my life.

Other than that, things are going well, if a little smokey.  The fires in Northern California are gently wafting their smoke up this-a-way and it's definitely disconcerting to be able to smell the trees burning!  The other night it was kinda cool, I have to admit, to see the orangey moon hanging in a completely starless sky.  I've been going straight home and taking naps (not a good sign) and I think I may be making good headway on the road to physical recovery from Camp.  I managed to get most of my unpacking done last night, and I may even be able to get in and start getting rid of stuff again.  Seriously, the apartment is way too small for all the stuff I think I must have.  What really needs emptied is the storage unit, so stuff can go there.  Anyway, that's enough for this boring update on my life, so I'll talk to everyone later!

But I want to GO!!!

*heavy, heavy sigh* 

I've been planning for months, months, people, to go to the Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene.  It is wonderful, with fabulous people, wonderful products, the best bookstore in the same city and a great drive.  I love Black Sheep.  Really, so much cool stuff it's not even funny, with a cool city to explore and everything.  And I have been planning on going for probably the last six months.  Up until about 9pm this evening, as a matter of fact, when my dad and I calculated how much it would cost me to go, not counting fiber purchases.

$60-70.

In gas alone.

Which isn't much until you realize that the next weekend I'm driving to Portland for a week, coming down for three days, and promptly heading back up for the last weekend of my church Campmeeting, during which time I will not be working and not earning money to pay bills.  And I only have about $600 to cover the gas for those trips (at least $160), my food costs (heaven only knows), bills for the latter half of the month (around $75 to $150, but did I mention Port Angeles, WA, at the end of July?), not to mention any incidentals (Portland has some sweet yarn stores.  And great restaurants.  And bakeries.  And other stores.  Like Powell's.).

So, as much as I desperately want to go, I am going to probably have to face up to the fact that.... I can't afford it.  It's my own fault for mismanaging my finances (therapy is expensive!  Who knew?!) and indulging my need for easy gratification (and this without growing up with television) and expensive food.

But, as my dad said, think how much more yarn I can buy with that money in Portland.

But there won't be Ravelers in Portland.  I mean, not in such concentrated doses.  But I can buy more yarn.  Stupid oil.  Stupid war.  Stupid people, for crying out loud.  As I have said before, why can't we all just get along????  And yes, I do know the answer to that, it was rhetorical.

Photographic Evidence

For the skeptics out there, I present:
Me With A Blackpowder Rifle
Me With My Dad (Note wonderfully dorky hat. Perfect sunshade and keeps people from getting in your face.) Me Getting Lectured On How To Not Break A Ramrod (Or Something Like That) (You can see where the targets are in the field immediately in front of the "fort.")
Me Shooting At Things On The Fort Shoot (Or being told where things are. Not quite sure which.)
Tonight I get to go Clean The Rifles. It'll be great, especially if I manage not to set fire to or explode anything.

Gah! I'm leaving for Campmeeting in a week and a half!

And I'm not even close to being ready!!! And I think I'm going to need to work some serious hours in the next two weeks to pay for everything. And I'm not packed!!!! I don't even have a list!!!!!!!!

Okay, deeeeep breaths, Mindy. Everything is going to be fine. Don't worry about it, packing is really never that bad. Except that this year half of my stuff is in storage. Gah!

No, no, it will be fine. I'm sure that less than two weeks of preparation for the concert won't result in your complete collapse during rehearsal. And the fact that you botched "Rodeo" the first time you played it years ago when you were in top form has no bearing on your ability to play it now, none at all.

Gah! I have to finish washing delicate clothing, unless I plan on doing it at Camp, but when will I have the time????? Black Sheep is this weekend.... AGH!

But do not despair, gentle reader, I am sure it will all come together and, unlike last year, I will not wind up on the brink of an utter meltdown. And really, I'm very lucky, I only have myself to pack for, thank goodness! Can you imagine if I had to pack for a husband and children?? Gah!

Mountain Man Knitting

World Wide Knit In Public Day was on Saturday an I am here to report my contribution!  I went up to the Little Butte Mountain Man Rendezvous in the lovely woods of southern Oregon to hang out with my dad for pre-Father's Day, and of course, I took my knitting along!  After all, what quasi-historical re-enactment would be complete with knitting?  I'll hopefully get some pictures, but at this point you're going to have to take my word for it.

I joined my dad, uncle and two cousins, older cousin, friend of my uncle, and a friend of my dad for the day and got to shoot a muzzleloader for the first time... and it was so much fun!!!  According to the men I work with, my coolness factor has gone up substantially since they found out I can shoot.  I sucked severely at the trail shoot (since holding up a muzzleloader is a lot harder than holder up a modern rifle) but redeemed myself on the fort shoot, where I had something to rest the barrel of the rifle on and my hand didn't start shaking after a few seconds.  I've always maintained that the ability to shoot is genetic, and events like this usually serve to confirm that, when my family takes awards in every category they enter!  I need to get Dad to let me start practicing so I can take the ladies category....

I met a lovely lady up there with a spinning wheel and we had a good long shop talk and she's going to send me a link to a roving merchant... or a merchant who sells roving.  Yeah.  Anyway, I'm thinking that it might be fun once I'm a little more proficient with the ol' wheel to take it along and get some spinning done.  That way, if we ever graduate to primitive camp (no anachronism allowed) I can knit with appropriate yarn!

Group A (not to be confused with Type A)

Andrew and I came up with a theory years ago to explain why there are some people we absolutely can never understand, like the preppies in school.  People who had no problem saying or doing whatever they felt was necessary to fit in, whether or not that person was their friend or that they were saying truly awful things.  Okay, there's a LOT more to it than that, and much less negative in some ways, but that description introduces/explains (partially) the following anecdote:

So, our insurance rep came in with his assistant one day; we'll call her Rachel.  Rachel looked really familiar and we discovered that we had been in one of our college Spanish classes together.  There was much bonding over the insanity of the professor and in the course of the conversation, Rachel gave me her email address and said that I should email her and we could get together/reminisce/whatever.  I admit that just as she was walking out I asked if she was a knitter because she really looked like someone I see on Ravelry a lot, but other than that, I was fairly normal.

A couple of weeks went by and I finally got around to emailing her only to hear.... nothing.   At all.  Not even a "hey."  After a week or so, I had to call her about something completely unrelated and when I mentioned that I hadn't meant to be so long emailing her, blah blah, she acted completely cold.  I mean, like I had somehow committed some social faux pas the size of a building.  And when she emailed the info I needed to me?  Not one word about the previous email and her message was incredibly stilted.

For several days I was actually a little upset about the whole thing, trying to figure out what I'd said or done wrong (see bit about knitting.  Some people get freaked out.  By the way, June 14th is World Wide Knit In Public Day.) until Nan-chan laid it out for me:  some people are socially superficial and in a social situation will pretend to be all manner of friendly but when you try to follow the natural progression of social interactions, will drop you like toast on fire.  Now, I've heard rumors about this kind of behavior, but apparently I hadn't really noticed when it happened before.  And for crying out loud, I didn't ask for her email address, she had offered it to me!!  Group A?  Paging Group A?

The reason this is being brought up now is that Rachel came in to the office again today, "just stopping by to see how things are going," and she was perfectly nice and made sure she said "hello" and "goodbye" to me.  Seriously, hel-lo?  "Didn't mean to cut you dead like that when I emailed you, you're just a freak, but hey!  Let's all be buddies and nicey-nice and oh!  Is that a new hair cut?  You look darling!"

PS  This isn't a plea for reassurance that I'm not a freak.  But I am wondering, have you guys had stuff like that happen??

For Heidi

Behold your castle, milady! I know I promised I'd have these up before now. I'm a dork. And it's really late for me to be doing this, but I just got home from visiting my friend Karen. No singing tonight, since my allergies have me sounding like a smoker, but we had a lot of fun with fiddle music. For once I accompanied her on the piano instead of vice versa!! Anyway, not that you care about that. So, yes, grass, apparently perfect for picnicking, has been placed outside your cabin door. As you can see in the second photo, there appears to be a basketball hoop in place as well. The downside I suspect is going to be keeping the rowdy youngsters from "playing" at all hours of the night. But that's what guards are for, right? And I am so planning on being a guard this year!! The grass (or rather, planned grass) stretches all along where the back fence used to be, in front of where the RVs are now. Okay, I must get to bad, bed, whatever. Campmeeting ahoy!!

Controlled Burning

......

Mmm.

Mmmmhmmmmrph.

Eh heh heh. Heh.

Hee hee.

Tee HEE hee!

Ah ha ha HA HA HA!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!! EH HA HA HA HA!!!!!! EH CACKLE CACKLE HAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH HA HA!!!

Ah HA HA!

HA ha ha ha... hee heh hee.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh......

*wipes eyes*

Oh. Oh dear. That's the best one I've heard in aaaages.

Not that I don't think it's a better idea than letting the sylvan detritus build up and then torch in massive firestorms. But really. Controlled burning?? When I can watch the same burn zone go up two days out of five with the same sort of smoke that I see in the summer with forest fires?

Eh heh heh heh!!!

Picture Time!

Yay for pictures!!! I figured that my lack of pictures lately should be rectified by a sudden blast of pictures. Don't worry, I do have others, including one with me in the Harry Potter-esque glasses I wore up until I got my sexy librarian glasses. Why did no one tell me how dorky I looked??

Behold the amaryllis. My college graduation present from my grandma, which didn't bloom last year, but this year put on a beautiful, albeit brief display:


And the mighty sundew, catcher of small gnats and fascinating science:


A new haircut and the realization that I have my father's eyebrows and chin, as does my brother, my maternal grandmother's mouth and I'm not quite sure where the nose and eyes came from:
And now, a lovely purple bloom from Ashland. I believe this is called a tulip tree and if I ever grow up I want to have one in my yard:They have similar trees in front of the old library and I always loved them. I wish I had pictures of the cherry (?) trees that are blooming right now. They look like they have puffballs dripping off the branches.

Paradise

... is Southern Oregon in the springtime.  Not warm, balmy, tropical paradise, but beautiful light, windswept clouds and lush, opening green paradise.  I wish I had some good pictures to share with you, but I never manage to really capture the light correctly, and with the way it's been slipping through the snow/rain clouds (no, that isn't a typo) and hitting the Table Rocks it would be a crime to get a bad picture of it.

We have an addition to the Tower household!  Last weekend was the Master Gardener's Fair and in lieu of outside plants (more news on that later), I purchased a small cactus and a succulent, which I may have to name, The Succubus.  I mean, Ophelia, succubus.... now I just need a pet bat.  Anyway, so, the landowners gussied up the landscaping this weekend as well and it looks really (really, really) nice, and the landlord told me that he is going to build a little planter-type thingy under the shade tree on the way to my abode, and that I get to plant things there!  I'm thinking some impatiens, maybe some lobelia or hostas.... I will get to re-explore the world of shade plants.

Speaking of additions, Florin and Jill have welcomed their daughter, Olivia Rose, into the world!  She was born Thursday the 24th and was 14" long, 8lb 1oz.  Congratulations, Flo and Jill!!

Testing. Testing. One, two, three.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present.... RSS feeds!  I'm testing out the Windows Live Writer feature (which so far I totally dig) and in order for me to be able to post remotely I needed to change the format so I had the RSS feeds.  So now, if anyone wants to remotely monitor my posting, you may.  *gracious hand-wave* 

Oh, I have re-registered to vote!  Somehow my registration got all messed up when I registered to vote abroad during the last presidential election and I never, um, got around to fixing it.  Yes, I am a bad citizen, but at least I'm registered now. 

Anyway, I need to get back to work, but I just wanted to update you guys really quick about the state of The Blog.

Blood! Fire! Narcotics! Rubber Chicken Violence!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it was quite the exciting trip to Mexico for our intrepid heroine! Our first day there I cut my finger with a handsaw, ending a three year safety record and potentially getting a new scar (yay!). That evening, on their way to pick up the last two members of our group from the San Diego airport, two of our peeps had to wait for 25 minutes at the border without moving.... resulting in a vehicle fire that reduced our vehicle number to five. Oh yeah, they got stuck for 25 minutes because of a drug bust at the border, which the narcotics officer who was our leader totally got to scope out. We had a bit of rubber chicken violence involving... well, really incited by a rubber chicken. I had an absolutely wonderful time, it was a great group of people and I am sooo ready to go again! The family we built for had about nine people in it, including children. We built a four room, stucco-walled building, concrete slab for the floor. It was actually in a (by Mexico-border standards) decent neighborhood. I have to admit that I was a little concerned about this trip, since I'd been hearing quite a bit about drug-related violence in Tijuana (haven't heard that much about it since... love American "news services") but we were fine. Oh, the umbrella group we went under was Amor Ministries, so you can check them out if you like. Maybe next year.... who wants to come with me?!?! Coming home to 23 degree temperatures is a bit jarring after upper-70s, but I promise you'll acclimate!

Note: Sorry this is so late in comparison to my return. I've been burning with all sorts of other posts and having this one hanging over my head.... well, y'all know how it goes!!

Road Trip!

I am going to Mexico.... again!! This time I'm headed down to the Tijuana area for several days with Dad, Uncle Jim, cousin Katie and boyfriend, and about 35 other people to build a house for a pastor-in-training. I'm thoroughly prepared, having purchased yarn for a new project and lined up several novels as well as plotting how to get movies onto my Zune. It looks like the weather is going to be perfect while we're down there, and I'm really looking forward to it! I'm also looking forward to getting ideas for organizing a mission trip with my church, if at possible, since I think our young people could use a nice shot of reality! Praying people feel free to pray. It's a long trip, drug violence is rampant down there, and this is a great opportunity to touch lives.

In other news, I drove up to Seattle last weekend for Simon and Katrina's wedding, which was lovely, and I hope the very best for them, even though they did blow out their unity candle!!! Juan Carlos of previous Guadalajara post fame got married last weekend, too. Any more and I'm going to begin to suspect something in the air.... or something.

Speaking of something in the air, it's springtime!! Today is the official first day of spring, but it's been creeping up for the last couple of weeks: a bloom here, a leaf bud there, weird weather. I love this time of year! I'm a little bummed that I have to miss a week of spring here, but it means that I get to drive through California during the springtime, which is actually very nice! I got to do it a couple of years ago and everything is beautiful and green. Since this time I won't be on the verge of death thanks to mono, I think I'll be better equipped to enjoy the view. Makes for a nice change from the dry, parched, brown, smoggy California I get to see when I visit the rest of the year. So, behave while I'm gone and enjoy the weather and the vernal equinox!

Obsession, let me go

Confession is good for the soul, so I have a confession to make. It's been eating at me, tearing away at me, costing me sleep. I am addicted. I can't free myself from the fiery claws of addiction that eat away at me. I love CSI. I adore CSI. I am such a dork! I'm in love with Warrick and Nick and Greg (such a cutie!) and even Archie the A/V dude. Such a dork. I particularly like watching the "victims" breathing on the coroner's table or at the crime scene, or when their eyelids twitch or heartbeat is visible on their chest.

See, this is why I don't have a television. Can you imagine how much time I would waste if there were commercials involved?? It doesn't bear contemplation. *giggles* I would almost feel guilty about this, but I know that LaDonna has been blogging about American Idol. Guess it's my wild escapism at work! I mean, these are guys who use their brains. And the women are strong characters who also use their brains. Love me some CSI. Love me some Firefly, too, but Schuyler hasn't gotten around to returning mine yet. Oh, and need to finish loving me some Due South. Seriously, how on earth do people survive having television??

Body Count

Three moles.

Two birds.

One garter snake.

I tell ya, I'm going to get fat on meals like this. Unless of course I stay up until all hours watching CSI. My brother loves me and has lent me seasons 2 through 5 or 6. There's nothing quite like sitting up and watching murders being solved with a warm kitty sitting on my foot.... also making it impossible for me to shift and thereby causing my legs to fall asleep. Today was a beautiful day, all sunny and warm, and I slept about two and a half hours of it away. So now, I'm having trouble getting to sleep. A lovely excuse!

Note: Upon closer inspection during my lunch break today, I believe the count is actually two moles, one mouse, two birds and one garter snake.

Note 3/12: Three birds. Apparently she didn't feel that leftover pizza was enough for lunch.

Excuse # 14 For Why I Can't Sleep Before Midnight

Ophelia snores.

And she does it while sleeping on my bed, sometimes even up by my head.

Alright, so it's more of a whistle and it's really cute, but still, can't I use that as a valid excuse for why I cannot manage to get to bed before midnight?

No? Yeah, I didn't figure anyone would go for it. I'm hoping that Ophelia is behaving herself outside right now and that perhaps the weather (I can hear the rain over my stereo) will drive her in before 6am tomorrow. By behaving I mean I hope I don't get another gift of mouse, snake or bird on the stairs in the morning.

Oh, so, completely unrelated but completely disconcerting: I went to a YSSO concert with my friend this evening (ahhhh, memories!!! I miss Youth Symphony so much! My conductor hasn't changed a bit, which was lovely.) and the conductor dedicated Les Preludes by Liszt to a former YSSO violist who had just passed away from cancer, and the girl (woman) who died was someone I had gone to high school with and played in orchestra with for years!!! I had no idea that she was even back in the valley, much less that she had died. And she was 26 or something. I don't want to really wax rhapsodic about it and the frailty of life, etc., because I never seem to manage to convey the wonder of life and how fleeting it really is and how often we take it for granted. *pause* I don't remember life being this ironic when I was a little girl.

Opera and the common man

I was listening to podcasts today at work, my new absolute favorite way to keep up with the world and ignore the world at the same time, when I clicked into an "At Your Leisure" from late November. The gentleman was interviewing a man named Paul Potts, from Britain, who had won their equivalent of "American Idol".... singing opera. They chatted for a while and I found myself becoming more and more intrigued with this story. Mr. Potts was a cell phone salesman from Cardiff, Wales, who had finally decided to audition for the show by flipping a coin. I knew that the wonder that is YouTube was bound to have something like this, and so I searched. This is what I found:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA

I nearly cried at work. This ordinary, common man stood in front of an audience and judges that were ready to chuck him (see the look on Simon's face at the beginning?) and he wound up winning. Against all the Cari Underwoods, the Chad Whatsises, and pop star wanna-bes, he won. It reminded me so much of the concert at Campmeeting when Daniela and Buck stood up to sing and everyone knew that she had the voice, but we were just expecting another nice but nothing out of the ordinary duet, when this miracle happened and the most incredible, beautiful voice appeared when Buck began to sing. Melodie and Joel were sitting on either side of me and we all collectively sat up and then slumped back in shock and awe, I think. The triumph of this plain, common man singing opera just made my day.

It also reminded me of something that has always gotten under my skin. People go on and on and on about how boring classical music is and how it has no soul, but I have to say that classical music is the only music that has ever made me cry just with the pure emotion it carries. Now, don't get me wrong, some classical music is dead dull and I adore most other kinds of music (with a few notable exceptions) but there is something about live classical music that cuts past the drudgery of everyday life and reaches into my soul. I've had bluegrass and rock musicians tell me that classical music just doesn't make them feel anything, that it's really just dead white man's music. They have obviously never listened to Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, or Respighi's "Pines of Rome," or almost anything by Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff. And as for singing French Romantic songs..... well, let's just say I have to do so sparingly, because I've never found another kind of music that could lay me bare to the world while I sang. I love my hymns, and I love solid worship songs, and there are spirituals that make me feel like I'm about to fly through the roof but there's just something about opera. That's it, I'm going to go sing Barber's "Sure on This Shining Night." Pleasant dreams, everyone!

PS Listening to Pavarotti reminds me so much of listening to Sam Jensen, which I promise isn't as heretical as it sounds, but Sam's high notes in his heyday were truly incredible. I've heard recordings.

Snow Day!

As suspected, that balmy 51 degree evening was but a prelude to snow and ice. Not that I'm complaining mind you, just… noting. Never trust spring weather on winter nights!! Ellie and I left the church around 12:45 and it was starting to snow/rain, and I figured we would have plenty of time to go Ashland for some groceries real quick. By the time we reached Ashland, the snow was sticking. By the time we got out of the store, there was a substantial accumulation. By the time we got home, we couldn't even make it up the hill, make less the driveway. So, we got to hike through the snow in our church clothes, hauling groceries and water! Fortunately, there were warm pajamas and fuzzy socks when we reached the house, along with tomato soup with lots of cheese and bread. Rob came and got us several hours later and we went to the youth center to hang out, but first we went on a tour to see what had fallen where. Here's a picture of the church:

Rob and Co. dropped me off at the bottom of my hill around 9:30 and I got to trek through 4-5" of freezing and frozen snow. It was absolutely gorgeous. The city lights were reflecting off the clouds and the snow and there was none of the noise from the freeway that you can usually hear all the time. In fact, it was so quiet that when a plane took off later in the evening I nearly jumped out of my skin! This morning I didn't go in to work until 11. Here's what it looked like in the daylight:

That's down the driveway. Here are a couple other shots. Note the LOTS AND LOTS of snow on the SUV:

On my way home from Peter and Marie's house tonight, I could see the beginnings of the ice forming where the snow has melted across the road. It was kinda cool but a little scary to feel my car start to drift a little to the right without my permission. According to the National Weather Service, we're supposed to be getting another day or so of snow and then the rest of the week is going to be snow and rain. Can I get a "woot woot?" I'm really enjoying the change in my attitude towards driving in this nastiness (which is the worst in recent memory) from sweaty, shaking terror to slightly keyed up calm. Strangely enough, the snow and slush sliding doesn't bother me nearly as much as the ice. Maybe it's because my brain translates the snow to a potential barrier to keep me from just sliding off the road or down the hill.

Take care, all, and I hope your weeks are going well, strange weather and all (I've heard rumors about nastiness in CA as well)!

Pfffft!!

It is 51 degrees outside right now.

It is 11:13.

P.M.

That means "at night."

And it's 51 degrees. That is warmer than it has been almost all week. And the high tomorrow is supposed to be 39.

I love where I live!!!

Introducing Ophelia

I have entered the world of pet ownership by rescuing my brother's ex-girlfriend's cat from my parents' house and Spawn, who had taken to hunting down the intruder every time she was allowed back into the house. Her name is now Ophelia, although it was Spooky when I got her and apparently Veronica before that. However, I do not think that "Spooky" is an appropriate name for a pure black cat. We think she was abused before she went to the shelter, because she doesn't like to be picked up and she's very jumpy, but she loves to be petted. She's turning into quite the bug hunter and so far we've only had minor problems with jumping up where she shouldn't…. but I begin to fear for the Angel Wing fibrous begonia. Ah well, such is the nature of pets. For now she's living solely in the house, but I think it might be a good thing for her to get some outside exercise. I'm afraid my little apartment is rather small for an energetic young cat and my stuff. And there's the fact that her rather long and curving claws could use a little wearing down, rather more than the scratching post can provide. Anyway, here's a picture for you to savor, well, at least for the cat lovers to savor:

Merry Christmas!

Yes, yes, I know, it is well past Christmas, and indeed New Year's for that matter, but hey, it was a busy week….ish or two. But anyway, Merry Christmas everyone!! I hope the holidays went smoothly for everyone and that you (we) managed to get past the crass commercialism that has consumed Christmas to the comfort. I had a great Christmas and the Watchnight service at church was hysterical. One of the reasons that this is not a more timely post is that for the week of Christmas, I had no Internet connection (!!!!!!!), a situation which was thankfully remedied once my neighbors/landlords returned home and... did… something. My next Event was waking up one morning without heat, New Year's Eve actually, but it all turned out okay since the heat got fixed and I spent the day sitting and reading, sucking down an entire Dorothy Sayers novel. This seems to be a theme in this new year – sitting around and reading – and a habit that I somehow fell out of over the last ten years or so. Well, Nan-chan and I did have several episodes last year (James Herriott, Terry Pratchett, Agatha Christie, Mary Stewart) but apparently I just forgot about all of them.

So, my most-used new toy has been my new 30GB Zune (Microsoft's version of the iPod) that my darling brother and parents got for me. I have to say, this technology stuff rocks!! I can totally see myself getting all gadgeted up. One of my favorite things about having my Zune is that I can subscribe to a variety of podcasts and then listen to them at work (score!!). It's especially enjoyable to start catching up on the Hispanic/Latin American issues that I've been missing in the last several years… minus immigration, which I really hate hearing about anymore, no matter which side people are on. Anyway, Moo came down for Christmas and we all spent the day sitting around watching Firefly (I love love love love love my family!!) and eating. On Christmas Eve, Dad and I did a little baking and took some cookies and stuff to some friends and it was an absolutely gorgeous night, clear and frosty and cold!!!

I should admit that another reason I have been virtually cyber-absent (get it? Virtually cyber-absent? Ha! I kill me.) is that the weather has been fabulously stormy in such a way as to inspire one to not turn on one's computer for days and instead sit on the couch looking out the window or reading several books while drinking warm beverages. And hoping it snows enough that one can't go to work, which did happen yesterday… for at least an hour or so. It's been great, the passes have been periodically closing, the hills are covered in snow, and there's really nothing quite like having the wind whip the snow against the windows in sudden gusts. At least my apartment didn't get blown sideways during that one windstorm! Okay, I seem to have lost my internet connection again, so I'm going to go figure out what's wrong so you can read this. Nice to see you all again!