Thursday, May 29, 2008

It's Over...

Thank God...

I just finished my Excel Workshop...
It totally rocked...
We laughed, we cried...
They clapped...

And one lady said she loves coming to my workshops cause I can make anything fun.

Which is a stark contrast to my teaching style at school where I have developed the skill of making even the funnest activity boring...

I can do it, just give me the chance...

So I am so stoked that it is over, and it went very well...

Always a good time...

2 Hours of fun...

Yeah....... The tank is clean and it is a beautiful day.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Great

Now we have ants...
Apparently my nonchalant form of housekeeping has attracted some unwanted guests.
I guess I will have to take care of it and make sure they know they are not welcome.

Play by play, that was my day...

Cold

Out of time as usual I put everything off...
The heater is still lying in pieces on my living room floor.
I said I would fix it weeks ago...

I was going to do a lot of things back then.
None of them actually happened...

So now it's cold in the house and the heater is in a pile of metal on the ground, waiting for me to put it back together.

I will just hide in the room till I find the time and motivation.

Drawing night, Autumn has left me again.
7:00 on the dot...
Out she goes. Not to return until later.

The End of My Day

After a long day of sorting, helping, installing, and labeling...
I head off to a two hour meeting at 3:30...
Intent on discussing all matters of techie things and planning for the next year...
Prior to this I did the obligatory food run for the group... Which was fun since I had the grand opportunity to sign someone else's name for the tab, and being that this name was Jeff, I was expecting some looks. I did my best to practice a few times on my list of requests before heading up to the counter and inadvertently set it down on the counter when discussing the selections with the cashier. He never batted an eyelash. Thanks Jeff...
No problem...

I thought back to all the times I had signed my dad's name on the random official documents that passed my way. Sheets of paper littering my living room covered with the same inscription. Cursing the Letter B for taunting me in my efforts to achieve perfection in my craft. To come across the scene one might think I was apprenticing to become a counterfit specialist.

But signing for others has been a long standing tradition in our home. I used to resent that when I was little... The few opportunities for me to sign my name were always looked forward to and I felt a little passed over when in the name of efficiency my dad would sign for me...

I guess we are even now, since getting through the year requires about 9 signatures... Standing in various lines with my forged paper work, I always assume everyone is on to me... Just my constant level of paranoia kicking in...

Get Santana...

But some how I manage to make it through the lines and try to contain my urge to grab my freshly approved contracts and run flying out the doors... I almost did a cartwheel the last time... Since these things should never be this easy.

So another identity assumed for the day. And it is always a thrill to be someone else, even just for a moment.

Too Funny


So apparently I missed quite the event this weekend with Autumn...
Dianna's Birthday party was a Glitz and Glam event in Corvallis...
I hear tell there were several run ins with the law over the weekend, with the first of which being Autumn being pulled over for having a number of lights out...
This must have been quite the scene on account of the outfit she was wearing, and further exacerbated by the condition of her car...

The windows don't roll down, so of course she had to open the door to explain it was a new vehicle and that she wasn't aware that the lights were out... that combined with her hair being teased to the roof of the car and her amazing outfit, it must have been quite the sight. I wish I could have been there...

With the final encounter being a visit by the local boys in blue at 3 a.m. to remind the crew to be mindful of their neighbors. This was particularly humorous since it was long into the night and when the visitors came the event had widdled down to 4 people sitting quietly in the living room...

The man asked if any of them had even gone outside lately, to this they just returned a stunned gaze and the man admitted that the allegation was ridiculous and that the neighbors were just being touchy...

Sounds like an entertaining evening I was sorry to have missed...

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

It's That Time Again....

doll
Time to get outside and hit the lake up...
Autumn

Baby I'm Sorry

Kristy
I am sorry I missed you this weekend...
I know I said I would find you... No matter how far and I let you down...
So I hope you had a great time at the show and am so sorry you ended up wandering my parking lot looking for me...

Tuesday

So this afternoon I wandered out of work, abandoning the ever growing list of things I needed to have done the day before and drove home surrounded by the soothing blast of random tunes that overwhelmed my car on the short ride back to the house.

I always seem to have the radio turned up to full blast regardless of the song, just for the feeling. I enjoy being surrounded by something constant, and find the loud noise a comfort in the morning, though I am quick to turn it down when I approach the destination of my parking lot, both at work and at home.

I wander into the living room, carefully detach my keys from the chopstick that suspends my hair and sink into the couch, instantly reaching for my laptop, which is almost a constant part of my stance and could be viewed as an extension of myself. Never more than two feet away, I am overcome with a sense of some absence when it is not around and feel the slightest guilt when I realize I forgot to plug it in and it has been alone without power for several hours.

This in stark contrast to the lack of interest I have taken to the living things in my home, plants wilting in the window sills, fish wandering aimlessly without any human contact for days, wondering where the giant hand from above that used to give food has gone...

But no, I seldom feel bad for them, they will forgive me as they always do, and generally I will return long enough to revive them in what ever state I find them...

I don't always know how to feel about viewing the world through an LCD screen, letting reality and time fade away in the background, with hours passing with little change in my world, a few new discoveries, and the comforting glow against an almost always dark house. I am overly protective of these little things, often over-defending them from the little hands that carelessly fumble over them, trying to save them...

Each time my principal visits me in my classroom, he flips all the lights on, throws his hands in the air, and demands to know what is wrong with me that I can contently sit in a dark room in front of a computer for hours... Each time he does this, I instinctively recoil from the shocking change in lighting... It has always been this way, at my old school I would keep a perfectly black room, since it made the projector work best... The kids would stumble in to find their seats, hands out as if blind, and upon leaving, half an hour later, shield their eyes from the blaring sun outside, pupils contracting in shock.

The funny thing about this is that all the techies I know of down town are just like me,with fading potted plants reaching for the shuttered windows, and their owners hunched over in the darkness frantically checking their emails for the latest disaster. But those people are a little more on the anti-social side than me... I have seen it many times before, when ordinary people have been transformed into socially isolated trolls on account of their hobbies and chosen profession... Perpetually pale in a sunny town. Taking pride in their alabaster skin...Surfacing briefly when outsiders attempt to initiate conversation, faining a smile, and returning to their screens.

Anyways, enough about the damage I am doing to the cones and rods...

I made it out once today... That counts enough...
Had the usual fish taco, creme brulé and coffee with the roomie whom I have not seen in over 5 days... With the only indication to her presence being an ajar door leading into a room covered in towels and a fallen bicycle lying on my kitchen floor. Sometimes there will be pens and pencils strewn about the living room floor covered in wood shavings, which she leaves out to convince herself she has been productive in her efforts to express herself... I too am guilty of the same, with my productivity indicated by the masses of clothes which accumulate on my floor, testament to my employment and dedication to lowering the bar for any pride I take in my home...

Sadly this ordered chaos really works for me... File by pile, I know where everything is, waking early in the morning using echo location to piece together my outfits. Digging frantically in the mornings... Looking for the one blue shirt in a sea of black pants...

Well I guess I have made up for the lack of communication... Rambling on for almost 800 words over sitting in the dark... and my attachment to inanimate objects...

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Monday, May 19, 2008

The Worst Movie Ever

It is hands down, definitely Waitress...

Yup...
The verdict is in...

I could never watch another film in my life and be happy, knowing I have finally found the worst one ever made... With the majority of the filming taking place in a dinner bathroom the budget must have broke the bank...

Autumn Just Asked

Autumn: What hurts?
KC: Everything...

I have been wandering around like a zombie all day...

owwww....

Lame...

ow..

But in other news the room has reached a new high of what feels like a hundred and ten. I just got a sweet thermometer to document the heat waves...

I am planning on graphing it out over the next few days and posting it on my door...

Like a wilted flower, I sink farther into my seat as the hours ware on...
Losing all interest in everything around me...
And this is just the beginning...

I was planning on going to Onsen's to soak for a while, but with the heat, I guess it would be counter-productive.

I triple booked again...
Should be a fun one...

Off to cook and clean...
Or pretend and watch intently...

Friday, May 16, 2008

It's Getting Hot

Barely noon and my room is quickly rising to a temperature that is less than barrable. May 16th and no end in sight... The students sink in their chairs like wilted flowers, only revived temporarily by the oscillating fan in the center of the room. The heat rising from the many machines running in time only intensifies the feeling of sticky heat combined with the lack of circulation of air in my room... A mere two feet away the hallway is at least ten degrees cooler, with many students making this discovery for themselves and finding any excuse to leave the room.

This is only the beginning, the place was only in the 80's... I can only look forward to the issues that will arise when we hit triple digits...

I spent the day drinking copious amounts of water and watching the students in the halls take turns dumping their water bottles on each other to make the day more comfortable.

I came home at the end of the day, after resorting to driving my car with a towel over the steering wheel, and collapsed on the couch. So far the new place is standing it's own in the new temperatures, and it is apparent that I chose the perfect time to rip the heater out of the wall... I was out for 2 and a half hours before being awoken by Autumn and her latest score from Starbucks...

I can't wait..

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Exciting Happenings on a Monday Afternoon

Yeah, I come home after a long day at work, walk in the door and am immidiately overwhelmed by the smell of burning plastic that has engulfed my living room. Why not... So I have been noticing the faint fragrance of fumes over the past few weeks and casually searched for the source... The usual routine is to wander over to the thermostat and turn off the heater that has been running all day as usual....

I get up and leave early so many times I am not around in the mornings and these things happen...
So today I do the usual inspection and see a basket of blankets is pretty close to the heater... So I investigate a little further and pull the basket away from the wall... Only to have the front panel of the heater rip from the wall and crash onto the ground in an explosion of melted plastic and strings...

Good times... So I decide to call it a day and walk away...
The situation was under control and I was too tired to deal with it presently, so I did what I usually do when averting catastrophic disasters.... I got in my car, and went shopping... Just for dinner and a few things for the house...

but yeah, a day later, and the plastic remains, even though the basket of flammable items is gone...
Ok, it is all still sitting there waiting for me to forget and do it again.

So renters insurance is back at the top of the list of things to get again...

Good times.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mother's Day


Obviously the day means something different to me, since I have been sans a mother for over 3 years.
The memories I have of that person are few and far between, though most are good.
I have never had any regrets about my upbringing and consider myself very fortunate to have had the wonderful family that helped make me who I am.

Since an early time I made all of my Mother's Day crafts with the rest of the children, with no intension of ever giving them to my mother. Instead I would run home from the bus stop and proudly present my latest creation to the person who really deserved them, my dad. I am sure somewhere in a dusty photo album, you could find many cards with small hands, covered in paint, pressed into paper. Double the work, double the cards.

So today I made the annual call to dad to wish him a happy day...
I always enjoy our conversations... In an interesting twist for the day, we ended up talking about his mother and grandmother. Clare Olive Gardner I believe is her name, and I will add it later, since I already forgot grandma's. (we were close, ha)
Dad sent me a photo of the two of them, it was taken in the 20's and is probably the oldest item in my possession. I found it rather interesting to hear about our extended family whom I had never met. Clare was born in 1898, and Dr. Gardner, as he was referred to, was born ten years prior in 1888. It was always a fun fact that my grand parents were born in the 1800's and that my father's grandmother was around when Lincoln was president. His grandmother was first generation from Ireland, and is well known for her antics on the boat ride over... Introducing the now well know universal truth, that you should never put a 14 year old girl on a boat alone...

So I was joking with dad that we really aren't very established as far as our place on the continent, really we have only been here for around 3-4 generations. He mentioned that the INS might show up any minute to deport us.

I wanted to share the photo that dad sent from the 20's. His mother is about 27, next to her mother and two children. I promised I would scan it, but am still waiting for my baby to come back from the shop.
So here is the best I could do.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Damn it!

My little vacuum got away again....
I got up this morning to find my glowing little white vacuum waiting for me on Woot...
So I furiously go about the process to sign up for an account and claim my little pet.

It took about 4 submissions to get the registration site to accept me.

Only to be routed to the current bid, not my little vacuum, but another ipod rip off.
Apparently in those 5 minutes that it took to sign up for the thing, we had sold out of two separate products...

Go figure...

But it will be mine, oh yes, in time...
And the little Roomba Docking station too...

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

I Swear to God

I am going to throw this thing out the window...

I could list the many reasons I hate this thing...
But I will leave it to the latest.
The screen randomly turns black at a drop of a hat.
When you're not trying
It's so inviting
I don't deserve you
I can't afford you

Under the Influence of Giants
Latest song on Repeat

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Look Mom, No Brakes!

So Autumn just got a new bike...
She had me try it out...
I ended up going on a 6 block tour of terror since I didn't know how to stop the thing.

It is a trick bike.
The trick is slowing down without introducing your face to the asphalt.

The deal is there is only one chain and it is directly linked to the back tire:
So when you stop pedaling, you stop...

This was a little intimidating to me, and quite the test of agility and speed of mind.
It takes a whole new thought process to make the jump from a street bike with hand brakes, to a cruiser with pedal brakes, to a trick bike with no brakes...
I have done them all this week and am a little discombobulated on account of all the different needs...

So I don't think I will be trying that one again, but have gained a new found appreciation for those who have mastered the skill.

Audi was going to be daring and take it out for a spin in the garden, but decided against it since I have taken the day off to chill and clean... No one wants to die alone and I would like to be there when the train comes... Just to explain the scenario to the paramedics...

I am sure she will be a pro in no time...

Good times, game on, I will buy more Band-Aids.

Quote of the Day: Scraps of Paper Close to my Heart

i.e. I Have no pockets or shame and resort to cramming wads of cash and scraps of paper down my shirt.
It must be pretty interesting to see when I have to pack out the phone and wallet on the new bike.
Thankfully they are of comparable size and balance out nicely.

The latest entry from my shirt:

Audi: "Can I have some of your cream?", "Whipped Cream that is?"
Ant: "Sure, I'm not a big fan..."
Audi: "Not a big fan?", "So if whipped cream put on a concert, you wouldn't go?"

Wild Night at the Gardner House

So last evening was Sierra's 26th birthday. She has made the transition to being old quite well.
We got together and went out to Mazzi's for dinner, had a delightful meal, great wine... And basically shut the place down at the end of the night... I don't even remember what we were all laughing so hard at...
Well Autumn had a great line.... We had just opened our wine, and Autumn was offering Sierra another glass, when we look over and see that Autumn had filled Sierra's glass almost all the way to the top, and these are huge glasses...

So we establish that Autumn is cut off from serving the wine, until moments later when she asks if anyone else would like half the bottle...

After dinner we headed back to the house where all of Sierra's friends were sitting on the couch in the dark waiting for her. We stayed up all night watching Disney films for "the good parts" ... Then we ended up staying up till 2 singing along to the Little Mermaid....

The managers came by at 1:30 to shut us down....

So good times...

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Thank God The Wireless is Back

I have been having a swell week without the internet...
I actually broke down the last night and begged my neighbor to drop his firewall for a few minutes...

Good times...

At any rate, 2 pairs of pliers and 10 minutes later and I am back in business...
Just had to smack it around a bit...

I felt doubly bad after Ted let us on his internet only to have his crash moments later...

Good times.

Grrr.