Friday, August 15, 2008

Upon my return back to Small State U City

After being away all summer from my crappy-ass apartment, the thing I missed the most, aside from the freedom of living by myself, walking around naked, making a mess and not having to worry about cleaning it up, taking a shower and leaving the bathroom door open while getting soapy and wet, and living out my sexual fantasies; aside from all of that, the thing I missed most was my bed. I know, not exciting. But, after sleeping on an air mattress all summer, it loses its charm somewhere around 30 seconds into crawling into bed, my bed is pretty damn awesome right now.

Oh, and sleeping (almost) through the night. That was something that didn't happen this summer, either. That had something to do with a mother who works from home and starts her work day at 5:30 in the morning and her office is across the hall, a step-dad who hates his job and allows the alarm to go off several times, and a dog who dances outside my door with her dog tags clinking together awaiting my sleepy entrance into the hallway. Since I don't go to bed much before midnight, it made for a short night.

Since arriving back home, my apartment has rebelled against my reentry back to two-bedroom. Curtains inexplicably falling down, houseplants beyond dead, a shower head that sprays water everywhere but on me; however, I think after a few days, the ghosts of summer have left.
I have unpacked, cleaned (though not enough) redecorated my bedroom and bathroom (love the changes) Bedroom is lime, lemon, and white. Or white with lime green and lemon yellow accents. Clean, crisp, and the feel of tropical. Ah....
Bathroom, clean and simple in light blue and yellow.

Anyway...

Basically I've gone for a long walk everyday, worked on my tan, sat by my pool and been irritated by the 20 year-olds being obnoxious, gone out every night thus, counteracting my long daily walk. My guys missed me. The PG is back in town and they are determined to kill my liver. They're doing a good job.

Like the rest of the summer, this week has flown by. I start my volunteer job at the I Want to Travel Outside the Country Office next week (I really should look over the pamphlet I will be rewriting um, sometime before 9 a.m. on Monday) and I still need to find a job that will pay me; hopefully I will find one sometime before now and the end of the school year.
Still hoping for an assistantship.
...I probably shouldn't hold my breath.

Otherwise just enjoying the gorgeous weather, trying to suck every ounce out of the days before the grind of school starts on the 25th (ugh!)(Say it ain't so!) oh, and keep damaging my liver. It's good to have goals.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

inner dork: wild kingdom

Did you know...

There are fewer than 1,000 giant pandas left in the world.

The giant African snail grows to a foot long and reaches weights greater than a pound.

The giant flying fox, native to Indonesia, has a wingspan of nearly 6 feet.

Giant tortoises can live to be 150 years old or older.

The giant Pacific octopus can fit its entire body through an opening no bigger than the size of its beak.

The giant squid is the largest creature without a backbone. It weighs up to two and a half tons and grows up to fifty-five feet long. Each eye is a foot or more in diameter.
(Eck!)

A donkey will sink in quicksand, but a mule will not.

A single sheep's fleece can contain as many as twenty-six million fibers.

...and now you know.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

I wish I had more time

...to spend with friends, family, just in general people I like.

One of the things I like about this break from real life (ha!) called grad school, is that everyone has time. Time to do things, time to hang-out, go out, volunteer, be together, be stupid, has a common mission to save the world. (raises fist into the air.)

Okay, so I'm the only one who really believes the world can be changed, but still, my point is that when you hit a certain age, say 22-23, definitely by 24, your time starts to slip away. Your life is taken over by life. Life no longer consists of going out and being with friends, or at least not much past happy hour, it now consists of jobs, careers, weddings, babies, and being in bed around 10:30 to repeat it all again the next day. You know, the real world. Opposed to the one MTV presents of sex in hot tubs and going out and getting plastered every night while staying in a rent-free penthouse suite. Sure, that's just a Wednesday night for me, but I realize this is not the case for most people.

But I digress. (You know, something new and different.)

The fact that my fellow public policiers not only want to, but also have the time to go out, time to give on a Saturday to a cause, well, that's awesome and it also makes me sad. Sad, because they are 23 years old and have no idea. No idea that all of that free time will be going away. That to be busy now isn't just a nuisance, but it will be their reality in another 10 months. More than half of the students in the program came to grad school to get away from the real world. Because, "...it sucked."
Um, okay.
Yeah, it does. Deal with it.
I don't have an extra 40 grand laying around to postpone the suckatude, but apparently they do....

Anyway, this summer I've had time. For the first time in a long while, I've had time to be with friends, go to movies, and just be. I stayed an extra week at the 'rents so I could try and be with friends back in home state, go out, and relive some old times while making some new times for just one more week.

Last night Billy and I hit the local brew pub for happy hour, then went to a local live music venue to enjoy six (some good, some bad) bands. We didn't plan to stay very long.
Famous last words.
We closed it down.
We laughed, remembered, talked of old and promised to make new times together. My dearest friend whom I've know since I was 19. The friend who knows my history because he was there with me when it happened. The person I am comfortable with, can be with, not feel judged, or misunderstood. That's an awesome feeling to have. When I told him I am guarded, he laughed. He doesn't know that side of me. In the end I am glad we had the time together we did, and that I had time with all of the friends, and former co-workers, because gosh, I had no idea how much I was missed and what kind of impact I had on people...but that's another day....
Time. We could all use a little more of it, no?

Sunday, August 03, 2008

rain check

Rain check is a baseball term. It originated back in the 1870s and was used when a game was canceled due to a rainstorm. The audience was given tickets, free of charge, to attend a game at a later date.

Fascinating, isn't it?

After attending a baseball game today, in what had to be tropical Sub-Sahara desert like conditions, (and no, I don't care that those contradict each other) I would have liked a rain check. Hell, just some rain. Or say, even a cool breeze would have been nice. Instead, my only comfort came from the bottle of beer between my breasteses. And, gee, that's really just counterproductive. Cold-ish cleavage, warm-ish beer. It's a lose-lose really.

The tropical condition was in terms of the brick wall-like humidity that I was slammed in the face with as soon as I left the house. Not to mention the suffocating, so glad I took a shower because that was completely unnecessary since I am now drenched in sweat and why do boobs and bras just seem to be reservoirs for moisture collection? Men, do your balls have this problem? I'm guessing they do, but I would like an answer on this. The heat was in terms of the ultraviolet rays of death that were rising from the sand, er field, to create parched I-want-to-die-or-crawl-up-inside-a-camel-and-drink-from-its-hump type conditions.

Baseball, good. Wilting, withering, and dying in the sun, bad.

That concludes today's lesson.