Thursday, May 26, 2011

Hopefully I get the job

If I don't, I'll have way too much time on my hands all summer.

You know that trick where you pull the tablecloth out from under the place settings and the dishes remain on the table, undisturbed?  Just pulled my shirt out from under my cat.  He was disturbed...

I was at the library today, mostly because I was driving by after an unsuccessful visit to the cat shelter (I really needed to get out of the house).  While perusing the CD collection (because seriously, who reads?)  I noticed an older (60ish) white woman and a black teenager talking about math.  They had some graphs of parabolas in front of them.

"Oh that's nice" I thought.  "He's having trouble in math, so she's tutoring him."  I wondered how they'd connected as I wandered out of earshot, still aimlessly perusing music.

When I got back down to their end of the shelves, I started half-interestedly listening to their conversation.  It sounded like they were discussing integrals or some such nonsense.  I heard him say something, and she responded "So, I'm trying to find the area above the x-axis?"  He said yes.

Double-take.  I guess he's tutoring her in math.

You know what they say.  Assuming makes an ass out of you and Ming.  Poor Ming.

In other news, I should find out about the job tomorrow.  Fingers crossed.  Sitting on pins and needles.  Trying to think about how happy I'll be if I get the job, not how sad I'll be if I don't.  Oh God, please make this day pass faster!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

You know you're inside my mind when...

I talk to animals.  I mean, I'm not the kind of person who thinks animals talk back to me, but I do talk to them.  I do often think they understand me, and my talking is often in response to their behavior.  So maybe, just maybe, you could say that I talk with animals.

Usually it's the normal "hi kitty" for a cat or "hey there buddy" for a dog.  If the animal responds, I might end up having a conversation with them.  Or ordering them around, like a dog I encountered yesterday, who was not on a leash but whose owner was nearby (he was calling to her, I figured I'd help him out a bit... it almost worked).

Anyways, I was on the phone with my boyfriend last night while taking a walk.  I'd been walking for at least half an hour on rather unforgiving terrain (read: my neighborhood).  I was tired.  I saw a cat.

I don't remember how the conversation went.  I do know I interrupted myself many times, switching between the conversations with cat and boy.  I do know I was laughed at a bit.  Mostly after I was petting the cat (Miles), he started swatting me, and I said something like "oh, you don't like me touching your butt?  I'm sorry..."

Or maybe it was more after I told him (the cat) that I needed to go but hoped I'd see him again soon.  Could I see you again sometime?  Okay, bye kitty.

The cat ran off.  I kept walking, pointing myself towards home.  Normal telephone conversation could resume.  Oh, wow, that's a really pretty flower!  ...

FYI, it's summer break time.  Blogging will probably be sporadic for the next three months.  (Read: I'm playing Minecraft in my computer time.)

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Flashbacks to Seventh Grade Biology

As though I wasn't ready enough to move out of this room... I now have fruit flies.  What I don't understand is why.

There is some fruit in my room, but it's all in the form of craisens.  And they aren't hovering around that stuff either.  They're nowhere near my food.  Only the mirror and the window screen.  It's reminding me of one of those unpleasant parts to life at ICS that I always forget about in my reminiscing: the seventh grade fruit fly experiment.  Did anyone actually get good results on that?  None that I remember.  My fruit flies all died.  Almost everyone's fruit flies all died.  Yet somehow, every single year, the school got infested.  Somehow, every single year, you knew who didn't clean their locker by the fruit flies flying in and out of it.

I guess that doesn't say much for my room.  I swear its clean.  Unless fruit flies finally decided they like granola... took them long enough to find it.

In other news, I'm looking into buying myself a set of rechargeable batteries and a charger.  My camera takes AA batteries and I'm pretty sure it just went through a pair in 2 weeks.  Not cool, camera.  Not cool.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Wait, when did Thursday end?

Nothing like good friends randomly going unconscious to mess with your mind for a day.  Though I guess I shouldn't use that as my excuse for not posting anything yesterday, since I somehow forgot to put this on my to do list for the day.  But most of that stuff got pushed aside anyways as I spent the afternoon trying to work off the adrenaline...  (Said friend is totally fine, by the way.  Nothing serious, in the end.)

This week's gone by way faster than I expected, suddenly the end of the year feels like it is going to hit me before I want it to.  I have a week to move out of my room completely.  I've packed... one box.  I'm ahead of the game, really.

But I'm scared that next Friday will hit me as quickly as today has, and I'll be left struggling to figure out what to put in boxes and what to put in suitcases, trying to keep my carry-on as light as possible so I am free to walk around the Portland airport for a while during my layover.  I'm scared that I'm gonna blink and suddenly I'll be halfway through college.

It won't be just a blink.  I have two finals to take between now and then.  Finals are rarely a fraction of a blink.

And besides, I'm only halfway through.  Two more years is a rather long time...

Monday, May 2, 2011

Una Propuesta Modesta

Para impedir a los chicos de los pobres de Irlanda de ser una carga a sus padres o su país, y para que los chicos beneficien el público.
(De Jonathan Swift, 1729)

I wrote this for Spanish class and have now edited it to make it more correct grammar.  Yes, Tyler, that is intentional.  If you don't know Spanish, or if you do know Spanish but want a better read, I'd recommend you Google "A Modest Proposal" and read it.  This is my translation.

Cuando una persona está caminando en el campo, es muy triste que vea mendigas con tres, cuatro o cinco chicos, todos en harapos en lugar de ropa apropriada. Estas madres no pueden trabajar, y por eso necesitan mendigar para obtener comida para sus chicos. No dudo que todos piensan que los pobres son un problema mayor en adición a todos los problemas de nuestro país, y la persona que puede resolver este problema será venerada.

Antes de ahora, no era un solución que resuelva el problema en total, pero yo tengo una idea. Mi idea puede resolver el problema de los mendigos, y tambien de todos los padres que no pueden mantener a sus hijos. El leche del madre puede sostener un bebé por un año despues del nacimiento. Yo tengo un plan para que los chicos de más de un año no sean una carga a sus padres y no quieran comida o ropa para el resto de sus vidas. En lugar de esto, los chicos de los pobres pueden ayudar con el producción del comida y ropa para muchas personas.

Hay un millón y medio personas en este país, y posiblemente hay doscientos mil mujeres de estos que son criadores, y treinta mil de ellas que pueden mantener a sus hijos. Si cincuenta mil bebés mueren en su primer año, ciento veinte mil chicos nacen cada año a los pobres. Porque no hay un plan ahora que resuelva este problema, este es mi plan. Yo espero que nadie objete.

Uno de mis amigos me dice que un bebé con un año es una comida muy sabrosa, como un vaca pequeña. Por eso, es mi recomendación que los pobres ofrezcan a sus chicos, cuando tienen un año, en el mercado para comida para los ricos. Un bebé es demasiado comida para una fiesta, y son muy sabrosos cuando están sazonados con sal y pimienta antes de que una familia los coma.

La carne del bebé puede estar en temporada todo el año, pero va a ser mas abundante en deciembre, porque hay mucho Católicos en Irlanda, y más chicos está naciendo nueve años despues de Cuaresma a los Católicos. Un año después, los mercados van a tener muchos bebés, y esto es otro beneficio de mi plan: voy a eliminar muchos de los católicos en Irlanda.

Pienso que diez chelines es un buen precio por un bebé, y cuesta dos chilenes para mantener un bebé pobre por un año. Por eso, cada bebe ganará ocho chilenes para su madre. Las personas que quieren pueden usar la piel del bebé para guantes para las mujeres, o botas para un caballero.

Es muy importante que realicemos este plan, porque hay muchos beneficios. Es bueno que los pobres tengan algo valioso para pagar el alquier cuando no tienen maíz o vacas. También, en lugar de golpear sus esposas embarazadas, los hombres van a cuidar a sus esposas embarazadas como una vaca o caballo embarazadas.
Si hay una persona que tenga una idea mejor, él debe decirlo. Sin embargo, no pienso que haya un plan que pueda resolver todos estos problemas en una manera igualmente barato, fácil, eficaz y inocente.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

There's always something there to remind me...

It seems as though the hardest habits to break are those which involve a habit of thinking about something.  As soon as I think about my goal not to think about something, possibly commending myself on how well I'm doing, I am thinking about the thing which I am trying not to think about it.

I'm trying.  In the interest of not wallowing in misery and giving myself time to think on more positive subjects.  In the interest of not dwelling on the things that anger me.  Mostly, though, in the interest of forgiving and forgetting (because when someone has changed, it is time to forget).

Because of the last reason, I am especially frustrated when something comes up which reminds me of these things which I wish not to think of... especially common on the internet... and just when I was actually doing well, I have to get back in a state of mind to forget what I started thinking about.

My hope is that, at some point, I'll learn not to care, and finally be able to forget... not just forgive.

In other (now more important) news, I'm going to stare at my computer until Obama's announcement about Osama bin Laden being dead comes on the live feed.