If jet lag is like time travel...

then maybe I'll have time to make a quilt if I go on vacation.

Here's the one I want to make: crazy squares

The Coolest Kid in the 10th Grade

The new computer came from Mommy and Daddy in the mail yesterday.

It's pretty cool. I don't even know how to do all the things it can do. But it has a remote for movies/CD but it also works in programs like Powerpoint and other "useful" things. But I've been playing a movie with the power unplugged for the past twenty minutes and it only used up 4% of the battery. yay! And it's shiny silver and white and all slippery smooth all over.

Hooray for generous, come-to-the-rescue parents!

Section Leader???

I joined the 4th-6th grade choir at school last week.

By virtue of being both 15 years older than the students and also faculty at Logos, I have a pile of young altos looking to me to be on key and in rhythm. Very hard. Because I'm very bad. But we are singing Handel's Hallelujah Chorus, which I've done before so I can pretend I know what's going on.

The only problem is that the kids are very cheerful but they don't sing very loud so I very easily get very much louder than they are. I guess I will have to get better than they are pretty quick. Piece of cake. ;-)

THUDER SHTORM

I cannot spell on a white board, that is what I wrote on the board. In class today, we began a sample of the assignment my students will finish at home over the next week. We are writing a 300-word descriptive passage in the style of James Fenimore Cooper. Here is what we did in class:

"The clouds enveloped the sky with blackness; the heavy air bore down upon the visage of the hapless youth as he struggled through the curtains of rain. This poor soul quaked with fear as he gazed upon the dark anvil of clouds and envisioned the bleak task at hand."

Everyone else gets to choose their own topics and make it work in the overly-wordy, minute-detail style of Cooper. I think class was fun today, everyone was talking and suggesting things and seemed to understand it and get into it. I think, from the kinds of questions I was being asked, I will get papers about a ninja, a coffee shop, a lake, and maybe the fair.

Shake Well Before Each Use

Hair spray? No.
Redi whip? No.
Spray paint? No.

What could it be with instructions like these? Nail polish? Nope. WD-40? Not even close.

It's orange juice. I don't understand. I only know how to use orange juice once, after that it's gone. Maybe I missed something. I should have gone to public school.

The Russian Award goes to...

The Exxon station across from Rosauers.

They are officially, already, advertising Christmas. It's a small sign selling gift cards with Christmas designs. But they are first.

Spoiler Alert

But you only have to wait til the 27th of Septmeber anyhow... Well, I'll probalby have to wait til the 28th when it's available for download because I don't have cable. But I'm still excited.

The Office goes on Summer Vacation

Shoot...Dang!

I forgot to take a picture at my very first dinner party I threw all by myself.



I had Brendan, Sharon, Joel, Jordan and their kids over for dinner and to meet my new roommates. I made calzones from scratch! (ok, I bought the spagetti sauce... and I didn't make my own pepperonis, but I made the dough and shredded the cheese). I made two batches and timed the yeast in the water, and the dough rising in the bowl and baking and I was/am pleased with myself. It worked. I started at 3:45 with nothing. And by 5:50, there was dinner. When things like this work, it always amazes me. And I was only 20 minutes late from when I said I would serve dinner. ;-) We had a good time and Evelyn got to see the cows I live near. I wish I had remembered sooner, Flannery could have seen them too. Anyhow, Jordan told me that now that they have been over, I'm allowed to have other people over to my house without them.

But the real party started after the guests left. There was cleaning to be done. I like cleaning when I have the time to do it. When you have to eat, clean, and run off to somewhere, or run off to somewhere and then come back to dirty dishes, I don't like it. But I had nothing else to do tonight. I plopped in my Rat Pack CD and started clearing. But then I happily remembered that I had left a third batch of calzone dough rising while we all ate. So I had to make it. Since I was alone, things were already a mess, and I had time -- I experimented.

My new skill tonight is tossing and spinning dough. I had it pretty high sometimes. And I always caught it. Not always flat, but always in my hands. I don't know if it was better or faster than using the counter, but it was WAY more fun -- especially with Dean Martin singing pretty loudly in the background. So I popped the new "left overs" in the oven and kept cleaning and I did a load of laundry. Now I'm waiting for the dishwasher to finish drying so I can fill it up again and go to sleep.

So I took a picture after -- that's what I made. Except they didn't look this nice the first time. It's got to be becuase I threw them...

Today

we saw a heron. Just flying around in the yard and then landing in a tree across the street in the sheep pen.

I guess there are some unexpected perks to living in the country.

Prometheus Comes to Polk Street

Now I know you're not supposed to tell where you live online, but there's a lot of miles of "Polk Street" in the town where I live and the alliteration was just too nice to pass up.

Today it's the coldest day I can remember in August -- anywhere I've ever been in August. So we girls decided to try to turn on some heat. For heat we have a gas fireplace/stove. It's really neat looking but not exactly the most intuitive appliance. We plugged it in. Nothing. We adjusted the thermostat on the wall. Nothing. Then I noticed the pipe coming from the wall and I opened the valve for the gas to actually enter the stove. And we had to read the directions about 1o times -- after we found them -- before we were able to make the pilot spark. But now it works and we understand how; and Phil (the Landlord) came down and explained further.

yay! we have fire!

I tried to make Jiffy Pop on the top of the stove, but after it sat there for about an hour and didn't even start to sizzle, I gave up. I'll make it on the real stove. Like normal people.

The Great Irony of "the blog"

The whole point is to keep people up to date with one's life. But one's life frequently is what gets in the way of actually writing anything. For instance, mine.

Recently I've moved -- still can't find the camera or I'd post pictures of my gigantic bathroom (with a tiny shower) and my huge closet (but that's a mess right now, I don't think I'd put a picture even if I did know where the camera was). And I have new housemates. Lydia and Laura. They are both still students at NSA, one freshman and one sophomore.

But I'm rejoining the acadmic world this year also. I've applied for, been offered, and accepted a job teaching a 10th grade American Lit class at Logos School. It's only part time teaching, but I think that'll be more than enough. I'm beginning to think I'm not nearly scared enough. From everything I've heard, I will more than have my hands full with my 26 kids. Even though it's only one class; lit is one of the more "teacher homework" kinds of classes. I have to actually read along with them! But at the same time, I think it'll be really fun to get paid to read "Huckleberry Finn" and "The Old Man and the Sea" and "The Last of the Mohicans." But before we get to that, we are doing a few weeks on the Puritans and their writings. I don't know what we will study, but it's from Leland Ryken's "Worldy Saints" which is apparently great. And I will have the kids give presentations. So I don't have to be the expert in each chapter.

I was given two giant boxes full of books, reference works, stories on tape, documentaries, art books, and folders and binders full of possible lesson plans. I'd better get back to reading all that!

'Til The Next Time I Have Time,
AJ

Grown Up? or Getting Old?

• Today I went to a place to see about a job (Potting Shed Creations, Ltd. -- kinda like if you locked Martha Stewart in a garden and told her to throw a babyshower). I wanted to turn in my resume, cover letter and application and get a feel for what the place is like. I have heard from a current boss of mine that they are growing like gang busters. The ladies all seemed nice and it looked like it would be a desk job but no cubicles! yay! anyhoo, the first person I met was not the person I needed to see. She walked me over to Cindy (the HR person) and said, "This woman would like to see you about a job." Now, I've been called, "young lady," "lady," "kid," "girl," and even occasionally "person" or "gal" but I've yet to be called "woman." Now I have.
• I also now own a "spanking stick." This is something that I thought would be longer in coming but I am pleased to lend my utensils to the task of shaping the small people in my life. I think that's kind of what they mean when they ask the congregation if you promise to aid the parents in this task [nurture and admonision of the Lord].
• This one's for Sharon... I was having a frappe or something about a week ago and I also was dressed up for the Logos Teacher Training where I was working. On the way home I was pleased to notice that there was lipstick on my straw!

Could This Happen In Moscow?

I've riden the Metro twice ever in my life, I should know.

DC Metro Experiment

I didn't read the whole thing, but Joshua Bell, who normally commands $100 a seat, playing a priceless ($3 million) Stradivarius violin, went basically unnoticed for most of an hour in a subway lobby. Interesting. I don't know what it means, but it's intersting.

look what else my phone can do...

Forget about talking. It's totally my new favorite toy. But the flowers are very non-tech-y and that balances the extreme nerdiness of this photo and the process of getting it on line. I have three blooms and almost three more as of tonight. I'll wait till the flower box is really going strong and then take another shot.

Future IKEA lovers of America...Unite!

I Y my Poang chair and Flannery does too.

My new favorite movie

I haven't seen it yet, but I'm hoping.

http://licensetowedthemovie.warnerbros.com/

Step Two

If the drawing was step one, here's how far I got today. I'm going to a dinner for the 4th, but I think I'll get a second coat of stain on tonight.

What Will This Become?

What a fun project for the 4th of July! I have the day off from all my jobs and I am very excited to make this BBQ table. It'll be two feet square and stained green. I'm also pleased because this photo came from my phone. Didn't know I could do that until recently. Should have been doing it that way for years! Don't worry, I'll be showing off the result on Wednesday.

Why I Want XM Radio...

• Jonathan Katz "Three Hobbies"
• Chonda Pierce "Church"
• Maryellen Hooper "Rewire the Outlets"
• Smothers Brothers "Cabbage"

The Laugh USA channel. I was working late in the trailer punching tens of thousands of holes and I was listening and enjoying good clean stand up comedy. There's about a million other fun things to listen to on XM. Selling subscriptions to satellite radio was the one part about selling cars I totally, 100%, believed in. Too bad I never sold a car that was able to play it... But someday, I'm going to buy a car with it. Maybe a truck... hmmm... Whenever that money starts rolling in, I'll know how to spend it!

Some Cooking Adventures

Last Friday some friends invited me up and I said I would bring a salad becuase I had the stuff for it and I had (accidentally, of course!) bought a load of iffy produce so I wanted to use it up before it used itself up. I don't know what I was thinking as I was shopping. So I made the salad, sliced the tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots and lettuce and dumped a pile of parmesean cheese on it. Only to look in the cheese bag and see a HUGE clump of mold. I then stuck my nose in the salad and discovered that it, too, smelled. But I had to bring it because I said I would bring a salad. But these folks are -- rightly so -- pretty paranoid about stuff like raw meat, I didn't think they would like moldy cheese. So I, slowly, by hand, picked all the lettuce and carrots and broccoli (forgot to mention that earlier) and cucumbers, and tomatoes and put it in a new bowl, leaving the old cheese behind. I then put good cheese on it, in the new bowl. It took so long and I felt like such an idiot!

Fast forward to Saturday...
I still had that salmon so I cooked it without too much problem. Except I forgot about marinade, so I had to wait because I remembered before I cooked it. But I couldn't find the correct recipe for the dip, so whatever I did find to use called for dijon. EK! I put in a lot more sour cream and it was then ok. But while I was cooking the salmon, I also grilled some chicken so I could have it on salads throughout this week (using the salad fixings I had just used up and didn't have any more of. I didn't really think about changing my weekend cooking plans just because my food supply had changed since I had shopped...). So I started the grill, and waited for it to get hot enough to scrape it clean. But I left the scraper on the grill while I waited so it melted. Eventually I got the chicken out there and it started to cook. But then I realized (worst thing yet!) that I didn't have any idea where any thing to turn over the chicken would be. I started frantically going through boxes and opening cupboards. By the time I was done the kitchen floor was a sea of crumpled newspaper and I found a sort of soup serving spoon/ladle and a normal dinner fork. But I was too late. Two chicken breasts were ruined. But then, I still don't have any salad...

I win! Twice!

I never win anything. Until recently.

On Saturday I went over to Moscow Building Supply because I had been hearing ads on the radio for about a week about the sale. And I wanted to eat the free hot dog. And they are only about three blocks from my house. So I went and the hog dog bun was cut crooked, the dog was cold and the portable Pepsi fountain blew wet gunk all over my pants. So it looked like the day was going to be a bust. Except for one (two) thing(s).

I entered for door prizes. I entered myself and Rachel. And both names were drawn. I now have a red kerosene lantern and a nice cedar box planter!

I'm trying to decide between snap dragons and pansies for the the planter and I guess I'll have to learn a little somethin' somethin' about kerosene...

I want to Go!

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSL1233058520070412?feedType=RSS

Thanks, Richard.

man! why did I graduate?

I'm reading the posts about Austen on Dr. Leithart's blog and I want to be in that class so bad!

Vaguely Indecent

If it were me in the situation, I would have done the same thing (I guess) but I still think what happened was non-ideal.

About three minutes after my shift started, about a week ago, two ladies approached me from the rear and asked where the scissors are. I directed them to the wall a few feet away and I started to walk off. They then asked if any were open packages. I said "No." As it turned out, they needed to cut something. They showed me what and I sort of paused. One of the ladies had used the public restroom and had gotten the pocket of her jeans stuck in the zipper. Therefore she could not zip her jeans. To this day, I still can't figure out how this happened exactly. I try not to think about it too much but, somehow, I can't help myself; I can't figure it out. I went up to the front and brought her the cashier's scissors. She was rescued.

Another victory for the best darn sales associate Michael's Arts and Crafts has ever seen!

cool stuff in the Bible

• Job 36:24-25

Remember to magnify His work

Of which many have sung.

Everyone has seen it:

man looks on it from afar.

• Exodus 11:7

" But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know the difference between the Egyptians and Israel" NKJV

"But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man of beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel" ESV

I wonder if translation differences are greater in Hebrew than in Greek. It seems that most New Testament differences are more like putting "he said" before or after the thing being said. In the Old Testament, it seems that there are a lot more metaphors and turns of phrase. And with the greater flexibility of Hebrew, it makes for some more interesting translations.

• Exodus 17:8-16

This is the story where Moses holds up his rod and the Israelite army prospers under Aaron -- against Amalek. In verse 14, God says to Moses, "I will will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." So I wonder, is that wiping out still to come? Or did God mean that Amalek would be wiped out except for being mentioned in Exodus?

Strangely

I have an interview at Applebee's on Monday.

I dropped off an application several weeks ago and today, I got a phone call. I'm not sure waht I want to do there, if I want to do anything. Maybe I can work lunches and stay at Micahels for nights.

Hey Richard!

Why can't matches play baseball?

I forgot to add

I also like sweeping Michael's. I get to push a big push broom up and down all the aisles and it's really satisfying and fun. The pile of junk I collect by the end is amazing. Usually lots of leaves, flowers, punch outs to hang things on the pegs, sparkles, feathers, grapevine, cardboard and even dust.

For Your Needs Away From Home

Many people ask me if I like Michael's. I think my tendency to ramble will take over if I stay with essay form so here's a list of what I like and don't about working at Michael's.

My department is the following things: silk flowers, yarn, wedding, Easter eggs, embroidery, latch hook, baskets, candles, silk hanging baskets, St. Patrick's Day, foam cut-out crafts, and I'm still supposed to keep the leftover Valentine's Day stuff clean on the clearance rack.

Don'ts

• Avoiding management. I don't like this for two reasons a) because I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing and I like to know what I'm supposed to be doing and b) I'm supposed to become a manager -- and I can't avoid myself.
• Hours. I work from mid-afternoon til nine usually. Which is kind of a pain because I have to miss choir practice and singing at the nursing home, and I like those things a lot.
• Petty corporate rules -- like the "cashier compliance log." Everything at Michael's come from Irving, TX. Occasionally, when I get to work my time card is missing. It's in a binder where my mistakes are pointed out to me in no uncertain terms. I have to sign the form (not initial it and not date it) and then I'm allowed to sign in for my shift. This may be a fine system but I got in trouble for not circling the phone number (when I wrote in down by hand) on a check. This was my first day on the register and that was my only problem.
• The fake pollen on the silk flowers generates very real sneezes
• "I'm looking for a round container, you hang it on the wall and it's in blue packaging. I need to know where that is. Now." People get angry when I don't know where stuff is.

Do's

• Wearing an apron. The novelty has worn off a bit, but I still like the fact that I'm instantly identified as a part of something. I'm expected to know things and be polite and professional. In the orientation for the first job I ever had they made us all take turns walking around the room wearing a cape. Just to get the idea that being at work is acting. You have to act interested and act like the right kind of employee. An apron is kind of the same thing -- it helps me take a job that I mostly don't like and reminds me to do right.
• Wrapping things in paper at the checkout counter. I think it's neat that some lowly cashier (me) gets to "permanently" determine how that item (frame, mug, vase, etc.) will be protected. Whenever I buy something that has been wrapped, I always try to re-wrap it the way it was wrapped originally. Especially if it's a gift. It's just nice to keep the folds in the same place.
• Price tag gun. 'nuf said.
• Helping people, and hearing their stories. I can't remember anything in particular but the next point is a pretty standard example.
• The nutty people that I meet. I met a lady with a 15 foot tree that she decorates for each season in Victorian style. I helped her pick out the Easter eggs she would use this year.

I am not getting as many hours as I want and I'm not so sure they are actually going to make me the manager they said they were -- there's a sign out front saying that they are hiring another one! But I'm working really hard at being cheerful and Mrs. Paul (kirker) has offered me some part time work as sort of a personal assistant as she runs the, several, family businesses. I will probalby learn payroll, and I'm going to learn to paint end o' this week. She would only probably want me about two days per week, but I think that could be really fun and I know it'll be really helpful.

Look What I Can Do!

I can knit.

The other day I found a kit for ages 8 and up "Learn to Knit Your Own Teddy Bear". So I thought I'd give it a try. It was really fun. Every day I work in a different aisle restocking things and everyday I feel like doing a different crafy thing. Next I'll try embroidering some pillow cases.

I want to get buttons for the eyes, but it came with adhesive felt so I stuck them on.

He's sitting on my rocking chair.

You Must Be A Homeschooler If...

At my job I have to put my belongings in a sort of locker. I was given a Master combination lock and the number code. I was not told how to use it.

Since I never went to high school or even Jr. high, I didn't know how to use this lock. So I feel and, I'm sure, look like an idiot as I focus really hard and turn the dial in many more circles than I need to. Even now, if I loose focus and think about what I'm going to get out, or what I'm going to do next, I get distracted and mess it up. So I pay attention and I feel like a little kid.

Here's how to work a combination lock, if anyone ever needs to know:
Step One: Turn the dial to the right, past the first number and then back to it.
Step Two: Turn the dial to the left, past the second number and then back around to it.
Step Three: Here's where it gets tricky. Turn the dial to the right again, but only to the number, not past it.
Step Four: Pull it open.

What I could not explain to Rachel...

I had a thought whilst I was making "pasta roni" for lunch. Why is Pasta/Rice -a-roni from San Fran? It's the San-Fran-Cis-Co Treat, right? Then I realized that immigrants must, at some point, have moved from Italy (?) to California. Then I wondered why they didn't stop in New York or why they didn't stay in Italy (or wherever, depending what immigrant group I mean). Then I thought: maybe it's just new places. Every place that's newly settled has vast ammounts of potential. Not only for the natives that are being settled, but also for the settlers. But why be a settler? What's the appeal?

This is a lot to think while the noodles were boiling, but I have found that if I try to do other things at the same time, I ruin it. Becuase it's so fast. So I stare at the noodles and think.

Then I thought that maybe the appeal is not really any particlular place, itself. But the fact that most places immigrants go to are "new" or at least "newer" than the place they are coming from. New York and San Fran both had the appeal of having not only fewer people to persecute the immigrants, but fewer people period.

Then the noodles were done and Rachel had to leave.

Right now I have to make more for leftovers for lunch/dinner at Michaels.

Procrastinators, Inc.

This is a place I waste a lot of time.

I wiki a lot of the answers, so at least I'm broadening my knowledge base...

funny thing happened...

on the way to some singing lessons

I didn't find this.

How did this get into print?!?

"In the bleaching beam of the headlights the pustulous road looked as eerie and alien as a moon landscape, at once close yet mysteriously remote and perpetual. Rolf was gazing through the windscreen with the fierce intensity of a rally driver, wrenching the wheel as each fresh obstruction sprang up from the darkness."

I am not making this up.

It's in the opening paragraph of chapter 24 in "The Children of Men" by the amazing P.D. James. The fantastic book has been made into a movie and a lot of my friends are talking about it. So I scrounged around town and found a used copy for $5 and read it. Huge waste of time.

A tiny part of me found the plot and/or "set up" compelling but most of me wanted to finish only so that I could stop. I was reading it in conflict. Why do I care how this ends? I can tell it's dopey, unbelievable and poor, sensationalistic writing -- but I read on. So many books are like this... horrible, but compelling. Bad, but I read them anyhow. The characters in this one are all either whiners, those who hope their high prinicples will make them martyrs, or two-dimensional dictators; or they change from one Type to the other very abruptly with very little warning from their past actions.

I don't want to hate it because I like books, I like holding them, reading them, shelving them, finding them, buying them, carrying them around, etc. But this one frustrated me. The hype and the unique story made me want to like it and I fought my distaste as I was reading, hoping it would all come together in the final chapters. Then the ending is sort of like she ran out of paper but had to turn it in anyway. She should have written "timed out" at the bottom of the last page. The story of universal sterility and a miracle child could have been really interesting -- even from an unchristian background (which I assume she is. But I could be wrong, she quoted the Book of Common Prayer...) -- but it fell flat. In all areas, plot, dialogue, pacing, ideology, scope, believability...

I liked the font it was printed in.

But I hear the story changes a bit in the movie. I've seen the trailer and people throw things at a subway train. That's not in the book. Maybe the changes are for the better.

"The Illusionist" v. "The Prestige"

They both came out about the same time, they are more or less set in the same time period and they are both movies about fantastically skillful (and famous) magicians.

But there the similarity ends.

I liked "The Illusionist." I didn't like the "The Prestige" so much. Both stories deceive the audience, but I didn't like the secret when it was false marriage and self maiming. On the other hand, I think it was a good story when the hidden plot was to save the girl and then live happily ever after.

I don't know, maybe I'm a shallow movie watcher, but I like movies that tell a good straight-forward story without a whole lot of "angst."

Like "Stranger Than Fiction" -- that's a fun movie.
And "Pursuit of Happyness."

New year, new job...

This is my fourth job since I graduated, and I hope it'll be a good one.

The local Michael's (Arts And Crafts) has hired me into the floral and seasonal department. I will be taught everything there is to know and in 60 days (if it turns out I'm not an idiot...) they will make me the manager of that department. And if the store manager and his assistant and the other manager (s?) are ever ALL out of the store at the same time, I will be in charge.

I have this week off because the schedule had already been made up and I guess new people don't get added mid-schedule. During this week I plan to:
a. figure out how my new DVD/VCR/burner works
b. learn a song on my guitar
c. get my car's tires rotated
and
d. clean my room

In keeping with my resolution, I'm not going to worry about how abrupt it seems, I'm just going to log off.