Update

A lot has happened since I last posted. I worked on some posts about various stuff, but have really been swamped and tired over the past few weeks.

I will write more later, I promise. But in summary:
-Bekah got married. It was a great time.
-I learned ever more and more about the problems with the US school system. Things are messed up. You have no idea.
-I learned ever more and more than I'm not very good at teaching middle school children. This bothers me less that it might, as I already knew that middle school wasn't an ideal age group for me. I want to help young people become enthusiastic about science, true, but I am really just getting my feet wet teaching while waiting to go back into grad school. If one wants to teach at college/university level, it looks really good on one's resume to have some teaching experience at any level, so whenever I get really frustrated, I remind myself, "You won't be here forever, and you're building up your CV!"
-On the plus side, teaching socially- and academically-challenged adolescents has given me many humorous anecdotes in a relatively short amount of time. Heehee!
-MIA GOT MARRIED. I can't believe it.

I'm still alive.

I am keeping busy.

On my way to Illinois.

Gotta get crackin'

Yes, dear bloghorts, I have neglected you! Sorry!

I've been having fun and working hard, settling into lesson planning and grading. I think that once I get everything started and set up, it will be easier for me, but right now, I've had to set up spreadsheets to track grades, so I've had to enter all the names and enter all the assignments that have been turned in thus far, and it's been tedious. It should be better from now on, though.

I have even planned my first few days (can't get any farther than that, though, until I touch base with my fellow Science 8 teachers and get some info on what they'll be doing in their classes). We're studying the scientific method and scientific measurements this week.

Friday night was Book Club, and we watched a movie version of Hamlet, to correspond with having read Prince Caspian and Hamlet the past few weeks. I had intended to rent and watch the 1948 Laurence Olivier version: it's an Academy Award-winning classic, after all. However, it turns out that there is not a single Blockbuster or Hollywood Video in Visalia that stocks that version. We had to make do with a modernised 2000 version, made with Ethan Hawke in the title role. Hmm, not what I had in mind, but it served its purpose. I guess I still can't get over the fact, though, that no movie rental place in the whole city had a section devoted to classics or Oscar winners, but had at least 50 copies of Poseidon or Benchwarmers.

Saturday, Jeff and I were both exhausted, so we had a lazy movie day. We watched Date Movie and Scary Movie 4 (I would not recommend either movie), Corpse Bride (Blah), and Rent (Meh). As you may have guessed, none of those movies were chosen by me.

Today, we went to church, then Jeff worked on his thesis and worked on lesson plans. We watched a few episodes of Star Trek: Voyager (we're falling behind with Netflix!) while I prepped Bible study, then we went to Bible study. Acts 8.

Now, it's time to: print things out, get everything together so that I can just grab stuff and run out the door in the morning, and fall into bed.

To: Marguerite Gautier

Cc: Mimi, Satine, Violetta Valery

RE: Consumption

Ladies,

I regret to inform you that I will NOT be joining your august assembly. I have been tested for tuberculosis and been determined to be TB-negative. These are circumstances most fortunate, I having been provided with BCG vaccination as a small child, and thus having the distinct possibility of testing TB-positive, due to the antibodies being already present in my system (yet another of the oft-hidden pitfalls of a third-world upbringing). I was actually pretty stressed about it, as a positive test would have necessitated a chest x-ray and all sorts of nonsense, despite my documentation of medical history and vaccinations.

At any rate, please enjoy your dubious immortality with the wasting disease.

Sincerely yours,
Kiti Fantastico Feely

It's real

Or at least, I think it's real.

I finished up my paperwork today.

I went to my school and met with some of the administrative staff, and saw some of the campus.

I looked at my classroom (A104) and got the key. I received a teacher's handbook. I got a school lanyard for my official school badge. I picked up my textbook and some other stuff, and brought them home to look over. I'll meet with the science department head tomorrow to discuss curriculum and standards and lesson plans and other fun stuff.

I'm meeting my students tomorrow, and will be going through the day with the current sub, so as to have a helper to answer questions, etc., on my first day.

I am SO EXCITED. No joke.

By the way, I have not altered my stance on public education, but this [failing] socialist burden is not going away any time soon (I'm sorry to say), and as a taxpayer, don't you rest more easily knowing that I make it my job to let at least some fraction of your tax money do its job? Because ultimately, I don't really work for the school district. Ultimately, I (along with the entire school district) work for YOU, the taxpayers who are being forced to subsidize the education of other people's brats. Be assured that I consider myself accountable.

What a difference a day makes;

Or, [Mama]’s got a brand new [job]

Well, despite the fact that one of my greatest fears is that I’ll become utterly uninteresting, life with me usually ends up being anything but boring.
Case in point: On Friday, I got a new job and quit my old one!

There are a lot of things that went on recently that influenced my decision, but the bottom line is that on Thursday, due to unforeseen circumstances, I made a choice to switch gears and begin on the path that will lead me to my dream: being a college professor! It's a long path, but it will be worth it. Anyway, here's to the start of my teaching career, as a science teacher for a middle school. I interviewed on last Thursday night, was offered the job on Friday, went through orientation and signed a contract Saturday, and am now just waiting for some bureacratic hoops to be jumped (in particular, completion of my TB skin test). School began yesterday, so they are pretty desperate, but I say, if they knew they had vacancies, they should have worked a little harder to fill them before three days prior to the start of the school year. Ah, well, things should be operational on Thursday or so.

My employers were hardly thrilled at my decision, but I signed an "at-will employment" agreement when I was hired, so I was perfectly within my rights to just walk out, if I so desired. And I did. I had no animosity toward my employers, but it just was not where I wanted to be. Now, I just have to ensure that I can attain proper closure, i.e. getting paid properly for all my hours on my final paycheck. *sigh*

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the great Maureen O'Hara!

Tujuh belas Agustus

Yes, indeed! And that means that Republik Indonesia is 61 years of age.

This is of some importance to a Papuan-Indonesian-American person, such as myself.

So Excited!

I have been welcomed into the College of the Sequoias Master Chorale! I'm so excited to be singing again.

It is not really very hard to get into the chorale, but you really have to know what you're doing once you're there, as we began sight-singing rather difficult music (Bach, "Magnificat"; Mozart, "Regina Coeli"), right off the bat. I get the sense that people who can't actually hack it get washed out very quickly.

You all deserve photos from the wedding, as well as a full report.
But you'll have to wait for them.

I've had a busy productive day, involving 8 hours of work, 3 loads of laundry, 4 episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, and some practicing of instruments.

Belated, but...

Happy birthday, Fidel Castro!

And Alfred Hitchcock.

And me.

August 13.

All aboard!

And now, I am going to hop in my car and head down south to enjoy Sherida's wedding!

Anniversary

Jeff and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary. I had a wonderful evening with my hubby. But more about that, later.

Good times

Jeff and I had a busy weekend. Saturday, I worked on scrapbooking projects with Debbie and went to the library book sale. Then Jeff and I went to the gym (I exercised quite hard) and joined the all the Feelys for dinner at Little Italy. It was ostensibly a birthday celebration for me, and everyone was very nice.

Sunday, Jeff and I went up to Fresno to celebrate our anniversary. Can you believe it has been 4 years? I appreciate my husband so much! We've both done a lot of growing in the past few years, and I haven't been this happy in more than 16 years. Being me, I'm waiting for something horrible to happen, since happiness obviously cannot possibly last, but I'm also trying to enjoy it right now. As a habitually reticent person, I don't care to share much of my feelings, so that is all I'll say right now.

Aw, how sad:
MTV Curse Meets the Barkers.

And I thought these two crazy kids just might make it. But when the drummer from Blink-182 (who makes Lydia the Tattooed Lady look like an amateur) marries a Playboy Playmate (whose exes include Oscar de la Hoya and Dennis Quaid), lollipops and roses are too much to expect, I guess.

Blink-182. *sigh*

Following up on my paragraph about Dan: I didn't mean to give Mia short shrift on July 31, but when I posted, I was really tired and couldn't think of much to say.

Mia's birth is something that I remember very clearly. Mulia, Irian Jaya, Indonesia - Dan, Mike, and I were so excited to have a baby sister! She really was a beautiful baby, and fortunately, she stayed beautiful. Mia is a sibling that has occasionally been a challenge for me; Not only do we not always see eye-to-eye, but we often seem to be existing on different planets! We're growing closer as we get older. Still, I never let her forget who's older and really in charge, and she never lets me forget who's The Princess... But seriously, I've been so proud of her growth as a Christian and as an intellect, in the past few years. She went to college, developed an interest in history, archaeology, and science (three of my pet passions), and suddenly we have SO MUCH to talk about. But I would have been equally proud, had Mia chosen to do something else entirely with her life, because she's becoming her own person and doing a great job of it.
Mia, please don't have kids any time soon, because I don't know how I'd handle my Baby having a baby.

Happy Days

Today is the birthday of my Kakak Dan! Dan is the person, together with my parents, that I have actually known my entire life. That is many, many years of knowing each other. We don't always agree on things, which just goes to make life more interesting, but we always have each others' backs. Some of my best memories of life with Dan include that time in Meyokda that he cut my hair (end result: disaster), that other time in Meyokda that he got me lost in the jungle (end result: disaster averted), all those years of boarding school (end result: well, we are both well enough educated to have masters degrees), and our occasional theatre work (The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Virtue is Her Own Reward, at Sentani, and The Promise at Cedar Mill Bible Church--Dan portrayed Satan, and very well!). He followed me to college, and then grad school, and it was a very sweet time in December when we both graduated with degrees from Talbot.
Today, Dan is 31, and a very accomplished scholar, theologian, and minister, not to mention officer in the US Army.

In other news, Sara and Jeremy left for Africa today. I wish them good luck and much health as they seek the LORD's will, exploring possible locations for their future ministry with Wycliffe. I'm so envious! It may sound crazy, but sometimes, I really miss living in a third world country. =(

So... tired...

Yes, I really am tired. Work has been taking a lot out of me. Jeff has been working a lot, too.

I can't think of anything interesting to write.

Checking in

Things are going fine with Bible study, book club, etc.
I need more than 24 hours in a day.

My brother is getting married.

It is my sister's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mia!!

Counting down

Well, things are moving along, life-wise. We are heading into the craziness of wedding season, with one down last weekend, and five more to go by mid-November:
Sherida - August 12
Bekah Newell - September 2
Mia - September 23
Christina - October 22
Another wedding that is yet to be publicly revealed - November 11 (most likely)
My employers are pretty tired of me requesting days off, but they are being very understanding, since they know that weddings are important and as a friend and sister, I NEED to be there for the lucky people.

In other news, Jeff and I are now virtual parents! No, really. We have had a young lady, in her late teenage years, move in with us. She is a relatively recent Christian, needed a place to live, and wanted to be with Christian folks that could mentor her in her faith and in life skills. Jeff and I had an open room or two, so we were happy to take in a token waif. Pray for Kendra!

Work is getting busy. I have new responsibilities, what with people leaving the company while things are heating up, business-wise, and I would prefer to just be doing what I was hired to do. I'm an INTJ! Let me do my problem-solving thing! I really enjoy being a solutions specialist, helping people improve their lives and their enterprises with technology. Business development and product management? Not my strength, and not what I want to do. Oh, well, we can only do our best, and no more.

The exercise thing is going along nicely. Now I remember why I didn't really exercise for the past few years: it takes too much time! Yeesh! Exercising for an hour? That's 1/24 of my day! Going 3-4 times/week is fine so far, though. Pilates is pretty easy for me, so I think I'm going to just do that once/week, and then challenge myself with cardio and lifting weights the rest of the time.

Finally, Jeff and I might have found an almost-decent Chinese restaurant in this town. I thought it was bland, but didn't order anything that would normally be really zippy, anyway.

Catch you on the flip side, all! It's bedtime.

D.E.A.R.

Do we all know what D.E.A.R. is? It comes from, I think, Ramona Quimby, Age 8, and means Drop Everything And Read. And so I have done, or shortly will do.

I've joined a book club! Or more accurately, I've started one. I really want to be motivated to read and discuss great literature. So, with people from Bible study, as well as a few other places, we're going to begin reading books and meeting together. We want to be Christian in focus, although not necessarily strictly Christian in designation. We decided to have our first book be The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, as it is short, easy reading, and has the added benefit of being familiar and accessible.

So, fun for me!

Not much to report at present. Perhaps there will be more tomorrow or the day after.

Recently, I've amused myself by thinking of various unique ways to say "He's not very bright."
There are the old standards, such as "Not the brightest bulb on the tree" or "The elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor". Here are a few of my new ones:
-Not the sharpest blade in the Swiss army knife.
-Not the highest-rising muffin in the pan.
-A few donuts short of a squad car.

We're a good way through Season 4 of Angel, and I must say, I don't much care for the writing this season. A lot of it can be summed up with the word, "Ew!!" It's interesting, though, to see a few of the ways that Joss Whedon managed to find employment for his out-of-work Firefly actors.

Great Angel quote: "For a taciturn shadowy guy, I've got a big mouth."
Great Groosalugg quote: "Hail to you potential client."
Great Cordy quote: "Am I wrong in thinking that a "please" and "thank you" is generally considered good form when requesting a dismemberment?" Aw, Cordy!
Bonus Cordy quote: "Hey, the last thing I want is to show up at the office and find that I'm working for a homicidal monster."
Great Wesley quote: "If you've come to tell me you killed your parents, could it wait until another time?"
And remember, the Gateway to Lost Souls is under the LA post office!

Wedding, Part the Third

After the whole she-bang was over, and Jim and Sharon departed to their destination, a flock of us went over to Cheesecake Factory in Fresno. I got to talk with Dan, Kevin, and Will (mostly Will).
REPRESENT!!! (And check out Mike kissing his girlfriend in the background of the second picture. Mweheheh.)

Then I went back home with six guys in tow, found places for all of them to sleep, and crashed into bed myself. Sunday morning, I woke up, cooked pancakes for breakfast (it's all about the Bisquick, people), went to church, snoozed on the couch, and planned a Bible study around Acts chapter 1. Jeff came home (from his trip to Montebello), we went to Bible study, and that was that. The spectre of Monday had returned...

Wedding, Part the Second

At the reception, the punch was excellent and the cake was decent. I did sit with Joi and Jessy, along with Tracy Chappiari, Marcy Ratcliff, Andrea Haddock (dressed, as per usual, as though she were headed next to a Renaissance Faire), and some people (not known to me) named Ben and Bonnie.
Photo credits (in order): me with Joi (Ah you ready, Weavah?!), me with Reverend Dan in his dress uniform, Will with Jessy (whose romance I somehow intuitively picked up on during the ceremony, looking at Jessy in the pew next to me and thinking, "She'd be so great for Will! I wonder if there's something going on between them".), me with Will, and the bride and groom (I don't think Sharon knew I was taking the picture).

Wedding, Part the First

As promised, here is a chronicle of the weekend events, mostly focused on the wedding.

Saturday was the wedding of James, whom I like very much, and Sharon, whom I do not know and therefore cannot honestly claim to like, although I'm sure I would like her if I did know her. I was very happy for the groom and bride, but also happy for me, as I had a chance to bless people and have much fun, serving as a hostess for several of the men involved with the wedding. They were around for three nights, and they kept multiplying!

It started on Thursday night, when Kakak Rev Graf Spee and Mike Davis arrived. Friday night, we added Lemming-Will and K-W, and Saturday, post-wedding, Matt Herchenroeder and Ted Jager. All the guys were in the wedding in some capacity: Will was best man, the others were groomsmen, except for the Reverend GS, who offered scripture during the ceremony. It was interesting, since I've known GS my whole life, know Will and Kevin pretty well, Mike and Matt slightly, and Ted not at all. For my part, I was just a dull and ordinary guest, so I had fun most of the weekend, not having to wear a tux or military dress uniform. That was significant, because it was HOT. I hear you ask, "How hot was it?" It was so hot that the plastic cup in my car melted on Saturday afternoon. I kid you not. Exhibit A. On the left is a normal Starbucks cup; on the right is the Starbucks cup that was in my cupholder in my car.



Okay, well, anyway, the wedding was fairly standard, as weddings go. I had fun playing "spot the homeschooler" (yes, there were some women in jumpers), "spot the missionary" (I'm allowed to play that one, and yes, they were wearing cotton print short-sleeved button-up shirts, which is perfectly respectable formal attire in Africa and Asia), and my personal favorite, "spot the homeschooling missionary" (yes, I am evil, but what else is new?). I got to sit with Jessy Wall and Joi Weaver (who grinned and whispered, when I sat down in the pew, "Welcome to the Buffy row!"), and all three of us were proper hymn-singers, in that we sang the correct Ebenezer line in the congregational hymn, "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing". Heehee! Anyway, there was a pronounced Lord of the Rings theme, which isn't heretical or anything, but I find it hard to accept as wedding material, even if we are in the thoroughly modern 21st century. Dear Dr. Sanders was one of the officiants, and I kind of think he doesn't like me, since he looked awkward and sort of muttered "Hi" when he saw me at the reception, but I'd rather think that he was merely stricken dumb with envy, having to wear long sleeves while I was cool and comfortable in my dressily flower-printed racerback tank top. But I digress. Jim and Sharon were properly married, and that is the important thing. It was truly sweet and lovely.

I saw some people I hadn't seen for a while, including Dustin and Katie Guenther, who have just passed their anniversary of their first year of marriage (I went to their wedding last summer), and Rebecca Carroll, who was one of the bridesmaids, and is to be commended for escaping from Visalia and getting a good job in Southern California.

Going, going, gone...

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1218438.php
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-boeing22jul22,1,3606743.story?coll=la-headlines-business

Oh, that historic Anaheim campus!

Hi, Cricket!!

I didn't know you read my blog regularly. I knew you read it at least once, but now I must welcome you to my regular readership!

PS If you have a blog, I couldn't get to it by clicking on it in your profile.

Great weekend

Wow, I'm so tired, and not ready for the beginning of a new week.

I had a fabulous weekend, though. You'll hear all about it tomorrow.

Excitement

This weekend, Jeff and I made yet another whirlwind trip down to the LA area. We were going down to see friends and family at the more-or-less annual Alternate Banquet, which became smaller and more intimate this year through necessity.

Jeff and I interrupt our cheesecake-eating to pose for a photo.



The whole gang: Sandra and William, Jeremy (sans Sara, who was at her grandfather's funeral in OR), Mum and Dad, Deb and Jeff, Elizabeth, Mia, Christina and Will. I love these people!

Sister pose! We're practicing for the future, when we'll rule art gallery openings, embassy balls, and the proverbial red carpet with a double set of well-manicured iron fists (in velvet gloves, of course).

We returned on Sunday to have Bible study. We are starting a study of the book of Acts. People had originally wanted to speed through Acts in 10-12 lessons, but after my introductory overview, they agreed to a happier 23-lesson plan. Heheheh.

We've both been working hard, and we've also been to the gym a few times. I'm trying Pilates, which is actually really easy for me, as I have (for some unknown reason) naturally strong abs. I am making an effort to have a good attitude about exercise.

Fug Watch: Warped Tour 2006

I am terribly sad that I didn't think to start taking random pictures before the end of our time at the Warped Tour, as these are only a small sampling of the bizarre and downright inappropriate outfits I saw then, all of which just begged for a mocking.

For example, these guys just didn't even try. This isn't the Middle-class White Sports Fans Convention! Would it have killed them to put forth a little effort, and gotten at least a fake tattoo?



















And, of course, Sallie Sue was utterly confused, because the Rodeo Slut Ball isn't even being held anywhere near Fresno County this year.









This girl's hair clashed with her shirt clashed with her tutu (!) clashed with everything else at the event!!!













I can only imagine the conversation that went on at the entrance booth, when this girl showed up.

EVENT STAFF: We're sorry, miss, but we can't let you in. Our rules clearly state that you must be wearing a shirt in order to enter the premises.
GIRL: I am wearing a shirt. See? It's a tank top, and it's draped around my shoulders.
EVENT STAFF: We can't argue with that logic. Our apologies, miss. Please come right in!









And a tip for the guys out there: When chicks are out in warm weather, and flip up their shirts to expose their tummies, it's totally HOTT (as long as the chicks ain't fat and ugly, am I right?), but when bros do it, it's NOT ATTRACTIVE, especially if they are wearing baggy pants that droop to expose tacky, clashing boxer shorts...

I was in San Francisco. Had a good time doing training with my buddy Alice. So... tired...

KNN (Kiti News Network)

This just in: Drama drama drama at the SATC!!!

What do you think about business trips? They are tiring, but a sad necessity. What would you think of a man who didn't go on a business trip because his girlfriend wouldn't let him? What would you think if the backstory was that the girlfriend (non-employee) had been under the mistaken impression that she was going to be allowed to go on the trip, too, and threw a tantrum when it was made clear that she simply wasn't going to be joining him in the company-paid car? And the man had been told (by the boss) that she was not allowed, but he still tried to convince his co-workers (who had also been briefed by the boss) to take her anyway? And he kept his co-workers waiting in the parking lot for 30 minutes while he fought with his girlfriend, and then he just came down and said, "I won't be going with you, then"?
True story. Seriously. I know. I can picture your jaw dropping as you read the above paragraph.

Honestly, the girlfriend must be uber-scary, because this guy thought it was preferable to piss me off in an effort to placate her! And how useful is it to try to convince me to do something that I've stated that I will not do, especially because (1) it's unprofessional, (2) the fellow in charge (who is paying for the trip) has said must not happen, and (3) I just don't want to? [Answer: Not useful at all.]

Anyway, events followed their natural course, and the man no longer has a job. I'm guessing he won't have a girlfriend for much longer.

And that's just the tip of the drama iceberg. Working at a Humongous Anonymous Technical Company did have some advantages, such as the fact that people's personal problems were not readily in evidence, not to mention the fact that it was easy to hide in the crowd and avoid crossfire.

John Gay meets Damon Runyon

Last week, while in San Francisco, Alice and I went to a play. This was no ordinary play. This was a Marxist-cum-Fascist (although I think the latter bit was an unhappy accident of human nature, not authorial intent) musical by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. Left-wing propagandist entertainment in San Francisco? I'm stunned!

Happy End is a tale of a murderous gangster who reluctantly falls in love with a plucky Salvation Army lass, and of the cast of wacky (if ultimately unpleasant) characters surrounding them. [No, it's not Guys and Dolls, but you're forgiven for being confused.] The score wasn't that great, in my opinion, but then I have only slight appreciation for Weill and Brecht, since experimental German theatre has never been my thing. There were a few good songs, such as "The Bilbao Song", "The Mandalay Song", and "Surabaya Johnny", but the sum of the parts is really greater than the whole, in this case. However, it was a good experience just to see live theatre again.

The Girl at the Rock Show

Or, I Couldn't Wait for the Summer and the WARPED TOUR!
Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love* the West.

Today, I went to my first ever real rock concert. And it was a whole bunch of concerts rolled into one! Yes, Jeff and I went to the Warped Tour in Fresno. I can't even begin to summarize everything that we saw, but I can say that it was quite an experience and I had a blast.

We arrived before 11, which was good, as some bands started playing around 11:15. We wandered around and visited a lot of the smaller stages, as we liked a lot of that music better. We made sure to see Motion City Soundtrack, who were headlining the tour this year, because we think they're okay but mostly because hey! we'd heard of them. We also made a point of checking out Cartel. There were many booths among the stages: record companies and radio stations, bands, clothing brands, political action-type groups (like PETA--very odd), etc. There was even a Trojan booth, handing out condoms; I wasn't entirely sure what the condoms were for, unless Jeff and I were going to get a lot more show for our money than we'd anticipated (actually, no; oh, well). Jeff bought some CDs and signed up on a few mailing lists (he even signed up at the PETA booth, just to get a free DVD). We had to buy some food and drinks, which were reasonably priced for an event like this, except for the water: $3 for a 24-ounce bottle.

The bands kept interspersing their sets with commentary on how hot it was: 104 F. It didn't feel quite that hot to me, but I was warm. I guess even with touring all over the continent in the middle of summer, the Warped Tour bands don't always encounter such intense conditions, even though I had assumed that the east and midwest would be almost as hot and twice as humid. The whole event was on blacktop, in a parking lot, so there was a lot of heat coming up from the ground, as well as beating down from the sky. I got sunburned, despite putting on sunscreen.

We only stayed till c. 4 pm, as poor Jeff was tired and hot and hurting from walking and standing all day. I must say, when it comes to events like concerts and dancing, I'm the one with a lot more stamina. I would have been happy to stay for another 3-4 hours!

Bands we saw, that we at least liked:
Amber Pacific
Cartel
Dork
8 Fingers Down
Hit the Lights
Motion City Soundtrack
Saves the Day
Meg & Dia
Helmet

Bands I wish I'd seen, but we were listening to something else:
Saosin
Rise Against
Everytime I Die
Pretty in Stereo

Bands I wish I'd seen, but we left before they played:
My American Heart
Less Than Jake
The Academy Is...

My friends and family know that I have not always embraced my enforced tenure in the Western world. I still do not feel comfortable in the US. It is my belief (no longer a fear, but a simple acceptance) that I never will. However, my experience with punk and alternative rock music has proven to be of such value in my life, allowing me to see another part of this culture and understand something of what the unsaved are like in this corner of the world. Yes, God uses punk rock to change lives. Who knew?!? Anyway, I'm resigned to my plight, and even learning to embrace it. After all, they don't have the Warped Tour in New Guinea.


*Or at least, Tolerate.

Life Report

What have I been up to for the past few months?

Obviously, I've been working a lot, and traveling a lot. In between times, I've had a bit of fun here and there.

Last month, I went down to the LA area to attend Sara Brown's graduation from Talbot. I'm so proud of her! She and I know the true evils of Talbot's ICD program.

Last weekend, Jeff and I were treated to an impromptu visit from Sara and Jeremy, as they were driving north on the 5 to see Jeremy's family for the holiday weekend and one of their tires failed. They were a reasonably short distance from our house, so they drove across the 198 and spent the night, got their car fixed in the morning, and were on their way again... It was just fun to have them with us for a short time.

Our US Independence Day celebration (i.e. our celebration of the move from taxation without representation to taxation with representation) was fairly low-key. We had dinner with Jeff's family, and set off some [entirely legal] fireworks once it was dark. Jerry and Debbie were watching a Prairie Home Companion televised special, and I realised, once again, that Garrison Keillor is absolutely unfunny. I do not understand how that man has managed to sustain a dull and pointless radio show for more than 20 years, and probably even made some money at it. Why would anyone make a movie of it? Lame, lame, lame, ad nauseum a la H.L. Mencken.

The biggest recent news is that Jeff and I have joined a fitness center. This is notable because I enjoy participating in exercise just about as much as a cat enjoys doing synchronized swimming. I love to dance, but exercising simply for the sake of exercising is just so difficult for me. Have you ever noticed that many gym machines look like medieval torture devices?* Coincidence? I think not.


Anyway, we did the preliminary fitness evaluation and everything, and the exercise physiologist set my goal as losing 1 pound. My real goal is to trim down enough to wear that size 2 bridesmaid gown in Christina's wedding in October. I'm going to try and be a good girl, and eat right and exercise.

Overall, I'm doing well at present, but I really miss my family and friends down south. Fortunately, I'm going to be seeing many of them next weekend. I'll just have to hang on till then.

*Note: If you ever do a Google image search for "medieval torture device" or something along those lines, be prepared for some pretty bizarre and eye-opening hits. That's all I have to say.

Thursday random fifteen

I put my iPod on shuffle at work this afternoon, and here's what it spit out:
Look at Us Now, Serena Paris - I think this was the dance mix. I remember when they used to play this song on the radio, in the early 2000s. It seems so very long ago.
She Will Be Loved, Maroon 5 - Hey, I still like Maroon 5. I think they have talent. They need to stop flirting with boybandhood, though, and put some solid music in their next effort.
We are the Waiting, Green Day - Ah, yes. I know I am anxious see what Green Day will do after their American Idiot success. For one thing, it doesn't bode well, long-term, to constantly vilify one's target market (unless, of course, one is Groucho Marx).
Track 15, Various Artists - I admit it. I have no clue what this song is, or what album it was from. It was a random sort of jazz thing.
Du bist die Ruh, Renee Fleming - I like opera, but found this aria somewhat colourless.
Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year, Fallout Boy - Not emu. Emo. There's a difference.
Mutt, Blink-182 - *sniff* Blink-182 is still my favorite band. Ever.
Marie Marie, Marlene Dietrich - This takes me back to high school. I spent a lot of time with the old vinyl records I'd check out of the library, becoming acquainted with music of another time. I met Dietrich, Piaf, and Connie Francis.
Stay Together for the Kids, Blink-182 - More Blink-182. Huh.
Vittoria/Ave Maria, Opera Babes - It's time for another good idea/bad idea. Opera? Good idea. Techno opera? Bad idea. Oh, well, Opera Babes, it was a noble effort. PS The mezzo is fabulous, the first soprano not so much. Look into it.
Don't Tell Me That It's Over, Blink-182 - Wow, what are the odds? I mean, I don't have that many Blink-182 songs on my iPod...
I Would Walk 500 Miles, Less than Jake - Fun punkish cover of a well-known song.
Get Happy, Judy Garland - One of the greatest pop/jazz recordings of the 20th century. That's all.
O Little Town of Bethlehem, Jewel - I deleted my Christmas playlist, but apparently, that didn't delete the songs themselves from the iPod's song library.
I Wanna Be Loved, Helen Kane - Oldie but goodie. Boop-boop-be-doop! Helen Kane was something of a real-life model for the cartoon character Betty Boop.

I neglected to mention a special birthday a few days ago (Monday): HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRISTIE HALLETT! Christie does not really participate in this blog, but she is a wonderful, adorable person that I've loved for many years.

I am making sure not to be late with this special birthday greeting, so I'm posting it now:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to SARA BROWN! Best friend since age 13. I hope you have a great year of being 29 (*gulp*).

Here we are in Zion National Park (Utah 1998--Pure Adventure! Great memories!). I always love looking at pictures of myself with Sara, as she is a tiny petite woman who makes me look like an oversized Amazon by contrast. Heheh.

It is, it is a glorious thing

Best Operetta Ever


I have memorized all the songs and practically all of the dialogue. If you see only one filmed/televised '80s Broadway adaptation of a 19th-century operetta this year, it should be this one!

Eat your heart out, Johnny Depp. You'll never be even half the pirate that Kevin Kline is.

I wish more people were devoted to operetta. Gilbert and Sullivan, in particular, are surprisingly relevant. After all, with their wordplay and funny songs, crazy situations, and outrageous characters (satirizing well-known personages of the day), the Savoy operettas were the Victorian equivalent of Saturday Night Live (the primary difference being that at D'Oyly Carte, real talent was required; Ashlee Simpson would never have gotten close enough to a mic to even think about lip-synching).

So far, I've advanced the cause of Gilbert and Sullivan, light opera, and the 1983 production of Pirates of Penzance; made casual reference to an upcoming pirate film, likely to prove popular; and laid a smack down on Ashlee Simpson: All in a good night's blogging.

Notes in passing

Yesterday was the birthday of the lovely Eva Marie Saint, remembered primarily for winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar opposite Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront and climbing around Mount Rushmore with Cary Grant in Hitchcock's North by Northwest. The Saint is still working today, of course, releasing two movies in 2005, and having a featured role in no less than this summer's popular film Superman Returns.

A cursory check of IMDB revealed that this is also the birthday of the fabulous Leslie Caron and Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAUREL!

24 today!

Classic beauty

I'm realizing that I just got to be sending out the shout-outs to our living legends--more and more are dying every year, and a sad thing it is...

And so, I say:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND!!!!
She is 90 years old today.

Perfectly photogenic Olivia de Havilland began in films in 1935 and achieved stardom with amazing rapidity. She was only 19 when she won critical and popular attention with lead roles in A Midsummer Night's Dream (she portrayed Hermia) and Captain Blood (beginning a teaming with Errol Flynn that would last several years; notorious womanizer Flynn was deeply in love with Olivia for a significant portion of those years, but she resisted his advances). However, lovely Miss de Havilland was not content with being just a pretty leading lady in costume pictures; she began fighting (taking it all the way to court and winning a landmark legal battle) for better roles, despite studio opposition. I, for one, am glad that she did not immediately succeed in her quest, for her Maid Marian (opposite Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood) is a cinematic treasure. However, she found a solid place in the Hollywood pantheon with her sweetly steely Melanie in Gone With the Wind, earning her first Oscar nomination and her only one in the Supporting Actress category (she lost to costar Hattie McDaniel). Her first Best Actress nom came with Hold Back the Dawn; she lost the award this time to younger sister Joan Fontaine! Olivia had the last laugh, though: she received three more Best Actress nominations, winning two of them, for To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949). With the 1950s and cultural changes, film roles became scarcer for Olivia, but she kept working some in theatre and television. She is now retired in Paris, France, but active in church work.

Furthermore

We wish a very happy birthday to John Gay, the playwright who wrote The Beggar's Opera.

It is also a birthday of beautiful and gifted silent film star Madge Bellamy (who would have been 107 today), early talkies tough girl Glenda Farrell (aka Torchy Blane, who would have been 102), beautiful and talented Susan Hayward (Oscar winner, would have been 88), comedienne Mary Livingstone (wife of Jack Benny, would be 100), and playwright Lillian Hellman (paramour of Dashiell Hammett, who would be 101). Then there is Lizzy Caplan (24, who portrayed Janis Ian in Mean Girls, one of my favorite movies).

And don't (despite the fact that I did) forget Jamie Alexander, Biola's own actor-currently-going-nowhere. I met him (he lived in Emerson) when we were both undergrads, and I thought he was pretty lame. He was supposedly this talented performer, but he wasn't very interesting as a person.

So, there we go. Everything from a producer/writer of a centuries-long hit to a boring Biolan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LENA HORNE!

Dear Lena Horne,



I know you'll never read this, but I just want to say, I'm a huge fan. I have been since 1990. I first encountered you when Dad showed us That's Entertainment, very soon after we had moved to the US. You were singing "Honeysuckle Rose" in a beautiful white gown: it was a clip from Thousands Cheer. I thought, "Who is that beautiful singer?" Over the next few years, I was to learn more, and gain respect.


Now I have some of your recordings, and listen to them on a regular basis.

I loved your performance as Julie in the "Show Boat" vignette from Till the Clouds Roll By, although I understand why MGM didn't let you play the role in the the Show Boat film (But wouldn't it be so interesting if they had?).

You are classy and talented, and I hope you are healthy and enjoying life at 89.

Sincerely,
Kiti Fantastico

Home again, home again

Jiggety-jig.

Wow, I really HAVE been terrible about updating my blog. If you must know, however, it's largely because I have a rather boring life at the moment.

Another reason is the fact that I've been in Tallahassee (Florida) for the past four days, with inconsistent internet access. There was a business center in my hotel, but the hotel also had hundreds of teenaged children (they were hosting some sort of 4H mock legislature convention), so the business center was monopolized by adolescents who were trying to be cool, flirting awkwardly, and checking their MySpace accounts. Ugh.

In the realm of Deb trivia, it was fun to visit Tallahassee, as I almost decided to go there after college for the Ph.D. in Geochemistry program at Florida State U. Obviously, the Lord took me in a different direction, but it was kind of fun to see what Florida is like. On the whole, however, Tallahassee is pretty podunk; it looks kind of stereotypically southern redneck trashy, and the vast majority of people there are associated with either government (as it's the state capital) or the universities (both FSU and Florida A&M are there). Sadly, I didn't get to drive down to the coast (no rental car, this trip), so I didn't get to spend time at a real beach.

I'm back

More or less.

I thought I'd jumpstart my blogging with a list.

Things that make me happy:
Wedding invitations from people I care about
Fuse TV
The Simpsons
Angels & Airwaves
Watching Fuse and The Simpsons, or listening to Angels & Airwaves, with my husband
My kitty cats
Classic movies
Amusing Georgette Heyer books
Gilbert and Sullivan operettas
Getting some good work done
Fashion articles that really are about fashion, and the clothes are cute
Softserve ice cream
The way that your teeth feel after you've flossed them
Singing along to musical theater soundtracks I play while driving
Good theology
Dancing around the house to music in our stereo
Solving a challenging physics problem

Dear Blog

How have I neglected thee? Let me count the ways.

Actually, I've neglected pretty much everybody and everything in my life. I've kept up with work, but that's just about it. Oh, and I've been spending time with Jeff, so that's good.

I'm sorry, everybody!! I really am. I don't mean to be such a horrible, neglectful friend, daughter, sister, and blogger.

I will do better, I promise.

I guess I should finish my tale of travel woes. But I don't feel like it. I'm just feeling contrary this weekend.

Jeff is working on some photos, and I was looking at some old portraits he took of my sister. I'm not over-stating it when I say that Mia is really so gorgeous and photogenic. She is so utterly beautiful, it makes me sick! She could totally be a model. *sigh* It's difficult to avoid being envious.

More Global Nomad

I am cold and tired and miserable and stuck in the Las Vegas Airport for several more minutes. I am in this predicament because my flight from Grand Junction to Phoenix was 30 minutes late (not sure why, since when I checked in, I was told that it was On Time) taking off, so I missed my connecting flight to Fresno. I had to get a flight from PHX to Vegas, and then wait around to get a red-eye to FAT, after which I'll have to drive home in the dead of early morning. I have bitter hatred for America West. I have traveled all over the world, in third-world countries, what have you, in conditions most of you probably cannot even imagine, and never* have I had such horrible airline experiences as I've suffered in the past month. I'm writing America West/US Air a nasty note, and may choose to boycott them if they don't put forth their very best effort to make things right.

I told Jeff that I can't imagine what sins I've committed, to be receiving such hefty karmic retribution. It's a bummer that I can't even remember them; they were probably fun and exciting.

Oops, time to board. At least there is free wireless internet in this airport.

*Exception being that one hour or so in Heathrow in January 2003, but at least it was over quickly, and I had my winter coat and my Jeffrey to keep me warm.

ICE ICE BABY

Dear Airport Management: Sorry, but I forgot to bring my PARKA. Did you notice that it is JUNE and you are in a DESERT?! Maybe you should keep with tradition and be HOT instead of FRIGID. Look into it.

Hey, folks, remember the ice planet Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back? That is what the Las Vegas Airport is like. They have the air conditioning pumped up to a level that even large self-heated people would consider chilly; for a Reynauds sufferer like myself, it is ghastly.

I keep expecting the Abominable Snowman to come sauntering into the waiting area...

Rocky Mountain High

Greetings again from the Global Nomad. I have not yet finished chronicling my previous adventures, and here I am on yet another.

I'm in Colorado. Grand Junction, to be specific. I flew in this afternoon. The flight from Phoenix to Grand Junction was, by the way, the most turbulent one I've ever experienced in the US. I'm so blase about it, though. I always tell myself, "No matter how bad it seems, I've been through worse!" All those years of flying in helicopters, single-prop planes, and goodness knows what they had with Merpati, have definitely provided me with a high tolerance for turbulent air travel.

And speaking of Merpati, I have to say that the Grand Junction airport is probably smaller than even Rendani in Sowi. They seriously have only two baggage claim carousels, and there is no monitor or marquee to mark which flight's baggage is on them. Not that it matters, since there are probably no more than two flights in at any given time, so all a passenger must do is go stand between them and glance side-to-side until his/her baggage is clearly in view.

In summary: Today, I have traveled several hundred miles, completed two crosswords and two sudoku puzzles, and posted on my blog.

Sorry I'm not home right now

I'm walking into spider webs...

Or bears' dens or snakes' lairs.

That's right, I'm going camping. I loathe camping, for many good reasons which I may or may not reveal. The only good aspects of camping are (1) the camp fire and (2) the s'mores. In fact, Jeff persuaded me to go only by telling me that I could be in charge of the fire. Warms my little pyromaniacal heart.

I'm still taking my laptop, but I won't have internet access. *sigh* I'll miss you all. *mwa mwa* Bye!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

A very happy birthday to Firefly cutie Jewel Staite, who is 24 today!
Blogger wouldn't let me load pictures, for some reason, today. So, see Jewel here.

We watched X-Men: The Last Stand on Monday. I loathed it. The best thing I can say about it is that I hated it less than The Fantastic Four. Jeff didn't like it, either, and he says it's because of the director. I think it was just a bad script.

But I found out something: I have my own superhero! One of the mutant people was named Kitty (which is, of course, an alternate spelling of my nickname Kiti), so I looked her up, and she is a popular X-men character, Kitty Pryde, also known as Shadowcat. At last, I have my own superhero with whom to identify. Heheh.

Which leads me to ask, Dear Readers: If you were a superhero, what would your powers be, and what would you name your superpowered alter ego?

The Amazing True Adventures of the Global Nomad

As promised, the chronicle of my travels to Minneapolis. The following story is true. Not even the names have been changed to protect the innocent, primarily because nobody in the story is particularly innocent. Warning: It is long.

It started on Mothers' Day. The Day of Mothers dawned bright and fair in Visalia. Jeff and I arose and went to church; Jeff had some hearty handshakes, while I skillfully and sullenly avoided any real contact with people (I was forced to shake hands during the “greet” section of the service—I consider such activity highly inappropriate, by the way—but I didn’t smile while doing it, so it doesn’t count, right?) and reflected on the fact that the Christian flag was partially hidden by the left end of the stage, while the US flag was in full sight on the right. WTF? Well, as my dad always says, “Never ascribe to malice what can be adequately accounted for by stupidity.”
We picked up Debbie at her house, and went up to the mountains (Sequioa Park, to exact), because that is what she said she wanted to do. It was actually very nice. The weather was warm enough for me to wear a tank top, but not too warm for comfort. We drove into the park (after purchasing a year entry pass to the park for $30, when just the one day cost $20), and climbed Moro Rock. It was good exercise, and I always enjoy a nice big rock. The sad thing is that all the fun parts of the rock are beyond the railings that have been erected, and Jeff will not allow me to clamber around on the so-called “dangerous” sections. *sulk sulk* Actually, I’m smart enough to know when to climb on big steep rocks, and when to leave well enough alone: it’s called risk management, people, and it’s the main reason why I’m still alive after some decades of playing with fire, fording through leech-and-schistosome-infested waters, and leaping about on boulders like a mountain goat. You gotta know which risks to take, and which to leave well enough alone. Moro Rock, beyond boundaries, is a leave-alone. So says the Kiti Fantastico. Aside from the constrictive rails, Moro Rock is very fun because they have informative placard things along the stairs, so you can stop and read about the geology and flora and fauna of the park. Since I know far more about tropical rainforests than sequoia redwood forests, and since I love reading informative placards, I had great fun with beautiful scenery, and cracking jokes with Debbie and Jeff.
When you climb up a rock, you must climb back down, and so we did. Then we drove around the park some more, but I must confess that I just don’t like trees as much as I like rocks, so I wasn’t too enthused about doing any more hiking. Debbie likes dogwood trees, and she is, of course, an amateur botanist, so I would imagine she likes the forest qua forest, whereas I consider it worthwhile mostly as a setting for big rocks to climb. After Debbie and Jeff took some pictures of a blooming dogwood (while I sat in the car and read In Style magazine, because I’d already encountered Nature for the day, thank you very much), we drove back down through Three Rivers (the water is high, due to the precipitation of the winter, which is apparently now melting out and running off in the streams and rivers) and got ice cream and candy at Reimers. I think the candy is overpriced, but the ice cream is fabulous. Mmmmm. Then we dropped Debbie at home, and went to enjoy some of the Netflix that we’d finally gotten—Angel. As we were settling in for a restful evening, the phone rang.
It was Frank (my boss, FYI). There was an crisis situation with a mission in Minnesota: Dave, who was scheduled to go, and had actually traveled as far as Las Vegas, had a medical emergency, and was in a hospital there. Alice couldn’t go because of a family situation. I, the untested one, the virgin solo trainer, was our only hope. *gulp* The mission started on Monday morning, 8:00 Central Time. It was just before 7:30 pm on Sunday evening, Pacific Time. Could I go?
Well, I decided that I could, even if it meant leaving my Jeffrey and my Netflix behind, and venturing to unfamiliar territory without having even done training with a shadow for backup. I got off the phone, and started throwing stuff into a duffle bag, while suddenly going into unaccustomed panic mode. Jeff took me down to the office, where Frank had some paperwork, the laptop, and my manuals ready to go, and we zipped up to the Fresno airport. It was tense, since my America West flight was supposed to leave at 9:15 pm. I wasn’t too scared about missing the flight, though. Frank drove really fast.
Long story short, I made my flight to Vegas, although there was some interesting drama at the check-in/ticket counter. The man in front of me in line took a long time dealing with his issue: he had a gun, and had a permit to carry it, but apparently he just didn’t have the proper container for it. There was a prolonged discussion:
Man: I’ve never had a problem carrying it before.
Ticket agent: I’m sorry, but these are regulations. You have to get a proper lockable container.
Man: But there are no bullets in it! It can’t be fired anyway.
Ticket agent: Let me get you the container with an approved lock.
Etc. etc. etc.
I told the agent, “I have to get on flight XXXX to Las Vegas.”
He said, “Don’t worry. I’ll get you on.”
So I was pretty sure I had a good chance. When he finally checked me in, he noted that my ID did not match my ticket name (ID still in maiden name)—not a big deal, but he marked me for an extra security search by placing some esses on my boarding pass, saying, “If I mark you ahead of time, they will search you, but they won’t give you a hard time about your ID, since they’ll know that I’ve already checked it. If I let you through, they might stop you at the security checkpoint, and it might be harder to get through, then.”
I didn’t care if they made me tap dance and sing “Moon River” at the security checkpoint, as long as I made my flight, so it was all good. I gave a quick call to Frank, who was standing by just in case I didn’t make the flight, and told him that I’d checked in and was good to go. I apologized for the delay, and hollered something about a man with a gun, which probably sounded alarming without context, but then I had to hang up quickly, as I reached the security line. When I got to the metal detector gate, sure enough, they pulled me aside and told me, “You’ve been randomly selected for an extra security screening.” Hilarious! I didn’t care about being searched, since the most dangerous thing in my bag was a book that might cause paper cuts, but I thought it was ridiculous for them to tell me the search was “random”. The ticket agent told me it was going to happen, as he marked SSSS on my boarding pass, to intentionally trigger the search. NOTE TO TSA: Most people may be as stupid as you think they are, but some of us are not. Do us the courtesy of giving us some credit. Sheesh.
Anyway. I boarded the plane after most of the other passengers, but they weren’t even close to closing the door, and gun guy (who was, on top of everything else, wearing a wild Hawaiian print shirt) got on the plane after me, so it was all good. Then, we waited and waited to take off, because there was some sort of delay, and we didn’t get off the ground till nearly 30 minutes after we were scheduled. And we had this crazy flight attendant named Doris, who seriously seemed as if she didn’t know what she was doing. When she read little safety lecture, she kept taking looong pauses, and stumbling over words. It was a little bit frightening.
I like landing in Las Vegas at night: the city is all lit up, and from a height, you can’t tell that it is trashy and dirty. I looked especially for the Luxor, and spotted it: the pyramid with this huge upward-facing searchlight. I don’t know why it was so important for me to see it; maybe I’m just easily attracted to shiny things.
When we landed, we were more than half an hour late, so I had to book it from my terminal to my connecting flight. I was leaving from some terminal way out on the edge of the LV airport, I think, because I had to take a tram thingie and rush along a corridor to get to my gate, only to discover that… my connecting flight had just taken off! OH, NO, YOU DI’N’T!!! There was a Supremely Uninterested and Unhelpful Airline Employee to tell me, and another passenger (who I recognized from being on the flight from Fresno), that we were just out of luck.
Me: I HAVE to get to Minneapolis by 8 am, their time.
Other Guy: Me, too!
SUAUAE: The next flight to Minneapolis leaves at 6 am.
Me: But we missed our flight because YOUR airline was late taking off. It wasn’t our fault! You have to accommodate us.
SUAUAE: We don’t have any more flights going to Minneapolis tonight. Sorry.
Me and the Other Guy: Then get us a flight on another airline.
SUAUAE: There is a Northwest flight to Minneapolis. You can try to get that.
Me: Oh, believe me, I’ll be on it.
At this point, you may well believe, I was just bound and determined to get to Minneapolis. It would have been too ridiculous for TWO of us trainers to be stranded in Vegas. I thought about calling Frank, but decided that he was counting on me, and I was going to not bother him until I absolutely had to. I took the tram back to the main airport area, and asked for directions to the Northwest Air counter. The Other Guy followed me, since he didn’t know how to get there, but was genetically incapable of asking for directions.
I marched up to the NWA counter and told them my tale of woe. There was this crazy ticket counter guy (named Bill) who was very helpful yet couldn’t work his computer, so he had to keep asking other people to do stuff for him; however, with the help of other employees, he worked his mojo and got me one of the last seats on the NWA flight to Minneapolis. Yes! I’d lost track of the Other Guy, though, so I don’t know if he got on or not. The flight left Las Vegas at 1 am, so I went to the waiting area to just, well, wait. I had to go back through a security gate, of course, and I was yet again selected for a “random” extra security check. I told them I didn’t care, as long as I made my flight.
I was able to snooze on the plane, fortunately, so I had a few hours of sleep when the flight touched down in MSP (Minneapolis-Saint Paul) airport. It was 6 am, and I had two hours to claim my luggage, freshen up in the airport bathroom, grab a taxi, and arrive like a perky daisy at the client site. There was only one flaw in my plan: While I made it to Minneapolis, my luggage did not. Seriously.
I went to the luggage claim and waited for a long time, but my duffel bag never came around. Hmm. I went to the NWA luggage counter, but there was no one there. I waited for more than half an hour, along with a few other irate customers. No one came. A sign by the counter gave a number to call for help with lost luggage. I called the number (I am nothing if not proactive that way), and they told me to go to the luggage counter, since they couldn’t help me if I didn’t have a lost luggage claim number or some such thing, and of course, I had to get a lost luggage claim form from the lost luggage counter. I told them, “There is NO ONE AT THE LUGGAGE COUNTER.” They said, “There must be; they start at 4:30 am.” However, since I was standing right there and not seeing anyone at the luggage counter, they finally advised me to go up to the Northwest Air check-in counter and talk to someone there. Aha! I knew there had to be a real live person at the check-in counter. After a conversation with an employee there, I was (predictably) told to go to America West (after all, they had checked my luggage in Fresno); equally predictably, America West sent me back to NWA, as I had a luggage transfer document that had been given to me by NWA’s Bill back in Las Vegas. NWA, still unable to deal with their own problems, sent me back downstairs to the luggage counter. I told them, “There is NO ONE AT THE LUGGAGE COUNTER.” NWA guy: “There must be. They start really early in the morning. Let me give them a call.” He called downstairs to check. Surprise, surprise, there was no answer at the luggage counter phone. He told me to go down anyway, and I don’t blame him, since he was the check-in counter guy, trying to handle checking people in on a busy Monday morning. But seriously, when I said, “There is no one at the luggage counter,” why wouldn’t people believe me? I don’t understand.
What could I do? I went back down the escalator to the luggage area. This was the only time during my trip that I came close to tears. I made myself snap out of it, reminding myself, “Honestly, Deb, this is not even close to the worst you’ve had it. Think of Heathrow in January 2003.” Anyway. So there I was at the luggage counter. The other irate lost-luggage customers were still there. Finally, a NWA employee came to the counter and said, “Oh, sorry. We had two people call in sick this morning, and only just now realized it.” Idiots. And I bet they get away with it because they’re union. Idiots. But the long and the short of it was that my luggage just hadn’t arrived yet in MSP. The Idiot Luggage Counter Guy could track it, thanks to my luggage claim ticket and luggage transfer document, so he assured me that it would arrive later that day. *sigh* I gave him my hotel address, so that they could drop off my bag when it came, and made it clear that I expected it by evening.
Now, bear in mind, Dear Reader, that I really, really needed my bag. I really, really needed some deodorant and a toothpaste/toothbrush combo. I had spent the previous afternoon hiking among the Sequoias, and had not had the chance to shower, change, or even brush my teeth since then. I was still wearing the clothes I’d worn. I looked neither fresh nor attractive.
Well, I had to do without deo or a toothbrush. Fortunately, I nearly always carry a brush and some makeup in my purse, so I had those to work with. Furthermore, I had a packet of gum. Score! I splashed water on my face, patted it dry, and applied some makeup in order to look a little less corpse-like, then brushed out my hair, all while chomping furiously on some wintergreen-flavored gum. Luckily, I am not prone to sweatiness or smelliness, so my scent was mostly influenced by that distinctive sun-block odor, but I still felt a little self-conscious. And I was wearing jeans, a tank top, and a casual sweater. On my first-ever solo training mission. With a very large and prominent client company.
Oh, well. What could I do? I made myself as ready as I could, then went out to find a taxi. Airports are usually good, in that they have approved (i.e. safe and fairly honest) taxi companies available, so I was able to catch a ride to downtown Minneapolis. The driver was nice enough (Arabic, if I don’t miss my guess), and even with my misadventures and morning traffic, I was only 10 minutes late to the client site!
Frank had called ahead and notified the client of the change in plans, so my contact (Thom) was very kind and generous to me. I was able to get set up and get the training done, despite network problems and the fact that the client wanted only certain specific things to be taught. No problem, as I was able to accommodate very well.
Naturally, by the end of the day, I was very tired. Conveniently, my hotel was basically across the street from the client site, so I just walked over. When I arrived, my bag was waiting for me at the front desk! Such a sweet reunion! Of course, it couldn’t be all happy: there were some difficulties with authorizing the credit card for the hotel room (due to the fact that it was a company card), but they were resolved, thanks to the fabulous team at my company. Suffice to say that I’d had quite enough adventures to fill my past 24 hours.
I called Jeff and then Mum (I said, “It’s 6 pm in California. Do you know where your daughter is?” Heheh.). Special thanks to Jeff for being such a good sport about letting me go traipsing off to middle America on 30 minutes’ notice!

So there you have it. There is more, naturally, for how could one visit historic Minneapolis without a few more stories? But those will have to wait.

Seven days without blogging makes one week.

I didn't blog for a week, just to see if I could.

I've been home, but busy.

Monday, I almost passed out at work. I was sitting in my chair at my desk, and the room suddenly did an impression of a tilt-a-whirl.

Um, that's all. I'm still working on typing up the story of traveling to Minneapolis.

Peek-a-boo!

Hey, all! I'm just seizing a moment to drop you a line from the hotel business center (the 24-hour business center was hidden behind the 8:30-4:30 business center). It's my last night in Minneapolis. Yes, that's right. I'm in Minnesota. That's why I haven't been updating for the past few days.

Have I got a tale for you! It'll have to wait till next time, though.

Televeezhun

For reasons involving our cable internet having problems and the cable guy being unable to fix it earlier in the week, we've actually had TV (broadcast plus some cable channels). Thus, we've been totally trashy and watching TV for hours since Tuesday; it's been all Law & Order, all the time. The cable guy is coming tomorrow, so the TV will go away, and while it's been fun, I'm glad, because I'm getting a bit tired of seeing so much crime and evilness. Yeesh.

Let's see. In other news, I heard the weirdest song on the radio (103.3), by the name of "Ape Call".

I've been struggling a lot with insomnia. I'm not sure if it's the change in the weather, or the fact that it's staying lighter later and later into the night, or what. I've been inflicted with insomnia for more than a decade. It sucks to be so tired all the time, but I'm trying to cope.

Unfavorites

MOST HATED...
FRUIT: Durian. Something that I might find in the US? Mango.
CANDY: Black licorice.
BEVERAGE: Beer. Or Dr Pepper.
COLOR: Orange. (Sorry, Debbie!)
TOWN/CITY: Hmm. Wow. The least favorite place I've ever lived was Wheaton, IL.
TV SHOW: Reality shows or talk shows. Tacky and boring.
MOVIE: The first one that springs to mind is Pearl Harbor. I hated it so much, I couldn't even finish watching it.
ASPECT OF MYSPACE: The interface is so ugly. It's even uglier when people customize their sites. Ugh. I loathe MySpace.
ASPECT OF INSTANT MESSENGER: I like IM. Got nothing against it.
ANIMAL: Cows are smelly.
INSECT: Mosquitoes changed my life for the worse, what with chronic malaria and all. Cockroaches are just nasty.
BIRD: I dunno. A crow, maybe?
SEASON: Autumn or winter. I hate being cold.
AGE OF KIDS: Any age before they're old enough to have intelligent, interesting conversations.

WHAT ANNOYS YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING WHEN...
DRIVING? People who leave their blinkers on, but don't merge or turn. A close second: Big vans of illegal immigrant farm workers, driven slowly but erratically, threatening the safety of everyone else on the road.
TALKING ON THE PHONE: I just don't like talking on the phone, anyway.
WATCHING TV OR MOVIES: When the characters are illogical, and it drives me crazy because I have to figure out how to reconcile everything, and I end up saying, "Jeff, I don't understaaaaaaand!"
EATING IN RESTAURANTS: When the menu fails to mention certain ingredients (like mushrooms or tomatoes) in a dish that I order.
GOING THROUGH DRIVE-THRUS: When one orders, and then is told, "Sorry, we're out of that item. What can I get you instead?" Well, I wanted that item. If you list it on your menu, you should sell it.
YOU'RE AT THE MALL: All the ugly outfits in the store windows.
SLEEPING (OR TRYING TO SLEEP): The fact that I have to sleep. I'd rather be awake and doing things.
YOU'RE AT THE BEACH: It's cold and windy, and sand gets in your eyes and mouth and hair and everywhere...
YOU'RE AT THE GROCERY STORE: When the store is out of the item I want.
COOKING OR BAKING: When I follow the recipe, and it gets ruined anyway.

WHAT HOUSEHOLD CHORE DO YOU HATE THE MOST? Cleaning the litter box.
WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD BE THE ABSOLUTE WORST WAY TO DIE? By doing something stupid, that was totally my fault.
WHAT'S THE MOST ANNOYING HABIT IN OTHERS? Not taking my very wise advice.
WHAT IS YOUR WORST HABIT? Eating junk food and refusing to work out.
WHAT FASHION TREND (PAST OR PRESENT)? Anything from the 1980s.
WHAT POPULAR SONG (PAST OR PRESENT) HAVE YOU HATED THE MOST? Anything by the Black Eyed Peas.
WORST OR MOST HATED PICKUP LINE: Can't think of any.
WORST THING ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL: High schoolers.
MOST IRRITATING THING ABOUT YOUR CAR: So glad you asked. There's that whole demon car alarm thing, when the alarm goes off for no particular reason.

TO BE COMPLETELY STEREOTYPICAL, WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE MOST ANNOYING THING ABOUT GUYS? The fact that many of them use their penises rather than their brains to make decisions.

TO BE COMPLETELY STEREOTYPICAL, WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE MOST ANNOYING THING ABOUT GIRLS? For some reason, a lot of girls seem to be driven more by emotion than by logic. I don't understand.

Home again, home again

Last night, I drove back up to V-town with the Warrior Princess. I had my first day of real training on Tuesday, so it was an important day. Overall, it went very well.

Today was business as usual.

I can't really think of anything interesting to say.

Traveling

Well, here I am in sunny (ha!) southern California. I drove down with Alice (aka Warrior Princess, aka WP) last night, and we started up with training this morning.

But back to the weekend. Friday evening, Jeff planned to go to a Halo party at church, so I made plans of my own. I arranged to go over to Debbie and Jerry's house, where we watched Mean Girls while I sorted my Israel photos. It was very enjoyable. I saw a lot of Debbie's garden, too, and it looks very nice right now.

Saturday morning, we woke up and went to the library book sale, which is something we often enjoy. We didn't eat breakfast (we're stupid that way, even though we know it's a bad idea), so we were starving, and had to find something to eat downtown. After that, we went to some stores, and then returned home. We had found out that there was a performance of Sleeping Beauty at the local community theater (their last for the season), so we bought tickets on a whim (at $7 per ticket, it's cheaper than a movie) and went out for an evening at the theater (after having dinner at a yummy Thai place). We really enjoyed it, even if it was a bit cheesy, since it turned out that it was really geared for young children. We need to remember to pay attention to the various arts opportunities in Visalia; apparently there are a few community theater groups, not to mention musical things happen on a regular basis. Even in the Central Valley, though, it's not necessarily inexpensive to go to more local entertainment. Grr.
Anyway, since our play was for children, it ended by 8:30 pm. We decided to make a night of it, and upon returning home, watched the movie Go. I wasn't sure what to make of it, at first, but found myself enjoying it when I finally identified it as a very dark comedy.

We went to the 10:30 church service, then ate lunch and picked up my rental car for the trip down south. After napping and packing in the afternoon, it was time for me to go out, pick up Alice from her house, and drive down to Orange County (our hotel is just a few miles from where I used to live).

We did important stuff today, then ate dinner, and met up with my family (Dad and Mum, Dan and Mia) and a few friends (Elizabeth, the Winters) at Capriccio Gelato Caffe. Once again, let me urge you all to patronize this establishment, if you live in the area. It is delicious and authentic Italian gelato, conveniently located in the Amerige Heights shopping center. A filling little dish of ice cream costs about the same amount as a drink from Starbucks, but is more exotic. It's a great place to meet friends and enjoy life.

Now, I am in the hotel room, about to shower and go to bed. I have my first experience training with an actual customer tomorrow. Yeek! Love to all.

Times

I am doing better tonight than I was last night. A reliable source informed me that the annoying parent with whom I had issues is just prone to being difficult and paranoid. I'm guessing the problem isn't so much with me, then. I can let it go.

This morning, at work, my friend/co-worker Tara noted that I was tired and stressed, and asked me what was going on. I told her about the parent-teacher issue, and she said, "I know exactly what you mean!" Of course she does. Tara teaches dance classes at a local studio. She has to deal with pushy dance moms. Often. Lots of them. All at one time. Suddenly, my little problem didn't seem so bad at all...

So anyway, I worked hard at getting battle-ready at work. I'm going down to shadow some training in Orange County next week. I'll be there Monday and Tuesday. If folks want to get together on one of the evenings (though not too late on Tuesday), maybe we can gather at some place like The Block or Downtown Disney. You can meet my fun-loving friend/co-worker Alice, too.

I made pizzarillas (pizzas made on tortilla crust) for supper, and then managed to wash the dishes and tidy a lot of the kitchen. Now, Jeff is playing Halo, and I'm finishing my blog and then going to work on sorting a few more pictures for the Israel scrapbook.

Nearly forgot to post this!

It is 04/05/06!!!

Ugh

Remember when I was so happy and excited because I was able to tutor a student in math? Well, said student really made progress, but because I was essentially starting from ground zero in geometry skills, it was pretty challenging to cover a lot of basic information in a few hours. The student made progress. I found out recently, however, that the student did not pass the test for which we were preparing. Well, I did my best and fulfilled my contractual obligations, so I didn't worry about it too much, but when the student's parent contacted me with some more math issues, I tried to be helpful, so I offered a list of suggestions for possible reasons for the failure, and things to do to address them. Since I don't know a lot about the student's history and situation, I mentioned a variety of possibilities. I honestly tried to be tactful and helpful.
I got a moderately angry reply from the parent, telling me that I shouldn't make assumptions, and had no right to say what I did, etc. etc. etc. Well, if my suggestions are unhelpful, I don't care if people disregard them, and/or just don't want to look into them. It's a free country, and I willingly gave free advice (didn't charge them for my time), so it doesn't offend me if people don't like my suggestions. It's difficult to actually offend me, believe it or not. It is, however, quite easy to annoy me, and it annoys me when people go off half-cocked. I never made absolute statements, or told the parent that such-and-such HAD to be done, so I thought it was clear that my suggestions were just that: suggestions. Yeesh.
I sent back what I think is a nicely worded, diplomatic note that offers reasons why I said some of the things that I did (and had made one unwarranted assumption, so I admitted to it), and emphasized that my intent was to be helpful, and if my suggestions were not applicable or helpful, they could and should be freely disregarded. Maybe I didn't adequately communicate the casualness of my suggestions in my first e-mail, so I tried to emphasize them in the second. I think the fact that I consider certain things to be obvious and logical might occasionally become a problem when they are not obvious and logical to others. Have I ever mentioned that I SUCK at dealing with people? It is not really that I'm thoughtless; it's mostly because it just doesn't occur to me that people won't read between the lines of my dry written communication, or that they will be more in tune with their feelings than their (or their children's) grasp of y=mx+b or the Pythagorean theorem.
But if I ever become one of those uptight homeschool mothers who think that everyone is out to get me, you have my permission to lock me in a room and throw volumes of Plato at me until I come to my senses.
And if I live many more years and still suck at dealing with people, you should likewise lock me in a room and throw volumes of Plato at me.
Well, you know what? I still love teaching math, and I know I'm good at it. Everything else, as the saying goes, is just details.

Lucky? Hmmm.

It was lovely to spend so much time with my mum and sister last weekend. They have so many amazing and admirable qualities that I lack, and it's good for me to be around them, to try and acquire at least a veneer of goodness and kindness. But I have to think that in some areas, I won the genetic lottery in my family.

If you are single and male, stop reading now. I mean it.

I don't have particularly strong girl hormones. I don't have much pain with cramps, and I handle it all quite well. I have been blithely and relatively unaffected by such matters ever since, well, I was old enough potentially be affected by them. I remember feeling such pity for all those girls in my dorm, who screamed in pain and took special medication when their periods would come. I felt pity, but I didn't really understand.
Well, this past weekend, we were discussing something regarding weight gain, including birth control weight and all that fun stuff (yes, I can eat whatever I want and still remain on the slender side, but even I have some excess flab from birth control), and the other poor ladies in my family have turned out to be afflicted with much more female pain and stuff than I ever have. Sparing everyone the details, let me just say that I learned something new about human biology. Mom and Mia both complained about "mid pains". Huh? Never heard of them.
Mom: And the worst part is that you have cramps in the middle of your cycle, too.
Me: Huh? What are you talking about?
Mom: You know, the mid pains, when you cramp while ovulating.
Me: Huh? What are you talking about?
Mia: Yeah, the pain is more intense, because it's concentrated more around your ovaries. So it's like, the cramps and pain don't really stop, all month long.
Me: Huh? What are you talking about?
Mom: You don't get mid pains? You don't get cramps in the middle of your cycle?
Me: No, I've never heard of this. What are you talking about?
Mom: Some women get intense cramping in the middle of the month. It happens when your body is moving the egg from the ovaries.
Me: Oh, quit it. You're pulling my leg. I've studied human biology and the human reproductive cycle. There's nothing about any of this in my biology books.
Mom and Mia: Those biology books were written by men!
Well, I went and looked it up on the internet, and it's on all the reputable medical websites. It really does exist, and it even has a technical name (in German): mittelschmerz. How is it that I've been a girl for nearly 3 decades, and I've never heard of such a thing till now?!
So, anyway, I'm guessing that maybe I don't ovulate regularly. How weird is that? [And how weird is it that I can talk about stuff like this on my blog? Well, I'm a biologist at heart. It doesn't bother me.] I'm probably just less fertile than either my mom was or my sister will be. I think it's so interesting that the same combination of genetic material (my mom's and my dad's) turned out two such different end results: my sister and me.
Mia takes after the Kalen (paternal grandmother) side, physically, with darker skin and brown hair; she is naturally athletic, as befits the daughter of healthy Scandinavian immigrant stock. Mia is sensitive, artistic, and compassionate. She wants lots of babies, and she is ideally suited to bear and nurture them.
I take after our mom with my face shape and coloring; I am built like a dancer, with compact torso but long limbs, and not a lot of muscle. I am introspective, sarcastic, and (I hope) logical: a scientist or scholar to the core. I appreciate babies (and I appreciate the fact that other people have them), but don't really want one of my own, since cats are doing well for me right now, and I'd rather have a career (yes, I like books better than babies; deal with it). Pretty much the only thing that Mia and I have in common is our X chromosome!
Way to go with sorting out the genetic probabilities, Mom and Dad!

Moving along

I had a good day at work, but I thought that things moved a little slowly. Oh, well.

Today, we got a new girl, who will be doing sales and business development stuff, so we all went out to lunch. It was fun, and there was a discussion about the fact that the solutions specialists are being given call signs. Heehee. Dave is Mad Max (the Road Warrior: he travels a lot), Alice is the Warrior Princess, Keith is Chong, and I am (wait for it) The Professor. Fun! Now I must become erudite and elite in my excellence.

Anyway, well, Mom and Mia left early yesterday afternoon. I had a lazy Sunday afternoon, and then went to Bible study at church. It was okay, although the people in it seem to be rather immature and excessively silly. My former Bible study (at Grace in Long Beach) was full of serious, intense, and educated people (three Talbot people, one of the church elders, some other serious and intelligent people), with ages ranging from mid-twenties to mid-forties. I think I'm just more accustomed to that sort of environment, so I'll have to learn to adapt to the new Bible study.

Jeff came home tonight, so we're watching Voyager. =)

Zero Tolerance

Okay, I'm announcing a new zero tolerance policy toward stupidity. Stupid people and stupid ideas make me tired, and they destroy society and civilization as we currently know it. The problem with the US today is that it is geared to pander to the lowest common denominator, and boy, are there a lot of people in that category. I, for one, refuse to tolerate it any more. I am waging an all-out war against stupidity.

Jeff encouraged me to begin this policy, as he hears me being repeatedly amazed that stupid people are allowed so much credibility in this society. People are allowed to get away with presenting arguments, in national media, that are illogical and irrelevant. How did this happen? Why does no one challenge such things? When did the accepted national language of the US cease to be English and become instead irrational insipidity?

Today is the day that, so it is reported, illegal immigrants will boycott work in order to show that they are vital to the workforce, etc. [Hint to employers: If your employee(s) did not show up to work today, you might want to check into immigration status.] This whole ILLEGAL immigration bill thing has been much in the news lately, of course, and I've just been waiting and expecting it to all blow over. Despite my low faith in human nature, I've been assuming that eventually, logical application of God-given intelligence will prevail, and people will stop being stupid and start looking at reality and approaching the issue to find some viable and lawful solutions. Jeff finally disabused me of this notion: "People are going to just keep being stupid, Deb," he said. "They're not going to suddenly start using their brains, and there are some people who are actively trying to keep them from it, because having sway over a large group of stupid people is a powerful position." ["Get all the fools on your side, and you can be elected to anything." -Frank Dane.] Wow. So depressing. I have read so much nonsense on the issue, and people persist in emphasizing non-essentials in an effort to hide essentials: Vis., there is much nattering about the bill being aimed at immigrants (which is true, but not the whole truth), and everyone apparently flaps their hands around, and forgets that the keyword in this debate is ILLEGAL. A moderately well-known film actor of Colombian descent supports the protests and boycotts, and stated in a news article that it's ridiculous for people to be called criminals simply because they are immigrants. Well, of course that is true, but it is not ridiculous for people to be called criminals if they are found to be ILLEGAL immigrants. Because they are illegal, i.e. not legal, i.e. against the law. Nobody has anything against LEGAL immigrants. They are always welcome. Seriously, pretty much everyone (including me) in the US is an immigrant or a descendant of immigrants.

The primary problem here, however, is not semantics, when one gets right down to it, though. The primary problem is that people get caught up in the emotion of rhetoric (or, apparently this is true; I'm not one for emotional response to rhetoric, so all my reports on this phenomenon are second-hand), and fail to be consistent, to follow through and see the ramifications of their ideas and decisions.

For example, in the interest of being consistent and honest, are illegal immigrants, while protesting by avoiding the work that most of them reportedly came to this country (illegally) to do, going to also boycott those services which they so freely (and illegally) abuse? Are they going to remove children from the classroom, refuse to go to hospitals for medical treatment, and otherwise cease to take advantage of social welfare? No? Hmmm, how half-hearted and half-brained of them.

And if such protests, half-hearted and half-brained though they may be, still prove to sway public thought, what then? Why not take such behavior to the next logical step? Why shouldn't other people with illegal activities band together and demand special rights? I'm thinking that shoplifters ought to get together and boycott something, to demand recognition of their rights as human beings, and form special action groups to really fight any further restrictions legislators would seek to put on petty theft, and try to put legal limits on punishments for such actions. It's not out of line to expect that the Shoplifters Coalition (for so I shall dub them) will soon be so powerful that elected officials begin to pander to them, and the Coalition turn their attention to reversing those harsh anti-theft laws. They will argue that the American dream should be available to everyone, and stealing good and services is an acceptable way of achieving it. Why not? If illegal immigrants are allowed to steal goods and services, and get away with it, why shouldn't other groups be allowed to do it, too?

Think about it. THINK. Then encourage just one person per day to THINK. Together, we can start a mini-revolution of non-stupidity.

"Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped."
-Elbert Hubbard

Oh, yes, and one more note. This is international Labor Day. The nonsensical brouhaha in the United States is obscuring some very real problems that other workers have in other nations. For shame, protestors! You claim that you want freedom and workers' rights, yet you are demonstrating only a selfish desire to live lawlessly and detract from the sacrifices of others. Workers (who are, incidentally, legal residents of the countries in which they reside) in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and other nations, are seeking better working conditions and higher pay, and their voices deserve to be heard. So quiet the clamor and be logical.