Feeling super tired tonight. Probably because it was one of those "lunch meeting" days. I really notice the difference between taking an hour off in the middle of the day to get away and relax a little while I eat my lunch and the days when I don't get that opportunity.
So I'm trying to get some exercise in every day, but that didn't happen this evening because Rachel and I "flew" in to the Meadow Vista library to see what they had on the DVD shelves. It was slim pickings this time, but we still managed to cull at least 15 DVDs in the ten minutes we had before closing time. Somehow we've started to make a habit of it, rushing in the doors just as the anxious librarian is beginning their closing-up procedures, prompting them to remind us 30 seconds after we've come that there are "ten minutes left before closing time!"
Sitting in my place feeling happy that I've finally gotten around to vacuuming and listening to Boyz II Men on their Legacy CD sing "Down on Bended Knee," one of my all-time favourite songs.
The class schedule looked good to the staff today at college council, phew! I know there'll probably be tweaking between now and January, but at least we now have something I can give people, because they are definitely starting to ask!!!
Oooooh, Costco, at least the one down here, is having Jamba Juice cards, buy $50 worth for $39.99 (and no tax on that). Absolutely marvelous! I bought the cards on Sunday, then this evening we popped in to Auburn and I ordered my favourite vegan Peanut Butter Moo'd (no yogurt, no chocolate moo'd base, substitute sorbet and soymilk). I had one of those $1 off specials (www.jambajuice.com) and I paid with my JJ card, so my 16 oz was only $3 (and if you factor in the savings on my card, I actually paid $2.60 in cold cash for it). Then I lucked out and they made the smoothie too large for a 16 oz so I got it in an original size cup which I didn't mind at all! That usually happens when it's someone new doing it :)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Ran across a poem I wrote one summer :) Wishing it was this hot right now!
I wade
Through
Thick layers of heat
Swimming against the current
Of beating sun
My hand firmly clutching
A pink soda can of
Cherry vanilla
Crème
All my energies centered
On a small 12 ounce
Cylindrical container, as
Its chill begins to
Seep
Through the palm of
My hand
Soon an icy feeling
Begins to spread from
The tip of my spine
Down
To my toes, radiating throughout
My body
In a hundred
And six
Degree weather,
I
Begin to
Shiver
Despite the sun’s rays
Mercilessly pounding
As I keep my eyes
To
Cement passing under my sandaled feet
Relief is near
Behind closed doors
An air-conditioned office awaits
Where twenty degrees cooler
I shall
Sit
And I shall
Sip
My cherry vanilla crème soda
Through
Thick layers of heat
Swimming against the current
Of beating sun
My hand firmly clutching
A pink soda can of
Cherry vanilla
Crème
All my energies centered
On a small 12 ounce
Cylindrical container, as
Its chill begins to
Seep
Through the palm of
My hand
Soon an icy feeling
Begins to spread from
The tip of my spine
Down
To my toes, radiating throughout
My body
In a hundred
And six
Degree weather,
I
Begin to
Shiver
Despite the sun’s rays
Mercilessly pounding
As I keep my eyes
To
Cement passing under my sandaled feet
Relief is near
Behind closed doors
An air-conditioned office awaits
Where twenty degrees cooler
I shall
Sit
And I shall
Sip
My cherry vanilla crème soda
(c) maria L.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
All By Myself
Afternoons are both my favourite and least favourite part of the day during my work week. Afternoons are when everyone disappears, most of them up to the farm, and I am left alone in the silent halls that are reminiscent of the time we had 10 students in the college and they rattled around the building.
I like this time of the day because I can focus on big projects, difficult tasks, challenging issues, or simply file for hours on end or tackle a part of the office that needs tidying up and sorting out. Mornings seem to be taken up with "putting out fires," answering phone calls, and being available for those who need to talk. I am bemused and also irritated when interested applicants call, convinced that God has "called them" to come to school here when they have no money and are thousands of dollars in debt from other schools. Personally, I think God is a little more responsible than that.
Then there's the downside to working alone, which is exactly that, being all alone for four and a half hours straight. I often head over to the administration building to hang out, when I go for hours on end without seeing a single soul. Or I find myself talking to myself, which doesn't bother me, but it may startle the solitary visitor or two!
Tomorrow is going to be a full and busy day. Wish it was Friday :P
I like this time of the day because I can focus on big projects, difficult tasks, challenging issues, or simply file for hours on end or tackle a part of the office that needs tidying up and sorting out. Mornings seem to be taken up with "putting out fires," answering phone calls, and being available for those who need to talk. I am bemused and also irritated when interested applicants call, convinced that God has "called them" to come to school here when they have no money and are thousands of dollars in debt from other schools. Personally, I think God is a little more responsible than that.
Then there's the downside to working alone, which is exactly that, being all alone for four and a half hours straight. I often head over to the administration building to hang out, when I go for hours on end without seeing a single soul. Or I find myself talking to myself, which doesn't bother me, but it may startle the solitary visitor or two!
Tomorrow is going to be a full and busy day. Wish it was Friday :P
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Endorphin Highs
Just came back from a brisk invigorating absolutely marvelous walk on the trails with Dr. Jensen, a Newstart guest from Poland, and Michael. It was great!!!
I was trying to figure out how to get in my walk this afternoon, and when Michael mentioned he was going to go on the nature walk with Dr. Jensen and the Newstart guests, I thought that would be a brilliant idea. For the first hour we wandered around the Loop (can you imagine, a whole hour walking half a mile!) and learned about Japanese maple, sugar pine, ponderosa pine, gingko biloba, dogwood, redwood, magnolia and liquid amber trees. I found out that a certain spot by the cafeteria always smells like an open sewer line, especially when it's been raining, because of the fruit of the female ginkgo biloba tree.
After our leisurely stroll, Dr. Jensen asked who would be interested in going on a longer walk and only one guest took her up on the offer, nevertheless we hurried out onto the trails and hit Coyote Creek and several other bits and pieces of trail, ending up at the swing. We stayed there about 15 minutes as she swung peacefully back and forth, I pushed her, and we all listened to her instruct from the swing! We got to see three Canadian geese fly over the sewer ponds, but they changed their mind about landing, so we carried on home.
I'm feeling good after that brisk walk :) And slightly irritated (okay, a lot irritated) because it sounds like someone is training for the trampoline Olympics upstairs in the Inn and I can't figure out if it is the dryer going or someone running around up there. Most of the time it doesn't bother me, but there are days when I get extremely frustrated and seriously question my living down here, whether it's worth the trouble. The light streams in from the Inn so it's never properly dark, even with blinds fully shut, there is always someone upstairs either running the washing machine or dryer or bouncing up and down like they're on a sugar high, I can't open my window at night because I'm on the ground floor and don't feel safe doing that, parts of my place "mold" real quickly so I have to constantly keep wiping down things (probably because the air doesn't circulate as well since I don't have my windows open all the time), and I can't play music unless my window is closed. Oh well, I shall plug in my headphones and watch some Top Chef now!
I was trying to figure out how to get in my walk this afternoon, and when Michael mentioned he was going to go on the nature walk with Dr. Jensen and the Newstart guests, I thought that would be a brilliant idea. For the first hour we wandered around the Loop (can you imagine, a whole hour walking half a mile!) and learned about Japanese maple, sugar pine, ponderosa pine, gingko biloba, dogwood, redwood, magnolia and liquid amber trees. I found out that a certain spot by the cafeteria always smells like an open sewer line, especially when it's been raining, because of the fruit of the female ginkgo biloba tree.
After our leisurely stroll, Dr. Jensen asked who would be interested in going on a longer walk and only one guest took her up on the offer, nevertheless we hurried out onto the trails and hit Coyote Creek and several other bits and pieces of trail, ending up at the swing. We stayed there about 15 minutes as she swung peacefully back and forth, I pushed her, and we all listened to her instruct from the swing! We got to see three Canadian geese fly over the sewer ponds, but they changed their mind about landing, so we carried on home.
I'm feeling good after that brisk walk :) And slightly irritated (okay, a lot irritated) because it sounds like someone is training for the trampoline Olympics upstairs in the Inn and I can't figure out if it is the dryer going or someone running around up there. Most of the time it doesn't bother me, but there are days when I get extremely frustrated and seriously question my living down here, whether it's worth the trouble. The light streams in from the Inn so it's never properly dark, even with blinds fully shut, there is always someone upstairs either running the washing machine or dryer or bouncing up and down like they're on a sugar high, I can't open my window at night because I'm on the ground floor and don't feel safe doing that, parts of my place "mold" real quickly so I have to constantly keep wiping down things (probably because the air doesn't circulate as well since I don't have my windows open all the time), and I can't play music unless my window is closed. Oh well, I shall plug in my headphones and watch some Top Chef now!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Lucky Friday
You know how you have those days when everything seems to go right? Well, my day wasn't quite like that all day, but most of it!!!
The morning was pretty tough, work stuff and the usual politics and other messed up aspects of it, but then my afternoon went really well. I went in to Auburn and had my tires rotated (now my car drives much smoother!), then popped across to Trendcuts and got a trim and bangs, with my favourite hairdresser who is really good and knows what she's doing, and when I stopped in at Grocery Outlet to see what good deals they have, I found Artichoke Tapenade (the huge glass jars they used to have in Costco) for $3.99 a jar so I bought six! And I also found my favourite cookies for just $1.99 each, so I got a bunch of those too!!! Then I came home and played board games for 3 hours with Rachel and Mommy and won most of the games, tehehe.
It's Friday the 13th today, but it's my lucky Friday :)
The morning was pretty tough, work stuff and the usual politics and other messed up aspects of it, but then my afternoon went really well. I went in to Auburn and had my tires rotated (now my car drives much smoother!), then popped across to Trendcuts and got a trim and bangs, with my favourite hairdresser who is really good and knows what she's doing, and when I stopped in at Grocery Outlet to see what good deals they have, I found Artichoke Tapenade (the huge glass jars they used to have in Costco) for $3.99 a jar so I bought six! And I also found my favourite cookies for just $1.99 each, so I got a bunch of those too!!! Then I came home and played board games for 3 hours with Rachel and Mommy and won most of the games, tehehe.
It's Friday the 13th today, but it's my lucky Friday :)
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Deliverance Is Not Yet Complete. . .
I just finished watching "Deliver Us From Evil," a gripping documentary about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and what is being done to keep justice from being served. I agree that it "should be seen by people of all faiths and by anyone concerned about the well-being of children" and put it right up there along with Hotel Rwanda, Not Without My Daughter, and God Grew Tired of Us, each well-done presentations that deal with the awful realities of life.
Two things really struck home to me. One was that the perpetrator, who appears on the documentary and constantly narrates his part in person, appeared to have no conscience. I've seen people like that before, no remorse is in their eyes, and no emotions are apparent. They are somehow capable of creating their own fantasy that reality cannot touch and are all too quick to place the blame elsewhere, not accepting their role in the crime.
The second part, and I don't normally get emotional when I watch documentaries but this really struck home, was to see the father of one of the female victims react so strongly as he was recounting the events. The father was choked up and at times he expressed strong anger that something like this could have happened to his own daughter. You could tell that he truly cared about his daughter and felt deep regret that he was unable to protect her when she needed it the most. The father's conclusion was that there is no God, and I cannot fault him for coming to that conclusion when it was the church that cloaked in secrecy the sins of their own.
Father Thomas Doyle, ironically also a Catholic priest, was a strong advocate for the abuse victims who told their story in this documentary, and it was encouraging to see how much he too, cared, and wanted justice to be served. So few men today have the courage to stand up and protect the children.
This is not the end, and the Catholic Church does not hold a monopoly on religious pedophiles. I think the words of Jesus say it best, "But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." ~Matthew 18:6 NIV
Two things really struck home to me. One was that the perpetrator, who appears on the documentary and constantly narrates his part in person, appeared to have no conscience. I've seen people like that before, no remorse is in their eyes, and no emotions are apparent. They are somehow capable of creating their own fantasy that reality cannot touch and are all too quick to place the blame elsewhere, not accepting their role in the crime.
The second part, and I don't normally get emotional when I watch documentaries but this really struck home, was to see the father of one of the female victims react so strongly as he was recounting the events. The father was choked up and at times he expressed strong anger that something like this could have happened to his own daughter. You could tell that he truly cared about his daughter and felt deep regret that he was unable to protect her when she needed it the most. The father's conclusion was that there is no God, and I cannot fault him for coming to that conclusion when it was the church that cloaked in secrecy the sins of their own.
Father Thomas Doyle, ironically also a Catholic priest, was a strong advocate for the abuse victims who told their story in this documentary, and it was encouraging to see how much he too, cared, and wanted justice to be served. So few men today have the courage to stand up and protect the children.
This is not the end, and the Catholic Church does not hold a monopoly on religious pedophiles. I think the words of Jesus say it best, "But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." ~Matthew 18:6 NIV
Friday, November 6, 2009
A New Sound
Okay, it's 9:28 pm and I might actually go to bed early tonight! I can't believe it!!! I was listening to an audio book this afternoon while cleaning my bathroom (that is the only way I'll clean, is if I distract myself with music or. . .my latest discovery. . .an interesting audio book!) and realized I really need to change my priorities in life. I need to get into a program where I'm getting to bed early, getting enough sleep, exercising daily, eating healthy, and then I'll have more energy and won't come home zonked at the end of the day and sit in front of my laptop for five hours straight, watching some movie or playing Freecell because I feel drained. My favourite book on tape right now is Wuthering Heights, read by Patrician Routledge who makes it sound so realistic. The Exhaustion Cure, by Laura Stack, is the one I was listening to this afternoon. I used to not be very into audio tapes because I'm not as much of an audio listener as I am kinesthetic and visual, but somehow I've gotten on a streak where it makes time fly by.
So my bathroom is clean and dishes done (in cold water, the boiler burst in the Inn so we haven't had hot water for a week now, kinda depressing) but I still have a thousand things just lying around making me nervous. I mean, I'm not going to use them anytime soon, so why do I have them???
Two whole days of nothing to do, what bliss!!!
So my bathroom is clean and dishes done (in cold water, the boiler burst in the Inn so we haven't had hot water for a week now, kinda depressing) but I still have a thousand things just lying around making me nervous. I mean, I'm not going to use them anytime soon, so why do I have them???
Two whole days of nothing to do, what bliss!!!
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