Pickles, Sprite, Talking to Dad, People's Park, and the New Term.

I can't remember who did this illustration, I am sure it came from deviant art... or not, I don't know. I just need something pretty and happy after the weird-ass day I've had. Yes, it's 2:30 am. Yes, I should be in bed. No, I can't sleep. Yes, I wish I could because my damn eyes are bothering me- it is time for new glasses. But since I can't and don't just want to sit and veg out in front of the TV (although the Poldark reboot marathon I had recently was really nice), I am trying to do something constructive. Yes, it should probably be homework, but I'll get to that in a few. For now, I am sipping a can of Sprite and eating a pickle, because why not?

Today was nuts! I do mean nuts! Amanda had a meeting at work (on her day off of course) and then later she was supposed to donate blood. Why she didn't, I'll get into later. Anyway, the plan was to take her to work, then find some place down town to have lunch and maybe go ride the Looff Carousel since we still have tokens. So I got up, took her to work, and to keep from paying for parking while I sat in the car, I drive over to People's park just passed Brown's Addition. I've gone there before to sit while waiting for Amanda, so no big deal right? Uh, no. Today wacky, scary, and crazy were out. 

First, I pull in and get comfortable, crack the window, and happily watched the birds and the river pass. Shortly this car pulls up near my car and as always, I happen to look over to see this mostly attractive guy smiling at me. Like really smiling... and starting. So I smile back and pick up the book I brought to read and I can feel this guys eyes still on me. Sure enough, when I look over he's just sitting there watching me. So I decided that I would put the book down and call my Dad. As soon as my Dad answers, the guy gets out of his car. So I lock my doors just to be safe, knowing that Amanda will have to get me out because her stupid door is still broken. I asked my Dad if he had time to be on the phone with while a weird person stares at me. He said he did, so we start up on of many conversations. The weird guy actually walks in front of my car, looking in like he's looking for something or waiting for me to get out and when I don't he walks up this path a little bit, stops, stands there, looks back at me, and then goes back to his car and leave. I have no idea what he was there for or what he thought I was there for, but that's just strange.

So my Dad and I are still talking about 45 mins later, about the new Star Wars movie that I still haven't seen and his thoughts on it when another strange person appears. I'm not really a person who judges other people based on what they look like. I generally try give people two interactions before deciding whether or not I want to get to know them more or not, and I'm certainly not one of those "Oh he/she is black/Hispanic/whatever so they are up to something or no good" kind of people. You simply can't judge people by looks or color or race. However, this new guy really just put me off. He was middle eastern looking, no big deal, dressed really nice, looked to be mid 20s. He was carrying what looked to be a wadded up jacket. So despite my instincts saying, "um, he seems kind of odd", I pretty much just focused on the conversation I was having with my Dad. Except I see this guy walk to the bridge, get on it, stop in the middle and stand there. I wouldn't have thought anything of it because I had thought of getting out to do the same earlier, until the guy dropped the wadded up jacket into the river. That got my attention. I watched him walk back to his car, and drive away and told my Dad. It didn't look like he had anything big enough to be say a baby or even kittens or puppies, so I am hoping it was just drugs or something like that. Needless to say I was kind of freaked and really stayed in my car. Thankfully, though, Amanda called shortly after and I had to hang up with Dad and go get her.

Really quick, I mentioned Grad school to my Dad and I told him that I knew he and Mom wouldn't approve, but I am still seriously considering it. He said he didn't care if I went to grad school, but he thinks I should take some time off between graduation and going on to Grad school to just write and really set up a routine. He said it was because I am enough like him that I can think of 97 million reasons why I need to be doing something else. It's true.

Also, my very OCD mother is driving him bonkers. He was telling me about what's going on at home and he said he wasn't trying to dump on me, he was just trying to explain what's going on and see if I had any ideas of how to handle my Mom. LOL. My poor Dad. One my Mom is very OCD, two she suffers from chronic pain and has for as long as I can remember in one form or another, and three, she's stubborn as hell. So she's miserable, her knees are have gotten bad, and she wants to exercise to get the weight off because she's gained some because her thyroid is apparently off and so on and can't do too much because of some other issues. So she gets a sharp pain and jumps which aggrivates something else and she fusses. But that's not an issue, the issue is she's in the house all day, every day. My parents are broke most of the time so they can't go to the movies like she likes, and she doesn't really like going to the park because she's a hermit and so on so she's sitting at home and everything that's wrong is cycling in her head and she's a little bored so she's pestering my Dad about this or that and generally bitchy because of the pain. I know what my Dad's frustrated with because I had to deal with it for several years before I moved away from home. It's obnoxious, it draining sometimes, and sometimes you just want to tell her to shut up and go away but you can't because her feelings get hurt. Sigh. My Mom needs a friend. Or they need to move up here because I will drag her ass out of the house whether or not she feels up to it. I'd do the same to my Dad too. Basically she needs something else to obsess over, something positive. 

Okay so the rest of the day.

Amanda and I went to Tandy Leather to check out the store and see if we'd run into a friend who works there. Our friend wasn't there but we got some really good information on a project we are thinking about taking on.
We went to Long John Silver's for lunch because very rarely eat there and was having a horrible craving for their chicken and hush puppies (a deep fried cornmeal type of thing). Amanda's only eaten there once and didn't remember it but when she tried some of my chicken she was really loving it and I told her that was why I pretty much only go there once a year. I think everything on the menu is deep fried yummy goodness. However, there is another reason why I on'y go there about once a year and that is because it gives my stomach issues at night when I want to be sleeping. I just can't do a lot of grease any more. 

After we ate, we ran over to Lane Bryant so Amanda could use her members reward. She fond a dress on clearance, yay! It looks awful on the hanger, like old granny lady looking but on her it looks super cute! She decided after that, that she didn't want to donate blood at work, she just didn't feel up to it, so we went on to Post Falls where we would visit her parents and my friend Felicia and the kids. Only to find out when we arrived and the landlord was changing her parent's lock, that her mother's purse had been stolen at Good Will in Coeur d'Alene earlier that day. On top of that the employees were less than helpful in helping her look for and were apparently kind of rude. Amanda's Mom said whoever did it, had to do it quick and had to have been watching her, because she set her purse down in her cart, turned around to look at something and when she turned back her purse was gone. It really sucked. She was out doing a little shopping and paying bills and there went 200 in cash, her cell phone, some cards. It's bad. Amanda's Mom basically came home, ate some dinner, and went to bed. I can't blame her.

On a good note, I had a really nice visit with Felicia. I miss her so much. We only had a short visit, and the boys and the dog were all over me, but it was still nice. Well the boys were interested in me until Felicia sent them to play in their room so we could actually talk but that didn't last too long because they started bickering and fighting.

Lastly the new term. Its only week one, but I think I like it. The Wellness class is meh and so far, from what I have done of this week's homework going to annoy me with the whole "smoking is bad and being fat is bad" yeah yeah yeah, blow it out your ass. No, I'm not smoking, but I really really want to. My neighbors congregate in the stairwell and it comes in my house via the draft at the front door. So that certainly doesn't help. Anyway, that aside, the other class, the Advanced Creative Writing class, looks really obnoxiously challenging in a good way.  Obnoxious in that I can already see myself growing over the more difficult aspects of the class, like grammar and spelling, challenging in that I get to write more than 10 pages this time, and also, challenging in that I now have to sit down and try to figure out what the hell I want to write about. I'm thinking paranormal or Scifi/fantasy, definitely romance, and I don't know what else. Its going to be word vomit to start that's for sure, but in the end it will be a publishable piece, which is amazing!

Fires, Smoke, Insanity, Cats, and Homework

That is not fog, that is smoke

The other day, after we'd taken a friend to Sasquan- the World Science Fiction Convention- we were out and about in Spokane and Spokane Valley, Wa. It wouldn't have mattered if we had been 25 miles away back home in Post Falls, the sky and air quality was just as terrible. In fact it was so bad that another friend of mine who has asthma was forced to ear a face mask and still have trouble breathing. We couldn't run the air conditioner in the Jeep or even really have the windows down. It was a hot, disgusting, miserable kind of day. We spent most of it in various places like the library, Barnes and Noble, and at a friend's house. Not that it mattered much at all, you could still smell the smoke on your clothing and in the buildings. To put it plainly, Washington and Northern Idaho are on fire. We are fortunate that we haven't been asked to evacuate but if we don't get some serious rainfall soon, who knows what will happen.

Yesterday was not so bad smoke wise. Today, it was back with a vengeance. I can't see the mountains. 

If you look really hard, yo can see two eyes and a nose, even a tail. That's Narcisa, or rather that was her yesterday morning when we were getting ready to leave. She loves to curl up in bags but I think she also wanted us to either stay home or take her with us. We've been in and out of the house so much lately, even gone all day for several days, that I think she really missed us. 

Speaking of being in and out of the house. We have been, all this week. It's really run me ragged and I was quite thankful for a quiet day at home. With all the company and places we've had to go this summer, and one more batch of company coming, a bachelorette party, a wedding, and IEPG events, we've had and still have a lot to do. But more than that, Amanda and I haven't really had a lot of time to spend together. We watched a movie this morning and we are planning to watch another one in a few minutes. I don't know what, but we have a lot on our Netflix queue. I am hoping that we will get a date day or date night squeezed in somewhere but for now, I think we are just enjoying being home. 

Homework has been driving me batty and that's putting it mildly. Almost did I call it quits on my photography class and purposely fail. My teacher is nuts, she can't decide what she wants, and just, no, I am not going to bitch about it. Let's just say, I am pissed, frustrated, and so happy that I only have two more weeks of this class. One more week, if I can pull off the rest of the homework this week. I desperately need the break week that comes between terms. That said this is one of the photos for my photographic essay. Amanda was my model and she was playing the part of a water nymph who comes out to turn on the water at the city fountain, on a hot day for all the kids to play. I got some really good pictures of her even though the air was smokey. We went to Riverfront Park in Spokane for the shoot. It was nice barring the fact that I was in a lot of pain and not moving as well as I wanted to move. 

In all of the mess of back and forth, in and out, company and homework, I've made a new friend and become better friends with a sweet fun-loving couple. I also learned some disheartening things about a woman who asked if I wanted to go to a bridal show. She did not ask me to go because she was interested in getting to know me better or establish friendship but rather she asked me to go so she could try to steal me away from a friend and use me to hurt said friend. I am not a pawn. I find what she's already done to said friend and her intentions to use me despicable and I won't participate. In fact, I won't tolerate it. 

Oh two more things. I think, depending on how much it costs and all the rigmarole that goes with it, that Amanda and I might have found the spot we will get married at. It is beautiful! I will get some pictures of it because I plan to visit it again soon. But if it doesn't work out, I have a couple of back up ideas.  

Lastly, I am going to start making some tarot bags. I already got some fabric and just need to cut, sew, and embroider them. What I am putting on them, I haven't a clue, but it will be witchy. 

Bye for now, I'm off to watch a movie with my honey.

Things are starting to move, to come together, and I still have so much to do.

As soon as my financial aid comes through, I will officially be back in college. Through e-mail correspondence, I've been talking with my admissions counselor and she suggested a couple of classes to start and asked if there were a few others in case the two she suggested had filled up. So I went through the course catalog and found some possibilities. I actually spent an hour or two reviewing what transferred from my other schools and what I still needed to take, and came up with a tentative plan of which classes I wanted/needed to take. It was kind of fun actually. 

I think I might have mentioned getting my new glasses, but if I didn't, I got my new glasses. I can see! YAY! I am still adjusting to them. Now I just needed to get the cavities the dentist says I have, filled (that's going to cost far more than it probably should), and get myself into the doctor for a few things. One, I need to get this recent allergic reaction looked at, I'm still having trouble with the hives (apparently some can last up to 6 weeks or more). I need to talk to my doctor about PCOS because I still haven't done that, not that I have seen her recently, and I need to talk to her about getting a voucher to get a free baseline mammogram done. I'm 30 and since my Great Aunt died of breast cancer and a few other members in my family have had lumps removed, I just think it's a good idea. 

The friends that were visiting went home. I loved having them here but I was ready for everyone to go home on Friday. Skoora's Mom was driving us all a little nuts, Skoora and I both had things we needed to do and still need to get done, and I really wasn't feeling good that day and just kind of needed to curl up in a cool, dark room and sleep off the migraine. Of course the 'sleeping off the migraine' didn't happen. There was a lot of running around and we donated plasma after which we did a little shopping. I can honestly say that I do not enjoy having panic attacks in public much less in the middle of wal-mart. But I had it, was able to calm down fairly quickly, and we got out of there and home soon enough. I fell asleep on the sofa watching a really stupid movie. 

Oh, I got new shoes! Every pair of my shoes either have holes in them or are falling apart. So I broke down and got a pair of sneakers with some supports in them. Skoora says I am walking better. That's good!

We've been cleaning a little bit here and there (the usual stuff) and we are in the process of organizing a few things. I've been Pinterest again and saw a couple of ideas that I loved. Now, we just need to go through our stuff. We've got our room and then what we have out in the garage. There's so much to do and I should be starting school next month. I'm kind of afraid I won't get it all done. 

Lastly, Skoora earned herself a new Super Hero name this week. I dubbed her Mistress Monster Snore! Because of a really crappy medical procedure she had to undergo for vocal nodes several years ago, she now snores like a fog horn. Oh boy, some of the sounds she makes! She can't help it and it doesn't bother me, well until she starts sounding like a growling monster and then it's time to wake her up. 

       

Might be a long night...

This is me, Skoora.

I took my girlfriend, Skoora, to the airport tonight so she could fly out to Boston for her MFA residency. she'll only be gone for two weeks but that's two whole weeks that she's there and not here, with me. Last time she went to one of these I flew home to visit my family and some friends back in Kansas. It was different. But, I am very happy she is in this program and that she has the opportunity to do this. I already miss her.

I won't be staying home with her parents the entire time that she's gone. Nope, I am going to visit a friend in another town for a few days and will be bringing her back to my house, where she in turn will spend a few days. Our plans are to discuss Neo-pagan topics (there are some things I need to read before I leave), explore the area she lives so I can get some pictures and she can get out of the house (as long as my back holds out), and she's going to teach me to crochet. Which reminds me, I thought of an idea for a quilt.

I haven't decided exactly what I plan to do for the 4th of July. If my friend stays until then, I thought I would see about watching the city's fireworks show. I know I am invited to Skoora's aunt's house for swimming, games, and a cook out. Whether or not my friend stays or goes home by then, I will at least attend for a little bit. Then of course, I need to get online and play Guild Wars with my Dad.

Oh speaking of my Dad, he got his first tattoo! He hates needles so I am proud that he stuck it out. His tattoo is the snake from the Gadsden flag. I wonder if my Mom will get a tattoo now? I have two and hope to one day get something on my back, between my shoulder blades, something pagan, but what, I haven't decided. I have to keep in mind cost, time in the tattoo chair, if I will have to have more than one appointment, ect...

As of right now, I'm kind of tired, but I don't know if that will be the case once I lay down to sleep. I have decided that I will keep the TV on tonight, for noise. It's going to be so weird to sleep in our bed without Skoora, at least here. However, I will have the kitties, and if I can't sleep, I will read.