Legs
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Saturday, October 16, 2004
Johnson State College
Every week my 7 year-old cousin Charlotte asks if I have a boyfriend yet. When I tell her no, she insists I need to go out and get one. She suggests finding one by going to college.
Today I went to the open house at Johnson State... Not to look for a boyfriend, but to check out their outdoor education program. I've been interested in them for several years now and finally decided to visit campus. Pretty interesting place! They seem to have a lot of things going on there. The professors were all really nice and talkative, the library had a lot of comfy chairs and good views, and the food actually tasted decent.
College gets more appealing the older I get. I want to be surrounded by enthusiastic people who are into the same things I am. I'm not interested so much in the learning as the smushing myself into a tiny dormroom with a complete stranger and being enveloped by the hyper social scene.
I'm seriously considering taking the SATs and starting the whole college application process. It would be a different experience...
Today I went to the open house at Johnson State... Not to look for a boyfriend, but to check out their outdoor education program. I've been interested in them for several years now and finally decided to visit campus. Pretty interesting place! They seem to have a lot of things going on there. The professors were all really nice and talkative, the library had a lot of comfy chairs and good views, and the food actually tasted decent.
College gets more appealing the older I get. I want to be surrounded by enthusiastic people who are into the same things I am. I'm not interested so much in the learning as the smushing myself into a tiny dormroom with a complete stranger and being enveloped by the hyper social scene.
I'm seriously considering taking the SATs and starting the whole college application process. It would be a different experience...
Friday, October 15, 2004
What things suck
GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!
On Monday I brought my beloved van to the mechanic for its appointment to have the wiring fixed and brake lines put in. It's now Friday and I've learned the mechanic just started working on it today. Previously he had promised it would be ready by Thursday. Now he says it won't be ready Monday, and he won't be able to fix the wiring. Time to start charging him.
In the meantime, I'm paying insurance for the privelage of having it sit in his lot. He's had it so long that the grace period for me being able to drive it without being inspected has run out. I can't get it inspected without the lights working, which he can't fix because he doesn't know how.
GRRRRRRRRR!!
On Monday I brought my beloved van to the mechanic for its appointment to have the wiring fixed and brake lines put in. It's now Friday and I've learned the mechanic just started working on it today. Previously he had promised it would be ready by Thursday. Now he says it won't be ready Monday, and he won't be able to fix the wiring. Time to start charging him.
In the meantime, I'm paying insurance for the privelage of having it sit in his lot. He's had it so long that the grace period for me being able to drive it without being inspected has run out. I can't get it inspected without the lights working, which he can't fix because he doesn't know how.
GRRRRRRRRR!!
Thursday, October 14, 2004
New Bumper Stickers!
Some new stickers that I nought over the internet arrived today. Yay! They say:
Eschew Obfuscation
If going to church makes you a Christian, does going to the garage make you a car?
I saw Elvis making crop circles
Support your local revolution
I give evolution two opposable thumbs up!
I have an ulterior motive for my hidden adgenda
Bipartisanship I'll hug your elephant if you kiss my ass
Congress gave huge tax breaks to the rich and all I got was this lousy bumper sticker
Invest in America - Buy a congressman
Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?
Actions speak louder than bumperstickers
Please forgive me, I was raised by wolves
and a sticker with the Christian fish emblem that says inside it: & Chips
Eschew Obfuscation
If going to church makes you a Christian, does going to the garage make you a car?
I saw Elvis making crop circles
Support your local revolution
I give evolution two opposable thumbs up!
I have an ulterior motive for my hidden adgenda
Bipartisanship I'll hug your elephant if you kiss my ass
Congress gave huge tax breaks to the rich and all I got was this lousy bumper sticker
Invest in America - Buy a congressman
Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?
Actions speak louder than bumperstickers
Please forgive me, I was raised by wolves
and a sticker with the Christian fish emblem that says inside it: & Chips
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Horoscope
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Events in the coming week will bring the beginning of the end of an influence you love to hate. They will also usher in a turning point for your relationship with a person you should treat better than you do. And that's just a fraction of the many adventures headed your way, Sagittarius. Finales and climaxes will be in the works everywhere you turn, and you will get one last chance to fix a long-standing mess before it explodes. Is that dramatic enough for you? No? You want even more? OK, then, how's this: You may finally realize what you want to be when you grow up.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Something Different
I want to do something different this year. A new experience. An activity to stretch my comfort zones and expand my mind. I feel like I've been doing variations of the same thing for the past few years. Hiking, trailwork and carpentry are all well and good, but I need to try something else!
I have an urge to go someplace, reinvent myself, and try new things. I have no idea WHAT. Vermont is getting claustrophobic. Maybe I'll emigrate to Canada and play with the mounties.
I have an urge to go someplace, reinvent myself, and try new things. I have no idea WHAT. Vermont is getting claustrophobic. Maybe I'll emigrate to Canada and play with the mounties.
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Why Heather needs a life
Last night I was watching a couple episodes of Whose Line Is It Anyway? and laughing my head off. Mom remarked from the other room that she misses me laughing that way...throaty and uninhibited, like I used to do all the time as a baby.
I miss it too. I wish I could be more uninhibited when it comes to my personality in public. I'm really quite a shy person when other people are present.
Like the other day at work. I dropped in at the barn to see what Sam and Eric were working on. Sam had finished pounding down the texture of the granite from rocky peaks to a surface that was more like the prairies of the midwest, and had started polishing it. He invited me to run my hand over the silky areas. I started running my fingertips over the buttery soft granite but became instantly shy. Sam was watching me.
If it were just me there....I would have run both hands over the entire block, marveling at the roughness of the raw granite crystals juxtaposed against the newly satin surfaces. I wouldn't have given a whit about my actions ... I just would have done them. And enjoyed it without reservation.
I miss it too. I wish I could be more uninhibited when it comes to my personality in public. I'm really quite a shy person when other people are present.
Like the other day at work. I dropped in at the barn to see what Sam and Eric were working on. Sam had finished pounding down the texture of the granite from rocky peaks to a surface that was more like the prairies of the midwest, and had started polishing it. He invited me to run my hand over the silky areas. I started running my fingertips over the buttery soft granite but became instantly shy. Sam was watching me.
If it were just me there....I would have run both hands over the entire block, marveling at the roughness of the raw granite crystals juxtaposed against the newly satin surfaces. I wouldn't have given a whit about my actions ... I just would have done them. And enjoyed it without reservation.
God versus Bush
More bush bashing, this time in the form of a funny jpg illustrating God's will through hurricanes.
http://bash.org/GODvsBUSH.gif
http://bash.org/GODvsBUSH.gif
Monday, October 04, 2004
School
I stumbled upon this article. In some town whose name I didn't catch, the daily newspaper publishes it every start of the school year.
"Summer died last night. Never mind the calendar date, and never mind what the meteorologists say about the autumn equinox. Summer went quietly, and its trappings with it.
While children slept, frayed cut-off denim shorts disappeared from bedposts to be replaced by stiff new jeans or slacks.
And lined up on the floor, shoes; shoes to imprison feet grown tough through a barefoot summer.
It all went so quickly; the bright green, blue and golden days, the soft windless nights punctuated by the gossip of tree toads and crickets. Now it is ended. Wind, sun and rain no longer matter. Now their days are ordered by unnatural things: buzzers, bells and disembodied voices coming from the walls.
What shall we do today?
You'll do what you're told, that's what. Thou shalt not run unless I tell you to run. But I ran all summer when I wanted to run.
Thou shalt not talk unless I tell you to talk. But in the summer when I had something to say, I said it.
Thou shalt not laugh unless you see that I am amused.
So the schools reclaim the children, taking them away from non-productive pursuits to Prepare Them For Life. And being children, they adjust.
Besides, it's not all unpleasant. There are old acquaintances to be renewed, summer experiences to be shared, and in the sharing a certain reliving of those precious hours. There are things to be learned, skills to be discovered and enhanced. Knowledge to be accumulated and stored until test time when it can be summoned up, set down and then forgotten to make room for more dispensable knowledge. And that is all for a purpose.
These are your most precious possessions, the educators say. Give them to us and we will give them back to you better than they were before. Maybe. Maybe not. No guarantee goes with the service. No warranty. No money back if not completely satisfied.
All that's certain is that there will be other summers. But this one's dead.
A yellow bus came in the early morning, its lights cutting through the thick gray fog, and carried summer away."
"Summer died last night. Never mind the calendar date, and never mind what the meteorologists say about the autumn equinox. Summer went quietly, and its trappings with it.
While children slept, frayed cut-off denim shorts disappeared from bedposts to be replaced by stiff new jeans or slacks.
And lined up on the floor, shoes; shoes to imprison feet grown tough through a barefoot summer.
It all went so quickly; the bright green, blue and golden days, the soft windless nights punctuated by the gossip of tree toads and crickets. Now it is ended. Wind, sun and rain no longer matter. Now their days are ordered by unnatural things: buzzers, bells and disembodied voices coming from the walls.
What shall we do today?
You'll do what you're told, that's what. Thou shalt not run unless I tell you to run. But I ran all summer when I wanted to run.
Thou shalt not talk unless I tell you to talk. But in the summer when I had something to say, I said it.
Thou shalt not laugh unless you see that I am amused.
So the schools reclaim the children, taking them away from non-productive pursuits to Prepare Them For Life. And being children, they adjust.
Besides, it's not all unpleasant. There are old acquaintances to be renewed, summer experiences to be shared, and in the sharing a certain reliving of those precious hours. There are things to be learned, skills to be discovered and enhanced. Knowledge to be accumulated and stored until test time when it can be summoned up, set down and then forgotten to make room for more dispensable knowledge. And that is all for a purpose.
These are your most precious possessions, the educators say. Give them to us and we will give them back to you better than they were before. Maybe. Maybe not. No guarantee goes with the service. No warranty. No money back if not completely satisfied.
All that's certain is that there will be other summers. But this one's dead.
A yellow bus came in the early morning, its lights cutting through the thick gray fog, and carried summer away."
Lights....lights....lights?
My van is being persnickety. This weekend I stomped into the house and declared to mom that if my van had a neck, I'd be wringing it. The electrical system is something else!
I dug out all of the wires from behind the walls and tried to make sense of it. I spliced together 4 loose ends and got the back lights to work again. All I needed to do was to get the left blinker to blink. So far I've failed at that task, and am back at square one. None of the back end lights work.
Perhaps I should let a professional deal with it :-)
The auto electrical shop I went to the other day had a sign:
$32 an hour
$36 if you watch
$40 if you help
I dug out all of the wires from behind the walls and tried to make sense of it. I spliced together 4 loose ends and got the back lights to work again. All I needed to do was to get the left blinker to blink. So far I've failed at that task, and am back at square one. None of the back end lights work.
Perhaps I should let a professional deal with it :-)
The auto electrical shop I went to the other day had a sign:
$32 an hour
$36 if you watch
$40 if you help
I need a sign like that for my carpentry business...
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Mooooo
I'm running away from home soon. I already have cabin fever. Where to go? What to do? What bank to rob to finance it all? I just came in from working on my van. It's been a frustrating weekend!
My rearview mirror took a couple of hours to put up. It's a long story, and involves Gorilla Glue, a kit of super-duper mirror epoxy, 3 types of screws, one rivet and gun, a clamp, 3 broken drill bits, a dead battery and exponential amounts of swearing. In addition, one of my fingers sustained some damage when the drill I was holding sliped and started boring into my flesh with the bit going at high speed. I now have two parallel, ragged cuts. The final outcome? One mirror, mounted upside down to the steel van frame.
This is why when I came in, I liked this picture of the cow. Very soothing. I took its picture as it stood in the middle of the Appalachian Trail last year.
Friday, October 01, 2004
Poser
Sam posing with the granite
I told Eric he was on the web. He was so engrossed with his work, he hadn't noticed I had taken pictures of him. Sam though...what a ham!
Like the goggles/dust mask/ear muffs with built in radio? I personally like the carhartts...As most people who have read my site know. I need to get another pair myself. Mom made me throw out my 4 year old, well broken in pair. She wasn't going to drive me back home from Arizona unless I did.
Pray for my butt
I got home from work today and read mom's blog to see what was new. She's currently asking for people to pray for my butt. Why? Well...
I have a metal object lodged inside my skin, to the left of my tail bone. I must have gotten it while sliding around under my van about a month ago.
My doc says he's always wanted to prescribe a butt x-ray, so he sent me to get one yesterday. My aunt Liz said they'll probably find my head up there. Today the doc called back to say the thing is a metal, needle-like object that's more than an inch long and is in such a tricky place, they need to operate to get it out. My surgery is next week. I hope they let me keep it when they dig it out. It'll make for a great conversation piece.
I have a metal object lodged inside my skin, to the left of my tail bone. I must have gotten it while sliding around under my van about a month ago.
My doc says he's always wanted to prescribe a butt x-ray, so he sent me to get one yesterday. My aunt Liz said they'll probably find my head up there. Today the doc called back to say the thing is a metal, needle-like object that's more than an inch long and is in such a tricky place, they need to operate to get it out. My surgery is next week. I hope they let me keep it when they dig it out. It'll make for a great conversation piece.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
