Tally

We're heading to visit Helen's parents for Thanksgiving. Should be fun... I'm taking Clean (and vegan) peanut butter truffles.

Also, it's grey out and misery has settled into this invalids poor bones. Yes, I'm being over dramatic. Whatever! I'm so over this.

the achy breaky feeling

Oh my gosh, I'm serious, I just want to stick my fingers into my thoracic cavity and put my cartilage and/or rib back where it needs to be!

I went ice skating late last Saturday night with Brennan (to break up the monotony of paper-writing all day and night) and the Zamboni wasn't run at all for some reason. We agree that the ice was choppier than it should have been and I'm not just a total klutz. Seriously, I'm not actually bad on skates.

Anyways. I played it cool, toughed it out. It hurt a lot but we skated for another hour before I had to call it a night.

Sunday morning I woke up to the sound of myself screaming (yes, they were obscenities, I am ashamed) and then dosed myself with ibuprofen and got ready for church/garden club fundraising.

The fundraiser went well! Very exciting, can't wait to break ground and get dirty.

And Helen and I are going to Tally for the holiday to see Poppa and Lolita, yay.

Also, Conner was just in a Thanksgiving show and he was basically the STAR of the show. Well, he had one line to memorize- They met the natives, and shook their hands!- but only 4 kids in the whole PreK were asked to memorize a line. I am so proud.

And Coral is just blossoming. Ever-lovely and precious and working really hard on bringing up her reading/writing grades.

AND I lived through the hardest week of school ever :) and I have all A's.

And now I'm dating the cutest boy ever. Go me!

I could tell you a LOT about teeth right now, if you wanted me too

We just finished up a fun section in Bio Anthropology- living humans, living primates, and the first 50 my of primate evolution. This included some of my favorite topics! Woohoo. Birth processes in primates, diet/nutrition, and phylogenies. I thought anatomical science was a weakness of mine, but I flew through those portions of lab.

The semester's going pretty good. I am at a point now where the pace is alternating between too much and easy. Now it's paper writing time, SERIOUSLY. I am falling WAAAAY behind on my papers.

Oh, but what was I saying? Oh yeah, eating/breathing/sleeping ANT. Things got sort of strange when I was wandering around holding my notebooks and murmuring things like "Is it Y-5 or Plus-5?" and living on loads of coffee, (mostly) unprocessed food, and promises to pay the piper.

When things get crazy I remind myself that it's all for a purpose.

But I don't want to get lost in the shuffle of bilophodont molars and plesiadapids and all the other great stuff. I'm still here. I am in here. (sorry, a Hal Incandenza moment, COULD NOT help myself)


One of my best friends, Michelle, had a baby girl last week- Lorelei Maestas.
I can't wait to see her- need to search airfare asap.

My friend Teresa is moving to CA. I'm missing her already, and jealous, and wistful, and optimistic.

Cora lost her first upper incisor. My baby is honestly growing up.

Amy and I are still talking gardens, and honestly, she's doing a lot more gardening than I. I miss it, but those freakin squirrels cut me to the quick with my watermelons and now I'm afraid to commit! I started easing back in by resuming my compost habits last week, but I really have a gripe about leaves in there. This might be the downside to low tech composting. Are the decomposing oak leaves bad? neutral? ok? HELP!!!

But regardless of my compost woes, I'm excited about the community organic garden, and our first event. More on that later ;)

I went all the way to Orlando, and all I got was this...

(actually very nice) tee shirt! It says "Keep It Wheel", hee hee.

No, seriously, it was a complete surprise to me.

Tee shirts were handed out for first, second, and third place, as well as "dead last" and "fell flat on his face". I got the prize for donating extra food. Woo! Not dead last, and I didn't fall on my face!! :D

And actually, that's not all I got. I got to spend time doing something for a good cause, socializing with people I'm newly acquainted with, meeting some new people, having a great time riding (the weather was amazing, the food at Etho's was really good, and we all drank beer and hung out for a while after the race).

Oh, but folks, thats not the end of the story.

There's a MORAL to this tale.

A girl I know offered to drive, and I took her up on her offer. NOTE: I would have been fine driving myself. I have a bike rack on my car for this very purpose.

We agreed that we'd be coming home that same day. NOTE: I had agreed to go to those parties because I was going to be coming home Saturday evening.

After several additional factors came into play, she made a split-second-cross-4-lanes-of-interstate-traffic to drive to SOME GUY'S house in Orlando, some guy she doesn't even really know that well, and who was a complete stranger to me, announcing that she was not, in fact, driving me back to Pinellas Co. as planned.

I was actually almost relieved she wasn't driving, because her road rage had came out of hiding to the point where she was being extremely agressive, not to mention rude, to other cars, and even pedestrians (all with the bikes on the back of her SUV)!

She had decided we could "crash there" because she was too exhausted and hungry to go home.

However, I had no intention of staying there. I offered to drive (she said no), I suggested we stop for food and coffee (she was not interested), until I finally started calling madly for train/bus info, but by this time, all the ticket offices were closed.

NOTE: I could have gotten a ride with any number of people from Etho's, if I had known she'd flip out... Many of them live over this way, and were driving back, too.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: I could have purchased a Greyhound bus or train ticket right there in downtown Orlando if I had known!

I was livid, to say the least.


Anyways, my bike and I did make it back home last night, thanks to the timeless strength of the bonds of friendship. My roommate called a friend in Orlando who came and rescued me and brought me back here, in exchange for our couch to sleep on, and my promise to make breakfast.


Moral of the story: don't go to Orlando with someone you don't implicitly trust.

:) life is BEYOND comprehension sometimes :)

So, my day started a little stressed; I had to get ready for a chemistry exam AND go to my brain-less dead-end job, where I would be unable to study for that exam. PLus, I've discovered that from 9:30 am till about 1 pm, I am a HW machine. I mean, I can take notes at a good pace, I solve the most complicated problems during those hours, I think clearly, and I actually don't lack motivation.

And, my kids are in school during those hours, so it's a good time to hunker down with coffee and my work, right?

So, imagine how aggravating it must be to have to peel myself away from the perfect homework environs to go do NOTHING MUCH. At least, nothing important (and for almost no money!).

Besides- ASK ME, just ask me, what is the most important thing to me? My children, of course.

And what have I been forced to put ahead of my time with them (not above their wellbeing, they're just getting lots of time with their dad and with my mom)? School, namely Chemistry lecture. It cuts into my time with them, and still I struggle. So, for me, to pass this class is insanely important. I've invested so much time...

So, to put work ahead of passing Chemistry was to add insult to injury!!! To, essentially put SHREDDING PAPER ahead of time that could have been spent with my kids?? NO, sir, I will NOT.

But do you know what had me the most stressed of all? I felt guilty to want to put my own needs first. How sad. Sometimes, it is very easy to get swept into a current of GO GO GO, when what I need is a sit down breakfast and quality time ;-)


Therefore, mine was a most sympathetic ear as a good friend poured out some of his Monty-Python-esque angst (think: Dennis, the socialist peasant from The Holy Grail), regarding the culture we find ourselves in.


One thing led to another, and before I knew it... I was being invited to join in the (family friendly) adventure of a lifetime, half a world away.

This is why you should always keep passports at the ready. You might not end up using them, but it's certainly nice to know that you could if you wanted to. If you're at all like me, your sanity depends upon it.

it's official

With the coming time change and my hectic school schedule, I just could not do a week-night. 2nd Sunday of the month it is! I'm thinking 4-6pm.

We will be leaving from St Petersburg College (Drew St & Old Coachman Rd), and riding, west, through Clearwater. Expect to cover about 8-10 miles roundtrip, our pace depends on the turnout. By that, I mean that if people show up who wanna ride more leisurely, they are welcome to join us. If it's all speed-demons, I'm personally down for that, too.

something I found out about while delivering exams for some profs

CLEP tests! There are College Board tests that if you score high enough, you can just instantly have those credits. There's several that I could do, even at this late stage. I found out the other day that when I transfer to USF I'll be coming in about halfway done with my junior year. I'm looking at mostly Anthropology and Science courses over there for the next couple of years :-)

Ha! But if I test out of a few more things right before I transfer, it might go even faster. (can you tell I'm tired from so many classes, lol)

Oh, and I actually already knew about CLEP tests, but had forgotten... Duh; I took AP American history in high school. And I did score high enough on the test, but decided to not take the American History credit because I actually wanted to be in this course again. So far, so good. LOTS of writing this week, in fact this might be the last blog post for a week or so, as I do the things I have to get done.

Besides school stuff, I'm taking C & C to Heritage Village again and to the First United Methodist Fall Festival this coming Saturday, hosting a kids Halloween party on Sunday complete with gross stuff and a potluck. We've been doing Halloween parties in my playgroup since the very begining, so I'm pretty proud to be hosting it. I just also need to makes my kids costumes, and do this all really cheaply... hmmm...

reality that you can feel... in your quadriceps

So, a couple of weeks ago, Brian suggested that I ride with him and the rest of the Bicycle Outfitters crew, from the shop to the Bike Bash event at Vinoy Park, in downtown St. Pete. I was sorta on the fence about riding there; not because I didn't want to try a longer ride than I'm used to (in fact, that's exactly what I was ready for), but because I was worried about being the slowest/least skilled person going.

Not to mention it would require getting up at 5 am on a Sunday.

But don't worry- I decided to go anyways, and I am SO glad that I did. Getting up while it was still dark was actually fun, it made the day feel more exciting than a normal day (or was that my nervousness, maybe?). The stars and the moon were just gorgeous Sunday morning, and the weather was brisk enough that I got to don a cozy hooded sweater as we headed out for a quick cup of coffee and over to the bike shop.

Some parts of the ride were really intense for me. There are several overpasses with pretty steep climbs which required some concentration on my part. I love pushing myself past my boundaries, though. It's exhilarating, and the adrenaline-high is impeccable once your end point is visible.

Seriously, there was a moment on the way there (somewhere in the municipality of Gulfport) that I started to doubt my ability to make it all the way there. And then, like magic, a few minutes later the pain went away, and a few minutes after that, we could suddenly see the Trop' and, to me, that means downtown. Riding past it, and down towards the water, my utter joy and satisfaction probably made me look like a fool, but I didn't care.

The bay, so blue and choppy. The wind, so crisp. Palm trees. Puppies. Perfection.

Then, to my surprise, Brian whipped up a hot and nutritious campstove breakfast, to top off the killer moment.

And, can you believe this: Not only were we the first to arrive, Bicycle Outfitters was the only bike shop that set up for this event without the aid of motorized vehicles- total bike power. The caravan of riders not only got there, but got there with bike trailers and panniers loaded with tents, merchandise, tools, and gear!



Here's the Bicycle Outfitters set up, early in the day



A mellow cyclist enjoying the weather, complete with a beer and flip flops, though they didn't make it into the picture


The Skirts, a cool bicycling group for girls!


A little boy on his dad's Xtracycle... I'm so ready to ditch the car circle for good. All I need is an Xtracycle!


Brian, showing off his Surly Longhaul Trucker, while someone from the co op explains bike touring



And here's a video of the event, courtesy of Jack, from bikecommuters.com

organizing

Let me tell you, a Friday that is "work optional" is a very nice thing.

I really needed a day to sit around budget my month, rest, and work on my flyer for the Clearwater critical mass ride I'm initiating, (if I could just pick a freakin day and time!) that's the only thing holding me up right now.

I need a day/time that is functional for not ONLY me, but that I can also commit to. I had decided on first Mondays because a couple of others that are interested can do that day, but as you know, I have Chem lecture on Mondays... I'd have to skip it. If I was scoring straight A's, I'd skip no problem, but right now, I feel like I am clinging on in that class like a bug to a wet branch.

Back to the list: I had a great need for doing laundry today, too (It's started already. I'm about to head up to the laundry mat and flip it over), dishes, and homework too.

Plus, I need to clean out my under-the-stairs-closet and hopefully FIND THE BOX OF CONTACTS FOR MY LEFT EYE. [Seriously kicking myself for misplacing those. I have 2 boxes for the right eye, too. Sheesh.]

Then, off to pick up the kids and get some quality time in with them. Maybe we will go hangout by the water near Conner's churchy school and get some fresh air?

a work in progress

Look at my new back-rack! I have not only mobility, but carrying-power!!!





Brian was so very sweet to not only deliver the part, but to install it, too. And, the install ended up requiring modifications (bending/drilling various spots) since my bike is such an old cheapie. After we got drunkish, and before he got really serious at making it work, he suggested something about maybe not needing to modify, but just getting a new bike for the new rack! Haha, very funny (rolling eyes).

In it's defense, the bike is functional, and was practically free.

One last thing: would it be wrong to mention that hot guys are hotter than normal when they are fixing something for you?

nerd alert

I got 102% on my history exam from last week, woohoo! And I, the most perpetually late person ever, turned in my colonial paper for that class a week early.

Actually, I am not behind in any of my classes, and my grades are pretty good, so far.

But, combined with work and the kids school stuff... it has been a grueling week. On Monday night, in Chem lecture the man next to me fell into a dead sleep, and there is nothing that could make someone want to sleep more than Dr. Herod's powerpoint lecture and a sleeper to the left of you. I caught myself nodding a little, and had to exercise extreme self control.

I REAAAALLy wanted to skip on Tuesday and go back to bed, or at least skip Trig, my 9:30 am class, because I was running on a total of 9 hours sleep over three days. But I dragged myself there. And it was rough. But it's a good thing I was there, because we discussed graphing tangent and cotangent waves, and LET ME TELL YOU, that is not as easy as sine and cosine waves!



What made me go was that:

1) In the spring I was so lazy and wasn't able to complete Statistics, which I am still embarrassed about.

2) I really want to go to field school in [insert most awesome wilderness here, because I don't want to announce more it until it's set in stone], and if I fail now, I'll mess that all up.

3) Working in the Math/Sci dept makes me interact with my prof's more (3 of my 5 prof's are in Math/Sci), so skipping to sleep seemed like more of a bad idea than it normally would.

Abba Oil and the Angle of Death

My mom ran out of anointing oil from the Holy Land. Not 'The Holy Land' in Orlando, where you can walk through Bible stories and buy caps and tees emblazoned with Judeo-Christian slogans. I mean the Holy Land everyone fights about.

Anyways, that neither here nor there.

So, she ran out (PROBABLY BECAUSE SHE'S CONSTANTLY ANOINTING MY CHILDREN) and I did a "nice thing" and ordered her another little bottle.

We'll call it My Good Deed of the week.

After that, sadly, she and I had an argument that had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with me being capable to manage simple things in my life, and for my kids. I believe the real root of the fight was that I need exercise in order to feel like a real live human being, without it I feel awful, like I just want to lay around and feel sicker and deader.

So, tonight, I a long ride (9 miles), ad it gt me in the mood to apologize to her. But not before I had to leap into bushes from the bike. Yes, I leapt. Into bushes. Instead of dying (or probably just skinning my knees).

See, I picked up a lot of speed coming down Gulf to Bay from Hillcrest (which is at the top of a hill, of course). The sidewalk is great on that stretch of my route, until the Angle; 90 degrees and narrow AND bordered by a high curb. And at the bottom of a hill.

And do you know Ms. Mitchell, my chem lab prof WARNED me today that something bad might happen, after Greg and I were giggling, devilishly, about a psychological trial involving titration with burets holding ONLY WATER, Mwah HAHAHAAHAHA.

Can you tell I love titrating? And Greg, my upgrade-lab-partner, is color blind!

Well, the Angle of Death is what happened to me. Photo to come, if I can manage it tommorrow.

in the deepest southern climes

It felt sort of UNDENIABLY delicious this morning. We had a breeze stirring and the sunlight was golden- without being too hot.

My numerous trips to and from the word processing office in the SS building had me in sort of a giddy mood.

Siting at my desk, filing old exams and scantrons drove me insane.

Also, a box of something marked "ALIVE" arrived on my desk by FedEx this afternoon. That's kind of cool, huh?

And The-Longwinded-Professor brought in a book to loan me... It's an ethnographic account of the indigenous peoples of Alaska. Wooo whee!!

forgot to tell you

My sundress blowing in the breeze, I did about 8 miles yesterday, in the beautiful late afternoon. I rode from here to downtown, then over to Clearwater Beach, and I was (literally) muttering obscenities as I crossed that crazy steep bridge.

And then, after you cross the first, there's another bridge, with less of an incline, thank goodness. An there is a sign that says "No Jumping Off Bridge" at the start of the second one, because I think they knew what I was feeling as I approached.

Well, anyways, I felt great once I arrived at my destination and cruised around for a while, enjoying this different pace. I stopped into Kiku for some sushi because I have been wanted to get a bite there for over a year now, and I never seem to be in the neighborhood when they are open.

Amazing. Freakin delicious. I just wish I could have spent more than $5!

It is likely going to be my new (every other) weekend routine; ride over that bridge, bask in the glow of the beachy-vibes, and get my wasabi/ginger/seafood fix.

Who's going with me next time?