Mackerel

The sky was really cloudy today as I drove to class. Not altostratus cloudy, which means rain. It was mackerel sky, which means a change in the weather. At this point, a change could mean anything, and wouldn't that be fun? I just hope that, if it is rain, it waits until Thursday. I do not want to be walking around campus on Wednesday in costume only to be rained upon.

The check engine light came on in my car on Saturday, so I took it in to the shop today. After I waited an hour for the diagnosis (a very unusual occurrence at this shop, they usually get you a diagnosis in 30 min. or less), I finally asked what was up. The computer had said there was a misfire in cylinder 2, but the techs couldn't find anything wrong with cylinder 2. So they cleared the message, drove the car around, and the light didn't come back on. Thanks for informing me, guys.

Today in my ASL class we were practicing descriptions. We were then supposed to get into groups of three. Signer A would say something to Signer B about Signer C, whereupon Signer B would ask Signer C if this was the truth. Upon hearing this "rumor" about themselves, Signer C was supposed to take this and correct the conception to end up with the truth. Sounds decently easy, yes? Well, one of my group members napped during part of the instructions (he works early in the morning, and he says it's easy to fall asleep in a classroom that has no sound), and he told his friend that I was beautiful. Oops, how do I correct his "misconception" without making either of us an idiot? It was funny. :P

I don't Wanna go to School tomorrow, Mommy!

Tomorrow I go back to school. I feel like I've been on summer vacation all over again, except this time I'm not ready to go back to school. Hear me? I'm not ready! I wish I coulda had this Hearing Sciences test last Tuesday. I might be a bit better prepared now, but I've had a whole 'nuther week to worry and stress. Not what I need. I refuse to believe that Thursday is the beginning of November.

I have a project to present then, and I haven't been able to get all the materials I need because there was no school last week. I have a test to take with the University on the 10th (Writing Proficiency Assessment) that determines whether or not I'll have to take more writing classes as an upper-division student. If I don't take the test, I don't get to go to my school next semester.

Because I didn't go to the Study Abroad Fair on Monday at my school, I now have no times when I can have an "informational session" with the study abroad department, and I'm not supposed to be able to meet with a study abroad adviser until I have an informational session. Except, I need to send in my paperwork soonish (I think) to go abroad in the summer of '08.

Oh, yeah, and then there's the fact that I had a week of non-class, and we were already behind in 4 of my 5 classes. Please, just drop stuff from the curriculum, or something. Shorten your notes. But don't pile on extra work!

Anyone wonder any more why I don't want to go back to school tomorrow?

In America

The painting in my mom's bathroom was finished yesterday. The dark green turned out to be a lot ... darker than we imagined, and a bit more brownish, but it's growing on us (us being my mom and me). I also set up a little vignette on a shelf that had a tv there before we moved in. It now has a conch shell, a few classic (old-fashioned) looking books, and one of my dad's nautical clocks. At least my dad likes the vignette. There's a sad little ivy that lives beside my parents' bathtub, and I pulled him out of the corner because I thought he was lonely. However, my mom was free to rearrange things as she liked, and the vine is back in the corner again. I feel bad for him.

The smoke is starting to leave, but now we just have ashes raining down on us. Mom said it drizzled (rain) a little, sometime late this afternoon. Obviously it wasn't anything really substantial, since I didn't notice. I hope it rains more, but then again that's just me.

My dad took a nap before dinner tonight and was disoriented when it was time to eat. There was a quip made about him being "lost in translation," and from that point on Dad kept referring to this or that being "lost in translation." Good grief, it's a running gag. Put that together with my brother's "in America" that he picked up from a Yugi-Oh spoof/parody, and you've got a really interesting conversation around the dinner table.

I walked into a pole today. It's in the middle of my friend's house, kinda separating the living room and the kitchen, I suppose. I never really noticed it before, and then it was suddenly there when I turned around. I thought it was funny.

Painting the Day Away

Not much to report on today. Got started helping my mom paint the master bathroom. We should have taped it last night, but we forgot to. So instead we spent two hours taping it off today. I did most of the taping. I also did most of the painting. Even so, I had fun. We've got touch-up to do tomorrow, along with painting the door to the toilet room (shower, bath, and sinks are separate from the toilet).

We got more smoke and ash up here after the winds changed on Tuesday. It was fun having both smoke smell (we needed to keep the room ventilated) and paint smell while painting today. The dojo was a mess, too, from all the grime that had snuck in during the couple of days the dojo wasn't in use. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow.

The Family that Sweeps Together

Just a quick update. Nerves have been keeping me on edge, which translates to not sleeping well. My family is fine, the fires are really nowhere close by. Our worst complaints are the effects of the winds themselves. For example, I have seasonal allergy-type symptoms, and my head is constantly hurting.

Along a more fun note, our pool is jade green. Has something to do with the six or seven palm trees there. There's still a bunch of grunge in the pool, but after we spent more time cleaning out there today as a family (I spent over an hour out there on my own yesterday), all the vegetation is out. The winds are dying down, too, so that's a plus. Maybe I won't have to haul felled palm fronds all around the property again for a few more days. We really had about 50 fronds torn from the palm trees and scattered all around the property.

Classes at my university have been canceled through Saturday. I am planning on doing some work for school, but it's so much more fun knitting, or putting the hem into my costume. It's easy to forget that this isn't just summer break. We really see very little smoke, and we're very lucky. I know a couple people who have lost their homes, more who have had to evacuate. I just wish the county could figure this stuff out, after all these years.

A Blustery Day in the Hundred Acre Woods

Fridays are simply not constructive for blogging. Neither are Saturdays. Both tend to be boring, with nothing going on.

Except, yesterday wasn't boring. I watched 6 lovely kids, and I didn't loose my mind. All were almost perfect the whole time, except for the 2-year-old. I had to put my foot down with her. Two of the kids really, really missed mommy at bedtime, but that's understandable because I'm the first babysitter outside of family that they've had in years. By the time that mom and dad got back, though, those same two kiddos were asleep. We didn't break anything (the dvd's were already all scratched up), didn't spill anything we didn't clean up (the last bits of melted ice cream you can never get out of your bowl), and we put away everything we took out. Not bad for over 4 hours with 6 kids, even if they all know you already.

Santa Annas have arrived again. The Crest fire started almost 4 years ago today (4 days short of 4 years), and we're experiencing a bit of deja vu over here. However, we've got all our stuff piled in the front hall, just in case we are evacuated. With these winds, you never know.

The winds can create some fun, though. The sunbrella out on the deck today almost flew away. The recycling was blown into the pool. A whole bunch of leaves were blown into the courtyard and Eddy is using them as a blanket. All that aside from the fact that the wind is just plain awesome.

Now that it's past midnight, I'm gonna see if my adrenaline rush has faded enough to let me sleep some before I study myself out of my mind for my test in Hearing Sciences on Tuesday.

Kata Kabuki Time

Had a good workout at karate tonight. We worked All American Form 3 for most of the hour. That's a long, intense kata. Everyone was sweating, and it was only about 70 degrees (at the most) outside. Good stuff.

I'm starting to freak out about the Hearing Sciences test on Tuesday. I've got a jumbo stack of flash cards already, and I've barely gotten into the notes for this unit. Not very comforting. I've been doing good on the homework assignments, but I can't have another low score on this test. My grade is already too low as it is. It must go up! I just keep reminding myself that this next test will have a lot of anatomy on it, rather than crazy physics of sound. It'll only half-involve how sound works, the other half is how it's transmitted. Phonetics I'm pretty sure I can easily get from the A- it is now to an A by the end of the semester. Anatomy, well, that's going quite well, as is ASL. We'll see how I did on the Voice Pedagogy midterm today. And people say I don't keep busy.

The people in my Voice class today were surprised to find out my age. They thought me older, since I act mature. People either look at my face and think I'm younger, or they notice I (generally) act mature, and think I'm older. I've yet to have someone guess my actual age.

My brother got Transformers yesterday. Actually, he got it, but convinced Dad to pay for it, even though my dad thought the movie was going to be stupid and refused to go see it in theatres. Needless to say, he enjoyed watching it tonight, and he wants to watch it again soon when Mom doesn't need to hurry to go to sleep because of work the next day. There's more to that movie than meets the eye. *ducks tomatoes*

User Error: Cannot Access Page

For as long as I can remember, my dad has been filtering his email through Microsoft Outlook Express. All the time. Doesn't check it online. I can't understand Outlook, and I can't stand it, either. For the past 7 and then some years, I've been checking my email online (used AOL before that, which is slightly different from how it works now). Anywho, we (my younger brother and I) got him an email account through Google where the whole family can have access to a family calendar and see what everyone's doing, if scheduled activities overlap, conflict, what have you. It's really very neat.

My dad can't figure it out. He has to log into Google Mail to access it. How hard is mail.google.com to remember? Honestly. Mail, Google. Instead, he'll try going to the standard Google homepage and logging in there. Doesn't work so well when you type your username and password into a search box. Even better is when he tries to use his email address as a website. Yournamehere@gmail.com is not an accurate web address, just in case you weren't sure. I re-inform him on the proper method of logging in to Google Mail at least twice a day. We made this calendar about four weeks ago. You do the math.

In other news, it rained today. Did I not call it, saying that the clouds yesterday looked like rain? CHP reported 108 accidents between the hours of 6-11am today. The road is wet, people. You walk slower on a wet floor, right? Why not drive slower on a wet road?

Inka would have gone out on a line again today if it weren't raining when I left for school. She's come down with cabin fever. She never used to chew papers or magazines before (unless Eddy was around to be a bad influence and the instigator of trouble), but now she'll apparently go into rooms she wouldn't go into before to get things to tear up. I don't care if it's raining again tomorrow: she's going outside for the whole day. Let her freeze. It'll remind her how good she has it sleeping inside, even if we do tend to run the washer and dryer when she's there.

The Rain in Spain

I have been insanely hungry today, and there is no earthly reason why. I've eaten more today than I have any day since this summer when I helped my uncle move and we only ate out for every meal.

Today I got to see my Anatomy test from last week. I got 119 points out of 120, which amounts to roughly 99.6%. I suppose it's comforting to know that I've got phonation down pat if I'm considering a voice emphasis. Also, I don't need to study respiration or phonation much for the Voice Pedagogy midterm the day after tomorrow. For that Voice class, all I'll need to study is the weird music stuff that I don't know because my musical experience is in piano and not solo singing.

I got a lovely 4 hours of sleep last night, and I'm starting to really feel it now, but I know I won't be tired once I go outside in the cold night air to give Inka her walk. At least I'm not getting up until 6:15 tomorrow. Besides, it's pretty and foggy outside. No, I have no idea what my point is. But we've had a lot of fog recently. Today at school it looked like rain, but it didn't rain.

The Study Abroad Fair is on Monday at school. I'll be going so that I can have all sorts of people tell me why I should go to their program. Sounds interesting, no? I wonder if I'll be able to find any summer programs in the Czech Republic. Oh, yeah, someone in my Voice Pedagogy class today called it Czechlosovakia. Get with the program, people, Czechlosovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia years ago, although it was some time after the fall of the iron curtain. I think.

And that's what happens with 4 hours of sleep.

Check Point

Went babysitting again today. Yes, on a Monday. Watched the same boy that I sat on the 6th. He's home this week on suspension. He's 8 years old. I might watch him again on Friday, too, depending on schedules. There were no movies today, just in case you were wondering. I got some of my reading done for my hearing sciences class, then we had lunch. You know you're on the right track preparing to be an SLP when you can explain to an 8-year-old how swallowing works, and draw him a picture.

Middle of the semester is fun. A friend informed me that we have passed the half-way point of how many school days were in the semester, so that means it's officially midterm-type time. There's two quizzes Wednesday, a midterm Thursday, two tests Tuesday, and another test the following Thursday. That makes for all of my classes except for one lab (the other lab is one of the ones with a quiz). I keep my sanity by pretending that I don't really know what's going on, so I review notes regularly. Keeps it all stuck in there. Except for Hearing Sciences (the 7:30 am class). I still don't know what a "click" is, although I think I finally understand how the hair cells themselves work, and I know more about the basilar membrane after doing my reading today.

7 weeks until a particular day in December. I'm working hard at the dojo, trying to make sure I have everything solidified. I just wish my classes would let me be there more often. How I miss Tuesday night class.

How Many Beers would a Dalmatian Drink if a Dalmatian would Drink Beers?

There hasn't been much interesting going on here. Weekends tend to be that way. I've been knitting and sewing, and I'm extremely pleased with my progress on both. Pictures will come when those projects are completed.

I took a neighbor girl I sit to her soccer game Saturday morning. It rained. She still played. They lost horribly, but it was a good game, and the sittee had some really good moves out there. So I got her a cup of hot cocoa, and then we went to the grocery store, because my dad wanted me to pick up a few things.

Later on I got to pick up my brother from his friend's house. They'd gone to their high school's football game out of town. Because it was out of town, they didn't go as the marching band, so they put blue in their hair and on their faces. In my brother's case, he put red on his face, too (school colors red, white, and blue). From there, I got gas, and went to the same grocery store again, because there was something else my dad wanted me to get, because he'd forgotten it earlier. Sounds like an exciting day, yes?

We rarely keep alcohol in the house. There's just no need for it, since I don't/can't drink, and my parents rarely drink. Mom got some beer the other day to cook with, and after a joke with my dad, put one in the fridge to chill. It was promptly forgotten about until this morning when my dad went to get a soda from the fridge. You guessed it, he absent-mindedly grabbed the beer instead of a soda, and was unpleasantly surprised. He considered pouring the beer into Inka's water dish, but it was full with water. I'm so glad it was. I don't know what I would have done with a drunk Dalmatian.

Sam is still growing very well. I'm afraid that he won't fit in his pot any more in a few months, so I'm thinking it's about time to move him outside. I'm afraid to move him outside, though, because I don't want him to be eaten by the rabbits. The rabbits are without mercy. They will eat anything, especially if it has personal value to you. The gardener says this time of year would be perfect for planting him, but I need to wait until I see the weeds growing again, because that means the rabbits aren't eating the weeds.

90% off Everything!

Every year, without fail, this one salon that's kinda nearish my school offers 90% discounts to girls to come give them a try. It happens in the fall, after we've been in for a few weeks and, supposedly, are missing our hairdressers/nail dressers back home. In case you don't know, I don't do anything fancy with my hair, and I almost never paint my nails. There's no way I'm gonna pay 90% off of anything to get almost nothing done, when I can get my mom to do it for free.

Usually I'm just approached by one of these advertising girls each fall semester. That's not so bad. I had my one about three weeks ago. But then, I was approached twice today while I was sitting with a friend during a break, and after the friend left, I was approached a third time! Leave me alone, girls, I'm not interested. I don't know whether to consider it a good thing that they all want my business, or a bad thing.

Skrounging

I didn't have my 7:30 am class today, so I slept in until 7:00, intending to go to school to see a friend during my normal break. Upon entering the kitchen, I found a note asking me to watch and wait for a fax to come in, and then fax it to another number. So I waited as long as I could before having to leave for class. No fax. Figures. I did take a nap in that interim, though, and discovered that I apparently can't fall asleep in the leather armchairs my parents like so much. So, hard, lumpy couches it is.

I went to a meeting for the Honors Program tonight. It's usually a waste of my time, but we have to go to at least two, so I decided I might as well tonight, since I didn't have the super early class. It was even more of a waste of time than usual: they sent us on a scavenger hunt before the meeting. Yes, you heard me right. A scavenger hunt. I'm so glad I don't need to go to any more meetings until next semester.

I went to the library today before going to the meeting, because I had spare time between class and the meeting. Some 40-year-0ld dude was at the computer next to me, and his voice evidenced that he's probably been smoking cigarettes since he was 18. He kept looking at my skirt (it has eight 2" slits, but it's knee length) for the ten minutes I was in the library. He happened to get up off his computer at the same time I got off mine, and informed me he had voted me for the prettiest girl he'd seen today. Get a life, dude, and someone your own age.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like ... Fall

We have walnut trees on our property. Sounds like a great idea, yes? Apparently we have some odd species, and so the husks stick to the shells until the nuts drop. Our first year we tried to harvest the nuts. The problem was, we picked them off the trees. Because we picked them off the trees, the nuts hadn't dropped from the husks yet. We haven't bothered since. Want to know why we don't pick up the nuts as they fall?

Because of the crows. We must get at least 7 flocks of crows every fall, coming to eat our walnuts for us. They're ugly, they're loud, they make a mess, and they're everywhere. Remember the scenes from Bambi, whenever Man is near? All the birds freaking out? That's what it was like when I took Inka for her walk yesterday morning. There must have been a minimum of 50 crows that took off from our various trees, still quwacking 4 minutes into the walk. Now I understand why Man came to the forest. He was trying to shoot the crows.

Speaking of Inka, she hasn't kept on the bandages I've put on her foot. Yes, bandages, plural. I was supposed to change her bandage yesterday. I did, after I got home from class. She tore it up and spit it out (literally). So I put on a new one. The vet only gave me enough material for two. Well, she worked her way out of that one mere minutes before I got home from karate tonight. And in case you don't remember, she doesn't stay in the cone, either. I tried again last night, after she tore up the first bandage. No luck. I had to rumage through our personal first-aid supplies (my parents keep copious amounts in our house) to find more stuff to wrap her up, yet again. I'm hoping it'll last until she gets to the vet's tomorrow morning. I don't know why she takes off the bandages I've applied, but not the ones the vet applied. I don't care at this point, either.

Free Parking Tips

1. The lines are there for a reason.
   
2. If at first you don't succeed, try again.
3. One well-maneuvered parking job is worth two bad ones.
4. Park by others as you would have them park by you.

And remember, if you're in too much of a hurry to park properly, go home and leave us good parkers alone. Come five minutes earlier next time so you have time to park properly. Also, if someone parked really close to your driver's side door and you have less than 6 inches to get into your car, you can always climb in from the passenger's side.

Tuesday, Tuesday, can't Trust that Day

Earlier today I'd thought of something really witty to put here. Honest, I did. As it is now, I can't remember it. Maybe that's because I did my homework for anatomy lab and ASL tonight. Yeah, that must be it.

Inka's been really good about swallowing her antibiotics. After the first two doses I gave her last Thursday, she's swallowed every one on the first time. I've also been giving her large pieces of bread surrounding each pill, but whatever works. It's only until next Saturday or so. Yeah, Saturday is the last day. The inside of my car is starting to look like it's been snowing in there from all the hair Inka has left behind. Sure, I could vacuum, but I don't feel like it.

Why do Tuesdays have to be so long?

As the Dog Pants

Went for a walk/jog this morning. Doing that Couch to 5k thing I mentioned before. Well, I'm horribly out of shape. I got seriously lightheaded before I was done, so I stopped early. I'm going to do this again on Wednesday, though, and Friday, and keep going as best as I can, even if I don't hold to the rate at which they think you should be able to progress.

After my exercise this morning, I called the vet's to see when I should bring Inka in. Yes, they wanted to see her paw again. Either that, or they wanted to see me, but I think her paw is significantly more interesting. The vet is still proud of her keeping her bandages on so well, and he put on this stuff (layterm "tough skin") that's supposed to help, um, toughen up her skin around where the talon was removed? I get to change her bandage on my own Wednesday and put more of that tough skin stuff on. She currently has a green bandage, but she'll be going back to blue on Wednesday. I'm excited to see what color bandage she'll have on Friday. Is this sad and pathetic? Sometime when Inka was climbing into or out of the car today, she apparently stepped on the button that turns on the seat warmer. When I was driving to class this afternoon, I couldn't figure out why in the world it was so hot in my car. Imagine me, AC on, windows down, and seat warmer burning it's way through my epidermis. Okay, at least through my jeans.

I have lots of projects coming up in school. Well, not so many, but it feels like a lot. A significant amount of homework, and there's a project for ASL, not to mention the tournament I have on Saturday (karate, not school). No laughing at me; I just might snap. My brain seriously seemed to stop higher-level processing at around 8:07 tonight. I was at the dojo, practicing tournament katas. Not a good combination, just in case you were wondering. Oh, and I have not yet started the two projects I have due in November for my voice pedagogy class. Is it Christmas yet?