This is why January is not my month

Do you see what's happening in either of these photos? The snow that has been on the ground for three months already has started to melt. Only, it can't melt all the way because it doesn't get warm enough when the sun goes down. So the slush, for lack of better word, does what all slush knows how to do in below freezing temperatures. IT REFREEZES, causing an even bigger mess that was there before. Thank you slush, for wrecking havoc on my mental health, and that of my tires. I'm so ready for winter to be over.



Today, it happens to be raining. Yes, you heard me right. RAINING in JANUARY in MINNESOTA. It's gross. It sounds like a day to curl up with my laptop, a cup of tea, and NPR. Car Talk is on, as is This American Life, and that cooking show that I sometimes listen to. Oh, and I forgot my favorite, WAIT WAIT DON'T TELL ME!



Also, don't get me started on the HOPE FOR HAITI benefit telethon concert last night. My general feeling is this. If you celebrities care so much about Haiti, you are LOADED and can do something about it directly rather than gather together and sing a song for more recognition and fame you don't need. Yes, I understand that you are trying to gather money for a great cause. But really? You just want more screen time. You are all such hams. Why don't you go down there, and offer a hand yourself? I certainly would if finances allowed me to do that right now. But I guess not everyone is like that. Just my two cents. Also, the musical performances weren't that great. There, I said it.

Again, so ready for winter to be over. This week has been harder on me than any other because I've been sick, and have not left the house in four days, minus a few trips to the drug store for a re-stock of essential sickness supplies. I'm still draining fluid, but hopefully I will be back at work and resume all other activities on Monday. I registered for a few dance classes through community education this winter to break up the monotony, and I applied to Girl Scout camp up here. I had a phone interview this week and despite being ill, I still managed to be invited for a second interview. In the spirit of ending all posts on a positive note, I think I will sign off now. Feel free to comment, as always. Off to try to write some poetry for the OTHER BLOG.

Holy Snowballs!

It's cold. So cold exhaust freezes to the roads making black ice. So cold my glasses fog up entering buildings. So cold I don't even want to think about it.

That's what -29 feels like. Actually, you don't know what -29 feels like because I can't adequately put to words what -29 feels like. Let's just say for simplicity's sake that it's (expletive) cold.

Off to pay my full respects and attention to Johnny Depp in Benny and Joon. Because that's the only thing one can do when it's this cold.

Photo mini-essay, Flashback to winter: Menogyn Style

Minnesotans on Groundhog's Day

I was wondering why Minnesotans don't make a big deal of this observance like southerners do. Then it hit me, thanks to Garrison Keillor last night. Six weeks? SIX WEEKS?! It's not and never will be close to six more weeks of winter in this frozen wasteland of a state. Try at least 12 weeks, but more likely 18-24 more weeks of winter. Sheesh what WAS I thinking? I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.

Simple pleasures

are not just for simple minds, anymore

I was on my way home from work yesterday and passed a community park. (Not on my way home, but I went a little out of my way and into the Seward neighborhood when out of the corner of my eye I see a bunch of people (mostly kids, but some adults) ice skating.

I quickly got out of my car and started walking around only to discover that anyone, just ANYONE, could put on a pair of ice skates for FREE and skate around, maybe even play hockey if the mood strikes. And I tried it. And it was quite hilarious, but I think I had just about the best time I had in a long time and it definitely was the release I was looking for on a Friday afternoon. I only fell once.

You know you have...when

I know I've lived in Minnesota too long when a 30-degree temperature calls for one less layer and leaving the house without a hat or gloves. It's a sauna out there!

I know I've been in AmeriCorps too long when (I can come up with a dozen of these...give me a few days to narrow it down a little.)

--I feel like I'm going to turn into either a PB&J sandwich, or a a plate of pasta because I've eaten it for two solid years

--TV? What's that?

--Let's see: I attach Ameri-to EVERYTHING

--Cross-country road trip; It's all of a sudden no big deal to drive from the south to the mid-west. Note on that: I still think I'm crazy.

I still can't get over the fact that two people in one week have called me brave, courageous, and other complementary adjectives. It's kind of hard to believe, but something tells me I just need to start believing it. Start thinking a little more positively about myself and what I'm doing.

That being said, I have to go start another week at school. Oh how I love servicing nationally.

I'm back!!!

From the frozen wasteland/wilderness/Camp Menogyn having slept in a quincy hut/igloo and having jumped in a hole in a frozen lake. Yikes. This makes me sound crazy, but I had tons of fun while doing it, I promise. I haven't lost all my marbles...yet! Because on our way home I saw not one, but TWO moose on the side of the road and an eagle later on closer to home. I love holidays.

And, I found out that I just got 5/6 on my writing section of the GRE. Worst essay I've ever written too. Weird. I'll take it and go apply to schools now. Sweet.

Out with the old, in with the new

AS my last post of 2007, I want to keep it simple and just say:

Happy New Year!!!

Have fun, be safe, and here's to a chance for a fresh start.

Ok, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be

It never really is, is it? Or is that the couple of glasses of wine speaking? Probably a little of both at hand. No, I'm not happy with the way I look or act or generally where I am in life right now. But no, that doesn't mean I have to take it out on the people around me. Regardless of what they are thinking (and it's not fair to assume anything) they are cool people in different stages of life. Maybe I am a little jealous. Of both generations. I'm jealous of the cousins who still have the majority of their college lives ahead of them. I'm jealous of their fresh, clean slate. I'm also jealous of the older generation who has their life figured out, as well. I, in a small way, would like to be there. Settled, and done with it all and out of this twenty-something miserable questioning existence. Maybe I don't mean that. Maybe I really do mean that the pain is the journey and I should just relish it and enjoy the journey as the great part of life. Maybe I should just stop thinking about it so much. Maybe it should be left alone for a while. Who knows? Maybe I will write a bad holiday song like The Story of the American Duggans to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies and actually make a little dough off of it. Long story. Weed anyone?

Another blast from the past...

As I browse back through my google documents, I was looking at some of my old journal entries from the beginning of NCCC. I thought I'd post it here.

7/12/06
2:55 p.m.

Today was another long day of in-processing bullshit. We got our uniforms in the morning, and we moved swiftly through the in-processing checklist to travel reimbursements to banking to lunch and ID badges. Half of the morning stuff I didn’t need, so I just kinda sat there while others talked, which I did all of yesterday as well sorta came to the conclusion that people like to hear themselves talk just for the sake of talking. I’m in my room now, for a brief couple of hours, until we have to go back to the 202 building for boot sizing at 4:30. I’m totally stoked we get to wear steel-toed work boots. I’ e never done anything where they were a requirement before, so of course I’m going to be stoked.

Getting to know my team a little better as well. This could potentially be a very good experience. I have a feeling that there will be 1 or 2 (probably girls) that I will end up being close to and the others will just be there. I know I am a person that takes a while before I warm up to everyone and right now I’m falling into my “quiet girl” mode. I want to break out of that role badly, but I know it will take some time. So far everyone is really nice. I also know that tonight after boot sizing we’re off to some “group bonding” activity Maggie has planned for us. Sounds interesting in theory, but I know I’ll probably end up putting my emotional guard up and not share anything. It’s probably going to be one of those group initiative thing that I hate any way. Who knows? We shall find out later.

I suppose I can go and list my team members and first impressions now. Maybe in ten months I can go back and reassess, because they will, most likely, will have changed.

Our team leader Maggie seems really sweet and excited to be here. Really excited and enthusiastic, though I’m wondering how long the façade will last. Certainly a person cannot keep things going for as long as ten months, without one gigantic happy pill. There has got to be an evil side to her, and I’m wondering when we will see it and how long it’ll last. Maggie also keeps saying how tired she is and how she hasn’t slept that much, but when ever we ask her a question she’s right on the ball, so I don’t get it. I totally trust her with my documents and paperwork, and believe she will be an amazing leader this year.

Interesting reading, now that I'm a year and a half removed from the whole situation.

Exactly why I do NOT want to live to be this old

Home Alone. A 79-year-old woman, Mary Ann, dies in Los Angeles.
She's lived alone for decades. No one knows her, or her next of kin.
There's a body to be buried, a house full of stuff to get rid of. It
so happens there's a county bureaucracy for just this type of problem.
In this show, we follow around the person charged with figuring out
what to do with the remains of Mary Ann's life. This and other stories
about what happens when people are left alone.

http://youtube.com/talwithiraglass

To many...

decisions, resolutions, changes, year-end general cleaning up and maintenance to do. No, I don't want to go to grad school if I'm not truly sure it is what I want to do. But I don't want my two years worth of education award from AmeriCorps to go to waste either.

No, sitting home ALONE on a Saturday night does not usually lead to good thoughts about anything, particularly not such heady things as what my future will hold in three or four years from now. But I think, because that's what I do. I think and then I write. And it's not always coherent writing. But that's OK.

Do the JET Programme? Sure, I certainly know two people that have done it and loved every minute of it. And I certainly know someone in Japan too! It might be cool to be close to my long time pen pal again. But it's such a risk! I can do it, and there shouldn't be anything to loose there, and it would be quite the experience.

I need to gather more information.

That's the bottom line here people. More information needed.

Is it sad when...

19 degrees is considered warm?

This is the view from my back bedroom window...I am so screwed this winter

All I want for Christmas...

Is for my car to be magically dug out of the snow itself. Or to get out of this fabulous state of Minnesota. Either one will work. I seriously just did my first snow shoveling of the winter (of my life, really) and wow! What a workout. And I didn't even shovel the sidewalks. I just shoveled my poor car out of the snow on the street so that I could go grocery shopping and not starve this week. And my wheels still ended up spinning and spinning and spinning. I do feel like I know the true definition of the phrase "I'm just spinning my wheels." Oh, which is another idiom I can take to Ms. P's fifth graders. They'll eat it up, which, consequently, is another figure of speech. I can't escape them. And unfortunately, I can't escape the snow or Minnesota. Pictures to come.

I'm ready for MY FIRST REAL WINTER, are you?

I just spent a ton of money on quality winter clothing for a more bearable winter season. Still not sure what I'm getting myself into. If you would like to see what I'm spending my hard-earned money buying, I'll post links.

A stunning, down-filled Ultrawarm HOODED Jacket, Periwinkle blue. Stylish.

Marled Mittens, from Urban Outfitters. Mmm Mmm warm.

And lastly, a Sherpa Ear flap Fleece Hat, from REI. I'm set.