Medieval Goth
(again props to B.)
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Mixed Bag
On the up side: met with a fellow adjunct-around-town for coffee this evening. Turns out we both interviewed for that community college full-time position and neither of us really wanted it because we both had not-so-favorable impressions. I think we'll be pals.
On the down side: had a large coffee around 6:30 so I may have a hard time falling asleep tonight.
On the up side: sent out another job application.
On the down side: there was a deadline for said job application, which was last Friday. They reposted that job from a couple months ago, so I'm hoping they're desperate enough to look at me even though I'm a bit late to the party. (You know what I mean.)
On the up side: did my 8 Minutes In The Morning exercises and went on my walk today (week 2 of the exercises, day 3 of the Daily Walk).
On the down side: didn't go swimming; took a nap because of sinus/toof pain that lingers still despite pain meds
On the up side: eating fresh pineapple right now
On the down side: toof pain so all I had to eat tonight is pineapple and a hard boiled egg.
On the up side: The patio has been marvelous.
On the down side: Smoking Boy neighbor and his girlfriend had a fight that started last night and picked up this morning around 7:00. Complete with yelling and slamming doors and "get the fuck out of my house" rejoinders. If it happens again tonight I will lodge a formal complaint.
Yep, that about covers it.
On the down side: had a large coffee around 6:30 so I may have a hard time falling asleep tonight.
On the up side: sent out another job application.
On the down side: there was a deadline for said job application, which was last Friday. They reposted that job from a couple months ago, so I'm hoping they're desperate enough to look at me even though I'm a bit late to the party. (You know what I mean.)
On the up side: did my 8 Minutes In The Morning exercises and went on my walk today (week 2 of the exercises, day 3 of the Daily Walk).
On the down side: didn't go swimming; took a nap because of sinus/toof pain that lingers still despite pain meds
On the up side: eating fresh pineapple right now
On the down side: toof pain so all I had to eat tonight is pineapple and a hard boiled egg.
On the up side: The patio has been marvelous.
On the down side: Smoking Boy neighbor and his girlfriend had a fight that started last night and picked up this morning around 7:00. Complete with yelling and slamming doors and "get the fuck out of my house" rejoinders. If it happens again tonight I will lodge a formal complaint.
Yep, that about covers it.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Finally someone tells it like it is
Is the secret to weight loss hidden in the Acai berry?
When I walked into a dietary supplement store a couple of months ago to ask about fiber products, the disheveled 50-something salesman with sagging shoulders tried really hard to cold sell me some $50 Acai berry juice that is an absolute MUST for weight loss. He delivered the pre-packaged pitch like a good little drone, and then I told him I don't trust the fads and reminded him of Goji berries, which was the last craze for weight loss. He immediately sucked up to me by saying how he, too, doesn't trust these dadburn crazes and turned back to the boxes of colon blow on the shelf.
I am so pissed off at the snake oil salesmen out there (and I'm talking large companies, not just the schlubbs in the mall who try to push these products) who make us believe that we have to lose weight and we have to buy these products, and then make up some fake-ass testing process to "prove" how efficacious the shit is.
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine got into selling Goji berries, and it was really as if she had been brainwashed. I finally asked her to stop badgering me to buy a $70-per-liter bottle of juice every time we spoke, and questioned whether this product was worth her time, and even if it was taking away from her natural abilities to counsel and heal people. She hasn't spoken to me since. For a berry that is supposed to "lift your consciousness" (those are her words) it's done a good job of ruining a friendship.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
EVP?
I hear a moaning sound at a couple of points in this clip taken in one of the underground bunkers at Ft. Revere in Hull, MA. Give me a shout out if you hear it, too. This was my first foray into amateur ghost hunting, totally off the cuff, shot with a Flip. I couldn't believe I got an EVP my first day out. Went back the next day and got nothing.
P.S. There is a repetitive beeping audible - that's an artifact from the Flip. It's best to listen with headphones, BTW.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
I'm on it! Got some hot ideas after brainstorming with my manager friend in L.A. last night and I'm working them into log lines to pitch to him. I've also started a polish on HOMEWORLD, my sci fi, so that I can get it into competitions before end of the month. June is buying month, after all.
And now, sleep.
And now, sleep.
Whining Decommencacon!
I have embraced the summer as it is, even with no job. I am going to write and make my film. Balls to the rest of 'em. I might have to get some temp work in July to pay August bills, but I'm not going to worry too much about that right now. I'm trying not to be bitter about having all these advanced degrees, the advanced debt that goes with them, and no job or even prospects. For now. But I am on the road to making a plan to get out of this mess. It will require sacrifice, change, maybe even a few knobs to polish. So be it.
Monday, June 15, 2009
So now I don't have a summer job because the course I was to teach has been canceled. I found this out after showing up for work this morning, teaching duds & makeup applied, syllabus in hand. The dean of instruction was mortified (it wasn't his fault, it was another program's policy that resulted in this debacle) and is at least offering me half pay of what I would have earned. This makes life a little easier but I still need a summer job and oh did I mention it's already June 15th?
I'm floored. I must have a curse or some kind of horrible karma from another lifetime or two. Why does this shit happen to me on such a regular basis? It seems I have to weather more shit storm damage than the average bear. One of these days I'm just going to say the hell with it and file for Section 8. Live off of disability the rest of my life.
Seriously. WHAT THE FUCKING HELL?
I'm floored. I must have a curse or some kind of horrible karma from another lifetime or two. Why does this shit happen to me on such a regular basis? It seems I have to weather more shit storm damage than the average bear. One of these days I'm just going to say the hell with it and file for Section 8. Live off of disability the rest of my life.
Seriously. WHAT THE FUCKING HELL?
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Take note
Two new sites to visit on the blog roll: Annie's Journal From Ireland and Magician's Gambol.
Annie will be a senior at the college I teach for; she was a student of mine a year or two ago. She's exploring the land of her heritage and I am insanely jealous. She's staying in Galway for the summer, making day trips and weekend trips around the Emerald Isle. I'm hoping she makes it to Loughcrew, one of my favorite sites, a megalithic cairn complex on a mountaintop. Go Annie!
Magician's Gambol is a site built by one of my oldest and dearest friends, and promises to be a place for mind-bending entries, discussion and debate. Hop on and suggest some topics. My friend had an unusual upbringing by Rosicrucians (AMORC) and has been involved in the discussion, dissection and debate of metaphysics as long as I have known her (26 years - gulp!).
Enjoy!
Annie will be a senior at the college I teach for; she was a student of mine a year or two ago. She's exploring the land of her heritage and I am insanely jealous. She's staying in Galway for the summer, making day trips and weekend trips around the Emerald Isle. I'm hoping she makes it to Loughcrew, one of my favorite sites, a megalithic cairn complex on a mountaintop. Go Annie!
Magician's Gambol is a site built by one of my oldest and dearest friends, and promises to be a place for mind-bending entries, discussion and debate. Hop on and suggest some topics. My friend had an unusual upbringing by Rosicrucians (AMORC) and has been involved in the discussion, dissection and debate of metaphysics as long as I have known her (26 years - gulp!).
Enjoy!
Settling In
Feeling a little more at ease this morning. I am really looking forward to teaching my class and getting back into a real schedule. Got up at a respectable hour this morning on the way to a busy day that will include but is not limited to: finalizing a syllabus and a couple lesson plans for the week, working on my Live Adventure character (live action role playing game I do once a year), and doing some form of exercise, depending on what today's weather offers. Also grocery shopping and a review of our household budget with Bizarro. (It's tough to have a solid budget when my income tends to change every few months.)
It's a quiet morning; I'm feeling fairly peaceful at the moment. Remembering a dream I had last night in which I was at some kind of special training in a huge mansion-like house, but I can't remember what the training was for. Anyway, the person running the program was a crazy bitch, and I soon found myself on her bad side, along with one of the other students who tried to get me in trouble and generally make my life miserable. Finally I just said screw it, got up, started packing my bags. Suddenly the student who had it out for me started being nice and helped me pack, even a bit sad that I was going. It was weird. I am weird.
Time to make the coffee.
It's a quiet morning; I'm feeling fairly peaceful at the moment. Remembering a dream I had last night in which I was at some kind of special training in a huge mansion-like house, but I can't remember what the training was for. Anyway, the person running the program was a crazy bitch, and I soon found myself on her bad side, along with one of the other students who tried to get me in trouble and generally make my life miserable. Finally I just said screw it, got up, started packing my bags. Suddenly the student who had it out for me started being nice and helped me pack, even a bit sad that I was going. It was weird. I am weird.
Time to make the coffee.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Get off my back!
I know it's been awhile and I have a bunch to catch up on.
My vacay in lovely Massachusetts was truly remarkable. I spent lots of QT with myself, family, friends, and the ocean. Had a magnificent stay at the Clarion Nantasket hotel for 2 nights on the beach, went to a longboard competition, hung out in a surf shop taking notes for my planned TV pilot, did some impromptu ghost hunting at a Revolutionary War bunker (and I think caught me an EVP, though so far only brother has been able to hear what I heard on the video clip). I also had lots of baby time with Erin and May, and played with Owen as much as I could. Got to hang out with PMP in Boston, saw Fenway Park, had drinks at the Bleacher Bar, ate lots of seafood, went to Plymouth on my last day, a very rainy day, with one of my recently former students, and got to hang with Rache at my beach hotel for a night.
Coming home - well. So. Reality setting in. A class to teach starting Monday - for which I am grateful, especially since apparently it WASN'T a done deal until yesterday. I got the call to teach and I was like "welll yeahhhh I've been planning on it." So anyway, it's all good.
Still no idea where I'm teaching this fall. I have started a preliminary job search in the Boston/South Shore area. I had two (count 'em) interviews while I was there, with little to no effort on my part. One was for an ESL teaching position with some possibility for long-term work, the other as a communications specialist for a company that does research and fund-raising for MS cures (among other things).
I really don't know where things are heading right now. Some serious thinking and decision making coming up in the coming months. I am feeling more disheartened than ever here in the City on the Edge of Forever (yeah, I didn't get that job at the community college after all). After 3.5 years of searching I've had maybe 4 interviews. A week in Mass. and I get 2 interviews without even really trying.
And truth is, no place has ever felt like home to me other than the South Shore. At the same time, change is scary. I've lived here longer than anyplace else in recent history. Despite how unhappy I often am with this area (weather, cold dark apartment, allergies, isolation, lack of career opportunity, lack of the ocean, etc.) it's in many ways easier to keep on in the same direction than to try a new one. God knows I've moved so often in my life. It would be nice to feel settled with a home base. I'm just not convinced that "here" is where my home base should be.
A little much to think about right now, I know. I'm still dealing with Mom's death and the giant hole it's left in my life. Perhaps that is why I feel so attracted to my family right now, especially the grand-babies. I missed my nephew's growing up and I really hate the thought of missing theirs.
For the time being I'm just trying to get myself geared up for the summer teaching job and will see how some of this other stuff lands. Getting myself back into a schedule will feel really good. The pool is open, so I will swim and go for walks and continue working on my fitness/weight loss plan. I am very bummed that I have no time or money for the windsurfing beginners clinic this weekend. Still I'm sure there'll be other opportunities, and I'm also thinking I want to try my hands at kayaking this summer. And of course Yoga. Making the most of where I am and what I have at my disposal for the summer. The rest will be dealt with in good time...
My vacay in lovely Massachusetts was truly remarkable. I spent lots of QT with myself, family, friends, and the ocean. Had a magnificent stay at the Clarion Nantasket hotel for 2 nights on the beach, went to a longboard competition, hung out in a surf shop taking notes for my planned TV pilot, did some impromptu ghost hunting at a Revolutionary War bunker (and I think caught me an EVP, though so far only brother has been able to hear what I heard on the video clip). I also had lots of baby time with Erin and May, and played with Owen as much as I could. Got to hang out with PMP in Boston, saw Fenway Park, had drinks at the Bleacher Bar, ate lots of seafood, went to Plymouth on my last day, a very rainy day, with one of my recently former students, and got to hang with Rache at my beach hotel for a night.
Coming home - well. So. Reality setting in. A class to teach starting Monday - for which I am grateful, especially since apparently it WASN'T a done deal until yesterday. I got the call to teach and I was like "welll yeahhhh I've been planning on it." So anyway, it's all good.
Still no idea where I'm teaching this fall. I have started a preliminary job search in the Boston/South Shore area. I had two (count 'em) interviews while I was there, with little to no effort on my part. One was for an ESL teaching position with some possibility for long-term work, the other as a communications specialist for a company that does research and fund-raising for MS cures (among other things).
I really don't know where things are heading right now. Some serious thinking and decision making coming up in the coming months. I am feeling more disheartened than ever here in the City on the Edge of Forever (yeah, I didn't get that job at the community college after all). After 3.5 years of searching I've had maybe 4 interviews. A week in Mass. and I get 2 interviews without even really trying.
And truth is, no place has ever felt like home to me other than the South Shore. At the same time, change is scary. I've lived here longer than anyplace else in recent history. Despite how unhappy I often am with this area (weather, cold dark apartment, allergies, isolation, lack of career opportunity, lack of the ocean, etc.) it's in many ways easier to keep on in the same direction than to try a new one. God knows I've moved so often in my life. It would be nice to feel settled with a home base. I'm just not convinced that "here" is where my home base should be.
A little much to think about right now, I know. I'm still dealing with Mom's death and the giant hole it's left in my life. Perhaps that is why I feel so attracted to my family right now, especially the grand-babies. I missed my nephew's growing up and I really hate the thought of missing theirs.
For the time being I'm just trying to get myself geared up for the summer teaching job and will see how some of this other stuff lands. Getting myself back into a schedule will feel really good. The pool is open, so I will swim and go for walks and continue working on my fitness/weight loss plan. I am very bummed that I have no time or money for the windsurfing beginners clinic this weekend. Still I'm sure there'll be other opportunities, and I'm also thinking I want to try my hands at kayaking this summer. And of course Yoga. Making the most of where I am and what I have at my disposal for the summer. The rest will be dealt with in good time...
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