See, how cool is that!

Like I said, not the most exciting pics, but we are making progress on the bathroom. I know we are remodeling like sloths…but they still move just very very slowly. =)

The reason the flower smells this way is because it is trying to attract Carrion beetles to help pollinate it. I guess our big bloom did not have and beetle callers, better luck next time.

The one that I saw was at the Smith College Botanic Garden. Here are my amazing pictures….well at least the flower is amazing, if not the pictures. I took a couple with me in them, mainly for size perspective. Enjoy.

Since I have started school a lot of people have expressed their longing to be back in school. I have decided that this is a misappropriated emotion. You don’t miss school. What you miss is the time of your life that included school. You miss the intellectual stimulation of class, and living in a dorm, and being surrounded by other students, and not having to worry about money or a job. I know this is simplistic and I am sure that some of you are saying, I had to work, I had to worry about money.  But it isn’t the same as now is it?  You didn’t work like you do now. You didn’t have bills or responsibilities like you do now. You got to devote all of your time, energy and resources (varied and/or limited as they might have been) to you and your intellectual and social pursuits.  The people who surrounded you were interested in having a good time and entertaining odd and often esoteric intellectual discussions that did not include mundane things like car insurance. Yes car insurance existed..but not like now. Now it is different. Now is the real world.  Now is being an adult, even if you still don’t feel like one. Now is political discussion that really do apply to how you live your life rather than how you idealize your world.

Going back to school now is not the same. Unfortunately you cannot get rid of “now.” It’s already out there. Once you stick your toe in those waters, you cannot pull it back out. Now school is work, and money, and financial aid and student loans, and a full time job, and a house, a mortgage, car payments, insurance, electric, gas, water, mow the lawn, take out the trash, sweep the floor, do the laundry, balance the budget, talk on the phone to all the people you don’t have time or energy to talk to, make dinner, pay your taxes, fill out your taxes, write your resume, work on your career….oh yeah, did I mention study.  The enjoyment of hedonistic intellectualism is lost in the myriad of stuff. Stuff that exists now, but didn’t exist then. At least not in the same way.

So no, you don’t miss school. You miss the entire experience.

…and yes, classes have started back up. To say that I am dragging my feet would be a metaphoracle decription or general reluctance and a lot of whining. But I am actually working ahead so that way I feel like is getting done sooner.  Don’t ask me to explain my logic, it is all how I perceive the world.  This is my last year. I wish it could be done without having to do the work. But no such luck.  So I am remembering exactly how I don’t miss school and kind of wishing that I could still be naive enough to think that I did.

So now I am being a busy busy little worker bee and am mudding and sanding the drywall. It is hot. You sweat a lot. It is dusty. Did I mention that you sweat a lot. So you basically get covered in a drywall cake. Trust me when I tell you that it is not as sexy as it sounds. But I have mudded all the walls and done my first round of sanding. Tomorrow I should be able to finish off the sanding and then maybe even move on to a coat of paint!

Here are the pics of our beautiful work:

You will, of course, note the vaulted ceiling…and my wonderful mudding work.

Here I am, in my dusty glory.

Look, no more exposed wires.

Not the greatest picture, but you can see the light and the beautiful (and soon to be white) bead board ceiling.

Dave dove right into, ok more like he has edged his big toe in the water of bathroom work before jumping in. But now he is in! and the result…all the electrical work is done. If we had tile on the floors they could be warm on the tootsies. If the beautiful venting light were installed, it would look amazing and functional. Currently it is beautiful and functional sitting on top of the bath tub. =)

So we are officially moving forward with the bathroom and the house paining! Yippee!!!

From top to bottom: thermostat for the floor, light switch and junction box

This is our light/fan…though obviously not mounted. One step at a time here people, really!

It even works! ooooo…pretty!

I know this doesn’t look like a big step forward..but really, it was a lot of work.  Running wires and doing wiring takes a lot longer than you might think. Then you are wonderfully left with the anticlimactic feeling of not doing much. Well, except for those darn lights working.

He comes forward. Leaves the cast of the blue tinted light. Disconnects from the techno world of inclusion and objectives. We snuggle on the couch. We hold hands as we walk to the movies. Wow. my turn.

I set up on the bed. I put on my glasses. I change into something more comfortable. I have my glass of water for hydration and a little snack for energy. Once I am settled in and ready, I download the program. Wow. A few minutes later I have a character and I am playing.

He is staring at me in shock and excitement. Rushing over he shows me this world he has been living in. He joins me in the game. He joins me in life. I am giving World of Warcraft a chance.

He stepped away from World of Warcraft (WoW) to give me the time I asked for, so now it is my turn to reach out and step into WoW to understand what he is doing. He gives, I give.

…and now I am a night elf named Aelfgifu (of course) on WoW. …..Wow!

Starting like every other morning, the alarm went off and I got out of bed to hit snooze. As I was passing the bed, I hit my toe on the corner of my bed frame. I hit right between my 4th and 5th toe. I jumped and internally swore and hopped around. Then the annoyance of the buzzing overrode any pain, and I turned off the alarm and curled back into bed.

I noticed later on that my toe was still sore. Upon closer inspection, I saw a small dark bruise. I mentioned this to a friend. She immediately told me to call the doctor.  I poo-poo’d this thinking it was just a bad stub.

Later I noticed that the bruise was getting blacker and blacker and starting to wrap around my toe. This raised a flag or two. But when I curled my toes and was wrenched in pain, I though, damn it’s broken.

I have spoken the the doctor and another friend with a history of broken toes, and they both said to buddy tape it and if it gets worse, get x-rays.

So my black and blue pinky toe is taped to its buddy the 4th toe, and I officially have my first broken toe.

Right now, I don’t know what change I am working towards. Ok, that is not true. I don’t know the specifics of that change. The specifics being insignificant details like where will I be living, what will I be doing, what country will we be in? Nothing big.

All I know is that right now I am laying the brick work to a path whose end is obscured by a big bush. What tarot…and life…seems to be telling me is that I should not underestimate my own ability to not be a door mat, to determine my own way in this world, and to not underestimate my own resolve. Also that I should not underestimate even the smallest connection. People and events are going to be relevant to me in ways that I cannot yet see. I need to be open to everything…and continue to be proactive.

I can smell the change, but I am still looking for what is causing the stink.

Deep Thoughts (by Jack Handey)

If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let’em go,
because, man, they’re gone.
==========
If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them
down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
==========
To me, it’s a good idea to always carry two sacks of something when
you walk around. That way, if anybody says, “Hey, can you give me a
hand?” You can say, “Sorry, got these sacks.”
==========
One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going
to take my nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old
burned-out warehouse. “Oh no,” I said, “Disneyland burned down.”

He cried and cried, but I think that deep down he thought it was a
pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but
decided to go home instead.
==========
The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the
face.
==========
If you lived in the Dark Ages and you were a catapult operator, I
bet the most common question people would ask is, “Can’t you make it
shoot farther?” “No, I’m sorry. That’s as far as it shoots.”
==========
Is there anything more beautiful than a beautiful, beautiful flamingo,
flying across in front of a beautiful sunset? And he’s carrying a
beautiful rose in his beak, and also he’s carrying a very beautiful
painting with his feet. And also, you’re drunk.
==========
I believe in making the world safe for our children, but not our
children’s children, because I don’t think children should be having
sex.
==========
If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell
him is, “God is crying.” And if he asks why God is crying, another
cute
thing to tell him is, “Probably because of something you did.”
==========
If you ever catch on fire, try to avoid seeing yourself in the
mirror, because I bet that’s what REALLY throws you into a panic.
==========
Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first
instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant and she
fell on me. Then it wouldn’t seem quite so funny.
==========
To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there’s no music, no
choreography and the dancers hit each other.
==========
I hope if dogs ever take over the world and they choose a king, they
don’t just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with
some good ideas.
==========
If life deals you lemons, why not go kill someone with the lemons
(maybe by shoving them down his throat).
==========
Instead of having “answers” on a math test, they should just call
them “impressions, ” and if you got a different “impression, ” so what,
can’t we all be brothers?
==========
Probably the earliest fly swatters were nothing more than some sort
of striking surface attached to the end of a long stick.
==========
I wish I would have a real tragic love affair and get so bummed out
that I’d just quit my job and become a bum for a few years, because
I was thinking about doing that anyway.
==========
I think a good gift for the President would be a chocolate revolver.
And since he’s so busy, you’d probably have to run up to him real
quick and hand it to him.
==========
Maybe in order to understand mankind we have to look at that word
itself. MANKIND. Basically, it’s made up of two separate
words “mank” and
“ind.” What do these words mean? It’s a mystery and so is mankind.
==========
If you go flying back through time and you see somebody else flying
forward into the future, it’s probably best to avoid eye contact.
==========
It’s easy to sit there and say you’d like to have more money. And I
guess that’s what I like about it. It’s easy. Just sitting there,
rocking back and forth, wanting that money.
==========
If you ever reach total enlightenment while you’re drinking a beer,
I bet it makes beer shoot out your nose.
==========
To me, clowns aren’t funny. In fact, they’re kinda scary. I’ve
wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I
went to the circus and a clown killed my dad.
==========
As the light changed from red to green to yellow and back to red
again, I sat there thinking about life. Was it nothing more than a
bunch of honking and yelling? Sometimes it seemed that way.
==========
I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate.
And I can picture us attacking that world, because they’d never
expect it.
==========
I hope some animal never bores a hole in my head and lays its eggs in
my brain, because later you might think you’re having a good idea but
it’s just eggs hatching.
==========
Whenever you read a good book, it’s like the author is right there,
in the room talking to you, which is why I don’t like to read good
books.
==========
What is it about a beautiful sunny afternoon, with the birds singing
and the wind rustling through the leaves, that makes you want to get
drunk? And after you’re real drunk, maybe go down to the public park
and stagger around and ask people for money, and then lay down and go
to sleep.
==========
Instead of a trap door, what about a trap window? The guy looks out
it, and if he leans too far, he falls out. Wait. I guess that’s like
a regular window.
==========
During the Middle Ages, probably one of the biggest mistakes was not
putting on your armor because you were “just going down to the
corner.”
==========
If I ever get real rich, I hope I’m not real mean to poor people, like
I am now.
==========
When I found the skull in the woods, the first thing I did was call
the police. But then I got curious about it. I picked it up, and
started wondering who this person was, and why he had deer horns.
==========
I remember how my great-uncle Jerry would sit on the porch and
whittle all day long. Once he whittled me a toy boat out of a larger
toy boat I had. It was almost as good as the first one, except now
it had
bumpy whittle marks all over it. And no paint, because he had
whittled
off the paint.
==========
Here’s a good thing to do if you go to a party and you don’t know
anybody: First take out the garbage. Then go around and collect any
extra garbage that people might have, like a crumpled napkin, and
take that out too. Pretty soon people will want to meet the busy
garbage guy.
==========
Sometimes I think you have to march right in and demand your rights,
even if you don’t know what your rights are, or who the person is
you’re
talking to. Then on the way out, slam the door.
==========
If you’re a cowboy and you’re dragging a guy behind your horse, I bet
it would really make you mad if you looked back and the guy was
reading
a magazine.
==========
If your friend is already dead, and being eaten by vultures, I think
it’s okay to feed some bits of your friend to one of the vultures, to
teach him to do some tricks. But only if you’re serious about
adopting
the vulture.
==========
Broken promises don’t upset me. I just think, why did they believe
me?
==========
If you ever crawl inside an old hollow log and go to sleep, and while
you’re in there some guys come and seal up both ends and then put it
on
a truck and take it to another city, boy, I don’t know what to tell
you.
==========
One thing vampire children have to be taught early on is, don’t run
with a wooden stake.
==========
If you go to a costume party at your boss’s house, wouldn’t you think
a good costume would be to dress up like the boss’s wife? Trust me,
it’s not.
==========
Most of the time it was probably real bad being stuck down in a
dungeon. But some days, when there was a bad storm outside, you’d look
out your little window and think, “Boy, I’m glad I’m not out in that.”
==========
Consider the daffodil. And while you’re doing that, I’ll be over
here, looking through your stuff.
==========
For mad scientists who keep brains in jars, here’s a tip: why not add
a slice of lemon to each jar, for freshness?

Yeah, I didn’t want to leave. A bunch of friends were there. A few of us traveled from the east coast and I even had a hitchhiker from Mass. A friend of mine from work bought a ticket last minute and joined us. People always talk about doing that but no one ever actually does. I LOVE that she actually did it! Awesome! So here are the pics:

Hauler Ride:

Fun at the Cabin: