Big Stinky Flower
Otherwise, or more technically known as Titan Arum. This flower, though I feel like I am seriously undermining its existence by calling it a flower, is the largest in the world. I recently had the pleasure of seeing it right when it closed (unfortunately) and it stood nearly 6 feet tall. Yes, seriously, a 6 foot tall flower. It was amazing, even when closed. This flower blooms once every 3-5 years and only stays open for about 2 days. I was there on day 3. When it is open it smells like rotting raw chicken…not the essence of perfume you were picturing? Well you would expect a flower that big to knock you over with it’s smell, you probably just didn’t think you would be gagging on the way down. This is where I lucked out by being late, I was not subjected to the horrid smell.
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.
I don’t miss school
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.
School | Comment (0)Wait, is it my birthday?
No it isn’t my birthday. It isn’t even close to my birthday anymore. But it feels like it is because when I came back from my trip I discovered that Dave had done a bunch of work on the bathroom! WE HAVE A CEILING!!!! and it is vaulted…ooo, fancy. We have an installed light, that vents. We have drywall! Every wall in the bathroom officially is covered by drywall or tile! I can no longer see the insides of my walls! If you have never experienced the upheaval of remodeling than it will be hard for you to truly empathize with the excitement of NOT seeing the inside of your walls. It is like bliss on tap…and those work too!
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.
Remodeling | Comment (1)The first step is the hardest
Finally we are moving forward with work on the house. Between visitors, visiting, school, work, being exhausted and general laziness we have done some work on the house! I finally got a ladder, ok I got it a while ago, but I finally got a ladder that will allow me to paint the window above the bulk head. The glass is now re-glazed, storm window removed, and base coat of paint applied. Tonight I am going to put the top coat of paint on the window and all the windows will be completely, 100% done. On to the second floor!…eek.
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.
Remodeling | Comments (2)Techno Relationship
Sitting in a sun light room. Sitting in a moon dark room. A dim light casts shadows on the desk and the ambiance is cast by the light of a computer monitor. Wow. I am in another room, separated, disconnected, isolated. What is so compelling? What is the attraction? Wow. Small fights, battles over allocation of time, miscommunication and a lack of understanding. What are you doing? Wow.
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!
