Thursday, May 27, 2010
Death in the family
Well, my grandfather died today. He'd been doing poorly for a while, and had taken a nosedive within the last week. My mom flew out last week and extended her ticket until Sunday, so it's good that she's there. She left me a message and sounded kind of broken up, which is out of character for my mom. Mom is a stoic, and doesn't show emotion too often. I guess that my mom had taken grandma to Ukiah for an hour or two and pap pap died while they were in town. Grandma Audrey was upset that she wasn't there. They were married for 72 years. The nurse said that pap pap died peacefully, took a few deep breaths and said "Audrey" and died. I don't think we'll tell Grandma that her name was his last word for a while.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
It's the little things
Today is deposition day. Yay. I'm sure they won't like it when I say that I have MS and it causes memory problems. At least I'm getting a check for 50$ for my time. I also have a cold. wtf?
Anyway, here's a nice article that talks about how the little things are important in relationships.
Anyway, here's a nice article that talks about how the little things are important in relationships.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Greece, Donner, and the Gulf Coast oil spill
So not much angsty is happening here these days, and for that I'm grateful.
I've been sending cookies to people, working in Sacramento, getting my shit together to finish my PhD, thinking about the future, climbing at Donner, and thinking about a fall trip.
Alan and I briefly discussed going to Greece in September, but I've lived long enough to know that any trip that far in the future is a long shot. However Greece is at the very top of the places I'd like to climb, and if he said he could go, I'd make it happen with work/school, etc.
I've had some guests come and go. Maki has come through a couple of times, sometimes with Wesley, sometimes without. She's schedule to come back and stay on Thursday and stay for the night. Our tradition is to go get sushi...hopefully she won't eat too much and lay on her back on my floor groaning for an hour afterwards like she did last time. I told her so!
Joe came through and stayed a night on the way to the Valley to do Golden Gate. We'd talked about climbing at Star Wall up at Donner on his way home, but the weather looks iffy (wtf is up with the crazy un-Californian weather btw?!). I'm pretty psyched on this route called Penguin Lust at Donner right now. Roadcut is better early and late season because it roasts in the sun...Shannon and John and I (and Townsend the weekend before last) have gone up and I've worked Penguin Lust and they've worked Transmognifier. I'm in love with Penguin Lust. It's soooo good. Cool pockets and crimps on a vertical/slightly overhanging face. And looong. It's a bit crumbly at the top though, and a bit spicy right off the deck. I need to get a stick clip so I can hang the second draw. Other than that I think I'd be fine with hanging the draws. Such a great route.
I'm thinking about going down to the Gulf coast to help out with the oil spill. The FWS sends around emails for workers to go down and volunteer. I think I'll do it if it counts as hours for my SCEP job...otherwise I don't think I could make it happen. It would be a 2 week stint. I'm going to talk to my supervisor about it tomorrow. In general he's very supportive of me using the service to get as much experience in whatever way that I want as possible, which is awesome. It might be because I give him delicious cookies.
I've been very happy to stay at home lately (other than climbing and work). It's so nice not to compromise, and not to deal with superfluous relationships. It feels very cozy to have time to myself right now. I'm enjoying the time to think, work at home, bake, cook and ride my bike. I made an espresso black-bottom pie in a chocolate chip cookie crust yesterday and shared it with the lab. I got an email from a married lab mate saying it's the best pie he'd had in a while and asking me if I believed in polygamy. I told him WAKASAGI! Ah fish humor. It never gets old.
As far as biking, I've made a short-term goal of 60 miles a week, which is only about 4 hours. I'd like to up it as the season progresses to 75 and then 100. The only problem is that it makes me tired for climbing. I guess if I kept up the mileage my body would get used to it, but it sucks climbing when you're tired and having sub-par performance.
I've been sending cookies to people, working in Sacramento, getting my shit together to finish my PhD, thinking about the future, climbing at Donner, and thinking about a fall trip.
Alan and I briefly discussed going to Greece in September, but I've lived long enough to know that any trip that far in the future is a long shot. However Greece is at the very top of the places I'd like to climb, and if he said he could go, I'd make it happen with work/school, etc.
I've had some guests come and go. Maki has come through a couple of times, sometimes with Wesley, sometimes without. She's schedule to come back and stay on Thursday and stay for the night. Our tradition is to go get sushi...hopefully she won't eat too much and lay on her back on my floor groaning for an hour afterwards like she did last time. I told her so!
Joe came through and stayed a night on the way to the Valley to do Golden Gate. We'd talked about climbing at Star Wall up at Donner on his way home, but the weather looks iffy (wtf is up with the crazy un-Californian weather btw?!). I'm pretty psyched on this route called Penguin Lust at Donner right now. Roadcut is better early and late season because it roasts in the sun...Shannon and John and I (and Townsend the weekend before last) have gone up and I've worked Penguin Lust and they've worked Transmognifier. I'm in love with Penguin Lust. It's soooo good. Cool pockets and crimps on a vertical/slightly overhanging face. And looong. It's a bit crumbly at the top though, and a bit spicy right off the deck. I need to get a stick clip so I can hang the second draw. Other than that I think I'd be fine with hanging the draws. Such a great route.
I'm thinking about going down to the Gulf coast to help out with the oil spill. The FWS sends around emails for workers to go down and volunteer. I think I'll do it if it counts as hours for my SCEP job...otherwise I don't think I could make it happen. It would be a 2 week stint. I'm going to talk to my supervisor about it tomorrow. In general he's very supportive of me using the service to get as much experience in whatever way that I want as possible, which is awesome. It might be because I give him delicious cookies.
I've been very happy to stay at home lately (other than climbing and work). It's so nice not to compromise, and not to deal with superfluous relationships. It feels very cozy to have time to myself right now. I'm enjoying the time to think, work at home, bake, cook and ride my bike. I made an espresso black-bottom pie in a chocolate chip cookie crust yesterday and shared it with the lab. I got an email from a married lab mate saying it's the best pie he'd had in a while and asking me if I believed in polygamy. I told him WAKASAGI! Ah fish humor. It never gets old.
As far as biking, I've made a short-term goal of 60 miles a week, which is only about 4 hours. I'd like to up it as the season progresses to 75 and then 100. The only problem is that it makes me tired for climbing. I guess if I kept up the mileage my body would get used to it, but it sucks climbing when you're tired and having sub-par performance.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Surmounting the insurmountable
Maybe it's because the duck is totally going to do the beached whale topout most climbers are intimate with, or maybe it's because it seems impossible for the ducks to get out, or maybe I wonder if mom is going to leave them behind, or what else is going on in the picture that I can't see. Whatever the case, I just wanna reach out and scoop up the ducklings and put them on dry land.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
subpoena?
I love that I always wake up to emails from my mother. It's a great way to start the day. This morning I got one about how I need to be a better family member etc. (standard mother fare), and that I'm going to get subpoenaed! YAY!
This is very annoying to me. Now every time I'm home I'm going to be wondering if I'll get a knock on the door. Rad. Good thing I rarely answer the door, given that most of the time it's people wanting to tell me about Jesus or sell me shit. I think the best thing to do is to look at this as a learning experience. Yay.
Recently I listened to a This American Life show called "The Long Shot". The whole show is really good, but one act struck me in particular. It was about a prisoner who was up for parole in a CA prison. The parole system (to my understanding) works this way: people have parole hearings every year, but are usually rejected. However if you are deemed suitable for parole, the request gets sent to the governor's office who can override the parole request after 90 days. I think that the governor overrides about 99% of these paroles. No politician wants to be responsible for releasing a prisoner who goes on to commit another crime. So prisoners know that getting their hopes up is not a good thing...but so hard not to do. So basically the prisoner sits and waits for 3 months...getting their hopes up, playing psychological games with themselves about not being hopeful, etc.
Anyway, the prisoner that they were interviewing was up for parole after about 30 years of not being up for parole. This American Life followed him through the next 3 months, seeing how he was reacting and dealing with the waiting. At one point he said that all of the things that he'd lived with in prison for the last 30 years suddenly became intolerable: the food, the setting, the cells, the life. But that he'd never noticed how crappy his life was until he saw the possibility of being released.
Granted I'm not in prison, and there are many things that I like, indeed love about Davis and my life here, but the possibility of leaving suddenly makes the usual frustrations that much more frustrating. Looking for climbing partners every weekend, feeling left out of the Bay Area crew's plans, driving 30 minutes to a crappy gym or 2.5 hours to climb on choss, avoiding an ex, feeling generally isolated...all silly and yes, I know, trivial complaints which don't usually bother me, but somehow are a little more aggravating now that I want to move.
I'm sure I'll settle down and become a good little appreciative privileged-girl soon.
This is very annoying to me. Now every time I'm home I'm going to be wondering if I'll get a knock on the door. Rad. Good thing I rarely answer the door, given that most of the time it's people wanting to tell me about Jesus or sell me shit. I think the best thing to do is to look at this as a learning experience. Yay.
Recently I listened to a This American Life show called "The Long Shot". The whole show is really good, but one act struck me in particular. It was about a prisoner who was up for parole in a CA prison. The parole system (to my understanding) works this way: people have parole hearings every year, but are usually rejected. However if you are deemed suitable for parole, the request gets sent to the governor's office who can override the parole request after 90 days. I think that the governor overrides about 99% of these paroles. No politician wants to be responsible for releasing a prisoner who goes on to commit another crime. So prisoners know that getting their hopes up is not a good thing...but so hard not to do. So basically the prisoner sits and waits for 3 months...getting their hopes up, playing psychological games with themselves about not being hopeful, etc.
Anyway, the prisoner that they were interviewing was up for parole after about 30 years of not being up for parole. This American Life followed him through the next 3 months, seeing how he was reacting and dealing with the waiting. At one point he said that all of the things that he'd lived with in prison for the last 30 years suddenly became intolerable: the food, the setting, the cells, the life. But that he'd never noticed how crappy his life was until he saw the possibility of being released.
Granted I'm not in prison, and there are many things that I like, indeed love about Davis and my life here, but the possibility of leaving suddenly makes the usual frustrations that much more frustrating. Looking for climbing partners every weekend, feeling left out of the Bay Area crew's plans, driving 30 minutes to a crappy gym or 2.5 hours to climb on choss, avoiding an ex, feeling generally isolated...all silly and yes, I know, trivial complaints which don't usually bother me, but somehow are a little more aggravating now that I want to move.
I'm sure I'll settle down and become a good little appreciative privileged-girl soon.
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