"Materm"

This new routine that I have signed up for goes against my better, and predisposed, judgement. I have class from 8:30-11:30am, this means that I have to get up around 7/7:15 to drag myself through the motions of a shower, getting dressed, and a quick breakfast at "The Pub". If you don't know me, and you shouldn't really be reading this if you don't, I am soooo not a morning person. I prefer to stay up late and "power through" rather than get up early and have ample time to get my tasks done. But monday through friday I have no choice - so I digress.

Shifts were assigned at work this week, I am working 4 hours a day Monday through Thursday and then 20 hours Friday through Sunday. I am not sure why but that doesn't seem to weigh on me, I am certainly looking forward to the monthly pay check (although at 5$ per hour I am not jumping for joy).

The break was good, packing went slowly but I finished and now have plenty to sort over the summer on the farm. When I visit my eldest sister I slide into opair (sp?) mode to her 6 month old son. Oh he is too cute, of course I say that about all of my nieces and nephews. She is a herniated disc in her back so I play arms and heavy lifting. Doing some cooking, cleaning, and helping with the baby was actually suprisingly fun and took a great deal more time than I expected.

These are just my reflections ... I am sure you would be much more entertained if this book had pictures.

Memoirs of a ...

I have spent the last 24 hours sorting all of the things I have in storage at my Mom's place. Things I want to keep, things I want to ship to Oz, and everything else. It isn't the clothes, or worn stuffed toys that are making the process difficult for me. It is the pictures and old letters that I have to wade through holding my emotions as if holding my nose from a potent smell. In boxes of pictures I found old letters from boyfriends, poems I wrote when my Dad died, and ticket stubs going back as far as 1997. There are short stories from 5th grade and far too many pictures of past relationships. In my defense there weren't that many guys, I am just a picture fiend. I have cataloged my travels with my camera, but they have ended up in two photo boxes of mixed and mass piles. I found letters from my pen that were never sent, more for my benefit then someone else's.

The process is also slow because I am sorting alone. I want to go through the pictures and relate the stories to Levi, but over the phone it's pointless. There are distractions and its like teaching yoga over the phone, it doesn't come out quite right. I suppose my rambling is intended to say I am feeling alone. The nostalgia of this process takes me back to times when I have been alone, overwhelmed, happy, and confused. With the geographic separation in my current relationship I am relating to the times when I was alone, doing things solely.

There is no point to this ramble and I am not an unhappy person, I think this is a milestone or something important that I must do as I age - it's just filling my brain and that is spilling on to the keys.

Springtime ...

(If I had the camera I would post pictures)

An interesting example of spring in Staunton are the three ducks that every morning around 8am walk the 1 mile from Gypsy Hill Park to campus and wander until 5pm and then walk back to the pond. I haven't quite figured out why yet but they are a perplexing site standing in front of the dining hall or walking the paths between students going to class. As the weather warms, the trees are blooming their specifically coordinated colors and everything has turned green. It is interesting to observe that the edge has been taken off of everyone's mood the better the weather gets. Everyone starts off just a little calmer and warmer.

Before all of the drama of poor medical service I meant to post ...

Interesting factoid of information: If you remove the testing scores of schools in the states that originally succeeded from the Union (prior to the Civil War) the US would rank #3 for best education systems internationally, rather than 11th at current. Its those southern schools it is - oh wait, I went to school in the South. CURSES!

Other than that, I am heading back home for a week of relaxation (packing, organizing, and moving) and playing with the munchkins before beginning May Term. Tomorrow I have a meeting about doing a course over summer (independently) and I still haven't heard back about internships.

So thats the news and you are in the know ...

"If you can sign, you'll be fine"

Between you, me, and the Easter Bunny I spent Easter night in the hospital. Or rather a place that they advertise as a hospital but it more like a glorified waiting room, Augusta Medical Center (AMC). I actually got to sleep in on Easter Sunday so I didn't get up until 2pm (having stayed up until 4am it was a good balance). Took a shower, had some stomach cramping but figured it was nothing and met some friends for "dinner" (dining hall "food" served while the sun is still up). As always the meal was questionable (sweet and sour ravioli for example) but nothing too concerning. On my way home I popped into the computer lab to check my email and work on some organizational stuff with Levi over the phone. I quickly left the lab as I started to cramp more severly and feel nauseous. To save the less than shiny details, I spent the further hour and a half vomitting etc., dizzy, alternating hot and cold, and intermittedly passing out on the bathroom floor. It was a less than fun experience. Barely able to speak I luckily had my phone and Levi on the other end. He called school security and the ambulance. The rescue squad was shocked that my location was on the third floor of a building with no elevator so getting me out was interesting. For the entirety of this time I was semi-conscious so there isn't much detail I can give. I do however, remember signing paperwork when I could barely lift my hand. "If you can sign, you'll be fine".

Once at AMC the rescue squad transferred me to a hospital gurney in the hallway just inside the ambulance bay doors and there I stayed. After the first hour of laying in front of frequently opening doors in shorts and a tshirt, I was cold enough to not care and still coming out of my haze. The occasional nurse would stop and ask a question for paperwork or have me sign something but mostly there I lay. Another hour and a half and a nurse-like person asks me if I can walk to an exam room. I couldn't walk when I got there but it didn't really seem like I had much of a choice. It seemed too much effort for her to push me or assist me. Still freezing and slowly regaining my composure the nurse took more information, gave me a blanket and left. As I was just about to fall asleep waiting, the doctor came in. He listened to my chest, pushed and asked "does it hurt when I do this" and then, as it apparently customary - left. Mom and Gregg got to the hospital at that point and were shortly followed by another nurse with a cart full of sharp and pointing things. To put an end to this complaint, she blew the vein in my left arm, took some blood and put an IV in my right and added a dash of a very strong (and super halucenigenic) pain killer to the flow.

Diagnosis - a virus, "the new flu", clear liquids and bed rest for 48 hours. Well, thats just not going to happen - its exam week. Mom loaded my fridge with gatorade, jello, and pepto and Mom and Gregg headed home as I insisted on staying to finish my exams before coming home on Wednesday as planned. Yesterday (monday) I slept the whole day and now have a strong dislike of jello. Today I got up at 8am, took one exam, I am at work now and have two more exams to take between now and 8pm. My feet are still a but stumbly and my hands aren't as steady as I like but my brain is clear enough to proceed (I think) . Eating "food" for lunch was dicey but I think I have passed. I am sure that by the end of today I will be worse off than when I started but my exams will be done.

That is all ...

Random sojourns from everyday life ...

It has crossed my mind that moving to Melbourne, or Australia in general, will eliminate my favorite type of day - a snow day. Everything closes so that you can play outside (or some other reason about dangerous roadways) and no one gets in trouble for not going to work. There is barely any other type of weather that has the same effect - without being severly dangerous (hurricane, etc). It's a wonderfully bizarre thing to look forward to, an unexpected day off in the middle of the week - sigh, never again.

On our journey back we are stopping in London, Barcelona, and Bangkok and I want to do some adrenaline snuffing before I get locked into a 40 hour per week career. So if you know of any good places to skydive in Thailand, or resturants in London, or sites in Spain - let me know.

Back to the normalcy of nothing ...

Oh ... and I got an A on my Terrorism Paper for a new Counterterrorism strategy in Indonesia. Woot!

5 year plan ...

So Levi and I were chatting the other night and ended up inadvertedly creating a 5 year plan. By the time we return to Oz, I will be nearly 22 and he will be 27 (haha, he's almost 30). Starting in 2007 I will start working, I will have finished school and recieved two bachelor degrees, he will continue to go to school. He still has to earn his law degree and if possible a teaching certificate (for the just in cases). Fast forward for 2.5 years (give or take) in Meblbourne - me working, him finishing his education, the two of us establishing a good base and life for ourselves. Following that we plan to take 2.5 years (give or take) on assignment somewhere dangerous and very well paid. That sounds like a pretty basic plan and consumes the 5 years but we ended up laying the groundwork for a full blown 10 year plan (you have to forgive the over analysis, it is what I do best).

So in the 10 year plan, from 2007 to 2017 (scary). 2.5 years in Melbourne, 2.5 years in the "danger zone". Relocate yet again, 2011, I will take time off my career to have/raise the kids (2 or three) because good meaningful childcare is hard to find and expensive if you do. While not working I will get my Masters so that when I reenter the working world I will not be so disadvantaged by the gender gap. When the youngest kid begins school I will go back to a career. Now this all depends on what kind of job I have, if it is more convienient for Levi to give up time to raise munchkins, etc etc etc.

Obviously this plan will change quite a lot in the next ... well, 10 years but thats the general gist of it.

The old man is snoring ...

It's raining, tornado season has officially hit in full swing. Kentucky and Tennesee (next door) have been ravaged as well as the midwest. The wind from the thunder and lightning storm last night sent rod-iron lawn furniture flying down the hills and overturned metal benches. Today, it is simply raining. I know where my umbrella is, I could tell you its exact location - Byron Bay Australia. Lot of good it is doing me there, and everytime I go to the store I forget to pick up a new one. That said, I haven't been to the store since February but who's counting.

Last week was killer, assignments due every day. I finished them all but only to my own amazement. I wrote a 10 page paper on Colin Powell in less than 10 hours. One quote that I picked up from my research got me to thinking ...

Powell once said "Many of my generation, the career captains, majors, and lieutenant colonels seasoned in that war (Vietnam), vowed that when our turn came to call the shots, we would not quietly acquiesce in halfhearted warfare for half-baked reasons that the American people could not understand".

That makes me wonder that if Colin Powell had become president 6 years ago, which by all national polls he could have - by a landslide, then would we (US and coalition of the willing) be trapped in a war we can't seem to get out of without doing serious detriment to our international status or reputation. I know that shouldn't be the reason why we stay in - to save face, but anyone with two braincells to rub together knows it is. If we pull out it will be seen as a victory for those who we are fighting. But the longer we stay and the longer our tactics become more devoid of transparency and accountability, the more our allies continue to question our intelligence. For anyone over the age of 35, this is a case of dejavu. Vietnam was a war with no exit strategy, a war where the common people joined the soldiers against us. The only hopeful difference in this war is that when it finally does end the soldiers don't get spit on or ridiculed for only doing their jobs. It is the decision makers who send soliders into dangerous situations, while it is their choice to pull the trigger the alternative is often guaranteed to be fatal.

In two years I will be back in Oz, voting by mail to choose a new president, a woman may run but if she isn't qualified I won't vote for her. The Democrats have a once in a century chance to take power - the American people are ready and willing to vote out the current regime (and more importantly the current mindset). But whether or not the Democrats will do any better is unknown - and only understood in hindsight.

Look out rope - here I come ...

Do you remember in elementary/primary school in gym where you had physical fitness testing? You know, sit-n-reach, pull ups, sit ups, because they liked to make sure you meet some arbitrary number that the principal's daughter could do "when she was your age". I excelled, I over excelled on the sit-n-reach and was seriously sore for a week in 2nd grade. I excelled in everything EXCEPT the rope. Could anyone ever climb the rope? I mean really! You are going to send a 40-60lb kid up a rope to touch a piece of green fabric and then you expect them to slowly lower themselves down again. It's preposturous and very frustrating if you are an attention seeking 7 year old.

The only other thing I couldn't do was handstands and headstands, but those weren't really required. It was one of those sketchy "I can endanger myself better than you can endager yourself" schoolyard games. So the point of this story - see you knew there was a point ...
Today was my last yoga class on campus. The instructor finished the class by demonstrating some advanced poses that as beginners and even intermediates we shouldn't be able to do. Most were inversions, some were some really funky bends. So she does a headstand on the mat in the middle of the room, it looked really easy (knowing full well everytime I had attempted as a child I usually had to beat someone up to regain my dignity). She asked if anyone was interested and three of us thought we would tuck our shirts in our sweatpants and get upside down. Out of the three I was the only one who could complete it. How bendy am I !?

So I have learned a new trick, something to make me just a little more weird.

(This update is brought to you by the fact that I just finished one essay, its nearly 1.5am and I am going to go to sleep now!)

Chat stew ...

I am in a bit of a thunderous tornado of getting things done so I don't have time to explain the day away - but I have about 60 seconds to record the strangeness of things floating in my head. I think the trend of globalization has come to an end, I think as a global community, or the global north we are entering a period of restructuring politically. I still believe that the United States will retain a lot of the symbolic alpha dog rights, but I think Britain and the EU will began to rebalance power with more control coming to the EU as they become more organized and unified.

I have a paper due every day this week, and then work both days this weekend, and then its the last week before exams, and then it is over. Well at least there is a week break and then a month of school and then it is over.

Always make your bed and straighten your room before you leave the house because you never know who will stop you in the hall and ask to see you room. This past weekend was a reunion weekend and a woman, with a small child, who used to live in my building asked if she could show her daughter one of the rooms - of course I had clothes on the floor, books strewn across the desk, and the bed was unmade. Lesson learned.

I went to the theatre for the first time this semester over the weekend. It smells exactly the same - wet paint, sawdust, moth balls, and redbull. Now to you- that sounds gross. But to a techi - that smells like home.

The US shock media is spreading the rumor that Jake Gylenhall is gay. Well see, now I know he played a gay cowboy and out of the two gay cowboys in the movie he wasn't the one with the master plan. To keep the rumors away - Heath Ledger was smart enough to knock up and marry his female costar. Nothing says "straight" like an impromto pregnancy.

Don't ask, I'm random ... I will resurface post-labotomy in a few days.

Springtime on the hill...

Its nearly 9am on what is the closest to a "spring morning" that we have had so far up on the mountain. There is a man in a cherry-picker lifted up to the roof spraying the building with a power washer (I don't know why and I am not sure knowing will effect the story :P ). Its April Fools Day - I should trick you but I am I too tired. I always spend the first hour of opening shifts in a haze waiting for my brain to clock in.

I have recieved word back from the Atlantic Council of the US about my internship application, I have made it through the opening act. I am excited because they are prestigious, less excited that the internship is unpaid, and disapointed that I probably won't be able to do it because it is in DC - but we will see what future communication brings. The next fortnight should bear the fruit of my other applications. Cross your fingers for a Policy and Planning Specialist Internship with VDOT (three times the wage I am making now).

This summer, on the weekends of course, I just want to ride rollercoasters, lay on the rocks in the river, and relax. Soak up as much of the culture I grew up with as I can before heading back down south.

Some views of Richmond for your enjoyment ...





< Belle Isle in Summer




^ Belle Isle at Dawn (view from Nickel Bridge)




< Richmond Skyline