elderly studies

This has been the easiest quarter of class since I've started school again, primarily since I've only been taking one class but it also has been the teachers. My main professor was very personable, knowledgeable, funny, and not afraid to call me on my shit. The other instructor had a unique vision through the PhotoVoice project that kept it very interesting. Plus it helped not having to write a main paper for the end of the class.

We did have to present a powerpoint presentation to the class. Since I have time at work to do it, I volunteered to set up the ppt for my group. Also, I did the conclusion...sort of. I had an idea of what I was going to say but it wasn't until my group mates were performing that I really worked it out and it came off great! I'm very impressed with my comfortableness in presenting in front of a group and my ability to sum it all up off the top of my head.

We were originally scheduled to have class next week but the professor decided that today was a good note to end on. We have some reading questions to answer but that should be easy. Yay, I'm done!

What else?

Powerpoints aren't new to me at this point so, for my new thing, I got the carry-out special at Cricket Cafe, pictured above. It was most filling and really good. I may make a habit out of this...

hold the pork please

Sophia went with me to Pambiche, a Cuban restaurant here in town for my first time. Pambiche doesn't have a great vegetarian menu but it does have really good and different food. I ate some root thing. I'm not sure what it was but I really liked it.

However, I didn't like the fact that a fully uniformed (gun and all) cop sat right next to me during the whole meal. His gun was right next to me and Pambiche is tight quarters inside so it was waaaaay too close for comfort.

What else?
On the flip side, I enjoyed an awesome pig-free vegetarian gyro from DC Vegetarian today. I miss gyro meat. When I was at UNK, I lived close to a laundry mat/gyro place. Since I stopped eating meat, I haven't had a gyro that came as close as today's did to Nick's Gyros in Kearney.

rain or shine

Since Dean hurt himself earlier in the month, he's been sort of mopey around the house. I don't think it'd be a long shot to say that he's depressed. For the past two weeks, his whole world has been a two block radius of the house. The vet said that's as far as I should take him. Even though they said it was just for two weeks, he's still limping and I don't want to push him.

When I was in junior high/high school, I had my dog Skip. Skip was a funny loyal dog but he's wasn't exactly the smartest dog. He was also terribly afraid of thunderstorms. I became very empathetic to his fear of thunderstorms which previously rarely bothered me. However, they shook me up whenever I was near Skip. I think that the same thing is happening with Dean. His depression is getting to me.

It could also be the seasonal change, the holidays and the lack of walking with Dean that's upsetting me. I love to walk. Anyway, since he's been on the injured list, I've felt the need to stay at home with him more often. Not only has this isolated me from social interaction but it has also kept me in close proximity to depression.

Today, Sophia and X-box hung out of the house and I made my getaway. I ended up at Rain or Shine, an awesome coffee shop a little ways away from me but it is worth the journey. It has great light, a very friendly staff and comfortable chairs and couches. I ordered a coffee latte drink with lemon zest on it. It was an odd combination but it was tasty. Yesterday, I bought the fourth and last book in the Oz series by Gregory Maguire. I didn't care that much for the third book but I loved Wicked and Son of a Witch. This book, Out of Oz, is great so far. I missed Blowpony last night because I wanted to keep reading it (plus none of my friends were interested in going). Today at the coffee shop, I had a very hard time putting it down. I'm glad that this coming Wednesday is the last class for the quarter. I'm looking forward to a winter break full of fluff reading. It's raised my spirits quite a bit. Also, while biking to Rain or Shine, I passed by the above advertisement. It's not Dean but it could be. It's an ad for Kaiser Permanente. I've never had an ad speak to me so aptly.

What else?

Ashes and I hit the sauna and the steam room at 24 Hour Fitness yesterday. It was nice but I don't think I'll be signing up just yet. It has been a fun new thing though.

Justin and I hung out today on my quest to get out of the house. It's been a rather pathetic weekend but it was nice to hang out with him. Jesse then came over to our house and updated our router so our internets work properly now. Hopefully that will improve my outlook as well.

totally addicted to weights

For years, Ashes and I have been hitting this neighborhood gym which is very sub-par in the equipment they have. Occasionally, I visited the PSU gym but I really like having a workout partner. This morning, my partner called me and said that he wanted to visit a 24 hour fitness. We just went to the gym yesterday and I normally only do every other day but, what the hell, why not?

It was weird but not bad. For one thing, it was nice to have working equipment. For another thing, it was nice to have a good selection of weights and available benches so I wasn't forced to increase my weight just because of the lack of 10 lb plates. Also, there was a good amount of hot guys here. :)

We're on a special three day trial pass. If it was closer to my house, I may consider it but I don't want to have to go even further out to work out and I really don't want to have to pay. Maybe I'll think about it when I don't have access to PSU any longer.

What else?

It's Harvest dinner day. Long Haus hosted again this year but it was a small event due to them potentially moving. Sophia and I spent the afternoon drinking mimosas and watching Jackass the Movie. Afterwards, I made my first Tofurky roast which turned out okay. Even though there wasn't that many people at dinner (maybe 14-16), I still ate a lot and enjoyed the company.

Speaking of good food, yesterday I tried Pacific Pie Company for the first time. The cafeteria at my work has been closed all this week due to renovations. After they reopen, they are mostly going to have convenience store food. Therefore, I will be eating out more often and I'm fortunate to have the PPC near my work. I foresee many slices of chocolate bourbon hazelnut pie in my future. Also, today, I had a pumpkin spice latte from Common Grounds for the first time. I think if I would have had these two treats together, I wouldn't have come down from that high for the whole day.

 

brunch date

Andrew and I did brunch together for the first time. It's silly but I see this as a step but I'm not sure what it's a step towards. I like where we're at and I don't see the need to change it really but I guess it's fun to see where it can go.

What else?
I fell off the wagon properly yesterday. Jenn and I had drinks for brunch, I met Josie (yay!) for drinks at the Red and Black (where I had my first Shot in the Dark which is an espresso shot in a stout) and then Jesse and I went drink some Terminator Stouts while watching the Terminator at the Bagdad Theater. And then of course Andrew and I had drinks today. Oh well, I knew it was only a week long ride when I got on.

Oh, I got my haircut yesterday too and once again, by a new stylist.

the pregnant lady special

 

Not drinking alcohol has been interesting but I'm sure glad it's done tomorrow. Yesterday, a group of us went to My Father's Place where I ordered a tea for the first time at a bar. Today, Jessica and I went to the Horse's Brass where I ordered an awesome root beer. When Sophia was gearing up for yoga competition, she used to ask bartenders to make her the pregnant lady special in order to get a unique non-alcoholic drink. I don't think I can pull that off. The less fun version I guess would be to ask for the designated driver drink.

I haven't hated the experience but I'm sure glad it's been a week already. I almost counted the 'week' to be over at 6pm tonight since my last drink was 6pm on last Friday but, no, I can hold out for tomorrow. Jenn and I are drinking mimosas!

What else?

Jessica and I went to a movie called The Way which was only really worth the pretty scenery. It was kind of like watching the Discovery Channel except Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez and several character cliches get in the way of the view.

I got my Christmas bonus today. The way I figured it, it's two thirds of the hourly salary of the president of the company. Yep, it takes me three days to make what he makes in an hour. Today, I literally had to pick up shit. This sucks.

 

letting the rain win

When I moved out of Long Haus and gave up insuring my car, my supervisor asked me how I was going to get to work when it started raining. I told her I had plenty of rain gear but I could always bus it. I've held out having to take the bus until today but the forecast for rain was bad and I just wasn't in the mood to get wet.

It wasn't a good start to my new bus commute. I bought a five dollar all-day bus pass and quickly regretted it. The Morrison Bridge is under construction which means that the Belmont bus has to go across the Hawthorne Bridge and, in doing so, has to navigate SE 7th Ave. Despite how long this construction has been going on, SE 7th Ave traffic still isn't used to having a bus between Belmont and Hawthorne and I spent around 10 minutes just trying to make it between the two streets. I could have walked it in that time.

As I bussed back downtown for class tonight, I forgot the Belmont bus would make a sharp northern turn as soon as it got across the river so it could correct its construction detour. This took me way far away from PSU. I ended up having to run from SE 2nd and Morrison back up to PSU.

I was pissed and not in the mood to get back on the bus to go home after class. However, as if the universe was offering up an apology for the shitty commuting service I had received throughout the day, I found a $5 bill on the ground before my last bus stop. That kind of made it all worth it.

health concerns

On Saturday morning, I had brunch with Tim, XBox, and Sophia. Tim talked about how he and a friend have given up drinking for a week. While that sounds really easy, I thought it would provide enough of a challenge to make it interesting. Jennifer agreed to do it with me so we had our last drinks on Friday night and haven't drank since.

Today, I felt wonderful. Maybe I really needed to detox my system! It was a bit of a challenge on Sunday when I met up with Sophia and Justin at the Horse Brass pub. They have an excellent beer selection but I held strong and chose an orange soda instead. I know that when I started drinking in college, I had a drinking problem. However, I don't really like to drink that much anymore but it has become routine for me to have a beer in the evening or drink socially with friends. I'm glad Blowpony's not this weekend because I would pretty much have to drink then.

Along with stopping a negative, I added a positive, or five pounds to be more specific. I increased my bench press rep weight again. I now bench 185 lbs. That's me and a baby! With doing 4 sets of 7 reps, that comes to 5180 lbs I lift whenever I go to the gym!

What else?
On Sunday, as I was biking over to Long Haus to work out, I had a revelation about my work. I can't go into it here but it made me realize that I have got to start getting some things in order. That was my new thing yesterday.

This week, Dexter took place in Kearney, NE. Crazy! If that wasn't enough, he mentioned going to Portland from Kearney!

it's the final countdown

Earlier this week, Portland's Mayor Sam Adams announced that people would have to evacuate the occupation by 12:01am on Sunday morning. While I am unsure about the exact intent of camping in a park, I agree with the general message of dissent and dissatisfaction with the current system. I also expected that there would be police violence. Why else would you evict someone in middle of the night? However, I didn't expect so much community support.

I don't want to write about the whole experience again as I have already posted a story about it here on Indymedia. I will however say that it was unbelievable. I spent all night downtown with a couple thousand people standing off against the cops until the sun came up. Absolutely surreal.

It wasn't easy. It was rainy and cold and I should have brought snacks. At around 2:30am, I was ready to go but instead I just took a break, got some food and cocoa, and went to the bathroom. I was able to last until dawn after that. Shortly after returning, I filmed this video:

After 6am, I hit my wall and had to go home. I was in the street for what would be an entire work day which also meant that I was also up for almost 24 hours. For the rest of today, I hung out at Long Haus, uploading my videos and pictures and writing the story.

discontent is the first necessity of progress

Yesterday, as I was biking to work, I realized that I had forgotten to register for classes...again. This school year has been hard for me to remember to register on time because for the past two years, I have had to register on Tuesdays, not Mondays. By the time I got to work and logged onto my computer, I saw that the classes I had originally wanted to take on Mental Health were all full. So I was screwed.

As soon as I discovered that I couldn't get into these classes, I wrote to the instructor who was teaching them. I took a class with her my first year and, although she's the only instructor to give me a B as a final grade so far, I still thought she would let me in. So, with that settled, I proceeded to have an awesome evening, doing all of my laundry, patching my clothes and sorting the garbage, recycling and mail. Then, at 10pm, I got an e-mail from the instructor, saying she couldn't add me.

My plan was to take as many classes on mental health as possible so I could graduate with a lot of knowledge about the topic and move to New Zealand in the near future where they have an excellent Mental Health program. Now all of that is shot to shit. I contemplated taking a quarter off but then I thought how work would deal with that. Then I thought, if I'm not going to school, maybe I should just look for my dream job: working with animals.

The Pixie Project is hiring for an animal care specialist/clerk. I don't have any professional experience but man do I want this job! I stayed up until 1AM adusting my resume and writing a cover letter. If I got this job, it would mean that I would have to postpone school indefinitely which I am fine with doing. I'm following my gut here which has almost always led me down the right pathways.

However, I am not putting all of my eggs in Pixie's basket. Today, I wrote to the counseling department at PSU to see if I could take a class on the medical aspects of disability. They said yes and signed the special register paperwork for me. Even though it's not a part of my plan, it is still wonderful that I get to take a class geared specifically towards disabilities.

What else?

On Sunday, I had the Cricket Scramble for the first time. It was wonderful. Later on, I met up with Andrew and I found my wallet in his couch while I looking for my hat which I have lost.

On Monday, I discovered how to filter out certain terms in e-mails at work. I filtered out "Santa" since my big boss is already pushing Secret Santa stuff on us. I then taught several of my co-workers how to do the same thing. I guess we're the Secret Scrooges.

Ashes and I ate at Homegrown Smoker today for lunch where I had the fake fish Fillet of Fu for the first time. I also picked up a new hat from Double Darn that was custom made for me. This time, it's dark brown with light pink stitching.

shonen knife!

Shonen Knife has got to be my favorite band to see live! They are so much fun that I went to Dante's tonight to so see them. Normally, I would never be in Dante's on a Saturday night for a punk show but I love this band. Last year, I didn't know who they were when I went to their show. Since then, I have got a lot of their CDs and listen to them a LOT. So this was special to see them, know their songs, and know that they were going to be awesome!

For Dante's, I was surprised by the crowd. There was a mix of young and old. I was definitely not the oldest person there. When the band started, they opened with Capybara which is a delightful song to pogo dance to. This led to continued dancing which meant a bunch of us were shoving each other and we danced together. After a couple songs, the dude directly in front of me stopped dancing suddenly, goes over to his girlfriend, motions at me and reaches over and shoves me. I just went on to enjoy the show. The dude later comes back to dance and ends up tossing a beer back which hits the four or five of us directly behind him. Props to the bouncer who then put the guy in a headlock and threw him out. Despite that, it was an awesome show!

What else?
Five of us went to A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas which was stupid fun and probably the best 3D I've seen. Right afterwards, we went to Horse's Brass where I had the veggie pasty for the first time.

After Shonen Knife, Jessica dropped me off at Mattachine, a dance party at Branx named after the Mattachine Society. John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig) was supposed to be DJ'ing but I didn't see him. I did see someone wearing a fur, complete with the animal's head and feet still attached. I was so disgusted that I left and walked home. Still, I maintain that it was a good night.

dog bones

Dean has been limping really bad for a few weeks now. This morning, I touched his right hind leg and he yelped so I figured he broke something. Initially, I thought it was just arthritis but since there was a definite tender spot, I thought maybe it would be treatable.

I took him to the vet and they decided that they wanted to X-ray him. They told me it could possibly be bone cancer which I really wasn't prepared to deal with. They showed me the X-ray so I got to see his bones which were actually in good shape. They said his hips look great which was a shock. Thankfully, it was just a partially torn ligament on his knee. The vet gave me some meds for him and told me to keep him on short walks for potty purposes only for the next two weeks. I also have to ice his knee daily which I did tonight for the first time. $333 later, I have a dog that's on his way to recovery. It's been depressing watching him limp around the house. Hopefully, this will make us both feel better.

he wants revenge

Today, I was eating with one of my clients G who threatens war in the hallway and tries to blow up things like Iron Man. Another client D who like High School Musical was sitting right behind G and getting more upset by the minute. D says that G annoys him with his loud voice but always chooses to sit near G. I told D he could move and I asked another staff member to encourage him to move to a different table but he refused. D also chose to stand next to D as we exited the cafeteria building to walk to their production building. As soon as G gets out the door, he yells "I'm invincible!" in reference to Wolverine. D promptly turns towards G and projectile vomits over G's walker and coat.

It wasn't really vomit but more like spit and food. However, D did make a vomiting noise. G understandably screams and runs across the street towards the production building. I hang back with D and ask if he was okay and he said yeah, he was mad at G. When we get to the building, I ask D to come into the office with me where I ask him if he was feeling sick or if he purposely spit on G. D said he wasn't sick and he spit on G because G makes him mad. I then told D that this was never acceptable behavior and he said he was sorry.

I stayed behind to tell his boss what happened and could hear G in the break room where he was yelling about getting thrown up on. When I went back to the break room, I saw that D was at his locker right around the corner from G, talking about how upset G makes him. G started to walk around the corner and D again turns to him, makes a vomiting noise and spits water in G's direction. Fortunately, G jumped back in time. I told D that he had to go to the bathroom and throw up properly if he was sick. D then screams that he hates G and is going to quit. He throws his nametag at G, misses, and storms off. D later runs across the production room and slams a fist into the breakaway sliding glass doors which breaks them open. A third client runs to him and screams, "What did you DO?!?" I'll tell you what he did. He gave me my favorite client story to date.