I never thought I'd quote Jennifer Aniston but here we go: "I always say don't make plans, make options." In writing this entry, I looked up quotes regarding 'plans' and that was the best one I came up with to describe how my day (or week) has gone.
I had a list of options today. I thought, "I could ride the springwater corridor far out or I could go see the new Harry Potter movie or I could go hang out downtown or I could go protest a Holocaust denier." In the end, I planned to go protest the Holocaust denier and then book it quick to the new Harry Potter. However, on the way, plans changed into no-longer options as I got a call from Ashes saying he broke his foot. Without hesitation, I headed back to take him to the hospital.
I don't want this to come off as sounding self-sacrificing. It was no big deal for me to change my plans, especially considering the weight of the problem. I just think that it's odd that this wasn't on my list of options today and suddenly became my highest priority. There'll be another opportunity to do any of the rest of my options (even protesting the Holocaust denier I'm sure) but I'm not going to bet on doing any of them. I'll just leave them open as options.
I love babies. I used to fear them but then my niece Hayleigh came along and now I gravitate towards them. So it's surprising that it wasn't until today that I attended my first baby shower. Actually, given Western society and it's basic idea that babies belong solely to women (even if they're not the mothers), maybe it's not so surprising. ALso, it was my first time to Babies R Us where the staff is way less than helpful, maybe it's because I'm a guy though...
I've really never felt assisted by the Oregon Technical Assistance Corporation, yet they're supposed to dictate how a large part of my job is done. In Febuary of 2007, they rolled out a new way to do our Individual Service Plans. The problem was, I started this job in January of 07 and was not familiar with the old way to the ISPs. So, without giving me a solid foundation on which to build this new knowledge that these people were supposed to be bestowing upon me in Feb 07, I was kind of at a loss and have been ever since.
However, my job is good at training and we've had a lot of new blood come into the staff lately so my boss thought it was time for a training specifically geared towards our job. She had a trainer from OTAC come and talk to us allllll day long. The trainer was awesome though (it didn't hurt that she was down at the OCF selling collapsale hula hoops either) and really made sense of it all. I feel like someone just snapped a whole lot of puzzle pieces together for me finally and now I can see what the picture is supposed to look like.
One of the reasons I had to get back today was I had to register for my MSW classes today at 8am and all my paperwork was at work. It's weird how it's all done online now. It's been 10 years since I last registered for any college courses so this was a new experience for me.
I had researched when the classes were offered, decided I would get them all done in one day and then researched professors. I have an in at PSU, the spouse of a co-worker went thru the same program and was able to warn me away from some of the instructors. So, in order to ensure that I could get the required classes at the times I wanted with the staff I wanted, I had to login right at 8am. At 7:58am, I remembered that I forgot my password.
Ack, luckily, I only flipped out for two minutes before I narrowed it down to what I must have used as a password based upon their password requirements and my own predictability. I ended up with exactly what I wanted. So it's all set. Whoo-hoo! I don't have to worry about it the rest of the summer!
Fortunately, the rain didn't decimate the roads enough for the city/state/wildlife agency to shut down the roads out of our campground, which was the rumor. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't all of the our problems.
It didn't rain today which made clean-up easier. A lot of vendors still had food too so I got to have Biscuits and Tantric Gravy for a dollar. Also, they still had barter fair, which is where many vendors that couldn't make it into fair due to regulations (like no imported stuff) and fair vendors who had other items sell their wares in the parking lot. It's called Barter Fair but apparently, they are more than willing to barter with money. Good thing too because I got some cute pants.
Packing up was bitter and sweet. I was sad to be leaving the comfort of the OCF but excited for the comfort of my bed. I would have to wait though as we lost a tire onthe interstate outside Albany. Well, I guess we didn't lose the whole tire. We kept the intertube. I've never seen a tire strip so strictly just around the tread. I've never changed a tire before but I managed to change one tonight three times. I'd say it was fun but I'd be lying. However, it didn't really suck either. It's just one of those things that happens...every year. Last year, my housemates broke down in the exact same spot.
When I came down for the fair last year, it was overwhelming. There was so much to look out and the path seemed so windy that I was certain I was missing things. Today, I got to accept that I absolutely was going to miss things and I had to be cool with that. Yesterday, even though the fair wasn't open, I know I was missing things because I was in line for a picture badge for 2 hours. Fortunately, my friend Michael (The Lord Humongous) was in line with me and we got in line behind Heather (H-bomb Deluxe) and Marco (General Mayhem), two performers from Vegas, mainly stilt walkers. Their group name is Great Heights.
As big as fair is, it was great that I ran into them today while I worked my first shift at the Community Village (Commie Village). They had on wonderful costumes and stayed in character (they were eight foot goats). They were the first people I really met at fair so I was glad to see them again. Plus, I realized that I saw them last year as well as I was looking at that post.
It was my first day of pre-fair today. A lot of people were setting up but there were a good amount of vendors already open. The fashion bug stung me and I had to buy something cute. I ended up with a cute belt with pouches. I'm really going to try to resist the need to buy shit though.
I also walked the fair at night. It's neat because you're in the woods and there are various booths lit up and performers out and about but it's not all lit up perfect and safe. It's dark with a bit of mystery and allure to it.
And we're off!
I'm so excited for this fair. I'm not sure what to expect and I'm trying not to expect anything so I won't be disappointed. It's not that I don't think the Oregon Country Fair will be fabulous but I don't want to go in with schedules and agendas. It's my vacation. I want to relax.
However, one expectation that I did have was that we would break down. Last year, Ashes and Victory's ride broke down and so did Balam's. We also had our trip to the coast with Bertha the RV so I was sure that a breakdown was imminent. Fortunately, it wasn't too bad. The Robo-Bee (the other bus in our caravan) wouldn't start after filling up with gas somewhere between here and fair. Luckily, a battery jump solved the problem.
Here's to hoping that all problems which may arise over the next several days can be solved so easily.
I went to college orientation this morning. It figures that it would fall on the day when I am on vacation from work and supposed to leave town shortly. I met a good number of people that are going into the same program. Suddenly, I feel just as prepared as anyone else. It's good because I was figuring they were all light-years ahead of me. Turns out, there were a good number of people with BA's in English there who later found social work as a calling. I guess it's good to know I'm in good standing but I guess I'm not so original after all.
Baking Raven's birthday cake has proudly become a tradition for me. I went with my vegan chocolate soy-less cake recipe and added a spectacular frosting and strawberries this year. I have to say that I think it is my finest.
Fortunately, it didn't come back up the rest of the day as I rode the rides at Oaks Park. I rode the damn roller coaster five times and now I can't sit down properly. I think it actually fractured my tail bone. I also rode the bumper cars twice, the Disk-o (which is the ride that hates your crotch), the topsy turvy ferris wheel and the Screaming Eagle which I should have known better than to do again. Overall, it was a good day. Plus Raven got Guitar Hero for the Wii so I got to play that for the first time. I learned that I can't actually sing "No Sleep Til Brooklyn". 
Wow, it's been a while since I've blogged. Life's been busy but the kind of busy it'd be if I didn't have a job; the good kind of busy. It was the fourth of July today and, since it's a Saturday, work gave me off Friday the third as well. Three day weekend!
I started off my mini-vacation with going to my first inter-continental futbol game last night. We did great and I saw the best goal ever, a header right in front to me. It was beautiful.
Today, I didn't do a lot at all and really accepted that I'm not going to feel bad about that. I need to get stuff ready for fair but it's a holiday so most of the stores are closed. It means I don't have to take care of anything today except watch fireworks.
We went down to the waterfront and came back and put on a good show for the neighborhood with some fireworks I've been holding onto for a while. Thanks mom and dad!
What's nice is I only have eight hours more of work within the next week before I start on my actual vacation. Then I'm packing up my bags and not looking back for a while.
I bought my bike six years ago in a pawn shop in Vancouver, WA. Since then, it's been in the shop (Seven Corners) several times but always in a reactive capacity. I had not done any preventative or general maintenance work on it. Since I was getting ready to go without it for a week at the Fair, I figured I could drop it off now and get it done. Also, people during Pedalpalooza were constantly saying that my bike sounded troubled.
I brought it in on Wednesday and Rick there told me several things that he could immediately spot as being a problem. I told him he could keep it a week to fix it up but I got a call today, saying it was done. Overall, I needed a few parts replaced and a lot of labor on it. It cost me $120 but when you figured that was for 6+ years of maintenance, I'd say I came out pretty good.
Anyway, the bike has never ever run this good. It's basically a brand new bike to me. I am once again in bike love.
I never thought I'd quote Jennifer Aniston but here we go: "I always say don't make plans, make options." In writing this entry, I looked up quotes regarding 'plans' and that was the best one I came up with to describe how my day (or week) has gone.
