Sitting

I've never been one for sitting still.  When need be, I can normally dig deep and do it, but this weekend has not be the best for me.  Rather then blood running though my veins I feel like there is carbonation.  I'm unsure and untrusting of everything.  I just want to keep moving, be around people, things, other moving objects.  

The Prince of Darkness

In college I dated a guy Ms. T fondly (not) named the prince of darkness. POD and I dated for about 2 years, off and on. Their was a period he went to study in Africa and then moved to NY for an internship after graduation. Anyway, he was a note leaver. Very romantic in hindsight but felt suffocating then. If he left the house before me he'd leave me a note by the bed. If I left before him, when I got home from classes I'd find a trail of notes on fall leaves. This wasn't an everyday thing, but probably once a week I would find a note (unless he was a bit depressed, then no notes).
What has brought all this up you might ask? Well it has to do with Shell Silverstine. I taught a lesson on rhyming rhythmical poetry at the Academy yesterday and pulled The Light In The Attic out of a box in my office. I don't know how long its been since I looked though it. But there admits the funny tales, was a POD note. It was dated 11/30/02. We had just finished Thanksgiving at my house, I would later fly out to Chicago for Christmas, a few days after him and even less days after his childhood dog died.
In the note he was thanking me for sharing Thanksgiving and "letting (him) see my life" and wishing me luck in the future as a teacher. "soon you will have your own classroom and they will be calling you Mrs. Urban."
I am not nostalgic for that relationship. We weren't right for each other, but I wish I appreciated the little things then, 'cause they don't happen as readily when you get older. I wonder if what I learned from that relationship stuck. What did I learn then that is "helping" me now?

Stumbled

I was scanning the am stations today looking for the world series (we can talk about that one later) when I found myself on a right wing radio station. The guy was claiming that Obama was going to Hawaii, during this crucial time in this political "tight race", not to visit his allying grandmother, but to avoid a scandal about a fake birth certificate. What? I'm sorry how could someone get 10 days away from the presidential vote, as the front runner, with a fake birth certificate! Really?! I mean, we now know how much "Alaskan" money Palin spent to fly her kids around, for something as obscure as seeing their father in a snowmobile race. We know how soon McCaine might dying and how much his skin cancer weighed, but Obama has been running for president for 18+ months with an invalid birth certificate. No way man! They wouldn't let that happen. He couldn't have gotten to senator let alone running for president!
Ugh, okay, so there was that to start. Then some BRAVE, yet stupid, man called in to tell the host he's full of shit. Oh yeah, that sent the crazy babbles off! The host started commenting about how "we" are brainwashed by colleges. "We" have no personal identity, no cultural identity, no national identity and all "we" can do is put a condom on a cucumber. "ah," he said, "they have no sexual identity either! They are no better then cucumbers."
I'm sorry what? Dude, go to college and learn to string together a thought so someone OTHER then your brainwashed right wing conservatives can understand what you're saying then MAYBE you'll actually be able to "convince" some college educated liberals you have a valid point. Oh, but I guess that means you'd have to have a valid point to start with. Foraged birth certificate, really? REALLY? That's all you can come up with when your guy is losing and there are only 10 days left to go.
After that 3+ minutes I changed the channel.

Not what I normally talk about 2

Economics.  

I think I took an economics class in high school.... something about a consumer index and something about... i don't know... i don't think i did well.  Anyway, the US economy here is in the shit.  We've been here before and will most likely be here again, but being Americans all we think about is the right now.  And, right now it sucks.  

Yesterday I was at a birthday brunch of a friend.  I am not very close to her friends but we've been friends for quite sometime now.  Anyway, the economy came up.  Someone mentioned that Iceland is bankrupt.  Another person mentioned that due to the crap sales, the girl who works for William and Sonoma mentioned that sales in September were down 6.6% (normally a 3% drop is big), there will be more sales.  Here is a direct quote from someone's mouth, "Sucks for Iceland. Do you think Loui Viton will have a sale?" 

Granted, these ladies don't have 401Ks or most of them don't and I'm sure they don't have a personal stock portfolio, and only one owns a house, so the 2000+ drop the market took over the past week won't personally "affect" them.  But dear god.... I guess if they are putting their money back into the market, sale or not, it's a step in the right directions.  Want to buy me a bag? Or rather should I stand on a street corner with a sign that says: My personal net worth just dropped 25%, care to give me a Starbucks Gift Card?

I Normally Don't Talk About This

I tend to keep my blog light.  Mostly the contents is the happenings of my mundane life.  Quite frequently I forget that people actually read my blog so talking about "real" topics isn't something I do.  But recently I have felt the need.  Between the pre-election/post debates political world and the quickly crumbling finical world, there isn't much else on my mind.   But for now I'll stick to one topic.

Tuesday, I had my first conversation with someone who is not a lefty.  It started by me casually over hearing a conversation between my trainer (male) at the gym and one of the owners (female).  Something along the lines of, "Yeah, so he said (some client of the owner) I like her 'cause of her soccer mom mentality.  I'm not a soccer mom so why that applies.  I mean 'what's her name' would like her if that was the case. I think she's tough" 

Now I wasn't quite sure who the "she" was.  I mean they were talking politics and Hilary is out so the only "she" in politics is Palin... and who uses the word 'like' and 'Palin' in the same sentence unless it says something about killing wolfs from a helicopter. 

"I'm sorry," I said, "Did you say you like Palin?" I was aghast.  Here is, as Ma calls her, a betrayer, a women who stands for nothing women in a modern sense.  I mean have we even seen her wear pants!  If you felt Hilary was to "male" and "masculine" then how can you call Palin feminine?  You put lipstick on a bulldog and it's still a bulldog.  It will still bite you with her lock jaw and rip you to shreds! Really, I don't want anyone to rip me to shred, ESPECIALLY someone who fired her former brother-in-law just because he "broke her sister's heart". Especially, someone who thinks even if you're raped or you might die if you give birth, you have to have the baby.  Especially someone who says abstinence is the only way to teach kids about sex while her underage daughter is going to give birth. Someone who says gays have no rights, they made the choice to be gay, that's their choice and have to face the "hardships" that come with that, but is willing to FORCE her daughter to marry so guy who she knocked boots with about 6 months ago. OH MY GOD I can't stand blatant blindsided stupidity.  

Anyway, so I haven't dealt much with "the other side".  My group of friends and family, we're all standing at the same point... which is "um, Palin really... that's your choice!?"  So here is this women, the gym owner, one who I thought was right minded, thinking Palin is what this country needs.  Right. We need her in the same way we need more bull dogs in the world.  Hearing this took me so far off my rocker that I couldn't even argue.  I brought up the abortion, the teaching the abstinence, her complete utter lack of experience (really, McCain can you spend the first two month of your campaign claiming Obama doesn't have enough experience to be president and then find, not just a rookie, but almost someone at the high school level of politics as your running mate).  So I mentioned what little I really know and what's funny is I probably know more about Palin then I do about anyone else in this election.  I had nothing to dispute their claims on Obama.  I really don't know. I like how he speaks, I like the idea of change.  I don't relate to the basics of the republican politics. I'm ashamed to admit that what I know has come from three main sources: my friends, The Daily Show, and SNL and the last only slightly (I really just like how well Tina Fay plays Palin).  What is also sad, is this is what it is like for most of my generation.  There are the active few, maybe more then in the generation before me, but still... We don't trust FOX news, or CNN or CNBC or any other "news" source.  We don't want to sit through the negatives of the world.  We want to see puppies and laugh at how stupid the political world is.  We need our news to be entertainment.  Oh shit, i said I'd only bring up one "real" topic.  I've digressed.  What I learned from Tuesday? Oh god, there are McCain/Palin people out there... I should be very afraid!

Fall Is Here

I show up at school today and this is what it looked like.  The beautiful tree with it's changing leaves.  I love fall.  I love the east bay crisp foggy mornings that lead to warm almost hot days.  That distinct fall smell; 1 part fire place smoke, 1 part rotting leaves, 1 part crisp.  I love fall and spring.  The seasons that mean change is coming.  They are the seasons of change.  Winter isn't change, it's cold.  Summer is just hot and for me busy, but fall is a change.  The horse show season is coming to an end.  I can pull out my sweaters but still wear flip flops.  

It does have its down sides.  It's much harder to get out of bed in the morning as it gets darker and darker.  I accumulate sweaters and jackets in my car almost as if i'm homeless with a closet or 7 to put them in.  But to see the leaves change... nothing can demising the joy i feel in that.  

My New Art

I'm not sure if it's "art" but that's another discussion.  It's a wall decal, fancy word for sticker.  

This Weekend

Despite the funny pictures of my Dad on a motorcycle, it wasn't the strongest weekend.  It might seem like the adjective, strongest, isn't a natural choice for describing a weekend.  Well, maybe with some description the word choice will make sense.

I had my first horse show in almost two months this weekend.  Since that show, Pebble back in July, I've jumped very little.  Well, that's not true.  I've jumped but not big.  Over these two months I can only think of 3 times where I've jumped over 3'3".  

With all of this, I think rusty might be an understatement for how I rode.  

Thursday Stella was wild.  Friday I was so off I couldn't find my nose on my face, let alone a distance to a jump. Saturday I just bumped down to the lower division, 10cm, and found some mojo back.  Later that day, I got to jump over my normal height, 1.30 meters, and though I wasn't stellar, held my own considering the disaster of the day before. 

Am I back to my old self in terms of my riding, no.  Can I be? yes, soon hopefully.  Until then I guess I practice. 

Apple Jack's Day with Dad

We're working on doing some last minute fixes on my house before my house warming.  Apple Jacks and I were having some trouble with the big slider, to the point we called re-enforcements, Dad.  

Once Dad came down, we all realized there were some parts that needed to be picked up from the hardware store.  What a great opportunity for Apple Jacks to take Dad on his motorcycle!

Dad's fist is in the air.  He made it back alive!

"How do I get this off?!"

Oh, yes, my dad, Mr. Tough Guy

Here they are, after the parts have been retrieved, using cooking spray and the drill, trying to get a new hole in the frame of the sliding door. At least Apple Jacks gets to use his Dremal Tool!

Fishing the Lower Sac

Dad, Tao, Ian, and I got in the car in the darkness of 6am to head up to Redding to go fishing.  It turned out to a be a beautiful day to be on the river, high 70's low 80's light breeze.  It was just the four of us in two boats each with a guide, Me and Dad with the main guide, and Tao and Ian with Chris.  Right off the bat i caught a fish, a rare thing to happen so quickly.  It was a fat sucker fish, but still a fish that made it all the way to the boat.  The day continued and Dad kept losing his fish before he could reel them into the boat.  

The highlight of the day was when I caught a Steelhead.  It took me 10-15 min to reel it in.  It kept running and fighting.  This was the first time I caught a fish with fight like this.  When I finally got it to the boat we had floated quite a bit away for Tao and Ian's boat and Ian was the only one with a camera, so he has to long distance shot of me landing this 7 pound fish.  

This is what it looked like, a bit brighter, and head a bit uglier.  But it was a big fish.  I'm use to landing maybe a 12ft rainbow this was twice as big and weight at least 3 times as much.  It was cool.

In the front yard this morning

Here is the whole family, Dad, Mom and Baby.  

Don't diss the picture quality, it's though a window with a flash.

The Arcade

Last night a small group of friends and I wen to an arcade.  They were very excited to play "Hyperbowl",  bowling game where you spin a suspended bowling ball though a "course" to hit the pins.  We stupidly picked the expert level, Tokyo. We had to get our ball though a Tokyo street. We did have the advantage that the street was straight, but we had the disadvantage of maneuvering around cars, buses, and motorcycles.  There was also a time limit to get to the pins.  

The true challenge was that you had to smack the ball around to get it to roll along the course.  As Apple Jacks said after he bowled only about half his frames, "I feel like I've been clapping nonstop at a concert." 

But he got his revenge.  He got Ms. J and I on a horse racing game.  That wasn't the sneaky part.  He some how got us to pick the longest distance around the track.  To say it was exhausting is an understatement.  Ms. J and I were humping and bumping and rocking these "horses" back and forth for maybe 90 seconds, but it felt like 5 min. We were both out of breath and Ms. Jen even felt like she was going to vomit from the  exertion. She did beat me, but in my defense, its nothing like riding a real horse.  All is all, between bowling and the horse racing, it was quite a work out.

Some More PIcs for Ms. E's wedding

Here we are.  My first close friend to get married. I'm so so so very happy for her!

 

Someone had to fluff the dress properly

Apple Jacks dancing with Bella, a daughter of Ms. E's best friend

My speech... it was a little nerve racking but it went well

OMG I read an Oprah article

Apple Jacks and I have recently moved in together.  It's been a bit hard 'cause my roommate is still here.  Wouldn't be a problem if a) my roommate didn't have TONS of stuff b) Apple Jacks "liked" him (not that Apple Jacks likes anyone really but still) c) this dislike didn't completely make me feel the same way and cause every little thing that my roommate does to drive me nuts d) it meant one of these two boys, yes boys, picked up after themselves, dish into the dishwasher... really is it that hard?!  Just a few more days and the roommate is out! 

Anyway, I was of facebook and one of the ads on the side said something like "a boyfriend test".  (yes at times I am that person.  Oh, a test on what movie star I look like.  What type of mythical creature would I be? ) It lead me not to the desired test but to a female bonding site (no NOT bondage).  Blogs about being pregnant and "my kids messes" and stuff.  Well, there was a thing about moving with your significant other.  It was a little video of this women who had moved from Kentucky to live with her boyfriend.  She had the whole twang and everything.  This is what did it.  At the bottom is said, "read more" and I clicked it.  It lead me to THE OPRAH WEBSITE! 

I am not an Oprah person.  Hell, i have trouble spelling her name.  The most time I've spent with an O magazine was when I had to rip pages out for a writing assignment during my student teaching.  I've seen the Tom Cruse jumping on the couch thing on YouTube or The Soup but never really watched it live.  Dear god, please don't ever let me find the oprah website again... next it will be Good Housekeeping or something! AHHHHHH!!!!!

Emily's Wedding

Emily and Steve doing the deed! Happy Couple!

Apple Jacks and I before we try to drive though the storm coming across the lake.  It was a doozy!

I got my hair done

And this time I like it!

Breath Easy

Today is the first day I can breath easy.  The sky is blue.  Now, I don't live in LA or anything.  Northern Cali, but the smoke smog from all the wildfires has been so bad over the past few weeks we've had several spare the air days, flights were delays due to lack of visibility, they have had warnings not to go outside, and the sunlight has been orange.  But today, after about an hour of watching Willie sit in the sun and romp on the lawn, i noticed something different.  Something different yet normal.  The sky is blue today.  The sunlight is sparkling clean. 

This doesn't mean the wildfires are contained in any way.  The two biggest that are near by, out of the 300 still burning, were around 60% contained last night. This is all good new.  Up north the weather has been cooler and the winds quite, which will help the hard working fire crews.  But we're not in the clear year.  In CA the fire season is normally fall.  After the long hot summer has dried everything out.  But this year, despite the flooding, we didn't get a lot of rain and now we're are having a VERY early fire season.  If we're living in an inferno now... what's it going to be like in October when we normally have fire season?

Pictures from Spruce

Here are all my pictures from Spruce Meadows.

Spruce Meadows Skyliner

This week at Spruce was the Prix de Nations.  I was riding for the NorCal team.  There are four members on the team but we were one short so we adopted a SoCal person for the day. It was a good thing too 'cause she was one of the top riders for our team.  The top four teams come back, do the course again, then jump off. 

Walking the course for the 1.30 meter Prix de Nation in Spruce Meadows Meadows on the Green felt intimidating, yet exhilarating.  The first jump was a yellow triple bar.  After two more fences making you do a U-turn you came upon this red triple combination made up of rails with white horizontal stripes that looked like a sea of rails.  Then you jumped a white wall that was so bright it you needed sun glasses.  If that didn't seem like enough optical illusions there was a green and yellow one stride with green boxes set on the outside under the first element and then green boxes set together in the middle in the second element. You couldn't tell where the bottom was. 

There were 17 teams on at the 1.30 level. I went 11th, being the lead rider for the team. I had two rails, but considering the first rider stopped out, meaning she was eliminated and the second rider had 3 rails and no one had gone clean, I was still proud.  The other members of my team did okay.  One girl stopped out herself, but the other two, the SoCal one included, went clean.  With the eliminated score dropped we had 8 faults.  

The exciting part was waiting for the scores. Each team would go and we would count up their totals.  Until the bitter end were in the top four.  I ran back to the barn to pull a sleeping Stella out of her stall to get up to the ring.   As Stella and I walk up to the ring I see Lindsay holding a 6th place ribbon.  We just missed the final 4. As I walk back to the barn the adrenaline leaves my body.  After counting faults and cheering and watching with baited breath and waiting, I wonder if I had it in me, if we, if the team could go and do it all again.  If we did, would we be able to fix out mistakes without losing the challenging parts we did so well?

Here we are, the whole NorCal team. All the teams, meter 1.10, 1.20 and 1.30 placed in the top 6 teams. Go Girls! These are our sponsor jackets.  We got jackets, hunt coats, hats, tank tops, saddle pads, and ear covers for the horses.  Thanks, it was a good time had by all!

Here's where you can see some pictures from the first week. 

Why I Work For Myself

I have just gotten back from a meeting for the tutoring company I work for.  It all came about because I wanted to know what format we were going to used to tutor this summer, because I've heard several different things from several different people. The meeting started at 1pm with two center directors, two educational directors, the owner and myself.  

The meeting ended at 3pm.  What did we accomplish? Nothing.  I have been told the same stuff I knew.  I have a slightly better idea about what the end goal is, but not clue how to get there.  The owner wants SO much he can't put his finger on what needs to get done now.  None of the center directors know much or do much for the tutoring program we were meeting about.  The educational directors write lessons, but they don't ever teach them.  I am the only one who writes lessons and teaches them.  They also pointed out that I'm also the only person who teaches my lessons.  There for, they might be a bit too focused for my teaching style.  

I don't know.  It all felt like a waste of time.  I felt like I was the only one organized and with an idea of what I wanted from the program.  AHHHHH!!!!! doesn't everyone one know my way is best... god!