veiled exuberance

none shall pass.

i just finished reading The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson.  it was really good.  a. at work was telling me her thoughts about it - how it was somewhat predictable - but i thought that, although the subject has been explored in many ways before, it's still a very compelling story.  jenna fox is in a terrible accident which leaves her body destroyed, uninhabitable.  her father (fortunately or unfortunately) is the head of a company that makes Bio Gel, a substance which he is able to use in the recreation of his daughter.  they save 10% of her brain - all that remains of her - and scan it and find a way to keep it viable and "spinning" (conscious, but floating - like being in a coma) until the body is ready for her.  when she wakes she can't remember much about what happened, or about who she is, but as she begins remembering...  it's very, very illegal to do what jenna's parents have done for her, and now they have to hide her from the rest of the world.

this was really beautiful, almost lyrical and it makes you examine a lot of hard questions - what does it mean to be human, to what lengths would you go to save someone you loved, can one's essence be captured in a brain scan?  :)  even though a second chance at life is not something jenna is sure she would have chosen for herself, she finds that this opportunity is also precious, and through her new experiences she's able to see the world (and her place in it) in a whole new way.  it's like by dying she's reborn into someone who finds a purpose.  i'm not sure if she'd have found it in her previous life if the accident had never happened.  it's interesting to think about, though. 

i complain a lot to people about how many books for teens and children make the mistake of...just laying out the bones of a story without bothering to hang anything meaningful (or meaty) on them.  good ideas that aren't quite brought to fruition.  but this story felt very complete to me, and very satisfying.  and, like the mark of many a great read, i really didn't want it to end.  and it wasn't because i was disappointed in its execution, it's because i wanted to know more about jenna, about what her life is.  (and, yes, there's an epilogue, so you *will* actually find out, if you should read it!)

i love the last few lines...

"The birds are immediately on our arms and hands.  A dozen or more.  And each so light.  A few ounces at most.  They take up only a handful of space, and yet their touch fills me in immeasurable ways.  A few miraculous ounces that leave me in awe.  And today, like each time they have landed on my hand for the past two hundred years, I wonder at the weight of a sparrow."  (pp. 264-265)

i, too, wonder at the weight of a sparrow. 

posted by: juuitsu at May 31, 2008 09:57 | link | comments (3) |

hot and humid today and my armpits are blue from my shirt.  that's...sexy. 

i just have a random jumble of thoughts before i go to bed.

pretty cranky today.  i got up too early, but couldn't get back to sleep, and then there were memorial day festivities on the square - which also made it hard to sleep.  o and i were supposed to do things and he was sleeping and sleeping and sleeping and i was ready to do the things already and hoping that he'd end up being the one who had to make the drive.  no such luck.  i had a bit of a struggle overcoming my irritation about that.  i really didn't want to drive either.  but, i'd have been...sad, i guess, if i didn't get to see him.  or possibly sad and annoyed and disappointed.  all three are bad.  i guess it's the wanting that's the problem. =/

o's been thinking about the measure of his life.  i couldn't figure out whether he was personally disappointed with himself thus far or if it was more that he didn't measure up to those societal/cultural benchmarks.  he wasn't particularly motivated to...do anything, i guess, about whatever it was.  we decided maybe it was a bit of a mid-life crisis.  "what about you?" he asked.

what about me?  i could make this long or short.  i gave o the short version.  i'm mostly happy.  and i don't spend a lot of time thinking about the stuff that makes me unhappy.  at least, not right now.  it makes me a bad Heideggerian to not be constantly examining my innards.  i guess there's been precious little time for navel-gazing, and i've been ok enough that it hasn't mattered too much.

there's that pixies' song i like, "Head On" (which wikipedia informs me was originally a Jesus and Mary Chain song), that goes like this:

 As soon as I get my head round you
  I come around catching sparks of you
  I get a little electric charge from you
  A second hand living, it just won't do

  And the way I feel tonight
  I could die and I wouldn't mind
  And there's something going on inside

  Makes you wanna feel
  Makes you wanna try
  Makes you blow the stars from the sky

  And I can't stand up I can't cool down
  I can't get my head off the ground

  As soon as I get my head round you
  I come around catching sparks of you

  And all I ever got from you
  Was all I ever took from you

  And the world could die in pain
  And I wouldn't feel no shame
  And there's nothing holding me to blame

  Makes you wanna feel
  Makes you wanna try
  Makes you blow the stars from the sky
  And I'm taking myself to the dirty part of town
  Where all my troubles can be found
  I said yeah, yeah, yeah

  I'm taking myself to the dirty part of town
  Where all my troubles can be found
  Makes you wanna feel
  Makes you wanna blow the stars from the sky

specifically, "and the way i feel tonight, i could die and i wouldn't mind..."  not because i'm depressed, but because i'm mostly satisfied.  there isn't some Great Thing waiting in the wings for me that i'm needing to accomplish.  i don't have a heap of regrets to address or wrongs to right.  i'm pretty ok with who i am.  granted, this isn't always the case.  there are plenty of little niggling doubts and things that i could (and do) work on, and there are still places i want to go, things i'd like to do...  i still have work to do.  i still have abiding interests.  i'm still excited about learning stuff.  my day-to-day existence hasn't managed to suck my desire to live out of me.  oh, goody!

my profile on okc starts out like this: "sometimes i want to change everything."  this doesn't go away.  i think even in the midst of great change, i still want to change everything.  i was all set to do that earlier this spring.  i was going to get a new job, find a new place to live - move my whole life, basically, for a chance to try something new.  the job part wasn't right.  so, it's not that i'm complacent or entrenched or what? stuck?  i'm just considering my options/opportunities. 

i'm a little...uncomfortable with the idea that maybe i'm part of o's complacency.  not responsible for it so much as part of all of the stuff that's too easy/comfortable/whatever. 

as for wondering "isn't there more to life?"  i just feel like i'm repeating myself ad nauseum whenever i bring it up.  i mean, haven't i already said a bunch of times that i feel like this business of being a "grown-up" was a big scam?  i don't think any of us would have grown up if we knew what was actually in store for us.  i wish that we all lived more intentionally - i think that's the best summary i'm going to get out of me tonight.  :)  the things that bother me about *my* life might be alleviated by a radical overthrow of the system that's in place right now.  but that's so much larger than just me and my happiness.  i'm not sure it's achievable in my lifetime or achievable at all.  i guess if i had a better plan and more chutzpah, i'd make a list of everything that i want to do (and/or want to do differently), and make a concentrated effort to live that way.  actually, it's not a bad idea.

posted by: juuitsu at May 26, 2008 22:54 | link | comments (4) |

if i dream about work, can i take comp time?

so, last night i dreamt that the referendum had passed and we were building a new building and, in fact, the building had already been built.  i'd been away for some reason, and when i came back, the new building was nearly finished and s. was giving me a tour of the environs.  after we'd seen some of the other spaces, he led me back to the teen area.  as we got closer, s. turned toward me and said, "now, don't freak out..."  and then he proceeded to tell me that it wasn't quite what we'd talked about.  *we* being me and the administration.  in fact, it wasn't ANYTHING like what we'd talked about.  it was like they'd taken exactly the opposite of everything i'd said and used it against me.  i lost nearly all of my book shelves.  "where the hell am i supposed to put my books?" i screamed at s.  they'd installed multiple magazine racks, and shelving for cds.  and while i'm not opposed to having this stuff in my teen area, i don't think it should come at the expense of 3/4 of my book collection.  those were mostly NEW books!  i was so frustrated i sat down on the new stage (which was pretty cool) and cried.  a bunch of teens crept back into the new area and tried to comfort me.  we talked about all of the cool events we could have - now that there was space for cool events (even if there wasn't space for an actual collection).  i tried to be consoled.  really.  but then i noticed how the library backed up against a warehouse.  and the kids noticed, too.  and at about that time cartons of ice cream and cans of pop began pouring out of the warehouse and into the teen area like someone had broken a dam.  everyone was screaming and running around.  and i couldn't tell if they were panicking or rejoicing - hey free pop!  we restacked the ice cream cartons and i let the kids drink all the pop - with the provision that they then recycle their cans.  s. held up a large plastic trash bag and each of the teens dutifully deposited their empties there.  we closed up and i felt extremely satisfied because we'd reinforced a recycling behavior.  maybe the world won't suck so much in the future, i thought, as i left. 

posted by: juuitsu at May 20, 2008 22:44 | link | comments (4) |

all things point to mcsweeny's...

i'm trying to distract myself a bit from the inevitable anxiety i feel when i have to talk to large groups of people.  it's hard not to fret about it.  i came home from work a bit early today and planted all of the plants i got on sunday when i was out with monkeybaby.  lots of flowers in many, many pots (i have no yard, after all), and i'm going to try growing lettuce and spinach (from seed), and tomatoes (one tomato plant so far).  i hope the cat downstairs doesn't take to laying in my plants again...especially not while my lettuces and spinaches are germinating. 

sunday - i realized as i was leaving the house that there was a big to-do going on in the square, and that it wasn't going to be over until after 5.  and that i wasn't going to be able to find a parking space anywhere near my building if i gave mine up.  so be it, i thought, as i pulled out in front of the 4 cars that had queued up for it.  i'll come home late.  i managed to stay out all day, what with the lunching and the shopping and the helping out in monkeybaby's garden.  we weeded her garden, planted her plants, and i trimmed the hell out of this bush growing by the side of her house.  it was Very Satisfying.  her husband made us all dinner and then i came home around 8.  too dark, too cold to plant.  i did carry all of my plants up to my apartment, and the 100lbs or so of dirt i bought.  it took something like 6 trips to get everything out of my car.  bleh.

i spent monday and tuesday at work finishing up the presentation i'm giving to the middle school kids.  more time was spent on making the pretty slides than on actually practicing the talking, so this could be *very* interesting.  i may just announce to the first classes that they're going to be my guinea pigs in this experiment we call "juuitsu gives a talk."  then they can all practice making guinea pig noises. 

because i'm all nervous, i'm not sleeping particularly well.  there's the problem of actually making myself go to bed at a decent hour and then there's the problem of actually sleeping once i'm there, and then there's getting up again.  i just don't want to.  s. at work said i looked tired today.  i regaled him with the story of how i stayed up waaay past my bedtime last night playing on the wii.  whee. 

oh, plus there's this thing with my contacts either getting dried out during the day, or my eyes being extra gunky and the gunk getting stuck under the lenses (yuck).  they get all smeary and hard to see through - this never used to happen before when i wore contacts.  maybe i need to be bringing a bottle of solution with me so i can clean them out?  it's really annoying.  i finally went into the bathroom and rinsed them with some water at the sink.  that helped some. 

saturday - i went for a long ass bike ride (appropriate, as my ass was none too happy with me afterward, but it's hardening up, or something - getting accustomed to the seat and the mileage - and i was more comfortable than i'd been on some earlier rides).  i had texted oberon a few times to sound him out on my biking together plans - he seemed somewhat less than excited about the prospect.  so i went by myself.  a few hours later, i find out that he's willing to go - this, after i've already put in 20 miles.  ok.  that's good.  i figure he won't want to do much more.  we end up going another 10.  i don't even hurt the next day.  that's a good sign, right?  actually, my should hurts more from the wii sports boxing game than my butt does from biking so much.

posted by: juuitsu at May 20, 2008 22:25 | link | comments (2) |

my mother decided to throw a garage sale this weekend.  she's been preparing for it all week. she tried (in vain) to enlist the help of other family members, but we are all hip to her schemes after 30-something years of being subjected to them. she was only able to get *new* friends to participate in the madness. my father remained safely within the confines of the house (never daring to poke his nose out, lest some fanatic sales shopper accost him re: The Very Fine China That Once Belonged To My Grandmother). my brother took off to play games with his friends on Friday, then spent Saturday and Sunday entrenched in the basement - only emerging to use the facilities. i stayed far, far away from all of the action. mom was undeterred. on Thursday night she slept out in the car, because it was "too much work" to pack things up into the garage for the night (her sale seems to have extended well down the driveway). and she didn't want to be in the car alone, so she dragged the dog out there with her. they were both extremely uncomfortable. at 2am, mom relented a little - she went inside for more blankets AND the dog's bed. dog now somewhat more comfortable, but probably still wondering why the heck they are sleeping in the car when there is a Perfectly Good House RIGHT over there. k. whatever. morning finally breaks and dog is allowed back into the house. mom has several cups of coffee to prepare for The Big Day. and so it goes. i think mom's friends were able to convince her to pack it in the next two nights, so there were no repeat sleepings in the car (thank goodness). i called to see how things were going and was treated to a very strange story that i've still not figured out - something involving parking the car at the end of the driveway so that people would think that mom was a shopper who had just arrived at the best and most exciting garage sale EVER.  and here's where it gets weird - she said she left a pile of underwear on the front seat?? why? i asked, Would you do that? i'm not sure i understand what followed. Something about showing how much of a rush she was in - but that the sale was just too good to pass up and she'd deliberately adjusted her routine to be able to shop there. if you all have any suggestions on how to interpret the pile of underwear in the front seat comment, i'm open.

after i get off the phone with mom i start thinking.  omigod, i'm related by BLOOD to this woman. when is *my* insanity going to start showing up? has it already? is there any hope? no. probably not. better have some more chocolate.

posted by: juuitsu at May 20, 2008 21:48 | link | comments (4) |

school visits
make me anxious

i will
talktoofastandallmywordswillruntogetherlikethis
and i will repeat myself
unnecessarily

maybe

because i did while i was practicing
tonight

and the only thing that helps
is getting them over with

after which i will say
'that wasn't so bad'
until the next time i have to do them

and the whole thing
will start
again

posted by: juuitsu at May 20, 2008 21:40 | link | comments (2) |

i had a really scary moment when i pulled into the city parking lot after work today.  i got distracted by something, i'm not sure what, and next thing i knew, i wasn't braking like i thought, i was speeding up RIGHT over the curb and into the bushes.  these are the sorts of stupid things i have nightmares about - where i just can't control what i'm doing and i'm powerless to stop it.  so, i think the bushes and i were both badly shaken by the experience, but i managed to stop the car, pull it into reverse and back off the shrubbery without further incident.  some leaves were lost in the process.  i'm mostly concerned about my mental state - what the hell was i thinking/doing?  good thing i parked AWAY from the other vehicles.  and no one heard me yell, "what the fuck are you DOING, juuitsu?"  must be the audiobook i'm listening to - the reader was describing berserkers.  and i, obviously, was going berserk!   what a goofy word.  berserkberserkberserkberserk.

posted by: juuitsu at May 12, 2008 21:32 | link | comments (4) |

i am so tired it's stupid.  and i'm stupid because of it.  it's hit me just now - HARD - probably because i'm thinking i should go for a walk.  and really, i just want to lay down and die.  i mean REST.  but it will be a lot like death, because i won't move for a really really really long time.  mmph.

maybe if i keep typing this i'll eventually convince myself that it's too, um, late to go out.  too DARK.  it's already dark.  this is not encouraging me.  ok.  i will just go tomorrow.  tomorrow is going to suck.  i have so many things to do and they've scheduled a big ass meeting right in the middle of my day.  and then i get to be on the reference desk.  gah.  *cranky squinty eyes*  just leave me ALONE so i can actually get some work done!  and stop CHANGING things.  thanks.  and by things, i mean just the dates of things.  they can change the hell out of other stuff and i don't care. 

something caught my eye while i was glancing at my homescreen on a certain website - this guy's list of things he wants in a woman.  i am full of scoff.  scoffFul (with three fs for emfasis).  so, without further adieu, but WITH commentary, here they are:

1. a kind heart.
[so i can rip it, still beating, out of her chest, and eat it.  it should be warm as well as kind.]

2. a gentle disposition.
[are you looking for a woman or for a dog?  are there women with gentle dispositions?  if so, i don't know them.  i like my women feisty.]

3. old fashion values [sic].
[yeah, uhhh...because if she's got current fashion values, well, she's just a hussy and i want nothing to do with her.]

4. good sense of humor.
[this is something everyone says they want or claims to have, but i think unless you give some kind of example of your particular *style* of humor it's not particularly useful.]

5. good looks.
[because most people say 'i want a woman who's ugly as SIN.  srsly.']

6. a decent figure.
[does that not go along with good looks?  this list is dumb, and reiterative.  i hate it.  or is this referring to her earning capacity?  because he intends to sit at home on his ASS sighing over her kind heart and gentle disposition and old fashion values.]

7. intelligence
[well, just wait until you see number eight.  those intelligent women are going to move right along.]

8. affectonite
[i'm only guessing, but i believe this is related to kryptonite - it's very, VERY dangerous.  you don't want this guy handling your affectonite.  if you have it.]

9. be 23-35, lol that last one will change as time goes on.
[if that's an example of the 'humor' you mentioned above...]

posted by: juuitsu at May 12, 2008 20:37 | link | comments (4) |

o. texted me to tell me that he'd gotten some pictures of baby kildeer (PEEP!) and that they were running away from him (as he tried to take their photographs (i only want to make you famous!)) and falling on their beaks.  poor deers.  they are just fluffy bits of birds at this point, i'm guessing.  he hasn't posted the pictures or the video yet.  *hint hint*  anyway.  we had kildeer nesting in the library parking lot last spring.  it was a really bad place to build a nest - too much car traffic, too much people traffic, and then they did landscaping on the nest site.  one of our more concerned employees moved the kildeers' nest when the landscapers came, but the birds were distressed and agitated and eventually abandoned it.  it was a very sad thing.  the guy who moved the nest and the mama (or papa, i suppose) kildeer were really distraught.  the kildeer would regularly do their broken wing dance for us - "oh, i am an injured bird, follow me awaaaay from my nest!"  it was pretty neat.  here is one of the birds rearing up off the nest, ready to lead me away (to my doom!).

posted by: juuitsu at May 09, 2008 12:49 | link | comments (3) |

some photos from hawaii!


this was growing in the botanic gardens that we visited.  it has these little plantlings shooting up from inside the...petals?  i'm not sure what parts of this plant are leaves and what are flowers.  anyway, it's bizarre.


this is another alien flower (hawaii seems to be full of them).  although you can't tell because there's no reference point, this flower was taller than me, and it's leaves towered above both of us.  if you pick something like that, what kind of vase do you put it in?  supah-size me, behbeh.


this tree-lined drive was buried in the midst of the botanic gardens.  i wanted to explore it, but dad's feet were all messed up after our death march the day before, so i snapped this picture instead.  i'm sure there were horrible, um, flying insects back there.  you can see the sun reflecting off their large compound eyes.  just agree with me, ok?


the ferns *will* inherit the earth, you know.  after the horrible flying insects.  this fiddlehead was enormous.  as was the fern it was shooting up out of.  they are bizarre in general.  life cycles are bizarre.  i'd be more specific, but it would require referring to a plant biology textbook that lives with my parents.  i suppose there's always wikipedia (and/or more scholarly sites/information available), but i think we've already established that i'm not terribly motivated.  the kids in the photography club had no idea what this was. 


this is downtown hilo - all the way down and past the town bits (which are behind us).  i like how it came out.  it started raining a little while later.  i walked along the beach last time i was in hilo.  this time, mom informed me that back in the day (when she was a little girl), they used to dump raw sewage into the bay.  so people don't swim there.  oh. good.  i wish i'd known that beforehand.  not that i swam there, but i did put my feet in last time.  ewwwww.


this is in kona (kailua kona) on the other side of the big island.  we didn't go swimming at all while we were in hawaii.  i know that's hard to believe.  many of the beaches look like this, though - not sandy so much as lava rocky and ouchy if you fally-downy.  we were on a public walkway down by the ocean, but around and behind us were all of these very exclusive resorts - the kind you book into for the duration of your hawaiian vacation and never leave.  i find that shocking. 


we were up on a hill when i took this.  the hill is all green and treed/forested, but the landscape around it was obviously flattened and destroyed by the lava flow.  hawaii is full of these kinds of contradictions.


got dad to stop so i could get a non-blurry picture of mauna kea.  most of the white stuff is snow (which i'd have been more excited about if i hadn't just come from a winter wonderland back home).  there are a few white-ish bumps, though, which are observatories.  the change in elevation is enough to make some people queasy, out-of-breath, etc. - the normal stuff you'd experience with sudden elevation changes.  we didn't get to go up there.  there are some tours, though, where you get to hike around, do some gazing, and sip hot chocolate.  sounds good to me.  maybe next time i'm there...

smoky crater in volcano.  there are a lot of steam vents in the park, which i have no recollection of from the last time i was there.  strange, that.  it was rather cool the day we were there, so the venting was a lot more obvious.  i took some video of the eruption at night, but it came out crap, so i deleted it.  alas.  some of the other people i hiked out with got some good photos.  i shall take away only memories.

posted by: juuitsu at May 09, 2008 11:21 | link | comments (5) |

oberon talked me into seeing iron man with him on Saturday night.  i'm glad we went - i really liked it.  didn't expect to - mostly because i haven't been much impressed with superhero movies.  well, not the spider man ones, anyway.  bleh.  i feel like i'm just beating a dead horse when i say, "the dialogue was SO unbelievable!"  but it was.  really.  at least in the first one.  and i really wanted to see that.  i think part of it was the tobey maguire appeal - i'd just seen him in Cider House Rules and was all, "ooh, tobey!"  i'm over that now. 

so, it wasn't really action packed, although there were some explode-y bits, and some tense moments.  what there was, was a lot of character development and back story...and it was just smart.  and robert downey jr. made Stark seem really smart, too.  i think he did an excellent job.  it was witty and entertaining for the most part.  there were some things that just didn't make a lot of sense - like why you would build a big iron suit instead of, oh, i don't know, something more useful, if you were held hostage in the middle east until you built a Major Weapon for a group of terrorists.  and i'm guessing that a lot of the things that the terrorists used against the suit might - in real life - have been rather effective.  iron man was one lucky sonofabitch.  whatever.  i blame the comic universe moreso than the movie.  they did well with what they had to work with.

posted by: juuitsu at May 07, 2008 22:50 | link | comments (6) |

i keep not getting around to things.  or i do, but much later than intended because...well, because of other things.  stupid things.

i went geocaching on saturday with a couple people from work - both of who are fanatical about it.  if you haven't tried it, it's a lot of fun - but more fun, in my opinion, if you go with a partner or a small group.  hunting for treasure in the mud is ever so much more exciting with company.  so, to begin geocaching, you use a gps receiver to search for "caches" by coordinates and clues that people post on this site.  some of the caches are puzzles, so you have to do some work beforehand or en route to actually figure out where the cache is.  since gpses are only accurate to within about 30 feet, once you are "within range" you start looking for likely hiding places.  people hide all kinds of containers - there are ammo boxes, plastic sandwich containers, film cannisters, and tiny itty-bitty micro caches that might just be a magnet stuck tot he side of something metal.  many caches are large enough to hold a log book of some kind, where you can jot down your name and the date that you found it.  experienced and/or serious cachers will carry their own log books with them while out caching, so that they can note their own experiences.  later, people log their finds through the website (and note if they could not find something, or if the container was destroyed, etc. - lots of times animals or people find the caches and make off with the goods).  people will also stock their caches with swag - usually little things that finders can swap for something of their own.  i carried along some glow sticks and wearable pins/buttons to trade for things.

PK sent me coordinates for 12 caches - and we found all of them except for one.  CP had one more in her gps that we were also able to find.  we were out for a good 6 hours and the weather was TERRIBLE.  it was about 42 degrees out, raining on and off, and the first cache we tried for was in the middle of this knotted mess of thorns and brush that was about a half mile trek through a cornfield.  the terrain was listed as a 4 on the website (which means CHALLENGING) and while some people complained about all of the thorns and the lack of any discernible trail into the wilderness, others mentioned a "mowed path."  so, PK thought, "how bad could it be?"  after the rain soaked us to the bone, and the mud seeped into our shoes, and we plowed through the brambles, we were able to say, "oh, pretty bad."  once we got within range, however, it wasn't difficult to find the cache - it was a 5 gallon bucket just sitting out in the middle of the...well, the tangled vegetation.  but it's not like they had done anything *further* to conceal it.  someone had written "stumbled upon this by accident!" in the log book - dated sometime in January.  our response?  how the heck could anyone find this place by accident?  why would you - in January - push your way into an obviously thorny patch of trees and other growth, through several feet of snow?  BY ACCIDENT??  not possible.  unless, of course, they were abducted by aliens and set down *right there*.  whatever.  they lied. 

most of the other caches were easier.  well, ok, except for the one in the pine tree.  the person who hid it must have had a lot of time on her hands and an evil streak a mile wide.  the only reason we found it at all was because CP had located it once before.  barely.  it was a tiny tube, only large enough to hold a small roll of paper, that had been disguised as a pinecone.  it was carefully tied to a branch - next to some other pinecones - with a clear piece of plastic string.  PK and i looked and looked for it.  and after about 15 minutes, CP took pity on us (or got sick of sitting out in the weather) and helped us locate it.  even *she* had trouble finding it and she'd seen where it was before!  it was pretty cool, though.

by the time 5:30 rolled around, i was freezing.  couldn't stay warm, just wanted to go home and sit in a hot bath until everything thawed out.  CP was feeling the same.  PK brought a change of clothes AND socks AND boots, so she was nice and toasty at the end of our day together.  it was fun, but i definitely want to be better prepared for the weather next time.  still haven't logged my finds on geocaching.com - CP asked me if i *ever* do that.  and i realized she'd checked out my profile and was NOT impressed with the amount of caching i'd done.  i'm waaaay more casual than these women.  ;)  but, i'm ok with that.  i had a valid excuse this morning - my dsl was all wonky and it wouldn't load anything for me.  still a bit wonky with downloads tonight, but hopefully it will work out whatever bugs it's got going on.  i doubt any of the AT&T tech support people would be able to diagnose what's going on with it - not, mind you, because i've had any experience with them of my own...but oh, the horror stories of people calling to "fix" their internets.  *shudder*

posted by: juuitsu at May 07, 2008 22:42 | link | comments (2) |

i finally got the jar open. 

i've had this jar of jelly or preserves or somesuch since this past September when oberon and i went on our road trip.  his mom gave us each some homemade preserves to bring back with us.  i'm really slow with the spreadable fruits, and i had to work my way through a smucker's raspberry jam before i was ready for a new jar.  so, a couple months ago i was ready.  my toast was already buttered and steaming, and all it needed was some...i'm not sure what flavored jelly.  it's red.  red is good.  it's one of those double lids (which probably have a name) with the flat circle center that seals the opening in the top of the jar and then a twisty donut-shaped bit that you screw on over that.  you could say it was...jammed.  i made some progress with it when i let it sit on the counter for a few hours (it had been in the refrigerator).  i was able to remove the donut part.  but the other lid was cemented to the jar.  couldn't pry it off with my fingers or finger nails, couldn't get a knife underneath it...there was nothing left to twist off, so using the grippy jar-opener wasn't helpful, so i gave up and ate my toast and put the jar back in the fridge.

fast forward to this morning!

i used the tip of a spoon (the spoon part, not the handle) and pushed the lid off.  it worked.  finally.  when i tried to use the handle of the spoon, it slipped and i got a wrist-ful of scrape (good thing it didn't cut me, or i'd be in the hospital explaining how i was NOT trying to commit suicide with a jar of jelly - SHEESH - everyone KNOWS that shit doesn't work!). 

anyway.  it's tasty!  i wish i'd been more tenacious before.  but, after long experience with me i know that this is generally how i tend to operate.  *shrug* 

posted by: juuitsu at May 03, 2008 11:15 | link | comments (7) |

someone sent me a link awhile back to these great t-shirts that said, "Sometimes I'm glad I became a librarian. Other times I wish I had simply become a ninja." yay.

it turns out that ninjas and librarians needn't BE mutually exclusive (see the above video for some fab ninja moves that can be applied in the library setting)!

posted by: juuitsu at May 03, 2008 07:48 | link | comments (4) |

we have an active group of mostly older adults who volunteer at the library and help out with various tasks.  they're really reliable for the most part, and they save us a lot of time.  many of them are retired and have had interesting other lives - and continue to have interesting other lives apart from their volunteer work, taking classes or traveling the world (on a budget, of course).  so, this woman who volunteers with us called yesterday to tell us that she wouldn't be coming in - she'd just been to a cooking class and they'd made a 4-course meal.  after each course they'd had a glass of wine (paired with the food or to cleanse the palate?), so she'd had four.  she was driving herself home and realized she probably shouldn't be going anywhere because she was, hm, in a state, inebriated, drunk.  "so, yeah," she says, "i'm not going to be able to come in today - i'm too drunk."   *giggle*

posted by: juuitsu at May 03, 2008 07:35 | link | comments |

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