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anybody who's going to be at the cookout this weekend want a fresh homemade 9" blueberry pie? my mom's selling five four of them for $7 apiece and can bring them fresh (baked) or frozen (unbaked or baked). let me know. her peach ones went fast, before i could claim even one! let me know ASAP so I can get these orders to her.
Pie #1 to Mr Jazz, baked fresh.
rain rain go away, so that i can power-wash the deck.
or else i'll be sorting figures again.
must find dinner, as well.
much like some of the sidekick heroes of the comics, the trusty sidekicks have gone their separate ways. i got email from our founder, sparky, that the team has officially disbanded and it's time to move on.
one day later, i get emailed an invite to a local action-figure customizing night. yes, seriously.
perhaps, someday soon, it might be time for a new team-based website to launch into near-obscurity. but not tonight. tonight, i must haul concrete in my truck. and, water the plants. and, if there is time, i probably ought to fill out my self-eval for work.
today is the history final. i cant study this morning. meetings, ugh.
going to quickly go over everything before class and hope to retain it IN class.
cant wait to be done with it, but at the same time, wish i had more time before it.
been thinking again about downsizing my figure collection. unfortunately, most are loose, and those are really only good for trade. plus, i'm also worried about how much stuff i'll have at the toy show. i really need to get Mr B over to catalog things. And, I wanna borrow Nala's lightbox and shoot a few photos.
there's always another show (in WIlmington) in November if i need to purge more.
sunday felt completely wasted, both from caffeine overload and from studying. i couldnt focus much, and that made everything more difficult. at least we got concrete hauled. tonight/tomorrow night, i want to work on the deck and the plants there -- everything needs feeding or weeding, or both.
i need to put air in my tires, btw. and never drink a red bull unless i'm super tired.
friends major nelson and mr. z are tying the knot this week. yay.
plans coming into place for columbus toy show and botcon and pumpkin festival. i still want to try and plan something for my parents 40th anniversary in october, too. and zan and ron's, too. and i want to take a real vacation to someplace far, like SF, or new england, without the family.
i've gotta get sorting on my figures, too. sort, count, price, label.
got a few hundred photos flickr-fied, and mostly organized. unless you're a friend or family, you won't have access to some of them. others are public.
first, there's the entire, all inclusive road trip. then, i've separated those into groups.
there's the Sts Peter and Paul Church,
and my aunt's garden complete with monarch caterpillars.
and lastly, the reunion itself, which you have to be logged in as "Family or friend" to see.
i've needed to sleep, to recover, and to have an output to decompress from the trip, and I have not yet had a chance to do so. Between being sleep deprived, stressed from family, stressed from school, and just generally in what my mom would call a "funk". I also havent eaten a real meal since I left Maine.
I havent really spoken about the trip other than to say "it was ok, the drive was horrible," and to talk about the horrific motel experience when we arrived.
i havent even finished uploading and annotating photos.
one photo i regretted not getting was on the road from newcastle back to the freeway... we came past a place called "Cowshit Corner" (apparently a manure seller) with a big sign. we were going to go back, but i think we were all so tired/stressed we didnt bother to entertain the idea on other days.
so, driving across country with your family can lead to a bunch of stories.
1) how your one great grandmother was not known for her righteousness (this was nothing new)
2) how your other great grandmother was imposing, but forgiven because of her hard life (this was nothing new)
3) how much your grandmother actually remembers names and events from years ago
4) that your great grandfather had many many brothers.
5) that your great great grandmother came from a much different background
6) that all your family is not what it seems. it is much much more.
yes, it sounds like things of legend, or good fiction, but i assure you it's much more lame. thank goodness my mom is taking notes when my grandmother decides to talk. who is uncle-so-and-so? who were his brothers? where were they from? all this info is stored, and apparently sitting at the surface of her memory right now, so when my parents visit her weekly, they write it all down.
and that's just the info i've gotten from my dad about HIS family. not my mom's, who i visited this past weekend.
tired as hell, but i'm back. sure, some of it is emotional exhaustion, but some is just plain "i'm f0cking tired!"
back to work, back to school, and wanting just to recover.
i swear i'll do a write up on the trip later. and upload photos.
i need to email my parents to say i got back to Cowtown safely, and to email my aunt to thank her for hosting, and to email my cousin to say "sorry, my dad literally grabbed my mom and took off for the van, so I didnt get to say goodbye."
we didnt get to hang out much, and that's disappointing after 16 years.
one last message before wireless is gone...
we're leaving maine. should be on the Boston outerbelt about rush hour. joy.
see you in > 24 hrs.
*sigh*
i love my family. i love my parents. but, i hate not being able to travel quickly and when i want to. i am soooo not making it back in time.
well, maybe.
i will probably get back in b'ville by midnight tomorrow night.
then cowtown by ... either 2am or 10am, depending on if i decide to sleep overnight.
class is at 11:30am.
goddamn im tired.
must read the material and take notes tonight. then write paper tomorrow on the road.
gotta sleep soon.
cousin and i -- so needing to get away.
i cant wait to come home. lots of stories.
cant talk now, leaving to see gram again and head to the reunion.
thank god, beer today.
this trip is killing me, what with having no car of my own to keep to my own schedule.
saw gram. made me depressed. warmed up her hands for her. not sure that she knew any of us. "so tired of waiting" was the refrain.
lots of family news. spent the afternoon at my aunt's, and then in the evening, another uncle, his wife and my cousin showed up. the plan was for my cousin and i to go out after dinner, but it ended too late and we were food-comafied by then. we both wanted to make an effort to spend time together and to get away from our respective parents.
we will plan better next time. he lives in NH, so that could be fun.
perhaps guinness and a smoke will do us good tomorrow.
we made it. lots to say. lots to upload.
motel hell, damn renumbering of highways, greasy food.
and tons and tons of stories and photos. and some crappy video, where my parents talk about living here 40 years ago.
oh, btw, staying in Lewiston, home of the Somali influx and racial tension. seems ok to me, but i dont live here. i love the crazy diversity -- so many french canadians and somalis.
ok -- time to hit the road and go visit gram.
here is where i'm going.
I'm hoping to eat at least ONE thing from Red's Eats which was featured on Food Network's Best Of "Viewers' Choice" (episode) BE1C30. You know, a lobster roll. Just one. But, alas, every time I've been there, Red's has either had a line around the corner or been closed.
i just hope i can get everything done and get some decent sleep tonight. UGH!
clean litterbox
pick up gift cards
pay car payment
rent
laundry
pack suitcase
call Target
set up dialup on laptop just in case
write paper
print directions
textbooks, notebook, and new Sedaris book
grab car chargers, wall-chargers and power cords
headphones
external drive
camera
audio recorder
sidekick
cellphone
tripod
extra SD card
finally some restful sleep last night, just not enough of it. and of course the beginnings of a flippin migraine this morning. at least i havent spilled my coffee yet, as i did yesterday, thanks to a faulty machine at the spdway scalding my hand with hot beverage-like substance.
yesterday, i got my second paper back in my class, and i did what i thought was really poorly. so, i hunted down my TA last night after dinner, and we talked. (of course, running into the fabulous ms. A, and mr. maloy, of all people, who I havent seen in ages.)
but - at any rate -- had a good talk with the TA. he thinks i'll do ok in the class given my understanding of the material so far, and he's perfectly willing to help if i'm not certain which points he's trying to get across. the thing that sucks is that i have to do this all in the evenings, because of my work schedule. but, hey, small price to pay to actually get a decent grade.
and now, i just want to sleep. but, instead i have to see if my boss talked to our newest employee about his hours yet.
i'd also gone shopping on a major tshirt retailer's website and bought myself some new cheap shirts, including "I blogged your mom". Those came yesterday, but the package was missing "SORRY my boyfriend's in town". Dammit, the first time I decide to order something from them, and of course it's during the week of fucked up orders, so of course it's wrong.
After 20 minutes on the phone (most of it on hold) with some chica in California whose name I couldnt understand, her boss gets on the line to tell me they're out of that shirt now, and I'll have to take a refund. But, too bad so sad on the shipping, which they charged me to ship all 3 shirts. Whatever. I'm seriously considering never buying there again, and they don't really care anyway. If you've ever walked into one of their retail stores (in malls), you'd know that the same attitude their salespeople have in the store is the same you get over the phone.
*sigh* At least J thought the idea of such a shirt was great!
now, do I order "Tell your mom to stop txting me"?
so, i placed an order recently with soapshirt.com (unfortunately, before buttons were offered). But, I got a nifty shirt, just the same. It came yesterday.
Here's a photo.
it's beauteous. i love it. and i love the customer service note included.
my eyes still havent gotten used to the motion on the left side of my vehicle, after replacing my mirror last night. it's so odd, after months of not having a mirror on that side, to see something moving.
last year(?), my mirror was broken in a drive-by baseball-batting. it's urban mailbox bashing for the teens of today.
i've been waiting quite a long time to get this fixed. i didnt want to spend > $100 just for the part, just to have it probably be broken again.
so, based on my friend felix's advice, i checked ebay. there, i found one for $35 + 25 shipping. The lowest I'd ever found the part elsewhere was $120.
so, for half the cost and 5 minutes of work, i finally have a new driver's side mirror.