Another Day, Another Move!

Thank god this time it isn't me! But yes, today is "D-Day" as Casey put it. The day of the BIG move to Cincy. And I was off of work and in BG just in time to help start loading the truck! Woo Hoo! Things were very organized and ready to go, so it's been pretty painless, but I'm now staying out of the way and finding a way of wasting time...I'm so good at that it seems. Anywho, it'll be weird not to have him around anymore, or at least not as often. I've only known him for 8 months or so, but he's put up with me being here to see Randy all the time. (I've returned the favor in form of cookies though so I assume we're even.) Best of luck in your new job & in your new city Casey! We'll all miss you & look forward to visits.

"That's My Boat"

For those of you who don't know, that title line is from one of my favorite scenes from Forest Gump. And I figured I'd make use of it in honor of the first day of our season at work which was today! We made our first boat runs of the season this morning! The weather was crummy, but I must admit, I was having a great time! This will be season number 4 for me at the park, and this is my first time being part of opening day. In a really pathetic way, it was kind of exciting. And unlike previous seasons, I was not worried about remembering how to do everything or forgetting info for my intro's or interps. Maybe it's because I've had 3 seasons under my belt, or maybe it's because I've inadvertently reviewing it all by writing the handbook these past few months. I expect it's a little of both. But, to use one of favorite random phrases, it was just like falling off a bike ~ it all comes back to you easily. In a weird way, it seems like I haven't had any time off from the boat...just a long weekend maybe. Like I've been doing it my entire life. Crazy stuff. But it's fun. I won't be on the boat for the entire season. Until the middle of May I'll be on the boat almost every day, but that's only because we only have 2 seasonals back to work right now. The rest will be starting when school lets out, so I can spend more time doing other things; like learning the Mill forward & backwards, admin stuff, polishing up the handbook, etc. But for now, it's fun. It's definitely one of those jobs that not many people can say they've had the opportunity to have in their lives. That in and of itself is pretty cool.

In other news, I made my nearly famous cookies tonight for Casey who will be leaving us for Cincy at the end of the week. :0( *sigh, sniff* Good luck Casey! We'll miss you. You have to visit often enough to get a cookie fix...if I know you're coming I'll see what I can do about having some ready for you.

In apartment news, things are finally starting to come together. Slowly, but it's happening. I conquered my bookshelf this weekend. For those of you know me well, you probably know how anal I am about my books. Everything is in categories (literature & Classics, Fiction, Young Adult, Drama, Beat Generation, Poetry, Nature Writing, Non-fiction/Travel Logs/History/ Biography/Essays). Then alphabetized by Arthur within each category. And, of course, any books by the same Arthur are arranged chronologically by their date of publishing. Yes, it's true ~ I'm a little crazy when it comes to my bookshelf. But damn it, it makes sense this way & I never question where a book is. Damn straight I'd make a good librarian! Either a good one or a frustrated one from people not putting things back where they belong.

Anywho...once again I'm rambling for no apparent reason. So I guess I'll just shut up for now. Peace out G.

Belated Sunday Quote Blogging

"Behind every beautiful thing there's been some kind of pain."
~Bob Dylan

Another Week Gone Already?!

Time has flown past at warp speed this month. It seems like only yesterday I was wishing to be spending time outside at work getting the boat ready for the season. And sure enough, this coming Tuesday is Opening Day already! Things are pretty much ready, expect for a Tow Rope which we don't have (and is pretty damn important...Without it, we don't connect the boat to the mules and the boat doesn't go anywhere without being connected to the Mules.) But my boss assures me that he'll have that taken care of over the weekend. So I have a 3 day weekend, and I intend on not thinking about work at all from here on out.

With any luck, and weather permitting (please no snow tomorrow!), I should be moving my dresser back home. There's just no room for it my tiny apartment. I have plenty of closet space, so not having a dresser isn't a big deal. Once it's out of my way, I can actually arrange my furniture the way I'd like it because there'll finally be room to do so. And when my furniture is where I want it, I'll actually be able to unpack and start to feel more at home. It's been 2 weeks and I'm ready to not live from boxes anymore. Still no rush, but I'd like to be more settled.

Nothing too exciting going on right now. I'm hanging at Randy's right now - hence the computer access. Ahhh yes, computer access. I have Monday off of work so I plan on getting my internet set up finally. Hard to believe I'll be able to do this from home shortly. Anyways, nothing much to tell that doesn't involve work, and I'm not thinking about that remember. I just thought I'd post so none of you thought I'd left the country or anyhing. Maybe I'll post more this weekend if I get the urge. Hope all is well with my 2 adoring fans out there...wherever and whoever you are.

A Day of Rest...*phew*

Today was my day off...meaning my only day off between last Tuesday and this coming Saturday. Sure my boss made up for it by giving me a 3 day weekend last weekend, but work was exhausting this week. I really needed a day to do as little as I wanted. And believe me, I did very little today. Lots of laying around being lazy, read a little, got my butt kicked at Bust-A-Move (I'm such a bad loser), went to dinner with Randy & friends, showed them around his museum, then back to his place for more of doing nothing. Just what the doctor ordered. Hopefully I'll sleep a little more soundly tonight than I did last night - I have another busy week of work ahead of me with opening day being a mere week away. It'd be nice to start the week on a rested note. Anyways, life is good. Not a whole lot of non-work related things going on. I won't bore you with the details ~ I'm sure most of you have already heard more about my work than you care to or have interest in (or can maybe even make sense of if you've never been to the park to have the first clue of what it is that I do). No other big plans for this week. I'll try to continue the unpacking process, but if I come exhausted from work, I'd rather relax and get rested than hurry up and unpack. I will be unpacked in time ~ probably about the time I'm ready to move. We'll see. I may very well be at this apartment for more than my 1 year lease. Happy start to the work week everyone! Catch ya all later.

Sunday Quote Blogging

"What's he like?"

"God? Loney, but funny. He's got a great sense of humor. Take sex for example. There's nothing funnier than the faces you people make mid-coitus."

"Sex is a joke in heaven?"

"From what I understand it's mostly a joke down here too."

~ from the film "Dogma"

Paint Fumes & Pretty Colors

It's been a while since I've posted anything new. Almost a week, which is a long time for a wind bag such as myself as most of you know. But alas, I have still to actually get internet hooked up at new place. Why? Well, partcially because I'm lazy, & partly because work has been exhausting. It's been great - I haven't been stuck in the office in front of the computer all week! It's been a great break actually. This week was scheduled as "Paint the Canal Boat" Week. Things started out pretty slow and it seemed as though we would never get to the actual painting - there was so much prep to be done. We are launching the boat into the water Wednesday of this coming week, and it seemed as though the boat wouldn't be done and dry in time. But in the last 2 days, we've busted out some serious painting, and the boat has maybe 2 hours worth of work left to be done. And so, I've been breathing in paint and paint thinner fumes all week...as if I needed to loose any more brain cells. (No comments on that one please.)

Apartment life is awesome! I'm still living from boxes and very slowly beginning to get things unpacked. But regardless of the chaos of unpacking, I'm loving every second of having my own space again. To do whatever I want, whenever I want to while I'm home and not be effecting a roommate by any of it - it's been far too long since I've had that freedom. And it's exactly what I've been missing for the last 2 1/2 years. Not to mention getting out from under the parental roof. What a relief that was! I surely never expected that would have been living with them ever again, let alone for nearly a year. I love them, but I can't happily live under their roof at this point. And I think that door swings both ways (although I'll never admit it).

Anyway, I have a day off tomorrow and I plan on doing as little as possible. Recovery from a busy and physically draining week is a welcome relief, even if it is only for 1 day.

Which Box Would That Be In?

The move in to my new place went as smoothly as a move could go. Sure I was stressed...I'm like that sometimes with things like moving. But it really couldn't have gone much better (other than maybe the constant bickering between my parents & I - but when is that not the case?) And so, I've spent 2 night in my home so far and it's been pretty nice! I'm going to really enjoy having my own place again!

It'll be a week or two before things really begin to feel like home. I have yet to even scratch the surface of the unpacking phase. I'll be able to delve into that more this evening once I've done a bit of shopping and picked up some things I need for organizing purposes. It's a little daunting to be surrounded by box after box after box - the majority of which were packed up somewhere between 6 months ago and 2 years ago. The process will be long and slow going, but eventually it will begin to look and feel like home. I have the day off of work, so it's back to work on apt. stuff I go. I will hopefully be blogging more this week (maybe), and will ideally have internet running in my new place within a week, so I hope it won't be too long! Happy Unpacking!

Belated Sunday Quote Blogging

My computer & internet aren't set up yet at the new place so please forgive my tardiness with my weekly quote blogging. A day late, but here it is:

"Do you still say your prayers little darlin'
do you go to bed at night praying that tomorrow,
everything will be alright?
But tomorrow's fall in number
in number one by one.
You wake up and you're dying
You don't even know what from."
~ Bruce Springsteen
"Point Blank" from the album "The River"

I HAVE A NEW HOME!!!!!

Yes, it's true! I have a new home at last! I signed the lease and picked up my key this morning! How cool is that?! Yeah!!!! And the whole electricity thing turns out not to be a big deal after all because the place has power right now under the complex's name. So whenever I get things straightened out with the electric company it'll just be switched over into my name. No biggie. Once again I was just letting things stress me out that turned out to be no big deal after all. Go figure.

I went to the apartment to clean after work today, and the place is bigger than I thought it was because it took me for frickin' ever to clean (and I even left out a thing or two I could have done) and I'm frinkin' tired! Man. Thank god I won't be doing a top to bottom clean of the place every week. It's done now though. I'm anal - I want to know it's spotless before I move in, so I know it's as disinfected as possible. You just never know with apartments ya know.

And it's officially home - I ate my first meal in my new place tonight. It was high class - McD's while sitting on the floor of an empty apartment. Gotta love that.

The big move in day is tomorrow. :0) I'm excited. It might be a long day, but things will get done. My parents and Randy are my only help, but we'll manage. Hopefully all will go smoothly and the weather will work with us not against us. We'll see. Anyways, still have some packing to do before the big day, so I'll catch you all later.

What The???

Okay, so I haven't posted in a while...and yes I have had an unusual number of typos lately too. Sorry
guys! What can I say? I guess I'm less anal rententive than normal with this. Things are busy with life in general so the blogs I've posted have been kind of rushed through, leaving the door open for lots of dumb typos. I'm a dork.

Okay, so today was really frustrating. And so, I'm going to take an opportunity to vent a little bit. My boss sent my to the Local History Conference today. We're swamped at work, so going to this conference meant that I wouldn't get any actual work done that needs done ASAP. But I was okay with that because I figured today would be good opportunity to do some professional networking and make some more connections in my field. And a free lunch never hurts either. And the lecturs could always be informative and fun too. I learned a lot of really cool and useful stuff at the other conference I went to last month. Unfortunately, that would not be the case today.

The lecturers were absolutely horrible! 2 out of 3 of them used their hour and a half to read papers that they'd written to us. Zero eye contact, zero enthusiam about their topics. You would think that if an organization is going to ask a person to be a presenter at their conference, they would at least choose people who have some sort of public speaking ability. But aparently not.

There is a difference between Public Speaking and Public Reading. A good public speaker is able to engage their audience and get them interested about their topic, build a repore with their audience through eye contact, humor, and interaction (whether it be verbal, or intellectual). And when you're speaking in front of anyone (conference goers, your classmates, or even your friends or family), if your talking about a topic you're excited about, chances are that they will get excited about it as well - or at the very least, they'll be more interested than they were before. Reading a paper you wrote? Not the same thing. How the hell can you have any sort of eye contact with your audience if your eyes are looking down at what you're reading?

And to me, there is a drastic difference between having information and having knowledge. If your able to speak about a subject, then you don't need to refer to your notes or paper. Sure you won't know everything or have answers to every question, but having knowledge gives you a certain respectability. Having information is something completely different. Obviously, if your not confident in your knowledge, you'll rely on informaiton...reading your information verbadium. Yeah, that'll get me excited about a topic. Not so much.

And beyond that, I feel like my intellegence is insulted when you are "giving a presentation" and read straight to me from your papers or notes. I can fucking read, I don't need you to read to me. I didn't come here for story time, milk & cookies damn it. Teach me something, don't fucking read to me you pansy. What the shit is that about?!

Anywho, that's enough of that. Onto another topic. I move into my new place on Saturday, but won't have any
electricity until Monday. Yeah, how much does that suck? So I'll be hanging at Randy's until I have
power. But I have to move my stuff in while I can. It's not like I can take any time off of work to do it
- we're freakin' busy as hell trying to get ready for the season to start (2 1/2 weeks away now). Yeah. So
I'll move in but it may be a while until it actually starts to feel like home. I don't know how much unpacking I'll get done without any power. Daytime is fine as long as my apt. gets plenty of natural light, but I don't know if it does yet. We'll see. It's just one more thing to make my day a little more frustrating.

Anyways, life isn't as bad as I make it out to be. I'm just moody because of the electricity thing, and because I feel like I wasted an entire day of work when there's lots of stuff to be finished in barely any time. The stress of getting ready for the season is starting to seem overwhelming. Hopefully once I'm out of the stress of living with the parents it will help with my mood a bit.

Sunday Quote Blogging

"Destruction leads to a very rough road
But it also breads creation."

~Red Hot Chili Peppers
Californication

7 Days & Counting!

The pope died this afternoon. I'm not Catholic, and I'm surely not religious at this stage in my life. But I have to say, it is a story that I've been watching all week. I was kind of mesmorized by it last night. Aside from it being a historic event in the sense that he has been the only Pope of my lifetime, and aside from the countless historic things that have happened as a result of his life, it just seems amazing to me that such an event can effect so many people. This one mans life has brought millions of people across the globe together in prayer, in mourning, in hope. Catholic or not - it's amazing that one man has had such an effect. It's amazing to me that so many people put aside their differences and are somehow united by this one event. I guess this world will never cease to surprise.

In other news: In a mere 7 days, I will officially be sleeping in my very own apartment! How cool is that?! I'm far too excited to even describe how much I'm looking forward to it. Lots to be done this week as far as packing goes. Realistically, I don't have that much more to pack, but what's left is pretty important (clothes, books, etc.)

The weekend is proceeding at a wonderfully relaxing pace. I went to work today for all of 4 hours. We had a Volunteer Enrichment Day scheduled and due to weather and some other events going on, no one showed. So I did some other work and left early. It's been a relaxing day of playing some games and watching some TV under the warm comfort of blankets. Tomorrow should be just as relaxing. I plan on making a double batch of my famous cookies - some for home & some for work (as a welcome back to our seasonal employees). Other than that, I plan on taking the day as it comes.