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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

 
1:27 PM: the light returns [#] [1]

i'm so glad the vernal equinox has arrived! i can't believe how light it is until 8 p.m. we took the traditional walk on powell butte to celebrate the changing of the season. little known fact: up to 2007, the equinox could happen either mar20 or 21, but now it will only happen on mar20 -- until 2044, when it begins falling sometimes on mar19. astrologically, the equinox marks the new year, with the sun in aries (though astronomically, the sun is still in pices).

now the clouds just need to back off a bit. i've been keeping a starjournal since january, and march is the most depressing month, filled with entries like "more clouds," "too cloudy to see any stars," "clouds again," and "WHY DO THE CLOUDS HATE ME?" i've missed several sighting of the iss and space shuttle this month.

though i've been keeping busy: ohsu is in the middle of final exams for their 1st-year students, so i've had "asthma" and i'll have a whole week of "chest pain" starting thursday. the iprc "starting a creative business" class last week was packed and always goes well, so i'm looking forward to teaching at the gresham public library on saturday. alas, the census didn’t call, but now i'm in the pool, so maybe next year? backline breaks my heart every time i do a shift; it's much different than being a patient advocate, and i haven't been able to manage to do both at the same time yet. i just finished one hoop series class and i'll start another on wednesday.

haven't eaten out much lately, it seems. though i had coffee w/ shuju at half and half; for st. patrick’s day michaelmas & i ate ruebens at kornblatt’s; sven & i celebrated an anniversary at belly timber (where i had a good hamburger & an interesting beet mocktail); michaelmas & i celebrated our awkward anniversary at thai orchid.

sven & i watched the flaming lips' "christmas on mars." i expected it to be more painful than it ultimately was.

gardening is coming along. i have a blueberry bush in one corner and muscat grapes by the back porch. i've got two boxes cleared and trellises on one one box. the lettuce box still needs to be cleared and then i'll add some new soil to all the boxes. i'm going to start seeds inside today (i hope); the soil still seems too cold to start anything. then i'll attend to the herbs, which have been neglected by the sidewalk and are all leggy and rampaging over each other.

and last but certainly not least, the mead's new baby "bee" was born this week. welcome home, willa jane.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

 
9:38 PM: simple stories [#] [2]

i applied for the census. it sounds like a good job for a curious introvert. i took a test but the background check takes a while, so we'll see if they call me for training in a couple of weeks. but even if they don't, ohsu invited me to be a standardized patient for their end-of-term clinical exams for the 1st-year med students. whee!

in the meantime, i've had my first two primary backline shifts. the first one was pretty mellow, with two completely different calls. the second shift was really long and intense and dramatic, with two dropped calls and someone having to pretend i was her friend "megan." one woman called after she found the the nuremberg files (which i am not linking to because it is so awful), which really frightened her.

i haven't had further contact with my aunt about my mom's estate, but her lawyer recently sent a letter to me and the "surviving spouse" that she's choosing an informal probate that won't be finished until at least august.

while michaelmas was at acrl, i catsat arwen, who was happier to see me each time i visited. i'll bet she's really happy michael's home again. sven took cleo into the vet to get her nails trimmed and a cyst on her neck removed. afterwards, she was scratching it & making it bleed, so we made her wear a blue cone around her neck that she hated. fortunately, she seems to be over it now.

for fun, sven & i went to another whitebird performance and to see the play "how to disappear completely." we also watched juno (i must be the only person in the pacific northwest who doesn't like this movie), watchmen (better than i expected) and spiderwick (meh). we tried eating at several new places: blossoming lotus, dechutes brewery, lovely hula hands to celebrate jalex's birthday, the waffle window and pine state biscuits. also, i've started a new hooping class w/ the same instructor at somaspace. this intermediate class is all about transitions, and it seems so much harder!

personally, i love daylight savings time and am looking forward to the equinox this week. and i -finally- got to see comet lulin! it was just a smudge near regulus, but i was very proud (thanks for the good weather, carl!). i also modified stellarium to include comet lulin, which totally rocked. in other celestial news, saturn passed opposition, the moment it lies exactly opposite the sun in the sky (which means it rose at sunset and set at sunrise). in addition, uranus reached aphelion, the furthest it will get from the sun in its 84-year orbit. for the rest of our lives, uranus will be just a tiny bit closer every day.