Time to Book a Flight!

It is time once again to book a flight (or train, or bus) online. Is it this hard for everyone?


I keep pulling up great fares, only to find out that the price just expired. The new rate is at least double the old one. I just went through this! Can this even be legal? Maybe I'm just thinking unethical. Whatever it is, it sure isn't too much fun.

I am seriously considering Greyhound. Since I've never had the (distinct?) pleasure of going on one, this might be the perfect time. Saving $200 doesn't sound half bad, either. Another student loan payment, here I come!

Still Sick

This has been a rough few weeks. After feeling absolutely exhausted for two weeks, I finally made it in to the doctor. An hour's wait later, I was diagnosed with bronchitis and an ear infection. While certainly not fun, it's great to finally have an explanation for my tiredness.

It's been two more weeks, and I'm still not feeling all that great. I still occasionally fall asleep at five in the afternoon, and only wake up when my alarm goes off in the morning. Maybe it's time for another doctors visit.

I'm lucky to have really good insurance. The cost of doctors visits are negligible. I hate to think what will happen when I reach twenty-five and am off my family's insurance policy---hopefully I'll have a good job by then (I guess living on a volunteer's living stipend won't be an option anymore). Monthly medication costs for depression meds are astronomical---nearly two hundred dollars without insurance. Going without them is not an option---it's just miserable, and not conducive to holding a steady job and living in any reasonably fulfilling way.

In the meantime, I will volunteer as much as possible, and try to discover my life's calling (that sounds so corny!) Hopefully I'll figure it all out soon.

My Little Puddle Jumper

The first day back at school after Thanksgiving Break is always rough. Teachers expect this. Yet we're never quite prepared for the fury that is the sugared up, it-can't-be-schooltime-yet child.

Let's just say that today was a little crazy. The kids hadn't had a full day of school for a week and a half. They are understandably antsy.

However, my little puddle jumper took this to new extremes. Waiting in the bus line, he decided that every puddle was a monster to be relentlessly stomped. Dozens of little children were soaked in his quest, and I still have muddy footprints on the legs of my jeans from when he bounded up in joy.

By the time that I cajoled him inside to read a book while waiting for the bus, he was wet and beginning to understand just why jumping in puddles isn't a good pre-bus past time ("I'm soaking wet! I don't want to wear my shoes!") Sigh.

The easiest thing to do would have been to pull him out of the puddles and away from the temptation of splashing others. But teachers aren't suppposed to physically restrain or pull on children. Even though he was kicking water onto other children, we couldn't just pull him away. Crazy, but true. We could only threaten to talk to his mother, get the principal, or offer alternatives to his behavior.

I hope the rest of the children never find out about this.

There's No Place Like Home

After three buses, one offer for crack cocaine, and a plane ride, I am finally back home. I spent the last three days sleeping off bronchitis and an ear infection, and then visiting the school I interned at on an Indian reservation. All in all, a good few days.

I don't know if I'm just lucky, or what. Somehow, standing in an underground bus station amidst the crowds of the merry and not so merry travelers, I look like I need some drugs. As a twenty-five year old guy asks, "Do you want some cocaine?" all I can do is stare astounded at the transportation security officers less than a block away. After hurriedly reassuring him that I don't, in fact, do drugs, he shuffles off to the next person.

Maybe all trips on public transportation are like this. Maybe everyone is offered drugs while on the way to the airport, and accosted by a man begging for spare change and cussed out when the request is refused. Perhaps everyone ends up sitting next to a very cheerful lady who just happens to be off her meds and is laughing up a storm at nothing and no one.

Somehow, I don't think so.

I Need a Vacation

How pitiful is it that I'm already planning every possible long weekend and day off that I can scrounge up? I'm looking ahead to three day weekends and marking down travel days as "After school on Friday to before school on Tuesday." Teachers don't arrive home from their vacations an hour before school begins---it's just not right!

I think the upcoming Thanksgiving break is getting to me. I'm ready to check out and head back to Minnesota. I'm tired of the alphabet song and open and closed syllables. I'm stealing five minutes here and five minutes there to gaze longingly at discounted cruises. Even Alaska with its Arctic gales is sounding pretty appealing.

Vancouver

I love Canada. Whenever I need a break from the ordinary, I take a little trip north and wander around Chinatown.

Everything is different up here, from te road signs to the metric system. It's exhilirating to be barreling down the road at top speed, trying to figure out just what exactly 120 km/hour translates to. Add to it miniscule road signs and highways that suddenly turn into city streets, and you have an adventure on your hands.

Plus, nothing adds a little excitement to your day like trying to make it through Customs unscathed. Since I have a horrible poker face, crazy things just happen to happen to me. Need I remind you of the time when my mom was taken away to be questioned because I looked nervous (and apparently like a kidnapping victim)?

Gentle, staid Canada never remains so for long when I join the mix, and that's why I love it.

It Can Be Really Hard to Be Gay

It can be really hard to be gay, and not always for the reasons that you might suspect. Sure, you have to deal with your mother's fear that you won't be with her in Heaven some day, and your dad's fear that you'll be the victim of discrimination or a hate crime. However, sometimes it's the day to day difficulties that wear on you the most.

It's all of the flirtation and suggestive comments aimed your way by unsuspecting strangers. It just goes completely against the grain for me. It grates on me, and is intensely uncomfortable. To help my family understand, I liken it to a gay person hitting on them, and the intense reaction they would feel. Suddenly they seem to get it.

I wonder what would happen if I told these unknowing strangers the truth---that I can't be interested in them because I'm gay. I would never be so naive to do so, but I hate having to bury who I am all the time. It's like a strangling of the soul.

Young Adult Literature Challenge

The Young Adult Literature Challenge is coming along nicely. During October, I read The Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama, the Scott Westfield Uglies, Pretties, Specials trilogy, and The Midwife's Apprentice. I highly recommend The Drowned Maiden's Hair; it's not nearly as gruesome as it sounds. It is the tale of an orphan who is adopted by an eccentric trio of elderly women, who wish her to play the part of a drowned child during a seance. It's a very intriguing read.

Scott Westfield's trilogy is quite good, with a suitable number of plot twists to keep it interesting. It is about a totalitarian society where everyone has surgery at the age of sixteen to make them "pretty." However, this surgery also causes brain lesions that make them easily controlled. Dissidents are taken care of by the "Specials."

The Midwife's Apprentice was also a good read. Brat, an street girl in early England, becomes the midwife's apprentice in exchange for food and shelter. She must overcome harsh treatment and low self esteem to make a name for herself.

I'm really enjoying this challenge. I finally have an excuse to read all of the young adult literature that I missed out on growing up. There are so many great books.

What have you read lately that you've enjoyed?

Strike of the Swine Flu!

It seems that wherever I go, sickness follows. First it was the measles in Guatemala, then the Whooping Cough in my Midwest school. Now it's the Swine Flu.

My little first grader came up to me yesterday with a solemn look on her face. She very politely informs me that her brother has the Swine Flu and then runs off to play. I just stare at her retreating back. The Swine Flu has come to Washington.

I had heard rumors that it was out and about. A high schooler was stricken last week. I just didn't expect it to spread quite this fast.

I'm not very doom and gloom about the situation. More than anything, it makes me laugh in an incredulous sort of way. The crazy illnesses that still exist in America.

Today the little girl came in with an awful cough. As she generously sprayed me with Swine flu exposed spit, I'm thinking, "Better go stock up on OJ and dust masks."

The Delta Site Hates Me

The Delta site hates me. That's the only conclusion I can draw. Not only did it try to make me rebook twice, but it wickedly raised the price each time! I could understand the rate hike from $295 to $330. I could only find $330 fares on the web, so it wasn't such a shocker. But then to raise it by $100 while I was booking it? That's just ridiculous. A flight doesn't go up $130 in ten minutes.

I guess I can't rule out a train trip home just yet, as much as I'd like to. I managed to wrangle a week off, and I want to spend as much of the time I have off with my family. Thirty-five hours on the train each way is not what I call fun.

I know I've got to get home soon---my grandpa's ill, and our whole family is gathering for a wedding. I can't miss this time with them, but I hate the feeling that I'm being taken advantage of.

Is it bad that I only do laundry every two weeks (and it's only one load)? I know, as a female I'm supposed to have tons of clothes and a very low tolerance for grime, but maybe those genes just skipped me.

I know that the shopping genes bypassed me. I hate to shop. I only believe in buying things that I'll feel good about wearing (and wearing often), so it takes forever. Add to this the fact that I'm pretty modest (no low-rise jeans or low cut tops for me, thanks), and it adds up to a whole lot of time in the stores.

So is it any wonder that I put shopping off for as long as possible?

This really made the theft of one of my suitcases off the bus in Costa Rica a debilitating blow. There went almost my entire supply of comfortable, worn-in jeans (that were actually tall enough!). I was devastated. I literally only had two shirts, a headband, and a set of underclothes to my name. It was a sad, sad day.

Okay, I Laughed

I love teaching kids. If they're not deliberating who to call in the case of a vampire uprising ("But the fire department can't do anything about vampires!"), they're making innocent slips of the tongue.

We were working on the -ank word ending. I was having them read words off of the board, and this took a nasty turn when we came to "sank." This child couldn't be satisfied with such a straight forward word. Oh, no. He had to add another letter, turning the nice, innocent "sank" into "skank."

Oh, yes.

As I desperately tried to stifle my giggles (these were second graders, after all, no need to discuss exactly why this word was so funny or what precisely it meant), I moved on. Wouldn't it just so happen that the next word was skin. Oh, joy.

I laughed, and I laughed, and then I changed the subject. Very smooth.

Entertainment on a Limited Budget

It's the end of the month, and all of my food stamps have run out. Every spare penny is being diverted to food and rent, as my paycheck still hasn't come through. Yet you have to have some form of entertainment, unless you are to go mad.

Luckily, a theater friend knew of a playhouse that needed an usher one night. In exchange for handing out programs at the door and policing the theater at intermission so that no food or beverages made their way in, I was able to see the play for free. Given that each ticket was $15, this was a good deal.

I also hit up the library for reading material (an unmentionable number of chick lit books and some classics) and DVDs. A few trips to a nearby state park founded out the mix.

How do you stay entertained on a limited budget?

Swine Flu Vaccine

I love staff meetings. Who wouldn't, when you can learn such intriguing things as "We can't require you to get vaccinated, but you cannot come to school for twenty days if there is a Swine Flu outbreak." It seems a little twisted to me. Add in the the little bite that you have to let payroll know, and we're looking at uproar.

So, I get to be a guinea pig for the Swine Flu vaccine when it comes out in October. I'm so excited!

Washington!

Three days after starting the wonderful but long drive, I am finally in Washington. The drive wasn't too crazy, and I loved the mountain passes in western Montana (75 mile per hour roads with curves galore! So much fun!) There was some great scenery at the beginning and end of the trip. The middle was a bit tedious (I'm not a wide open spaces type of girl), but the other scenery made up for it in spades.

I love my town. They have a great public library, very nice people, grocery outlets just fifteen miles away, and awesome hiking trails. My landlady is really into natural foods and products, and composts all kitchen waste. She was having a dinner party with a bunch of friends the night I came in, and invited me to join them. All of the food was vegetarian, which was great! One of the ladies' sons lived in Nicaragua for five years, so we got to talking about Central America, which is always nice. I felt so at home.

Washington has everything I wanted and more: a good public library, food co-ops, water, trees, and mountains. I am in bliss.

Frankenstein and Early Start Dates

I just finished Frankenstein! A great book, if I may say so myself. However, a very tedious beginning and a somewhat pedantically told tale at times. The intriguing plot makes it all worth it at the end, though.

My start date just got moved up another day. I guess I won't get to see my dad before I leave, after all. I understand that I really need to leave enough time to get there without rushing too much, or driving fifteen hour days without time to eat or rest. I was just really counting on that last day.

It's a really good thing that I'm taking a vehicle. I could never get this all on a bus or train. I counted three big boxes, one small one (filled with shoes, of all things), a suitcase, and two backpacks. I'm sure there'll be more. Who knew I had this much stuff?!? Granted, it is for almost a year, but still.

Happy trails!

DVD Swap

I just received my first DVD from http://www.swapadvd.com/, a branch off from http://www.paperbackswap.com/. It was "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," and it arrived in perfect condition. My family and I watched it tonight, and had homemade pizza. All in all, a great night.

It was also a terrific break from the insane torture known as cashiering. Normally, being a cashier isn't so bad. Sure, you're on your feet all day, and you may develop strange blisters on the undersides of each toe, but doesn't $8.30 an hour (pre-tax) make up for that? So you may have to work sick. It isn't that hard of a job, right? Just lifting 24-packs of soda and forty pound bags of dog food. Anyone could do it, smiling all the while and dealing with kids who possess the strange desire to spin the bag carousel straight into their eyes. Easy as pie.

I think we seriously underestimate the skills of our Walmart cashiers. Not only are they keeping our children from getting impaled, but they are also dealing with the stress of bagging upwards of 700 items an hour consistently and correctly without any impatient outbursts. Not an easy feat.

Packing

At 10:45 last night, I was informed that I need to be in Washington on Monday. Not "the first week in September" as I was originally told, or "September 1st," which was the last mandate. August 31st. This Monday.

Since I can't even leave until late Friday night at the earliest, and it is a 26 hour drive, this will be very entertaining. It wouldn't be quite so bad if I had another driver going with me, but this is strictly a solo trip. My first ever. Yikes.

I have ridden a variety of buses all the way down through Central America, and taken an Amtrak train halfway across the US alone, but I have never driven that far by myself. Let's just hope a tire doesn't blow out, or the transmission dies. Both distinct possibilities in this car.

I'm just glad that I've spent the last few days transferring audiobooks and music onto CDs, and getting my bags packed. Hopefully the car will be back from the mechanic's soon so I can start loading it up, and seeing what fits.

Yay!

Sometimes I feel like I'm destined for a crazy existence.

Take, for instance, the attempted kidnapping of two years ago, as I made my way back to the bank where I had parked my car from the Oriental food store just three blocks away. There's nothing like being followed in a car and having your car stormed to get your blood pumping. Especially considering that this happened in broad daylight, and I only just got my door shut and locked in time.

Or recall the unprovoked gunshot incident in Xela, Guatemala as I made my way home from class. I was just a few blocks from my house, in the middle of the day! I didn't know the guy, or even say anything to him! It's just one of those random things, I guess. My bad luck mixed with anti-American sentiment just creates trouble, I guess.

It seems like something crazy is always happening. Do I have the words "Pick me! Great target!" written somewhere on me?

I think I would be bored with an ordinary, uneventful life, but sometimes this just gets to be too much. I took a self-defense course, and learned Judo. I carry mace. I try to be as safe as I can be, never venturing out alone at night, taking all of the right precautions.

I just wish I could see the world as some of my friends do---as a welcoming, non-threatening place. The prospect of random violence is utterly foreign to them. It only happens to other people.

One good thing that came out of all of this---I vowed to always be doing something meaningful. I won't take a job that isn't personally fulfilling, because I know that life can change in an instant. I can only deal with this craziness if I know that I'm doing something meaningful. Bad things will happen, and my way of coping with them is to devote my life to doing what good I can, so that I don't feel regret when they do.

Maybe that's morbid, but for me, that's just life.

Washington!

In a little less than a week, I will be heading out for my new job in Washington. I am still debating between going by Amtrak or taking a vehicle. My work site is not within walking distance, which is annoying, and it's a half hour commute by bus each way. It would cost nearly $30 in bus fares each month, just to get to and from work. Then again, it would probably cost that much or more in gas and maintenance.

I am finishing up random last pieces of business---burning downloadable audiobooks to CDs, returning the last of my library books, and taking all of the recycling down to the drop off center. I'm clearing all of my food out of the freezer and pantry (I have a ton of tofu and falafel mix), and wrapping up presents for the birthdays that I'll miss. I'm getting refills of medications that I'll need until I can get set up with a doctor in Washington. I'm also putting all of my student loans in order.

It seems like my list doesn't really shrink---there's always one more thing that I forgot to do. Moving is a little harder than I remember it being. It should be interesting!

Time to Break Out My "Wedding Ring"

I felt like I was back in Guatemala again. "Are you married? Yes?" A short pause, then "Are you happily married?" As if it made a difference!

This might not have been quite so outrageous if the man asking this had not been wearing a cowboy hat. And sixty-five years old. And sporting a fake ID touting him as a product manager.

The customers just keep getting stranger and stranger.

I wonder who life has in store for me tomorrow?

WIC is Way More Complicated Than You'd Think

WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) vouchers have become the bane of my existence.

Typically, I will process one WIC voucher each day at Walmart. During training, we were strictly instructed that so much as a missing date on the voucher will make it null and void. The state won't pay, and we'll get into trouble. Too many mistakes like this one will cost us our jobs as cashiers, and the Walmart store its WIC acceptance.

Today I had a customer who was definitely struggling with the system. WIC is incredibly particular about brands and sizes of products. She had a voucher for fourteen jars of baby food. She had fourteen jars, but only two of them met WIC's strict guidelines. Eight had DHA added, one was a mix of a fruit and a vegetable, and five had rice and sugar added.

I reviewed the WIC guidelines for baby food with her from the little illustrated pamphlet she had been given, and she returned to try again.

This time she brought back eleven different jars of forbidden baby food, ladened with rice cereal and additives. I asked a manager to come over and review the rules with her once again, because she was insistent that these should be allowed. After a short talk, she set off again, waving off my offers of lending her sample jars to compare to the ones on the shelf.

We repeated this process twice more. I desperately wanted to leave my register, if only to help her find mutually acceptable baby foods and allow her to carry on with her life. However, I couldn't do this in the middle of the transaction, and I couldn't suspend it. Finally, I convinced her to let me scan a few of the acceptable baby food jars multiple times, finish the transaction, and shut down the register to grab the desired products.

Five tries and half an hour from the debacle's beginning, we finally finished, weary and glad to have that behind us. WIC is way more complicated than you'd think.

A Room (or House) of Her Own

For nearly a week I will have the house to myself. I have a copy of "The Stepford Wives" to watch before I post it on swapadvd.com, a stack of library books, and a fridge full of vegan food. I even have two days off from work!

This will be heavenly. I'll have the complete freedom to watch what I want, eat when I'd like, and come and go as I please. It's a tiny thing, but so important.

I haven't had this level of independence and freedom since I got back from Guatemala. I know that it's just one of the tradeoffs of living back at home again, but it can be a little tough after awhile. I just never expected to be living with my parents while I worked at Walmart to pay off student loan interest. It sounds like an undergrad horror story---graduating in debt and without job prospects.

It's not that I don't love my parents. I do. They are incredible! My dad taught my sisters and I how to use power tools and change the brakes on the car, and then turned around and taught us how to cook and sew. He's a true Renaissance Man. My mom is a teacher up on a Native American Reservation, and is always helping out people in need, whether they be complete strangers or good friends. I remember her picking up hitchhikers a few times---once a family with two little boys whose car broke down on the side of a deserted highway, and once a twenty year old woman whose boyfriend pushed her out of the car at an intersection. If she knows of a family that's having a tough time financially, she'll find a discreet way to help them out.

Though I really love my family, it's been a difficult adjustment. I lived independently for so long, 1,500 miles and two countries away, that I grew used to having a little more space and freedom. Somehow, it's been a little difficult to accustom myself to answering where I'll be at any given time and when I'll get home at night. I love that they're concerned, but I need a little space, and their confidence that I won't do anything too crazy.

This is going to be a great week.

The Decades Reading Challenge

I'm about half done with the Decades Reading Challenge. So far I've finished "Fall of the House of Usher" from the 1830s, "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado" from the 1840s, and "Uncle Tom's Cabin" from the 1850s. I also read "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" from the 1890s and "The Hound of the Baskervilles" from the 1900s. "Life in the Iron Mill" was my 1860s book.

I am currently reading Frankenstein for my 1810s book. I'm listening to it on my ride to and from work, which makes the long drive just a little more bearable. I love audio books from the library!

I still need to read Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas de Quincey. This book from the 1820s is an ebook, and can be read online for free at Project Gutenberg. I also need to read The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne for my 1870s book, and Treasure Island or The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde for my book from the 1880s.

I still have a bit more reading to do, but nothing insurmountable. What are you reading now?