Saturday school

Goodbye, September. Seems like it just got here!

I noticed another "survey" on the adjunct break room whiteboard.

I also am enjoying the cooler temperatures. Today, I washed my capri pants to be stashed for the season. That will probably bring on a heat wave.

I had Saturday duty in the testing center today. It was a slower day than typical. I worked with Party Girl and got an update on Project Wig. 

She has ordered her wig. There is about a month-and-a-half lead time, so she should get it mid-November. Meanwhile, she has scheduled her haircut to coincide with wig arrival. I've only ever known Party Girl to have long straggly hair, so this will be different. Funny how much "power" our hair holds.

Other than that, we managed to keep ourselves busy. Party Girl also tutors on the side, so we each indulged in tasks for that in between our handful of testers.

Today is ["Tour de Corgi"], which I had to miss this year since I was at the slow testing center. Maybe that's the reason for the lull. Who wants to test on Corgi parade day?? I believe this weekend is also CSU homecoming/parent's weekend. Too many diversions.

cards and kitties

I had test center duty today with Kitty. Now, it's mid-afternoon, and I feel like just lazing about the house. It's grey and drizzly out, so good laze-about weather. Taking a cue from the cat.

Like me, Kitty is reducing her work hours in the testing center for this upcoming semester. Her daughter is now a toddler, and Kitty's parents are returning to their permanent home in another state after renting a place here for the past year to help with childcare. 

A week or so ago, Party Girl expressed her sadness about Kitty's situation. At first, it seemed to me that Party Girl was sad that Kitty had a daughter, and I thought that's not a sad thing. Kitty gushes over her daughter. 

But after clarification, Party Girl is sad for herself that Kitty is cutting her hours. She's not sad for Kitty, she's sad that Kitty won't be around as much

I too am sad not to work with Kitty as often as before, but was surprised about Party Girl's reaction. Despite her nickname - which she herself came up with - Party Girl is a very conscientious and thorough worker, dotting every I, crossing every T. She can be quite judgy of those who don't have her work ethic, even documenting transgressions for the bosses to sort through.

At first, Party Girl was quite judgy of Kitty because, truth be told, Kitty is the opposite of conscientious and thorough. Oh, and she'll probably show up about 10 minutes late for her shift. Every time.

But Kitty is just so dang likeable!

I mean, she's late 30's, laid back, doesn't seem particularly ambitious or goal driven. She has a bachelor's degree unrelated to the job, and I get the sense that she went to college for an experience/ adventure to enjoy, without a real end goal in mind. Now she's continuing to go wherever the flow takes her, in this case, with a toddler in tow.

Side note: we're pretty sure the daughter was a "surprise", the discovery of which prompted a shotgun wedding. In true Kitty fashion, all is seemingly going quite well. 

Today at work, I don't remember how the subject came up, but I mentioned that I'm familiarizing myself with tarot. I bought a deck a few weeks ago and have started to learn the cards. It's not the Woo Woo I'd thought it was, but a rather fun and interesting diversion.

"Oh yeah", acknowledged Kitty, "I took up reading tarot during the pandemic while living with my grandma. We got tired of doing jigsaw puzzles".

She went on to tell me she often does readings for her sisters and some friends. Apparently, they attribute high credibility to Kitty's readings, almost giving her "life coach" status, which feels a bit ironic to me.

But I have to admit, Kitty does always seem to land on her feet. 

bring the heat

Happy Sunday, y'all.  The start of my "weekend".

I'm happy to report that I've felt very little adverse effects from my second hit of the COVID vaccine.  Had some mild muscle soreness develop a little into the day after, but it was all gone by evening.  I'm actually glad I felt something, because otherwise I would have wondered if the thing was doing anything!

We were concerned at work because a number of us were scheduled to work the day after our shots, and we didn't know how each would respond.  For the most part, people felt mild "crappiness", but were able to work just fine.  Our boss was relieved as she'd struggled quite a bit the day after her second shot.

"I felt like butt", in her words

I did start receiving texts from one coworker early Friday morning, however:

So yeah, that particular coworker soldierly dragged herself in for about an hour and then went home to "vomit in peace" once we were able to establish coverage for her.  Any voodoo attempts apparently didn't work. 

I'm still fantasizing a getaway.  It doesn't even need to be a warm getaway, although that would be nice.  But I'd be happy with a trip to the mountains, maybe a sunny ski resort.  "Sunny" being the operative word.

Although I've spent most of my life in Colorado, I've not skied (I had to google to see if that's the correct spelling for past-tense of ski) a whole lot.  I didn't learn to ski until I was 19 and in college and actually got a P.E. credit for my efforts.  Then there were the university years when, who had money for lift tickets??

There was one season there when I wasn't a broke student and also had a boyfriend who liked to ski and take me along.  We would load up early on weekends and hit the slopes.  "Hit" being the operative word in my case.  But I was young and could easily bounce back, literally, from the many wipeouts.  

That was many years ago, and snowboarding wasn't a thing yet.  Now, I watch snowboarding and it looks like fun.  Back in the 70's, when skateboarding was in a heyday, we kids spent our days zipping around and I became relatively skilled myself.  I now have the front teeth crowns to show for it.  So I think I would have picked up snowboarding pretty easily.  Sometimes I'm tempted to give it a shot.  I wonder how it would feel all these years later?

Okay, then again, maybe I'll just count "survived my COVID vaccine" as this winter's physical accomplishment...

beyond words

"I want a life where I can grow old with you..."

He wanted to sit close to me at the beach and "watch the waves and the sounds of waters".  Can he see sound?  Oh, never mind.  It was all so romantic, even if biologically improbable.

"I want to be with you when the sun shines till it set..."

My lover and I met as many do.  We were matched together by the powers that be.  It was out of our control, really.

"I want to watch the rainbows with you and count the star with you..."

Hmmm... just count the one star?  Oh well, at least the rainbows are plural. 

"I just wish to have the best of love with you"

Gosh, me too.  Sadly, however, it wasn't meant to be.  Really, it ended almost as it was just starting.  I don't even know what happened.  We'd been getting along so well, we were so right for each other.  He would make a move, then I would respond perfectly, the tension building with neither of us knowing what the next encounter would bring.

Until... until...

Wha...?

Dude!  I'm just here to play Words With Friends.  And I actually prefer to play Words With Friends with strangers because the app does a good job of matching me with similarly skilled opponents.  And when I play with actual friends, I find I don't try as hard unless they're beating the crap out of me, so I'm just here to play Words With Friends with strangers!  I'm not here to grow old or count a star, etc.!

Plus, if you want me to go to the beach with you and watch the sounds of waters, I'd prefer you didn't have a bug-eyed cat as your profile pic... not that I'm that trusting of profile pics in general, but no bug-eyed cats, K?


...He was good at Words With Friends, though.  Damnit.

Good luck to him.

Maybe next time.

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Linking up with Mama Kat this week for the prompt:
1. Write a blog post that ends with the line: maybe next time.

white is the new black, and this has nothing to do with race relations

Today is Friday, but feels kinda like a Saturday, but not.  Everybody's got the day off and is home, but I had a test in my summer class this morning.  As soon as I finished the test, it felt like a holiday.

Wolfgang wanted to go to REI for a hydration pack.  He and some friends have been mountain biking a few times, and he deemed the hydration pack a necessity.  Yes, *sigh* Good Time Louie is back hanging out with the guys again.


So anyway, Magnum and I tagged along.  Not looking to buy anything, just an excuse to go somewhere.  Whoo, how fun are we?!

The shopping trip was a success.  Wolfgang got his hydration pack, which leaves me with a dividend for our REI membership.  I was just tagging along but ended up getting a summer running cap because the one I've been using is that one that Brooks gave me for my half birthday last year.

Then we were back home and I was fiddling with my webcam for the online tutor room, so play along. Compare and contrast...

On the left we have the Brooks hat... and what's wrong with this picture?

Actually, nothing is wrong with this picture.  It's a black hat.  Black is hot, and not in a good way.  I think I know why Brooks was giving these hats away, other than the specialness of my half birthday.


So, on the right, the new REI hat...

It's white and very cool, not necessarily in the cool way, just the temperature way.

And really, it wasn't that crucial a thing.  Just that there was a sale and I remembered my hot black half birthday hat, and then I remembered one of my mom's sayings whenever we went shopping but didn't really need anything.



"Well, it would be a shame to drive there and not  have anything to show for it".

So... what exciting things are YOU doing?


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