live long and prosper

I still think of it as "Mom's car". The car I've had since 2014, when my parents gifted it to me. This was probably a couple of years after Mom should not have been driving, but whatcha gonna do? By then, Mom's remaining days on earth were few, she'd finally given in.

 So I'd had Mom's 2000 Toyota for the last 10 years, and now it was time to rehome it.

I figured I'd sell it myself as the dealership where we just got our new funmobile likely wouldn't offer much in trade. I looked on Marketplace for comparable offerings, but really found none. Oh, there were plenty of old cars, all with around 200,000 miles. My car was old, but had less than 31,000. Nothing to compare it to!

So I winged it. I took a few glamour shots of her in the driveway, sure to include a real odometer reading, and put her out there.

As happens, there are weirdos out there. I figured I could weed out the scammers well enough. But the post went absolutely bananas. I'd done an online Carmax quote, then set my price at a few hundred dollars more. Cash only.

I've lost count of the number of inquiries I fielded in just the first hour. A few I knew were NOT scammers because they countered with shamefully low amounts. They were easy to slough off. Others were more persistent. 

One guy in particular sent me a photo of a grid of 100-dollar-bills laid out (on a bed?) - totalling the full amount I was asking. 

Sheesh, I thought. I wonder if this is what internet dating is like. D*ck pic analogy, anyone?

Finally, I marked it as "sale pending", just to slow the flow of inquiries. See, I wanted to screen potential buyers a bit. Many of them looked to be flippers who would just turn around and try to sell it for more. And that's FINE - in fact that's the Carmax business model - but I wanted to hold out for the just right. I took a moment and asked the universe (and Mom) for guidance. 

By late afternoon, I was ready to remove the listing and screw it, take it to Carmax. Just as I had that thought, my messenger pinged. It was one of the earlier, more promising inquiries. Here he was offering a few  hundred over what I was asking. 

Mom's little-old-lady car started an online bidding war?

In my exhaustion, I messaged back. "I just got home from work, I can meet anytime if you want to come look"

And he was on like Donkey Kong.

He lived about an hour away, and was out hiking just then. He said he'd head over once he got back to his car at the trailhead, make a quick stop at the ATM, and gather up all his cash.

And that's how the weird car sale day ended. We met him and his girlfriend (who lent him the last few hundred) at a nearby parking lot. They showed up in their hiking gear and bought Mom's car - about 10 hours after I'd posted it. He said he has a lifted SUV, great for the mountains, but has been struggling to find a good used economy beater car for getting around town.

Sold. 

Mr. hundred-dollar-bills pic expressed his sadness. It wasn't in the stars for him this time.

Right, Mom?

face appreciation?

I just found out that today is "Employee Appreciation Day".  Well... what does that mean?  

It so happens that I have the day off from work today.  They tryna tell me something?

Actually, our boss is pretty good about showing the appreciation for us underlings.  Especially this semester, with the increased COVID requirements, some days can be a b*tch.  I don't think we've had one day go by without incident of someone being turned away for lack of proof of either vaccination or recent negative test.  

The students aren't a problem, but we also serve non-students who are unaware of the requirements.  Sure, it's spelled out in their appointment confirmation emails, but who reads that stuff??  Not everyone, it turns out.

Really, though, it's gone relatively smoothly.  Most people have been nice about it and able to come back later with the goods.  One notable exception is a guy who had an absolute hissy fit, made a bit of a scene with security, then broke a door on his way out.  His exam certification had to do with physical training, and we highly suspect a bit of roid rage was going on.  He's not allowed to come back.

Too bad for him because *HOORAY* the powers that be told us that the mandates are being lifted after next week.  No more required proof of vaccination/ negative test.  Masks won't even be required anymore.

This because our county and those of other branches of the college have moved into "low risk of community transmission".  The major state universities have already stopped their mandates this week. Case numbers and hospitalizations have significantly dropped, so time to move on.  

All good news, of course.  

But it will be weird to see the naked faces at work again...

and to be a naked face.  

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

4. Write a blog post inspired by the word: stop.

the world is gonna roll me

It was a dark and stormy night...

No, wait.  I think it was an afternoon.  Slightly overcast.

Anyhoo, this was way back in the college undergrad days so... 30-something-ish years ago?  I lived off campus and typically rode my bicycle to and from.  I was heading home after another day of classes and was still on campus, going past the law building.

I was pedaling on this little stretch, and there was a BMW something or other heading in my direction, going pretty slow - maybe about 10 mph.  Then, just as we're about to pass and then never see each other again, the woman in the BMW turns that hunk of metal and rubber left RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME.  

Next thing I knew, my front wheel hit near her passenger side headlight and I was soon no longer on my bicycle, but floating ever so gracefully toward her windshield.  Since I was much younger and suppler then and aware of The Matrix, I managed to slow time and do a quick little herkie-doo

Uhm, actually no.  I mean FAT CHANCE of THAT!  What followed was the much more expected

minus the dinosaur onesie.

I was wearing, however, my backpack laden with a hardcover textbook or two, hence it took the brunt of the impact.  Next I knew, I was sitting on the ground while other students scurried to my assistance and a frantic woman exited the BMW.

I remember one bystander in particular, a youngish guy with dark hair.  

"I saw everything!  I'll be a witness! Here, I'll write down the license number!"

Did I mention this was near the law building?

But really, I do appreciate the speed at which people came to check on me.  Actually, though, I was not hurt.  the MOST freaked out person on the scene was clearly the driver of the BMW.  Middle aged woman, looking for the law library, and kind of, 

"oh, there it is" *turn*CRASH!*

She took me and my injured bicycle back to my apartment, gave me her contact information and money to cover all repairs.  And that was that - the episode had a brief life as a short story to tell my friends.  

These days, it might have become a viral video or gif to live on in infamy.

Ain't that the truth, Martha? 
Clearly, I was ahead of my time.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

1. Write a blog post about a time you were in a car accident.

fools rush in

I was working at the hospital yesterday when Chris, a coworker, entered the kitchen looking rather panicked.

"[Boss], I'm so sorry.  I delivered a tray to a patient and tripped on the cart.  I spilled hot coffee all over the guy"

And we were all thinking, Tripped?  What?  Hot coffee?  Whaaaaat? Poor dude's already in the hospital, and now you've burned him too?! Just because everyone's thinking about COVID-19 doesn't mean we can forget about everything else!

All that thinking happened in about a half second along with the manager's heart momentarily stopping before Chris said,

"April Fools!"

Ack, that guy!

Just because everyone's thinking about COVID-19 doesn't mean we can forget to prank each other.




I'm glad to still be working outside of the house, not only for the pay, but for the human contact.  I wonder about the lasting effects of social distancing.  Yes, we have Skype and Zoom and Facetime, etc.  Still doesn't seem like quite the same.





Another coworker is Marty, a line cook.  He has the habit of using the f-word on a regular basis in everyday conversation.  He doesn't use it in anger.  In fact, he's a very relaxed and courteous person who is actually quite articulate otherwise.  It's become rather comical the way he'll drop an f-bomb while talking about most any topic.

He's also a fellow bicycle commuter.  Yesterday, I pulled up to the bike rack and didn't see Marty's bike.  But I instantly noticed a beautiful all black road bike, all tricked out for commuting.  I hadn't seen it before and wondered whose it was.  Almost took a photo for the facebook commuter group, it was so pretty.

Lo and behold, Marty was working yesterday.  He asked if I'd biked in, and I said, "Yep... is that your black Specialized in the bike rack?"

"Yeah", he replied as if hoping I would've noticed it. He went on to gush a bit about the bike and his ride in that morning.  All the while, I noticed in the back of my head that he had yet to drop an f-bomb.  Hmmm... maybe when he gets to talking about certain topics...

"...so I said yeah, f**k it, I'll buy it", he concluded.

Then again, maybe familiarity is a good thing during this time too.


If isolated from work or scheduled group activities, what are you missing most?

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
4. Share something that made you laugh this week.

Abby's fish delivery

I mentioned a while back about re-homing Meego's fire-bellied toads.  That was actually a pretty easy task.  I was a bit surprised at the number of legit people clamoring to take in those little cuties.  But... what about my fish?

I got a bargain deal on an aquarium and all the fixings on last year's Black Friday.  Remember?

Here we are, nearly a year later, and we're moving.  What to do with my fish?  I only had three from the original 5 or so I stocked.  One Guppy, one Platy, and one little Plecostomus.  The Guppy and Platy aren't much to write home about.  Inexpensive, easy to care for, yeah.  They were just to have something moving around in the aquarium.  The little Clown Plecostomus was the most valuable of the three, but not a big deal.

Still, I didn't like the idea of just smothering them.  I was hoping they would peacefully and conveniently "go to the light" any day, but they didn't seem to heeding my subliminal prompting.  So I put the word out online that they were looking for a home - someone with an established freshwater tank.  They even posed for pics

I got one interested email.  He asked me about them, I answered.  Two days later, he asked something else, I answered.  Two days after that, he asked if I could bring them to him.

I scooped them up and headed to the address provided, hoping the likelihood was slim that "Ed" was really a twisted murderer that would add my name to some future True Crime story. 

Thankfully, that turned out to be true.  Ed was a nice humble guy with a B-E-A-Utiful fish tank.  It had to be at least a pristine 100 gallons. 

I'd planned to just hand the fish over to Ed from his porch, but his house was rather smallish, and the fish tank was right in the front room, so yeah, I took a couple steps inside.  In fact, I would've liked to gawk at his tank a little longer, but I had a tutee appointment approaching.

Ed took my small relish jar/ fish transport and said,

"They're kinda little!"

and added,

"They might get eaten!"

I looked again at Ed's beautiful tank and noticed the great size of the beautiful fish meandering about, and I said,

"Yep!"

Now, I did include the size of the fish in my re-homing ad, but maybe Ed hadn't paid attention.  Or maybe he had and he was really looking for fish food.

I think the little Pleco will be fine as they like to find little caves to spend most of their time in, and Ed's aquascape provided ample hiding places.  The Guppy and Platy however...

If they did, in fact, become fish lunch at Ed's, I'm okay with that.  Circle of life and all.  They didn't go to waste, and I think they were nearing the end of their lives anyway.  

And I'm still thinking about how lovely Ed's tank was.  I'm inspired for when I'm able to set up another aquarium.  It was truly stunning for those who are into such things.  I might even say it's...

to die for.

Silver Liningness

For many Sundays, I used to blog "Silver Liningness Sunday" posts, serving as a recap of the week and being thankful.  Maybe I should fire that up again, at least occasionally.  This week had some rough patches, but they were balanced with good parts.  And it could definitely be worse, it can always be worse.

Our manager announced that her managers are transferring her to a different crew next year.  She doesn't want to go, but wasn't given a choice.  Right away, a few of my coworkers assumed the worse:  that our new manager will be a bitch, even though he/she hasn't been hired yet.  I found it interesting to see different people's reactions to change

While I'm sad to see our manager go - she really is a pleasure to work for - I'm not fretting about who the next boss will be.  Maybe it's because this part-time lunch lady gig is just a stepping stone for me.  It's a way to make some contacts and move away from the field of education to that of operations and supervision.

And silver lining:  the schedule is ideal, and I believe my "fan base" has grown as I've have managed to improve a few things.

In related news, a large and heavy freezer cart tried to crush and kill me this week.  I managed to stop it, however.  Mostly with my face.

Silver lining:  I guess my time at the gym is paying off, plus I'm sporting some new eyeglass frames 😎.

Meego and the winter percussion group had state competition yesterday.  They did not medal despite a solid performance.  In fact, the judging was so weird, it's almost as if there were outside factors involved in the scoring (conspiracy!).

Honestly, I'm usually in agreement with the judging, win or no, but this year was way off.  Enough to where there was a lot of...

... going around.

Silver lining:  The kids had a fun season and made lasting memories while greatly increasing their skills.  And the audience clearly enjoyed the show.  Onto the next thing!

All in all, a good week.

And I'm curious, do you fear change?

Sound

Have you been to that new restaurant on the moon?

I've heard the food's great, but there's no atmosphere...

Muahahahahaha!

Yeah, okay, sorry.  This week's prompt for Illustration Friday is "sound".  It's commonly noted that there is no sound in space.  But really, it's more correct to say that there's no sound that human's can detect.

Sound waves need some sort of medium to travel through, and the pressure they create travels to our eardrums.  In space, there isn't enough "medium" to create enough pressure for our ears.  Does that mean there's no sound?  Ouch, my head hurts...

Here on earth, I have a friend who teaches art at our local school for the deaf and blind.  She asked her deaf students to depict, in a drawing, an aspect of their lives where their deafness makes them feel different.

I saw some of the drawings, they were quite interesting.  Some were kind of sad, indicating bullying or loneliness.  But most were actually quite nice, showing a calmness and maybe a bit of freedom from noise.

The drawing I remember the most was done by a teenage girl.  She drew her family - all of whom can hear fine other than her - sitting at the dinner table.  Everyone was drawn in grey, including their food and silverware, with little detail.  But the girl drew herself vividly, with bright colors and vibrant designs on her clothing.  Her food, plate, and silverware were rich with colors and details.

She told my friend that she felt kind of bad for her family members because they couldn't see the world the way she did, encumbered as they were with all of that pesky sound.

It was a great drawing.

Oh, and my family returned to cold Colorado last night.  They had a nice time.  Everyone's back.  Safe and sound.
.

what's your name?

I remember seeing Fabio on a talk show once.  Might have been Ellen, and Ellen asked, "Just what is your job title?"

"Fabio", he answered.

"No really", Ellen continued, "when you do your taxes, what do you write in the box for 'occupation'?"

"Fabio".








Do you like your job title?  Do you think it adequately describes what you do?

I belong to a few tutoring discussion groups, and this came up recently in one of them.  Someone thought that "tutor" had a stigma attached to it.  He felt something more like "Personalized Learning Consultant" or "In Person Instructor (IPI)"  would be more appropriate.

At first, I thought surely he was joking.

But then, no.  I think he was actually serious.  I was glad to see most of the replies indicate that they were fine with the title of "tutor".  Some starting out with phrasing like, "I don't know what it's like where you live, but..." or "What's in a name?"  One guy, who is a bit of a group clown, replied, "Wizard".

To me, having some high-falutin' adjective-adjective-noun job title gives the impression that the title holder is trying to overcompensate for something.

I used to be an "Instructional Paraprofessional", but I sure felt more like a "teacher's aid".  Either way, it was the worst and most boring job I ever had.  Sounded good, though, no?

And for the record, I'm quite satisfied with "Crossing Guard", although if I were in the UK, I would get to be a "Lollypop Lady", and that would be awesome!

Looking for a fresh title?  Go [here].    

Then there's [this article] that makes me wonder, "really??"

.

wet clean up

A couple of days ago, I was grocery shopping.  The cashier cried.

No, she really cried.  It was rather awkward. 

Now, this is the grocery store I typically go to.  I'm not on a first name basis with this cashier or anything, but I've certainly seen her there before, and I think it's safe to say she could pick me out of a line-up quite readily.  She's good - efficient, competent, seems to be well-liked by co-workers.  She also has a bit of a tough look about her.  She's no butch, but suffice to say that if  we were in a bar fight, I'd rather she was on my side than the other.

But, I also sense that she's not the type to hide her emotions which makes the crying thing not all that strange, but still a little strange.  I was just there at the ready with my credit card as she was scanning my purchases.  A manager walked by and simply asked the Tough Cashier how much longer her shift was, to which TC replied, "that remains to be seen" with a bit of flair to the nostrils.

This seemed to take the manager a bit aback, but Miss Manager seemed to sense that this was a now-is-not-a-good-time moment.  She simply paused and said, "okay", and walked away, leaving me there with the now watery-eyed Tough Cashier.

The watery-eyes became full-puddled-eyes accompanied by flush-face and a bit of sniffle-nose.  She would briefly compose herself, then the puddles would return.  Never all out bawling, but enough to show that it wasn't allergies.  A friend recently remarked to me how uncomfortable she is when someone cries in front of her.  I thought, it's not such a bad thing, but this was pretty uncomfortable.

What would you do?  I didn't know what to do.  Say something in condolence?  I had no idea what she was upset about.  She just continued about my groceries:  "Want your milk in a bag *sniffle*?", etc...  I thought to ask if she was okay, but then that seemed like  a stupid question.

When it was over, I just smiled, gently took my receipt, and genuinely thanked her for doing her job.  Later that afternoon, a cloudburst broke out just in time for my crossing guard duty. 

I guess it was just a water theme day.
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