Here I am, up in the morning again. Jen took Nate to his "laser dentist" appointment a little over an hour ago. The Dickens is in the front room watching "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (the last time she saw it, she grabbed a handful of diaper muffins and was found in the kitchen proclaiming "gockolate!"). I am definitely going back to bed when Jen and Nate return. Oh yeah, and Lexy is still asleep, no doubt worn out by yesterday's Harry Potter marathon.

Jen and I, accompanied by a sleeping Willow, went and saw "28 Days Later" yesterday, which proved to be a lot of fun (although afterward Jen noted that her muscles hurt from the strain of being tensed up for the duration of the movie). The film is a worthwhile homage to Romero's lovely zombie trilogy, containing elements of all three of those films, and adding a few new twists (running zombies!?!!!). I've always loved films that depict deserted cities (especially if they're major cities like London). I've always liked ghost towns too. How long does it take things to fall apart if everybody leaves? One good touch in the film was the burning skyline of Manchester, and the comment of one of the characters, who observed that there were, "no fire crews to put it out." Without people a city becomes like an old beehive empty of bees, hanging on a branch or inside a forgotten wall - just one more artifact of something that was, to one day be discovered by people who care about that sort of thing (entomologists or archeologists...). Maybe this train of thought could give us insight into how beings from the distant future would view us if they were to come upon all of our... well, all of our stuff. And just how long would it take for the plants to split up the concrete and asphalt? How long would it take the leaves to blanket the buildings? How long would it take for the moisture to rust the metal? What kind of animals would move into our vacated homes? When would the last Twinkie finally biodegrade? I'm not sure if I'm doing a good job of conveying this fascination of mine or not. Perhaps I'll try again another time.

cds I listened to while back on my elongated nocturnal schedule: Ennio Morricone "The Thing" soundtrack, Strafe F.R. "Ochsle - Bad People Have No Songs" and "Pianoguitar", and Somtow Sucharitkul "Kaki" (you gotta love a person who has both "horror novels" and "ballets" in his resume)

I passed a sign on the way to camp this morning that said, "Hug yard sale!". What strange things the yuppies do... It sounds friendly though.

The last day of the Habitat Hunt camp went by in a flash. We saw a puppet show, ate our snacks, and caught crayfish. Then we rushed back just in time for the parents to arrive. Like last week, one kid brought me a home made card. I like that.

And now for the weekend...

cds I listened to while cursing the elevated temperatures: Paul Chain "Relative Tapes on cd vol. 7", Strafe fur Rebellion "Lufthunger" and "Moor", and Simon Boswell "Hardware" soundtrack

Today we met a Great Horned Owl. He is a rescued animal, and can't fly due to a wing injury sustained during a sudden confrontation with an automobile. He seems resigned to his new semi-diurnal schedule (as am I, I guess...) and stared impassively from his perch as small children looked up at him. He didn't seem to notice as bits from other less fortunate owls were passed through the crowd. The kids took turns holding an owl foot and an owl skull, often forgetting to pass the foot along stump first (so the talons wouldn't poke anybody). The skull smelt of mothballs.
It gives me an idea for a story...

It is hot today (as it was yesterday) and I'm looking forward to the promised drop in temperatures over the next couple of days. We ate lunch within the grove of trees that Jen and I got married under. I like that. We also got to watch a Fence lizard hunting for and eating some miniscule bugs in the dirt outside the restrooms. It's not often you get to watch animals hunting (okay, so it wasn't exactly a lion or tiger, but that's life...).
After tomorrow, I get a week off from camp. I wonder if I'll get up early anyway. Probably not.

cds I listened to while hoping the temperature would drop: Paul Chain "Relative Tapes on CD, vol. 4, 5, and 6"

I sang and rocked Willow to sleep for the first time yesterday. Usually she needs a draught of warm milk to do the trick, but she's at the age now where she responds to other things as well. She kept closing her eyes and opening them again, as if fighting sleep, but finally she dosed off... There's not much better than that - seeing her respond to gentleness.

Camp continues - the kids were a little harder to settle down today. I brought one of those portable misters along to help cool them down (and to illustrate ideal Redwood tree conditions...) and it proved to be very popular. We did leaf rubbings and spent more time with critters. We got to march past a hapless Wood rat who, sometime overnight, had been struck down in the act of crossing the road. One of the girls thought it was sad. Several others thought it was gross. That didn't stop anybody from playing with the taxidermied rat later on. It is kind of soft and, truth be told, shaped a little like a football (excepting the tail, of course.). At least nobody actually threw it.

Here's a funny mangled english story, courtesy of one of my co-workers: He was talking about his bankrupcy, and mentioned that Nordstrom's had taken him to court because they were "detesting" it (maxed out Nordstrom's card, I assume). I piped up and asked him if he planned to plead "no contest", but he didn't get the hint.

cds I listened to while throwing out the news: Paul Chain "Relative Tapes on cd, vol. 1, 2, and 3"

I watched the kids all day so Jen could be at the hospital. Nathan was a handful, and so was The Dickens. Lexy mostly just gloated about how much better he was behaving than the other two. The Dickens now knows how to turn door handles (and also how to pull a chair up to the kitchen counter so she can yank all the knobs off of the stove). On one of her handle turning expeditions into the bathroom, she decided she wanted to brush her teeth. While she was so engaged, Lexy came in to pee. The Dickens, seeing this, flung the toothbrush into the toilet. It turned out that this was Lexy's favorite toothbrush. In his agitated state, Lexy flushed the toilet and the toothbrush swirled out of sight. Later, it came back up. Nobody is going to use it to brush their teeth.

At the hospital last week, during a quiet moment, I thought I heard a frog. Last night I dreamed that Jen and I were visiting a frog in the N.I.C.U. It was a small, green treefrog with an orange belly. I wondered what he was doing in the N.I.C.U. since he obviously wasn't an infant. He also seemed pretty healthy.
I also dreamed that Jen and I had another wedding. It was outside again, but we weren't dressed up.

A few nights ago I dreamed that some trashy newspaper had printed a propaganda article about how evil the Iraqis are. It stated that they flayed their enemies but kept them alive by placing them in clear plastic suits. I could see pictures of skinless people with lidless eyes and lipless mouths walking around in agony as their tormentors laughed. I somehow knew that it was all made up by the U.S. government to make their war preparations look more necessary, but I still wondered where they had gotten the pictures. Were they airbrushed, or doctored in some other way?

cds I listened to while relaxing at work: Forrest Fang "The Blind Messenger", Lustmord "The Monstrous Soul", Madredeus "Ainda", Stikky "Spamthology Volume 1", and Magma "Retrospektiw I - II"

now: Unblocked disc 1 - Eastern Voices, Northern Shores

I find it hard to remember my pre-YSI work schedule now. It's funny how quickly a long held routine, once abandoned, becomes like a dream of a past life. I think that routines, by their nature, are meant to be forgotten like this. A routine is something we do with very little thought. They're the skeletal systems of our lives, existing underneath the surface and causing very little excitement. We always remember when the routines are broken, but have no need to remember them when they are serving their function.

I haven't worked at YSI long enough for it to become routine. The fact that I have a different bunch of kids every week keeps me on my toes. This week's group continues to be relatively easy to manage, although the most energetic hiker often has to be reined in so that the tired younger kids can keep up. In the end we all get where we are going though. The girl who got stung yesterday was understandably reluctant to venture back into the visitor's center, but decided to join us when I got the Gopher snake out.
We also let a newt go in the pond, which was a lot easier to do than reaching into the murk to catch the slippery little rapscallion first thing in the morning. The newts now all cluster out in the middle of the pond, as if they know it's summer camp time.

cds I listened to while fighting off a cold: Eduard Artemiev "Zerkalo (Mirror)/Stalker" soundtrack (more bootleg Tarkovsky), Green Crown "Washed in Her Blood", and Strafe Fur Rebellion "Vogel" (with umlauts that I can't include because I don't know how to - luddite me...)

this week I have fewer children, and they are younger than last week's camp. There are 6 boys and 3 girls. Being preschoolers, they can't hike as far as the kindergarteners and first graders. We stayed pretty close to the center, scrutinizing trees, gopher holes, and piles of poop. We are supposed to be learning about habitat, and perhaps by the end of the week some of the kids will remember what "habitat" means. So far, this group seems to enjoy the visitor's center the most, as opposed to last week's group, who only wanted to hike and hike (when they weren't running around in frenzied circles). Of course, the little girl who got stung by a bee today inside the visitor's center has probably formed a different opinion. Other than that, I think today was a much better first camp day than the chaotic one I had last week. I'm beginning to learn where everything is.

This weekend we managed to clean a good portion of the house, and it really helps lower stress levels when we can find things immediately rather than having to dig for them. The boys are once again promising to keep the playroom clean for more than a day. Maybe they'll actually do it this time.

I think I'm getting used to getting up in the morning, although I was pretty tired over the weekend. I actually got up at nine on saturday without the aid of an alarm. Sometimes I feel like I have jet-lag. But, darn it! I haven't even flown anywhere! No fair!

cds I listened to while driving though the faceless miles and miles of suburban sprawl: Stone Breath "Lanterna Lucis Viriditatis", Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov "Andrey Rublyov" soundtrack, Eduard Artemiev "Solaris" soundtrack (japanese bootlegs of Tarkovsky soundtracks), and The Spectral Light & Moonshine Firefly Snakeoil Jamboree "Scarecrow Stuffing"

One week of camp down, seven to go. We caught a couple of crayfish, a newt, and more millipedes today. One of the kids brought me a handmade thank you card, and another brought a Black Widow in a jar. We spent a lot of time around the ponds and down by the creek. Right now I should be preparing for next week, but instead I'm sitting here typing...

There's a little container in the visitor's center with a Brown Recluse inside, just so people can see what it looks like. They don't live in this area, but I have heard reports of people who claim to have been bitten by them. From what I've read on the subject, there are other things (types of infections, etc.) that are often misdiagnosed as Recluse bites, but there has been no conclusive proof of local Recluses. That said, the spider I picked off the porch at YSI a couple of days previously looked really similar to the little dried one in the container. It must have been a cousin...

Yesterday at the park, while I was sitting with The Dickens, a woman walked up to me and compimented her, as people often do. The Dickens loudly lectured the woman and told her to go away. That's why we call her The Dickens.

cds I listened to while pondering spiders: Stone Breath "Songs of Moonlight and Rain" and "A Silver Thread to Weave the Seasons", and Roy Harper "Born in Captivity/Work of Heart"

We navigated our way through the exciting world of spiders today, stopping on the way to scrutinize the skinks and toads. The skink was in the garden behind the shed, and the toad lives inside a comfy cage in the visitor's center. The latter took exception to being handed around the circle of small children and let loose his frustration in a steady stream of toad water (water that's inside a toad) that spattered my socks and puddled on the floor. The kids all thought it was the coolest thing they'd ever seen - even cooler than the Desert tarantula, vinegaroon, Sun spider, and the variety of phosphorescing scorpions I set before them. Of course, one must remember that any incident involving pee and/or poop is always popular with the young, as long as it only gets on the adults.

Several of the kids know a lot about bugs already. Two of them brought their own bug books to camp. Several other children start wanting to eat their lunch/snack after only being at camp for forty five minutes or so, but all claim to have had breakfast. If they could, they would do everything at a run. If we could harness their energy the world's power supply problems would be solved.

Tomorrow we explore the creek and the ponds and see the play that the Nature's Drama camp has been working on.

cds I listened to while being glad I took a short nap yesterday: SPK "Auto Da Fe", Steroid Maximus "Gondwanaland", Stoa "Porta VIII" and "Urthona", and "The Baby of Macon" soundtrack

Okay, now you should be able to see the picture I tried to post several days ago.

The first week of camp is half over. I only have two more days with this group of kids, which means I'll just be starting to get to know them when they'll be replaced by next weeks (even younger) campers. This group really likes to run and does so at every opportunity. Today we went on a longer hike and ate lunch in the woods near an old tree stump left over from the days when the area was still being logged. Apparently this particular tree, while being cut by one of those old-timey two person saws, fell the wrong way and took out some of the loggers. you can still see the relatively clear swath of forest where it fell. Back then the trees had to do that kind of thing once in awhile. There was no Earth First! to speak for them yet.
While eating, we saw a doe wander through the forest, browsing as she went. On the way back I found an Ensatina under a board. We also got to look at a bunch of little Turret spider homes and a Banana slug.
Inside the visitor's center, we held the Walking sticks, Jerusalem cricket, and some giant Millipedes. We even got out the old one-eyed King snake, who had lost an eye due to infection.

cds I listened to while planning the arachnid day: Simon Fisher Turner "Blue" soundtrack, Sorrow "Under the Yew Possessed" and "Sleep Now Forever", Gillian Welch "Soul Journey", v/a "The Final Solstice" (all groups featuring Rose McDowall), and Spell "Seasons in the Sun" and "Big Red Balloon"

Day two of camp has come and gone. I learned from day one that it would be a good idea to do my best to wear the campers out early so they'd settle down for the more sedentary activities. We did a metamorphosis relay race which proved to be just another excuse to run in ever widening circles. Then we went on a hike and turned over logs, finding a variety of millipedes and a fat spider who had recently eaten the better part of a caterpillar. Like yesterday, the kids started getting hungry before 10 am. It turns out that at least some of them hadn't eaten breakfast. Come on parents! Don't you know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day?
I used a variety of tricks to get them to pay attention. My favorite was telling them to pretend to be bugs, so that whenever they heard me do a bird call on my nose flute it meant that they had to be still and silent in order to escape getting eaten by the "bird". It kind of worked. Nothing is ever totally effective when you're dealing with kindergarteners.
Later, we made butterflies out of coffee filters and clothespins, using colored markers and water to good effect. While these were drying, we went inside and the kids got to hold Bess bugs, Mealworms, and Hissing cockroaches. A few of the children decided that they would rather just look. Later, I discovered that YSI has an overabundance of Hissing cockroaches, so I brought some home. Jen will be pleased.

cds I listened to while driving a little faster and getting home a lot earlier: Lech Jankowski "Institute Benjamenta" soundtrack, Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows "Songs From the Inverted Womb", Spasm "Meating Disorder Three Point Turn", Nina Nastasia "Run to Run", and Sorrow "Let There Be Thorns"

Here's another Photo taken up north. In this picture, we can be seen checking out one of the local dwellings. It proved to be a bit too rustic for us.

The first day of science camp held no surprises. I actually managed to be awake and more-or-less alert at the previously unheard-of hour of 7:00 am. I arrived at the park early, but then again so did most of the kids. We hiked and caught bugs, including a pill bug that was carrying babies. I'd never seen baby pill bugs before - they're about the size of mites. Oh, I caught a newt too, but then again I always catch newts. Tomorrow we invade the visitors center and hold bugs from the impressive collection on display there. The kids, being kindergarteners and first graders, were all quite active. I've got to make sure to keep their incessant talking in check.

The day before, while Jen, Willow, and I were going out for Father's Day breakfast, we saw somebody crash into and knock over a stoplight - or, to be more accurate, we heard the light hit the asphalt and quickly turned our heads to see the aftermath. Apparently a teenaged driver had switched lanes without looking and had forced a van off the road. Luckily nobody was hurt. This all happened right down the street from where somebody plowed right over a new crosswalk sign a few months ago. Maybe it's a conspiracy.

cds I listened to while getting home in half the time: Godzilla soundtrack (details in Japanese. Sorry), Zbigniew Preisner "At Play in the Fields of the Lord" soundtrack, Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows "Dead Lovers' Sarabande (face two)", and Frifot "Sluring"

Sometimes I think life is like a time-lapse film. A lot of the frames are missing, given over to routine tasks and tedious obligations, leaving the few memorable events engraved in your memory for later viewing. If the lapses get too long, you can suddenly find yourself in the middle of next week without knowing quite how you got there. It seems to me that the older we get, the quicker everything is left in our wakes. I think this also applies to level of activity. The busier I am, the faster everything seems to go. Do things keep accelerating as we get older? All evidence points to "yes". Ah, well... Our eternities are but moments, and our children's moments are eternities... The wait my younger self experienced between the beginning of December and Christmas seemed longer than the last few years have.

Monday I dive headlong into my new schedule. Maybe the newness of it all will slow things down for a time. The routines will all change, at least.

cds I listened to while wondering whether to speed up or slow down: Devendra Banhart "The Black Babies (UK)", Howard Shore "Symphonic suites from the films of David Cronenberg - Dead Ringers, Scanners, and The Brood", Godzilla soundtrack compilation (all in Japanese, so details elude me), Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows "Voyager: the Jugglers of Jusa", and The Decemberists "Castaways and Cutouts"

Oh the fickleness of the young...

Jen left to go get Lexy this afternoon, leaving Nate home with me because one of the car seats was still drying after yesterday's puking incident. Nate was extremely unhappy to be left behind, screaming "I want my mommy! I want my mommy" until she was out of earshot. At this point his screams abruptly changed to "...oh, I mean I want to watch giant monster movies!" I put in a Godzilla movie, but Nate didn't like it, explaining, "it's even black and whiterer than the other one." I put in a more recent Godzilla movie, in full color. That solved the problem. It's always important to have a good selection of japanese giant monster movies in the house.

In the afternoon, I found myself at Sanborn park, which is where we were married last october. This time I was getting trained for my YSI job. I discovered that they have a great selection of bugs in the visitor center, and some good hiking trails. I have a feeling that when I actually start teaching the science camps that my blogging time will have to be cut down in the interest of getting enough sleep. We shall see.

I got pulled over tonight for "running a stoplight." I figured I'd get a ticket for that one, even though what I actually did was not come to a full stop while making a right turn against the red. I ended up not getting a ticket. My luck is holding.

cds I listened to while running stoplights: Patti Smith "Peace and Noise" and "Gung-Ho", Sofa "Grey", Sopor Aeternus "s/t" and "Todeswunsch", and Georges Delerue "Black Robe" soundtrack

I'm feeling lazy tonight, so here's 2000 words worth of pictures:



Nate had surgery on his eye today in order to bring it back in line with the other one. It went as well as could be expected, although it was hard on him. Jen will fill you in on the details, since she was there with him. I picked him up a "surgery consolation" toy on the way home from my YSI trail training (actually, I ended up getting something for everybody).

cds I listened to while motoring around in the dimness: Patti Smith "Wave", "Easter", and "Gone Again", Myshkin's Ruby Warblers "Rosebud Bullets", Mychael Danna "Exotica" soundtrack, and Six Organs of Admittance "s/t"

It's a bit cooler this week. The night skies are overcast and leaves skitter across parking lots. I much prefer this to last week's hot, sticky weather. Let's hope it stays this way for awhile.

I made a rookie move sometime over the last day or so. I didn't notice it until this afternoon. The latch on top of the snake cages had been pushed down incorrectly, and the cage top had slid open a fraction of an inch. That was all that was needed. I put down my soda, got my flashlight, and started looking for the Rat snake. I didn't find him. When Jen got home with the boys, she was not happy with the news. The boys weren't either. They love watching videos of large reptiles stomping cities, but when small reptiles are loose in the house, it makes them nervous. I shrugged and went back to looking.
It wasn't until hours later, when we had just gotten home from the grocery store, that Jen came running up to me with the news that she had found the snake. There he was, inspecting my cd collection, and acting as if he hadn't a care in the world. I picked him up and put him back in his cage, ignoring his protests. It's properly latched now.

Earlier, while I was in the kitchen, I heard The Dickens exclaim, "eeeeeww!", from the other room. I went in and discovered that she had removed her diaper and was holding it up for inspection. The sounds of disgust she was making were aimed at the solitary poo that rested within. I gently took it from her and prepared to dispose of it. She got upset with me and demanded to, "see poopoo." Being kind-hearted, I allowed her to accompany me to the bathroom. Jen joined us there, and we had a solemn viking funeral for the poopoo, sending it swirling into the watery darkness.

cds I listened to while remembering that you can't almost latch a cage: Kendra Smith "Five ways of Disappearing", Patti Smith "Dream of Life", "Horses", and "Radio Ethiopia", Pharaoh Overlord "II", and Mychael Danna "Kama Sutra" soundtrack

Well, okay - One more week of working the same old hours at night. The YSI training during the upcoming week is in the afternoons, so I can work late into the night and not have to worry about setting my alarm. I do have to start putting together a curriculum for the bug camp I'm teaching next week. I have a kit full of crafts and games to choose from, not to mention my own store of bugs and things related. It feels good to be turning my attention to something new, even though in some ways it's the same kind of thing I've been doing all along. The main difference is that I'm more in charge of setting up the curriculum.
My training this week seems like it will mainly consist of learning the trails at the two parks where I will be teaching. That should be fun - it sounds like I'm going to get paid for hiking.

This weekend flew by. I had the teachers' meeting at YSI on friday, where I was fed too much information to digest all at once. It's a good thing they handed me lots of printed information to digest at my leisure. Friday night Jen and I sat down and watched a movie (on video) for the first time in awhile - Bela Tarr's Almanac of Fall, which was lit like an Argento film (both lighting and set design reminded me of Inferno) but veered more towards Tarkovsky in general tone and subject matter. Think grim, with odd touches of humor here and there. Saturday M. and I went up to the city to see Heaven's Radio, which was billed as an "absurdist Butoh play" and definitely lived up to its billing. It featured lots of great music by some of the more talented locals. That night Jen and I watched yet another movie - this time Skins, which is based on a book by Adrian C. Louis and stars Graham Greene (one of the few actors whose presence in a film will tip the balance for me when I'm deciding whether or not to see it). The short version of the synopsis is that it's about two brothers who live on the Pine Ridge reservation; one is a cop and the other is an alcoholic. Trouble ensues. Two movies in one weekend. I can't believe it!
Today we just puttered around town doing little things that needed to be done and drinking frozen chai drinks.

cds I listened to while still having two routes: Sky Cries Mary "Fresh Fruits for the Liberation", Hana "s/t" and "Omen", Azadi! - a benefit compilation for the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, and Slap Happy Humphrey "s/t"

Here's some pictures from the Portland trip.



This was in the middle of our nineteen hour drive up the coast, in a field next to a little deli with a better than usual selection of comestibles. No snakes were harmed in the creation of these pictures.

Today was the last day of my accustomed work schedule. I'm only going to be working every other saturday at the museum for at least a couple of months - and that doesn't even start until July. Sunday night I will only have one paper route, even though they seem determined to give the other one back to me after YSI is over and done with. Can't they see I'm trying to segue my way into some sort of alternate employment? Is it too much to ask for a job that: 1) interests me, 2) has health benefits, and 3) pays well enough to live on in an admittedly expensive area? I'm probably dreaming, but everything starts with dreams...

At home, Willow discovered that there's a baby inside every mirror in the house. She's not sure what to make of this new revelation. The Dickens discovered that no matter how much she screams, sometimes adults' arms just can't take the strain of repeatedly tossing her up in the air.

cds I listened to while realizing that jobs as we know them sometimes change: Skyclad "Folkemon", Sky Cries Mary "A Return to the Inner Experience" and "Moonbathing on Sleeping Leaves", Roy Harper "The Green Man", Michael Stearns, et al "Baraka" soundtrack, and Simon Fisher Turner "Nadja" soundtrack

My night job is trying to hold on to me. It looks like they're going to try and hand me back the route I'm quitting after the summer job at the YSI is over. It makes financial sense for them to do this - if one of the floaters can do the job for a couple of months, then they don't have to hire and pay a new carrier. Of course, they'd like it best if I'd just keep doing both routes and splitting my sleep schedule in order to be rested enough to do everything. I'll admit it's a bit tempting - it would mean an extra eight hundred dollars a month. The only problem is that I hate splitting my sleep schedule. It stresses me out. I'd also have less time with my family. But think what we could do with the extra money... Maybe there's some sort of middle ground. Maybe I could do it every once in awhile. It would be nice to ensure that I have a route to come back to in the fall if my other options (unknown at this time) fall through.
I think that, in this case, time is more important than money. I'm still thinking though...

There's this duck on my route that has a harem of nine. I've seen them all marching side by side across the lawn, eating god knows what along the way. Strange creatures, ducks. The world "duck" has a comical ring to it. So does the word "quack". I'm sure they all view themselves very seriously though.

cds I listened to while contemplating the summer: Yearning "Plaintive Scenes", Skyclad "The Answer Machine?", "Outrageous Fourtunes", and "Vintage Whine", Zeni Geva "Maximum Money Monster" and "Nai-Ha", Chu Ishikawa-Der Eisenrost "Tokyo Fist" soundtrack, and Darrin Verhagen "Soft Ash"

Another slow day at work, so while the python was sleeping under a bush I drew this:



Hopefully this will mollify all of you who don't like looking at zombies. ...and it was part of the official project we were doing today (botanical drawing)!

Here's some pictures I drew today while having a slow day at work:







I was asked to come up with a story that links the three pictures, so here it is: A ship visits a mysterious island where voodoo rites are held, and then sails for home. A woman waits on the shore (like in all of the old folk songs) for her sailor lover to return home, but since he went and visited the spooky voodoo island, he's a zombie when he arrives... but it's okay because all he'll eat is fast food, so they live happily ever after. They sleep in seperate beds though.

I was driving to work earlier and I saw a van up ahead of me that appeared to have a logo across its back doors that spelled out the word "pimp". I thought I must be mistaken, but as I passed it, I saw that indeed I wasn't. I was sharing the road with a genuine pimpmobile. The ad on the side of the van was for portable stripper poles (oh no, that's going to get me all sorts of disgusting Google hits, isn't it?). I didn't know such a thing existed. You can now have a stripper pole in the privacy of your own home, and it will be driven there in van with the word "pimp" emblazoned on it in big blue letters so that all of your neighbors will know just what sort of entertainment you go in for. Shame on you.

In more family-oriented news, we had a small get-together for The Dicken's birthday party. There was cake and ice cream. Life is good. It's too early to tell yet which one of her many presents will become her favorite.

This is my last week of working my current schedule. Next week I'll be starting the training portion of my Youth Science Institute job. This means my museum hours are dropping to only about eight hours a month, and my paper route hours are being halved. We'll see how it goes. It's not every day I get a new job. This month marks my five year anniversary at the museum, which means it's been that long since I got a new job.

cds I listened to while contemplating upcoming changes: Skyclad "Prince of the Poverty Line", "Irrational Anthems", and "Oui Avant-garde A Chance" (say it out loud to get the full impact of this awful pun), Warfare "Hammer Horror" (the british film studio, not the tool), Nurse With Wound "The Musty Odour of Pierced Rectums", and Witchfinder General "Death Penalty"

The Dickens turns two today! Whatever shall we do? I'm hoping that when the sun rises it's a little cooler than it was yesterday. I would be perfectly happy if the temperature never rose too far above 65 degrees. We've gotten the fans out and plugged in. I feel that there wasn't much of a segue between winter and summer this year. Spring must have forgotten to set her alarm clock.
Speaking of alarm clocks, mine is set, so off to bed I go.

cds I listened to while hanging my head out the window to catch a breeze: Skyclad "Tracks from the Wilderness" and "The Silent Whales of Lunar Sea", Voivod "Kronik" and "Lives", Barbez "s/t", Warfare "Crescendo of Reflexions", and Eric McFadden "The Un-official Non-Japanese Import of the not so Secret Northwest Club Shows"

M. and I went to see what would have been a Tin Hat Trio show at the Freight and Salvage coffee house this saturday. It wasn't a Tin Hat Trio show because the guitarist's wife, Lauren Orton, was killed in a river rafting accident in April. The show ended up being a memorial to her, organized and MCed by fellow band member Carla Kihlstedt. The music, by Carla and a host of others, was wonderful and the tributes were touching. I didn't know Lauren, but her death has reached out and touched me anyway. I can't even begin to imagine being in her husband's place, and my heart goes out to him.

On the home front, I went and got a lot of film developed on friday, including a couple of disposable cameras that the kids had used up. When I got the photos back there on one of the disposable camera rolls, amongst random photos of our hall and other parts of the house, was a picture of Nathan grinning like a loon and wearing no pants. I wonder if I'm on some sort of list now. I think from now on I'll be a little more wary of used up disposable cameras I find around the house.

cds I listened to while wishing it was cooler: Voivod "Phobos" and "Nanoman", Skyclad "Thinking Allowed" and "Jonah's Ark", Mychael Danna "Music for the films of Atom Egoyan - The Adjuster - Speaking Parts - Family Viewing", Roy Harper "Commercial Breaks", and Myshkin "Why do all the Country Girls Leave?"