Friday, August 29, 2003

I now have my car back. I'm embarassed to reveal how much I paid to have it fixed. Use your imagination. The mechanic who returned it to me indicated a couple of additional things the he thought would need to be replaced soon. I'm not sure what these things are because his english was almost as bad as my spanish. I think one of them is the distributor cap. He showed me the oil dipstick too. I'm not sure why. I wish I knew more about cars. The problem is, it has just never really interested me.
Jen talked to the mechanic who is working on the van, and he is keeping it for a few days in order to discover why it stalls. The other things are fixed, but we're not accepting the damn thing back until the stalling problem is rooted out and repaired.

The evening was full of pretty light, the remnants of which can be viewed out the window as I type. The sky is overcast with a thin layer of haze - more foglike than smoglike, which filters the sun, causing it to paint the westward facing walls a muted orange. I took Willow with me around the corner to the mailbox to mail the rent. She has developed an active interest in her surroundings. It's a delight to see her turn her little head this way and that as she tries to take it all in.

Jen is getting the kids to sleep in the other room. I'm sure we'll both follow soon.
After only two hours of sleep, I find myself awake. The papers ran late last night - so late that I had to wake up one of the security guards at Yahoo in order to make my delivery. Now I'm watching Nate and The Dickens while Jen drops off the van at the exorcist's... I mean at the dealership. Will they fix it? Who knows? I'm still waiting for my car to be returned as well. They say it will be today. Is this True? Who knows?

The Dickens has just wandered into the room. She has ditched her diaper again. Will I step in a puddle? Who knows?

I'm sleepy.

cds I listened to while realizing that I was running out of time in which to sleep: Ether "CodyJudy" and "Hush", Laibach "Occupied Europe Nato Tour 1994-95", Negativland "Crosley Bendix Discusses the Copyright Act", The Hafler Trio "One Dozen Economical stories by Peter Greenaway", Naked City "Radio", and Paradise Lost "Draconian Times" double cd version

Thursday, August 28, 2003

The days are hot, but it is starting to fell more like autumn at night. Last night the air was filled with a smoky smell that for me always brings to mind autumn and winter. Of course, in this case the smoke was coming from some lightning-kindled fires in the hills. Nonetheless, it eased my night with a touch of nostalgia. It really is too bad that my peace of mind had to come at the cost of 3000 acres of burnt grassland. Everything exists in a state of balance, although it seems that one side or the other should topple and tumble down under the weight of some inequity or other. Ah, well...

Here's a continuing list, more for my benefit than anybody else's, of books I've read lately:

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling
Riddley Walker - Russell Hoban
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling
A Circle of Cats - Charles De Lint
The Road to Lisdoonvarna - Charles De Lint
Bad Chili - Joe R. Lansdale
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" and other Nautical Adventures - William Hope Hodgson (I'm currently in the middle of this one. I originally read it as a teenager, but they've just reissued it with a whole slew of extra stories - first in a proposed six volume set of collected works. Yay!)

cds I listened to while reminiscing about seasons past: The Third and the Mortal "Painting on Glass", John Zorn "Filmworks 1986 - 1990", and "The Big Gundown", Naked City "Leng Tch'e", and V/A "The Poor Minstrels of Song and the Temple of the Moon"

Wednesday, August 27, 2003

Okay, I'm ready for autumn. I'm ready to stop sweating. I'm ready for our back yard to turn green again. I'm ready for change. If the weather stays the same for too long it gets boring. That said, I'm glad we had a thunderstorm a couple of nights ago, even if it didn't rain much. The only problem is that the temperature didn't drop. Not enough of a change.

I still don't have my car back. They say that it should be ready tomorrow, although none of their previous estimates have been anywhere near to being correct. I'm feeling irritated at all of this extra expense, and all of this additional waiting. I hate being dependant on other people to fix things for me. That's a problem faced by most of us. We're dependant on tools, whether they be cars, computers, or jackhammers, that we wouldn't be able to fix ourselves if our lives depended on it. We're a long, long way away from being self-sufficient. It's a good thing we have credit cards. Mine will be taking a lot of abuse this week.

cds I listened to while muttering under my breath about my bank account: Kathleen Yearwood "Little Misery Birds" and "Dog Logic", John Zorn "Filmworks II" and "Bar Kokhba", and The Third and the Mortal "Nightswan"

Tuesday, August 26, 2003

If anybody wonders where all of the Latvian expatriates were last night, they were all at a bar in Ben Lomond, watching Ilgi perform. Ilgi play updated versions of old Latvian folk songs. Updated means that, in addition to traditional instruments such as bagpipe, violin, and a couple of other things that I don't know how to spell or pronounce (one, I think, was called a giga - basically a two stringed instrument that is played like a contrabass. The other one resembled a kantele), they use electric guitar, bass, and a drumset. M. and I, even though we don't contain a drop of Latvian blood between us, were also there. It was groovy.

Later, on the way to work, and while working, I saw more lightning than I've ever seen in one night before. It was beautiful. Some of it was right overhead. Some of it was cracking and flashing out towards the Central Valley. Huge forks of it split the sky and underlit the clouds. A few fat raindrops fell. It actually rained pretty hard for a little while. I wondered if the Latvians were enjoying it.

I think I inadvertently delivered a stinkpaper to somebody tonight. In order for a newspaper to become a stinkpaper, it has to surprise a skunk upon landing. The skunk was so surprised that his tail shot straight up in the air. Whether or not he sprayed the paper is unknown. I'll bet the Latvians would have thought it was funny.

cds I listened to while hoping I wouldn't get hit by lightning: Yasnaia "Oniro", Kathleen Yearwood "Book of Hate", and Pearls Before Swine "Jewels Were the Stars"

Monday, August 25, 2003

Friday we strolled over to a small park a couple of blocks away. It's one of those little neighborhood parks - the kind that nobody from outside of the neighborhood would take the time to visit. Too small. On the plus side, it is nicely shaded by some large pine trees.
After being there for a bit, The Dickens decided that it was her park, and got bent out of shape when other small children dared to use her swings and slide on her slide. We left shortly after that to go buy junk at Safeway. On the way there I found an immense Wood Beetle. It was longer and thicker than my finger, and quite irritated at being discovered. After an internal debate, I decided to bring it home so I could take it to the museum next week to show kids. Since I didn't have anything to carry it in, I put it in my pocket, which is loose enough to accomodate living things. I had a good chuckle while imagining the beetle crawling out of my pocket while we were in Safeway, but it stayed put. I actually had to coax it out of my pocket when we got home. I must say that I prefer beetles in my pockets to ants in my pants. Less itchy.

Saturday night we watched Theo Angelopoulos' Landscape in the Mist. Highly recommended. The story concerns two Greek children, a small boy and his older sister, who are led to believe by their mother that their father, who they have never met, lives in Germany. They then run away from home to search for him. I guess you could say this is a more realistic spin on one of those Disney-esque "incredible journey" films. This film pulls no punches, but is beautiful thoughout, with stunning Greek landscapes as backdrop to a story destined to end in tragedy.
I couldn't convince Jen to stay up with me to watch the new dvd edition of Day of the Dead though. It's still one of my favorite horror films. I think it's because of my apocalypse fixation. This can definitely be considered an apocalypse film, with deserted cities overrun by the living dead and the remnants of humanity forced to live underground where they end up at each other's throats.
Amongst the tidbits of information in the extras is the fact that one of the cast members of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood played a zombie in the film. I bet he doesn't get typecast. That about covers the spectrum right there. At one end you have a tv show set up for the purpose of helping and empowering kids. At the other end you have a film about, well, cannibalistic corpses, which would damage any small kids unlucky enough to watch it. I'll have to make sure it's on a high shelf. Not that the kids would ever watch it anyway. Lexy doesn't like zombies. I had to hide one of my books from him because it has a drawing of a zombie on the spine.

Night.

Cds I listened to while feeling broke: Windy & Carl "Depths", Wiseblood "PTTM", Witthuser & Westrupp "Bauer Plath", Shannon Wright "Perishable Goods" and "Dyed in the Wool", V/A "Tutti a Casa" - Ain Soph Tribute, and XVII'VIE "La Prana"

Friday, August 22, 2003

I feel like I live in the monkey house at the zoo sometimes. The Dickens, not content to merely poop on the floor, has started flinging it at people. I was her first target. Luckily it was compressed enough to bounce off without doing any damage.

The change in my schedule has left me feeling a bit jet-lagged. I went from the early morning camp routine to my current (and pre-camp) habit of staying in bed until noon, or later. This has allowed me to catch up on my reading at night, which is a good thing, but I find that without a fixed set of things to do during the day I sometimes feel kind of lethargic, like I'm drifting aimlessly. This will change soon, when I start in at the museum again, so I guess I'll just enjoy staying up until almost sunrise and reading. I can still remember doing that as a kid. I'd get so engrossed in a book that it would be a complete surprise when my room started getting lighter. That's a good childhood memory - that freedom to be able to read lengthy books cover to cover without a) falling asleep due to general exhaustion, b) constantly getting interrupted, or c) feeling guilty for spending so much time away from one's responsibilities.

I just read a news article about a group called Earth Liberation Front setting fire to a bunch of those obscene humvee-like SUVs. I'm glad somebody is doing it. Those things are absolutely ridiculous in every way - ostentatious, polluting, space hogging pieces of crap. Why is it that good taste seems to be inversely proportional to wealth? Friends don't let friends drive SUVs, unless of course you're one of the small minority who uses them for their intended purpose. Every time I see one on the road, I think of sheep, because that is what the people behind the wheels are. It would be acceptable to drive one if you lived on a ranch, perhaps raising sheep, but if you live downtown, far away from any real sheep, you end up assuming some of the supposed qualities of the animal in question. Herd mentality is only a good survival trait if you happen to be a herd animal. In humans it's kind of silly. Rant over. Have a good night.

cds I listened to while intending to stay up all night: V/A "New Wave of British Heavy Metal - '79 Revisited", Dar Williams "Out There Live", Windy & Carl "A Dream of Blue", and Roy Harper "The BBC Tapes Volume VI"

Thursday, August 21, 2003

It is cloudy today and the air is still, as if expecting a storm. Jen is out buying shoes for Lexy, and just called to say that it is raining where she is. I can smell it in the air here, but can't see it yet. We could do with a good rain... Okay, now it has officially started. I can hear it pattering against the the roof and the walk outside. It's actually raining pretty hard, especially for late August. I'm sure it won't last long though. In fact, it's already slowing down. Just a little cloudburst. We'll really have to get the van's weatherstripping fixed, won't we?

The Dickens has just wandered in, and is visiting with the new King snake, who has crawled out from under his usual lurking spot beneath the water bowl, and is looking for mice. There are no mice at the moment because the pet store around the corner inexplicably closed at noon yesterday. I'll have to go later today.

cds I listened to while taking my time: Dar Williams "Mortal City", "The End of Summer", "Green World", and "The Christians and the Pagans", Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle "One From the Heart" soundtrack, Cry Cry Cry "s/t", and Windy & Carl/Amp "s/t" split cd

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

The repair bill for my car has ballooned upwards exponentially. The news has me scrambling around trying to devise money saving schemes. It's always this way. After the initial shock of any large bill, or unexpected catastrophe, I always feel energized with the desire to reform my spending habits and/or start a bunch of new projects that may or may not be related to the problem at hand. For instance, I'm thinking about making gifts this year for the holidays. I'm thinking about going out and finishing cleaning the garage. We're talking about ordering less pizza. I finally got off my butt and canceled some useless credit insurance that's been adding to one of my monthly credit card bills for who knows how long. I think that, when I finally get my car back (it's now looking like monday or tuesday) I'm going to get it washed, balance the tires, and get an oil change. It wouldn't be funny if something else went wrong with it the following week. It really wouldn't.

On a lighter note, I looked out my window while I was sitting here in front of the computer last night and saw one of the neighbors, quite naked, standing in front of the sink brushing his teeth. I thought idly of wolf whistling, just to see him jump, but decided against it. How often can you look out your window and see naked people? Not often. I saw a streaker once while I was delivering newspapers. I think I surprised him, because he disappeared pretty quickly. Another time, while I was in England with M. and G., there was a guy in one of the flats opposite where we were staying who showered in full view of the road below. He could easily be seen through his rather large bathroom window by the streams of shoppers passing by on the sidewalks outside. But really, what's the big deal? People should be allowed to walk around nude if they want to. This country in particular seems to foster hang-ups about the human body. When's the last time you saw full frontal nudity on tv? Compare how many times that happens to how many times you've seen murders on tv. Which is more damaging to impressionable minds? I rest my case.

cds I listened to while still unaware that my car repair bill was expanding: Gillian Welch "Revival" and "Hell Among the Yearlings", Dar Williams "What do you Hear in these Sounds" and "The Honesty Room", Roy Harper "The BBC Tapes, Volume II", Stille Volk "Maudat", and Tom Waits "Closing Time"

Tuesday, August 19, 2003

Tonight, months after I first helped him get up over the curb, I saw the toad again. He was in the same parking lot, waiting patiently by the same curb. What could I do? I jumped out of the van and helped him up over the curb so he could hop into the ivy and go about the business of finding bugs to eat.

What would he do without me?

Cds I listened to while assisting amphibians: Volcano the Bear "Volseptor", "The Inhazer Decline", and "The One Burned Ma", Anekdoten "Gravity", The Waterboys "The Return of Pan", and Greg Weeks "Bleecker Station"

Monday, August 18, 2003

It's nice not to have worms (on the computer and elsewhere). It's also nice to know people who can help you with computer problems. Thanks Jeremy! After Jeremy left yesterday, I was thinking about how much people usually have to pay for services of this sort - fixing complicated things like computers, cars, financial situations, emotional problems, health problems, and a whole host of other things that I'm sure I could think of if I applied myself to the task. This thought led me to thinking that, due to the current shakiness of the economy, people often just don't have the money to spare for such things. It's time to reintroduce the barter system. Everybody pick up pen and paper and make a list of everybody you know. Then make a list of helpful skills each of these people has. Some people can fix things. Some people make things. Some people cook really well. Some people drive. Some seem to like accounting. Next, call all of these people up and see if they would be interested in bartering for their skills. Everybody has something to offer. To hell with "the system"! Let's get away from money as much as we can. Cut out the middleman. Hunt and gather. Forage. Scrounge. Make useful things out of cast-offs and bits of garbage.

Yeah, I know this probably sounds better on paper than it would work in real life. It's worth a try though.

I borrowed a van from Jen's mom yesterday, so I wouldn't have a repeat stalling experience with ours. It worked really well. I brought along my discman so I could listen to cds, hoping I wouldn't be spotted by the law and pulled over. It's kind of funny really. It's not like I can hear anything besides the music with the car stereo on either.

I'm back on my old schedule now - doing two routes at night and sleeping until noon. Where has the summer gone? I'm not sure when I'm going to pick up more hours at the museum. I filled out an availability form on saturday, so I guess that whenever they make the next schedule I'll be on it more fully. For now, I think I'll enjoy being shiftless and lazy.

cds l listened to while driving a van that is about eight years older than my car, but has fewer miles on it: Vasilisk "Liberation and Ecstacy", Vitriol "s/t", Volcano the Bear "Volve" and "Volvfur", and Roy Harper "Burn the World"

Friday, August 15, 2003

The car needs to have its transmission rebuilt. The van still mysteriously stalls. I noticed while I drove the latter vehicle around last night that the cooling fan stays on nearly full time. I remember reading somewhere last week that there's something called a cooling fan control module that tends to go bad with this make & year. Could this be related to the stalling? It did indeed stall a couple of times last night, by the way. Jen called the dealership today to ask questions, and they (like a website or two suggested) were rude and unhelpful. At least the people fixing my transmission are helpful, but of course they should be for the amount of money that I'll be handing over when they're done.

The last day of camp came in went in a blur. I got about three and a half hours of sleep last night due to some mishap somewhere in the middle of the long chain of events that ends with me getting newspapers to deliver. Not only were the papers late, but I had to take a lizard with me on my route. One of my co-workers thoughtfully caught a Western Fence Lizard in his yard and brought it to work in a plastic storage container which contained, in addition to the lizard, about two inches of muddy water and a bunch of uprooted weeds. The lizard was clinging to the weeds in order to escape drowning. I dumped out the water and quickly explained some of the main differences between lizards and salamanders to my co-worker.

So, anyway, camp. We let the lizard go in the garden, finished picking apart the owl pellets that were started on one of the days I was absent, and went hiking up to see the Pacific Giant Salamanders. Once there, I caught one of the smaller ones in a cup and watched it sitting there with its little, frond-like gills sticking out on either side of its neck. Then, after returning the small amphibian to the clear, cold water it called home, we hiked back and actually had time to do one of the activities we were supposed to be doing: paper mache plastic containers. For good measure, I also got out paint, glitter, and colorful feathers. Messes were made.

I got some good feedback about my work from the YSI administrators, and also from one of the park maintainence staff, who stopped to say that he appreciated what I was doing. He seemed to admire my ability to not let the chaos stress me out. I told him that I thrive on chaos. This is partially true, I think, as long as it is balanced out by healthy doses of serenity. That's the true secret of life right there: balance. Don't you forget it. Never too much of one thing. Never not enough of another.

cds I listened to while being very much later than I have been all summer, and driving a van in need of an exorcist: Elend "Winds Devouring Men", Uz Jsme Doma "Hollywood", and Vagtazo Halottkemek (Galloping Coroners) "Jumping Out the World - Inst-inct"

Thursday, August 14, 2003

I went back to work today. The people who had subbed for me ended up doing the things yesterday that I thought I was going to be doing today, so I just took everybody on a long hike. We found some bobcat and raccoon prints in some dried mud, and shortly afterwards found an old Rattlesnake skin under a rusted, tin pipe. Then we caught an Alligator lizard, even though I had to reach into a Poison Oak plant to do it. That's what I get for reacting instead of thinking. I may not get it though. We'll see.
This week's group has been whittled down to 12 kids for some reason. The ones who are left seem to like hanging onto arms, hair, and/or backpacks, making it somewhat difficult to hike. It must seem strange to anybody passing by to see me and the camp aide walking along with all of these children hanging onto us like limpets.

Now I have to go try to deal with my car, which no longer seems to want to shift into the higher gears. It's not that I haven't been expecting this...

cds I listened to on what was apparently my last night driving with my car's original transmission: Uz Jsma Doma "Fairytales from Needland" and "In the Middle of Words", Tom Waits "Cold Beer on a Hot Night" (okay, so it's a bootleg, but I just read in an interview in The Onion with the man himself that he's not above buying bootlegs of his own material from sellers on Ebay. Quote "I didn't know where those tapes were"), and Silver Mountain "Breakin' Chains"

Wednesday, August 13, 2003

I feel a bit better today, but stayed home just the same. I wouldn't want to give any campers the flu. I'm taking advantage of my day off by sitting in bed and reading, a luxury I usually don't have much time for. I'm going to work tomorrow though. In two more days I will be finished with summer camps for the year. It's been a lot of fun, but also tiring. I won't miss having to get up at 7 in the morning.

cds I listened to while not barfing in anybody's yard: Uz Jsme Doma "Ears" and "Unloved World" and Epizod "The Bulgarian God"

Tuesday, August 12, 2003

I spent a day at home wondering whether I should eat or not. Having the flu often presents us with that dilemma. I'm very unused to this - I haven't called in sick to my night job (not including the couple of times I was at Jen's side in the hospital) since I started working there in the late 80's. Tonight won't be an exception, and I hope I don't decorate somebody's front yard with whatever I decide to eat later. We'll see.

cds I listened to shortly before starting to feel funny: Ulan Bator "Ego:Echo", Unto Ashes "Moon Oppose Moon" and "Saturn Return", and Skyclad "Live at the Dynamo"

Monday, August 11, 2003

Supposedly I have fifteen campers this week, but one of them never showed. Today we explored water - I caught a crayfish with one small claw (growing back) and one very large claw. It promptly pinched me with both. Then we all hiked up to the pond near the hostel, where a couple of the girls, during an attempt to catch a Fence lizard on stump, spotted a snake curled up inside the bark. I caught it, of course, and we spent some time passing it around. It was a Garter snake, which I would have expected to see down near the water. It just goes to show that you never know when or where you're going to find something. After placing the snake back in the stump, we walked over and looked at the nearly invisible Bullfrogs that floated lazily in the duckweed. It's hard to imagine that creatures this placid looking are actually predators. Non-indigenous predators at that.
I have two students from previous camps this week. I also have the sister of Salamander Girl, who doesn't seem to share her sibling's abnormal enthusiasm for amphibians. Instead she is obsessed with always being at the front of the line when we are hiking. I forsee problems with this.

cds I listened to while expelling the news: Roy Harper "Death or Glory?", Mia Doi Todd "Zeroone", Traffic "John Barleycorn Must Die", Paul Chain "Cosmic Wind", and Two Ton Boa "s/t"

Saturday, August 09, 2003

We're not up in Berkeley today for the annual breastfeed-athon because we just have too much to do, not to mention the fact that our van has left mechanics scratching their heads as to why it randomly stalls on the freeway. I just did a search online to see if I could find any clues, and all I could discover was a recommendation that owners of vans with this particular make and year seek out an exorcist. The site also mentioned that these vans tend to stall unexpectedly around airports and military installations. Huh?

Friday, August 08, 2003

Okay, why aren't my posts being posted? And where did my archives go?
I almost forgot to mention that I took a small side trip away from vegetarianism earlier today. When people ask about my dining habits, I always tell them that I won't eat anything with a spine, which means, of course, that invertebrates still get the green light for ingestion. Especially when they're covered in one of my favorite foods - chocolate! I got this delicacy from one of the other YSI teachers, who must have overestimated the number of chocolate covered crickets she needed for her group. I couldn't really taste the cricket. I'm not sure if this is because crickets are bland, or because the chocolate coating masks their taste. I could experience the cricket texturally though. It's sort of crunchy, but not like rice crispies - more like celery that's been left out overnight. Yum!
The kids solved the mystery I laid out for them this morning. The outline for the mystery in the curriculum binder involves a raccoon dumping trash and scattering it around before being scared off by gusty winds. I made it more involved by having the "raccoon" tear open one of those little lemon-shaped lemon juice bottles (I cut claw marks with my pocket knife), walk across some paper (leaving lemon juice tracks that could be revealed when subjected to heat), drag a bag of trail mix over to a table, and then try to wash some trail mix in a container of cabbage juice. The cabbage juice, which turns pink when mixed with any kind of acid, reacts to the lemon juice on the raccoon's paws. To make things authentic, I scattered trail mix all over the field and left some floating in the cabbage juice.
The kids thought it was pretty cool, but solved it relatively quickly. There were two teams working on it, divided along gender lines. The girls figured it out first.
Later, one of the boys got stung on the palm by a bee, so after removing the stinger, I took him over to our table and had him rub baking soda on the wound. This was a good way to illustrate a point I had made earlier in the week. Bee stings are acidic, and wasp stings are basic. This is why the folk remedy for bee stings is to rub baking soda (a base) on the wound. Vinegar (an acid) works for wasp stings. The baking soda helped neutralize the acid in the boy's wound. Applied science!

Next week is the last week of science camp for the summer. I'm teaching a camp called "Wild Wonders".

Cds I listened to while wondering where all the air in my front passenger side tire had gone: Nest "Woodsmoke", The Tiger Lillies "Farmyard Filth" and "Shockheaded Peter", Mary Timony "Mountains", and Mia Doi Todd "Come Out of Your Mine"

Thursday, August 07, 2003

We got the new snake yesterday afternoon, and it's quite beautiful. It's some kind of Mountain Kingsnake - you know, the "red on black, friend of Jack (or venom lack)" kind. If somebody hands you a "red on yellow" snake, don't accept it, because the end of the rhyme is "kill a fellow". Anyway, the rather large cage is wedged into the corner behind the stereo, but will probably end up in our bedroom if we decide to ditch the crib. I just have to learn to say "no" to free snakes.

We hiked into the hills today, where we saw several skinks, an Alligator lizard, and some Fence lizards. In fact, there were all three kinds of lizards in one bush. For once, I managed to not catch any of them. I made up for it later by catching a small, blue crayfish. I also finally found the big anthill that the ants have been quietly building on the forest floor for quite some time (probably decades, from the size of the hill). The kids refrained from poking at it with sticks, but only after being asked not to several times.

Jen just informed me that Nate screamed so loud this morning after being denied Oreos for breakfast that one of the neighbors from the apartments in back of us yelled, "shut up, kid!" He complied with this rather rude request, probably more out of shock than anything else.

Now it's time to go be productive.

cds I listened to while once again being later than I wanted to be: The Tiger Lillies "Births Marriages and Deaths", "Low Life Lullabies", "Bad Blood & Blasphemy", and "The Brothel to the Cemetary", and Kathleen Yearwood "Ordeal" (she covers one of my favorite Leonard Cohen songs! Yay!)

Wednesday, August 06, 2003

I had forgotten how fast plaster hardens. We had only gotten through filling about half of the rubber animal footprint molds when the remaining plaster became to hard to use. The kids waiting for their turn looked downcast, so we made more plaster. Tomorrow, we'll make animal tracks all over the place. I wonder if I could use the big hunk of leftover plaster to make bucket tracks? If I placed it alongside human footprints it could look like somebody had gotten their foot stuck in a bucket.
I took the kids up to an area that I knew would be muddy, and one of the boys actually spotted deer hoof prints there. There were also a couple of banana slugs, which never cease to fascinate. After that, I took them up the stream a bit, to a point where we could see a thin waterfall trickling over the edge of the leafy slope looming up in front of us. We had a couple moments of (almost) silence as we listened to the sounds around us. It's very hard to get thirteen 2nd and 3rd graders to all stop talking simultaneously.

At home, Nathan has come up with his own definition of God: "The King of all ghosts." Sure, why not? Everybody should have a unique idea about what "God" means anyway. Who's to say if any of them are right? If I want to think that "God" is the oil stain on the neighbor's driveway, then that's my business. I don't want some bozo telling me that God is actually the third pigeon from the left on the telephone wire two blocks over. Maybe God is that spider dangling in your face. Better watch out. Don't make him/her/it angry.

The weather continues to be pleasant. I can hear the trees rustling outside. It has been in the seventies all week too. Can we make it into autumn without any more excessive heat? Stay tuned.

cds I listened to while contemplating theology: John Murphy, et al "28 Days Later" soundtrack, Thule "Frostbrent" and "Graks" and Unto Ashes "Empty Into White"

Tuesday, August 05, 2003

A couple of things I forgot to mention yesterday:

I had made a couple of extra nametags for the camp, and since the title of said camp is "Science Sleuths", the nametags ended up being "Sherlock" and "Watson". I was wearing the Sherlock one when the kids were being picked up. A boy's grandmother looked at my nametag and actually thought my name was Sherlock. I convinced her it wasn't. This all came about because she was attempting to get her grandson to thank me by name for the fun-filled morning he had just participated in. He did this as they were leaving. I would have reciprocated in kind, but he had already taken his nametag off, so I just said something like, "bye. See you tomorrow!" When I have a camp of thirteen kids (one never showed), I can never remember all of their names by the end of the first day. I hope the grandma doesn't think I'm undermining her efforts to raise a proper gentleman. Then, on the way home, there was a cop behind me for what seemed like several miles. It's at times like these that I become acutely aware of the fact that my speedometer doesn't work. It also didn't help that we were driving through a snooty, low-speed-limit part of town. I breathed a sigh of relief when he turned off.

Today, we played around with acids and bases, mixing them and painting with them. We also did the "unnature walk", where I hid items along a trail for the kids to find. Nobody found everything. They then convinced me to let them hide the same things for me to find. I didn't find all of them. Of course, they showed no restraint when it came to hiding things directly behind trees and out of sight under rocks.
While I was waiting for them to set this part up, I was sitting at the bottom of the trail playing my wooden, recorder-like instrument. A doe popped her head around a rock, as if to say, "what the heck is that?" I'm not sure if she was enjoying it or not, because at that point all of the kids came back and she bounded away through the underbrush.

I think I'll go have a nap.

cds I listened to while being slightly later than I would have liked: Throwing Muses "In A Doghouse", "University", and "The Curse", Skyclad "Swords of a Thousand Men", and Roy Harper "Lifemask

Monday, August 04, 2003

I started the Science Sleuths camp with a long hike, during which we spent time being aware of our surroundings. We saw a family of deer by the fairy ring. They quietly circled around us through the trees before vanishing down one of the trails. We continued up the trail and visited the creek with the Pacific Giant Salamanders. Another camp group had beaten us there, and who should be in that group but Salamander Girl, who had spent her week in my camp obsessing over amphibians. She was busy again catching salamanders.
In the end, we spent most of the day in the woods, playing little games and observing its denizens. It seems like a decent group of kids so far. Time will tell.

We saw Whale Rider yesterday and, as Jen has also stated, it is excellent. Lots of great performances and well rounded characters. It could have been full of cliches, but these were wisely avoided. It might be a good film to show the kids when they are older (if they don't get too upset at the lack of "bad guys".) It's a moving film, and deserves to be seen by more people than it will.

I keep having this idea that if we could only get organized things would run so much smoother around here. We're planning on starting with the garage. We're also going to need to come up with space to accomodate the King snake that our snake connection is bestowing upon us later this week sometime.

cds I listened to while wondering where the summer went: Thrones "s/t", Throwing Muses "Counting Backwards", Tarnation "Gentle Creatures", and Earth Monkey "Audiosapian"

Saturday, August 02, 2003

Here's a couple of pictures from last Wednesday. I don't think I could ever have a cubicle job. It just wouldn't be right. Have you ever tried to take an interesting photo of the inside of a cubicle? They're small and squarish and isolate the hapless worker from all of the other poor souls esconced in their own identical little cells nearby. Shudder.

Friday, August 01, 2003

Today we made musical instruments and recorded ourselves making a racket. We had shakers made out of toilet paper and paper towel tubes, various sticks, drinking straws cut into reeds (which make a horrendous bleating noise), various sticks, rubber band guitars, and a few "real" instruments. I started out playing a ruler held against one of the picnic tables, but soon moved onto jaw harp, penny whistle, and this wooden recorder-like instrument that, according to the sticker on the back, originated in Bolivia. The resulting din sounded like a middle eastern market at midday. Then the parents came and all of the campers went away, leaving a mess for me and my camp aide to clean up. It wouldn't be summer camp if there wasn't at least some mess involved. As I type, my arms and legs are covered with multicolored dots, which is what happens when you hand out "tattoo markers" to elementary school kids and don't run fast enough afterwards.

Now I have to spend the rest of the afternoon getting ready for next week, when I will be teaching a camp called "science sleuths". The Dickens is sleeping in front of the TV set in the other room, and Jen has taken the the boys, with Willow in tow, off to swimming lessons. Alright, off to work for me.

cds I listened to while trying to remember what a full nights sleep feels like: The 3rd and the Mortal "In This Room", Throbbing Gristle "The Second Annual Report of...", and Fred Frith & Larry Ochs, Charming Trilectic, Ben Goldberg, Noe Venable, and 2 Foot Yard at the Freight & Salvage, Berkeley, 5/31/03