The Dickens just walked into the bedroom making little gagging noises. In her hand was a sippy cup. She looked up at me and asked, "what is this?" In the sippy cup was some milk well on its way to being cottage cheese. The moral of the story is, of course, never drink anything with lumps in it.

The boys had a good walkathon at their school yesterday. Jen volunteered her time helping make things run smoothly. I took the girls with me to a training session up in the East Bay. Now that I'm no longer teaching after school sessions I have to be trained for my new role as birthday party science teacher. Both of the girls behaved very well, probably because there were lots of interesting things going on. They especially like the dry ice. Willow had a blast popping soap bubbles filled with carbon dioxide. I got to take home a cotton candy machine and Lexy got an extra birthday treat consisting of homemade cotton candy. Nate and The Dickens made some as well. Of the kids, only Willow didn't have any. For some reason she wouldn't eat it. Maybe its because it just doesn't seem like food to people with any sense. I had a bunch myself.

Then, in the evening, I went and performed at a birthday party. The kids were a bit older (the boy was turning 11) and they all had a good time, interrupted only when one of the boys fell out of a tree. He recovered enough to eat pizza later, though. The highlight of the party was the cotton candy machine. The rest of the activities involved using chemicals to make things hot and cold, luminesce, and vanish in flame. We even made our own bouncy balls.

At the end of the party, I got tipped twenty bucks. I like that. Extra money is good. I think I'll use it to buy a cheap watch, or batteries for my laser pointer.

It has been a long week. I think it seems this way mostly because of all the driving I've been doing, travelling from school to school and never staying in one place for long. I'm looking forward to next week, when I get to stay in one place and teach something really important - natural cycles and respect for our planet. The kids I've been observing this week really seemed to get it, and hopefully took some new attitudes away from the camp experience. I'm happy to be a part of a team helping to teach this type of curriculum.

We've got to fight against all of the plastic shit out there, whether it's part of the packaging or something packaged. Lexy got more plastic shit from the well-meaning but misguided mom of one of his friends today. A Bruce Lee ninja set, for chrissakes! Absolute plastic shit. Just what we need, more plastic swords and nunchucks and what have you. Imagine, if you will, four small children running around the house with ninja paraphenalia, and you will have some insight into what I had to contend with this evening. Granted, Willow wasn't all that interested. She was more interested in wearing one of the boys' Nasa caps at a jaunty angle while watching Teletubbies. The Dickens, for her part, decided that her time would be well spent by chewing on the little plastic suction cup arrows that she couldn't figure out how to shoot from the shitty little plastic bow. Both of the arrows are now bent beyond repair. Hurrah!

While all of this was going on, Jen was out being reminded why she never goes to ToysbackwardsRus. Home of battery operated plastic shit. She fared slightly better at Target, so now Lexy will have some birthday stuff for tomorrow.

Tomorrow, tomorrow. Jen is helping out at the school walkathon. I'm getting trained on how to do birthday parties for my now even more part-time job. I'm taking the girls with me for this, so my training will no doubt be interrupted. It's good to work for a company that welcomes children in the office. There will no doubt be plenty of things to keep them occupied. It's kind of strange that I'll be the paid entertainment at a stranger's birthday party on Lexy's birthday, but we're planning a family party afterwards.

I don't feel so tired as long as I keep moving. Whenever I sit down it hits me. Mustn't sit down then.

Another day of learning. The guy I've been shadowing all week is really good at what he does, and the kids seem to be learning a lot. One of them turned to me today and said, "you should be a counselor here." I told him I would be next week. I'm starting on Monday. Unfortunately it's the part year position, not the full time one with benefits. Still, I'm looking forward to it and will be keeping an eye out for the next full time vacancy. I've decided that I'd better get a watch so I get the students back on time for lunch and dinner. I'm also going to get new batteries for my laser pointer, since it's good for pointing out constellations during night hikes. Hopefully I'll have some time on Sunday to gather things together. We might go hiking up there with the kids too, so I can learn any trails that I haven't had a chance to check out during the week.

This afternoon I had to teach in Fremont. I stopped by our base of operations nearby, where we tried to figure out when I could train some more so I could play mad scientist at a birthday party on Saturday. I feel like I'm letting them down at this job, because I'm basically quitting after this week, except for weekend gigs doing birthday parties. I've already been asked if I could jump right back in the next time my schedule gets freed up (in about a month). Business seems incredibly good for them right now, but I get the impression they're running themselves into the ground trying to keep up with it all. Tomorrow I teach my last after school program for the time being.

I also got a call from a company that had advertised for a distribution supervisor. I had sent them an e-mail before I knew I was getting the Environmental Education position, but even though I told them I couldn't work the hours they needed (25-30) they still want to interview me. I'll probably schedule one with them sometime next week. Just to see. I will definitely need some extra work in November and December because the "part year" part of my new job doesn't include any work during these months, except for some after-the-fact training. This paid training will make up for the fact that I've been observing their program on my own time this week. Also, I'm really only seeing about half of the program, since I've been leaving in the middle of it every day in order to go someplace where I'm actually getting paid. We gotta eat here. Not that I'm getting paid much, of course. That will change (relatively, at least).

This jumbled chaos that is my schedule at the moment is all very new to me. All of my previous jobs were long-term affairs. Things stayed the same for years, with minor changes here and there. Right now I feel I can't focus on anything but my changing job situation, but when things finally settle down (whenever that may be) I'll be the better for it.

Nuff for now.

I haven't really had much time to sit down this week. I've been too busy trying to learn a new job while working an almost new job. I haven't worked at the museum all week, and won't be able to for the next few weeks either. I could work weekends, I guess, but I'm still trying to decide if I should bother. Continued employment there might come in handy towards the end of the year if I get the part year position at the science camp. Or maybe I should just let it go.

For now I'll adopt a "wait and see" attitude. Some things become clearer after a bit of time is allowed to pass. When you do things in a hurry some of the important details get lost. Right now I'm too busy focusing on learning the new job to worry about much else. I'll probably spend a lot of time this weekend reading various manuals and instructor guides - oh, and learning some campfire songs. Most of the people who work there are musicians of one sort or another. Some of the campfire songs are pretty cool.

It's hard to believe it's only Wednesday. I observed camp activities most of the morning, and then went home for a bit before rushing off to teach the sea life class. Then I went and got a TB test because the one I got a couple of years ago is too ancient to pass muster. Afterwards, with no time to spare, I rushed northwards to instruct some small children on how to build model rockets. For some reason, none of the kids names matched the ones on my roster. In the classroom next to me was another instructor employed by the same organization as me. I hadn't met him previously, and when I talked to him I found out that he'd also applied for the job I've been learning in the mornings. He obviously didn't get it though. Small world.

Hanging over the back of one of the couches in the staff room at the science camp was a shirt emblazoned with the words "Bush is torture". How true.

Today was a bit like yesterday. I spent the morning observing camp activities, the afternoon teaching an after school program, and the evening back at camp. This evening's activity was a night hike, using the same trails I hiked many times over the summer while working for the Youth Science Institute. We marched in an ant-like column, without the aid of flashlights, through the Redwoods. At one point, we each got the opportunity to walk alone, following the trail with the aid of candles placed on the ground at intervals. Very cool.
We ended the evening by peering through a telescope at a nebula. The Milky Way stretched across the sky. That's one of the good things about being up in the hills. You can actually see the Milky Way.

Okay, time to get off the computer.

I found out today that the other two people competing for the full time Environmental Education Specialist position both already work at the school part time (or full time, part year). That means I'll most likely get the full time, part year position instead, which means I'll have some gaping gaps in my schedule that will need filling somehow or other. I should find out for sure by midweek.

I spent the morning observing the program at the school. The treetops disappeared into the soft greyness of the persistant mist. Then busloads of sixth graders arrived. I felt like I was a kid again. The atmosphere was that evocative of childhood for me. All of the people I met seemed nice and relaxed. I think I created a bit of a buzz, being an outsider competing against a couple of insiders for a permanent position, but I didn't get the feeling that anybody resented me. There's free food for employees as well.

In the afternoon, I went and taught at the same school as last Monday, and the kids still acted like extras from Lord of the Flies. This should be my last time teaching this particular group. I told the woman who hired me for this job that I wouldn't be able to teach after school programs after the end of the week, and she was very understanding. I'll still be able to do fun birthday parties for them on the weekends though. That's good, because we're going to need the money.

At night, I went back to observe more camp. Campfire, actually. They actually started the fire the old fashioned way - rubbing sticks together. Songs, skits, and merriment followed. It's going to be another of those "I can't believe I'm getting paid to do this" jobs.

Now I have to wait until midweek for the final verdict. I arrived early for my interview this morning, only to find nobody there yet. While I waited, I looked at frogs and directed a lost man towards the park up the hill where a memorial service he was looking for was being held. My interviewer arrived soon afterwards, and we spent about an hour and a half talking. It went pretty well, covering much of the same ground as the first two interviews. They're trying to fill the position(s) as soon as possible, but I'm the first interviewee of three. The other two probably won't be interviewed until Wednesday or so. First prize is a full time job with benefits. Second prize is a full time/part year job without benefits. If I get second prize, I would be working for the rest of this month, and then not again until sometime in January. After that, I would have work (minus a couple of vacation weeks) until May, with the possible option of summer employment. I'm trying to figure out how I could make that work. Of course, there's always the possibility of third prize, which is getting my name on an "eligible for employment" list for a year, should some other position become available. Let's hope for first prize. While I'm waiting, I'm going to show up in the mornings this week to observe some camp sessions. Should be enlightening.

Talk about a labyrinthine selection process though.

And now... Duck! It's the flying seven-legged tarantula, with fangs glinting in the late afternoon sunlight!



Okay, that's actually not true. It's a very stationary dead tarantula. It's missing a leg because one snapped off when I picked it up. I had to shake the ants off it before I took the picture.

There are new people moving in next door. We haven't really met them yet. What do you want to bet that they run screaming in a day or two? When The Dickens and Willow start shrieking, it sounds like war has broken out.

Oh, and let's not forget Mt. St. Helens. Sure, today's eruption was minor, but this kind of thing always interests me. I can still remember the big eruption back in 1980. I made a side trip there in the early nineties on the way back from Seattle. It was steaming a bit, and there were miles of flattened trees dotted here and there with the rusted remains of cars whose owners didn't move them (or themselves) in time.

There were signs warning visitors not to pick pumice.

Things are picking up speed. I received an e-mail earlier today stating that I'd passed the second round of interviews for the position I'm hoping to get. It seems that they've whittled us down to three from the eighteen original applicants. They've even scored the written and oral interviews, much like they would a school exam. My score is a lucky 93 percent (I even mentioned listening to Current 93 a couple of posts ago - serendipitous coincidence?). Later I received a call from the director of the school, and my final interview is set for tomorrow morning. Wish me luck.

I took Lexy and Nate for a hike this afternoon. It took a bit of convincing to get Lexy to come along - he's still upset about his broken arm and keeps saying he's useless. I persisted though, and he thanked me later. We didn't see as much in the way of wildlife this time, but had a good time nonetheless. Here's a few of the photos.




The very common Western Fence Lizard, aka Bluebelly. If you hear a rustling in the bushes, this is what is making it.




The slightly less common Western Skink (juvenile). Slightly blurry photo because you rarely get a second chance with small quick lizards.



Nate and I wandering into the woods. Photo by Lexy.

It was cool and overcast today. By late afternoon, the clouds had been pushed back towards the ocean, hovering over the coastal range like a frozen tidal wave.

I worked both jobs today, doing a morning shift at the museum (during which I finally met the woman who got the supervisor position instead of me - I wonder if she knows this?) and teaching an after school program up in Fremont, during which I once again showed small children how to make cool paper airplanes. This class went better than Monday's. The kids were closer together in age and somewhat less hyper, despite the fact that there was a kid with ADHD in the class. Afterwards, I went and learned how to build model rockets (for a class I'm teaching next week) and hit the freeway for the rush-hour crawl back home.

Tomorrow I'm not working anywhere. I feel so underemployed. Nothing new happened on the job search front today. Tomorrow is another day.

I've been reading Watership Down to the boys for the past couple of weeks, and they're really enjoying it (did I mention this already? I forget...). It's been years since I last read it, although I read it multiple times as a child. I still love it, especially the descriptions of the countryside and wildlife. If you've only seen the movie (which is excellent in its own way, of course), do yourself a favor and read the book. It's even better. All of the other books by Richard Adams are good too. They've even made a couple of them into films - The Plague Dogs and Girl in the Swing - the first about a couple of dogs who escape from a research lab and the second one a nice, subtle ghost story.

Jen and Lexy came home from Lexy's "arm doctor" appointment today with new socks, shoes, and belt for me so I'd look extra nice for my job interview. I have to admit I actually did look pretty good, although Lexy observed that I looked "pretty plump" with my shirt tucked in. Kids are good at popping those ego balloons.

As for the interview, it went well. I believe I mentioned before that it was a panel interview, conducted by three people. When I was ushered into the room the first thing I noticed was that I knew who one of my interviewers was. She's the mother of one of the campers I taught over the summer. Small world indeed. The interview was short, and I think I answered well, but it's always kind of hard to tell. I found out that one of the other interviewers plays the nose flute, making him the first person that I've met outside of my circle who plays it. I think the fact that I play it will work in my favor. Who would have thought? Sometimes esoteric interests pay off. Now I have to wait a week and a half to find out whether I go on to the third (and final) step - an interview with the director of the school. I think I have a really good chance (I've said this before, however), and in addition to this there's a part-time position available as well (sort of like a silver medal at the Olympics). More positions will be available soon too.

In the meantime, I've e-mailed another place today, and am still waiting for a response. I heard back from one other place as well, and am currently trying to decide whether the relatively low pay and half-hour commute would be worth it. There are set interview times twice a week every week during October, which of course are inconvenient for me because making these times would entail missing work at one of my current jobs. It's such a struggle to juggle. Well, not really, but it rhymes.

It was cooler today, with clouds breaking up the monotony of the sky. I didn't do much besides the interview. Tomorrow I work both of my current jobs, for a total of five hours of pay. Rolling in money, but still feeling the hard pavement underneath - that's us.

My second day on the job was much better than the first. Not only did I feel that I hit my stride, but the school I was teaching at was much closer - literally around the corner. The age range of the kids was smaller, and there was only one child who acted out - refusing to wear his shoes and keeping up a near constant chatter. We managed to work around him.

I sent yet another resume into the aether today for a job in the social service field. Not exactly my background, but what the hell. Tomorrow I have an interview, which is the second round for the Environmental Education Specialist position. It should go well, but I still worry. My knowledge of the subject is pretty extensive (I think), but there's always the possibility that they'll ask questions that I can't answer. There's just no telling... I might as well stop worrying about it. What will be will be.

Why is it so damn hard to make a living?

Here's an old oil painting from my misspent youth. Taking good digital photos of oil paintings is harder than I thought it would be. There's always some sort of glare from somewhere.

I went to a couple of gatherings over the weekend, the first alone and the second with the whole family. On Saturday, I went to Al's birthday party at his (relatively) new place on Mission St. in San Francisco. It reminded me of parties I used to go to half a lifetime ago, with people gathering on dimly lit wooden balconies and in narrow hallways. The apartment, several floors up from the street, atop a lengthy blue staircase, was decorated in grand seventies style with black light posters and lots of plants. Pretty cool, actually. There was also excellent fondue and chocolate dip.

On Sunday, we loaded the kids in the van and went to Santa Cruz for the after party of the baptism of Andrew, who is small and smiley and not sure what all the fuss is about. There were lots of kids running riot everywhere, and more excellent food. Our own kids had lots of fun in the jumphouse, even Lexy, who went in against our advice. We arrived home tired. This morning I awoke sore from all of the extra running around. It must have been the badminton. Oh, and the fact that Willow really laughs when I hop like a frog.

I finally started my second part-time job today, after a morning of training (with more to come tomorrow morning). This involved going to a school in Palo Alto, discovering that my class had nearly twice as many kids as expected, gathering them from various rooms around campus, and teaching them how to make and throw paper airplanes. In the process of doing this I discovered that my official lab coat is good for knocking airplanes down from the ceiling and from where they had become wedged in inaccessible air vents. Due to the unexpectedly lengthy process of adding all of the new sign-ups to the roster and then gathering them up, and the even more unexpected fact that many of the kids couldn't fold basic paper airplanes, I ran out of time and had to rush through the more interesting stuff. For a first day on the job, it could have gone better. Of course, it could have gone worse too. I guess I'm not used to having to wrap things up after only an hour.

Still no new news on the job search. Right now I have a headache which I'm trying to relieve with candlelight and Current 93. Very peaceful in a haunting sort of way, as usual. We need more peaceful moments around here.

I went on a hike with Nate today. We took some pictures:




He spotted the Gopher Snake hanging out of a hole underneath a tree root.




It took exception to being caught.




So after taking too many photos, we let it go.




Then we saw a deer taking advantage of the shade provided by a large boulder near the Guadalupe reservoir.




Then, saving the cutest for last, we came upon a male Tarantula in the process of seeking a mate.




"Nope. This isn't a mate. I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere."




"Hmmm... this might be a mate, but it's only got five legs."

I had a training meeting at the museum tonight, which I thought was funny because I don't plan on being employed there much longer. They pay us for the meetings though. I guess there's always a chance that I'll end up being there longer than I plan to be, but I hope not. I'm ready to move on, and have already turned my energy elsewhere. Now all I have to do is get hired someplace.

I'm remembering that at the beginning of the year I made a vow to get a full time job with benefits before the end of the year. I'm working on it, dammit. No new news on the job search front today. The phone call that I've been expecting this week hasn't happened. No interesting jobs have been posted on any of the sites I've been checking daily. In fact, no uninteresting jobs that meet my other requirements have surfaced either. Woe is me.

I tried to photograph my old oil paintings with the digital camera today, but there was a glare from the flash. Tomorrow (if I have time) I'll go lay them out in the sunlight and try without the flash.

Lexy got through his re-casting ordeal today with a minimum of problems. He was pretty woozy from the anesthesia when Jen brought him home, and it was hard keeping the girls from jumping all over him while he recuperated on the couch.

The days are still too hot and hazy, but the evenings feel nice. If I miss one thing about my night job, it's being outside in the cool night air. At home, the house retains the heat of the day well into the night.

Autumn announced itself this morning with heat and haze. Yesterday's clear skies have once again withdrawn behind a curtain of smog. I was thinking it might be nice to greet the official change of season with some sort of little ritual, but got distracted by the frenzied pace of life at home and missed the exact moment (nine thirty something in the morning) by twenty minutes or so. Later, at work, I decided to draw a picture to celebrate the season. For what it's worth, here it is:




I also went to a small job recruitment event at my old university today, marvelling at the fact that there's actually a substantial downtown area around it where there used to be very little. Kids these days have it good. At the event, I picked up some information from the tables of a couple of nonprofit social service companies. The jobs sound interesting, and they're definitely the type of job that a person can feel good about doing. The pay (as is usually the case, I'm finding) is a bit low, but there's benefits and they're full time.
Nearby, at the school library, there were a couple of tables and a large plastic bin full of free books. Of course there were tons of students rifling through them, so I only managed to grab a couple - a book on Elkhorn Slough and a well-used Nausicaa graphic novel. I just missed out on a pile of National Geographics. I should just subscribe to it, but can't because I have no money.

I saw a different rat in the garden today. I felt a little like the Pied Piper because he jumped out of one of the raised plant beds while I was playing music. He didn't follow me though. I guess I'll have to keep practicing.

This evening, Jen's mom took her out for a birthday dinner, and I watched the other kids. Willow got to play with the little neighbor girl while the sky darkened and the moon rose. Then there was the usual chaos that precedes bedtime. Lexy is really nervous about going back to the doctor tomorrow to get yet another cast put on. His arm isn't mending well enough, it seems, so they have to redo it again. Poor guy.

Next week is going to be busy. This week I'm just waiting to see what happens. I got another e-mail from somebody who wants a reptile birthday party for her son, but that won't be until the end of November. Still, it's nice to know that there will be a little money trickling in. Too bad it's not a flood.

Happy birthday Jen!

Oh, and Cat Stevens should be allowed to go where he wants to. George Bush and his cronies, however, should be stuffed nakedly into holding cells for people to chortle at.




I'm not sure why I keep coming back to this particular theme - ships trapped in muck, or the Sargasso Sea. Maybe it's a metaphor for the ship of state. Whatever the reason, it's fun to draw.

We got an exquisite taste of autumn on Sunday. The temperature dropped, a breeze was kindled, and the clouds teased us with a sprinkle or two. Lovely. Today, however, it was warmer and clearish. Not so lovely.

I went to the first meeting for my new part time job today, all the while feeling guilty in the knowledge that if I find a full time one, I'm going to have to quit. One of last year's co-workers from the BioSITE program also works there, so there's at least one familiar face. And the unfamiliar faces all seem to belong to nice people, so it will be fun while it lasts. The actual job involves teaching after-school science programs at various locations around the South Bay. The only problem is that it's in one hour segments in the middle of the afternoon, making the scheduling of other projects or jobs frustrating, to say the least. The pay per hour is really good, but the number of hours is severely lacking. Lacking or not though, I'll do as much as I can for now. I get trained over the weekend and early next week. I also start teaching early next week. I also get interviewed by a panel of three people for a full time position next week. Hopefully I'll also hear back from the other potential employer by then.

I'll be glad when the dust settles.

Happy almost birthday to Jen!

I went and checked out the Applied Behavior Analysis job today - the one that entails working with autistic children. It's in one of those portable buildings behind an elementary school around the corner from my old high school. I observed a couple of different tutors in action. The first one was working with a boy who had articulation problems. The second one was working with a little girl who threw things. Beads, blocks, shoes, & socks flew everywhere. The work seemed a bit repetitive, but I got the feeling that there are few dull moments. The problem, I discovered, is that it doesn't pay much. After union dues, it works out to about eleven dollars an hour. It's also only part time. I'm still deciding whether or not I should apply. I may wait until the beginning of next week before deciding.

Later, I got an e-mail stating that I'd passed the test I took earlier in the week. I have an interview scheduled for the end of the month. This is for an Environmental Education Specialist position, which is exactly the kind of job I want.

Hopefully sometime soon I can get back to writing about something other than this interminable job search.

Another job possibility has appeared over the horizon, thanks to a tip off from Uncle Jay and Stacy. It involves working with autistic children, which is something I've never done before. I'm going to go check it out tomorrow, to see what it's like. At the moment, only a part time position is available, but it comes with benefits. Meanwhile, I've gotten a work schedule from the other part-time employer, and it's a little light on the hours. There's a good possiblility that it will be added to soon though. Probably just in time for there to be a conflict with something else. At any rate, it's sure been an interesting month with all of this uncertainty.

I really hope that I get one of the full time jobs. It's difficult to juggle part time ones. Of course, I'll do whatever I have to do.

I just noticed that the King Snake has started to shed. He always makes himself extra scarce around shedding time, preferring to remain out of sight under his water bowl. Due to his reclusiveness, I didn't even notice his eyes get milky. He didn't eat his last mouse though, which is always a good indication that shedding is imminent. Not one to waste food, I gave the mouse to the Monitor, who is always willing to eat.

I felt like I was back in school again as I sat at a table, taking a test, surrounded by other people doing the same thing, all in order to actually get to the interview phase for this particular job. I think I was the only local person. Others I talked to had come from Southern California, Monterey, and Marin. The test itself consisted of matching, fill in the blanks, and short answer questions, all dealing with environmental science issues. I think I did pretty well. I was one of the first finished, even taking into consideration that I rechecked my answers a few times.

Now I get to sit around and wait for people to call me back. A total of eighteen people applied for this one position. Not the best odds. Could be worse, I suppose.

It was hotter today, and is still a bit uncomfortable. The air is still, and a single cricket is chirping outside my window. I'm not sure why the crickets in the scorpion and tarantula cages don't join in. I can see them in there, silently moving around.

Autumn had better get here soon.

This probably happens a lot in small towns: You've applied for a job, and you know that you have a pretty good chance of getting it, but then one day a friend overhears a woman in a $tarbucks coffee shop excitedly talking to a friend about how she just got offered that very same position.
Imagine my surprise when it happened to me here in a city of almost a million people (and that's not counting the suburban sprawl of towns and cities nearby).

So what was this job that I almost had? It was a supervisor position at the museum. Apparently it was down to me and this mysterious woman. It seems that she got the job because her background is more purely managerial than mine. It seems that previous supervisors had voiced their frustration about not getting to interact with children as much as they would have liked. Since they know me, they felt that I would encounter this same frustration. At the moment though, I'm not worried about frustration. I'm worried about paying the damn bills.

I'm irritated. I've worked there for over six years, and I also have over six years managerial experience (at a bookstore). I'll probably continue to be irritated until I find a position somewhere else. That said, I think that the other possibilities I have in front of me at the moment sound more interesting than a supervisor job. I'll probably eventually be glad that I didn't get this one. Eventually.

And think about the odds of finding out about it like I did. They have got to be steeper odds than winning the lottery. Very coincidental indeed. Or was there some reason why it happened this way - some lesson to be learned? Time will tell, like it almost always does.

Another job interview is behind me. I'll hear back from them next week to see if I get to move on to stage two, which in this case means spending a day in Half Moon Bay. I also let my new part time job know about the possibility of me getting a full time job. I'm supposed to get back to them when I find out.
It looks like I have some real competition for the job I interviewed for today. People have applied from all over the state. How well a person does at this job is determined in part by personality, and how one relates to others at the facility. I'm not talking about coworkers, although interpersonal relationships are also important, I'm sure. It seems that sometimes the coyotes or the bobcats, or other animals on site, just decide they don't like certain people. I hope I dont' fall into that category. I'm not worried though. I have a way with animals.

Jen and I took turns running errands today. Strangely enough, we both came home with dirt. If judging us by our apparently frivolous spending habits, a person would have to conclude that we have more money than we know what to do with. Sadly this is not the case. I bought dirt ("Jungle Mix") so I could clean the Rat Snake cage. Jen bought dirt so we could once again try to whip the yard into shape and plant a few flowers. It's a good thing dirt is cheap. Dirt cheap, actually.

The weather has decided to give us a break, so it was cooler and slightly breezy today. Thankfully it wasn't quite as breezy as it was in, say, Jamaica, or Cuba today. That's too breezy.

We watched The Station Agent last night (wonder of wonders, actually getting to watch something that isn't meant for kids) and both really liked it. Go see it if you want something both humorous and thoughtful. It's a good, solid film about unlikely friendships. What is it that draws people together, anyway? A simple question with millions of answers.

We made a measly 13 dollars at the yard sale today. Afterwards, since the older kids were at their dad's, we all took naps. Outside, it was hot again, with a bit of wind to temper the temperature. Inside, there was lots of stuff on the floor, so with my energy regained after my nap, I cleaned up a bit. It made me feel better.

Here's a photo from the archives, taken at work on Halloween sometime during the 90's. Impromptu costumes are always the best - It took a whole roll of toilet paper to achieve this effect.

Individually, people are usually okay. It's when they get together in big groups that the problems start. Look at religion. Look at popular culture. Look at the government. Look at all governments. Look at the decay inside that bursts outward like the contents of prodded pustules, taking down innocent lives and altering landscapes. Look at the hatred and fear on all sides as groups of people lash out at each other, begetting more hatred and fear.

Stop identifying with groups. Start thinking. Start feeling. Start living.

I just read that tonight there was a mushroom cloud reported in North Korea. People continue to die in Iraq and Afghanistan, and many other places all over the world. It's not going to stop anytime soon. What happened three years ago in the U.S. was really a pretty minor event in our long history of bloodshed. Those people shouldn't have died. All of the people who have died since, as a more or less direct result of that event, shouldn't have died either. All of the people who in the future will die because of that event (and let's not forget all of the other events that led up to it) should not die either. Every one of these people who have died or shall die leave behind grieving friends, lovers, and relatives. And the cycle continues... This is not about politics. It's about who we are. Who are we?

I'm reminded of the kids. It's always a pleasure to have one on one time with them. Whenever we try to take them anywhere in a group it usually results in a scene of some sort. Whining and tantrums. It's kind of a microcosm of how the world works. People just can't seem to get along.

There is evil out there, but it is spread evenly throughout humanity. Everybody has the potential inside them. Don't give in to it.

I got to visit yet another hospital today, because Lexy, not content with breaking his arm at school a couple of years ago, broke it again today. This time it was much worse. Bent at a right angle - very painful to look at, let alone experience. He was very brave about it, all things considered. It seems he was accidentally knocked over on the asphalt playground. Tonight he is sleeping with a cast, which he will be wearing for quite some time. I'm sure Jen, who stayed with him at the emergency room while I went home to feed the girls, will fill in all of the little details on her blog.

On the positive side of things, I got another response from a potential employer today. Now, in addition to a phone interview next week, I have an hour long test to take. Jumping through hoops in the mad scramble towards gainful employment. How thrilling!

It's hot inside tonight, but cool outside. I'm sitting near an open window.

Oops. I spoke to soon. I'm now sitting near a closed window. Right after I posted the above, the unmistakable odor of pissed-off skunk came wafting in. I went so far as to poke around the yard with a flashlight (after a comical episode of trying to find a working flashlight and discovering that even one of the brand new never-been-opened ones didn't work) to find the culprit. No skunks were sighted. Just that abominable smell. Jen has put some aromatherapy oils in the kids' rooms, and we have incense burning in here. It's getting warm though. Dammit.

The sticky weather continues to torment us. I noticed today that the air has once again taken on a brownish tinge along the horizon, like a monstrous dirty diaper. Maybe it was this dirtiness that kept people away from the museum today. I found myself nearly alone at my table, where I would have been showing people how to make rain guages had anybody been interested.

This morning, before the heat struck, I took my mother to the hospital for a hernia operation, and sat there with her as one of the hospital bureaucratic types shuffled papers around and asked for the same information several times.
After work, I picked her up and drove her home. Just like that. It was her first operation too. I have yet to have one myself, and am not looking forward to the day. The idea of being "put under" while people I don't know cut me open just doesn't appeal to me.

I'm currently listening to Ilgi "Speleju Dancoju" (I Played and Danced). It's a musical based on a play by Latvian poet Janis Rainis (1865-1929), and the music definitely covers a lot of ground, with scores of singers singing the character parts, backed by Ilgi's blend of Latvian folk and rock. Willow was in here earlier dancing to it. I wonder what kind of music she'll like when she's a teenager. Most likely something that all of the grownups hate, but you never can tell. Maybe she'll be the exception to that particular rule.

Here's another picture of a snake. This one I caught up near Pinecrest Lake in the Sierra Nevada range. It's a Mountain Kingsnake. Red on black. Friend of Jack. Whoever Jack is.

Another potential employer called to schedule a job interview with me today. It's a phone interview, to take place on Monday morning. I hate talking on the phone. I'm glad they called though. It's always nice to have a few options. The salary for this particular job is unknown ("send salary requirements"). The commute looks kind of brutal, and I don't quite have the previous experience that they're looking for. However, it looks like a fun and rewarding job. And they did call me, after all.

The problem is that, shortly after I do this interview, I should know whether or not I have the other job - the one that I've already done two interviews for. Not to mention the part time one that I've already been hired for (although they haven't called to schedule me yet). I have a feeling that this is how job searches often end up - a muddle of possibilities. I guess I should be thankful that at the grand old age of 36 I've never had to deal with it before. All of my previous jobs just kind of snapped into place like a lego set (the little kid kind, not the complicated ones for older kids). This is partially because I kept the night job for 16 years. With those nocturnal paychecks rolling in, the daytime paychecks didn't really matter, giving me the freedom to work for proverbial peanuts, or in some cases nothing. Things are a little different when the bills and the rent are hanging in the balance. It makes me more nervous during interviews.

We're participating in another garage sale on Sunday, just in case. I've still got a handful of Canadian dollars, British pounds, and Euros to exchange as well.

The interview went pretty well, I think. Now more waiting...

The boys and I went for a hike this evening. Of course, the first person we ran into on the trail (right after stopping to look at some deer) asked us if we had seen any Mountain Lions, which is the one animal I try not to mention around the boys because they're a bit scared of them. The man was actually out there with his little binoculars hoping to spot one. He went on to say that a friend of his had seen one in the gully next to the trail we were on. I had visions of the boys simultaneously wetting their pants. To their credit, they didn't, and we continued on, with the man's parting words, "look out for Rattlesnakes!", ringing in our ears. I love finding Rattlesnakes, but I once went on a hike with Lexy during which he whined the whole time about the possibility of running into one. Again, perhaps because both boys were there together, they managed to hold it together. Further up the trail, a couple walking their dog were staring into the brush while the man made loud noises, as if trying to scare something off. I asked them what they were looking at, and the woman sheepishly replied that they thought it might have been a Mountain Lion. As they left, I peered into the bushes and witnessed a family of Quail hightailing it downhill. People are a bit jumpy, aren't they?

It started getting dark well before we got back, and we saw a large bird that I couldn't identify in the gloom. It had a habit of flying a short distance every time I got close, so I never did figure out what it was. I looked young, though. Afterwards, we saw an owl (flying into the distance), and some bats. Another owl hooted from somewhere out in the dark.

We also saw these:







It was so dark at this point that I couldn't see what I was taking a picture of. We didn't clearly see the toads until we looked at the pictures. The boys had a lot of fun. The toads peed on me.

It's just as hot today. Maybe hotter. I'm drinking iced coffee with half-frozen ice cubes because I just couldn't wait for them to solidify. Tomorrow promises more of the same. During the late morning, I have a second interview for one of the positions I've applied for. I'm confident and nervous at the same time. I hope the confidence is more obvious than the nervousness.

I spent Labor Day laboring at the museum, mainly because a great many people spent Labor Day visiting the museum. At least it was air conditioned.

Here's a snake. Snakes are nice. They also occasionally help pay the bills around here.

It's the kind of weather that makes your clothes weigh heavily upon you and your fluids leak slowly from your pores. We're all just flopping around the house today, because even without air conditioning it's still cooler inside.

Did I mention that I got another part time job? I'm unsure what to tell them next week when they begin scheduling hours, because the jury is still out on the full time one. I'll think of something, I guess. Maybe I'll know more in a few days.

M. and I went and saw Sleepytime Gorilla Museum at Mills College on Saturday, meeting G. who publicly transported himself there, on the steps outside. Carla Bozulich opened the show and sounded nothing like somebody who recently recorded a re-make of Willie Nelson's "Red Headed Stranger" would be expected to sound. Not Country, in other words. Much more jagged and jarring. The inappropriately monickered Death Ambient (Fred Frith, Ikue Mori, and Kato Hideki) were next, and did interesting things with guitar, laptop, and bass. Fred Frith was especially fun to watch as he played his guitar with the help of a table full of gadgets. The very appropriately named Toychestra was next, and performed a set using children's instruments and toys. If my pockets had contained anything other than lint, I would have bought some of their cds. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, looking a bit out of place on a well lit school stage, were as incredible as always. The only sobering bit was Moe!'s official announcement of his departure from the band. A replacement is currently being trained.

One more interview behind me. Actually, it was kind of a group interview, with three interviewees present. The drive to the interview took about half an hour, which is fine by me because I have a cd player in my car. I think I'll find out pretty quickly whether or not I get this job. In a way it reminded me of my job interview at YSI - very relaxed and friendly. It seems like an exciting place to work. An old coworker of mine (well, from earlier this year, anyway) already works there. More on this soon.

Jen got a call while I was at work from a woman who wants to have a Halloween party with reptiles and spiders and such. Extra money next month. As if any money we take in is extra... Every little bit helps though.

For some reason there were lots of people in the Early Childhood Center at work today. And they were all playing with the gak (a rubbery, slimy mixture of borax, glue, water, and food coloring). While clowning around with a large group of preschoolers I discovered that it is possible to jump rope with the stuff. It usually ends up coming apart, sending slimy green segments across the room, but the kids sure enjoyed it. A mom even requested a repeat performance for one of her daughters who had missed the initial tomfoolery. It was one of those days that made me marvel at the fact that I get paid to do this kind of work. Too bad it's not enough to live on.

I've been shortlisted for one job position, and my follow up interview is next week. Wish me luck. I also have an interview for a part time job tomorrow morning. I'm still trying to decide how I'm going to juggle this. I don't have enough time to do both, and we don't have enough money to do neither. I need to jump on every opportunity that presents itself though, so I guess I'll just sort it all out later. I'd hate to pass up the part time job if the full time positions that I've applied for go to other people.

I think it was in the seventies today, which is lower than the numbers that the forecasters have been spitting at us all week. Maybe that means that it won't really be anywhere near one hundred degrees this weekend. One can hope.

The rat is still in the compost. He jumped up again when I was watering it down. This time I was able to see where he went, and when I squeaked at him in my best rat voice he actually stopped and came back, perching on top of the wooden, rafter-like beams above the compost bin, probably thinking to himself, "you ain't a rat, so why the hell you squeaking?".

The boys have completed their second day of school, and seem to be enjoying it. Jen took Lexy this morning, and later on we all walked Nate to school. The girls managed to displace all of the water in several puddles outside of his classroom, laughing and smiling all the while. And getting very muddy, of course. Next time we'll stop them before it gets so out of hand. But dammit, it was so cute.

There are signs up in the neighborhood warning people about local coyotes. It seems that the partial remains of several cats and dogs have been found littering peoples' yards. The town paper had an article about it as well. Gives a whole new meaning to the term "pet food".

No new news on the job front. And to make matters worse, it's supposed to get hotter by the weekend. That's insult to injury. Poor and sweltering. At least the nights are cool.

The patchy clouds have done little to cut down the heat, at least during the middle of the day. I'm finding that one of the benefits of actually getting up in the morning is that it's nice and cool for a few hours. This is a good time to get things done, before the heat sucks all the energy away and all I want to do is sit in the shade.

I'm nervously checking my bank balance, waiting for that last summer camp paycheck to appear there. I like direct deposit, but sometimes it seems like just one more way for things to go wrong. What if my paycheck gets electronically transferred into the internet equivalent of a dead letter office? What if a retiree from Des Moines was the recipient of my e-mailed timesheet? I'll check again tomorrow.

I took Willow to a barbeque at an old friend's house on Saturday. That's right. House. You know you've hit some sort of temporal plateau when your childhood friends start buying houses. Especially in this area. That's more of a feat than having kids. Anyway, Willow had a great time pulling up the decorative pinwheels stuck in the dirt out back, chasing the small dogs, and eating handfuls of mini chocolate chip cookies. She also expressed fondness for one of the doormats - the one emblazoned with pictures of small dogs. As for me, I got to try barbequed portabello mushrooms (with soy sauce and garlic) and barbequed rice balls (also with soy sauce and garlic). Yummy. I also admired the hardwood floors that my friend was crazy enough to put in himself. I left when Willow started acting tired. Not that she was about to admit it, of course. She was having too much fun. She pointed to the rising moon as we left. She always notices the moon. She was asleep before we were off the block.

(Slight pause while I go and rescue Nate from the really large, apparently fearsome, spider in the bathroom)

Almost September. Hopefully it will be a good month.

I saw a guy driving on the wrong side of the road on the way to work today. I think that he realized his mistake at the very moment I spotted him, because he came to a stop and started directing traffic, making little "after you" gestures with his hands, all the while studiously avoiding any eye contact. Drunk or just really confused? From the UK? Reckless performance artist? I'll never know.

At work, I discovered that a large rat had moved into one of the compost piles in the garden. It shot straight up into the air while I was hosing down the pile, vanishing into the large rosebush above. Try as I might, I couldn't find where it was hiding.

The weather was boring today - cloudless and warm. It's hard to be inspired about anything under these conditions. I need some fog, or clouds with the threat of rain. Maybe one of those freak storms where it rains fish.

It looks like our financial situation is going to get pretty grim before it gets better. I have a few job possibilities on the horizon, but things on the horizon always seem to take their sweet time getting right up next to you. I've done one interview for a full time position, I have another interview (for a part time position) scheduled for next week, and I just filled out another online application. This last job looks really good, but doesn't start until the middle of October. This last fact relegates it to "plan C" status. There's at least one other place that I haven't heard back from at all.

I hate that lag time between the interview and the final decision. I know it's necessary, but I still hate it.

Hopefully soon I can look back on this with the contented smile of a person with a full time job. Or at least a couple of good part time ones. If I was independently wealthy, I would just volunteer at wildlife centers or Hidden Villa or wherever the hell else I felt like working. Money is just an abstraction. It's just dirty little bits of metal and paper. It has no intrinsic value.

Bring back the barter system!

Below: Would you shake hands with this cat?

I once got severance pay for a job that I didn't lose. Today I had a job interview at my current place of employment. Life is funny.

There is a reason that I'm drawing pictures of myself. Really.

The boys' bedtime story tonight was another biography about the Wright Brothers. After reading a bit about early flight experimentation with hot air balloons, I decided that the boys had to see the opening scene from Andrei Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev, which I am now certain must have been inspired by an incident in France when a pair of inventors got their balloon to fly for around a mile, only to have it torn apart by frightened peasants after it settled to earth. Both of the boys found it interesting, even though the film is in black and white, and subtitled - two nearly unpardonable sins in the eyes of the young. Kids these days...

We should never let our fear of the unknown inspire brutish behavior. It's just uncouth. Loutish, even. Oh, wait, the president does it. Must be okay then. Imagine all of those french peasants with the face of George W. Bush - semi simian, and not quite comprehending what it is that they're in the process of destroying. It's a frightening image to be sure.

I had planned to park in the loading dock on friday morning, but they had chosen that day to start putting in a new gate, so I parked on the lawn next to the garden instead, which is the best parking place I've ever gotten. I wish I could always park there, but sadly that just isn't going to happen. They let me do it only because I had all of the reptiles and bugs and such with me.
It didn't take me long to discover that it doesn't matter how often or well I wash my hands - if I've been holding other critters, the Water Monitor is going to try to take a bit out of me. Consequently, he spent the morning in his cage. The python spent the morning in the plants in the garden. All of the creatures were popular, so I spent hours rotating them in and out of their cages.
Author Gary Bogue (see previous post) and illustrator Chuck Todd showed up at around 1:30 or so, and I had a good time talking to them in between answering questions and getting out animals. Gary had lots of interesting anecdotes about strange, exotic wildlife encounters, including a time when he had to rescue a Wallaby from someone's garage. Sounds like a dream job to me. At 2:00 they gave a short talk and handed out some cool posters to the assembled children. At this point, I was already packing up so I could make it over to my next engagement (this makes me sound busier than I actually am somehow) at the church summer school. Too bad. It would have been fun to stick around longer.
The church presentation took place outside, with small groups of small children coming and going. The python kept trying to sneak off while I wasn't looking, but since he's slow I always caught him. The Monitor remained in his cage.
I was delayed going home by heavier than usual traffic, which I found out later was caused by a freeway closure that came about when a woman threatened to jump off an overpass. It took hours for the police to talk her down. I'm not sure why they needed all of the helicopters though.

Last night I went up to Berkeley to see The Mysterious Mr. Looney, a play about the controversy surrounding the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. Sound by G. An enjoyable evening out, as is always the case with Central Works plays. Next weekend is the final one. Go see it if possible.

Today I cleaned the yard. Wahoo!

There were a few wispy clouds punctuating the blue today, but not enough to make it much cooler. The air conditioner at work did the trick though.

It's strange only working one job - kind of like being on vacation. It's funny that while I'm enjoying not having to set my alarm clock, I'm looking forward to having to set it again. Actually, I will have to set it tonight because I'm working the morning shift tomorrow so that I can present another animal program for the church summer camp people. I'm really going to have to rush though, because I'm staying an extra hour at the museum so that my shift overlaps with the arrival of Gary Bogue, who wrote a book called The Raccoon Next Door - Getting Along With Urban Wildlife. I'll be on hand with my wildlife. Should be interesting.




Here's a drawing I did for my Wild Images camp last month. It's a Water Monitor skull, which illustrates why I don't let kids hold my Water Monitor. He's got a good sense of smell, and if you've been holding or eating something that he likes, he'll smell it and try to eat you.

The post I just wrote fell victim to an "internal server error". Figures. There's something to be said for paper and pen. Handwritten stuff never gets sucked into the ether.

I made another convert to the "snakes are all right" club today, which always makes me smile. I had the Milk Snake with me today at the museum, and a girl who was terrified of snakes found the courage to touch it (with some help and encouragement from her mom). It's always heart warming to see somebody work through their fears like that.

Then, looking up, I discovered that the "felt art" sign had been tampered with again. The sign is made of felt stuck to a felt board, and the idea of the exhibit is to create your own art by sticking little scraps of felt onto the pre-framed spaces on the wall. I've lost count of how many times I've looked up to find that the sign has been changed to spell out "felt fart". Kids.

Here's a picture of a Horned Toad that was taken on the same trail as the last lizard picture I posted, but two years earlier.

I went to a couple of shows this weekend. The first was the Cowboy Junkies at the Mountain Winery. I'm not sure whose idea it was to put a winery at the top of a narrow, winding road. On the plus side, all of the larger tree trunks are painted white to help the drunks navigate on the way down. There were plenty of people wandering around at the show with little, plastic wine cups, comfortable in the knowledge that the white trees would see them safely home. But I digress - the show itself, which started minutes after we (Jen, Lexy, and I) plopped our butts down on the wooden bleachers, was quite good. They've added an accordian player, who lends a little extra something to the songs, making them perhaps even more melancholy than before. The sky darkened above us as they played, which is an added bonus. Outdoor shows in the hills are great, even if the damn corporate venue charged us ten dollars to park our van. Oh well.
Having only Lexy with us, I was reminded that he's still quite a little kid. He always looks so big when compared to the other three, who were home with granny. Willow, who had never been left behind before, did well. She's starting to realize that those grandmother people are part of the family, and so must be trusted. She even cried a bit when my mom left the other day.

The other show was last night, and featured three bands, two of which I saw. I went with a couple of old friends, Allan and Steve. We got to the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco in the middle of the first band's set, but stayed outside talking until after they were done. The second band, Earthless, did a two-song set comprised of one monstrous seventies inspired instrumental jam and a shorter song with vocals. The drummer was pretty incredible. The guitarist wheedled on a bit though. Minor quibbles aside, they were enjoyable.
Om headlined. This time, unlike their show last month, I could hear the vocals, which had a mantra-like quality to them. The absence of a guitarist is not an issue here. The wall of sludge created by the bass and drums is more than enough to satisfy. I'm looking forward to hearing the cd when it's released in February on Holy Mountain records.

Today, it was hot and I worked at the museum. No more summer camp. Too bad.




These are the final two pictures in a series of 125. At least for the present.

I forgot to mention that I finally found out what the instrument I always refer to as "that wooden recorder-like instrument" is actually called. It's a tarka. People had been asking me what it was so often that I finally got online and researched it. Pretty easy actually - I just typed in "Bolivian musical instruments" and ten minutes (or so) later I had my answer. I feel pretty silly that it took me a decade of owning the damn thing to find out what it was.

And now, you must find the lizard.

The sun has set on the last day of summer camp. This morning, the fog that has kept me company on the way to work for the bulk of the week was mostly missing. We started things off by making small compost columns out of plastic bottles - a portable compost pile! What will they think of next? The rest of the day was largely given over to hiking and playing a variation of hide-and-seek called camouflage. The seeker had to stay put, and could do nothing more than rotate in place. The hiders had to hide in such a way that they could be visible, at least in part, to the diligent seeker. Afterwards, with very little time to spare, we went and visited the Pacific Giant Salamander larvae in the creek. The kids wanted to name the one we caught, so I told them that it was a wild animal and didn't need a human name. They persisted, so when I put it back in the creek, it was saddled with a name. "Squirmy". Good God.

One of the girls told me that when I played music that it made her happy and glad to be alive. Everybody had a great last day - even the immature genius. We had more good discussions about the need for wilderness and the need for wilderness protection. This was the only camp all year that was old enough to really get into this type of discussion. It felt good to really get deeply into the matter and not just scratch the surface like I had to do with most of the other camps.

So now I'm semi-unemployed. I only have one part-time job. This has to change soon. Tonight I wrote yet another cover letter for a position that looks like it won't start until late September. I don't quite meet the qualifications either, but I think the experience I do have substitutes quite nicely. We'll see. I will apply for others too. We're a bit stressed though.

Times are interesting. It's too early to tell whether it's a curse or a blessing. I've just noticed that I can do all sorts of crazy stuff with the text too. ha ha.

Once a year, towards the end of summer, the more or less monthly staff meeting at the museum becomes a party. This year it was a karaoke party, which made me less than enthusiastic... until I noticed that there were some Black Sabbath songs in the karaoke book... A co-worker joined me in a rousing rendition of "War Pigs", which hopefully won't ruin my chances of securing one of the coveted full-time positions there (As a member of the floor staff, I work less than 20 hours a week) that recently got posted.
Jen and the kids were all there too. Lexy, with the help of a musuem staff member, sang a couple of songs - "Zip a dee doo dah" and "All Star" by that band Mushmouth or Fatmouth or whatever they're called. He did a really good job too - much better than most of the adults. Nathan, with a little help from me and some hinderance from The Dickens, sang "Twinkle, twinkle little star". The Dickens pouted and shouted and threw her inflatable microphone to the ground before stomping off stage - all because nobody would let her near the real microphones. Somebody commented that she was acting like a real rock star. Willow splashed in the decorative fountain, which is really more of a decorative rivulet, perfect for floating those little pencils (at every table for signing up for karaoke songs) in and watching them go over the waterfall at the end.

Okay, gotta go get cookies out of the oven. Bye.

The computer is being extra slow tonight. I'm sure a species became extinct somewhere in the world during the time it took to load the blogger page. That's sad in many ways.

Speaking of extinction, the deer population at Sanborn Park is one individual closer to it. There was a dead deer out in front of the visitor center this morning. It didn't look like it had been attacked - it was just sort of laying there with its head thrown back and its eyes half open. The ranger came and removed it before the kids arrived.
This week, I have nine campers, although so far only eight have shown up at the same time. There seems to be some kind of illness going around again. One of the kids is sort of surly and fed up with being shipped off to various camps every week for the whole summer. Another one is really intelligent, and reads Scientific American when he isn't tackling complicated calculus problems (or so he says). He does seem to know a lot of things that I'm surprised an elementary school kid knows. He's also an athiest and hates the president, which is fun. As a whole, this group seems to like discussing politics, which I allow as long as it doesn't stray too far from the environmental issues we're studying. Now if I can just keep the surly kid from needling the smart one and making him shout, maybe we'll make it through the week with our collective sanity intact.
At the end of camp, we found half a rat. A Yellowjacket had bellied up to the open end and was feasting away. Some of the kids thought this was interesting...

It's hot.

We did end up going to the beach after all, but not before we stopped in at the new library so the boys could check out a stack of books and videos. The Dickens threw a minor, "you're a stupid poopoo and I hate you," fit when denied vending machine goodies, and Willow decided that all of the books in the children's section looked much better on the floor.

We left the 90 degree heat of the valley and headed over the hill to the beach, which was fogged in. A steady wind blew mist and sand across the beach while the girls shivered. I gave The Dickens my sweater to wear, and it was so big on her that she could tuck her feet inside it. I tied the sleeves around her to keep it in place. We met up with some friends there, who went and got a large pizza for us to share. The seagulls thought that this included them, so hovered above us waiting for an opportunity to make off with anything that looked unguarded.
We decided to pack it in and convene back at our friends' house for ice cream and a fire in their outdoor fireplace. I finally got to try garlic ice cream, which is much better than you might think. The banana ice cream was pretty good too. The kids (between the two families, there were 7) all had a great time. The whole scene brought to mind a tribe sitting around their campfire at night. We sang songs and told stories and relaxed (as much as you can relax when 7 small children are bouncing all over the place, anyway). Good times.

Tomorrow I start the final week of the summer camp season. It's a camp called Wild Wonders, and is kind of a general overview of subjects that naturalists study.

I was so wet after the last day of the Wet & Wild camp that it took me several hours to dry. Since it was warm, I didn't mind much. This came about because we played with water balloons, and because of an activity that is meant to show kids how we all take our water supply for granted - in other words, we hauled lots of water up a hill, pretending that we were villagers taking bathwater to a very smelly chief who lived up on top of the mountain. Of course, the kids discovered that there was a faucet at the top of the hill (an expansive lawn on a slope) and used it to keep refilling their cups so they could soak me. Definitely a good way to keep cool on a warm day.

Today, we're just kind of hanging around until we figure out what to do. The boys don't want to go to the beach for some reason. We might go to the library instead.

I'm listening to the new Eleni Karaindrou soundtrack for Theo Angelopoulos' The Weeping Meadow. This has the same lonely melancholy feel that her other scores have, with drifting sounds provided by violin, piano, accordion, harp, lyra, double bass, french horn, violincello, and the Hellenic Vocal Ensemble. Jen says that every time she hears Karaindrou, she pictures Harvey Keitel, due to his appearance in Angelopoulos' Ulysses' Gaze, also scored, of course, by Karaindrou. Beautiful music for gray, rainy days or, as the case is here, imagining gray, rainy days.

Two more pictures. I only have two more to draw after this, and then I'm done illustrating the 125 stories I have so far written for the OAC. Then I'll have to go back to thinking about what to draw next.

I caught a Gopher Snake today - a really beautiful one with some orange along the sides. One of the campers spotted it crawling onto the asphalt of the private road near our table, so I picked it up and showed it around before letting it go in the garden. One of the little boys nearby reached down after it, but it vibrated its tail and hissed at him, thus giving everybody a demonstration of how Gopher Snakes mimic Rattlesnakes.

I also handed over a couple of resumes in the hopes of getting a job or two. Fingers crossed.

I took the kids on a longer hike today. We went up past the campgrounds and on up the hill. The same two girls as yesterday were up in front most of the time. I caught a small scorpion that I found under a board near the apex of the hike. It ran up and down my arms with its little pinchers held out in front. They're so cute when they do that. Most of the kids thought it was really cool. A couple were a bit less sure.

We buried Lucky the rat in the backyard today. The kids are still really upset about her death. It's funny in a way. They think it's really cool when the Python or the Water Monitor are eating one, but if you name one and put it in cage of it's own, it quickly becomes a member of the family. R.I.P. Lucky.

Two more days of camp this week, and five days next week. Then it's over.

I'm listening to T.A.C. "Twilight Rituals" right now, softly so it doesn't keep the little ones up. I saw them in France around nine years ago, and can't believe it's been nearly a decade since I first went overseas. I remember the guitarist kept apologizing because he had recently broken his arm (or something) and felt that his playing wasn't up to snuff. It sounded fine to me, but what do I know?. The music on the cd I'm currently listening is kind of glitchy, but vaguely nocturnal sounding. Distant voices, mostly female, singing behind fractured melodies. Quite calming, actually. It sounds a bit like Coil in spots.

The Pacific Giant Salamander babies still populate the cold, mountain creek up at Sanborn Park. I took the campers on a hike today to visit them. Two of the campers are strong hikers. Most of the rest are not. They did think the salamanders were pretty cool, although at least one of the kids seemed to think that the Water Striders were cooler. Oh well. I try.

I got a couple of new tires today, and got the leak fixed. I also wrote a couple of cover letters, mailed the rent, and sent some money to a friend on the east coast (for spare tickets sold in Toronto in June), picked up the backyard, read some books to the boys... The boys needed some gentle book reading time because Lucky the rat finally succumbed to old age. At least I assume it was old age. The boys are pretty broken up about it. We'll bury her in the backyard tomorrow sometime.

Nate says my job makes me fart because I work for the Youth Science Insti-toot. The boy's a comedian.

The girls outnumber the boys 6 to 1 in this week's camp, so you'd think things would be a little calmer. Not so. The girls seem to delight in trying to climb me and the camp aide, or jumping on our shoulders when we least expect it. The boys seem a little dubious about being in a camp of mostly girls. Water is the main focus of the week, so we did the introductory stuff today, with detours to look at newts and millipedes and frogs - all which can be easily linked to the subject at hand. Then again, so can anything living.

The littlest girl kept belching really loudly, as if trying to make up for her lack of height with sheer volume.

I had a flat tire this morning which defeated my bicycle pump. Time to throw the pump away. It leaks worse than the tire does. That's what I get for using it to pump up car tires for the last decade or so. This is only as a last resort. If I have any of that "fix-a-flat" stuff, I use it. I would have thought that this particular tire was filled solid with the stuff by now. No such luck. Perhaps I'll actually go get it repaired tomorrow.

We stayed close to home today because, let's face it, the only time we can really get anything done is when the older kids are at their dad's house. We spent the whole day cleaning, typing, and running little errands. I feel more or less prepared for this week's camp, and more or less prepared to send my resume out into the hands of prospective employers. This month is going to be a little stressful, since I probably won't know towards the end of it whether or not I've gotten a new job. I feel sort of like I used to feel in college, with finals approaching. Hopefully, in a month or less, I'll be able to replace this feeling with the one that follows the end of finals - giddy relief.

The crickets are madly singing in the scorpion cage. Not all of the kids are asleep yet. Willow's teeth have been bugging her. I can hear her fussing in the other room. It's almost like everybody else is becoming nocturnal now that I'm finally on a diurnal schedule. Perhaps I should become strictly crepuscular. I like sunsets. It's the in between times that are the most interesting, because they lead to something new.

More images, both from autobiographical vignettes - one involving a venomous snake, and the other involving fanaticism.

Camp is over for another week, with only two weeks remaining. I had a good group this week, with no kids standing out in a bad way. As with the previous week, they really liked making art from whatever was at hand in their immediate surroundings. The paper mache masks came out much better too, because I didn't let them use paint. The previous group used paint almost to the exclusion of all else.

Jeremy the computer doctor came by to take a look at our ailing computer, and recommended that we download all of the Windows updates that we'd been ignoring for the last year or so. He also found a virus, and said that at some point soon he's going to take our computer home with him for a day or two to really fix things up. That should help. In some ways, with the updates all updated, things are working a little better, but things are not perfect yet. We luddites continue to blink stupidly in the overwhelming glare of technology.

I've been listening to lots of weird hippie pagan folk type stuff lately. Banjos are cool. Anything that evokes the back porch of a cabin situated somewhere in an isolated mountain range under a waning moon slowly sinking into the predawn mists... you get the idea. Somewhere where life can be lived according to natural cycles, not alarm clocks or time clocks or any other sort of clock. I'm tired and still battling a cold. We've all been taking turns being grouchy so far this weekend, although there have been bright spots. I drew a picture over a few days during the week, mostly to demonstrate different drawing techniques for my camp, using a marker, charcoal pencil, crayon, and paint. Today I asked Lexy if he would like to add to it, which he did. He was complaining about how he didn't like what he was doing, so I told him that he should never worry about the end result of his art - just have fun and relax. It helped him, and he drew a great tree, with accompanying bee hive (spilling honey) and bees (preparing to sting the smiling woman standing nearby). Pretty cool.

We did a multi-family garage sale over at K's house (on a busy street) and managed to offload a few more bits an pieces of clutter. One of my coworkers from the museum stopped by, lured by the playstructure in the driveway that had unfortunately been sold already.

Granny came over last night and set up a large tent in the backyard so that she and the boys could camp out. Normally, I would have been out there too, but I was feeling tired and grouchy, so I went to bed early. Only Granny and Lexy slept outside all night, with the younger kids all opting for the comforts of beds. I miss camping, but I think I'll wait until we can go someplace with stars and the smell of the woods.

It looks like the windows updates may have fixed my inability to upload images. Let's see.

Today was a day when campers found many small objects on the ground and wanted to take them home. The bits of bark and leaf we used to make little picture frames for the polaroids we had taken (multiple shots of a hapless family of coots), the fish hooks I made them hand over to me... and the dead lizard - I never thought I'd have to tell somebody that they couldn't take a dead lizard home. That's just common sense, isn't it?

At the museum, we combined several types of paint, some shaving cream, corn oil, and gak (borax, clear glue, water, and food coloring) with our hands to make an unholy concoction that resembled, both in texture and color, pond scum. The kids absolutely loved it!

The job gods have offered me a glint of light at the end of the tunnel. It may even not be a train. We'll see.

I have a cold. I hate that.

Now, not only do some parents pick their kids up late from camp, but one dad brought two kids 25 minutes early, right in the middle of our prep time. He asked if he could leave them at the table, to which both I and the camp aide replied that he couldn't. He left them anyway. That shows a considerable amount of disrespect, if you ask me. It doesn't matter if he's late for work either. I took the kids into the center so that somebody could watch them until we were ready for them. The lady who runs the office got right on the phone and laid down the law to whoever was on the other end. I'm not sure if it was the mother or the father. I'll bet he doesn't try that stunt tomorrow. It's always nice to have merciless office folk do your dirty work.

Later, I found myself on the campus where I went to college. I wanted to check out their career center for job postings. For a mere 25 bucks, I can now check it out online. It was strange, though, being back there. I walked past the concrete bench where I had been sitting when the '89 earthquake happened. I remember that day quite well. I had been drinking a slurpee and got knocked on my ass when I stood up in surprise.

Ah, memories. The campus looks much better now. All of the construction that seemed to be constantly interfering with my walks between classes has been completed.

Goodnight.

It looks like another week of campers who like to draw, so things should go well. I had the kids do several different kinds of drawings today, and we hiked around the lake a bit, discovering some turtles and some sort of Kingfisher-like bird along the way. It was pretty hot, and the kids were feeling it. One boy came with a backpack full of water, complete with a drinking tube slung over his shoulder so he could constantly sip. The only drawback was that he had to pee every 20 minutes or so. I hope he doesn't bring the damn thing tomorrow because I don't want the whole week taken up by bathroom breaks.

I've been noticing that most of the kids in my camps seem to have every summer week taken up with some camp or other. Some of them have several activities every day. One boy today told my that he not only plays violin, but has done so at some sort of concert in Europe. I can believe it. Why is it that parents feel the need to push children to learn so much so fast? Why do they also shuttle them off to multiple camps every summer? A lot of the kids seem pretty burned out by all of the activity. Of course, letting them rot in front of the TV for three months isn't acceptable either. Where's the happy medium? Perhaps it has been chased away by the angry extreme.

I'd better post this before it disappears.

Another week has gone by somehow. The mornings, for the most part, have been pleasantly overcast, with fog drifting over the hills. This week's camp was called Wild Images, which I also taught for two weeks last year, and will be teaching again next week. It's one of my favorite camps to teach because it brings art into the mix. We spent a lot of time drawing, making paper mache masks, and creating strange structures in the woods using large redwood branches. The latter was the near unanimous favorite.

I went and saw Neurosis on Wednesday, and found myself immersed in over two hours of doom-laden sludge, tempered a bit about halfway through by the sultry vocalizations of Jarboe. This is doom with a purpose though. It's a cathartic attack against the spiritual emptiness and soulless consumerism so rampant in mainstream culture. Time well spent, I say. I was so energized by their performance that I managed to drive home without coffee, despite the fact that I had worked a ten hour day between my two jobs.

Last night, M. and I went to see Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Moe!kestra. the Moe!kestra were crammed into every available cranny on the main floor and balcony of the club, so as to surround us with a cacaphony (interspersed with some quiet, droning bits) that culminated in the wailing sounds of air raid sirens. I've got to remember to bring my ear plugs. I hadn't seen Sleepytime Gorilla Museum in quite some time, so nearly half of their set was new to me, and all quite fantastic in their usual lunatic fringe sort of way. More time well spent, I say.

We washed our cars today, which is something I got out of the habit of doing during one of the water shortages during the nineties. The things that the stress of imminent poverty will drive you to do... The job search continues.

Let's see if this post will be lost or if it will, wonder of wonders, actually be published.

We finished the second Jurassic Giants camp by "exploding" volcanos all over our table, using the baking soda/vinegar method, mixed with enough red food coloring to make the porch around our table resemble the scene of some horrific slaughter. The kids all screamed so loud with excitement that people came out of the center to make sure everybody was all right. I also did an animal program with the other Jurassic Giants instructor. She brought her coffee drinking cockatoo, Jackie Chan, and I brought my Water Monitor, who made Jackie Chan so nervous that he puffed up his feathers in order to make himself look like he was of inedible size.

On thursday, M. and I went up to Oakland to see the live debut of Om, who are a duo consisting of Al and Chris, late of the band Sleep. The amplification was excessive in all the right ways, with enough snarling bass and crashing drums to completely satisfy everybody's need for loudness. In addition to seeing Al, who I've known since he was a kid and worked with at two different jobs, and Chris, who I hadn't seen in a decade or so, I ran into Doug, who I used to sing backing vocals with in a band that was fronted by one of my current co-workers, Mary, who we had last seen in Toronto and had just gotten back from the 32,000 mile solo road trip that had taken her there, Jeff, who I hadn't seen since last year's Current 93 shows in San Francisco, and Allan, who I had worked with at Tower Books nearly a decade ago, and who was just recovering from a botched vasectomy that had left him unable to wear pants. Lots of talking was done. Especially interesting was the fact that Doug lives up in Willits (am I spelling that right?) at the end of a 30 minute drive down a dirt road, in a small community where everybody actually cooperates with one another. It was good to see all of these people again.
We also popped up to Berkeley, where I got into a discussion about hair with an old hippie who just happened to be walking the same way as us. His hair was actually a good foot longer than mine, which is unusual.

Okay, I'd better publish this before the computer freezes up and I have to start over again. Goodnight.

Our computer is still ailing.

This week's group of campers is even more rambunctious than the last group, but the location is better, being up in the hills and in amongst the trees. I even had a "teachable moment" (as they say in the education business) with half a dead newt. One of the kids walked up to me holding this little, dried out husk of a newt, minus back legs and tail. I got all of the kids to pretend that they were paleontologists, and that the newt was a new discovery. We then reconstructed what this "discovery" must have looked like by substituting bits of twig for the missing appendages, in much the same way that many scientists must fill in the blanks with dinosaur skeletons.

Near the end of the second day of camp, as I was juggling two activities at our table, a woman approached me and asked me my name. I told her, and she responded by telling me that she'd just been stung by an insect (a yellowjacket, she thought) and was having an allergic reaction. I quickly walked her inside to the office attached to the visitor's center. By this time, she had raised welts all over her body, and was having difficulty breathing. I found out from her that this was the first time she'd ever been stung, and that she wasn't sure whether it had been a wasp or a bee. The woman who was in charge of the center called the ranger, and 911. I could tell she was afraid, and my heart went out to her. She said that she'd been trying to deal with it herself, but it had just kept getting worse. I can relate to that. When I get injured or sick, I'll do my best not to involve doctors (this is only partially due to the fact that I don't have medical insurance). This woman was swiftly coming to (or had already come to) the realization that this was a bit too serious to keep to herself. The paramedics showed up quickly, and I had to get back to my campers, and then on to my afternoon duties at the museum.
Today I found out that the woman's husband had stopped by the center later on in the afternoon to say thanks for helping save his wife's life. It turns out that she'd been camping up the hill at one of the parks campgrounds, and wasn't the mother of one of our campers, which is what I'd assumed. At any rate, I'm glad that she's okay, because I was pretty worried about her. It feels good to have had a part, however small, in helping somebody like that. It makes me want to go take CPR classes so that I can be of use in similar situations in the future.

Time to go for now.

Another quick post, in order to get it published before the computer seizes up...

The van has now made it there and back again on not one, but two longish trips. Yesterday we went to Santa Cruz to splash about in the water at the beach, and today we went to San Francisco to see Algerian singer Souad Massi and Mexican/American singer Lila Downs at the Stern Grove festival (free concerts for 67 years and counting...). Both were excellent, and Willow very much enjoyed it, especially since we were seated next to some kids who were close to her in age. Stern Grove itself is a beautiful area, surrounded by huge Eucalyptis, Laurel, and Pine trees. The attendees were varied in the way that only a coastal city can provide. The atmosphere was relaxed and joyful. The weather was nicely overcast, with fog drifting through the treetops.

I went to the church again today, and wearing the cool bug hat that Jen's mom got me, taught small children about insects, arachnids, and snakes. One little boy roared at the cockroaches, sounding for all the world like The Dickens or Willow, who also enjoy roaring. That reminds me of when I was leaving the church yesterday. Right after handing the local cockroaches back to the administrative assistant, I got in my car and what should be playing? La Cucaracha, of course. The new version by Lila Downs, who we plan to see up in S.F. this weekend.

Okay, let's see if this posts...

The girls are shrieking and running up and down the hall with Willow's new "B", or ball, as the adults call it. The grownups wish that they'd go to sleep.

I got paid $75 to teach a church summer camp about bugs today. The administrative assistant brought in a couple of bugs that she'd found in the neighborhood, to see if I could identify them. It only took a glance. "Cockroaches," I told her. She didn't look to pleased with that particular bit of information. They want me to come back tomorrow for the classes that didn't get to see me today.

The computer has been acting up, and I've lost a few posts before I could publish them. So you might never read this. We'll see.

Is the third time actually the charm, or am I just wasting my time here? The last two times I've attempted to publish it hasn't worked, resulting in my post being sucked away into the informational vortex, to be lost forever from the sight of human beings. Our computer at home is suffering from petit mal seizures, and who knows why it didn't work when I tried it at work...

I got to see somebody accidentally reveal their concealed weapon at the pet store the other day. A woman was using her ballpoint pen to sign for her purchase when it broke in half, revealing a rather nasty looking knife hidden within. She sheepishly fumbled it back together while maintaining, "you didn't see that!". I laughed.

Once I got home, I started feeding the reptiles. As I was dangling a large rat in front of the python, he struck and missed, falling halfway out of his cage and latching onto my knee while the rat continued to dangle unscathed several feet above. There followed a period of time during which I lurched around the room with a snake trying to eat my knee and coiling around my head and neck. I shouted for Jen to get the camera so I could add to my collection of "how not to hold your pets" photos, but Jen was too worried about me to comply, and instead brought me some water which I dumped on the python's head to make him uncomfortable enough to let go. I had to help him unhook his teeth, and then Lexy filmed the aftermath, with running commentary.

I worked today, and got paid twice as much for it because of the holiday! That helps. I now have to park in a parking garage a couple of blocks away because the neighborhood I've been parking in is now "permit only". At least the parking garage is free for museum employees, and the walk from the garage takes me along the river. I saw a large Heron sitting on rock on my way back to my car after work. It's good to see Herons hanging around.

My first week of camp is over, and next week will be relatively calm since I will actually only be working at one job (as opposed to three, like the first few days of this week). I do have one little extra bit of work this following week though. I have been asked back to a summer camp at a local church to teach the kids about bugs.

Today, I brought the Water Monitor, and both Jurassic Giants camps got a chance to see him. I'm a little bit more reluctant to let kids get too close to him since he bit me at that birthday party earlier this year. It's better to play it safe. Despite the fact that the kids couldn't closely interact with him, he was popular. They thought it was pretty cool that he eats hotdogs. Our group also got to see a large red-eared slider in the lake. Yet another non-native species blatantly basking in the California sun. Nearby, the large wasp nest by the spillway was missing its lower half. I wonder if kids with rocks are responsible.

Over all, these kids were pretty knowledgable about dinosaurs, but since the average age was 5, they tended to wander and toss rocks and sticks when they thought that I or my camp aide wasn't looking. The two girls felt a bit outnumbered by the eleven boys. One of them kept pointing out that I had hair like a girl, and then trying to braid it at every opportunity. One of the boys needed his hand held whenever we went down paths where poison oak was present. One boy went home with a stomach ache, and then the next day had a nosebleed that dripped all over his jacket. One boy had an obsession with dirt and rocks, and was forever picking up large handfuls of dusty dirt which blew everywhere. He also shouted a lot.

It was a lot of fun though. On one of the windy days I gave up trying to do any activities involving paper, and ended up just throwing handfuls of shredded newspaper in the air and having the kids chase it like velociraptors chasing prey. I haven't yet come up with an activity to illustrate how ambush predators hunt, but I'm working on it.

Next week should give me a chance to catch up on sleep.