Thursday, August 29, 2002
With good news comes... not so good news. After a long, drawn out and extremely STRESSFUL process spanning just about four months, it looks like we're back where we started with regards to the house. The complete and total back-to-square-one kind of start, because suddenly, for reasons I can't quite comprehend, the payoff figure is more than the lender's willing to lend. So unless I can make up the considerable difference, we can't do this.
We're not on the verge of being foreclosed on, thank goodness, but I really, really wanted to bring that monthly payment (and interest rate) down.
Wednesday, August 28, 2002
Experience with Mac/ Adobe Pagemaker/ Photo Shop. Call xxx-xxxx.
Guess who has an interview on Friday at 4?
Monday, August 26, 2002
I knew, really, when I heard about the recently-poured concrete slab. I wish I'd been wrong.
Rest in peace, Ashley and Miranda.
Friday, August 23, 2002
So it's Friday again, August is almost gone, 2002 is almost gone. Life is whirling by at a too-fast pace. I don't like it one bit.
Getting very frustrated at this comment system. Wonder if I could move back to Blogback.
If I can ever get the new server to properly pass the rest of the network through to the internet, then I will be moving my site onto the server here, with PHP and the works. (The server sees the internet. The network computers see the server. The network computers cannot, however, see the internet. ARGH!)
Head hurts. Field burning started -- it's that stupidest of stupid thing farmers are allowed to do because it's cheaper than other methods of clearing fields but makes the air in this valley abominable. Gak.
Thursday, August 22, 2002
I got the weirdest thing in the mail yesterday, a letter reminding me that I have Mongol Jewelry by Martha Boyer on layaway with them, that the balance due is X, and I could pick it up at a couple of upcoming events. The thing is, I paid for and picked up that book in July of 2001.
... the hell?
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
a new sensation
Last night I got to try my very first Krispy Kreme donut (plain). Verdict: well, it was cold due to being in the fridge. And undoubtedly a bit stale since the closest Krispy Kreme is about 300 miles away. But I thought it tasted like a fairly good French cruller. I'm not a big donut fan -- I got kinda soured on donuts working a summer at Dunkin' Donuts. I certainly wouldn't drive that far for a box (like some people I know).
Roommate J., who'd brought home the donut from her weekend at the Twin Peaks Festival, also brought home two slices of "Twin Peaks Cherry Pie", one of which I ate as my dessert (before half of the Krispy Kreme). It was very fine, indeed. She regaled us with tales of the weekend, gave me an autograph she'd gotten for me from the Log Lady, and informed us that with a costume that cost about $7 and that she put together at the last minute, she won the costume competition (as Ronette Pulaski). That netted her a bunch of awesome prizes (and many of the cast said that they were happy she won cause they voted for her). I'm terribly jealous. :)
On mentors and mortality
This morning, a customer brought in a book of drawings -- The Forgotten Society by Alan E. Cober (from 1975 by Dover... out of print, sadly). They're drawings of elderly people, institutionalized disabled and inmates, an emotionally difficult subject to look at and to read about. That's not what made it difficult for me; I simply just still miss the man.
She had brought it in because I had worn a tee shirt from his "Artist as Visual Journalist" show. I should bring that book in and let her see it. Reading his bio in this book, I was ashamed at how much I didn't even know about him. He's the closest thing I've ever had to a mentor.
Monday, August 19, 2002
Happy 8th Birthday to the silliest fuzzball on the planet.
I awoke this morning to the heavy smell of wood smoke still. As I was driving I saw that the valley was hazy with smoke. Something was on fire.
Namely, 400+ acres of forest, about 20-25 miles west of me, around Walton, OR. No word on the status of the blaze, if it's been contained (news reports today say they were pretty confident that it would be by Sunday). I sure am glad I'm not asthmatic.
Cough, cough.
Friday, August 16, 2002
Wish I had some great big happy announcement to make. Alas, I do not. Have had not even a "thank you for playing" letter from that great job Andra applied to. It could mean they move glacially slow and haven't contacted anyone yet; it could mean they don't send out "thanks but no thanks" letters. Don't know.
Still working through this refinance deal on the house. I ask you, do they normally take this long? I'm a bit annoyed, and getting worried that there's some big bad secret they're not wanting to tell me.
Happy to see Friday, at last. (The weather has calmed down. It's only in the 80s today.)
Wednesday, August 14, 2002
Fry an egg hot. Hair dryer set on "high" blowing in your eyes hot. Melt into a puddle on the sidewalk hot.
The high recorded at the Eugene Airport was 103° (F), but the airport is halfway out into the country and has no bearing on the reality of downtown temperatures. Likely it was closer to 107-109°. Former Arizona residents of my acquaintance remarked at the awesome similarity. It was miserable.
Dinner being cooked in my kitchen in a home that is not air-conditioned was simply not going to happen, so we went out to Jamie's Great Burgers for, well, burgers. Going to sleep with the fan on felt rather like going to sleep with a parabolic heater running. I had to resort to soaking a towel in cold water, wringing it out, plastering it to my sleepy self. When I woke this morning, the towel was as dry as a bone.
It's supposed to only (ha) be 95° today. I've noticed that the radio news reports keep eking that high up by a degree or two, almost like the listening public will shoot the messenger if it sounds like it might be as awful as it was yesterday. Hanging on til Friday, when supposedly we'll be back down to a more normal 78°.
And I don't want to hear, "Sheesh, that's normal for here all summer long, ya wuss" -- I don't live in those sorts of places for a VERY good reason.
Bleah.
Monday, August 12, 2002
I don't feel like I stopped moving for a moment this weekend, but when I stop to tally up what I actually did the list seems painfully sparse: laundry. Weeding. Drawing up a design for a new hat for my SCA persona (and working on said project a bit). Shopping.
Weeding, though, that was a bitch. The garden was getting to look like small children could get lost in it. So in the course of taking out the weeds and the morning glory (excuse me, #*%#^$& morning glory) and the other noxious things that had decided to take precious water and sunlight from my tomatoes and peppers, I also discovered muscles I'd forgotten I'd had.
I also sat in on part of a Twin Peaks marathon that my roommate was having (along with another friend). Seems there's a festival happening next weekend up in/around North Bend, Washington. She had only caught a few eps when it aired originally and her eyes just about popped out of her head when I told her that I had the first season on DVD. Don't know if they finished the entire set. I went to bed early. (Well, I tried, but had a hell of a time sleeping.)
Wednesday, August 07, 2002
This man is insane. A genius. Has too much time on his hands. Made me laugh out loud. All of the above. I especially like the café prank, near and dear to my heart. I am verrrrrry tempted to print one out and hang it over the cream-and-sugar area. I bet someone would get it.
Tuesday, August 06, 2002
So I get my hands on this super keen camera for just $99 (ok, ok, so technically the café owns it but since I am a slave here most of the day I think I'm entitled to call it "mine") and ... I do lame homeowner things like take pictures of the new kitchen/dining room floor* we laid down a couple of weekends ago. That along with our roommate's cleaning and rearranging our house... well, it almost looks like a Real House. This is the dining room (and Arwen strolling through just as I snapped a pic). The blue covers have got to come off of those chairs.
(* We'd bought the peel and stick tiles for 75% off the retail price when one of the local hardware stores went out of business a couple of years ago. They've been sitting in their boxes all that time.)
Monday, August 05, 2002
Time sure does fly.
In case anyone is still checking in here, I am still alive. Just very stressed out. At times like these the river of creativity seems to completely dry up. To feel so at a loss for something that comes naturally to me just feels so wrong, and I don't like it one bit. I feel like I must remain completely focused on surviving and I can't afford for anything else to matter -- and while yes, I do have my health and a lot else to be thankful for, I will not be 100% okay until I can turn my focus on something more beautiful.
I could use some positive thoughts for a positive outcome on that job I mentioned for Andra. All signs seem to indicate that something good is going to happen soon... I wish it would already.
