Too Much of a Good Thing

I went for that bike ride today! I went a little too far, got a little too over heated, and was so happy to see home. I got some pictures to share! I didn't really expect to start taking pictures before I got out of town, but I had to stop for this!

Why park in a perfectly good parking lot















while your kids are playing soccer















when you can park in the bike lane?














Once I made it out of town, I was pleasantly surprised by this wonderful peaceful scene.















Then I found some early iris blooms!














I got to the Perrine Bridge in time to see this guy jump off the bridge.














He landed safely.














This is the desert. It is full of basalt rock lava tubes. It might seem dull to a lot of people, but I think it's beautiful.

---

I'm home now, in pain. I found a beer in the fridge. It's been in there for a couple of years (at least). I'm drinking it. I rarely drink. I keep beer in the fridge to cook brats in. I'm glad too, because I'm really enjoying this one. I think.

It's time to MOVE a little!

One of the seven components of being a good climber is to have respect for other climbers. At least that’s what we were taught in climbing class. I guess that only applies to people who aren’t teachers or expert climbers. I drove all the way to Pocatello yesterday to go on a climbing trip to Massacre Rocks. It got cancelled. Even though the teacher knew I was going to drive all the way from Twin to go on this trip, he didn’t call me to tell me it was cancelled. So, 250 miles, $10 in gas, and 4 hours later, I am home. Where is my respect?

I turned in the last of my term papers Thursday night. I had asked my neighbor to look it over for me, and when she hadn’t come by before class Thursday, I just assumed she was not able to get it done. Yesterday she came over with it and it was loaded with red marks. I read her comments, and at first I thought one of them was quite valid, and got a little worried. (she didn’t think biases was a word, but I found it in a dictionary – fingers crossed) But the rest were kind of picky, and I think they had more to do with her feeling defensive than right.

She and I both suffered parental rejection as children, and she didn’t want to think of herself as a member of the negative outcomes group. She thought the wording needed to be watered down, but I think I was true to what the researchers said. At least I hope so. I worked so hard on that paper, I’d hate to see it doomed for those kinds of mistakes.

I had a girl read it at the ISU writing center, and she pointed out grammar errors which I fixed. She thought it was understandable as a whole, even though she wasn’t familiar with some of the terminology. She pointed out a mistake, which I fixed, in the closing paragraph where I injected my own opinion into it, so I am just going to have to go with thinking she is the one who is right. We’ll see.

So, I’m going to post this today. Then I’m going to get my bike, and assuming it still works, I am going to go out across the canyon and ride around in the desert. The weather is cooperating thus far, and I really need go out and move and sweat and be an active human being who no longer has to hide in a cave to write.

Maybe I’ll take some pictures worth keeping and posting. Won’t that be fun?

Someday,

I'll wake up in the land of the rising sun.



Thursday, I'll be done with term papers - for a minute.

Bees (B's) are our friends!

Wow! two posts in one hour! I once wrote that I would write a post that explained why I like to say that B's are our friends, so here it is!

I worked with a young man who was terrified of bees. He was a big young man, and when he saw a bee (or even a fly), he would panic. He would run as fast as he could to the opposite end of the class, courtyard, whatever, to get a way from bee. No, you wouldn't want to be in his path. He could be very hard to console.

One day I was talking to him and I was telling him that bees are our friends. They love to smell the pretty flowers, and sometimes, they get a little confused and think WE are flowers. I told him that (and this is true by the way) if you stay very calm when a bee is present, and remember that bees are our friends, they might want to "sniff" us if they think we are a flower, but they will leave soon, and won't hurt us. If we swat at them and jump and run around, they will get scared and sting us because they don't want to get hurt.

So we were waiting for a bus one day, and a bee came buzzing by. He started to panic, but then stopped. He started panting and chanting "bees are our friends, bees are our friends" and the bee flew away. Every time he sees a bee now, he stops and begins to chant. He still is in a state of panic, but he wont be running in a panic which could really get him hurt.

Oh, I know what you're saying. That is the biggest load of... I have heard it all before. But I don't get stung by bees or wasps, because when they come around me, there are no fear pheromones floating around me to get them all alarmed. They might think I look like a pretty flower (hey! that's not such a stretch, ok?) and fly away, but they come happy and leave happy.

And that is why I say bees (Bs) are our friends.

It rained on my parade (aka climbing trip)

Stupid rain! The one thing I looked so forward to ALL SEMESTER got cancelled. Did I take that as a sign to do my term paper? NO! I took it as a sign to go to a movie. Disturbia. Oh, my, gosh, was I on the edge of my seat for that one. It was pretty good. A teenage psychological thriller. It actually was extremely good for being a teen flick.

Am I doing my term paper now? NO! I am playing on the computer, taking care of a lighter fare of matters in my life.

I had PBS on tv for a while. Long enought to learn that I really don't like opera at all. Did it prompt me to do my term paper? NO!

Am I going to sign off now and work on my term paper? NO! I'm going to write an e-mail, then go to the store and get some stuff so I can eat some decent food for a change.

Then am I going to get that term paper done? I guess.

Bye now.

It snowed on my willows.

It is one of those springs. The wonderful summer type weather is reluctant to arrive in my life. I feel as though I am stuck in molasses. Trying to move forward, struggling against the sticky mess of what I call my life.

I wish I could say that I regret taking that stupid Sexual Abuse of People class, but I am really learning a lot about myself, and people in general. It's been terribly difficult, however. And can anyone explain to me why such horrible things have happened that are so relevant to this class? The murder of a beautiful woman here in Twin, a young man on a killing spree through Arizona and Idaho, a guilty verdict of two young men who stabbed a young girl to death in Poky, and now so many young people dead in Virginia, and a whole country scratching it's head because it is unable to understand how something like this could happen. The writing is on the wall, but people would rather mourn their dead than finance the cure. Is it ok to say that I am really scared right now?

I really don't want to have a downer post. I am supposed to keep positive thoughts about where I am going, and who I will be. (Jamaica, Egypt, Ireland, Venice, Africa, Caribbean islands, etc.) And me? I haven't decided yet, but it better be good, because I need to finance some exciting and fulfilling vacations.

Tomorrow, I get to go rock climbing at castles. I am hoping for kind weather, because the trip should be a lot of fun. I would really like to find some new climbing partners so that I can actually climb a lot this summer. It could happen! And it will!

I just have one term paper left to write. I'm kicking myself because, for some reason, I didn't see the part of the syllabus that explicitly directs me to which database I can use, and the purpose of the paper. I know I looked for it, but I didn't see it -- until today. So I got to start over on the research. It's ok, I should be able to do it well in short order. He doesn't want anything too extensive (actually the assignment is easier than I was making it) and he is hoping for papers that are a reasonable length (he's tired of term papers too!). I got 100% on the last two tests! I think it's because I'm getting more sleep. I was actually quite shocked about the first one. I really didn't think I had done that well on it. The second one was open book, so duh. (yeah, duh, unless it's an intro to stats test! I could have the ANSWER KEY and still only get a b on one of her tests.)

I'll be glad to be done of these classes so I can start new ones.

It's all good, really. All things considered, I am doing very well.

Just research weary. I'll get over it. I'm a little overwhelmed this week, that's all.

Weeping Willow

Spring is sneaking in. I have holed up in my house researching death and aggression. I've driven in rain, wind and snow, reaching for my lofty goals, and didn't even notice that my weeping willow trees are greening up for the summer! I love these trees. They are as old as the house they protect (it was built during the depression), and sometimes, if I sit quietly enough, they whisper their secrets to me, over the sweet music of birds chirping in the background. On hot summer days I love to lie under their protecting boughs while I dream about adventures I'll never live, and lives I'll never know. When I was a child, I would grasp an armful of branches and swing from one side of the yard to the other, with the most pathetic Tarzan yell in the whole neighborhood! I don't remember life without weeping willow trees. I can't imagine life without them. I aspire to be like these magnificant giants; graceful and stong. They bend in the wind when other trees snap. They don't succomb to the freeze of winter until most other trees have long since gone dormant, and then recover from the depths of winter long before other trees think to bloom. They're my friends. Maybe someday, someone will lie beneath them, and listen quietly enough to hear them tell the secrets I have shared.

Someday

I am going on a camping trip! In the CONGO!

Someday

I'm going to compare and contrast these falls to the magnificent falls I grew up with.

Happy Birthday Party, Megan

Megan turned 21 this weekend. We didn't get to celebrate until today due to other committments. So, today I baked and decorated a birthday cake for her.









I even made the roses!














We lit the candles,
then Megan blew them all out. (too fast for me to get a picture of the action)



















Poor thing ate too much cake.



And Zach had fun!





















Maybe too Much fun!

Someday

I am going to Ireland to visit with my ancestors. While there, I will see all of the castles (most are towers) and I am going to stay in one or two. (preferably not the first or last in this bunch)

Someday

My sleepy thoughts will meander through these trees.

Someday

I'll ask the sphinx what he thinks!