| I neglect this blog a lot, I realize that. It seems that I never sit down in front of the computer for a long enough time to gather some thoughts. Today is a fluke because I'm forcing myself to do it. Maybe I need to do that more often!
Things that have happened since I was last here:
- Started new semester at school. Two classes, a business class and a Chicano Studies class.
- Started using the family tree site Geni.com, which I really like.
- Got a new swim suit and will start swimming this week.
- Tried on all of my clothes and donated about half of everything.
- Started a new medication. Best results yet toward figuring out my stomach issue. I have an appointment on Friday to get some results from blood work.
- Visited Lexie at the cemetery on her birthday, but missed Angel's birthday party due to being very sick from new meds.
- Had a productive genealogy interview with Mom.
- Bought a broomvac and microwave oven, thanks to Charles's parents and grandparents as well as my parents for contributing to the appliance fund!
- Bought a year of Flickr Pro membership, making http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarolite/sets/ my new permanent picture home.
- Started using DailyLit.com to read books sent via email. Clever service got me actually reading again. Downside is that I stay up too late at night reading books in bed on my phone.
Oh, and our friend Mike has un-disappeared. Go him!
I'll try to get on here more often, I'll feel like I have something to talk about more now that I'm back in school! I ordered books for today's class from Amazon.com today, and I'll put in another order tomorrow for tomorrow's class. I get free 2-day shipping from them, so I thought it best to try to get everything ASAP rather than wait and order together. Hopefully the other class isn't 3 books like today's was!
And of course, for more up-to-the-minute updates from me, go to my Twitter, which can be followed via txt, website, or RSS here: http://www.twitter.com/Sarolite | comments: Leave a comment   |
| I didn't blog at all during the whole month of November! Isn't that horrible?
So, here's what you've missed (if you haven't been reading my Twitter, anyway):
I spoke with USC and UCR representatives about transfer requirements. Next on my list of people to talk to is UCLA.
I gave blood. Harmless process. =)
I went to my sister-in-law's baptism, which was lovely. =)
Went to a few free concerts at school, and to Annie with Charles. All awesome shows! Charles and I have tickets to see Alice in Wonderland (a children's opera that my piano professor wrote) on Saturday night.
I watched Star Trek Menagerie with my "brothers." Great nerd night. Then we checked out the new school together. My brother Rufus and I went to an orientation at the new school.
Had Thanksgiving dinner with my in-laws, not our customary two Thanksgivings due to my parents being out of the country. My sister Irma came to my in-laws' house with us (as did a friend of Charles), which was great. The next morning I went to Radio Shack to partake in some Black Friday shopping. When I came home from Black Friday shopping, I got word that my uncle had been in the hospital (in Mexico) since Monday, November 19th. He's still in the hospital now, but they're anticipating that he'll recover at this point. We also got word that my mom's half brother passed away in early November.
Charles's car had an electrical issue. I'm glad we got it to start eventually, because I haven't figured out how you get a tow truck into the garage or push the car up the ramp! Our customary mechanic took care of it for us.
We got the keys to our new apartment on the 1st, and have already started to move stuff in. I sent cards with our new address to a dozen or so people, those were out in today's mail. I also have what is hopefully a final draft of our Christmas letter ready, just need to buy more ink for the printer or run the pdf to Kinko's for many copies of color pictures. About 60 people on our mailing list, and I'm not counting people in Mexico, simply because I haven't begun to think about translating yet! Christmas letters should be in the mail next week at a guess. =) No pdf upload until they're in the mail, that would be cheating!
School update:
Speech Class: I got 75/75 on persuasive speech. Term paper due a week from yesterday, visual aid speech a week from tomorrow, and then the final. Also, this class factors in attendance and participation grades that I can't quantify (but should be good).
Health Class: Average of three exams is a B. Professor says in the end it'll be an A, however. He's got some logic for that. I can't explain all the subtle nuances of it, but I assume it's attendance/participation/etc. Nothing else here is graded until the final.
Piano Class: I got my first B(+) in the class today. I'm sure I'm getting an A in the class, however. There's a quiz on Tuesday the 11th, and then another "quiz" for our final on Tuesday the 18th
Chicano Studies Class: Have to finish workbooks by the day of the final. I'd call them 75% done or so. Everything else so far is A's.
I can't believe the semester is almost done. December seemed so far away when we started!
I'll try to post more, promise. (Perhaps my wifi working again will help. </SubtleHint>) Until then, Twitter is my friend, because it listens to me when I'm away from the internet! | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Well, I'm reading my past Twitters as I write this to remember what's been going on in the past 15 days! Get ready for a long post!
First, school update (in the order that the classes occur each week):
Speech:
I got 50/50 points in my informative speech about plastination (random topic). Then yesterday, we took the midterm, 25 questions worth 40 points. I don't know how he's going to do that math! I should have the results tomorrow. (Total: 77/80)
Health:
Took the second exam of four yesterday in this class as well. Results tomorrow. (Total: Still 88/100)
Piano:
I went to a string quartet concert at school. It doesn't count toward my three concerts I have to go to for my Piano class (they have to feature a piano), but I became aware of this free concert series through my class. It was very nice, it made me want to obtain music from Shostakovich, as well as tango music and Irish music. Yup, good concert. =)
I got an A- on the C,.D, and G major scales. All one grade, expected that to be three separate ones. The minus is because I stopped and started over when I pressed a key and no sound came out. I know I should have kept going, but it really threw me off! Remember, strike the keys, don't press them! I got an A on the four pieces. I did better there, I missed something I don't quite recall now (didn't play all the notes in a chord or something) but I kept going like nothing was amiss. He's trying to turn us into performers, so he respects that.
This next quiz is harder, fingers moving throughout pieces to new keys... I'll get it though, with enough practice. I start out each time I practice by warming up with all the quizzes we've done so far. Not only warms up my fingers with familiar movements, but it's a psychological trick too. I remember when those things were difficult, and that makes me confident about making these new difficult things easier! (Total: 11 A's and 3 A-'s.)
Chicano Studies:
The group presentation went well. There were a few technical errors, small things really, like a photo that was attributed to a certain culture by the internet, but was not really representative of them. There was no grade given to it, or if there was we were not told what the grade was. Overall, the professor seemed to be very happy with it. (Total: Nothing's been graded, but I think I'll get an A)
Transfer Center:
During lunch today, I talked to the CSUN representatives who came to my school to talk transfer. The host, the Transfer Center (what a suitable name!) also had a table advertising upcoming presentations. So I went to the Transfer Center after classes to get more general information, and I talked to one of their counselors. We've decided that my first choice transfer school shall be USC and second choice UCR. I should probably apply to three schools for good measure, third choice will probably be CSUN or CSULA. I have an appointment to talk to a UCR person, and I'm on the waiting list for the USC guy (he doesn't come very often). I'm going to a presentation by said USC guy next week.
I was a little concerned that my grades from 10 years ago in the Early Entrance Program at CSULA might bring down my GPA too much (I was a C student back then), but the counselor said that they do take the time into consideration. Now my new concern, having come home and read the paperwork I was given, is that they'll consider it "courses taken before high school graduation." Technically, they were that, but I wasn't concurrently in high school too, as their definition implies. I was a full time college student. Hopefully, they don't apply this "before high school graduation" rule, or I may have to re-take a few classes just because I'll have too many "before high school graduation" credits to transfer in.
Oh, and I need to take a lot more math to get into USC than I have to take for my A.A. degree, so I need to get cracking on that!
Then, personal stuff...
Family:
I picked up the pictures from our top secret last minute trip. We went to Yosemite for our anniversary. Not a ton of pictures, but some. Check them out at my new picture home, Flickr.
Friends:
My "brother" Albert's girlfriend Kat is in her school's colorguard. I went to their first field show competition of the year with Albert, Julio (another "brother"), and Momma Lebsch (Albert and Billy's mom). It was a lot of fun, and they got 3rd place out of 5 for their color guard. Band and percussion didn't get any awards though, but that's probably because the show isn't ready yet. I can relate. Downside of the night, aside from getting very cold, was that my prescription sunglasses got lost! They fell, and we tried to follow where gravity would have taken them under the bleachers, but no luck finding them! That means they either ran away, or they were "found." Who would want to "find" prescription sunglasses and not turn them in though? I emailed the band director, and he's going to let me know if they appear, but they hadn't as of the Monday following the competition. In the next few paychecks I shall consider getting new sunglasses. Until then, I have normal glasses and non-prescription sunglasses.
My "brother" Billy's birthday is tomorrow, so I went to see him on Sunday. I took him, Albert, and Kat to the mall (by I took them, I mean I'm the only one with a car). Our other friends had work. Boring, aren't they? We had lunch, did some shopping, then we dropped by Pavilions to see a friend who works there and get a birthday cake. I told them we needed milk to eat cake with, and they introduced me to lactose-free non-alcoholic eggnog! I like it!
Things I've done:
I dropped my laptop accidentally, breaking my external wifi dongle... It made me sad, even more sad than when my internal wifi stopped working. Add those two together, and it means no wifi for me! Charles is going to buy me a new dongle, he says he wants to pick it out so we're sure it's compatible. Until then, blogging from the media server. I haven't made another attempt at blogging from my phone yet, but I will eventually.
I downloaded Google Maps for my BlackBerry. I like it, and I appreciate the effort they put into making it say "Do not use while driving" when you start it up. =)
I went to the California RV Show. I basically wandered around and stepped into everything that I could! We're ready to buy what we like, but since there were so many RVs in one place from different manufacturers, I figured it would be a great chance to make sure we aren't missing something even better! Turns out we're really not. Of course, there are different things for different people. But for our purposes, the Outlook is still the best. Other things that impressed me, but not for us: Airstream trailers are nice, and I saw a fifth wheel with three bedrooms! Three! Oh, and one class C (that I might have otherwise liked better) tried to eat me! It somehow snagged my shirt when I was stepping in!
I went to the cemetery to visit with Lexie, Grandpa Salvador, and "Grandma" Soledad. (My grandmother died when my dad was very young. Grandpa's second wife Soledad raised him and his siblings.) I've put together a list on Twitter of things to take next time to tend to their grave markers. In case anyone's ever unclear about what I want, I want to be buried at Rose Hills, someplace where you can hear the water from the Sycamore Valley. When we have some disposable income, I may talk to Charles about putting a down payment on a suitable place. I strongly feel that this is something that should be done before death. (I have very strong opinions on death and dying, for reasons discussed in an earlier post.)
Things to do:
We're going to become all official as a business. Charles and I ordered business cards today, and I've been figuring out where I have to go (and what I have to pay) to get our fictitious business name filed. After that, run the name in the paper for four consecutive weeks, then open a bank account. Still to do: act on all of the above, and research business license requirements. Meanwhile, Charles makes the product. Teamwork!
I think that covers everything... be back tomorrow with exam results, I hope. =)
(P.S. I think that LiveJournal's spell checking dictionary should know the word "blogging." It doesn't, go figure...) | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I think that there’s something about me that some people may not know. I’m a hopelessly sappy, emotional, romantic person. I cry, more than I care to admit. I’m going to tear up writing this, I can guarantee that. Don’t tell anyone! ;)
There are a couple of things that I feel deep inside that are important to me, to what makes me who I am and defines what I like to see in the people I surround myself with. I thought it was about time I shared that with you...
First of all, some events have shaped my views of the world.
The death of a classmate in the first grade
Back before people knew that children had feelings, back before grief counselors or any such things, I had a classmate in the first grade who died. She was riding a bicycle and got struck by a drunk driver. I understood death, I had had older relatives die before that, and had gone to funerals... but it was the first time that I had had someone near me die that was so young... Before that, death was something that happened to adults, and all of the sudden, at the age of six, it could have been me.
Unfortunately, that was something that I had to deal with on my own, because the school made no effort to ease that burden on us.
I remember looking into Amy’s casket and thinking “she would never have worn that.” Amy was a tomboy, and she was buried in a light blue satin dress. I wrote my first will in the first grade.
I wore a lot of black and white. I struggled with the purpose of our short time on this world at an age I wouldn’t wish upon any other child.
What I learned from Amy’s death: Any day on this world could be our last. It doesn’t matter, ultimately, who we are or what we do, we have to accept the possibility of leaving this life at any moment.
September 11th, 2001
I was at the park with my current boyfriend at the time, in Gloucestershire, England. We had been talking about my return trip, scheduled for the following Saturday, and he kept jokingly telling me that I was going to stay.
We were walking around the park, bicycles in tow, when he got a phone call... When he got off the phone, he told me that I may not be able to go home, and I thought he was just joking with me again. He said we should head back.
Then he got a text message on the way home, saying “turn on the television.”
When we got back to his house, we turned on the television to see fire, smoke, and destruction, along with a plane hitting one of the Twin Towers over and over again on a loop. Although I’ve never been to New York and don’t know anyone who was there, I cried... I think most Americans did.
On a side note, this is when I’m going to take the time to tell you not to fly British Airways. I called them a day or two before my flight, and they still didn’t know if planes would be allowed off the ground by Saturday. Although their website said they’d re-schedule people who were supposed to fly that week, they charged me $150 to change my return ticket. They didn’t tell me this on the phone, just sprung it on me at the check in counter. Do not support BA, they took advantage of poor travellers stuck outside of their countries of origin. I have never flown BA since then.
This is what I learned from 9/11: Never miss a chance to profess your feelings for people you love. The absolute worst stories I heard about 9/11 were those who lost a loved one and never got to say “I love you.” I don’t want someone I know to have “take out the trash” be the last words I say to them! Or even much worse, having a fight on your way out the door to work.
You never know what’s going to happen, you never know when you leave someone’s side if that person will ever come back to you... Be it a spouse, family member, or friend, you don’t know... That’s why it’s important to me that before driving away, before hanging up the phone, before ending an IM conversation, I will end the conversation on a good note. I try to never be shy to say “I love you,” because I don’t know if I’ll get the chance again.
The death of a co-worker
I don’t want to go into too much detail, because this isn’t my family, so it’s not my story to tell. However, I will share what I learned... I realized that I had never told her how much I admired her work, how glad I was that she did the things she did. I always made an effort after that to tell my co-workers (especially those who were subordinate to me) and friends thank you, and let them know how much I appreciate the things they do. Sure, I had already learned to say “I love you,” but even people you don’t love need affirmation too.
The death of my great-niece Alexis
My sister Martha is 15 years older than me, so I was only 7 when she had her first child Cyndi. Cyndi, in turn, was 15 when she had Alexis. I felt like I helped raise Cyndi and her sister and brother, and the baby was an extension of her... I was there when she told her dad she was pregnant, I watched her get all huge, and I watched the baby grow... Then two months later, she was gone. Lexie was born on January 13, 2005 and died of SIDS on March 13, 2005. I couldn’t work, I couldn’t enjoy life... A part of our family was gone, a part of me was gone with it...
The day before the funeral, my friend Jenny Bell, my fiance (now husband) Charles, my sister Irma, and myself spent together at Irma’s house making salads and painting little stars pink and little hearts white... It was the best thing we could be doing, spending that time together. I wish the rest of the family had decided to participate. My friend David then helped us by setting up the auditorium across the street from work for dinner while we were at the funeral, along with some of the lifeguards. I’ll forever love and appreciate Jenny, David, and my friends from work for what they did for our family during our time of need. (And Charles, of course! Now he’s part of our family, so of course I’ll always love and appreciate him, not only for this but for a lot of things!)
What I learned from this experience: Sometimes it takes a village... Charles, Jenny, and David supported Irma and me, but what they were really doing was supporting our whole family. By keeping us sane, and perhaps even strong on our good days, they enabled us to help everyone else... Thank you. I also learned that sometimes it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, but who you’re doing it with. Something as mundane as preparing salads can be so soothing and powerful with the right people...
This is long enough already, so I’ll tell you about what I like in my friends some other time. Moral of the story is: Don’t hold things inside, tell it like it is. If you appreciate or love someone, let them know.
By the way, I define love as the deepest and most sincere respect, admiration, and concern for a person that someone is capable of having. (Then of course, there’s the kind of love I have for my husband, that’s a step above that!) I have many acquaintances, but those friends whom I love, I consider family. You should know who you are. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| It's been an action packed couple of days!
I went down to my parents' house for the weekend. On Saturday and Sunday I went to the 2nd Arroyo High School All-Class Reunion. It was well organized, and I'm glad that I went. There weren't a lot of people from my age group though, mostly older people!
On Sunday I went to see my sister for a massage. It turns out I was pretty broken after all! I knew I had tightness in the back of my thighs, but the knots in the back of my calves and in my upper back were news to me! Irma suggested that I go back to see her once a week, and I think I will. She leaves you pretty beat up, but it feels better afterward... Not soon enough afterward, though. For future reference, do not get a deep tissue massage the day before going to a theme park!
On Monday I took my parents and Irma to Disneyland. We actually saw pretty much everything that interested us, because as a group we weren't interested in the things that have a long wait and because the few things that did have a wait we went to the front of the line for because my dad uses an electric scooter when we go to theme parks. Mom refused to have any pictures taken unfortunately!
In the evening, Charles met us at Disneyland and we went to preview the new Nemo ride. (Only Charles and me, it was limited to cast members and dependents at this point.) They took the submarines that were there before, repainted them, and converted them from diesel to electric. Then they added a bunch of new show elements. Overall, it's really cool. The best part was how everyone else was looking at us in line when they couldn't go on!
My impressions of the ride (SPOILERS AHEAD!):
- The pre-ride area isn't particularly Nemo-ish, making it a bit too obvious that it's a re-theme. Same goes for the view from the windows before you depart and in the first few minutes of the ride. Although, what I would do if I ruled the world would be to theme the pre-ride area to some "explore the lost city" excursion in the style of the Jungle Cruise.
- I love love love the sea gulls on the buoy (you can see them from the line area). Mine! Mine! It's the perfect bridge to get people into the movie mood, and they're a good match to the movie as I remember it.
- The queue and loading area are fast and efficient. The cast members got people moving and ready to go, very clear and well organized. If you had twice as many subs in the water, the people would be ready waiting to board before they came around. Well done, cast members!
- There's a male and a female character talking to each other over the speakers. Everyone knows there are no women on submarines! =P
- I would have liked to see the two human characters in the water be at least a little bit animated. Kick of the flippers, maybe a small wave at the big yellow submarine that's floating by at close range?
- Once or twice I felt like the glass a feature was behind was too visible, but it might not have been if I didn't know there was glass.
- Soon after the point we identified as when you went into the cave (the light suddenly got very low), there were three voices talking over each other: the narrator talking to us about something to do with remarkable advances in some such, along with the male captain and female crew member having a conversation with each other. I don't know what happened here. Is one of them cast member activated and one is activated by where you are on the track, perhaps? It was very distracting trying to figure out which one to listen to though!
- I wasn't quite buying the volcano thing until near the end of that story arc when you finally see it. Even then, it didn't elicit a word from our captain or crew characters, so it must not have been dangerous!
- Most of the animated features were awesome. A few of them were not bright enough, making them look a tad translucent. Translucent marine animals = fake marine animals...
- The mine field was awesome. The anglers were awesome.
- My husband Charles was sitting under the forward hatch and some water fell on him mid-ride. The cast member said that wasn't supposed to happen and that she'd alert her lead about it. My guess is that condensation from inside the cave area dripped on the hatch, and since it doesn't go underwater it doesn't seal water-tight.
- "Why's that whale eating that yellow submarine, dude?" Hehehehe. Cute, maybe even a little clever, however someone had to point out to me that we had been eaten. Need a visual here! (There's a visual when you get out of the whale, but not when you get in.)
- "We better take her up before we have a run in with a sea serpent or encounter a mermaid!" Nice!
- I would have liked the two characters to guide us through a bit more of the voyage toward the end... the captain and female crew member are conspicuously silent as we go through a mine field, anglers, jellyfish, eaten by a whale, pass an erupting volcano... then they just come back to say "We better take her up" like they've been there all along!
Overall, A- just because the cool factor of the things that went well is enough to compensate for the awkwardness of the non-story. That and it's a 12 minute ride, that gives it a bump right there.
Longest I'd wait for this ride (barring the "I have to see it all in one day" factor of visiting out of state, etc): 45 minutes.
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| I had to get in one more trip before our Spring Break blackout days, so Charles suggested that I go during the week sometime. I would have felt pretty silly going by myself, so I invited my sisters to come too.
We had a really good time. First we went to California Adventure. We got fast passes for Soaring Over California (which is awesome), went to see the Disney Animation's Turtle Talk with Crush and Animation Academy, then returned to Soaring Over California, then went to see the Aladdin Musical Spectacular, which was also very good.
Then we went to eat at Disneyland, went to the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Jungle Cruise, and the Tiki Room. We did some shopping in between, and eventually made our way to the photo shop on main street.There's a new photo service that I really like. They give you a card that gets scanned by each photographer in the park, so you show them the card at the photo shops and they pull up all your pictures, rather than having a ticket for each picture. Very cool, we bought some pictures of the three of us, including one to give to my parents. There's a picture from way back (I was like 8, maybe) of the three of us at Disneyland, and we wanted to recreate it but they don't have a photography place anymore. That and we weren't feeling silly enough to buy mouse ears either!
So anyway, after the pictures, we watched the Parade of Dreams at 7pm. There were a ton of people already, so Irma and I decided that we should camp out for the fireworks at 9:30pm. Martha and Cyndi went off to try to get on a ride or two in the meantime, while Irma and I saved seats. We got an awesome spot almost directly in front of the castle. =)
Then Martha and Cyndi rode Indiana Jones, which they had a fast pass for. Then we went back to a shop for a hat that Martha had her eye on before but didn't get, then we came home.
Pretty good day, if you ask me!
Pictures below:
My sisters:
Martha and her daughter Cyndi:
And again:
The three of us:
And again =):
Waiting for the Aladdin show:
On the Jungle Cruise:
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| I have a series of pictures that I'm going to post here over the next several days. Things that have accumulated on my cell phone.
This one is my late kitty Draco (July 2002-~February 2005.). He was very smart, very socialized to humans. I don't think he ever really interacted positively with other animals; he thought he was human. He'd wait for me outside the bathroom door, meet me at the door when I got home even when I worked nights (and got home about 4am), and at least once stole the ham right out of my sandwich while I was eating it. Sometimes, when I got out of bed, he'd go lay down on his back with his head on my pillow! Too cute. =)
This picture was taken by me with my husband's phone (long before we got married, of course) and then sent to my phone.
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| Dear Angel,
I'm writing this on your first birthday. As I mentioned on an earlier blog post, that perhaps one day you'll read along with this, I have only seen you three times since you were born, the last time being April of 2006.
I was invited second-hand (your Grandma Martha told Irma to tell me) to celebrate your birthday at Chuck E Cheese. However, I felt rather un-compelled to go eat food that makes me sick for the privilege of seeing you. (There's nothing wrong with Chuck E Cheese, of course. I used to love going with your Grandma Martha and your mom and your aunt and uncle when everyone was younger. I just can't eat or drink milk products.)
It is very clear to me that your mom and dad don't really care to have our family get to know you, and I really felt deep down that it was hypocritical of them to basically say "you can drop by our private celebration if you buy something." It wasn't really a birthday party... in fact, I was told that each person/couple could get their own table and do their own thing basically. I could not bring myself to attend.
I'm sorry. I had to do what felt right to me. I feel okay about not getting you something for your birthday because I spent two weeks cross stitching for you before Christmas. Hopefully your mom and dad have the footprints that I stitched for you somewhere in your room... well, I don't even know exactly where you're living now, things are complicated right now. Maybe I'll stitch you something else down the line.
I'm still sad... I don't feel guilty... although I feel twinges of it, like there's a part of me that thinks that I should feel guilty for our non-relationship.
But it's not my fault. Believe me when I say that I would do whatever was in my power if I thought I could change the situation. Believe me when I say that I've shed almost as many tears for you as for your sister Lexie in this past year. I love you.
-Patti | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Today would have been Lexie's second birthday. (My sister Martha's granddaughter who died of SIDS in 2005.) We went to the cemetery today, my other sister (Irma) and me. Dad's not a fan of cemeteries, mom decided to lunch with her friends instead, Martha was at work, and the kids aren't speaking to us. Ah well, probably better that way. We took her some flowers and birthday balloons. This year we didn't sing "Happy Birthday" though.
I cleaned up her stone with some water and a washcloth, arranged the flowers, and arranged some other things that were still there from Christmas. They're really developing that area now, there are several small statues in the grotto area that weren't there before, the stone arrangement in front of the grotto now has a working fountain arrangement. It's lovely really, just a faint trickling noise as water flows from within three of the stones.
On the way back to the car, I looked around at the new arrivals as I usually do. I saw a few stones that were completely covered in mud. It made me sad, so I stopped and cleaned them before we went home. That made me feel better. I think there's one I missed a few rows away, but I only caught a glimpse as I was walking to the car and I was out of water in my water bottles already (I brought a spray bottle and a squirt bottle, worked very well).
I didn't cry this year, not at the cemetery anyway (I cried in the car on the way to pick Irma up at her house). Just a lot of reflection. I pictured her at two years old, having a birthday party... What made me more sad than that is the fact that it reminded me of Angel. I literally have seen him three times: when we went to visit the week after he was born in January of 2006, my uncle's anniversary in March, and my dad's birthday in April. He's going to be a year old later this month, and Cyndi doesn't want anyone from our family to see him. She even covered him up and ran off when she bumped into Irma's husband in the alley not long ago. I know that she knows it hurts us... *sigh*
Cyndi and Martha dropped Angel off at my parents' house a few weeks ago, supposedly to let my mom and dad spend time with him. It was really so they could go to the gym to get in the jacuzzi. Well, my parents didn't mind keeping an eye on him, but they had to call Martha's cell phone and tell them to come back because he didn't recognize them anymore and wouldn't stop crying.
I don't know what to do, so I just let it go. I can't force the issue, nor do I really want to. I'll just keep visiting Lexie, they can't keep her from us... Hopefully Angel takes some interest in our family when he's old enough to know better, but it seems unlikely at this time. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Last night we had Christmas at my husband's family's house. As I predicted after Thanksgiving, there were people, and food! Two of Charles's little brothers kept me entertained/busy pretty much from when we got there until food was served, so I don't know what Charles even did most of the time! It's always nice when everyone comes over, there are enough adults around after kids start going to bed for several conversations to carry on at once. I think it was about 11pm when we got home, we always lose track of time when we're there. =)
We went right to bed when we got home, but Charles got into his bag of Christmas stuff this morning and wore all new clothes to work. I'll be getting into the plates of leftovers very soon!
(The reason why I don't have pictures here is because Charles's parents, one of his sisters, and a family friend all had cameras out and took plenty of pictures. In my family, I'm the only one that really takes many pictures, so I always bring my camera to their house for such occasions.) | | comments: Leave a comment |
| So, among other Christmas goodies from my family this year, we got couches! You see, my sister Martha got some other couches (I'm unsure where, if she bought them or what) and gave her couches to my other sister Irma. Irma then gave her couches to her husband Paco to use in his garage. Well, he had them for a month or so before he said that they were in his way and too big for the garage, so he gave them to us. In return, we gave him a little blue sofa-chair that we got from a neighbor.
We went to my parents' house yesterday and traded our Focus for their Tahoe. Then we went to my sister's house, loaded up the two main portions of the couch set, brought them home and unloaded them. Then we loaded the blue chair for Paco and drove back to mom's in time for our Christmas meal. I don't know if you'd call it a late lunch or early dinner, it was about 3:30pm. We had dinner, did gifts, and were done by like 7:30pm. We were going to go to Irma's to drop off the blue chair after gift-giving but my mom said she'd drop it off for them today, we'll pick up the corner piece in the Explorer some other time. Irma and Paco ran off, so there isn't a picture of the whole family together this year like there normally is... Oh well, just means I have to post more pictures to show everyone!
Tonight is Christmas with my husband's family. =)
Pictures from last night below!
My Aunt Tere and Uncle Mario (also my godparents)
My parents and godparents.
My sister's kids, Carynna, Michael, and Cyndi (left to right).
My sister Martha and her kids.
Irma and Paco
Me and Charles
My cross stitching project went over well. Turns out Cyndi had picked up the same one but had trouble making it because she had forgotten how to do stuff, being so long since she stitched. She said she couldn't believe I finished it. =)
Couches! | | comments: Leave a comment |
| So, my sister has a follow up visit tomorrow morning in San Diego. There was no way the doctor could see us in the afternoon (my guess is he's got surgeries scheduled for the afternoon) so Irma and I decided to go down tonight. When we made the drive in rush hour last month, it took almost 4 hours. When we made the same drive with no traffic, but having to stop to walk every half hour (a post-op requirement) it took us about 3-4 hours (we stopped for gas and lunch as well as walking though). So we figured that to get to San Diego for a 10am appointment, we'd pretty much have to leave El Monte at about 5, and we couldn't go far in the carpool lane because we'd have to keep getting out.
So we decided to stay the night tonight. We were going to leave when it wasn't too busy on the freeways, and hang out at the hotel.
Then Dad said he'd like to go, so we decided to leave a little bit earlier today, go to the mall for a movie, then hang out at the hotel.
Then Mom and my Godparents decided to go, and that we should go to Sea World today. Mom says if we go to Sea World, we need to be there when it opens (nevermind that it's buy one day, get the rest of 2006 free) so we'd have to leave El Monte at about 5.
Wait a minute, I said, that means I have to leave North Hollywood at about 4. Realizing that my Godfather is well versed in driving the Tahoe long distances (he drove it up from Mexico last year), I said they could leave at 5am, I'd leave my house about 9am, and I'd meet them there.
Well, if we're going to have to take two cars, then nevermind, they said. They don't want to go to Sea World if it's half day today, stay in the hotel tonight, then half day tomorrow before coming home. That just won't work, and neither will me meeting them there because it's silly for us to take two cars.
So no one's going. I asked if Dad is still going, but we skipped that step in the progression backwards, because he'd feel bad that he's going on a trip and no one else is.
So instead I'm going to go pick up Irma now, and we're going to hang out at the hotel, go to the doctor in the morning, then come home.
My family's complicated... | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Christmas has been officially cancelled at my parents' house... or at Disneyland, rather. There is much drama and negativity surrounding our family right now, and this is probably for the best.
My parents weren't particularly interested in going in the first place, it seems, but just agreed for the warm fuzzies of the family outing. Drama = no warm fuzzies.
My oldest sister wasn't interested in going due to drama and her surgery.
I was a bit concerned about being the only person driving- Dad doesn't drive since his stroke, Mom doesn't drive on the freeway, my husband wasn't sure if he was going because he's going to be on call at work, Irma can't due to surgery, and Martha's not allowed to because she's not the best driver, and I suppose my aunt and uncle (also my godparents) could drive but they're visiting from Mexico and would have to follow me. Firstly we wouldn't all fit even if we did take two cars (I count 7-8 adults, 3 teenagers, and 1 baby in a carseat) unless we toss the shortest 2-3 people in the third row of the Tahoe which isn't too comfortable if you're not short enough. Secondly, if things blew up and someone wanted to run away they couldn't, we'd be stuck with each other for the drive home.
My other sister is already out-voted, so it really doesn't matter what she thinks. =P She and the kids have been chummy lately, the four of them and the baby can go.
Whether or not there will be food and gift time is unknown at this time. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| The website says this doctor takes our particular insurance plan, the phone customer service people set me up with him (I was unable to sign up for an account, as I mentioned earlier. So I pick this doctor as my primary care physician, and call for an appointment. The girl tells me that he starts working at 10, and I said 10 sounds just fine.
I arrive at 10, and the front desk girl tells me "I don't know why they gave you a 10:00 appointment, the doctor won't even be here until 11:00." That's fine, I said, I can start doing paperwork. Her first question is am I on Medicare. No, I reply, here's my insurance card. She takes it, calls the insurance company to verify, then comes back and says that our plan (called "Point of Service" by the insurance company) is an HMO plan and that the doctor is not an HMO provider, so he won't take it.
Grrr to them, I say! It says right there on my insurance company website that they participate in the Point of Service plan.
So now I have to change again and make another appointment.
Did I also mention, by the way, that our dental insurance cards say to go to their website for participating dentists but it's a financial services company and there'es nothing dental anywhere on their website?
On the bright side, eye doctor went well. He said that my left eye is pretty good and my right eye is very bad, which I must say I knew already. My depth perception is bad for that reason, but my eyes are otherwise healthy. I was going to do transition lenses, but now that I'm not lifeguarding most of my sunlight time is while driving, and the girl who helped me with lens/frame selections explained that they're activated by UV, so when in your car with a UV-blocking windshield they won't go dark. So I'm getting one pair of normal glasses and one pair of sunglasses (polarized). I asked for blue tint, but they couldn't do the blue tint on polarized lenses, only grey or brown. I like my blue sunglasses, because the sky looks pretty even on a cloudy day. In the end I figured that it would be better to not see reflective back windshields on the freeway than to have a perpetually blue sky. Prioritizing, you see?
The bad news: glasses are expensive. Oh well, we won't have as much into savings and/or Christmas as we had planned, but I'll be able to see. That's a good thing!
There's a distinct possibility that Christmas will be canceled this year at my parents' house after all. Due to the drama I mentioned in my previous post, as well as some new stuff, it could turn out badly if we did have Christmas, so it may just be better if we don't... I already bought something for my gift exchange person, and stitched something for the baby, and I know what we're getting for Charles's gift exchange person but we haven't gotten it yet. All going somewhere in one or two cars (and thus not being able to run away) seems a tad scary at this point though. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| My sister Irma's surgery went well. Almost as soon as she got settled in her own room, she had some moderate bleeding from one of the incisions (there are 5 I believe) which caused them to not give her any more blood thinners. The blood thinners were supposed to be a twice-a-day injection to ward off blood clots, so that increased the need to walk around and keep on her foot pumps (a clever device that simulates walking by compressing the bottoms of your feet alternately every few seconds). She also had to stay one more day than expected because of nausea.
The doctors and nurses were great. In particular, I really liked the surgeon, Dr. Tanaka. I was in the surgery waiting room, and the staff were calling the room on the phone. A waiting family member would pick up and ask around for who's waiting for such-and-such person... Dr. Tanaka was only one of two doctors in the 3-4 hours that I was in the waiting room who actually came to the waiting room to look for the respective families and talk face-to-face, that actually made a big impression on me.
They had us a little bit concerned that I wouldn't be able to spend the night (we hadn't budgeted for a hotel), but someone else who knew better cleared it up for us. In fact, they said that once in a while they don't have enough room but not as many people have this kind of surgery during the holiday season. So I got my own little (tiny, moderately comfortable) cot. It was a room for two patients, and they were kind enough to "reserve" the other half of the room so no patients were put in it unless they got inundated. Since it was half of a patient room, I had my own TV and lights and such, which was cool. They gave me a badge that would validate my parking for the whole time we were there, but I actually never left the hospital. I ate at the cafeteria, it was closer and healthier (not necessarily cheaper though) and I wanted to get back as soon as I could. It always seemed like every time I went to go eat, there was a nurse or therapist or someone in the room when I got back. =P
Friday night, I couldn't sleep. It was about 7pm before Irma was moved from recovery to her own room. I went to dinner about that time, and I was having trouble sleeping, partly because at about 10pm we noticed she was bleeding when blood soaked through her hospital gown. We didn't attempt to sleep until about 1:30am. Many phone calls to be made that night as well. Saturday night, I knocked out pretty quick (after midnight vitals) but woke up every time a nurse came into the room. Saturday night, I was vaguely aware that the nurse was changing the dressing from where it was bleeding. I remember Irma telling me "it's bleeding again" and I nodded and went back to sleep. I don't know what time it was, but I was too tired to even respond. Sunday night, I woke up hearing "what's your sister's name?" from the nurse. It was 4am, and she wanted me to go for a few laps around the floor with Irma while she changed the sheets (more bleeding). We walked, then I went back to sleep until like 10am. On Monday, the bleeding issue was finally resolved, and I think I actually slept though the night. When I woke up, Irma was already sitting up drinking some water and I think she'd even had her vitals taken before I woke up. I've been getting progressively more tired through the stay, and I think I'm going to sleep off a good part of tomorrow...
I must say that I think it's a great idea on the hospital's part to allow one person to stay, I'm not sure if that's an arrangement through the bariatric practice that they're working with or what, because not everyone on our pre-dominantly post-surgery floor got to have overnight visitors (the two Department of Corrections officers guarding a patient down the hall don't count as overnight "visitors"). It certainly frees up a lot of the nurses' time to have a family member to do menial tasks like helping with shoes, food, clothes, walking, and so on. Also, when the patient is on narcotic medication such as morphine, it's good to have someone there to make sure that medical instructions are retained and followed.
On the way back home today, we went to the store (well, she waited in the car) and got chicken broth, which will be her main non-water sustenance until she's able to eat solid foods. Water for hydration, vitamins and protein drinks (a powder mixed in water) for nutrition, and chicken broth for variety and flavor. I think that she was well prepared for what to expect her lifestyle to be after surgery, but it was still a bit of a shock to actually change to it. Not in the sense of difference from her old lifestyle, so much as difference from being in the hospital. We were counting on our fingers how many hours since her last IV-injections of certain medications to determine whether she needed to take the full day's dose after she was released or not, for example. Tomorrow should be easier, I'm going to have to keep on top of her about it. Particularly about water, she needs to drink more water than she really ever has.
She needs to go back for a follow up on Wednesday of next week, which I plan to drive her to. (She actually can't drive for "a couple of weeks" which may put a damper on Christmas plans. At the follow up, she should know more about when each limitation will be lifted.) She hasn't made the appointment yet, but we're hoping to do 1:30/2:00pm or so, so that we can leave after the people with the real jobs have arrived at work and thus have left the freeways. We made about 2.5 hours on Thursday leaving at 9:30am. It was more like 4 hours driving back today though, first we stopped for gas at Sea World Drive, then to walk at the rest stop in the area of Camp Pendleton, then for me to have lunch (my only meal so far today, which reminds me that I'm hungry now) and her to walk again in Buena Park, then to the store once we were in El Monte...
My other sister, Martha, called on Thursday (the night before her surgery) to talk about some family drama that's going on... It's kind of a long story, which I suppose I may write about later if anything actually becomes of it. Sufficed to say for the moment, however, that it's a matter of prolonged hardship for Irma and her husband if Martha gets her way. She's attempting to spin it in such a way that it looks like an attractive option for everyone involved, and of course she uses the children as an excuse. Even if it was a good idea, it really wasn't appropriate to talk about it the night before a major surgery. Irma was stressed about the conversation even until today, but we hadn't heard from Martha since Friday I think (I talked to her, Irma was asleep at the time). We theorized that Mom may have told Martha to knock it off after Irma told Mom about the phone call. However, when Mom and Dad came to see Irma today at her house, they said they actually haven't seen or heard from Martha in two days. Yet, that's not unusual for her. That's probably a bad thing, if something were to happen to her we wouldn't recognize it or differentiate it from her normal behavior. (And that's probably why she doesn't have her kids with her anymore.)
Anyhow, I'm really glad that I was able to be there for my sister when she needed someone. I know I wouldn't want to go through an experience like that alone. Many thanks to my husband for making it possible for me to not have to work, and for making his own meals for almost a week while I was gone. He even did some laundry and house cleaning, I'm quite impressed! | | comments: Leave a comment |
| You know how little kids sometimes think that their parents can do things that they can't, like they have magic powers? Well, I think some of them do. For example, my mom has the ability to cancel national holidays. As of Tuesday, Thanksgiving was canceled due to impending drama. (Either my mom was sick, or she was worried over who was going to show up and who wasn't, or she didn't want to make ham just to "appease" certain people... I heard several reasons. I think that second option was most likely, the last one seems unlikely because when have we ever had anything other than ham? I doubt she wanted to make tamales while sick.) She also put a tentative cancellation order on Christmas, saying "we'll see" if we get together.
My sister passed along our un-invitation to lunch on Tuesday. (We do lunch partially as a concession so that Charles and I can attend Thanksgiving with both of our families. We've always ended up eating early even if we were supposed to have "dinner," so pushing it an hour or two earlier wasn't a problem. My sister's kids also do dinner with their dad's family.) Slightly troubled, but mostly un-phased by the cancellation, my sister decided to cut up the ham she had and make it into sandwich meat, since it was no longer needed for our Thanksgiving meal.
My dad, on the other hand, told me on Wednesday that my mom is just being silly and don't pay any attention to her, come eat on Thursday. As a matter of fact, come on Wednesday, he said- we could help assemble a new shed they bought, and not drive on the holiday when people were likely drinking. I convinced him that people shouldn't be drinking before lunch, and told him I'd call back and talk to mom. Mood: confused, doubtful.
I tried to call my sister to see if the un-invitation was officially revoked by "the momma" but got no answer. She was out purchasing a storage shed with my mom. They apparently did not get the memo that shopping is to take place the day after Thanksgiving, not the day before. (What can I say, it seems we do a lot of holiday stuff funny...)
On Thursday morning, after sleeping in far longer than I should have, I called my parents' house figuring that my sister would be there. My dad answered and said that in fact, my sisters said they were making the Thanksgiving meal and bringing it to parents' house, but they weren't there yet. Okay, I said, let's go have Thanksgiving...
On a side note, I would like to add that at this point, it was confirmed that my dad has the super power of "detect BS" which in most cases nullifies the effects the "cancel national holidays" power. It's a delicate balance of power in our family.
We leave at about 12 or 12:30, show up and the only thing fully edible is the green salad. Since Thanksgiving had been canceled, they shopped for sheds instead of groceries. There was no butter for the baked potatoes, no mayonnaise for the potato salad, and the turkey (this is a new experiment they were trying, since the ham had been sliced up... we have never had turkey) had just recently been put in the oven.
Icing on the proverbial cake: shortly after arriving, I get a call from my sister who says that she forgot to stuff the turkey, can I make the stuffing and try to stuff it in the mostly-cooked turkey before they arrived? I did, of course, it was that or face being drafted into the shed-assembly corps. (Not surprisingly, I had already been tapped to make their downstairs TV work again. It was just unplugged- it needed a power strip because they use their stereo all the time, and without their plug-in rabbit ears, plugging the TV in would be useless. Shortly afterward, Charles was tapped to make the reception better by playing with the antenna while I made stuffing.)
So, at about 2pm my sisters arrive with 2/3 children, 0/1 grandchildren, 0/1 husbands, mayo, butter, and KFC- in case the turkey wasn't any good, they said. Remember, we have never had turkey. As such, no one knows quite how to slice it up. My husband Charles, whose family eats turkey regularly on holidays, didn't offer any wisdom other than we had the wrong fork. I suggested an emergency call to his parents, but by that time my sister had managed to get enough meat to serve. We figured out what we were doing wrong only after we were all stuffed.
I brought up the subject of Christmas while we ate our last-minute Thanksgiving lunch. After much discussion, the plan is this:
December 24th- We've always celebrated on the 24th, the idea being that you have dinner, stay up, spend time together, and open your presents at midnight. But first I was young, then sister's kids were young, and now parents are old, and no one wants to wait until midnight, so gift opening normally starts at about 9pm. Our plan this year: We leave ultra-early from parents house, go to Disneyland for the day, stay until closing (9pm), drive home to parents' house.
December 25th- We normally don't do anything on the 25th, except go to church. It's kind of anti-climactic, the whole holiday season and gift buying and such, only to not have any plans on Christmas. Luckily, this frees me up to eat dinner with my husband's family without skipping mine, so I don't complain. This year, however, we will do presents (a $20 gift exchange) in the morning like "normal" people. Except without a tree.
We have done a gift exchange at Christmas several times, depending on the general financial situation. I remember when I first became old enough to be part of the gift exchange... True, my mom financed the purchase of the gift for the person whose name I drew, but the new thing was that I only got one present. I was the baby of the family, 15 years younger than my sisters, so this was a new thing to me. My sister's 3 kids, however, still received something from everyone even on gift exchange years. This year, they became old enough (14, 15, 16) to do the gift exchange, and only the baby is getting multiple presents. Michael was quiet as always, but Carynna was resistant to change. Don't blame her. ;)
As a sort of compromise with Carynna and the other traditional-Christmas sympathizers, we will put a ham in the oven while we open presents in the morning and eat it for lunch.
We left Thanksgiving lunch at about 4pm and went to Thanksgiving dinner at Charles's parents' house. In contrast, they had two turkeys and meatloaf (also something my family has never done, the first time I ate meatloaf I was a junior in high school). There were a lot more "fixings" and such, things that normally come when you know in advance that you're having a big holiday. Much different! Also, no one at my in-laws' house has to "plan" Christmas. Christmas just is, and people will come, and there will be food. None of those are a given at my parents' house. Very strange contrast... | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I wanted to share some pictures from Sea World while I'm checking my email. (I've been resting most of the day, very tired from the trip.)
I made this mosaic using Flickr. I like Flickr for the most part, although its interface is clunky and the upload limit is a pain- I can upload all the pictures I like at too low a resolution to do anything with them, or upload only 11 today and have to wait until December 1st to upload any more. Yahoo pictures, on the other hand, is a nicer interface and no upload or storage limits, but you can't link there because the filenames change. Pffft. So, I made the mosaic but I can't upload it to Flickr, I've put it on my website space instead.
The rest of the pictures can be viewed at my Yahoo pictures site, as usual. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| So, my husband and I have decided the following after much pondering, discussing, and various other decision making tactics (not including "rock, paper, scissors" or a coin toss, I promise!).
- I'm going to quit my job.
- My co-workers and I are apparently very bad communicators. Of the 9-person management team, I feel that only about three of them communicate effectively with me. While I send emails all the time on various subjects, and give progress reports when we have meetings, I don't feel that I get the same level of effort in return from the rest. It's more stressful than I can describe in words... My employees, or even customers, ask me very legit and simple questions to which I simply don't have answers. "Well, <insert other managers' name here> said that..." "Okay, let's do that then." What can I say, they implement things and make decisions that I can't defend, enforce, or even protest, because I don't know them.
- I stand up for myself and for my kids, and that's something I get reprimanded for. (Note that one of my peeves is when the other management personnel call them "the kids." The kids makes them children, mis-behaving, immature, etc. However, them being my kids means I guide, nurture, teach, respect, and lead them.) I firmly believe that if I've covered my bases, I should do what I can to make my staff happy, I'm all for staff morale. I was told "you have the staff's best interest at heart, but that's not what we need in a manager." Wtf? If there's a guard at each tower, who cares if I tell a 16 year old that he/she can go on a family vacation. What am I supposed to say, "no, while your whole family is in Hawaii, you are to stay home alone so that you can come to work. What's that you say, you aren't old enough for a drivers' license so you can't get to work if your parents/siblings aren't home to drive you? Sounds like a personal problem to me." Sure I may pull off what some would (and do) call logistical miracles to make it work sometimes, but I have only had to deny a time off request once for under-staffing. In that particular instance, I gave this person the fewest number of hours possible for the two days she needed off (a total of 5 hours), and she found herself a sub.
- When my work tells me that I can't do over 40 hours per week (official policy), and that if I do the hours will be held until a week that I don't work as much (what actually ends up happening in practice), you know what I do? I work my 40 hours and go home. I was explaining to another member of our management team that I couldn't be in charge if she went home early, because I was scheduled for a long lunch in the middle of her shift, while my side of the pool was closed. She asked me if it was really necessary for me to take a long lunch. (Strike one: Don't mess with my off time!) I explained that the reason why I scheduled myself a longer lunch was so that I wouldn't go over 40 hours because I worked a lot over the weekend, and the reply I got was, "well, I work more than 40 hours all the time." One, delegate more. Two, don't purposely go against policy. Three, don't drag me into going against policy and give me attitude when I won't. Pffft.
- My husband Charles is now making just a dollar short of his old hourly wage plus my current hourly wage. That's a net loss of only a dollar from me quitting, if you assume that I work 40 hours per week, which only happens during the summer. So in the end, we're still bringing in more.
- With our 1,000 hour cap, I would only be allowed to work an average of 15 hours per week from August 22nd through July 1st 2007. At three hours per day (if I didn't do weekends), can you even call that a job? It's not worth the stress, the gas money, or my time.
- We're going to return my mom's car to her but not worry about getting the Explorer fixed just yet. Since Charles is commuting by train, the only single-car difficulties we'd have would be on the weekends, or if I was "busy" when it's pick up or drop off time to/from the train station, and that's been mitigated by decision #1.
- I'm going to let some of my Red Cross stuff lapse. I'm going to try to keep up CPR instructor, Water Safety Instructor (swimming & water safety), and Lifeguard Training, with which I could get a combination of side jobs if I so desired. However, my instructor trainer stuff and my lifeguarding instructor stuff I'm not going to go out of my way to renew.
- I'm not going to stay on payroll so I can teach classes just so I can stay current. If I need these certifications at some later time, I will go re-earn them.
- Once his health insurance kicks in and I've taken care of some health issues (my knees haven't acted up lately, but I have chronic back pain and I'm still getting my hypothyroidism in check), we're going to start a family. We've talked about it at length, with different possible time frames and everything. I think we're emotionally ready for it, I just need a little more work to be physically ready for it. (Me not working outside the home, apart from being something we both wanted before having kids, will also give me the time and energy to take care of my health better.)
So, that's the plan! Now, how and when to announce #1 is my current project! My team is hosting a beach party on Saturday, and fall "re-applications" are due on Sunday. I need to tell them before then. I will probably have a talk with my boss, and do a bland letter just for the record, not a tell-all letter like my last one. Then I'll talk to my guards about it at our pre-party meeting. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I haven't blogged in a while, mostly because life's been very busy as of late. I've been working more than I usually do, and I've been sick so I've been sleeping more than I usually do as well.
We're in session 3 of our 5-session summer season. The first two went well, but then in session 3 the vacations started. Out of our 6-person management team (two managers, two assistant managers, two senior guards) five of us are in the water teaching lessons. I like teaching, but I had been trying to cut back my hours, so when I was told that I'd be teaching at night I had already cut myself back to like 25 hours. Now about 12 of those are in the water, and another 3 are pulling lane lines short to long course, which left me with 10 hours to do the rest of my work. I have to do the schedule, staff evaluations, and prepare for a swim meet, lifeguard competition, and water polo junior olympics... so the following week (the one that started yesterday) I scheduled myself back up to about 38 hours. I'm overlapping with my assistant manager quite a bit, so that I can work while she oversees everything else. So much for cutting back hours.
Yesterday, my friend's mom got married in a church in Altadena. I went to the wedding, then to the El Monte Aquatic Center where I couldn't see David's desk under all the stuff he's got going (which is really un-usual for him, when I left there he was wiping his desk down with window cleaner daily!). I signed up Angel for two swimming lessons (Mommy and Me classes), which David had previously held spots for me in.
David tells me that they're up to 100+ students per half hour in beginners (all of the shallow-water classes: levels 1, 2, and half of 3, for those of you who follow Red Cross), which I think is awesome. If you hire enough people, they definitely have enough space to do it. I tried it the last summer I was there, but ended up with fewer instructors than we planned for during the last few sessions. I wish I could take my boss and some of the other management staff down to El Monte on a summer evening for them to see the EMAC program. Ventura is currently doing 30 minute lessons with 10 minute break, with about 8 classes of 6 students a piece. Three in the morning and 3 in the evening makes 188. EMAC does 100-110, 6 in the morning (one is pre-school only) and 5 (one is pre-school only) in the evening, 25-minute classes with 5 minutes in between. Assuming they all filled up (all of the evening ones do, mornings sometimes do and sometimes don't), they have a potential of processing 900 students per day in beginners alone, plus intermediate, advanced, parent and child, and pre-school classes.
After the pools, I went by mom's house. We chit-chatted and I caught up on some of the latest gossip. It's easy to forget that other people are out there getting older too. One of my cousins (a year or two older than me) has gotten married and is almost divorced now, another (same age as me) is dropping out of college to work so she and her boyfriend can make a house payment, another (2-3 years younger than me) just had her second child. Last time I saw them was my senior year of high school (2001) and it's weird to think of how different everyone would be now if I went back.
Well, off to work soon, but I'll try to get on here more often. =) | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Charles and I went on a marriage retreat/conference this weekend in Valencia. I want to say thank you to everyone who encouraged us to go and/or helped us out so that we could go.
It opened up a lot of communication on topics that we don't always talk about. I think that our relationship was already very strong, but we came out of it knowing each other a little better and understanding how the other thinks and operates. We also picked up several books that we'll be going over in the next couple of months (I won't deceive myself into thinking we have time for all of them right away!) for even more information.
There are still some homework things that we need to go over together, but this week and weekend are busy for us both, so I would say within the next month or so we'll have finished the conference handout books.
It was a lot of fun overall, and definitely worth while. =) | | comments: Leave a comment |
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