Gimme A Break

So, it should come as no surprise that JavaScript has completely cured me of any and all desire to take another computer class for as long as I live. That’s right – I don’t care how cool a program name Ruby on Rails is – I’m not going to take the class! Ever!

I’m done. I’m over it. I can barely muster the strength to finish the class I’m in. But I will. Cause I’m no quitter thank you very much. Although I will still be throwing something at my mother-in-laws head at some point this weekend.

And then next semester – nothing. I’ve decided to not even take Photoshop like I had planned. I am taking the semester off, so I will have absolutely no homework. No assignments. Nada. Nothing to do but whatever the hell I want! Freedom. Sweet glorious sit on my ass eating raisins freedom.

Did you notice that if it hadn’t been for Halloween (and Erin’s sudden football love) I wouldn’t have picked up my camera at all this semester? No flickr action? Nothing but headaches and reading glasses here. Programming is no way to live people.

But let’s just be clear about this programming thing. I could do it. I just choose not to. Cause it sucks! I will stick with making the internet a pretty place. I’ll leave it to others to make it function. I want no part of that action.

So, come Dec 13th I will get my life back. I will take more pictures, and actually have the time to edit them. I might even vectorize a few of them. Cause that was fun! And I like fun! And I will do more yoga. I encourage Chris to add another section to the climbing wall so that there is someplace to go. And I will bury that evil text book I’ve been lugging around for two semesters in a deep dark corner of the garage, and I will live…

Hey, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Paint it black

Hot-damn. This Palin-pant-fest post by my dearly demented Sain’t has given me the energy to scale the Elavil induced wall of inertia I’ve been trapped behind. … Wow. How’s that for a sentence?! So, quickly, while I still have the energy to type, what shall we talk about? I am in no mood for the election. I just want it over. Ditto for the financial crisis. I’m pretty sure you don’t want to hear about JavaScript. There’s not much else thanks to the dulling effect of this damn medicine. I placed a call to my doctor yesterday to talk to him about it because it is just not working for me. Not even a little bit. And I want off it asap. And then I can be my happy chatty self again. I’ll take the headaches over this crap any day thank you very much. He hasn't called back yet. Can you tell?

In local news, the TBMS 6th grade class goes to Shady Creek Camp next week! That should be fun for Kyle. I will admit that I’m not going to miss having to micro-manage his homework for a whole week! Gads. That sucks.

I tried to get a video of Erin spinning around like I mentioned last week. And I might have caught a rotation or two, but what I really ended up with was a lot of footage of her reaching for the camera and throwing little fits of frustration. This may help me with the second assignment in my ‘Intro to Digital Art’ class. The first section of the class has been Photoshop (Illustrator and InDesign are next) and the first assignment was to restore an old photograph. Easy enough. But now we have to put together a collage. And we need a theme. Of course the theme can’t be something simple like the beach, or dogs, or even Christmas. It needs to be more of an abstract concept or feeling. Like sadness, chaos, or imagination. What the hell. I’m annoyed already and will probably take this someplace dark. And I’m pretty sure that’s not the pills talking. This project is a little too scrapbook-y for me. And I sincerely mean no disrespect to any scrapbookers out there. I’ve seen some pretty cool looking pages. I only mean that scrapbooking is something that I never got into. My brain/creativity just doesn’t put things together that way. And I’ll just stop right there before my drug-addled brain goes too far with that train of thought. Back to my project. I have kids and both of them act out in frustration more than I care to think about.* I already have more than enough photos showing this charming side of their personalities. So, I think that’s it. I will put together an angst-ridden montage of frustrated youth. Hmm, I’ll need some sort of background layer, how would you represent amplifier feedback visually?


* 1 ½ and 11 are not that different. I’m pretty sure if Erin was capable of expressing herself in words; she too would be calling us stupid and wanting to run away - all because we wouldn’t let her touch the oven when it was hot.

Kyle and Erin are both wrong. This is stupid. Man, sometimes I really miss drinking.

Present and accounted for

Apparently people have noticed the lack of inane chatter coming from my direction. The always lovely Julie T actually called me yesterday morning to check up on me! Too much quiet broken only by vague tweets and cryptic Facebook updates had her worried.

We then proceeded to natter on about the current financial crisis; concluding with the obvious need to exhume Milton Friedman and beat him about his rotting head and shoulders with copies of the $700 billion dollar bail-out package.

Oh yes, I can paint a pretty picture.

But I don’t want to get into that here. It is affecting my little family in a very direct way and the past couple weeks have been stressful to say the least. So between all that and being busy with school and kids, I just haven’t had much to say. I also wonder if my new medication (trying the preventative thing for the migraines) contributes to the quiet. It hasn’t really stopped the headaches yet but it’s only been 10 days. So we’ll just give it some time.

Still struggling with Kyle and his homework. Is it really that hard to put your name on a paper? Really? But he hit a beautiful double out to right field during his game last Wednesday. That was cool. And Erin is a crazy baby. She started spinning in circles yesterday. Thankfully it was her whole person spinning around and not just her head! I wonder about those 2 sometimes. I’ll try and get a new video up over the weekend.

And my Web Programming class has taken a turn to the hard. No more HTML/CSS here is how to make the given content pretty. Oh no, lets move on to some actually programming! With JavaScript we can make things happen! Like causing my brain to actually have to think. Damn, I remember that unpleasant feeling. And what is that smell?!! Of course, been-there-done-that Chris snickers from the side-lines.

My office building is filled with toxic fumes. I came home from class last night and WaMu was gone. I think that covers everything.

Dodge this!

I had big plans to write a new post for you today. Tell you all about how Kyle is trying to kill me has his first school dance this afternoon 3-5pm (for the 6th graders. The 7th and 8th grader’s dance starts at 7pm) and then his first baseball game at 6pm. And tomorrow he has a double-header! With the second game in Foresthill. Which is, I don’t know, an hour or so away! Nice. And hey, its gonna be 101° on Saturday.

But I can’t tell you these things because I am too damn tired. Sure, I got out of class 1 ½ hours early last night, but I had caffeinated myself to be up and alert until 10. So the sleeping? Not so much. And when I had finally tired myself out surfing the internet late into the night, I made the mistake of logging into Photophlow instead of logging off. Another hour or so later the laptop battery was dying and today – so am I. Dragging hard. So tired that my eyes are little slits. And red. And it is not helping that my mascara seems extra clumpy today and my eyelashes keep sticking together. Which I am taking as a sign from above to close my damn eyes and get some sleep.

I would take a nap during the 3-5 dance window, but let’s be real. I am not a napper. And I have to have dinner ready by 5 so that I can de-spin and feed Kyle in the 17.5 minutes we have between him coming home from the running around the gym like a maniac with his posse dance and taking him to the baseball field. Fun. Go Dodgerzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

A rare treat

It’s 12:15 pm and I am sitting on the porch waiting for Kyle to come home from this morning’s orientation. It is absolutely gorgeous outside. The tempurature has dropped from the 108 we hit last weekend, to the mid-80’s. And there is a glorious delta breeze. If summers were always like this I would never be in the house!

I don’t know how long the battery will last on Chris’s laptop and don’t see an electrical outlet near the bench, but I’m going to sit here until my butt goes numb it’s time to pick up Erin. When Kyle gets home, I’ll have him bring me a glass of iced tea.

I had to schedule a doctor’s appointment for Kyle tomorrow afternoon. He got bit by a dog yesterday, so I want the doctor to look at Kyle's leg. The puncture wound is shallow but the skin was broken, and he’s developing a nice bruise. Plus he is probably due for a tetanusSshot anyways. Bummer for him. But Kyle hasn’t had a well-doctor check-up since his 1st grade physical, so he is due. Lucky for us he is a healthy kid (tipping my head back, knocking it on the wood siding of the house). But I am also going to have the doctor talk to Kyle about his diet. The boys eating habits are not good. I keep waiting for his to get hungry enough to eat anything, but it hasn’t happened yet. He can't live on mac-n-cheese and cheerios forever right?! Don't answer that.

Well, Kyle just got home and it is time for him to do my bidding. Suh-weet.

I miss Communism

Laissez-faire capitalism has ruined my posture.

I am still reading Shock Doctrine and it is unsurprisingly making me crazy. I don’t even know what to do with this information. I shouldn’t read it before bed – Chris would most likely say that I shouldn’t be reading it at all. He’s probably right. My brain starts spinning round and then getting to sleep becomes impossible. I got up and tried to do some yoga, but all I could do was sit there slouching. That’s bad. So, here I am. I really need to go back to reading Chekov.

You gotta keep ‘em separated

Tomorrow morning Kyle has student orientation at his new school. I have been so busy this last week that I haven’t even had a chance to think about the fact that on Tuesday Kyle will be starting Junior High! Oh right, they call it Middle School here. Whatever Kyle. He’ll be in 6th grade and in Lincoln that means Middle School, with the 7th and 8th graders. But we have been assured, repeatedly, that they keep the 6th graders separated from the older kids. And after Kyle came back from his SoCal vacation, where he spent a week camping with a group of older cousins, that isolation is now looking mighty good. Because while ‘Don’t be a fool, wrap your tool’ is good advice, learn it – live it, it’s not something I want to be hearing from my 11 year old!

Hey, speaking of school…

My semester ended last week. I got an A. And I don’t want to sound like a complete braggart, but I got a 99.3% and I’m pretty damn proud of myself. It's getting harder by the day to deny it when Chris calls me a geek. The fall semester starts on the 25th and I’m taking Web Programming II which uses that same 5lb book. I’m ashamed to admit that I’m having a hard time not starting early on the next chapter. I really am sick and twisted. So to keep myself occupied between classes, I’ve been focusing on photography projects. I have finished the cd of photos for my dad, and have finally made a decision on web hosting and will start working on my new photo-blog this week. Finally. I am also trying to meet the deadline for this year’s Utata’s Big Project. I’ve got plenty of photos but the writing part of the Photo-journalism project is gonna be tough. As you can see, I’ve got nothing to say.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes... and lungs

I have been sick with a headache for the last three days. So not much has been going on here in elfini-land. But I have few updates for you. California is on fire and my previously twittered total of 800+ fires needs to be revised to 1000+ fires. I’m having a hard time wrapping my smoke-filled brain around that number. So how about a nice graphic –


View Larger Map

That’s crazy! It’s no wonder that I haven’t been able to breathe all week. Not fun. But today I did not wake up with a headache so I am feeling a bit hopeful. And able to type. So, let’s catch up eh?

I guess Erin is now officially a toddler. Walking is not yet her only or even preferred mode of getting around, but she’s doing it more and more. From here to there and sometimes back again. Complete with stops and 180 degree turns. So, yeah. Baby walking. Someone needs to disappear that corn popper quick!

I’m half-way through my semester. On-line classes are still kinda surreal. I’m undecided on what classes to take next semester (besides Web Programming II). I’m even thinking of making an appointment with a counselor. And I’ve mailed off the requests for all 5 of my Official Transcripts. Good gravy Mabel, what have I gotten myself into.

For some strange reason this made me tear up a bit this morning. But I’m going to blame it on the smoke. Don’t tell anyone.

Now I’ve got to make a call to firm up the details on Kyle’s annual trip to southern California next month. Let’s not forget how much his life sucks!

Ch-Ch-Changes

Are you worried that this blog is going to be all about school and my bitter complaints about the weather? Well, that might seem a valid concern after the last 2 posts, but I doubt there will be that much more to say about my class.

Now the temperature issue - I'm not going to make any promises about that one.

But I've gotta admit, I'm just not groovin' with the new look of this page. It's pretty and all but it doesn't inspire me. It just doesn't feel like 'me'. Which is kinda silly since I designed it -used one of my beach photos and picked the color scheme. But it's too calm and soothing, which is not really my mood when I'm writing. I'm thinking of changing it back to the grassy field banner and green color scheme until I come up with a new idea.

And more things are changing around here. Erin is this close to walking. Besides circumnavigating the coffee table, she will hold your finger and walk across the room. And over the weekend she started walking behind her ride-on contraption. She is also climbing up on everything! Oh the joy.

Things are changing for the better for Kyle's baseball team. They have been winning games. Not every game, but enough games that they've pulled out of last place in the league standings. And win or lose, I gotta tell ya - I love watching their games! Yeah no one is more surprised than I am.

A Kyle change that I'm not enjoying so much is the fact that in less than a month, his elementary school career will be over. (Thanks for that Chris) Next year he will be in Middle School! We went to the Parent Orientation last Thursday. Ugh. I'm sorry, but I think the 6th grade should be in elementary, not Jr. High. But I was not consulted and now Kyle is going to have to get his shit together. His last progress report was less than stellar. Far too many late assignments. Not good.

What else? Chris is also going back to school. (Hey, I figure I'll get the rest of the school stuff out in this post and then that will be it.) He just mailed the tuition check for his first class to get his Masters in Financial Services and CRP. Hmm, compared to that, a little computer code doesn't sound that bad eh?

And saving the best for last - next Wednesday's high is only 79!

Spring Semester 08

Hey, look at me - I’m a college student. Again. How weird is that? And at a new school. Now that is not so unusual. In fact, there seems to be a pattern. With every move to a new town comes a new school for me to take a class or two at. God forbid I ever actually get my act together and need to submit all my transcripts. That would be a Herculean task. Chris has one. I, on the other hand, could possibly have dozens! I’m like a connoisseur of colleges. And when you request transcripts they like to know what year/s you attended. That’s funny. I can’t even tell you with any certainty what year I moved to California! That information requires a phone call to the Sain’t.

Anyways, today is the start of my semester. I’ve sharpened my Dixon-Ticonderogas, dusted off the Trapper-Keeper and had my Wheaties…

::crickets::

And I’ve got nowhere to go. And no specific time to be there.

Hmpf. On-line classes are a bit anticlimactic. I guess tonight I’ll log into the system, get my assignment, and participate in the discussion group where everyone will have to introduce themselves. Hmm, lack of public speaking is definitely a plus! On the other hand, I talked Cynthia into taking the class with me. It wasn’t hard. But it’s going to be tricky getting the desk next to her in the back row. How are we going to furtively pass notes to each other and spread rumors about Chad and Susie breaking up?!

p/s I weighed the textbook - its 5 lbs!

Too Cool for School

Not.

In fact I’m going to summer school!
And it’s all Chris’s fault.

He was looking at welding classes at Sierra College one afternoon so I started to peruse the class schedule myself thinking it would be great to take another photography class. I took several photography classes at Ventura College many many years ago and I loved it! Black & White Film – way back when before digital was even a pipe-dream and dinosaurs still roamed the earth. I loved working in the darkroom and experimenting with double exposures, solarizing prints etc. The only reason I stopped taking photography classes was a problem I had with one of the instructors. I won’t bother going into details but I will say that I politely declined to smoke a peace pipe with him at the end of the semester. So, I didn’t take another class with him but took a painting class instead. And now this lovely trip down memory lane has distracted me… where was I? Oh yes, discovering that the Fall Semester photography classes were only one evening a week. That sounded doable. There was even a Saturday morning class. Chris was all for it. So I hopped on-line and applied for admission to Sierra College. But the Fall Semester start until August. I started wondering what classes I could take over the summer. I found a Web Programming I (HTML & CSS) on-line course – hey why not? (Again, Chris said I should do it. He totally supports me going back to school to finish getting my degree. Which is great, but I don’t know how he is going to convince me to finally take that Speech class. Good luck with that buddy.)

So, I signed up. Class starts next Monday. And after buying the text book – which has to weigh at least 20 pounds!! – I’ve now spent 130 dollars to learn the same things I have been teaching myself for the past few months with a library book! Which had an out of pocket cost of $0. No I ask you - is that smart? Maybe I really do need to go back to school.