The Lava Tube

Made it!

nobody@vox.com(Pahoehoe) — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:54:44 -0700

I made it to Yellowstone! I'm up at Canyon this year and it's proving to be a less awesome site than Old Faithful, but I've made some really good friends already, so it has it's good side. I miss everybody a whole lot but this trip is necessary both in the saving a lot of money sense and the learning to live by myself again sense.

Shockingly my car made it just fine and has been running like it did 6 years ago. I can only attribute this to Teresa's smudging of the Jeep before I left and I am quite grateful.

It's late, I am tired, but I figured out where and when I can get reliable computer time, so regular updates should be coming.

Yellowstone NP. Lower Falls

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The day after tomorrow!

nobody@vox.com(Pahoehoe) — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:59:03 -0700

Is when I head off to Yellowstone for the next 3 months. Thanks to an amazing amount of help from my friends I will truly be ready to go. I have to make one more run to the storage units tonight and another tomorrow to drop off my computer and bed, things I will not get rid of till the morrow, and another run to goodwill because I want to get rid of that damn hutch. But the bulk of the work is done. And shite, I have to clean out the bathroom.

I am excited to go. I'm not looking forward to that beginning phase where I don't know anybody, but I trust in my jolly nature to keep that from being a problem too long. I am feeling very happy that I am prepared this time. Meaning that I'm taking a lot of stuff, but it will be worth it, oh yes, it will. All those people will thank me for the movie nights in the lounge.

This will likely be the last update in awhile, so I bid you all adieu for now!

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QotD: My First Car

nobody@vox.com(Pahoehoe) — Sun, 04 May 2008 14:02:49 -0700

What was your first car?

A 1984 V6 Camaro. It was this light metallic blue with all sorts of scratches in the paint. It made the best vroom though and I named it Boomer. It also took me three months to develop enough finess while driving it to not bottom out on the speedbumps in my high school parking lot.

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QotD: Ghost Stories

nobody@vox.com(Pahoehoe) — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:59:32 -0700

Do you believe in ghosts? If so, have you ever seen one?

I do believe in ghosts. I could tell some trite stories about my old dormitory, or I could skip right to the screamers in the apartment building I used to live in, or the one I saw in my room at Old Faithful in the middle of the night, or the old family stories that have been verified by three different people.

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QotD: I'm So Excited

nobody@vox.com(Pahoehoe) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:07:28 -0700

What most excites you about the way you're living your life right now?

That I have a direction. I have this big goal in mind and it'll be easy to achieve (moving) and that once that is completed I have an entirely new start. I'm excited for that.

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Some random facts

nobody@vox.com(Pahoehoe) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:15:35 -0700

Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
Don’t forget to leave them a comment on their blog and tell them they’ve been tagged, and to come back and read your blog for the whole story.

1) I greet all of my animals everytime I walk through my door and ask how their day has gone.

2) I think dried mango is the most fabulous food in existence.

3) I much prefer to drive without my seatbelt.

4) Western romance novels are my secret love.

5) I feel cool when I drive with my elbow hanging out the window

6) I hate it when my hands smell like something other than my hands and will wash them complusively to eliminate whatever smell it is.

7) My biggest fear is dying of appendicitis.

8) I dislike wearing jewelry that I haven't made.

And whoever wants to write out facts, consider yourself tagged.

I head off to Yellowstone in two weeks. TWO WEEKS. It's suddenly very very close and kind of scary. It's weird to think I'm truly leaving Ellensburg behind, not bad, just weird. Granted I'll be stopping back by in August, but it's not going to feel like anything but a stop off.

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Best Birthday Ever.

nobody@vox.com(Pahoehoe) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:47:01 -0700

Seriously, I think I still have frosting in my nose from when Rain and I got into a cake fight. It really was the best b-day I've ever had and it's all because for the first time it was a big deal. And a big deal in little ways too, like singing to me in the sub (and half the sub applauding), not letting me push the grocery cart in the store because it constituted work, little things like that. It was really the best day I've had in a very long time. Not to mention, holy gods the gift haul! Even if we just look at what my friends did for my computer alone... to...get it ready for... world of warcraft installation...*cough* anyway... Everything was so thoughtful and wonderful and I can't find the words to say how much I loved it. Though the cake fight was the best.

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Goals, pain, and a little jubilation

nobody@vox.com(Pahoehoe) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:07:25 -0700

I forced the fight with my mom and I won! It was nasty and drawn out, and I learned my mother must keep a mental tab of how much money she's given me to help me over the past few years, but it's done. Since then every time mom has called she has made an obvious effort not to hassle me about things. This is important because I pulled no punches in that fight and the fact that she's trying after it is impressive. My goals are to stop looking for reasons to be annoyed with her and to not blow things out of proportion in my head when they happen (cause they will). I have spent enough time in a miserable childish attitude over something my mother has done, so it is my goal to be an adult even when she isn't even if it's not fair. In the end it truly is just more beneficial to me.

I got to fill out my first incident report today because my autistic client hit me. It wasn't him being mean, he was just annoyed with me and the only way he can communicate this is by hitting or pinching because he's non-verbal, so it doesn't especially bother me.

And I am now 23!

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Damn piano

nobody@vox.com(Pahoehoe) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:16:00 -0700

Backstory: When Mom sold our old house after Dad died we split the stuff between us and the old upright piano went to my aunt's house until I was ready to take it.

Now: Mom is going frantic trying to find enough money to move and has set her eye on me again for a possible source.

I was talking to her about my move and how we were going to have a garage sale and she's asking me all these questions about whether I'm talking my recliner and the antique table and like things (the expensive stuff) and then goes into this spiel about how she wants a bunch of the kitchen stuff back because it has sentimental value to her. That is blatant bullshit by the way, she's never been sentimental over stuff. Never. Then she tells me that she went and talked to my aunt Sue who's keeping the piano and that Sue said it's getting in the way and that she's found someone that would like to by it. She then tells me that if I want it I can have it, but if I don't that I can sell it, but she gets the money. You have to imagine that last part as a demand to get the full point however. I was rather annoyed by this as the piano is mine, but just made a snarky comment and then said I'd have to discuss it with my roommates. Today my aunt calls me up to discuss my mother and the piano situation and it turns out Sue never said that it was getting in the way, nor was she annoyed at holding it till I could have it, whenever that day in the future might be.

What I can take away from this experience is that my mother is resorting to lying to me to try and get money out of me and is lying by way of putting words in the mouths of others. I can tell I can't especially trust what she says now if she wants something and that I need to put my foot down. I decided to have my aunt sell the piano, but I'm going to take the money from it. If Mom had just said flat out that she was looking for money for the move and the piano was an option I likely would have let her have it, but this underhanded bullshit is childish and I refuse to let her manuever me anymore.

In happier news: I got my Yellowstone acceptance back and have sent back the paperwork. All is well.

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I'm annoyed now

nobody@vox.com(Pahoehoe) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:50:46 -0700

In the aftermath of the asshole intervention I have made incredible turnaround with my general attitude. What I can't help is that sometimes I am genuinely annoyed by things and any snippiness is taken with extreme hypersensitivity by Sylvia and Rain. I can understand that, but I need a little leeway when things legitimately piss me off. For example: We (all the people affiliated with our pagan group) are doing a full moon ritual in our backyard for Rain's religious studies class. That's cool. What's been bothering me is that I never hear what's been decided until the absolute last second and only if I ask or someone else makes an errant comment about it. This results in difficult situations in getting work days off, and me feeling as though my opinions are unimportant and feeling very underprepared for things. The unimportant bit is just me have whiny poor-me emotion and I don't really factor it in other than to say I can't help it and sorry if it annoys anybody. The other bit has been irritating me because while no one has been given adequate time to prepare for this ritual, which is tomorrow mind you, I've only been finding things out by accident it seems and I hate not knowing what I'm doing, especially if I'm doing it in front of other people. As much as I love being a pagan that doesn't mean I have much experience to draw on for ritual, nor does anyone else doing it.

I'm also annoyed at Lars. I talked to him last night and aside from whining about his homework for his online classes (which was mostly making a post in a few different class forums and reading introductions. Tackle a paper a week, two labs, and 400 pages of reading, THEN whine to me) he reverted to this "I have to impress everyone" personality. I was talking about hoping that my car will make it to Yellowstone because it sucks to be stuck at the secluded locations all summer and he says, literally, "You don't know what you're talking about." and goes into this story about working for some... something where he had to back pack around woods for six months at a time and camp by himself two miles from the main camp. Moving on from the point where that story reeked strongly of bullshit, the "you don't know what you're talking about" comment was fucking annoying. A less arrogant way to point it out would be to start with " Oh I know what you mean! I was working with..." As opposed to calling me an idiot and trying to one up me.

I feel better having voiced my opinions. I need to say at least part of it to Rain, but frankly I don't want to deal with another intervention-like accusation of everything I ever done to annoy her.

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