Frog #2, De La Hoya, died today. I wrote about his friend De La Rocha dying a few months back and just as I suspected, his friend followed shortly afterward. I buried him today in my parent’s backyard and have to take down the aquarium tonight. I don’t think I will be getting any new aquatic friends for a while.

Lots of music related fun going on!

Last week I saw the Whirling Dervishes at Millennium Park. My friend told me to go see them and I had to read up on Sufism while I was at work. It’s kind of strange that the whole performance is really a prayer ritual and it’s interesting enough that people outside of their culture and religion come to watch it. Maybe if Catholic mass were this interesting, I would still go to church. :)

This morning I bought tickets to Grinderman, Nick Cave’s new band(side project?). They’re only playing a few dates in the U.S. so I’m really excited to see them. I like the upper-middle age white man music (Nick Cave, Morrissey, Tom Waits) almost as much as I like the upper-middle age white man movies (Weatherman, American Beauty, Life Aquatic). I swear I don’t have father issues.

Then tonight I went to Taste Of Randolph street fair and saw the Smoking Popes. Maybe my memory is off but weren’t they a little punk? They sounded much more poppy than I had remembered. Or maybe I had no idea what punk was when I listened to them in high school. When I saw Local H at a street fair last year, they sounded just like I had remembered. Not so much this time, Smoking Popes.

I saw a pre-screening of Eagle vs Shark last week with a coworker. (Thanks for the free passes coworker!)
At first glance, it appears to be Napoleon Dynamite as an adult but since this movie was not made by MTV, it has depth that your mom could only dream of (at college).

After the movie, there was a Q&A session with the director and female lead, both adorable kiwis. (People from New Zealand are called kiwis right?) They talked about the difference between how the film is viewed in New Zealand vs U.S. Here, we’re like “Oohh pretty, Mordor!” but the director wanted the town to look as plain as possible. Hard to do when you’re surrounded by mountains and ocean. The accents were hard to get over, too. Everytime the lead female says “yees” you want to smile. I’m sure there were local references in the movie that completely went past me. I think there are just small differences in movies when the director isn’t making the movie for the entire world. He said he was happy it is being released in the U.S. but it didn’t sound like his intentions were world-wide release when he made the movie.

It is good and it opens next week. Go see it.

Back from Bama!

Pictures coming soon. I took some scenery shots with my camera and my mom took the people and action shots. I also copied some old photos from my great grandma’s house but forgot to get those from my mom.

I had forgot how slooow things and people move in The South. The only time I felt I was moving too slow was on the twisty, unlit, forest and mountain surrounded 2 lane highway my grandparents live off of. Luckily locals are not afraid of passing me up on this highway of doom. I did not hit any animals with my cute little rental Jetta but a big bird(maybe a vulture?) did fly at my car and scare the hell out of me.

Most of the weekend, it was just my mom, grandparents and myself. My cousin visited for a few hours and we visited my grandma’s friend one evening. It was sad when I realized all of the old relatives with interesting houses and amazing memories were gone. My great grandma died in 2000 (I didn’t realize it was that long ago until I saw her headstone) at age 94 and her brothers and sisters and random relatives that I’m not sure how I’m related to have died since then.

My great grandma’s house had been changed around because my great uncle and his son stay there when they come down to hunt deer. The old gas stove and ancient refrigerator were replaced and many of her things were packed away. My grandpa says that my great uncle took them and I hope he actually saved some things. My grandpa was reluctant to let me snoop around the house since his brother’s stuff was there now but my mom knew where the pictures were kept and we looked through a big box of old photos. Looking through those photos makes me want to go back and label my photo albums better. Some pictures just had first names or “our vacation in Florida” written on them and no one had a clue who was in the picture. I found out my great-grandfather’s first name is Toon. His middle name is William and everyone called him Willie. Baby name sites don’t have much to offer as to the origin of the name, one says it is derived from Anton.

I walked through the forest behind my grandparent’s house and went to the pond. Unlike the “pond” my mom just put in her backyard (it’s 3 feet deep and decorative) this pond is big enough to row a boat in or swim in if it wasn’t for the bugs, leeches and water moccasins. I saw a water moccasin curled up near the edge of the pond and asked about the lethality of it’s bite. “Oh, it’ll kill you if you don’t go to the hospital right away” says my grandpa. Where’s the closest hospital? “Oh, about 45 minutes away.” Bye pond.

I think I will wait until I have pics to post to write more. And maybe split up entries since I have a lot to write about.

P.S. We actually heard “Sweet Home Alabama” on the radio on the way to my grandparents house and sang along.

I had “an appointment” (what my coworkers are calling it now) at the agency I interned at during my last year of grad school. They have an awesome research position open that I really want. It was nice going back to a place where the staff says hi and smiles when you walk by.

I think I did well and I hope they call back soon for a 2nd appointment. When I was describing what I was looking for in a position vs what I do now, I mentioned community. Most social workers have a certain community or group they like to work with. Most agencies can identify a certain community they serve. My current job can’t do that. My clients don’t have any common characteristics. Sometimes I’m not even talking to a direct client but to their family member. Then they really don’t have anything in common with most of my clients, they can come from anywhere and do anything.

When I started my current job, my supervisor said she liked the job because she liked working with high functioning adults. If your definition of high functioning is being able to use a phone, then yes. I have talked to some clients that have severe problems that we are not equipped to handle. And we’re not equipped to handle them because we are trying to offer such a broad range of services that will fit anyone. We don’t have a specific community to focus on.

At the agency I was at today, they have specific communities they help. You can observe any of their programs and see common characteristics in their clients. The research department (which I would be working in) explores new ways of serving those communities and looks into what those communities need.

I think this type of work would be much better for me. I would feel like I’ve accomplished something and I would have long term projects and goals.

So now I have to be patient and wait for my 2nd appointment. And do my research so I sound awesome when I go back.

What do I do at work?

Well, I sneak away to watch Peter Bjorn and John play at the Apple store. They were good, played “Young Folks” and everyone whistled along and they’re soso cute.

Then I laugh at the comic Basic Instructions for most of the day and post comics to everyone in the office.

Then I read about baby hatches and wish their were boss hatches that fell into deep wells instead of hospitals.

Then my boss comes by and tells me how “unstimulated” I look. Then I tell my coworkers what she said and we all wonder how stupid one person can be.

And then I get off work early! Yay! Looptopia tonight!

I had my first acupuncture appointment today. I’ve been planning on doing this for months and finally found a place that was cheap, got good review and appeared professional.

I went to Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. It’s very friendly, including GLBT friendly. The forms had male, female and transgendered boxes to check. I talked about why I was there with the intern for a while, she checked my blood pressure and pulse in a couple different spots, looked at my tongue (should have asked why) and then left to consult with her supervisor about needle placement.  I talked to her longer than I’ve talked to any doctor or intern on a first visit.

She came back, I laid down and she inserted needles in my legs, feet, wrists, sternum, abdomen and ears. After adjusting the needles and making sure I was comfortable, I was left to relax. I think she said she was gone for 20 minutes. The needles in my feet bothered me but I think that’s because I’m ticklish and that’s a sensitive area. The needles in my wrists bothered me at first because the insides of wrists are really sensitive but I eventually got over my sensitivity and realized they didn’t really hurt, I just wasn’t used to anything touching there.

We talked about herbs and I told her I would want to run them past my doctor first to make sure there wouldn’t be any interactions with my meds or heart problem. She pointed out my doctor probably wouldn’t be familiar with the herbs since they aren’t things Western doctors prescribe. He may have given me the OK for echinacea but that’s a pretty common supplement. So the intern offered to research interactions for me and get back to me during my next visit.

At this point, I’m open to taking herbal supplements because Western medicine hasn’t done a ton for me. Why not try something new? It would be nice if someday Eastern and Western healing were more integrated so my doctor would know about herbs and my HMO would pay for acupuncture.  Actually in an ideal situation, HMO’s wouldn’t exist. Oh, I’m getting carried away in my healthcare utopia. :)

Another entry about my workplace stupidity but much shorter. I need pics to go along with this one.

My supervisor put a disposable air freshener in the women’s bathroom at work. Apparently, there was an issue with people opening it up too much (open more=smells stronger). My supervisor types up a note and tapes it above the air freshener. It explains that if it’s open too much, it will dry out too soon so keep it only open a little bit. Also, it was purchased by management. If you have any questions, see her.

Seriously. Over a $3 air freshener. I wonder if she had to run the letter by her supervisor before she posted it. I’m kind of surprised there hasn’t been a mass email about it.

So of course  my coworkers are screwing with the air freshner. Opening it, moving it, knocking it over. And every time it’s back in it’s place. How many times a day does this woman go to the bathroom? Why does she have no other work to do?

Fortune says you’re fat!

I got sushi tonight and my fortune cookie said “May you have a good appetite.” My roommate’s said something about eating healthy. They’re both kind of funny if you put “in bed” after them but not quality fortunes. My roommate’s sounded more like something you would read in a health text book than in a cookie. And why are you telling me to eat right while you know I’m eating a cookie?

After sushi we bought matching toys. They’re purple. Awww.

I read about a big pillow fight in Chicago this Friday. It’s like a flash mob with feathers. And cottony stuffing. It sounds fun!

I wanted to write a snotty entry about Sheryl Crow suggesting people only use 1 square of toilet paper in the bathroom but then the bitch goes and says she was joking. She still got yelled at for touching Karl Rove. Maybe because he heard about the toilet paper thing.

More ways I know summer is on its way:

I got a ticket for parking on the wrong side of the street during street cleaning days. I remembered to park on the correct side of the street last week and they never came through so I forgot this week. So I have a $50 introduction to summer.

Also, no one will shut up about the cicadas. I barely remember them when they were here last. I vaguely recall the cicadas jumping(falling?) onto me while I was walking and my friends telling me that if you touch them while they are on a tree, they would bite you.

I’m hoping they won’t be as much of a problem in the cement jungle.  A bunch of people have told me to make sure my dog doesn’t eat them but she is scared of everything. I’m pretty sure she would sooner pee on them out of fear than eat them.

Yay summer.