Monday, April 30, 2012

Welcome to the neighborhood now get a clue!

I was home Friday to catch up on my chaotic existence and not be a work.  The added benefit is the new neighbors work Monday through Fridays and thus it was quiet!  I did laundry, cleaned the house, cleaned out the fridge, sent off a box of books to mom, frosted the leftover layer of Red Velvet cake as a surprise for my friend - her birthday was earlier in year and I'd frozen a layer so she could enjoy and not have to share, picked up Chinese food and discovered the owner was from San Fransisco and was roughly my age and had grown up skiing same places I did up in Tahoe.  All of this naturally before noon.  Wrote a bit (yeah actually fed the nightmare machine), read a bit and then sauntered down to see my friend with the cake.  She was shocked and delighted.

I'd heard it was going to be a rainy weekend possible (40% possibility which usually means I get a light sunburn).  Oh boy did they underestimate that storm.  Two to three inches of rain during the weekend at first report this morning with the weather casters admitting it was probably more.  The thunder and lightning started at 11:15 pm on Friday night and rumbled on and off all weekend.  Lightning chased the thunder and windy rain.  So perfect weather for me.  It also meant there wouldn't be any kids drowning in the pool this weekend.  Naturally they still had parties both Saturday and Sunday.  They seem to treat the entire common area in the back as exclusively theirs.  I went over to my friend Michele's work on Saturday and had a great time.  She works at this really old bar that has entertainment in the evenings.  Old folks dancing to live music.  They call all day asking who's playing and when the music starts.  We swap news and mock folks who are regulars.  This past Saturday the band was setting up and tuning their instruments for a good hour.  They didn't seem to have it together and from what Michele said they play their weekly.  Couldn't tell by what I heard!

I came home and headed out to dinner in the rain.  It was a good breezy wet day.  Naturally the neighbors had the back area full of people.  Sunday there was even more rain.  But between showers I snapped a picture to show the 'normal' number of cars they have show up weekends.  This is not the 'huge' parties where there are another half dozen cars crammed into 3 places.  Technically they only have 'one' place but they leak over constantly.  Grrrr.  Yes there are five cars squeezed into two places.  Lovely.  NOT.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Dream hangover

The moon has been low in the sky shadowed by the earth and a slip of the sun illuminates her backside.  I walk in between the palm trees full and lush.  Coconuts litter the sandy grass underfoot having given into the pull of gravity.  A touch of winter lingers in the air but not enough for me to wear much more than Capri pants and a ribbed tank top.  Well worn flip flops keep me from touching the earth. 

Were that a dream I would have woken smiling this morning.  No, that was the walk I took after dark before turning into bed.  Stressful times for me lately and I haven't had much time to write other than in my thoughts and between the sheets.  I don't always have nightmares that I completely remember once dawn breaks and I begin the day.  I know when they are bad because there is a lingering ache that runs around my nerve endings as the synapses misfire the fight or flee impulses from the tormented slumber.

The outright absurd dreams or when I have powers beyond the average human are easy to send away in the morning - no matter how horrific nor tense.  It's the ones that are slices of life that are achingly realistic that tend to keep flowing in and out of the day.  Last night I had some intense dreams that fell into the first category - now little more than foggy wisps of nonsense.  The one that fell into the second class is what is pushing at my mind.

Just for the record at no time in my life have I thought, "Gee, I want to head up to Alaska and see what all the talk is about." Yet, I enjoyed living in Nevada and Michigan.  The winters could be miserable but there was plenty to keep me busy and I liked the people I met and knew.  While Alaska with the long, long dark nights and the other season of long, oddly lit nights haven't ever held much appeal.  Places where below zero temperatures are the norm don't do it for me.  I often thought Hell isn't filled with fire and flames for the damned but ice cold and bone chilling with every breath stabbing at your lungs and making your heart race. 

My 'twilight zone' nightly offering from my subconscious last night was set in Alaska.  The analytical side of my mind knew it was due to the dropped temperature outside with the taste of cold lingering on the edges of my world.  But my nasty imagination gave me a new sort of hell.  I was in a indoor mall that was in a small town terrified by the bears that had gone rogue and were killing anyone they caught.  I was trying to help find a child who was missing and instead was smacked to the ground by a large caramel colored bear who had my head pined to the concrete with a large paw and was holding me face down.  I wasn't injured severely yet but painfully aware of the claws that had me.  The men of the town screamed as they tore at the beast and yanked the creature off me and I slithered out from beneath the mad animal relatively unscathed. 

To my stunned horror one of the men was flung off and smacked against the nearest wall breaking the wood and another black bear was on the other side of the partition clawing at the man's arms and legs.  Women were screaming and I was upset that rescuing me was costing that man his very life.  Another man lost his throat to the bear as it stood up roaring and biting.  I scampered into a small store where everyone from the town seemed to be clustered and shouting.  My hands were gripping the sides of my face and covering my ears.  A woman spitting mad launched at me blaming me for the bears.  Another bear I recognized as a Grizzly snatched her from my face and broke her spine with an audible wet sound.  My heart raced as I further back pedaled into the room with no visible exit.  My sight grew foggy and I woke. 

That is a taste of the nightmare haunting me this morning. 

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Okay so luggage?

To take two check bags to check or not to?  That is the question.  I mean then I can pack more of my stuff from storage into the bags upon return.  Then I don't have to worry about the 50 pound per bag limit if I go crazy with books.  *argh*  I really hate plotting this sort of thing. 

And I did my laundry but haven't packed a single piece of clothing!  Tonight should be hectic!

Okay....so found this in Draft section from last Oct!!!
Well the 'huge' storm was not so huge.  There were tornado warnings and serious looking newscasters but it didn't happen.  There were like only 5 booms at o'dark Saturday but then other than some rain nothing worth dragging out my camera or finding the steps to the basement.  Yes, I live in a place that actually has a basement.  It's more like a root cellar in my mind because it is musty and 'unfinished'. Not dirt floors but not like the basements of my family in Kentucky.

Those folks knew how to build basements!  Fully finished with bathrooms, kitchens, washer and dryer not to mention tons of games and couches.  If bad weather sent you underground it wasn't a hardship.  I never went more than two feet inside the basement in Detroit because my landlord used it as a junk heap.  The tornado or two that I watched spin by in Michigan was viewed from the front door.  Yeah, I know supposed to duck and cover and kiss your ass goodbye but that wasn't in my nature. 

Work hasn't got that much better.  The rain kept the kids out of the pool but not the party away.  Oh, let's not forget that the new folks decided to get the kids a puppy.  Yes, a puppy.  A yipping ball of fluff.  Two months old, unfixed male with that small dog yipe.  I don't even know if the landlord knows.  Looked at two more places this weekend.  I can't do a summer of that crap.

Argh.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Stormy weather

From everything the weather folks are claiming we'll be seeing a storm like this one last month rolling in soon.  It was supposed to have been hitting us on Wednesday but nary a drop.  Not happy to have it showing up on my weekend but at the same time given the past three weekends it might be good.

New people moved in at the beginning of April.  They didn't mention to the landlord that they both had kids.  Ooopsies.  And that neither are married to each other.  It's illegal to rent to unwed couples with kids unless each child has own bedroom.  They have a one bedroom place.  Okay, kids.  Not a kid friendly area what with the pool in the compound....but I was told by landlord that the kid (he only was told about one after signed papers) would be there now and then.  Uhuh.....every weekend since there has been 4 to 8 children all under age of 11 running around screaming, jumping in pool, unsupervised for three to six hours Sat and Sun.  First weekend I thought...okay new...just 'welcome' party.  Next...'okay Easter'...last weekend I thought...time to move.  Two of the kids are in diapers in the POOL.  *spits a bit *  So told landlord I pay far too much to deal with not being able to use the pool.  Also mentioned the liability if one of the kids is harmed.  He claims he'll get it fixed.

So over it.  Anyways...work has been brutal also.  But other than that not sick anymore!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

April sky

Haven't had a heck of a lot of time the past few weeks.  Ever since I was so sick on St. Patrick's day there's been a feeling of catching up while still catching my breath.  One of my co-workers (an older man department manager) ended up in the hospital for two weeks with the nonsense I had.  I don't know if he quit smoking but I can't fathom drawing in smoke on top of the lungs filled with ick.  *shugs* but then I've never been a smoker.

I didn't get the positions I applied for but it has been amusing watching the spinning.  Lead position has been filled twice in the past two months.  The one gal lasted through the interview and accepted the offer then lied on her application.  If you say you have a degree you sure as heck better be able to produce it.  The other guy lasted two days then called off sick.  Not just one day but over a week.  Yesterday the email came out that Anthony was no longer with us.  Duh, like he ever was?  I was asked by a friend if I was going to reapply and I said no that I told the director when we interviewed I wasn't going to reapply if they didn't successfully fill the position but he'd have to ask me.  I sort of knew they'd have issues.  I was told by another employee that they really wanted to hire from outside the company.  And how's that working out?  *laughs*  I can't sweat these things. 

Last night I was talking with my older brother as he and his family wandered around the Chinese Gardens at the Huntington Library up in Los Angeles.  My sister-in-law snapped pictures of both my brother and my niece.  So looking at them bundled up (cold blustery day there) I snapped a picture out front of my area.  You'll notice all the kids running around playing and the great sunset.  Yeah, 70 something weather.  Three years ago there were only two kids on the street now I think at least a dozen.  Totally weird. 

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Sunny Monday

Yes, the news had it right.  Hot, hot, hot.  The promised heatwave showed up even if they got the rain wrong.  The weather guessers swore it would be sunny and lovely Saturday.
Followed by my car getting a wash and the outside of the pub.

So naturally it didn't rain at all on Sunday.  It fact it was the edge of the heatwave creeping towards us.

High 80s by time I left work.  And the day had been busy and somewhat brutal.  The humorous point was when I had a call from the new department manager asking why I keyed only 300 and something utilities this month and 1600 last month.  I replied because the department director had asked me to help and authorized overtime.  She was stunned.  I also added that utilities weren't even my department but the other one.  She said her stats were all so low.  I commented that I'd been helping since November.  She is slowly getting it.  But she doesn't want to incur any overtime and I can't do my job and another person's job without OT. 

I dragged my tush home to find two good bits of mail.  One was my plate tags for the next two years and the second was a box.  Inside the box was a lovely surprise.  My friend had sent my birthday gift early.
It actually goes in nicely with the other bits I have up on the opposite wall.  And she's never been to my home here!


So a nice ending to a difficult Monday!