I had a very interesting day at a training seminar and was rewarded with generous compliments to my language abilities and my personality - seriously! Compliments so big and gratifying that I probably won't need any more for at least a month, maybe even two. But there were also a couple of spectacularly uncomfortable moments, which I could only report via private email. An odd day, but definitely worth my time. I got a lot out of the training, besides the compliments, including professional standards for interpretation, which I was too ignorant about, and some useful cross-cultural slang. I'm looking forward to my next chance to interpret now.

When I came home I cooked: pork ribs with salsa verde in a shallow chicken broth. When the meat was done, I strained the broth, drew off the fat, and cooked brussels sprouts in it. When they were done, I used the remaining liquid to cook rice with a little added basil. Everything was green and delicious, by my own standards, anyway. Anthony surprised - no, shocked - me by eating two small brussels sprouts. I love them, but never expect anyone else to.

So there was Halloween and all the leftover candy. I've been sugar-deprived for so long that I suddenly couldn't stay away from the off-brand candy corn. It's actually better than Brach's - not to dis that company, who makes my all-time favorite candy, the Caramel Square.

This Saturday I'm (actually) looking forward to a day of training. There's a day-long seminar on standardizing interpretation in the school district and somehow I got on the invitation list, even though interpretation is no longer officially part of my job. I had to meet the trainer (a local business owner/professional translator) and her partner for an evaluation of my Spanish on Monday. No one had ever evaluated my Spanish, so I was quite nervous. The two women were extremely kind and gave me lots of positive feedback and praise. I realize they may have just wanted to make me feel good about myself, but if that was their intention, it certainly worked. I don't know if my Spanish is really good enough that I could be a "real" interpreter, but it's a skill I'd like to develop.

I also get paid for the training, which is a help, since all my extra jobs are coming to a close. My private group is now on a 2-month hiatus because of financial problems the students are having. My two teachers will probably be able to finish out the semester as they're taking the test in January. And Monday is my last day with the single private student. I wonder if there will be more to take their place or if I need to work harder on the spending end.

Today was a great example of what makes me happy about working half-time. After work I met a friend for lunch (pretty much my favorite activity) and we both had enough time to walk over to Red Eye for a perfect cappuccino afterwards. Then I picked up Anthony a bit early from school and took him to the Oconee health department (on a friend's advice) for the H1N1 vaccine. The clinic is conveniently adjacent to the public library, so we walked over there and hung out in the children's area for awhile, where he put on a couple of puppet shows for me and did a dramatic retelling of "Where The Wild Things Are" on a little stage. It was really good, I thought! Maybe he'll be an actor. Then we went down the street to the park where he immediately joined about six other kids in a game of chase. The play area met the back yard of the city hall, which also had a vegetable garden behind it. It's a very small town in many ways. We finished off the afternoon with a happy meal and more playtime at McDonald's. When we got home, I took myself off to Curves for some exercise - I'm still doing that, although I rarely make it three days a week now that it's so much further away from home. (But there's still the Wii Fit!) Then home again to enjoy the potroast mom cooked. And no guilt in any of that time for taking it away from work.

But I got the bad news at work that head of our department is retiring in February. Not only has she been very very good to work for, she's given my little program a lot of support over the years. We only exist now, post-Even Start, thanks to her efforts, and I wonder if the person who takes her position will value family literacy and cobble together the funding year after year to keep us going. I should try not to think about it now since it's something I have no control of. Easier said than done, though.

If you like reading online, which I'm ambivalent about, there are some excellent horror stories here.

Do you have plans for Halloween? My nephew headed off to a party already, dressed as an emo kid, which involved black nail polish and some fake blood that exploded in the microwave. Anthony is reprising last year's dog costume and adding a parrot beak for a more horrific effect. Me, I'll be tagging along and giving out candy later. I got lots of good reading material on my last visit to the library. I already finished Halloween Horrors, a collection of stories edited by Alan Ryan, and I have a couple of novels waiting - The Hollow Man by Dan Simmons, and something by Dean Koontz. When I was a kid, I used to read Tales of Horror by Edgar Allen Poe from cover to cover every Halloween night.

Yesterday was a holiday from work - thanks, Georgia-Florida game - and I spent it doing some household chores and reading. This morning, I did 45 minutes of exercise with the Wii Fit, which I have to recommend if there's anyone still thinking about buying it. I've gotten many, many hours of use out of it, and since I've been trying to lose weight, I've used its BMI measurement rather than a weight scale to track my progress - since I have no idea what the BMI numbers mean, they aren't a psychological burden! Anthony enjoys it, too, and did a 2-person run with me this morning. He always goes faster and leaves me trailing far behind. He loves this.

Anthony has just gone out with Mark to have a picnic at the park (and pick up trash, a la Kristal's kids) so I have the house all to myself for a little while. I think I'll some lunch and read more stories online.

Yesterday's faux tweets were easy - and blogging has gotten very hard lately. So here it goes again:

7:15 a.m.: Free cappuccino.

8:30 a.m.: Much better attendance today, despite the rain.

10:00 a.m.: Students on break having perennial argument about upcoming baby shower - to cook or not to cook. Intense debate.

11:00 a.m.: Am in computer lab with class and nothing is going wrong!

12:30 p.m.: Cursing the rain.

2:00 p.m.: Extra shower, to get warm.

3:00 p.m.: Taking mom on lengthy medical errand, finding pumpkin with Anthony.

4:30 p.m.: Stabbing pumpkin with knife. This is so hard.

6:00 p.m.: Pumpkin now jack-o-lantern. Anthony is pleased.

7:00 p.m.: Reading more of the Big F* Giant - love this book so far, but favorite is still The Witches.

8:15 p.m.: John Ritter and Markie Post on Scrubs - ghosts of sitcoms past.

And speaking of which, I saw 63-year-old Suzanne Somers on Larry King the other night and she looks 40. It was kind of scary.

My day in brief updates, which I could have made to facebook or twitter if I had an iPhone with a texting plan.

7:45 a.m.: The Cure - it's what's for breakfast!

9:00 a.m.: Phenomenally low attendance today - why?

10:00 a.m.: Mmmm, sugar cookies in the office.

12:00 p.m.: Private conference with friend in work parking lot, forbidden to reveal content.

12:30 p.m.: Lunch at home - spinach and fish. Visit with mom. Time for nap? Not really.

3:00 p.m.: Penultimate class with private student - we discuss the Cultural Revolution and its Not Actually That Bad aspects.

4:15 p.m.: The late class cancels. I search my heart for disappointment, but find nothing. Then search wallet, find same. . .

6:00 p.m.: Have spent entirely pleasant class with the teachers, ending with some gossip about gossipy coworkers.

6:30 p.m.: Home to find Mark and Anthony playing (nerf) baseball in the cul-de-sac. Am pressed upon to pitch, which I do so badly that they mock me incessantly.

7:00 p.m.: Dinner! Lettuce wraps with ground turkey, butternut squash, green tabasco, and sharp cheddar cheese.

7:30 p.m.: Read another chapter of The BFG to Anthony - have adopted my best Amy Winehouse English accent (nuffin bovvers me) for the Big F* Giant.

7:45 p.m.: Oh, the F stand for Friendly.

8:15 p.m.: Finished "Alfred and Emily" by Doris Lessing - highly recommend.

9:00 p.m.: And I am blogging. Good night.

Pagan Pride Day

some pagans, originally uploaded by nheiges.

It was a busy week with interpreting for parent-teacher conferences in addition to regular work, in addition to preparing for my first attempt to sell jewelry at the Pagan Pride Day. The selling part did not go well. In fact, I only earned enough money for lunch thanks to the kindness of a couple of friends who dropped by and bought stuff. Everything else sold at the event was very well targeted to the audience - pagans! - and had some sort of religious meaning. Also, prices were astonishingly low. And neither of those things could be said about my jewelry. Still, in the end, I didn't let the disappointment bother me too much, and apart from that, I completely enjoyed the day. The weather was gorgeous and everything going on was interesting. My oldest friend was there, too, at the table next door, so it was great spending the day with her and her daughter. It was a nice crowd of pagans, who seemed to be all ages and descriptions of white people. :-) Very friendly, open-minded folks. There was a table of vendors selling obsidian mirrors and they were gorgeous - just glossy polished stone cut in triangles or ovals. And so cheap. And they came with a book. So I bought one - a scrying mirror, it's called. I'd never heard the word before. There was music for a little while, and some girls were dancing on the lawn. One looked like she knew what she was doing, and the others looked like they were having fun. It reminded me of the hippy culture of Eugene when I was there - if there was music, live or recorded, people were dancing in that unselfconscious way. It was odd to see here in Athens, a much more self-conscious place.

Today, after being busy for a week, I've been extremely lethargic. I've done nothing productive but cook, various combinations of meat and veggies for the coming week. Ground turkey + butternut squash, cordoba (fish) + creamed spinach, sausage + brussells sprouts.

When I was leaving the library tonight after my tutorial, I ran into an old friend. We ended up going out for a glass of wine that became two, along with cheese and fruit and crackers and hummus and wonderful, entertaining conversation. What an unexpected pleasure, completely altering the tone of the day. I'm so happy right now.

My family is all sleeping, except my nephew, whose light is on. It's very late, and it's getting impossible to get up early in the morning with the cold and the dark. At least tomorrow should be an easy day - a guest speaker is coming to my class, and although I'll be called upon to translate, at least I don't need to prepare the content. So if I show up sleepy, it should be alright. . .

I tried to get the H1N1 for Anthony last week, but he was just starting to cough so they wouldn't give it to him. And that turned out to be a good idea as he got much sicker over the weekend. That same night, he had a barking cough, which really sounded like barking. (Have I already blogged this?) So I'm postponing it. But Sunday night, 60 Minutes had a segment about H1N1, featuring a 15-year-old boy who was dying, and his parents tearfully repeating his last words. I started feeling panicky, my heart racing. Mark changed the channel. Now I'm wondering when I can get him the vaccine. It's such a hassle, getting time free from work and school, and managing to show up before they've run out of vaccine for the day. I've read several articles lately that list reasons people give for not getting the vaccine, but none of them have included "it's a big pain in the ass." Or words to that effect.

Completely unrelated to anything: whenever I go to Publix, they try to take my shopping cart out to the car for me, and I have to wrestle it out of their hands and insist that NO, REALLY, I prefer to take it myself. Because if I fail and someone goes with me, I get nervous and I can't find my car. Could this be a single symptom of an otherwise latent social anxiety disorder?

Payne's Plain

Payne's Plain, originally uploaded by nheiges.

This is a place we visited in Gainesville, a big bowl that used to be a lake that got drained by a sinkhole. It's also the winter home of a flock of sandhill cranes. Maybe we'll go back in the winter to see them. Anyway, it was actually a beautiful place - a showcase for the very best of the flatness and palminess that is northern Florida.

I have a few great pictures from our trip to Florida, but they're on Mom's camera since I left mine at home, and I don't even know how to get the pictures from there to here. It can't be too hard, but since it'll take a minor amount of figuring out, it will probably take forever. So, the trip was lovely. The cousins were delightfully hospitable, and it didn't hurt that they live in a mansion-sized house. The house itself is too friendly and comfortable to be called a mansion, but it seemed to go on forever in all directions with every amenity you could wish for in arm's reach at all times. Bookshelves in every room. I came home wishing intensely for some home improvements, but the tasks are just overwhelming. The city of Gainesville was a nice surprise. My cousin commented that the further north you go in Florida, the further south you get. Anyway, the city had very much the look and of a coastal town like Savannah or Charleston - minus the actual coast - with its elegant old homes and giant oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. I'm working on getting pictures now - this could take awhile . . .

We're trying again to go to Florida this weekend since Anthony and I get a holiday today. We're leaving after an early lunch and driving to Gainesville, hoping to be there by dinner time. It's been a few years now since I've seen these cousins and I've missed them. My primary cousin and his wife are both doctors, so we collect all our medical questions for them. Doctors must hate that.

Speaking of doctors, I called Anthony's pediatrician to ask if they had they H1N1 vaccine, and they said they're not going to get it. They're recommending that patients go to their local health department. I have a dread of the health department. I don't think they even take appointments there - they just ask people to show up first thing in the morning and wait till someone is available to deal with them. That's what I've heard. So, a long morning spent in a waiting room full of sick people, a day off work and school. . . ugh. I wish there were another way.

This week, I've taken good advantage of my part-time schedule in terms of quality time with my child. On Tuesday, I picked him up from school and we went to see Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. The movie was more entertaining to him than me, but I did get a little bit of nap during the middle. After the movie, on a whim, we went to Memorial Park (the animal park) and hiked through the woods. We're now entering the only time of year that I take any joy in being outdoors, so I hope we can do this sort of thing a lot. I really love fall weather! On Wednesday, we went to the bank so Anthony could exchange his rolled up coins for dollar bills - that was exciting because he likes money. Then we went to Border's to look for a birthday present for someone, then to the very PG-13 Halloween store next door to gawk at the displays of disembodied body parts and some seriously scary-looking demons and Jasons and Michael Myers, etc. I was relieved when he didn't have nightmares. Anyway, lots of quality time. Yesterday, I used my extra hours to sleep. Every few days, I feel like I'm coming down with a cold - I spend the day sneezing and feeling mildly feverish, but the next morning I'm fine. Yesterday was one of those days, and this morning, predictably, I feel fine.

I haven't been posting pictures lately at all. Let me see if I can find something for you . . . How about some wildflowers?

Back On Track

First, an update - thanks for your kind comments on my recent tribulations. My class finally met again tonight, and it went very well! Now I think we're back on track. Fingers crossed, we'll continue positively and keep refining the system. The bills finally came in for the sleep studies I did last summer, so I'm extra glad to keep the extra bit of income.

My twin goals of losing weight and not spending money are finally at cross purposes. I'm going to have to buy more pants. I guess I should be very happy about this, but it is inconvenient at the moment. . .

I did something for the first time ever today. I wore two different shoes (by accident.) I came home at lunch and took my shoes off immediately, as usual. I shoved them under the coffee table, and later when I was rushing back out, I just stuck my feet under the table till they each found a shoe. Later, when I got out of my car at work, I noticed something felt funny, and I looked down . . . It was one shiny black sandal and one not shiny sandal with a flower across the toe. Not as drastic as it might have been, but obviously different shoes. I couldn't do anything about it, so I figured, if I don't say anything, no one will notice. And it worked - I interacted with several people until finally I couldn't stand it and I asked a friend, "How do you like my new shoes?" Who knew that mixed up shoes would provoke such absolutely hysterical laughter?? So I kept telling people and watching them laugh. It was kind of fun. Maybe I'll do it again.

At the library tonight, I got a huge book by Dan Simmons called Drood, about Charles Dickens! Perfect combination of my recent interest in Victorian writers and horror. I love everything I've read up to now by Mr. Simmons - thanks to Sandy for introducing me to him. Any comments on Drood? I also got a book called Christian Legends. I was drawn by the title because a friend of mine from Mexico told me some stories about Jesus that I'd never heard before. I had no idea there was a tradition anywhere of extra-biblical Jesus stories. The book I got today seems to delve further back in history and trace legends that may have been origins of stories that later made it into the Bible. I'm kind of psyched about digging into that one. Here's a story I learned from my friend:

Jesus and some of his disciples were traveling on foot, it was the end of the day, and they were tired and hungry. They stopped at a house to ask for food and water, but the woman who answered the door cursed and spat at them and told them to move on and leave her alone. As they left, Jesus said, "May God grant you a very good man for a husband." At the next house, they knocked on the door, and a very kind woman let them in. She gave them all the food she had in the house and didn't even keep any for herself. When they left, Jesus said, "May God send you a very bad man for a husband." The disciples were confused about this and one of them asked him, "Why do you want God to send a good man to the bad woman, but a bad man to the kind one?" And Jesus explained that a good man will help the bad woman get to heaven, and the good woman will bring the bad man to righteousness." The moral of the story is, the wisdom of Jesus may be obscure to us, but sometimes there's a reason people end up with mean, abusive spouses.

So, I just heard the H1N1 vaccine will be available starting next Tuesday. Are you going to try to get it? It seems like more fuss is made over flu these days. I never used to worry about it - it was just something to get through every couple of years. But now, well, it seems like something we should do.

Tribulations

I'm so frustrated with my private class. It's causing me a ridiculous amount of anxiety. I had been happy with the class and I thought I'd settled on a routine that was working for everyone, but two class meetings ago, one student ended the class with some extended complaining. Why aren't we doing this instead of that? You need to give us this and that kind of assignment. Etc. I don't want to go into the details. But I was really surprised, and I felt terrible about it on so many levels. I guess foremost, her criticism hurt my pride. I was embarrassed. I felt guilty for getting comfortable with the class and not preparing very much. I felt angry, too, that she'd sat through the whole class refusing to participate and then ended by hurting me. I have to say, previous to that day, she'd been very friendly and positive, so it really came out of the blue. I didn't get enough response from the other students to know how much they shared her feeling, but I did make some suggestions for restructuring the class that they all approved of. That was a Thursday. So I prepared a very structured syllabus for the next six weeks, copies from a grammar book, etc. But on Monday's class, only one student showed up - and not the one who had complained. I showed her the syllabus and we got started on it, and she said she thought it was very good. Tonight, the next meeting, no one showed up for class. My cell phone battery was dead, but when I got home there was only one message on it, from the Monday night student. I don't know if it doesn't record messages when it's dead- maybe not. But I keep waiting to have another, good class with them to erase all this bad feeling and move forward. But it keeps not happening. Things come up - on Monday, one was sick and one had to work late. It may be the same for them both tonight. But I can't help but feeling that maybe they're giving up on the class without actually telling me about it. I don't know what to think. But I hate the way I'm feeling about it.

Half Time Life

I've noted two significant improvements to my life since I started working half-time - or 2/3 time counting my private classes. . . anyway, I'm eating well and exercising regularly. Those are my two big projects - in addition to not spending the money I'm not earning - and they're going well so far. Last night we had chicken cordon blue and some mashed yuca, salvetica, boniato, and sweet potato - which was delicious. Tonight I made stuffed bell peppers with some ground lamb I got at the farmer's market last Saturday. The exercising happens at Curves, or walks around the neighborhood in the evening. I'm not knocking myself out with it, but it seems to be enough. Apart from that, though, I can't say I'm using my extra time all that productively. The house is no cleaner, I haven't made much jewelry or written any stories or songs or any of the other things I imagined I might do with more free time. I have watched a bunch of dvds though (mostly episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs) and spent more time reading than before. I just finished another book by Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. As with the Yiddish Policeman's Union, I didn't really expect to like it, but I loved it completely. Michael Chabon is my new favorite writer. Oh, and I've been giving Anthony piano lessons, and he's actually learning how to play. I can't remember what I've already mentioned in these irregular posts.

Did I mention already that our household expanded recently? My nephew Patrick moved a month or so ago while he finishes school - or forever, as far as I'm concerned. For me at least, it's been an easy adjustment. His gentle and low-key personality fits in really well with the rest of us, and I love talking with him. He feels more related to me than a lot of people that actually are related to me by blood.

One thing I'm looking forward to: The Athens Pagan Pride Day. Thanks to Lachele, I know about this, and when I finally got around to looking at the website, I noticed they were seeking vendors. So I'm going to vend! Jewelry! There is so much to prepare - tables, displays. . . if only I had a tent. Cross your fingers for a sunny day on October 24.

For such a grim anniversary, it's been a lovely day for me so far. I had a doctor's appointment this morning, which meant I couldn't make it in to work. The appointment was mercifully brief, leaving me plenty of time to wander around the Prince Avenue area before my lunch date with Anthony. First I walked up to Red Eye coffee in the Bottleworks - I wish I lived in the Bottleworks - and enjoyed a perfect cappuccino while browsing through Dwell magazine. I'd never seen it before. It's an architecture magazine with an emphasis on prefab housing. I like houses. I like thinking about ways to create and inhabit space, and I like contemplating non-traditional uses of space, which the magazine was full of. All the interiors were very austere, though. Plenty of glass and light and open space, but I didn't see a single image that conveyed warmth and coziness.

After the perfect cappuccino, I walked across the street to the Atlanta Union Mission thrift shop. It used to be The Potter's House, and it still looks the same inside. What happened to The Potter's House? Anyway, last spring I was at Ann Taylor and found a wardrobe item I really needed - a straight black short skirt. But it was $40 or so and I didn't feel like buying it at the time. It's been on my mind since then, but I haven't seen anything comparable - till today, for $3.49! Shopping in a thrift shop usually takes more patience than I have, since things are never organized by size - just color and gender. And sizes never match since the garments come from all over, so everything must be tried on. But today I had enough patience and it paid off nicely.

I walked back to the car then and drove straight to Anthony's school. He was so happy to see me, he made me feel like visiting royalty. I felt sorry to the teacher, since the other children were completely distracted by my appearance and all wanted to know if I was Anthony's mother or grandmother (!) or a substitute teacher or what. We went through the cafeteria line, just like when I was a kid, and got our sack lunches, and he picked three friends to eat with us in the special outdoor visiting parents area. I enjoyed his little friends - they were all sweet children who didn't make me worry that I might ever have to tell them not to do something. His chosen friends today were two boys and a girl. The little girl sat by me and made conversation in a grownup way, for a six-year-old. One of the boys - Anthony's "best friend" I was told - was quiet and very cute. The other one seemed older than his age, and told me about his many accomplishments - his violin lessons, his math prowess, and his extensive Biblical knowledge!

Now I'm home with the weekend stretching out ahead of me and no particular plans. I hope you're having a good day, too.