| Saturday June 15, 2002 -- 9:50pm Something very strange is going on with this web site. The statistics tonight seem to be decreasing, which is just not possible unless I have entered some sort of partial time warp. And this time it has nothing to do with Saranac, I have made something akin to sorbet out of soy milk and frozen fruit in an effort to trick myself into eating something healthy. It must be the ultimate in laziness when one is too lazy to even bother preparing food for oneself! Tonight I guess I was inspired - although the thought of washing the blender almost convinced me it wasn't worth the effort. Tomorrow I am travelling to Croton to attend the Clearwater Festival. It's supposed to rain all day, which stinks, but Dar Williams will be there, and the whole thing is going to be powered via solar, wind, and biodiesel sources. I have learned a valuable lesson about cat litter recently, and I would like to share it with you. You cannot have a non-disgusting smelling apartment and litter than does not get tracked everywhere at the same time. Something must be sacrificed. I recommend living with finding litter everywhere, but it's up to you. Friday June 14, 2002 Later... Sometimes I think I have an unnatural attachment to the museum. I really believe, in a foolish way, that we (meaning the rest of the staff) will out-last the director and the museum will be ours again. I refuse to acknowledge the unlikelyhood of this. In fact, I'm kind of going around acting like the director's not actually there at all - which I think is the best way to go. Tonight we had our Happy Firing party for Heidi. It was nice to go out with the people from work. We should do it more often. I think it would do something to lift our spirits. Next week I have to move my office into the space formerly occupied by Heidi. Uuuuuggghhh. Oh well, I guess I'm due for a move. My mom is so good at her job. Hehehe. She objects to my decision to become a raging alcoholic. So much for that I guess. A little point of clarification before I leave to go to work: I love my job. My job is the best thing I have going right now. It's a place where I can be my very weird yet organized and serious silly self and no one bats an eyelash (except the director who, I think, appreciates the fact that I'm not quite so downtrodden as the rest yet). The only problems with my job are the fact that my beloved museum is perpetually on the brink of financial (not to mention physical) collapse and, of course, the fact that our director is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But, God! The humor value he has! So while I "complain" about it a bit, it's really more to point out the hilarity of it all. Every day is an adventure. Thursday June 13, 2002 I have decided to become a raging alcoholic. (There are those who would say I actually made this decision years ago, but what the bloody hell do they know?!?) I know it's not necessarily the wisest decision, but it's sort of like a spiritual calling. I don't know. It has something to do with Irish politics and listening to a lot of Newfie music. I just need to work on the eat, drink and be merry thing instead of eat, drink and decide that life isn't worth living. Apparently, one of the benefits of my new position at the museum is that I get to be mauled by reptiles on a weekly basis. I also spent a significant amount of time today wiping a turtle's bum after he pooped and peed all over his little carrier right before I had to let 20 5th graders pet him. I wonder if this is what was meant by "other duties not yet specified" on my job description. Here is some interesting logic for you. No one ever comes to the museum's workshops. The director's solution to this? Double the price of the workshops. Yes. Naturally making the unappealing workshops more expensive will send them rushing to our door. I was floored by this, which was apparently old news to everyone else. I was completely distracted by it to the point where, 15 minutes later when the director asked me a question about something or other, I just looked at him and asked, "Really, though. We're doubling the price for workshops?" Wednesday June 12, 2002 Ugh. I can see why people tend to get a teensy bit negative at the museum. I am having a hard time seeing clearly and really knowing what is going on. I mean, we're all convinced the director is evil, and he does seem to have a split personality regarding how he treats people. But sometimes I think he's just as tired and frustrated as everyone else. Still, it's hard to feel sorry for him when he targets certain staff members to treat like 5 year olds. Bon Voyage, Kat! Enjoy the break and, if you win millions, consider quitting your job. There is some good news: I got my recently ordered Black 47 cd in the mail today. Woo-hoo! Monday June 10, 2002 The Computer Gods are not with me tonight. I had jury duty today, which ended up being a really interesting experience, once it became clear to me that I would never, in a million years, be accepted as a juror in this country (or most others, for that matter). It got my brain moving, and also did a lot to make me aware of my own biases, and of how I shelter myself. I am an oddball in a lot of ways, and hanging out in a courtroom with 150 people who claim to have no qualms about sending a guy into a penal system that does pretty much nothing of use to anyone, really brought that fact home. Well, there was one other person in there who said he'd be uncomfortable about it. I must hunt him down and befriend him immediately! Saturday June 8, 2002 Later... Sometimes I have such strange thoughts. I won't explain that. Just try to understand that my spirit and my ethics are at severe odds with each other. Also, I am extremely pissed off that I somehow managed to delete my home page after spending hours reorganizing it today. Sometimes it still astounds me that it isn't the 1900's anymore. It seems like, if it's really 2002, we all ought to be living on space stations, or at least stop killing each other. I got my diploma in the mail today, so I am now officially a Master of Science in Education. I find this highly amusing and slightly amazing. It wouldn't fit through the slot, so the mailman had to ring the bell. When he handed me the envelope I exclaimed something about it being my diploma. He looked sincerely pleased and said, "Wow! Congratulations!" I like the mailman. Except for his refusal to stop delivering bills from the credit card company. Thursday night I went with Dee and Cousin Dan to see Black 47 perform downtown. Definitely worth standing in the rain and having to watch some hit man from Coca-Cola stare at the breasts of 19 year old girls while they chugged something called "Vanilla Coke." Occasionally, Coke seems to make some poor business decisions. Being at the concert made me realize 2 things. One is that I need to own more Black 47 cds. The other is that I am ignorant, and I should probably force myself to start listening to the news again. I'm not sure if I am mentally stable enough for it, but maybe my psychiatrist can increase my dosage, or give me special emergency NPR pills to ward off the effects of listening to reports of humanity's vileness. Friday June 7, 2002 New job. Very tired. Museum madness. Museum Madness is the name of a camp we're doing this summer. I can't help but notice the irony. Maybe instead of doing crafts and stuff with the kids, we should just bring them up to the offices and let them watch what goes on there for a while. The director hanging up his new "In," "Out," and "Emergency" folders with twisted coat hangers, for example. He needs these because he never checks his mailbox or his email. Great. More places to put things so he can never look at them. Wednesday June 5, 2002 For those of you who live someplace annoying, like Washington State or something, let me inform you that is approximately 958 degrees Farenheit today in the Capital District of New York State (which, by the way, is NOT New York City). So, naturally, the air conditioning at the museum broke today. According to our much-adored director, there is no water in the system. It just occurred to me to wonder how he found this out. Personally I think it is his latest money-saving scheme and tomorrow he will sadly inform us that it is unrepairable. On a related note, today I was awarded the right to purchase some 8 1/2 X 14 paper in exchange for putting letterhead and envelopes into the printer for said much-adored director. I had to alternate, letterhead, envelope, letterhead, and so on because, apparently, it is too complicated to just do all the letters at once followed by all of the envelopes. This is not exactly covered in my job description, but it was worth it for the paper. Last week the museum ran out of toilet paper, paper towels, garbage bags and hand soap. But it's ok. We got permission to buy some. In other news, there is a tornado watch until 10pm. Dee's sister called us to tell us about it and to warn us to "be careful." This made me wonder, how exactly does one be careful for a tornado? I know that if you hear a train you should run to the basement, however, I was sitting about 200 yards from the Amtrack Station when I heard about the watch, so that was not helpful. Anyway, I'm in a mood, and wouldn't so much mind being sucked up by a tornado. Also, I saw a nine month old leopard today. She was black with very faint spots and (obviously) super-cute. She was about the same size as Bennett, who is also super-cute. Monday June 3, 2002 -- 6:20pm I was going to start kung-fu classes tonight, but I got home too late (and I kind of chickened out just the tiniest bit) so I went to the batting cages instead. It wasn't as satisfying as it could have been - mainly because I could only scrounge together $6 from the change jar and it took me $4 just to start actually hitting anything. Plus, the machine kept getting stuck. Nevertheless, it was good to whack a few balls. I'm thinking a decent bat might not be such a bad investment. Even if I get tired on the batting cages, I can always use it to wave menacingly at the neighborhood children when I am the Crazy Old Cat Lady. Or at burglars. I pulled a muscle in my butt, so at least I did some damage. -- 1:00pm Wow. I just saw a guy drive backwards at about 35 miles an hour down Robin Street, turn left - backwards - onto Western Ave, and then drive backwards about 150 yards to the alley next to the Girls Club, which then he pulled into, backwards. I guess that's one way to drive. -- 8:30am Wow. I can honestly say I have never heard the word "fuck" repeated so many times and used in such a creative variety of ways as I did this morning between 2:20am and 2:50am, when the police finally came and carted the crazy lady off. For which even she thanked them. I live in such an interesting neighborhood. I was just glad that someone else called the cops for a change. I think they are getting sick of us. |
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