We Didn't Start the Fire

Thanks to one Flarahety twin, I had that song in my head last night even as the rain was lulling me to sleep. That would be Ryan, one of Chris's friends, one of the fantastic five who drove up to Door Co. to go camping this fine Memorial Day weekend--the rest of us being Chris, Tricia, Rachael, and I. A sweet combo of peeps for a good time if I do say so myself.

We arrived at Tricia's parents' 20 acres of property sometime around 8pm Friday and the fun began. Thankfully, the five of us fit perfectly into the camper that was already set up. AND a fire was already started in the big fire pit by her family who was sitting around enjoying some beverages and tasty treats. It made for a nice relaxing beginning to the weekend, despite the fact that it was fricken freezing even in the camper and in a two person sleeping bag WITH an extra comforter on top. Brrrr.

The next day was actually pretty nice. Tricia's bro and gf came to join the party, as did Renae and Graham, adding to the particularly festive occasion. No rain until late evening, and the sun almost peeked out for a while in the afternoon--at least enough to give me an extra blush to my cheeks...and nose. Although, I'm not entirely sure some of that rosiness didn't come from a heat source a bit closer than the sun. You see, not only is a tradition for Tricia's family to have huge bonfire/campfires every time they go camping, but they are also in the process of clearing out trees and brush from their somewhat wild property. Put those factors together, and you get one huge ass, mo fo-gigantic fire. Seriously folks, this pile was 9 feet tall and about 15-20 feet in diameter (at least). Us kids created some auxillary piles of logs and branches nearby, carrying and dragging the wood from piles and areas from all over the place.

Despite it's huge potential, I wasn't too worried about the fire that would erupt from the pile. We had cleared out the brush around the pile, and the grass around it was very damp and trampled. So when her dad started pouring on the kerosene and starting the flames, we got right in there and helped the fire along. And then...we started backing away from the fire. Then we started HURRYING away from the fire, dragging chairs with us. Some were worried, others just watched the flames while drinking a beer. What did I do?

I was pulling back chairs while watching the fire with complete amazement and horror. Her mom was asking, should we call the fire department? Should we? She was all worried, and I don't blame her. I said she REALLY should call, and this is why. The flames were 25 feet in length, and I"m not talking straight up in the air--that wouldn't have worried me. No, the flames were going sideways, thanks to the gusts of wind, and the fire was roaring. They looked like they would reach the pile of brush that was put just a little too close to the pile. AND, the fire was spreading from the base outwards, consuming the damp grass. For about two minutes, I was afraid the property was going to be set ablaze like in those nature videos about wildfires, with little animals scurrying out of the smoke.

Actually, that part really happened. After we started the fire, but shortly before it completely erupted into a mountain of flame, a baby bunny ran out from the middle of the pile like it's tail was on fire (thankfully, it wasn't on fire). But it was scared shitless. Tricia tried picking it up, but then it fell out of her hands, and scurried away.

Very thankfully, the flaming grass put itself out after creating a big blackened radius around the pile. And the fire died down surprisingly fast after that one big burst, so that the panicking only lasted a minute or so. Good thing we didn't have to call the fire dept. or I guess it would have been a $1000 fine--yuck. Perhaps next time they won't be making such a big bonfire in such a big wind.

One sad addition to the bunny story. Later that evening, we were sitting around eating and drinking and having a good time, when another bunny ran right up to us, within just a few feet of where we were sitting. This time, it was an adult bunny, and it stopped and looked at us for a few moments, as if to say, "You mother fucking bastards! You killed my babies!" and then it ran off. I felt so bad :( It stopped by once again, and I tried to communicate to it that the baby ran that way...but for some reason, she just didn't understand. Hopefully they reunited, or maybe the baby's old enough to survive on it's own. ::sigh:: The causualties of fire.

On a lighter note, the rest of the weekend was free of anymore traumatized wildlife. We went hiking at Penninsula State Park--man my legs HURT!, played Dominoes and drank tea while it was pouring outside, and built our own campfire with damp wood and just one little match--Girl Scout skills at their best! It was a quality weekend in nature with some good friends, and Tricia's very nice family.

I'd say, not a bad bit of camping, especially since the last time I went was almost 5 years ago, right before I went off to college. And as I recall, that time wasn't exactly ideal with ultra super hot weather during the day and a bad thunderstorm at night. And what the fuck's with having my fucking period both times now? I'm telling you right now: I'm going camping again this summer and NEXT time there will be tenting and there will be shagging!

Burnin down the house

I've been burning like a mo fo lately. Yes, I did have a dream that I set the basement on fire and then put out the flames with my comforter, but I'm not talking about fire. I'm referring to all the wicked CDs I've been burning using my wonderful CD-RW drive. Ah yes, the joys of being able to create and listen to CD mixes of my favorite tunes.

The best part is bringing the CDs to work so I don't have to listen to Spanish polka music, WIXX same old shit that they play over and over and over again, or my same old CDs that tend to be too alternative, punk, or mellow for the tastes of my coworkers.
Sure, I love listening to Inucubus, Death Cab for Cutie, and nameless other musical greats ranging from swing, celtic, musicals, to hard rock. Something just tells me they wouldn't be rocking along to Rent with me. Eh, their loss.

It's not that I don't enjoy listening to tons of different kinds of music; I just don't own that many CDs...I'm cheap AND I'm too chicken to download more music from the internet. Perhaps someday I'll get some more tunes, but for now I'm happy with the sweet additions to my collection from generous friends. Don't worry, I'll make it up to you ;)

Too many babies!! Too many babies!!!

There's a little joke for Jenni, Chad, and Tricia if she's paying attention ;) This was the big week--Jenni and Chad just had their bundle of joy, little Erik last Tuesday. YAY for parenthood! Man, I can't wait to see these parents in action--you guys are going to be more hilarious than Amy and Geoff. And I just know your little boy is going to one amusing kid, all the way to adulthood. Good luck you two!

As if to add more babies onto the fire...I mean...bleah, I'm sounding like Jesse. What I mean is, I've had an overload of babies in my environment today. After finding out Jenni had her baby, I then proceeded to a baby shower for the sister-in-law of one of my coworkers--pretty far removed,hm? There were plenty of women there, and even MORE KIDS! There were 2 infants, 2 kids about 1 year old, 3 three-year-olds, and a few more kids ranging up to age 15. And the worst part was, almost every single one of them was friggen adorable.

::sigh:: And then I remember that there's a reason why I don't want kids for maybe another five years--I like hanging out with them for a while, but after a couple hours, I'm ready to put them back. So, if I could like, rent a kid like I'd rent a movie, I could deal with that, but I have a feeling that wouldn't go over very well as a business. I suppose that's what babysitting is for. Too bad that now I don't get paid for it. I swear I made a MINT when I was in middle school. So....anybody need a babysitter? I'll do it for free if I can eat your food, watch movies, call my friends, and bring my boyfriend over to make out...I mean help.

Please, can I go mom?

Tonight my mom and I were talking about the trips we'd like to take when we have the time. Ever since I set foot on European soil, I knew I'd be doing much more traveling in my life. In fact, I would say my trip to Boston and then my brother's wedding in Aruba are what really gave me the travel bug. It would take weeks and weeks to see all the places and do all the things I'd love to do all over the world. Where would I go first? Such a hard decision...let's see:

*Ireland and Scotland--I'd love to hike and tour all over those countries, checking out castles (like "famous" Castle Doune--"You've got two empty halves of coconuts and you're bangin 'em together!", local pubs, the Book of Kell, the Blarney Stone, the beautiful coastline, Dublin, Edinbourgh, and some small towns inbetween). I'm pretty sure that if I do go there, my mom's going with me--no way she'd miss out on that trip.

*Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden--I've been to Germany, but I couldn't tour the "Romantic Rhine" since it was during the winter season. Rick Steves made it sound so beautiful and rich with old culture, villages, castles, hills and valleys dotting the river along the way. Switzerland has the picturesque mountain scenes, and Sweden has my old roommate Angelica that I promised I would visit. Sounds like a do-able trip, doesn't it?

*New Zealand--Tricia said her roommate Rachel might be moving there for a while, so of course she'd like to visit her. And who wouldn't? It'd be awesome to see even a portion of the great landscapes shown in Lord of the Rings, AND New Zealand has plenty of fun and exciting activities to keep a person busy. My mom said maybe New Zealand will be next on her list of places to go--sounds like an adventure. She just hopes she could talk my dad into going somewhere besides Aruba. Hey, plane tickets are just about 1,500 (give or take a couple hundred).

*Japan--Something about the huge city of Tokyo just makes me want to go there some day. And Japan has plenty of cool things like volcanoes, mountains...not sure what else, but I know there's a lot. I mean geez, with all the anime I've watched, how could I not want to check out the culture that could produce such good and messed up programming? Too bad Japan is the most expensive place to visit.

*The Mediterranean--I'm talking Greece, Italy, and maybe a couple islands around there. I'd love to see the old architecture, and lots of historical places, not to mention the nice beach lines, and maybe Vatican City too. I probably wouldn't venture too far towards the Middle East...and I'm not sure I'd plan this trip now, but maybe in a few years things will cool down a little. It'd be sweet to see Egypt, but I'm pretty sure that's a really bad idea, and I also hear that the pryamids are sort of a let down when you see them in person. Still, I think I'd be impressed. Just as long as I'm not completely stripped of my possessions or killed in the process.

Oh, I could go on and on. The Yucatan Penninsula of Mexico, another trip to England, Australia, Russia...pretty much anywhere, as long as it's fairly safe and there's a nice hostel or hotel nearby. Only question is, who's going with me?

School ends, learning begins

Here's a high five to Chris who now is certifiably a well-learned scholar, a university graduate. Now the fun begins, right Jenny? Eh, I'll bet you'll do better than I have when it comes to finding a job. Cuz you know, you'll use your sexy masculine wiles to score a good position. Man that just sounded wrong. Thank God for the weekend!

Feeling shitty and great at the same time

Dudes! I'm getting a Dell! Yep, last night I bit the $1228 and got myself a modestly kick-ass laptop. That means, I'm going from a huge ass heavy, clunky 5-year-old PC with 450 mhz processor, 12 GB hard drive, and 96 MB RAM to a brand-spankin new laptop with 3.02 Pentium 4 HT processor, 30 GB hard drive (like I need anything bigger), 512 MB RAM, and handy CD-RW/DVD. It arrives this week and I am ULTRA excited. I've been wanting a new computer for about 3 years now. I just hope that it arrives alright--not sure how much I like something so precious traveling by mail to my door while I'm away at work. Maybe I should tell my parents about it, hm?

And in other happy news, I GOT MY MN TEACHING LICENSE!!!!! ::high fives all around:: It looks like a shitty green piece of paper that they couldn't even send in a nice big envelope--instead they folded it, and it's just like, a typed out chart saying what level I can teach and shit. Goes to show that WI is just better ;) Then again, this is just a temporary 1 year license that I will have to renew after I take my Praxis II test and some lame ass human relations course (as though I haven't friggen had enough of those). Having this license FINALLY is awesome, though, cuz it means any application from now on can have my MN license file folder number on it and I can say I DO INDEED have a license, so I don't have to write the lame not that I am still in the application process.

Ah yes, good things can happen on days when I feel like crap and decide to cut out of work early.

Isn't amazing how well online translators don't work?

For those of you not semi-fluent in Spanish, you could always try translating my post with Babel Fish from Altavista, though I warn you that some words don't translate quite the way they should. The main gist of it is still there though--note: if you're not into anything remotely sappy, translating the post probably isn't the thing for you.

My weekend was nice and balanced, with some girl time via Shelly and Tricia, and family time via parents and grandparents. Didn't get around to highlighting my hair, so that will have to be a project for Shelly and I this week. As though that's top on my list :P I'll admit, I've been a slacker lately on applications. It's hard to be motivated when there's so much going on to distract me over a weekend. Right now though, I'm feeling all...tired, sort of stressed, and mostly just completely sick of thinking about career options. Just give me a job, any job, or stick me in grad school...all I really want is to live with Tricia in St. Paul, and have a kick ass time in the Twin Cities. Is that too much to ask? ::sigh::

I just gotta keep going, send out applications, check out the possibility of grad school, and focus on the fact that I can be out of here in less than 3 months. Time has never gone so fast and slow at the same time, I swear.

Solo en mis fotos estás

Es la noche, y estoy sola y cansada. Pero todavía no puedo dormir porque soy pensando de la persona que es el amor de mi vida. Él no puede entender qué escribo en la pagina, aunque él puede entender qué está en mi corazon. Yo sé que estoy tonto a poner palabras tan personal para toda la gente a leer, pero es importante para mi a decir qué está en mi mente a veces. ? Entiendes ? Gracias. No quiero decir más, solamente que voy a soñar de cosas bonitas y él.

You make me sad

So I get a promotion and a raise, right? I am now allowed to write down "production coordinator" as my current employment position. Great news all around, though it means keeping it on the down low for a while as far as family goes, since I work with my sister-in-law and I'm not sure how she'll take it yet. I'm pretty well floored, knowing that the extra cash is going to be VERY helpful this fall with all of my new expenses: rent, energy, car insurance, school loans, cell phone, cable internet, etc. However, this newfound idea of cash to come has me dreaming of new ways to "invest."

For example, I plan on getting a new laptop soon--that was my plan all along--but now, won't it be tempting to add on a coulple hundred bucks for some upgrades? And hey, you know my wardrobe could use updating too. Last but not least, here's the kicker. With an extra $1000 and more, wouldn't it be tempting to arrange a getaway to visit Jenny in bonny and beautiful home away from home London?! Soooo unbelievably tempting. Not exactly a good idea to have in my head when I'm still sending out applications and waiting for a miracle teaching job for the fall. ::sigh:: The dangers of getting a promotion.