I just got home from work (well, home for a break before I go back to teach a class tonight, anyway). It's sort of a miracle that I made it home safely today. The route Michael and I usually use to get to and from NSCC involves driving on some very narrow side streets: the type with one-and-a-hallf lanes, where one driver has to pull over slightly onto the shoulder if two cars need to pass going in opposite directions. These streets, instead of having stop signs at every crossroad, have round-abouts. This is not unusual for Seattle; in fact, most residential neighborhoods have round-abouts. You'd think Seattle drivers would have figured this out by now, and that people would have figured out how to safely navigate a round-about.
This has not always been our experience, however. Michael and I have gotten into the habit of going slowly (around 15-20 mph instead of the posted 25-30 mph) on these streets and treating the round-abouts as if they have a yield sign on them. We've had some narrow misses with people who blow through the round-abouts going the posted speed limit or often going faster. These people rarely even recognize that there might be other cars on the road, and never acknowledge that they nearly hit us. Thus, we've learned to be cautious, and we've never had an accident (knock on wood).
Today our lucky streak nearly broke. If it hadn't been for a flock of birds, I would have been slammed into by an idiot who flew through a round-about going approximately 50 mph. I was going my usual 20 mph down the narrow side street and was nearly up to the round-about when I noticed a flock of small, brown and white feathered song-birds hopping about in the middle of the street. Just before I entered the round-about, I came to a full stop to watch the birds doing their cute little dance, and to make sure I didn't accidentally hit any of them. Seconds later, right when I would have been in middle of the round-about had I not come to a full stop, a car came whizzing through the intersection. The driver was going far too fast for the road conditions, and I would have been severely injured, had it not been for the flock of little birds that made me pause. Thank goodness for small miracles!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Finally Here!
Finally Here!
Originally uploaded by Prairie Brown
Our copies of the final Harry Potter book just arrived via UPS. Now I just have to wait a few more hours (whimper) for Michael to get home from the wedding he's photographing this afternoon, and we can open the box. He's lucky I'm a good girlfriend. The box has been in my possession nearly ten minutes now, and I haven't so much as dented a corner to peek inside it. Hopefully my willpower will hold... (Giggle!)
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Infestation!
For the past two to three weeks, since the weather got nice and warm and we've wanted to have our windows open, Michael and I have been noticing that our apartment is infested with a multitude of tiny little beetles. Each is barely a few millimeters in length, and they don't seem to bite or to be interested in our food, but there's something disconcerting about having a small bug crawl across my arm when I'm sitting on the couch with book or trying to sleep at night. I'm a bit grossed out by them, to tell the truth. We have screens on our windows, but nevertheless these tiny invaders are finding their way inside. We suspect that they live on the cherry tree outside our kitchen window, as this tree is looking more and more chewed on as the summer progresses. We've taken to leaving the vacuum cleaner out and plugged in at all times. As soon as we can see four of these pests, we suck them up. A couple nights ago, we caught about 70 over the course of an evening. Anyone out there have a better way to get rid of small, unwanted and decidedly creepy beetles? I can see three of them crawling up the curtains as I type this! Icky!
Gearing Up
Michael and I just got back from a lovely evening swim, and we're planning to spend the rest of the evening doing pretty much nothing. In fact, I'm planning to spend a relaxing weekend doing as little as possible before the summer gets really crazy for the next three weeks. Okay, so there is one day this weekend I'm not planning to spend doing nothing: on Sunday Michael and I will be finding a place in a park to settle down and read the final Harry Potter book. It's been our tradition for the last two books: get two copies of the book, find a quiet place to curl up, and read the book straight through.
At any rate, I meant to talk about how crazy the summer is going to get. I thought I would only be teaching one class and tutoring in the Loft. Then I was asked if I would mind taking over another class for an instructor who's going on a vacation. Then I was asked if I'd mind combining my first class with another section of the same class, so I'll end up with a huge class. Mind you, all of these classes are ESL classes, so they're not classes I've taught in the past. Of course I agreed to take the classes--I am a teacher, and I do love teaching, and I am having a great time with the class I have been teaching. This means that starting on Monday, I'll be teaching three classes as well as tutoring. This will last for the next three weeks, and as my classes are ending, Michael and I will be getting ready to leave for our trip to Hawaii and Hope's wedding. And I thought this would be a slow summer!
At any rate, I meant to talk about how crazy the summer is going to get. I thought I would only be teaching one class and tutoring in the Loft. Then I was asked if I would mind taking over another class for an instructor who's going on a vacation. Then I was asked if I'd mind combining my first class with another section of the same class, so I'll end up with a huge class. Mind you, all of these classes are ESL classes, so they're not classes I've taught in the past. Of course I agreed to take the classes--I am a teacher, and I do love teaching, and I am having a great time with the class I have been teaching. This means that starting on Monday, I'll be teaching three classes as well as tutoring. This will last for the next three weeks, and as my classes are ending, Michael and I will be getting ready to leave for our trip to Hawaii and Hope's wedding. And I thought this would be a slow summer!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Hot!
Michael and I have been watching with great interest as the the thermometer has been climbing higher and higher over the past few days. This afternoon, according to Yahoo news, the temperature in our neighborhood was 94 degrees as I was leaving campus, where I'd been grateful all day for the air conditioning in the Loft and my classroom. (If anyone who reads this site is in North Seattle, I highly recommend heading to the NSCC library for a few hours--free, cool place to sit and read. Stop by the Loft and talk to the tutors while you're there. We're all bored, because everyone else has noticed the nice weather and is skipping off campus early to go to the lake!) As I walked out of the library and a blast of heat hit me in the face, I was suddenly reminded of my trip to the California desert last summer. It doesn't feel like Seattle at all! As I write this, around 9:00 tonight, the temperature is still 86 degrees, and I swear it's hotter than that in here, with the westward facing windows and a living room that's been soaking up the sun all afternoon.
Before all of you people who live in hot places start to smirk and leave comments expressing your superiority to us wimpy Seattle people, let me remind you that you live in places that are equipped to deal with heat. It's only a tiny percentage of private homes in Seattle that have air conditioning, and our apartment building certainly doesn't have any. Seattle is officially under a "severe weather alert" from the National Weather Service, which says:
"THE HEAT WAVE CONTINUES THIS AFTERNOON WITH TEMPERATURES REACHING
INTO THE MID 90S TO NEAR 100 DEGREES. THIS IS 20 TO 25 DEGREES
ABOVE NORMAL. THE COMBINATION OF HIGHER TEMPERATURES AND HIGHER
RELATIVE HUMIDITY WILL CREATE VERY UNCOMFORTABLE AND DANGEROUS
CONDITIONS ACROSS THE AREA. TEMPERATURES WILL SLOWLY COOL BACK
DOWN INTO THE 60S OVERNIGHT.
AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING MEANS THAT A PROLONGED PERIOD OF
DANGEROUSLY HOT TEMPERATURES WILL OCCUR. HOT TEMPERATURES WILL
CREATE A DANGEROUS SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE LIKELY.
DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS...AVOID OVER EXERTION...AND CHECK UP ON
RELATIVES AND NEIGHBORS."
Michael and I have eight strategically places fans that are sort of circulating the air around the apartment, but it's still pretty stuffy in here. We've practically been living in the pool for the past few days (thank goodness our building has a pool--another big rarity in Seattle).
Tonight, my dad is in town for a short visit, and he took Hope and Peter and I (poor Michael has to work until 10:00 tonight) out for pizza at a little pub Hope and Peter like in the U-District. A big sign on the door as we walked in announced "air conditioning and ice-cold beer," and after even the short walk across the parking lot, we were happy to feel the chilly air when we opened the door. Any of you in Seattle should definitely consider the Northlake Tavern and Pizza House--yummy pizza and cheap beer. A perfect combination for a hot summer day (even if I don't like beer, the rest of our party assured me it was great). And a couple more hours of air conditioning was definitely a plus in my day!
I'll leave to pick Michael up from work in a little while, and I'm going to have to see if I can convince him that ice cream would be a perfect dinner for him--and a perfect late-night snack for me!
Before all of you people who live in hot places start to smirk and leave comments expressing your superiority to us wimpy Seattle people, let me remind you that you live in places that are equipped to deal with heat. It's only a tiny percentage of private homes in Seattle that have air conditioning, and our apartment building certainly doesn't have any. Seattle is officially under a "severe weather alert" from the National Weather Service, which says:
"THE HEAT WAVE CONTINUES THIS AFTERNOON WITH TEMPERATURES REACHING
INTO THE MID 90S TO NEAR 100 DEGREES. THIS IS 20 TO 25 DEGREES
ABOVE NORMAL. THE COMBINATION OF HIGHER TEMPERATURES AND HIGHER
RELATIVE HUMIDITY WILL CREATE VERY UNCOMFORTABLE AND DANGEROUS
CONDITIONS ACROSS THE AREA. TEMPERATURES WILL SLOWLY COOL BACK
DOWN INTO THE 60S OVERNIGHT.
AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING MEANS THAT A PROLONGED PERIOD OF
DANGEROUSLY HOT TEMPERATURES WILL OCCUR. HOT TEMPERATURES WILL
CREATE A DANGEROUS SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE LIKELY.
DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS...AVOID OVER EXERTION...AND CHECK UP ON
RELATIVES AND NEIGHBORS."
Michael and I have eight strategically places fans that are sort of circulating the air around the apartment, but it's still pretty stuffy in here. We've practically been living in the pool for the past few days (thank goodness our building has a pool--another big rarity in Seattle).
Tonight, my dad is in town for a short visit, and he took Hope and Peter and I (poor Michael has to work until 10:00 tonight) out for pizza at a little pub Hope and Peter like in the U-District. A big sign on the door as we walked in announced "air conditioning and ice-cold beer," and after even the short walk across the parking lot, we were happy to feel the chilly air when we opened the door. Any of you in Seattle should definitely consider the Northlake Tavern and Pizza House--yummy pizza and cheap beer. A perfect combination for a hot summer day (even if I don't like beer, the rest of our party assured me it was great). And a couple more hours of air conditioning was definitely a plus in my day!
I'll leave to pick Michael up from work in a little while, and I'm going to have to see if I can convince him that ice cream would be a perfect dinner for him--and a perfect late-night snack for me!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Ugh!
There are few things I like less than a summer cold. It's the absolute pits! It's warm and sunny outside (finally), and instead of being out there playing, I'm in here wishing it was thirty degrees cooler, so my fever wouldn't feel so warm. Disgusting, the way my nose is dripping. I'm wobbly, noises seem muffled, nothing tastes right, and I'm waaaaaay too hot. Grumble!
Michael just headed to the store for more orange juice (one of the few things that sounds good at the moment), and I'm going to take yet another cold shower and then a nap.
Don't worry Mom--it's just a cold. Enough to make me miserable for a couple days, not enough to necessitate a hospital visit. I have the next three days off, so I'll get plenty of rest. It's just a bummer to miss three days of summer and I feel like whining.
Michael just headed to the store for more orange juice (one of the few things that sounds good at the moment), and I'm going to take yet another cold shower and then a nap.
Don't worry Mom--it's just a cold. Enough to make me miserable for a couple days, not enough to necessitate a hospital visit. I have the next three days off, so I'll get plenty of rest. It's just a bummer to miss three days of summer and I feel like whining.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
A Fourth of July Reflection
I sometimes think I'm not quite as patriotic as some Americans. I'm not jumping at the chance to head out to a park with thousands of other people to anxiously wait to watch things blow up, all set to the sound of war-like music that's supposed to make me really proud of American military might. Seriously--think about it. Most songs associated with patriotism also include lyrics that glorify our country's military history. It's not to say that I'm opposed to the military--far from it. I just wish the military was used for its actual intended purpose and not to make the rest of the world fear and hate Americans. I'm tired of big bangs, loud noises, beer gardens, and glorifying things I don't really believe in, and calling that American. I don't think it's the things that so many people associate with being American that make this country great.
As I look at my ESL class this summer, and I think about past classes made up almost entirely of immigrants to this country, sometimes I find myself wondering why so many people want to live here. I've been pretty down on America lately.
And then I really ponder it closely and I realize how lucky I am to live in this country.
I may not always agree with (or even like very much) the decisions that are made by the government, but I have the freedom to openly say I don't like those decisions. If I want to, I can stand on a street corner and yell, "George Bush is a dangerous idiot!" and no one would do anything more than look at me a little bit funny. Other people would probably even join me.
I think about the standard of living I expect. It's just a given that I'll have electricity, hot and cold running water (out of at least three faucets), three times the living space it would actually take to house two people, a refrigerator to keep food fresh (and a freezer for ice cream), and a stove to cook on (instead of a fire pit). If I added up all the technological gizmos in our apartment, I bet the number would be huge: two ipods, two TVs (with DVD players, etc.), multiple cameras, several computers, a microwave, and so forth. When I go to the grocery store, I can buy whatever food looks good to me, from all over the world. If I want fresh strawberries in January, I can have them. I can afford to drive a car. I can go to a bookstore and buy a stack of books on any subject I want to read about, even if I want to buy a smutty romance novel. I have enough spare time to put up decorations for any holiday I feel like decorating for. I have at least two days a week off from work and entirely to myself to plan. During those days off, I can go to movies, play in parks, swim in a swimming pool that is just for the people who live in my apartment complex, go to museums, travel to other places and stay in hotels.
I'm a woman, which in many places would mean I couldn't have the career I want to have. Here, I have always been openly encouraged to follow my dreams, pushed to go to school, and helped whenever I needed help to reach my goals. I can vote, I can participate in government, I can walk down a street without being completely covered and draped. I don't have to follow any set religion. In fact, I can explore and learn about any religion I want to learn about. I can believe whatever I want to believe. I can choose not to get married, even though I'm in my 30s, and I can instead decide to live with my boyfriend. And I'm not condemned by society.
I can go to sleep at night and not worry about waking up in the middle of the night because bombs are falling on my neighborhood. I can get up in the morning and not be hungry because there isn't anything for breakfast. I can walk down a sidewalk with relative security and feel safe.
And let's not forget what a beautiful place this is. I can see snow-capped mountains when I drive to work in the morning. When I go on a vacation, I can choose a tropical paradise, an exotic bayou, a red and yellow autumn paradise, a snowy wonderland, a sunny beach, or any other type of climate and scenery I could possibly imagine. I could move to any of these places if I wanted to. I'm not limited in my choices to one small neighborhood.
That's not to say that I don't work for my luxuries. Part of being American (if you're doing it right) is not being afraid to work for the things you want in life. I'm allowed to work to get what I want. I'm not automatically born into a social class and expected to be content with my lot in life. I think part of the problem with Americans is that they've got the words "right" and "privilege" confused. Many of the things we consider rights and take for granted in our daily lives are really great privileges anywhere else in the world. And luxury items like cars aren't something we have a right to have: they're privileges. I'm not willing to complain about high gas prices when in so much of the world people walk to get where they need to go.
So, today, on the day the rest of the country is celebrating Independence Day (and the glorious military history that enabled this holiday), I've decided to have a Thanksgiving II celebration. I'm going to be thankful for all the privileges I have, all because I was born in the right place in the world to have them. I'm not going to go out and listen to patriotic music, salute the flag, and watch things blow up. I'm going to stay at home with my boyfriend, who I'm allowed to choose to love rather than being told to love, in our beautiful apartment, and enjoy living where we do and be grateful for all that I have.
As I look at my ESL class this summer, and I think about past classes made up almost entirely of immigrants to this country, sometimes I find myself wondering why so many people want to live here. I've been pretty down on America lately.
And then I really ponder it closely and I realize how lucky I am to live in this country.
I may not always agree with (or even like very much) the decisions that are made by the government, but I have the freedom to openly say I don't like those decisions. If I want to, I can stand on a street corner and yell, "George Bush is a dangerous idiot!" and no one would do anything more than look at me a little bit funny. Other people would probably even join me.
I think about the standard of living I expect. It's just a given that I'll have electricity, hot and cold running water (out of at least three faucets), three times the living space it would actually take to house two people, a refrigerator to keep food fresh (and a freezer for ice cream), and a stove to cook on (instead of a fire pit). If I added up all the technological gizmos in our apartment, I bet the number would be huge: two ipods, two TVs (with DVD players, etc.), multiple cameras, several computers, a microwave, and so forth. When I go to the grocery store, I can buy whatever food looks good to me, from all over the world. If I want fresh strawberries in January, I can have them. I can afford to drive a car. I can go to a bookstore and buy a stack of books on any subject I want to read about, even if I want to buy a smutty romance novel. I have enough spare time to put up decorations for any holiday I feel like decorating for. I have at least two days a week off from work and entirely to myself to plan. During those days off, I can go to movies, play in parks, swim in a swimming pool that is just for the people who live in my apartment complex, go to museums, travel to other places and stay in hotels.
I'm a woman, which in many places would mean I couldn't have the career I want to have. Here, I have always been openly encouraged to follow my dreams, pushed to go to school, and helped whenever I needed help to reach my goals. I can vote, I can participate in government, I can walk down a street without being completely covered and draped. I don't have to follow any set religion. In fact, I can explore and learn about any religion I want to learn about. I can believe whatever I want to believe. I can choose not to get married, even though I'm in my 30s, and I can instead decide to live with my boyfriend. And I'm not condemned by society.
I can go to sleep at night and not worry about waking up in the middle of the night because bombs are falling on my neighborhood. I can get up in the morning and not be hungry because there isn't anything for breakfast. I can walk down a sidewalk with relative security and feel safe.
And let's not forget what a beautiful place this is. I can see snow-capped mountains when I drive to work in the morning. When I go on a vacation, I can choose a tropical paradise, an exotic bayou, a red and yellow autumn paradise, a snowy wonderland, a sunny beach, or any other type of climate and scenery I could possibly imagine. I could move to any of these places if I wanted to. I'm not limited in my choices to one small neighborhood.
That's not to say that I don't work for my luxuries. Part of being American (if you're doing it right) is not being afraid to work for the things you want in life. I'm allowed to work to get what I want. I'm not automatically born into a social class and expected to be content with my lot in life. I think part of the problem with Americans is that they've got the words "right" and "privilege" confused. Many of the things we consider rights and take for granted in our daily lives are really great privileges anywhere else in the world. And luxury items like cars aren't something we have a right to have: they're privileges. I'm not willing to complain about high gas prices when in so much of the world people walk to get where they need to go.
So, today, on the day the rest of the country is celebrating Independence Day (and the glorious military history that enabled this holiday), I've decided to have a Thanksgiving II celebration. I'm going to be thankful for all the privileges I have, all because I was born in the right place in the world to have them. I'm not going to go out and listen to patriotic music, salute the flag, and watch things blow up. I'm going to stay at home with my boyfriend, who I'm allowed to choose to love rather than being told to love, in our beautiful apartment, and enjoy living where we do and be grateful for all that I have.
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