sbukophile

I'm still alive

I know it's been a long time since I've posted... there have been a few reasons. I have been out gardening in our yard practically every day for weeks--it still needs a lot of work, but it's getting better (if you look closely in the two far back corners, you can see piles of yard waste and branches that I don't know how to dispose of--burning is outlawed in Southern California. I know they are hidden well behind the other shrubs, but believe me, these piles are huge!)

[Click images for larger view]

And considering how out of shape I've been, I've been darn tired, and my hands and fingers have been hurting from all the pruning!

Fun stuff though--we bought a leaf hog the other day!

(See Neil, there are plenty of trees that drop their leaves in Southern California, and I think they are ALL in our yard! We seem to be the only house in our neighborhood with deciduous trees!

I did not move from New England for all  this raking--er, leaf-hogging!)

Oh, and we've been painting inside too.

The husband's family is coming from England in stages starting in 2 weeks, so we're making things pretty for them!

But I'd like to report that all this physical activity and then lack of activity on the computer is actually a good sign that I'm FINALLY starting to decompress after all the shit I went through at my job.  I didn't think it was ever going to happen as I sat there day after day doing sudokus and nothing else. I'm still on leave, but I'm finally feeling like a normal person again--and it's been at least 2 years or more since I've felt like this.

I think that some of the major reasons I'm feeling better are a) being away from that fucking job, b) getting kittens! c) letting the kittens outside in the yard, forcing me to be out there working in the yard (and then it turning into me WANTING to go out in the yard even though I don't need to watch the kittens at every moment anymore), and d) I have a wonderful husband who has been so patient during this time and understands my need to recover.

Anyway, just wanted you all to know that I am alive.

The Burgler

I reluctantly woke from my deep sleep, and was aware of the sound of footsteps outside on the deck, and the deck furniture moving. While I knew the sliding glass door was open, I couldn't remember if I'd locked the screen door, which I often kept open to feel the fresh seabreezes that would blow up the hillside. Both roommates were out of town so wouldn't be able to hear me scream.

Then, a light briefly swept across the hanging vertical blinds. As I lay frozen in bed, I then saw a shadow of a person peeking in through the blinds.  I now knew this wasn't just the raccoons from the Loquat tree in the yard, that were often brave enough to walk around on the deck.

I coughed loudly, cleared my throat, hoping that would signal to a possible intruder that yes, someone was home and awake!  Don't come in!

I had never needed to call 911 in my life before, never wanting to be one of those people who call for inane, silly reasons, tying up the valuable time from "real" emergencies, but this was a real reason if there ever was one. When the dispatcher answered, I quietly told her I thought there was an intruder on my deck right outside my bedroom.

She sneered back at me through the phone, "Um, are you sure that it's not the earthquake?"

"What? No! I saw someone shine a flashlight into the room!  I saw someone peek into the room!"

"Ok, then we'll send--"

"Wait! Earthquake?! What do you mean?"

"Uh, there's an earthquake going on right now..."

"Right now? Um, wait a minute... oh... uh... hang on... [few seconds silence] ...maybe it was the deck furniture moving around due to the earthquake... um... I guess never mind."

"Are you sure?  We can still send someone over."

"No, no. Everything's fine, thanks."

Unable to leave my bed for a couple hours, sitting in the adrenaline aftermath, too shocked to even check for damage in the rest of the apartment, I finally determined that it wasn't too early to call and wake my parents in Boston.

As I spoke to my mother I realized that A) without my glasses on, I can see clearly to about 6 inches in front of my face, B) an electrical transformer on the street had probably blown, making it seem like a flashlight had been shone in through the blinds, and C) when the vertical blinds were swaying back and forth from the earth moving, all I saw was brief darkness between the blinds, which to my poor vision and abruptly awakened brain, formed a picture of a person peeking in.

That was my first earthquake experience. I was in Santa Barbara. 

First clumsy post

Well, I thought it was about time I started my own blog as I've been looking at other people's blogs for a while now, and feeling stupid when I comment on them, but don't have my own to link to.

The problem of course, is having anything to say that anyone else would want to read.

Also trying to come up with what my identity will be... who will be my audience.  For instance, people I don't want to read my blog (and know it's me):

• my parents
• current employer/people at current employer
• future/prospective employers

Then there are whole categories of people that I may or may not want to know who I am, so I may or may not want to reveal my identity inadvertently, and it will just depend on what I end up blogging about...

Then, there is the question of who do I specifically tell to look at my blog.  It's one thing to keep it quiet where people might just discover it, but then an entirely separate matter to email it to people to tell them to look at it!

Here is a photo from the city I live in (I didn't take it but have stolen it from friends in Australia who took it while visiting):

Here's another that is more obvious to anyone who's ever been to this city (same pilfering of the photo):