Briefly, briefly, then I must depart...
Thank you God, for:
1. Mandarin oranges
2. Five-headed, goose-necked lamps
3. Loud, bombastic classical music
4. Jump drives
5. Alarm clocks
6. Diet coke
7. Green tea
8. The worry stone I bought in N. Mexico
9. This computer
10. Friends who call you on the hour to make sure you’re still awake
Spring Break was wonderful, folks. We toured the caverns, got lots of lousy pictures and a few really good ones, and got snowed on during the first half of our trip. And yes, I’m putting off a paper to write this. Don’t bug me about it. I expect a phone call at nine to take care of that for you. Anyway, terrific trip. I accidentally brought back about a tablespoon full of white sand, due to the unexpected porous quality of my shoes and socks. I doubt they’ll hunt me down and ask for it back. Somehow, they just don’t seem that vindictive. Surely by now (after all those years of working there themselves) they realize how impossible it is to keep sand of any kind out of places it’s not invited.
We drove for quite some time through the Sacramento Mountains, seeing those darling little yellow diamonds with deer on them. Each sign indicated that we should be careful for the next five miles, and yet they came up every five miles, just as the odometer clicked over. They should maybe invest in an extra large, very attention grabbing sign that says “Deer stalk these roads in perpetuity. Don’t get hit.”
Well, it was getting dark, we had no cell phone reception, no idea how far the next town was, really, really had to pee, and the snow was beginning to come down a little harder than it had been. So we pulled into a little Mom and Pop diner in Mayfil, or Mayhill, or somewhere, used the bathrooms and got pie. Very good pie, I might add. There was also the Granddaddy of all deer hanging from the wall over our heads, looking for all the world like he could total a semi. This was no, as E puts it, “pansy little white tailed deer” like you find in east/west TX. This was a deer to end all deer. Truly massive. I could have put my head in its mouth, really.
And so, E and I began to worry. Was this what we were in danger of hitting on the steep, snowy, dark mountain slopes? Were we all this time thinking about our beloved little pansies, when this grizzled warlord of the deer clan was what was lurking on the road waiting for us to blink? We asked. What is that thing? What that what we might hit? Er… how likely was such a collision? The answer was so blunt, it imprinted itself on my brain immediately. I now quote the Mom half of the Mom and Pop combo.
“It’s an elk. And yeah. People die all the time. [a pause, as we reel with sudden dread] And even if you live, your car’s gone.”
Now, allowing for the whole “scare the stupid tourists” routine, this is still a rather pissy discovery when you’re headed into the heart of snow covered mountains at dusk. We recalculated that night at the hotel so that we’d be out of those mountains on the way back before the sun got near to setting.
On the way back, we stopped and got more pie, to let her know we’d made it. And we got a picture of the big ass deer on the wall. It didn’t turn out well, since the flash was all screwed up, but the proportions are sorta right in the dark. Yikes. We actually saw some elk on the way back. From so far a distance that it looks like we’re snapping shots of landscape. It’s a pity, since I’d really have liked to get a good picture a little closer. Not any closer than ten feet, mind, and with all parties standing still. But a picture, nonetheless, would have been nice.
Ah well. There’s an anecdote from New Mexico, and now I’m back to my paper on yellow fever and politics. (Yes, I am a creative writing major. Not political science. Not medical science. Creative Writing.) I present it to the class tomorrow. I still need about five pages. It’ll happen. I have all those things listed above. I’m cool.
I’m also doing some thinking about where my life is going. What I’d really like to do with it when I’ve got more letters behind my name. I haven’t come up with much that’s conclusive, but I’ve really been doubting that I can just move on ahead without a break. I feel a desperate need for something that isn’t so stressful and deadline oriented. I want to eventually do something that can be left at the office when I come home. I want a private sector to my life that includes most of the weekend, even if it doesn’t include three months a year and holidays. But then, things are still brewing. I’m not even sure that after all this thinking I won’t decide that I’m happiest right where I am. But with a break. I’m thinking if I got a nice job to pay for things, I could take the PhD slower, and actually get more out of the classes than the whirlwind of assignments I have now.
But the paper calls. It needs writing. I must leave you all. Farewell!
End.
1. Mandarin oranges
2. Five-headed, goose-necked lamps
3. Loud, bombastic classical music
4. Jump drives
5. Alarm clocks
6. Diet coke
7. Green tea
8. The worry stone I bought in N. Mexico
9. This computer
10. Friends who call you on the hour to make sure you’re still awake
Spring Break was wonderful, folks. We toured the caverns, got lots of lousy pictures and a few really good ones, and got snowed on during the first half of our trip. And yes, I’m putting off a paper to write this. Don’t bug me about it. I expect a phone call at nine to take care of that for you. Anyway, terrific trip. I accidentally brought back about a tablespoon full of white sand, due to the unexpected porous quality of my shoes and socks. I doubt they’ll hunt me down and ask for it back. Somehow, they just don’t seem that vindictive. Surely by now (after all those years of working there themselves) they realize how impossible it is to keep sand of any kind out of places it’s not invited.
We drove for quite some time through the Sacramento Mountains, seeing those darling little yellow diamonds with deer on them. Each sign indicated that we should be careful for the next five miles, and yet they came up every five miles, just as the odometer clicked over. They should maybe invest in an extra large, very attention grabbing sign that says “Deer stalk these roads in perpetuity. Don’t get hit.”
Well, it was getting dark, we had no cell phone reception, no idea how far the next town was, really, really had to pee, and the snow was beginning to come down a little harder than it had been. So we pulled into a little Mom and Pop diner in Mayfil, or Mayhill, or somewhere, used the bathrooms and got pie. Very good pie, I might add. There was also the Granddaddy of all deer hanging from the wall over our heads, looking for all the world like he could total a semi. This was no, as E puts it, “pansy little white tailed deer” like you find in east/west TX. This was a deer to end all deer. Truly massive. I could have put my head in its mouth, really.
And so, E and I began to worry. Was this what we were in danger of hitting on the steep, snowy, dark mountain slopes? Were we all this time thinking about our beloved little pansies, when this grizzled warlord of the deer clan was what was lurking on the road waiting for us to blink? We asked. What is that thing? What that what we might hit? Er… how likely was such a collision? The answer was so blunt, it imprinted itself on my brain immediately. I now quote the Mom half of the Mom and Pop combo.
“It’s an elk. And yeah. People die all the time. [a pause, as we reel with sudden dread] And even if you live, your car’s gone.”
Now, allowing for the whole “scare the stupid tourists” routine, this is still a rather pissy discovery when you’re headed into the heart of snow covered mountains at dusk. We recalculated that night at the hotel so that we’d be out of those mountains on the way back before the sun got near to setting.
On the way back, we stopped and got more pie, to let her know we’d made it. And we got a picture of the big ass deer on the wall. It didn’t turn out well, since the flash was all screwed up, but the proportions are sorta right in the dark. Yikes. We actually saw some elk on the way back. From so far a distance that it looks like we’re snapping shots of landscape. It’s a pity, since I’d really have liked to get a good picture a little closer. Not any closer than ten feet, mind, and with all parties standing still. But a picture, nonetheless, would have been nice.
Ah well. There’s an anecdote from New Mexico, and now I’m back to my paper on yellow fever and politics. (Yes, I am a creative writing major. Not political science. Not medical science. Creative Writing.) I present it to the class tomorrow. I still need about five pages. It’ll happen. I have all those things listed above. I’m cool.
I’m also doing some thinking about where my life is going. What I’d really like to do with it when I’ve got more letters behind my name. I haven’t come up with much that’s conclusive, but I’ve really been doubting that I can just move on ahead without a break. I feel a desperate need for something that isn’t so stressful and deadline oriented. I want to eventually do something that can be left at the office when I come home. I want a private sector to my life that includes most of the weekend, even if it doesn’t include three months a year and holidays. But then, things are still brewing. I’m not even sure that after all this thinking I won’t decide that I’m happiest right where I am. But with a break. I’m thinking if I got a nice job to pay for things, I could take the PhD slower, and actually get more out of the classes than the whirlwind of assignments I have now.
But the paper calls. It needs writing. I must leave you all. Farewell!
End.
posted by Rehkmira @ 20:44
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