oh, just a typical Saturday morning

Most days as I scoot along to my daily destination I'm in a general state of oblivion to the changing world around me, in part because I either left the house late or with just enough time to get where I'm headed and partially because careless drivers demand most, if not all, of my attention. Despite this, there are times when the bizarre demands recognition and wins my attention.

When you live in a city, there are bound to be a few rats. It's not a pretty picture to be walking along the sidewalk and have a rat dart out of a food establishment and cross your path. Well this morning, new meaning was given to the term "rat race" as I found myself breaking in traffic to avoid a large rat that ran out of a building to make a dash across a busy roadway.

About 10 minutes later and within blocks of my Saturday class I got my second treat of the morning. As I waited at a red light, another scooterist, a woman in her 60's, entered the turning box beside me. As I glanced her direction to catch the time remaining on the crosswalk timer, I couldn't help but notice she was wearing a pair of 2000 sunglasses similar to the ones in the picture.
Now mind you, this woman was otherwise nicely dressed: skirt, blouse, heels, jewelry, but somehow it was hard to notice any of those things for the giant "2000" extending beyond her helmet on either side. It did happen to be a sunny morning. Did she leave the house, notice the blaring sun, and then find herself at the mercy of the 7 year old specs for inability to find suitable alternative eyewear? Seriously?

Later in the day I shared the story with a friend who happens to live in the same neighborhood the encounter occurred and the outcome was some possible light being shed on the subject. There happened to be an event in a local park with clowns that morning. Despite my wishful thinking, I'm not fully convinced that was this woman's destination. Other than her eyewear, nothing about her hinted at being a clown. Sure, she still could have been, but even so, why wear the glasses while driving around?

b and f#

"You can't play with your Gameboy or the bad men will find you and shoot you."

Somewhere out there, there are invaders - "bad men" and when they land, many will hide in silent fear. However, this only makes their task easier - to seek out those naughty children audacious enough to play their noisy Gameboys during an invasion. Well, the "bad men" may have landed somewhere, but on this day, it was not in this country, for this was a test. It was only a test.

Well ladies and gents, all the former hype was over an air raid drill. They occur at least once but sometimes twice a year. The air raid siren sounds, (on b and f#, or so I've been informed by a self-professed music nerd) and for about 30 minutes, city drivers are to clear the roadways. In the past I've been either at home or at work when the drills have occurred, though once I happened to be on my way to work.

What I suppose I never realized in the past was that they're scheduled - they are made public knowledge, I suppose so people can plan ahead to be where they need to be before one occurs. I guess until now I thought they were spontaneous. After all, would that not be a better test of people's response time in an emergency as actual emergencies tend not to get scheduled in advance? Perhaps since I've never known about them in advance in the past, the idea of them occurring without warning has never seemed like a big deal to me, though logically looking back on things, I suppose the random occurrence of one would leave many wondering if it was a test or an actual emergency, so ya, I guess the idea of knowing is kind of nice.

Sometimes it does strike me to wonder how I function in a place as ignorant of things as I am. Along with the revelation that the air raid drills are scheduled was the realization that there are other things citizens are supposed to do, aside from clearing roadways. Though I've yet been able to find a policy or guidelines for the drill, I'm sure they exist. In the meantime, however, I've gathered a bit of info from others such as: people are to conserve electricity during a drill, stay indoors, make your way to the basement level of your building, observe quiet time, etc.

And so the fun beings! Trying to get a room full of kids to take a drill seriously and remain quiet for 30 minutes is most likely not an easy task for many teachers, and so, I suppose that's why wild stories of the do's and don'ts of air raid drills have reached our ears, via our students and communicated to them by their elementary school teachers. For example, classes of kids informed a friend of mine about how the "bad men" will hear them and come to shoot them if they make any noise during a drill. So, have lying, or at least embellishing the truth, and the fear factor become what the elementary schools are resorting to in order to coerce kids into cooperating? Yikes! That's a sad and troubling thought. The only (or at least easiest) way to make kids listen is to lie to them and play the fear card? There seemed to be no shortage of wild tales as to what might happen to kids if they break silence during an air raid drill. I do understand how hard it can be to get kids to listen and cooperate, but there's got to be a better way, right?

this is a test, this is only a test

so, this evening i received the following text from a friend:

tomorrow there's some sort of drill from 12:00-12:30. you cannot be outdoors or make any kind of noise. no electric appliances running, no game boys, and no banging on the walls with clubs.

the craziest thing of all, perhaps, is that she was serious. turns out her reliable source on the matter was a group of students, but there's definitely something going down tomorrow. the apartment building management posts signs in the elevator - ads for local businesses, building matters, and media pertaining to the community or city.

well i checked this evening and there it was, a sign with tomorrow's date, the time frame of 12-12:30, and a list of do nots. naturally it's posted in mandarin so i could make out as much as it being a list of things not to do, but the specifics escape me.

i am intrigued however. it should be interesting to see what the lunch hour holds tomorrow, though i must confess, it will be difficult to restrain myself from banging on the walls with a club, even if it is just for one afternoon.

spilt milk

What I should have been doing this weekend was take care of some of the glaringly obvious tasks that need done around the house such as sweeping up paper scraps from prepping Mother's Day crafts for 70 kids or addressing the mountain of laundry that must be leapt over to get from my bed to my dresser. Seriously, I'm not a slob and I hate mess, however, busyness and procrastination remain my constant companions.

I've not been entirely unproductive around the house though. Instead of the more immediate things that need done, I've been tackling the odd jobs, the tasks usually reserved for the occasional rainy day. Perhaps I should be living in Paris or Seattle - I'd be getting more accomplished. No rain today, however, there was the pesky need to cross something off the to-do list before the weekend diminished and thus, I dismantled and cleaned my computer keyboard, piece-by-piece. My original attempt was to use small q-tips to clean between keys and ultimately beneath them, however, once the first key accidentally popped off, I saw my golden opportunity. Dismantling was a must.

Let me rewind for a moment. My keyboard has become proof as to why one, or at least I, should not eat or drink near the computer. Back in the fall during the first week of ownership of my lovely new mac, I christened the keyboard with chicken noodle soup when I had a mishap as I attempted to complete the task of sitting down at the desk with a bowl of soup. I'm ashamed to say, there was another incident with soup during the winter months. Have I not learned my lesson?! Me and the need to multi-task - what good can come of it? Then there was the past week when my keyboard suffered the fate of an introduction to milk, an encounter which has rendered my left Shift key useless, but I'm glad that was the only damage. My clumsiness astounds me sometimes. Beyond that, do you know how awkward it is to suddenly have to use the right Shift for all capitalization? Reconditioning is annoying.

So, have I learned my lesson yet? I suppose not, as I've dripped water on the keypad twice while composing this. Tomorrow is a new day, however, and hopefully a drier and safer future is in store for the keyboard.

april abridged

fare thee well, my april. you were long but short.

april is probably my favorite month and i'm always a bit sad to see it go. it tends to be a sort of complex feeling month - full of memories, nostalgia, and a few growing pains.

i love thinking it's an often over-looked and under appreciated month, perhaps i love it all the more for that reason. like that special spot in a book store, coffee shop, or park where i know i can find myself alone and be comforted in knowing i've found my own little hole in the world, that is april, my hide-out, my secret space.

april's the month that feels like it takes forever to roll around and then once it arrives, flies by. however, as i look back over the past month, i marvel at just how much got crammed in and rejoice that i didn't spend the month as a recluse. so, in memory of my favoritist of months, here's my send off salute - favorite memories of the month:

early month camping trip:

moi: ugh, what is that smell?!
beck: it's the dogs! they've been rolling in something . . . and i think it was dead!

("dead things mikey, dead things!")

and so progressed that weekend, trying to keep 3 dogs from rolling in dead things and subsequently bringing the foul stench into the cabin.

a new favorite desert is born:

in lieu of cake for my b-day, i made chocolate pot de creme.
upon first bite, a friend, in a startlingly loud voice declared, "holy crap!" followed by a slightly quieter "that's chocolate!" which left the rest of us at first instant shocked, but soon after tearing in laughter.

mid-month marathon:

the middle of the month was marked by a weekend marathon of the lord of the rings trilogy viewing. to commemorate the occasion and reward our dedication and efforts, we splurged on some imported goodies such as combos, sun chips, and dr. pepper. also making an appearance that weekend was some chocolate pot de creme, or as it's been affectionately dubbed around here, "holy crap."

as you like it!

april brings the return of what has become an annual tradition - attending the spring musical of an area university, performed in english. in previous years we've seen such shows as 3 penny opera, into the woods, and godspell. while i've enjoyed them all, this year's show, as you like it, was perhaps my favorite. as an added bonus, the university showcasing the musical is along the sea. ah, sea and stars.

i've got game:

late in the month i enjoyed hanging out and playing a few new board games with friends. while i occasionally enjoy playing games, i rarely win. however, for one night, i had game. i not only won at everything we played, i creamed the competition, or so i like to remember the evening.

sa-yo-na-ra:

sadly this month meant saying goodbye to a co-worker and his wife, both of whom i've become friends with over the past year, as they prepare to leave the island and move home to canada.

finally, the month concluded with a send-off party for my friend joining the crew of the Doulos for the next 2 months. the weekend long out-of-town event resulted in being assaulted by a belly dancer (all in good humor) and learning some new mock-swearing lingo from an american kid - holy zit!

thus concludes the month. see you next year, april!