good news!

I’d like to start this post by resolutely stating that there are few things better at 8:45 pm than a nice big bowl of Fruit Loops.

(Unless that thing is this little-understood concept called “self control.”)

Oops.  Out of cereal.  BRB…

Ah.  That’s better.  Onward.

Now that you’re all hungry for sugary children’s cereal…

Good news has hit the Lawlii household.  You may find it odd, given that I’ve just typed five sentences about little rings of high fructose corn syrup saturated with artificial color, rings that leave the roof of your mouth raw – but I received a scholarship to a weeklong writing conference a few days ago.  It came completely out of the blue — my Spiritual Autobiography prof wrote me and said, hey, there’s this scholarship available for this conference, and the school will pay your room and board, so if you’re interested…

Um, yes please!  I had checked out different writing retreats and conferences before, but they were out of reach — at times in terms of cost, and other times in terms of how long they are (some are a month or longer).  The thought of actually being able to go raised my heart rate up quick!

A few conversations (with Justin, then my new boss) later, I was signed up to go the third week in July.  As if I didn’t already have enough reason to be thankful for my new job, the doc said to me, “Well, of course you have to go.  I’m not naive.  I know this job is a stopping off place for you, not the end goal.  If I can help you get toward things that will get you closer to that end-goal, then I want to do that.”  Seriously, she’s amazing.  It’s nice to be appreciated.

I’ll be doing a creative nonfiction workshop every morning, workshops in different genres in the afternoons, spending time alone for some free writes, and then going to readings by faculty and guests in the evening.  For a week: eat, breathe, speak, sleep writing.  With other writers.  Who hopefully won’t mind that I’m a baby writer, just a wittle guy.  Writing, writing, writing. 

For months and years to come, I’ll be chirping, “This one time, at writing camp…”  Oh dear.

The only drawback is it will be the first time Justin and I have spent a night apart, which, to be honest, was something I had to consider for a moment before good sense overcame me and I said I’d go.  I’m a light sleeper, so I haven’t exactly gotten great sleep ever since we were married, but I have a suspicion I’ll sleep horribly on my own that week in my sparse little dorm room, too.  That’s the way it goes, I guess.  I’m just thankful Justin was so supportive.  He was up at Western’s campus working on a group project when I texted him the news.  “You write her back and tell her you’re in,” he said.  “We’ll figure out the rest later.”

He’s kind of incredible like that. 

I’m going to miss him like crazy.

It occurs to me: this may be even harder than letting him go to the grocery store without me.

I’m not going to think about that now.

More Fruit Loops, stat!  (Just kidding.  Probably).

a new member of the Lawlii family

No, not that kind of family member.  That’s a few years off hopefully.

We have a piano in our home again… and I am in heaven.

 

Greta, the woman who I took over for as receptionist (she’s having a baby any day now), wanted to get rid of her digital piano.  This is the only piano I can have right now in a third story apartment, and the price was right, so we drove out a few weeks ago, popped it in the back of our Vibe wagon (miracle), and drove it home. 

Ninety pounds was hard enough to get up three flights of stairs… I couldn’t imagine a real piano.

The notes still come rather slow to my rusty fingers, but I’m reading music better and better all the time.  Not having had a piano in my home for most of the last 10 years, I didn’t know how much I’d missed it.  Being able to play on a regular basis again — it’s near-bliss. 

Yay for having a music corner in our office!

I’m sure some of you at least are familiar with the soundtrack from the new Pride and Prejudice — I’m working at learning that (and whatever Regina Spektor I can get my hands on).  We played one of the P&P themes as I walked down the aisle at our wedding, so it’s even more enjoyable because of that significance.

Speaking of which, it’s calling to me now… getting prepped for finals can wait…

summer is so close

I can taste it. 

Well, kind of.  The weather here has been and will continue to be crap — outside it looks more like March than June.  All week my shoes and pantlegs have been soaked by the time I walk from Red Square to our car. 

But we had our last day of classes today, and the last of my work will be turned in Tuesday.

I’m anticipating A) reading sheerly for enjoyment’s sake, and B) getting a chance to put words together totally unattached to assigned work, having time to play with what I learned.

Against all odds, and thanks mainly to the power of my buddy Caffeine, I finished my spiritual autobiography piece in the wee morning hours.  (Years have passed since I experienced the delirium that is hitting the wall at 10 pm, downing a few more cups of coffee and pressing through another three hours, and I’m proud to know I’m still capable of it when necessary.)  The piece is still rough in places and no doubt will see tons of revisions over the months to come, but if any are interested and would like to provide feedback, send me an email and I’ll shoot it on out to you. 

It may be that the cover is out ahead of the quality of the actual piece — but I like where the words are on their way to, and that’s a hell of a good start.

new job (no blood!)

I need to change my about me blurb to no longer say “poker of fingers, wearer of scrubs.” 

This is an awesome development!  (Although I miss many of my fellow peons at the plasma center very much).

It’s quite strange, really.  Out of habit, I still turn out of our apartment complex in the direction of the old job.  It all happened pretty fast.  One week, I was almost done with my phlebotomist (translation: wielder of needles) training, and the next, I was hunting Craigslist for job openings.  One week I was throwing on scrubs each morning, the next I was (gasp!) having to iron clothes.

Before spring quarter began, I checked my schedule with a supervisor to make sure this new Tuesday-Thursday classes thing would work.  It was all good in the hood, they’d just need me to be flexible occasionally when people were on vacation, etc.  Done and done.

Well, then that supervisor quit, along with about 8 other people that month.  A mass exodus of sorts.  Oops.

My schedule went a little nuts, which I expected because I knew we were short-staffed, but when I asked about when my schedule would go back to normal after the new hires were up and running, I was told by a supervisor, “We’ve decided not to work that hard around student schedules anymore.  We figure we’re doing you a favor by letting you work here while you’re in school.”

Um.

Okay, here’s my two week notice.  Peace!

Justin and Chris really wanted me to compose my two-week notice in sonnet form, since we were doing sonnets that week in poetry class, and I did write one (entitled “Damn the Man!”), along with a few haiku (haikus?  What’s the plural?).  I just couldn’t go through with turning it in.  It would have made a great story, kind of like when Chris told his boss he was quitting to go play Madden, which had just come out… but guess I lack conviction.  That, and the boss I had to turn it into was actually a pretty nice guy.

During the last two weeks, there were several moments I thought, “I could keep doing this,” but around the time of my fifth one-day-weekend in a row, I was exhausted and glad to be done.

Now that I’m working my new job, I wonder what took me so long to search out something that fit me better.  I’m now a receptionist at a chiropractic/massage clinic, and it’s wonderful.  A laid-back boss.  A calm environment.  My own desk.  A sensible schedule.  Free chiro and massages every few weeks.  What’s not to like?

(Not to mention, Justin has a wife who’s a little saner, and dinners that consist of frozen junk a little less often).

Yay me!

Hey kiddos!

We’re still alive!

Just barely.

A few things of note to report:

1) I just wrote my first sonnet!  Yay!  I should be ashamed at how clever this makes me feel.  But sonnets are hard!

2) The car accident injury stuff (yes, from five years ago) is finally all settled and done with.  I barely came out ahead of my medical bills, but I’m grateful that they’re (at last!) all paid.  Not without grief, however.  My lawyer, my own lawyer, was less than professional and harsh at the end of working together for about three years — all because he wanted to push me to go to trial to earn him some more cash.  Money-grubbing louses, all. 

Things I wish I would’ve known to do at the beginning of this: don’t let yourself be passed on to a new lawfirm without researching them and having a say in the matter.  My first lawyer retired, and I “inherited” this juniorest of junior lawyers, who consistently failed to give me relevant case information in a timely manner (i.e. me calling his office the day of the deadline for the other side to appeal, thinking we were all done, finding out they’d appealed it two weeks prior and no one told me, even though I’d specifically asked to be notified as soon as we got word), who failed to return phone calls or emails when promised, who contacted witnesses to appear two days before the arbitration, which was scheduled months in advance – among other lovely behavioral gems.  It was as if I had to babysit my own lawyer.  Awful.  Make expectations clear as far as communication goes, etc., right in the very beginning.  And, last, don’t let them push you around.  They work for YOU, not the other way around.

More than anything, I’m just happy to put this whole thing behind me.  It’s been a stressful part of the last five years.

3) On a far more fun note, I’m loving this quarter!  Poetry.  Spiritual Autobiography.  Mythalogical Lit.  I’m in heaven.  (And working my ass off).

4) I had the wonderful opportunity to fall completely in love with a new author this past week.  Peggy Shumaker came to read at Village Books here in Bellingham and Prof. Miller introduced me to her.  What a gracious, warm, lovely individual.  I wish I could capture in words the resonance of her voice as she read her work.  Mesmerizing.  She then visited our Spiritual Autobiography class the next day and read for us, occasionally kicking back into teacher mode, which was a real gift.  If you get a chance, check out Just Breathe Normally.  It’s an amazing memoir constructed while Peggy was piecing her memory back together after a cycling accident left her with cranial injuries.  I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

5)  It’s supposed to snow this weekend.  RIDICULOUS.

phew.

Hey!  We survived Christmas!

Never again.

We drove down to Poulsbo Friday (3 hours), spent the night with J’s mom and brother, drove to Port Orchard (45 min) and spent the night with my folks on Saturday, drove back up to Bellingham on Sunday (3 hours) so I could work at 5:30 Monday morning, drove back down to Port Orchard Monday afternoon (3 hours), to Poulsbo and back Christmas Eve (1 1/2 hours), to Poulsbo and back Christmas morning (1 1/2 hours), and then back up to Bellingham (3 hours) Christmas night so Justin could work at 5 am the next morning.

I’m no mathematician, but I *think* we spent over 15 hours in the car.  We looked bewilderedly at each other several times this past week, as in, why the heck are we doing this, again?

It’s weird to say this, but I think I feel more like I’m on vacation now that Christmas is over and I’m back to work than I did when I was off.  So relieved to have all of it done with.  And — we’ll make far more laid-back plans next year.  Ack. 

Here’s a few pics from Christmas (I have no excuses for the boys, who were on a real tear). 

It snowed — the first time I’ve seen snow fall on Christmas Day!

We got some fun new games for Christmas — Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and Chess.  I’ll probably write about their magnificence soon — we’re really enjoying them.

Hope you all had a good Christmas — will write more soon.  For now — time to go to bed and finish recuperating. 

Done!

Done done done done done!!!

Fall Quarter 2007, I bid you a fond and heartfelt adieu.

I’m not dead yet!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve! 

Rawr!!!  I’ve had the rottenest cold/sinus infection this week!  Finally am up on the upswing, thanks to lots of Tylenol and Amoxicillin.  Yay for being able to breathe through my nose!  (This is my major accomplishment, in a week where I needed to be writing several papers.  Thanks to hours upon hours of sleep, I can now breathe through not one, but both nostrils.  Wait… yeah, both nostrils still).

I’ve called in sick to work for the past two days.  I never call in sick without actually being sick, but I always feel guilty nonetheless.  Does anyone else have this problem?  For once, however, I wasn’t all that worried about it.  I know I sounded like Death Itself when I called in, so I didn’t worry about them assuming I was trying to head out early for Thanksgiving.

As it is, we actually decided to stay home for Thanksgiving rather than driving down to Poulsbo so I could finish getting better (and so we could both catch back up on our sleep… I kept *someone* up for the last few nights with my coughing).  I was a little bummed, because it would be fun to see my folks and then Justin’s family for the meal, but now that I’m resigned to staying home, I kind of like the idea of bucking the system, going out for some Chinese food, and cozying up to watch some football in our living room.  And… probably playing the Wii for a while.

I felt like we should at least have a little Thanksgiving food when we went to the grocery store a while ago, which ended up with some random choices.  We have… a chocolate pie and some sparkling cider.  Impressive.

Anyhow, I hope this finds each of you celebrating the many things you have to be thankful for, with people you’re thankful for.  We’ll be down at the Panda Palace, eating General Tso’s Chicken.  Good times indeed.

and the lawlii heave a collective sigh

Hi friends!  We have internet back!

Hmmm… there are a few things to update you on.

The Mazda, aka The Green Judas (Justin’s name) is no more.  And, quite frankly, good riddance.  I think I may have mentioned that we were hoping she’d last until end of September/early October, when we’d be ready to trade her in for something that wasn’t making odd engine noises yet again.  Either way, I swore I was done fixing that car — no more money would be sunk in trying to keep it running.

Well, that bitch called my bluff and broke down on our way home 50 miles from Bellingham on Labor Day (we’d been down visiting family over the weekend).

We heard a loud couple of bangs, and pulled off at the next exit.  As we were debating whether or not to just keep going, our heat guage went all the way to the hot side in about ten seconds.  We pulled into the gas station, got out to look, and coolant was pouring out of the bottom of the car.  Shredded belt?  Check.  Cracked radiator?  Check.  Huge towing bill just to get the piece of crap home?  Check.

Did I mention we were evidently parked next to a marsh?  We were instantly covered in nasty black bugs.

I kicked a tire, swore a little.  Hurt my bad knee.

But, in the end, I stayed true to my word.  We emptied the car of our effects, called our cousin to come pick us up, and said goodbye to The Green Judas.  The next day, I contacted www.JunkMyCar.com, and a tower came and got her.  (Highly recommend JunkMyCar.com.  That was the easiest thing about the whole ordeal.  You tell them where your car is, they pick it up.  For free.  The end).

We now have a shiny new(er) 2006 Vibe.  And for the first time since my accidents, I LOVE driving again.  She’s pretty.  I call her Rosie (it’s red), while Justin is sticking to his guns with the lovely moniker “Tits McGee.”

So this happened the week before we moved.  Exciting times.  But, in the end, I’m quite happy with the results.

We are all moved in to our new apartment, and all I can say is… upgrade!  I’m not sure how we managed to go down in rent and up in square footage, but we did… and having the extra space is WONDERFUL.  Our balcony overlooks this huge pond, and it is so very peaceful.  It’s a great place to come home to, and we are both enjoying our new little place in the world.

It’s really the calm before the storm… school starts Wednesday and… me being the genius that I am, I’m taking a lot of Lit classes.  Writing About Lit.  Brit Lit.  American Lit.  ACK.

Turns out there’s this one course I missed (Writing About Lit) that opens up the rest of the English major to me, so my choices were somewhat limited.  I’ve always liked to read, so this quarter will hopefully cure me of it.  Filthy habit.

Justin and I were able to get very similar schedules between work and school, however, and I’m extremely grateful that we’ll still have time together.  Apparently it will all be spent reading, but that’s okay with me.

All in all, right now I’m just feeling extremely grateful for God’s blessings to us during this very hectic last few weeks.  We have a car that runs, we’re settled in a pretty, serene place, we’re looking forward to what the future brings us.

And… we get to relax a little this weekend before all this craziness begins. 

More soon. 

happy Saturday…

Ah.  So glad to have that whole apartment thing nailed down.  I’ve been a little saner ever since.

We’ll be moving September 12th.  Our lease was originally up on the 10th, but the apartment is getting some new carpet/flooring put in and won’t be ready for another couple of days.  Thankfully our landlord was willing to work with us.  (Which he should.  We’ve been good to his place).

I was a little worried about moving into a place with loud neighbors because that was my last experience in apartments… I’ve gotten spoiled not having to share walls with other people for the last two years, between the LBH and the LGH.  Judging by the number of flower pots out on people’s decks near our unit, I think we’re in the old people section.  Which is fine by me.  Old people don’t keep me up until 3 am on a work night. 

I think the coolest thing is that our apartment is a third floor corner unit that overlooks this huge pond/wooded area behind.  Very quiet except for birds and croaky things.  You don’t even see any other apartments out of our windows.  That, and we have french doors that open up from the master bedroom onto our balcony (which, of course, overlooks the pond).  I think that’s pretty sweet!

Justin and I headed out on a date last night – you can tell it was a date because he wore a button up shirt.    Just kidding.  We ate at Anthony’s, a seafood restaurant down on the waterfront, and got to walk around near the water until our table was ready.  It was perfect temp out — not too warm, not too cool, and just pretty.  And we saw bunny rabbits.  Then we went to the movies and saw Stardust.

Seriously, this movie was so fun!  Favorite movie I’ve seen in a long time.  It was so nice to go to the movies, enjoy a good story, laugh a bunch, and not leave disappointed.  Go see it.

Kevin and Hanna are headed up for a visit today, so there is probably a great deal of Munchkin and Pirate’s Cove to play.  Should be a good weekend!

Hope you all enjoy yours as well!