!Personas nuevas!

New Person of the Year:


Well golly gee, this could be a hard one. I hate to offend anyone. So I'll just list a few:

Larry & Penny: They live downstairs and grew the most fantastic tomatoes this summer. My parking spot is right in front of their apt where the tomatoes grew. I had serious thoughts on how to steal one in the dewy morning, but instead Larry gave me a few before I had to steal any.

Sue: She's the really neat older lady at church who I aspire to be. She's a master knitter, works with refugees, and says really well thought out prayers on the spot. We sometimes wear the same blue sweater to church and I don't feel embarassed at all.

Anna: A colleague at work. My boss Dan says we have similar senses of sarcasm. We're going to Mexico with 2 other colleagues in March! Fiesta ahora!

I wonder who the new folks are I'll meet in 2010!

Easy Peasy.

Car ride. What did you see? How did it smell? Did you eat anything as you drove there? Who were you with?

January: Chicago to Atlanta, Atlanta to Orlando.
             Orlando to Miami.
             Miami to Orlando.
February: Orlando to Decatur, AL.
               Decatur, AL to Chicago.
May: Chicago to Harrisonburg.
         Harrisonburg to DC.
         DC to Chicago.
July: Chicago to Harrisonburg
        Harrisonburg to DC
        DC to Harrisonburg.
August: Harrisonburg to Chicago.
September: Chicago to Maryland.
                  Maryland to Harrisburg, PA
                  Harrisburg to Maryland.
October: Maryland to Chicago.
November: Chicago to Durham, NC.
                  Durham to Chicago
December: Chicago to Decatur, AL.
                  Decatur to Memphis.
                  Memphis to Decatur.
                  Decatur to Nashville.
                  Nashville to Chicago!

HE should be happy.

Shop. Online or offline, where did you spend most of you mad money this year?

This one is sorta interesting. Being all sorts of frugal & brethren kind of makes me not want to answer this question. I think bragging about the money one spends is contrary to the way I intend to live. But I'll give you this, Happy Elephant is doing quite well nowadays. I've bought a lot of panang curries along the way.

Peace of Christ

Word or Phrase: A word that encapsulates your year.

I've been going to a little church down the road from my place on most Sundays I'm in town. What I like about the place is when we do the passing of the peace. Everyone stands up in the middle of the service and shakes hands or hugs each other and says, "Peace." or "Peace of Christ." Our group just doesn't stand around and do it. Everyone gets into the aisles and this informal clockwise sweeping of peace comes over everyone. It's sorta neato.

Neighbor of the Year!

Today's blogging prompt is kinda lame: Tea of the Year. Instead I think I'll write on the best neighbor of the year. Some of you could probably guess the answer. My neighbor of the year award goes to Joe Perez! He's kind of like my divorced husband who takes care of Eli, my dog, when I travel for huge chunks of a month. Joe loves Eli as much as I do and that's hard to find in a divorcee nowadays!

Pernod

Best packaging of 2009: Have you had Pernod? Chances are you slim that you've had it. It's a strong lil liquor that tastes like a black jelly bean on fire. Pernod is the brand, but the common name would be pastis. It's also the cousin to the Greek version of ouzo or Turkish raki or even the Italian sambucco.The label is of classique French design. The bottle is standard green. So for the record, the packaging isn't so slick, but the label makes me grin every time. Come on over, and I'll pour you a glass!

Rush 09

Biggest rush of the year:

Well it came today! And what was it:
This place! March 26 here I come!

4 feet to the west.

The Best Change you made to the place you live:

Easy cheesy: I moved apartments this year. From 307 to 305, it was literally across the hall. Come visit, won't you?

Palak Paneer

New Food:
Another toughy for me. Most food isn't so new to me. I've done the traditionally 'new foods' for awhile: Ethiopian, Cuban, Thai, Mexican, heck, even Nigerian food. The one that really comes to mind is this little place in St. Charles, Taste of the Himilayas. I'd have to strongly recommend the buffet so you can sample everything, nimble here and there, and then finally gorge yourself on the best dishes. But if you're feeling saucy, try the palak paneer just for me.

Scooter

The best place:

The best place for me has to be in my new(ish) car, a silver Scion xB. With my overdeveloped skills in frugality coupled with my parents' desire to help me, I got to buy a car in May. Ernie the ford Escort, was mine for 9 years (minus the three years it was my brother's when I lived in Kwarhi). So Scooter the Scion has come to be mine and I'm debt free from the experience. Who knew that buying what you can literally afford (ie, not taking a loan out) looks good on paper but can surely sting a bit when you empty your savings all for a car. So my favorite place is the front seat of my shiny (it's pretty much salty from the week of snow) car.

Give up the Ghost!

Album of the Year:
This one's sorta easy if you know me at all.

Brandi Carlile's newest album sorta rocks my socks a whole lot. The songs aren't entirely new. She tends to write songs on the road, perform them live, shape and tweak them, and then make an album out of the best new ones. I think it's model that works quite well. The gems of the album are Before It Breals, Dying Day, and Pride and Joy! Yeah for music!

Vulnerability

Prompt of the Day: Challenges...well this one has been riddling me all day. And now it's 10pm and I still don't know what really challenged me. It's interesting to think and write about the things/people/places that present challenges. The vulnerability that comes along with voicing the things in our lives that cause us to stumble can even be difficult to bring up. So with that Doogie Howseresque insight, I think I'll just do some old-fashioned bulletpoints:

• Nah, guess I'm not one to literally type out what challenged me
• I'd rather let the people and things continue to push and shape me in a positive way
• Maybe, just maybe you already know what mine already are

Pot o' Mold

Moment of Peace: An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of your breath? The state of your mind? How did you get there?

Good golly, this is another toughy. I've done a lot of meditation this year but I wouldn't say they've been quality sessions, because I've either kept one eye open to see if everyone in the group was following the meditation or I've fallen completely asleep (and that's usually from a great build up of sleep deprivation from working a thousand days in a row ). I'd say I get about 3-4 moments of peace a year. And they all occur the minute I get home from a long stretch on the road. I have this weird moment when I walk into my apartment and everything looks recognizeable but nothing looks like mine. It's such a peculiar feeling to leave my place for 3 weeks and come back with everything exactly the same. (Except this last time around, I left a pot of coffee go to mold.)

Blog find of the year.

This prompt is sorta tough. I have a list of 45 blogs that I follow. It's quite unfair, but I'll choose this one. I like the writer's attempts to find God in the normal places. It's kind of exciting in a weird way to read his blog every Monday morning and see where his attempts have taken him. Following in the ways of Heather Armstrong and Ree Drummond, I heard somewhere that Steve will also be publishing a book with his travels to churches (and weird church-like institutions).

Queer! (A part of a session!)

December 6 Workshop or conference. Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was especially beneficial? Where was it? What did you learn?

I'd venture to say that a big part of my job is pretty much like lining up workshops and even leading a few nuts and boltsy ones. As I think back through out the last year, these are the sessions (as we in the volunteer world call them) that stand out in my mind:

Dana's half day of learning to pay attention to the things around us in life (breath, wind, water, texture)

Beth S' and my session on lgbt issues. Best memory: Having vols and staff running to different parts of the lawn and yelling and jumping out words! It looked like a scene from a rock opera in the 70s.

Merle C's session on the Church of the Brethren complete with leading the volunteers in creating a haiku and new brand for the church. 

Chikenz fa life, dawg.

December 5 Night out. Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the highlight of the night?

Have you ever found your people? Like one day it hits you and you don't speak up. You just kinda observe the folks around your little circle and chuckle to yourself and think, "Whoa. I think these are my people."

That actually happened to me this summer in Harrisonburg, VA. I had gone to a city council meeting to see old people fight against a motion to allow laying hens in backyards. It was an interesting meeting. I learned that day that goverment and its processes can change in a heartbeat and usually when most of the audience thinks the meeting is done and they all head for the exit.

Anyway after the meeting, I was invited by some of the pro-chicken folks to go out for an after dinner drink downtown. And as everyone was hanging out, telling stories, and buying rounds of drinks (which I didn't partake, because I was 'on the clock') I had this feeling of being part of this group. And it was good.

Books Y'all

12/4 Books! What books touched you? Did you pass it onto your friends?

When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

Complete hilarity. The hard part of reading Sedaris' books is that once I finish one, I move onto a new book by a different author and have Sedaris' tone and snarky sense of humor running through my head right when I'm reading. It's hard to get over, but Sedaris is the only author that pulls that shenanigan in my noodle.

Yes we have no bananas.

12/3 Article. What's one article that blew you away this year? That you shared with all your friends.
I'm not really sure I have an article out there that blew me away. I do have this one article that I use for work. It's about bananas and how they're so common place in American households, but really they're quite exotic and we're not paying the full price for them. My volunteers really dig that article. So should you. Ok. I just looked for the thing online and could only find Mr. Koeppel's banana blog. I am suggesting this blog as a entryway to the article. This blog recommendation will not interfere with 12/7's entry!


www.bigparadela.com/wordpress

2009 Cont'd.

2. Restaurant moment. Who was there? What made it amazing? What taste stands out in your mind?

When I think about 2009 I think about The Happy Elephant. It's a lil Thai place down the street from my apt. The staff kinda know my order by heart. Panang Curry. Tofu. Medium spice. Cucumber salad please. Thai-iced tea. Sticky rice and mangoes. This place is amazing because Gary & Ning (the owners) work quite hard 6 days a week, Gary delivers food and runs the front of the house and Ning is a strong leader in the kitchen!

Best of 2009.

It's time for the best of 2009 blog posts. I'll be writing everyday until 12/31. Let's go, K?
12/1: What was your best trip in 2009?
This one's a bit of a toughy for me. In preparation for this post, I re-read my 2009 calendar and it turns out I don't travel outside of work. I was on the road for work for about 15 weeks this year. And all those other weeks, I was pretty much at home and quite content. I'd have to say the best time I had while traveling was when I was in Harrisonburg, Virginia and B___ and I went out for super spicy Indian food and then had dessert at Cally's. That was quite a nice night!

Tuesday in November

I went to prison last weel. Not to worry, they let me out. I did get to visit with T___ my deathrow penpal. I visited with him for over 2 hours face to face last Tuesday.

Highlights include:Not finding the prison right away and having to ask the gas station clerk:

"Um, can you point me towards the prison?"

Clerk: "Um, did you do something bad?"

Me: "Not yet."

Clerk: "Southside of town up next to the Wal-Mart."

Me: "Wow. Thanks."

Another obvious highlight:Getting to meet T___. There are some many things and conversations and feelings and preconceived notions to describe.

Chains. Heavy chains around his waist, arms, legs, and feet, all are tethered to the floor and table.

The actual prison. Totally stuck in 1970. Actuals signs posted in The Condemned Visitation Room: Do Not Peel Paint Off Walls. The actual buildings are in a poor state at first glance as well.

The games cupboard. Did you know that visitation rooms have a cupboard of games? I surely didn't. I never knew they existed. I saw trivial pursuit, skipbo, chess, backgammon, and cribbage in there. T___ and I played palace and at least 20 games of Rummy. Sad to say I didn't win one game. And I wasn't even letting him win.

So will you try it out and get one yourself?

http://www.brethren.org/site/PageServer?pagename=witness_issues_drsp

And some stats for you to ponder?

http://www.prisonpolicy.org/prisonindex/deathpenalty.html

You can figure it out.

Writing about old jobs is lame today. Maybe I'll just write my job title and you can imagine my job.
2000-Blossom Basket-Flower delivery girl Live-in caretaker for one old dude living with a stroke.
2001-Group home worker again in St. Joseph, IL during and after the U of I.
2001-Temp jobs: X-ray file delivery girl in the Carle Hospital, 6pm-6am conveyor belt watcher: Quality control for air filter production.
2002-Moved to Phoenix. ESL assistant 7:30-3. Line cook and beer bitch 5-midnight at Greasewood Flat www.greasewoodflat.net
2003-2006 Nigeria
2006 Classroom assistant at a special ed day school! Hello adult sized diapers.
2007 You probably can guess my current job.

Moving Right Along

Ok back to 1999.
In 99' I also worked in a couple group homes in a nearby town. The homes were owned by the same company and had 3-6 developmentally disabled adults in each place. I don't have too many specific memories from this part of work. I worked mostly nights and went to school during the day. In early 99', I also worked as a part time sports write for the Iowa Falls newspaper. The editor sent me out to small towns to take pictures of high school basketball teams. It was probably most unique job in how I was paid. For every inch of text that 'made' it into the paper, I was paid $4. As you can imagine, every game was a battle of epic proportions. I would submit long flowy write-ups of Iowa cornboys and receive about $15 for 4 hours of work. And my editor even had an editory name: Rex Trout. (He wouldn't have accepted that sentence because it began with 'And.')

2000
Well it's winter time in Champaign-Urbana. I transferred here after Iowa Falls. My first job is working as a sorter for FedEx. And this job blows. My shift is M-Th 6pm-11:30pm. Why does it blow? 1. Getting patted down before and after work to make sure no one stole anything from the precious 1000s of boxes sorted in a shift. 2.The women I work with are rough. Rough in a way that mean I don't go into the Ladies' room because of the fights that take place in there. 3. The lack of heat. Management said that heating and cooling wasn't necessary because the 100,000sf building generated enough heat from running the quarter-mile long conveyor belts. I'm actually that worker who wears long underwear and a dirty hat and a pair of gloves with the fingertips cut off. My specific job is to run up a long slick slide and kick at boxes stuck in the chute for my division. I also have expertise in crawling on moving conveyor belts to dislodge boxes that are backing up the entire belt system. Wednesday is magazine day and it's the heaviest day of box traffic. When I'm not scrambling to unstick stuck boxes, I scan in every box's barcode. From memorizing zip codes I can tell you that zip codes beginning in 0 originate from the East Coast.

A brief history.

Well my little friends, it's time again for another blog post. It's a rainy Tuesday afternoon here in northern Illinois, and I'm glad I have a job inside. Even though I'm 30, I've worked in a bunch of different workplaces. Let's take a trip back to 1994 through 2007!

1994
I'm a corn-detassler! I walk through rows and rows of corn a foot taller than me and pull out every tassle I see. Mom drops me off at school around 4:45am with a red and white cooler full of food to last me through 2 breaks and lunch. The season of detassling is about 3 weeks long. The inexperienced kids in my crew wear garbage bags in the early morning. The seasoned ones wear spiffy blue rain slickers to combat the wet corn and sharp edges of the corn leaves.

1995
Corn detassler! See above! My biggest fear this year is that I'll die in a droughted cornfield, because the older kids feel the need to smoke cigarettes and detassle at the same time. Miraculously the corn gets done and the fields are still standing.

1996
I'm a babysitter! Every morning 7:30-3pm I get picked up and driven into the country to babysit for 2 kids. Nothing so memorable about this job except: 1. The littler of the two kids only falls asleep to Field of Dreams. I love this movie. 2.The mom who drives me to work and home has a broken thumb and can't drive safely with this disability. This job taught me to appreciate my thumbs.

1997
I finished high school in May and moved to Alabama for a month and a half to live with my Dad while he was starting his new job, while my Mom packed the house in Milledgeville. Highlights from 1997 include: Taking golfing lessons in Arab (pronounced A-rab), AL, finding a slow-pitch softball team to play on called the Bronze Bodies. I hadn't met the criteria of a bronze body, but I was allowed to play. The team also never cared to ask my real name, and preferred to called me Yankee. It even said Yankee on the batting line-up in the dugout.
Once I got to college, I found that I could tutor the international students in English skills. So my first semester I had a Japanese student I tutored.

1998
Holy cow I'm a photographer for the Iowa Falls Rugby team. How in the world did this noble honor fall into my hands? Well, my college softball coach is on the team and he mentioned my humble skills to the team doctor/historian. So now I find my weekends filled with scrums, half-naked chubby Iowa men, kegs, and an assortment of funnels the team uses to pee out of the old green bus as we roll around the countryside. Lessons learned: A team doctor is necessary for a successful season of rugby, especially when your teammates slammed their heads into each other for the bloody effect before the match starts.

1999
This post is taking too long. I'll add more tomorrow. I know you're all waiting in suspense!

For this song title please listen to the first song on the 2nd album made by the Go-Go's

Coming off a week of vacation is sorta hard. Menial things like sitting up and wearing clothes are so difficult. After a week of daytime tv, late-morning breakfasts, quiet walks in the cookie cutter neighborhood with Eli, and fresh pajamas, one can find it difficult to sit in an office with the sun and blue sky mocking my work schedule.