poverty

I am so sick of this nasty, sugary peanut butter my bro got at Fred Myer that it has driven me to return to blogging (and now I will probably miss my bus).

However, there is absolutely nothing else in the house to eat. There is not even a stick of butter or a drop of oil with which to fry an egg.

Things thought about on a long, extremely wet bike ride home, while listening to Sinead O'Connor's "Downpressor Man"

- "I hope my phone isn't dead. The black screen and lack of little red light and general unresponsiveness is a bad sign."
- "Wow, crashing my bike after going over those wet train tracks makes me want to cry."
- "Wow, crashing my bike after skidding to a stop on my turn-off on the Springwater Trail makes me make pitiful angry squeaks."
- "What happened to the little plastic black thingy on my bike handle? I came out of yoga class and it was gone. Was it stolen? Did it slip off from the rainwater and I didn't even notice it? It's just bare metal now. Makes my hand colder, and slippier. I hope it's not expensive to replace."
- "You know, I actually really like my job. I like that I've gotten to know the kids at this point. I really enjoy playing UNO with them especially. Nicholas, the multitasker, reading his Ripley's Believe it or Not picturebook while writing down his spelling words and playing UNO at the same time. Jonathan, so hard-working, my best bud. Even the older kids who prefer gossiping to working don't even get on my nerves anymore. I feel you, Wintana, I wouldn't want to do that lame-looking social studies homework either."
- "I am really, really looking forward to buy expensive new rain pants."
- "I am really, really looking forward to buying galoshes and not having sloshy water-filled shoes. Wretched Californian-purchased, Cambodian-made merchandise."
- "I have to write 4,000 words for NanoWrimo tonight in order to catch up with the quota I'm supposed to have. When did this stop being fun and start feeling like school again? A) When you no longer have a 3-day weekend. B) When you realized you are 16,000 words in and you have not yet explained why/how your main character thinks he is/actually is a werewolf. Considering this is the supposed central crux of your 'opus,' THIS IS SOMEWHAT OF A PROBLEM. C) You started rereading your work and editing it. NO, FOOL. THAT IS NOT THE POINT OF THE EXERCISE."

random notes

- I chugged the cup of coffee I paid 75 cents to refill because I forgot about it and thus it got stale and cold as I plugged grimly through learning about adverbs for the TEFL course, and as an effect I feel especially jittery and frantic.

- I AM SO GLAD that I put my rain pants on this morning. Getting soaked yesterday while biking frantically around looking for a Fed-Ex place with a fax machine that was still open was a useful lesson. The sunny weather was nice while it lasted, now the English-style weather that my father claims makes Portland especially appealing to my mother has kicked in full-force. I wish my rain pants were 100% rain proof, though. And my shoes. Sad face.

- I biked to one school to sign a contract, only to be told that the contract was not ready yet. Then I was called at 4:30 by the main supervisor there, asking why I didn't show up to sign the contract, which is 100% ready. Guys you need to work on the inter-office communication skills because now I have to come in on Monday, AGAIN, to sign this thing. ALSO! PLEASE GET BACK TO ME ABOUT THE POSITION I APPLIED FOR ON THE DAY THAT YOU PROMISED ME YOU WOULD. Don't suddenly e-mail me out of the blue two weeks later when I've already given you up as a lost cause.

- A mean man yelled an obscenity at me on my bike this morning. It upset me. I think people in Clackamas are less used to commuters, hence the more hostile attitudes. In Multnomah everyone always politely and kindly yields.

- I paid a poodle of money to get my brakes fixed yesterday. Despite Corey's insistence that he could have just done it himself, more than anything I was paying for the convenience of having it fixed NOW, RIGHT AWAY, as opposed to going through the fuss of figuring out what parts I needed, and then cornering Corey when he had free time to fix it (and trust me, he doesn't have much of it). I guess the cost of getting my bike fixed 3-4 times a year still beats out the cost of gas, car insurance, etc.

- Watched the debates last night at Laura's house. We played Palin Bingo. I got a lot of "umm," "Family," and "maverick." GO BIDEN! He is straight out of a Bruce Springsteen song.

- My mother keeps sending me e-mails for jobs like Nestle Customer Service Representative.