Unfortunate Timing

So apparently, as I’m sure a lot of you have heard, a terrorist plot to blow up airlines flying from London to the US was uncovered today.  Airports are clamping down security, airlines are cancelling flights, and lines are longer than ever.  I guess it’s not the worst timing possible…and at least the odds of there being another terror attack before I have already come back home from London slightly lower, hopefully.  But this isn’t going to make any one’s heart rest easier.

Last Good Days

I’m in my last week and experiencing a lot of lasts. My last Monday, my last Tuesday, my last episode of Treasure Hunters with Margie. It blows my mind that I am leaving in less than a week and will also be home in less than a week. I think that the drive out here is kind of like child birth in the way that the memory of the pain fades quickly. I am still thinking, “yeah, I can make it all the way home without stopping. It wasn’t that bad.” And the sad part is that even though I know it was worse than i remember, I can’t remember how bad. I look back fondly on the trip and I guess that’s how I’ll look at the drive back until I’m forced to remember by my desire to die rather than live another second in the heat.

I had an good day today. Made a lot of visits and actually got to deliver a milkshake to a woman in physical therapy and dinner to a man in the hospital. It was nice to be able to care for people’s physical needs and desires too. Although, I am saying goodbye to people that I’m just starting to feel like I know and who are just now remembering my name.

I was out late visiting tonight and didn’t get back to the church until around 6:15 and as I was walking into the building I heard someone yelling to me.  It was a man who looked like he needed a little help I let him into the church and he told me that his car had broken down and that he had been out in the heat all day trying to find some help.  I didn’t tell him I was the worst person for him to talk to at the church since I have no authority, no keys, and no knowledge of who or where he could get help.  But I walked him to the a couch and got him a cup of water while he sat in the air conditioning.  When he stood up to get the cup he got dizzy and had to sit back down.  So i sat with him for a while talking and just cooling off.  Eventually he said he felt better and was ready to go, I told him I was sorry that all I could offer him was a cup of water but he genuinely didn’t seem upset and was rather thankful.  So again, I had the opportunity to care for someones physical needs.  It was a good day.

Ridiculous…

So, as I mentioned before you can find my page on google by searching for terms within my posts.  Whether this be purposeful or accidental is debatable…but I’m going to guess that the person who searched for “constantly sweating but not ill” probably found it on accident.  Now that I have written that exact phrase I’m sure that my place on google will be bumped up and it kind of ruins the legitimacy of it but in order to maintain my innocence I took a screen shot of what the google link looked like before I posted this.  Please pay attention to the random selections from my page that google decided would give you a good idea of what my page is about.  Thank you.

Let’s make a Dilla!

Sorry for the absence.

Let’s just get right to it. A couple of days ago I was out at a retirement home making some visits. It was a pretty nice home, big bedrooms (enough to divide into two good sized “rooms” or three smaller “rooms”) with a bathroom on the wall opposite the door. I made my first couple visits and all was well, I continued up to the third floor for my last of the day. I found Chris’ room (85 year old woman) and the door was open about a foot and a half. I knocked but there was no answer, the nurse a little down the hall said that she was pretty sure she was in there, so I knocked again and poked my head into the room a little to see if she was asleep. No, she wasn’t. She was in the bathroom, on the toilet, with the door open. When I poked my head in she started doing the pull-up-my-pants shuffle and I countered with the that’s-enough-for-today shuffle back out to the parking lot. Who knows what my next visit to Chris will be like, I doubt she’ll remember or know it was me, but I will.

On Saturday, Bob, Marge, and I went to the Amarilla Dillas game. The Dillas are the local independent baseball team. It was fun because the crowd was pretty into the game and they had a lot of mini games on the field between innings, such as the “dizzy bat” race among others. I’m not a beer drinker but if there ever was a time I thought I should have a Bud Light while wearing a tank top and wranglers, that was it. Texas.

I can’t believe that I have less than two weeks left in Texas. It’s August. I go back to California and leave for Europe in August. I don’t know why I thought I had enough money to go spend a semester in London, but trying to figure out everything I need to buy before I go out there is insane. I just bought a laptop yesterday…so, I’m broke. Fortunately, Mallory said she had a backpack I could travel with. I guess I should check to make sure that the pack is gender neutral because we all know hips aren’t something that I have.

Today I am going to the Amarillo Club for lunch. I hear that it is the nicest place in town. You can’t wear denim, that’s gotta be nice if you can’t wear denim in Texas. It’s also in the top floor of the tallest building in town, so I’m looking forward to it.

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We just got back from the Amarillo Club and it was very good. You could see all of Amarillo, not the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen but still beautiful. The best part by far though was the fact that at the nicest place in Amarillo they still served a meal that came in “log” form. Fantastic. Don’t misunderstand my mockery, it was a very nice place and the food was good.

And yesterday I gave my self self-haircut number 2, better than number one a little more style a little more texture but still a few mistakes…not bad.

Please Sir, can I have some more…Spoon?

This has been a good week. Sunday night, the three other interns and the new audio visual guy came over the house and we played spoons. It got pretty intense. Bob flipped over the table and there was the twisting of limbs and the rending of flesh. It was a lot of fun and we had some good laughs afterward watching the Office (the episode where Michael cooks his foot). So good. There are some pictures floating around, so when I get my hands on one I’ll post it.

Yesterday at the hospital I made a few visits in the morning and got to have some good conversations. I got to sit and chat with a man who had taught at Oxford. So we talked about London and things to do and see. Apparently there is a Texan Embassy in London from when Texas was an independent coutnry, he said that it was the only place that would put ice in your drink and give you a free refill. I’m hoping that they also serve a good steak…or burger, whatever. A lady named Onolee was my favorite visit. I had visited here earlier in the summer when she was at her home but she recently checked into the hospital and so I went to see her again. She’s a pretty heavy smoker so when I walked in there she was smoking away, except she was smoking a fake plastic cigarette that the hospital gives to out. She has a little bit of a mouth on her so a few times while we were talking something would be said and then we would have a good laugh about it. After I prayed with her and was getting up to leave she wouldn’t let go of my hands with a surprisingly good grip, she wouldn’t let go until I promised I would come back and visit her again today. So I’m going to run up there pretty soon.

In the afternoon Mike and I visited an old couple, and it was an amazing visit. They were both just so sweet and kind that it was really moving. I suppose that it isn’t too strange to come across these kinds of people and couples but something here was different. The husband, Jim, had just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and so even though he wasn’t showing very many signs of it you could just feel a hint of sadness. Despite that though they were so at peace and caring and making good decisions for their futures. It was just a great visit.

Do you remember the twenty year old with the connective tissue disease, his name is Ben, anyway I might be going out to lunch with him today, so that will be interesting to hear whats going on inside his head.

Palo Duro (palla durah) Canyon

I went to Palo Duro Canyon today, which apparently is the second largest canyon in the United States, unfortunately I don’t know exactly what “largest” means in this context. Second lengthiest, deepest, widest, Texasized? Who knows. That aside it was a lot of fun. I got to sit on a longhorn which has always been a dream of mine, stand in a Conestoga wagon (flash back to Oregon Trail) and see a replica of Colonel Charles Goodnight’s dugout…awesome. After we walked around some Bob and I mountain biked up to a rock formation called the Lighthouse, it was fun to get out and do something active especially on an incredibly rare 85 degree Texas afternoon.

Tonight for dinner we went to the Jone’s house for fajitas. The Schroeder’s and the Jones’ teach a class together and all of the people in the class were there as well. We played some good ping-pong and listened to the cicada’s in the trees (which isn’t exactly pleasant).

Oh, fun fact, if you google “Saturn alternator picture” the forth link down is my page…sweet irony, and apparently one poor sap was directed to my page by such a search.  And my mom informs me that if you search for “Saturn alternator sucking” I move into first.  Nice.

$278.41

I got my car back yesterday with a brand new alternator. I was hoping it would cost something around $250 so I wasn’t too bummed when it came back at $278. Of course, free would have been nice. It’s funny how not having a car available can become so distressing. I think that was exacerbated by being away from home, it took away a lot of my independence making me even more dependent. So last night I just drove around for a while. I stopped at Wal-Mart and bought juice and underwear.

It’s also been a strange week at work because Mike is out this week. Last week he took a nuclear stress test which came back a little abnormal, so yesterday he underwent a heart cath and I guess they found two areas of his heart that weren’t receiveing enough oxygen. Next week he’ll go in for heart surgery, he’s expected to make a full recovery and since this is all precautionary and preventive he should be fine. However, it’s strange to have been visiting the hospitals with Mike and now to have him in a bed…it’s kind of a strange twist.

I made a lot of visits today and it was kind of exciting because I’m starting to be remembered, and I got a few more compliments but no kisses.

The church has hired a new video production guy and I’m not sure if he’s from Santa Barbara or if he just went to school there but either way it has really helped his musical taste. We compared music libraries today and we had a lot of the same stuff which is pretty surprising. It’ll be fun to have someone I can share that with, and not just have to talk about country or Christian music. Of course, I’m beginning to feel the pressure of leaving “soon.”

Working Title: Saturn Uranus

So…car trouble. The battery died a few days ago while I was driving, not supposed to happen. Then I jumped it…and it died again. Sounds to me like the alternator is sucking. The battery is still good because I remember very clearly changing it on the side of the road, in the heat, with my grandmother sitting on the curb, so that leaves us with the alternator.

This picture is of my not happy car face.

Today, at the hospital was what I’ve been waiting for. It finally happened. I felt sick. I don’t know why it happened but I felt myself losing it. My body was getting hotter and hotter and my head started to get light. I don’t think it was the hospital because we made a trip later and I was fine. I don’t think it was the illness, I don’t know what it is. I think it’s a combination of things but I think it definitely has to do with coming to grips with mortality and uncertainty. It’s early but it’s interesting.

That makes today a strange day.

Cocktail Buffet…not so Jimmy.

I believe when I left you I was about to attend something called a “cocktail buffet.” Well…it wasn’t as bombastic as I expected. It was still a lot of fun and the house was really nice, the hors d’oeuvres were delicious, and the brandy punch was to die for. Well maybe not to die for but to someone who doesn’t usually enjoy alcohol it was actually pretty good, but not nearly as good as a white cranberry and peach fruit juice.

Bob, Marge, and I went out yesterday and went to lunch at this grease pit called the Golden Light. It was fun, there were beer signs glowing everywhere, NASCAR on the tv and a young boy sitting at the bar. After I had my green chili burger we walked out on 6th Street and browsed the various antique shops. I found a sweet NRA belt buckle but it was $75 and I’m not sure if I liked Ben-Hur enough for that.

After our antiquing we drove out to the Cadillac Ranch. Which was apparently created by the town crazy/millionaire when he buried eight Cadillacs halfway in the ground, one for each year that Cadillacs had fins. The cars are covered in graffiti and you can go out and spray paint to your heart’s desire…of course it’s also 100 degrees or more so maybe your heart’s desire might equal 47 seconds. But whatever.

As you might have noticed I bought my boots. I am now a productive and trusted member of Texas.

It is finished.