taz_39 | Hot Stuff in July

On Monday, I spent the morning helping my Mom to take some food to a friend who'd been in a motorcycle accident (my Mom has bada$$ friends apparently). After that we had lunch at a Chinese buffet. It's been forever since I've eaten at one of these...first of all, I can't eat much in one sitting, and secondly Jameson tends to have salt intolerance reactions with such food. But man, I really love Chinese buffets!! I love all the crazy Americanized foods. Cream cheese egg custards and mystery meat-stuffed mushrooms, and those insanely crispy green beans! And of course that weird "ice milk" ice cream to finish the meal. I enjoyed trying everything and spending time with my Mom!

After our meal we made our way back to the house, where I packed my things and said goodbye. Driving back was much easier as there was less holiday traffic. I made good time, stopping outside Indianapolis for the night.

I got up early on Tuesday morning, and after a straight nine hours of driving, made it home. I was so tired and in such a driving daze, but had to unpack all of my things! I unloaded my bass trombone, a box of knick knacks and memories from childhood, various important documents, and a huge box of books (that was the hardest). After dragging everything up three flights of stairs, I wanted to rest! But after a quick lunch I was at it again, unpacking and sorting everything.

When everything was put away, I cleaned up, got a shower, and went the heck to bed! I drove 30+ hours to be with my family for just a day and a half. It was very worth it, but I was tired!

Wednesday, back to work! There was so much to do. Holidays are great, playing catch-up is not. We were all very busy. I sold two trombones! After work I skipped the gym to get groceries and pick up a bookshelf for all of those books I'd brought home.

Thursday was a little slower. I managed to get a lot done. Probably because I was at work alone...

So quiet! Everyone else was at the factory plowing through the summer repairs, around 900 instruments that need to be serviced for the local schools. Everyone's working very hard, hopefully we will have them all done for the start of the school year. My boss checked in in the evening, did some paperwork, and went home. I skipped practicing/the gym again in favor of doing laundry and scrubbing my bathroom and kitchen.

Friday was a quick day. I sold two more instruments! Wow! That's more than I've sold over the past two months. My boss was very happy. They didn't have the highest profit margins, but getting quality used instruments out the door is also important, so that we can get new and exciting instruments in and have a good rotation going. By the end of the day we only had two F attachment trombones left on the wall, one of which was small bore. Can't wait to see what horns will come in next!

After work I had wanted to go to the gym, but had forgotten some of my gym clothes :/ So instead, I went home and relaxed, and chatted with Jameson. He's been busy with gigs, but still keeps in touch with me every day :) We miss each other.

On Saturday, I was supposed to help out at the nature center with a gardening project. Well, I wasn't "supposed to", but it was work that needed to be done. I opted out in the hopes of making it to the DMV to get a Missouri drivers license (yes, the licensing center is open on Saturdays!!). Unfortunately I was missing some of the paperwork...I guess for this state you need to retrieve some sort of tax form from a county office? Ugh.

Wish my plans trashed, I decided to work on something my boyfriend had suggested: hanging my GoPro outside near the hummingbird feeder. I didn't have any string, but I did have fishing line. It took a while to get everything set up.

I left the camera on while I spent the morning working on various projects, including a portfolio for a circus friend an some ebay listings for another friend who is selling some of his belongings. These projects took more time than expected, kept me nice and busy. After two hours I retrieved the camera and sorted through the footage. Nothing, until the final fifteen minutes. A female hummingbird cautiously approached, and when she decided the camera was not a threat, enjoyed a nice drink. Twenty seconds of usable footage out of two hours!! This must be how nature photographers feel. But I was happy to get the video, and it came out very nice! I slowed it down to about 20 FPS so you can get a good look at her (be sure to watch in HD)

I resolved to try again in the evening.

For the afternoon...well, to be honest, I wasn't sure what to do with myself. Lately I feel like I'm in some sort of purgatory, waiting for something to happen. I'm not sure what. Should I get a second job? Is there ANYTHING I can do right now to get a gig? When will I be able to see Jameson? Should I look for work nearer him, or wait until I've been here longer? What should I be doing on these quiet Saturdays, with not much money to spend and this festering sense of urgency?

I've just got to be patient. Sometimes there really isn't anything to do but wait. But some days, it's awfully hard.

I watched parts of Attack on Titan Season 2 (so brutal!) and took a nap. I prepared some things for next week. I wanted to go out, but it was incredibly hot out, and I felt I should save my money. Jameson suggested that I relax and enjoy the day. I did my best to do that without feeling liek I ought to be being productive. In the evening I put the camera out again, and was rewarded with a lot more footage than I'd gotten in the morning, and with much better lighting too. Here are two short collages of the footage I got, one at normal speed and one slowed down to 15FPS. I was surprised at the boldness of the last hummingbird, who got within inches of the camera.

Neat! My boyfriend has great ideas :)

On Sunday after a slow morning, I went to the nature center for "public speaking training". We received a bunch of paperwork about animal intake calls, desk work, filling out intake paperwork, and public events such as animal displays, touch tables, hikes, etc. Some nature center workers went over the paperwork with us and described what we should be prepared for when volunteering for such activities/events. This took about two hours. There sure is a lot to do at this place. Hopefully I'll have time to lend a hand...right now it's looking like Sundays are it for me.

After that I hit a grocery for a few items, then back home to cook for the week. I tried to leave the climate control off for as long as I could, but by the time I was done cooking it was 95 degrees in the apartment and I was cooked! I cleaned up, then helped my friend Charlie to list some items on eBay.

And that was pretty much it for the week. Anticlimatic. What can you do.
Sorry my life is boring now.

But hey. The car I lived on, car 38 (or 39 depending on how you think of it) arrived safely at its destination, and will soon be part of the Cincinnati Dinner Train. The owners are posting pictures. I'm told that the microwave in my room fell and shattered all over the floor. Glad it waited to do that until I was gone haha. Well...welcome home, home. I hope I can visit someday.