yellowstone

worked at the pool today. and fred meyer for that matter,
but my story has to do with the pool.

i talk to this guy every once in a while.
he's got a daughter that goes to school with one of my coworkers.
we talked about his trip to costa rica, and also books that we're reading.
his is about geology and tectonic shifting.
apparently central washington has strata from mexico.
it got pushed up like how baja california is doing now.

anyway. we were talking about lava flows in hawaii which somehow got us to geysers in yellowstone.
he said that he once went with his girlfriend in the winter.
hardly anyone's there with all the snow to detour the fairweather campers.
he told me how there's geysers that don't erupt for up to 27 days.
so when he found one like that, he jumped on into it.
i guess there was no water filling it and he was able to go down about 20 or so feet.
i wonder what kind of cavernous trails might be around down there.
but maybe human exploration isn't the smartest way to go about it.
maybe something more like a dye pack might be suitable.
i'm sure a majority of them are connected.

anyway. i thought that was interesting.

P.S. dixie's will be awesome tomorrow.

coyote

oh. i forgot to mention that the other day when i got home around 1 or 2 am,
i was just about to get out of my car when a coyote ran by my car!
he musta come from that little park at the deadend at the end of the road i live on.
at first i thought it was a coyote, then i was like, no. not around here.
but he went a little way up the road and then circled back and it definitely was one.
that's something rather large to be hiding out in such a small area.
maybe it lives on the side of the freeway? but you'd think that would kill him rather quickly.

anyway.
i want to also bitch about my collar bone.
its only been an annoyance for the last week, but today it fucking killed me!
reaching for the reciept at work is the worst.
people kept commenting on the fact that i look tired,
which i probably did, but it was probably also from the incessant grimacing the pain from my collar bone caused me.

it's fine when i initially move it, but then when it settles back down into place,
it's like a sharp stabbing pain in my upper chest.
then at other times the pain's on the top of my shoulder (the clavo-scapular joint--i just made that shit up).
usually i can handle pain, but this pain is draining and sharp.
i gotta figure out if i have benefits so i can go to the doctor.
i was going to do that today, but then i got a call and had to run some errands.

tomorrow i won't be able to do this as i work 12.5 hrs.
that kinda eats into your day...
hopefully friday.
but friday i'm going BACK to dixie's!
i'll have time before or after.

long time

damn.
i went for a while there, about 4 or 5 days that i didn't even get the chance to check my email.
that hasn't happened since my ass was in guatemala.

and again, i'm all tuckered out.
but yesterday was kinda cool.
this old woman from the pool who reminds me of a librarian with her bunned hair-do and chained glasses always talks to me about books and what i'm reading.
yesterday this woman, majella, who's probably near 90 gave me a few books.
she says she's going to be moving soon and needs to unload some stuff.
so she gave me three books.
very kind of her. two of them look rather interesting.

also on monday, apparently it was the day for old people to voice their age.
i had one guy show me his driver's license. May, 1912.
gunna be 93.
he kept bitching about how unions used to mean something and now they're crap. too true.

after that was an old couple. the lady said i took good care of the old couple.
she was 95, her husband was 94.
neither of them needed any aid in walking.
they looked good. 80ish.

i think i fucked up my clavicle. it doesn't feel like muscle pain, its more bone.
there's a sharp pain at either end if i move certain ways.
it doesn't seem to be dislocated. hopefully it's not broke.
i bench-pressed 205 lbs on monday.
that probably didn't help.
but it was hurting before that.

oh. i also wanted to mention my sunday.
before i had to work, i went and saw a girl's rugby game at marymoor.
a co-worker from the pool invited me.
i'd never seen the game played before.
i started to get the hang of the rules.
but then i got further help when a male rugby player on the sidelines helped me out a bit with the rules.

i was trying to figure out why when the girls got tackled and were fighting for the ball, sometimes the ref would stop the play, and other times he'd let them continue.

i guess its all about getting the ball out.
if you don't get it out, he stops the play and the other team gets the ball.
you also can't touch the ball until the player who was tackled with it gets it past her feet on the side of the field away from their goal.
so i guess if it's grabbed before that, the ref also stops the play.

like in football, when the player is running with the ball, you can only pass it back behind you. so i guess when you get tackled, it's prefered that you turn when you fall so the ball cap be tossed or popped out to the backfield.

when the ball goes out of bounds, it gets thrown back in like soccer.
but the thing is, that each team lines up infront of the person throwing it in.
and two members of each team takes a third member of their team, grabs their shorts and wedgies them up into the air to catch or deflect the pass inbounds.
looks like it would be kinda painful.

the scrum's the craziest part though. (normally you're clothed)
you get a row of three players shoulder to shoulder facing off against the other team's three players. they'll eventually grapple like in football.
but then two players line up behind the row of three and are basically pushing the asses of the row of three with their shoulders.
then behind the row of two, is one more player who pushes on both their asses with their shoulders.

the ball is put into play by one of the players between the first row of three players.
the ball can't be touched by hands until it passes behind the player's feet and comes out of the scrum.
so these scrums can twist and turn all over the field while the ball is being passed around by feet.

very crazy to watch.
i kinda liked the game because its definitely more fast-paced than football with all its pauses for each down.
when a player gets tackled in this game, like i mentioned before, the ball gets back into play when it gets past their feet.

scoring is almost like football.
a "try" (touchdown) is worth five points.
you get a free kick after the try which is worth 1 point, but you can also try for a conversion for 2 points.
i believe there's also a chance for something similar to a field goal.
but i'd have to check on that again.

i got this knowledge from a nice guy named Will who plays for Quake Rugby.
he invited me to come to some of their practices.
tuesdays and thursdays at volunteer park.

watching kinda made me want to play.
but i gotta watch out for my clavicle right now.
also, after the girls were done playing, they all came off the field and started partially disrobing and getting into dry, unsoiled clothing.
(don't worry, the majority of them are dykes.)
anyway. all of them had gruesome bruises all over their legs,
and arms and a lot of them were taped up in one place or another.
a very brutal sport.

so the guys that i made friends with were large men.
but the other group of men that they sometimes play against on the "Beaches" team were all ripped samoan-looking motherfuckers.
something like the rock or tuiasosopo.

i might die.
maybe i'll just try a few practices.
anyone else wanna die?

i'm so sad i forgot my camera, i could have explained this all better.
also in the field next to the rugby game were people playing cricket.
again. no idea what's going on there.

there was also a memorial set out for the arlington cemetery.
row after row of white crosses resembling the DC cemetery.
there was a native american-looking guy meandering through the crosses beating solemnly on a large drum.
a cool image.

there was also a climbing area with a few pinnacles.
i think i finally have the upper-body strength to attempt something like that.
but if the wall's too vertical, i think the whole fear-of-heights thing might kick in.
its mostly the getting down part that i fear.
but when you're doing shit like that, you're always going to be belaying with ropes. so nothing to fear.
but when climbing out on my own, i don't fear up, just down.

it's my half bday today.
getting closer to being old.

maps

checking out manuel's latest link with nothing but time to kill.
so i thought i'd follow the route that i take damn-near daily.
the one where i go from my house to the pool, or vis versa.
(fred meyer is the huge parking lot in the middle. if you directly south of the middle of the parking lot, the next visible parking lot is the pool.)

going north, i love how you can easily spot deja vu by its pink trim.

then around lake forest park, you go a bit north, and there's this thing.
what the hell is that?
zoom out to get your bearings...
does anybody have any idea?
i don't really know that area well, but that thing doesn't really look ...useful.
too small for an airport, maybe a dried-out reservoir?
lemme know if you figure it out.

oh yeah.
and i live all the way over here.

girls

i have no idea if any girl every flirts with me when i'm at work.
but if she wanted to, her ass needs to buy some alcohol.
then! you could see just how old she is.

damn the not being able to tell....

florida

oh. i also got a response to my email that i sent to FSU regarding my application notice.

they basically said that they'll get back to me when they get back to me.
they won't even give me a deadline!!

i'd be happy if they gave me something like,
"oh, you'll hear back by july."

but, no.
bastards.

euro

that guy who found the incan mummy in peru just got back from a trip to that country.
apparently he missed his return flight and ended up having to buy a whole new ticket for $700. sucks ass. he's got a return flight that needs to be used before april 30th, but i doubt it'll get used.

but anyway, that wasn't the interesting part.
he said that in peru, and probably other countries of south america that they used to stockpile the US dollar because of its stability.

but now, the government has proclaimed all $100 bills counterfeit and everyone's switching to save up on the euro.
so everyone with the dollar got fucked.

i'm sure that's just a glimpse of things to come.
the inevitability that the US is going to have to acknowledge the stronger power that is unified Europe.
and all you fuckers had faith in China.
they aint got their shit together...

amidy was also telling me that europeans are being pushed to recognize themselves as "Europeans,"
rather than by their individual country.
i'm trying to decide whether i want to move to the netherlands, ireland, sweden, or spain.

dillehay

i got my second book today.
The Settlement of the Americas.
i don't think i would have gotten it if it weren't for the author:
dillehay.
this was the guy who found the 12 thousand year-old site in southern Chile.
it basically put all the clovis-first people back to the drawingboard, or in deep denial.

i really want to read about his views on the peopling of South America!

oh, and btw. still no word back from florida.
i did email them, but it may come down to giving them a call.

pool

i took my camera to the pool on friday.
my purpose was threefold.
firstly, i wanted to show you just where i worked, my environment where i have to entertain myself 16.5 hours a day or more.
second, i wanted to show you people that i've talked about and interact with three times a day or more.
finally, i want to show you just how disgusting some parts of my workplace are.

other than the pool, we have the weight room.
it's kinda small, but it's got almost everything you need.
including mirrors at almost every angle.

when i get bored of watching kids in the pool, i'll go into the weight room and pick up a few weights.
when it gets slower at night, clement and i convene there to BS.
its has a very strategic location in being able to view both the back door for the boss, and the front door for customers.
in the summer it's air conditioned, whereas the pool is hotter and more humid than fuck.
so i watch the pool from there when i can.

speaking of clement, there he is. he's at the pool two of the three days that i'm there commanding the front desk. he's got 3 computers at his disposal and has WAY more responsibility than i do.
he's gotta keep track of whoever comes in and make sure swim lesson parents actually pay for services rendered.

next is emma. this is the 15 year old who has a crush on me.
she writes those love notes that aren't wholly comprehensible.
when she's not sleeping 15 hrs. a day, she does actually get her learn on.
maybe a few more hours of school a day would help a bit...

i wanted to get a picture of connie, my kickball buddy, but she split on me early on friday. maybe next friday i'll snap a shot.
other than that, i couldn't really get myself to take photos of people in their bathing suits.

but i did get a picture of my sifu.
here is arturo, my good friend who teaches me kung fu.
even though he's mexican, he does bear a slight similarity to mr. miagi.
other than clement, i probably talk with him the most at the pool.
some days i may even talk more to him than to clement.
he's a very friendly guy and converses with almost everyone at the pool.

a bit blurry and behind arturo in that picture is again emma, and her 21 year old nanny hanging on her.
emma hates it when she talks to me ;)
that's emma's mom further to the right.

now to the fun stuff.
we do have a vending machine.
but i don't advise you to get anything out of it.
the majority of that shit's been sitting there since i started working there a year ago.

but that's nothing compared to the nastiness of the boiler room.
those big blue barrels are full of chlorine. yummy.
got some on my shirt the other day. bleached the fuck out of it.
good times.

first up is the pool's filter. i guess that water's supposed to be kinda gross,
but look at all the shit that sluffs off of people.
next here are the pipes that drip on into that filter system.
if you flip that small red handle on the right side of that blue pipe in the first picture, the water diverts to refill the water that had evaporated off the hot tub.

on the opposite side of the room is the actual boiler.
well. that round thing to the right is for the pool.
and the squarish one on the left is for the hot tub.
notice the nice iron deposits building up there on the floor.
before they replaced the pool boiler, it leaked and brought a liquid form of that green goodness out from under the boiler room door.
people would warn me that some green liquid was oozing out from under the door, to which i could only reply, "yeah, that happens."
once in a while i'd sweep it away, but to no avail.
that drain's only there for looks.

oh. and did you want to take a closer look at the top of the hot tub boiler?
yeah, i'm not really quite sure what that is. other than hopefully red caulk.

now just take a look at the far wall.
apparently when they re-tarred the roof, it leaked in side just a little.
luckily it didn't do that in the lobby or i think it might still look like that as well.
that big round thing and the black thing infront of it are the hot tub filters.
the long, cylindrical column is the bromine feeder.
you use bromine in the hot tub as opposed to chlorine, because its boiling point is a bit higher.
so you fill that tube with big, chalky-looking tablets that make you choke if you stick around long enough for it to mix with the water without putting the lid back on.

mustard gas must have been the shits back in the day (chlorine).
it just makes your throat constict and tickle making you want to hack the nothingness in your lungs out.
very healthy.

well. i think that's about it for this round.
maybe next week i'll get that picture of connie with her favorite ball.

pope

i haven't been following the plight of the pope and other people who's death has been hogging media time, but i did want to say something about catholicism.

for the short time that i was watching the news on the popey subject, a commentator mentioned that catholicism is no longer really a religion of europe, but more like the religion of the third-world.

of course many things can be inferred from this statement, but to me it again insinuates the fact that religion is a form of power and control over other people, namely those who are the most easily maleable because they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by believing in the ominous religion.

latin america and africa got deluged with popal visits over his last few good years and where has the most genocide been occuring? just these places.
they believe in catholicism and still get slaughtered.
i guess its better that way...
now they know they're going to heaven when they're brutally murdered or starved to death.

if these people were left to their own devices and prexisiting cultural beliefs, i'm sure the majority of them could easily be self-sufficient.

but land is a commodity and the first thing you have to do to gain that commodity is to either destroy or control the people that inhabit it.
and if you're not looking to personally inhabit the land, then what better way to use the land than to brainwash the natives into cultivating it for you using religious tactics.

yeah, catholicism may need to transform and bastardize itself by melding with prexisiting native beliefs, but anything in the name of progress...

however, i do have to be amazed and awed at the fact that a billion or more people mourned the death of a single, influential man.

sure he did some good, but i think its usually the rouge priest lives amidst the turmoil danger and still helps his fellow man that should receive the glory.
just cuz the pope is who this priest would ultimately and theoretically "answer" to makes him the king shit?

but i guess it's just like our army. what really has bush done other than create an opportunity for our citizens to fight and kill in the name of patriotism?

book

i got my book today. American Beginnings.
it came really quickly.
i was expecting to wait another week or so.
the thing's huge!
like a freaking text book.
i better get started.

also. still no word from florida.
i may have to email them.

time for the fu.

alaska bound

and my ass is going to alaska!
with only 3 hours of the day passed, i've already registered and payed for the field school.
texas and oregon may not want me, but i'm gettin' learned.

my school resume will be a bit more presentable the next time around.
but now, i have to go to sleep cuz it's another 12 hr. day tomorrow.
good times.
BUT!
i get two days off this week. what a rarity.
and one happens to be a SATURDAY!
i think i've only had one of those off since i started working at fred's.
and it was within the first few weeks.
shit better be going down.

oh. also. if you haven't seen "Sin City," you should.
elijah wood's character is awesome, and every protagonist has some mental issues.
for not having seen a movie in the theatre since "Closer," i'm glad i finally picked a good one.

punk'd

i'm hoping that tomorrow/today i'll get another letter from oregon saying:
"you're in! april fool's!"
yeah. like that'll happen.

now there's really no hope.
if oregon didn't accept me, there's no way florida will.
here's to staying in seattle....

fool

oregon and florida still haven't gotten back to me!
maybe that's their april's fool day joke.
saying they'll get back to me on that day and not really doing it...