Paper or Paper?

Paper or Paper?
I hate it! I love it!

Beginning Saturday, our FM store, along with others around the area started running out of plastic bags. the warehouse isn't coming through, so we're stuck with ordering an overly abundant amount of paper bags.

Paper bags, although having the ability to carry more volume-wise than plastic, are a heavy promoter of dry hands and paper cuts that I'd just rather not deal with. But since Sunday, I've had to. Bag after bag I slam them down and throw shit in. Bitter at whatever caused the plastic shortage. But what can you do? The QFC across the way is out. Bellevue and Lake City and other Fred Meyers are equally experiencing our pain.

Me? Well, although its a pain in the ass, I've found something in all this madness that puts a smile on my face.

Tell me if this is wrong.

I LOVE saying NO to the customer.

Since when have I been able to do that? Never.
The customer sees the paper bag getting plopped down:

"I want plastic!"
"Could I get plastic?"

And for the real intuitive:
"Are you out of plastic?"

Depending on the actions of the customer, I gauge my response. From the top two responses to seeing the paper bags, depending on the tone, I could either give a, "Nope. We're out." and leave it at that, or if the person strikes me as a decent person, I'll go into the spiel that I did above to inform them a bit about the drought we're experiencing.

I love the final response the most and will be the most kind to those people.
They look at were there are usually reams of plastic bags, and notice there's not even ONE sitting on the rack. Hence, I'm not out to fuck them over with paper, I just have no plastic.
They get a fucking gold star for thinking before they speak.

But is that really evil of me? To get my jollies from turning people down? Most people don't realize the amount of catering that a grocery clerk, such as myself, has to endure just to make some rude fatass more able to waddle up the 8 steps to their house.
Of course there are nice people out there who know what it's like to be in my position, but there in an increasingly larger population that forget that there's a whole world out there full of people that aren't them.
Those are the people that I salivate for to come through my line in these coming days.

FUCK YOU! TAKE YOUR HANDLELESS PAPER BAGS, FATASS!
I DON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH YOU ONCE YOU'RE OUT OF MY REGISTER.
SOME EXERCISE MIGHT ACTAULLY DO YOU WELL. THREE MORE TRIPS UP THE STAIRS WON'T KILL YOU. Well, in your case it might.

What a fucking delight.
See, I wouldn't think it were so bad, but I doubt that many of my coworkers feel the same way.
They just see it as coping with a new obstacle.

Which brings me to my other topic I wanted to cover.
In reading my book, Collapse, it seems that all societies succumb to their doom through one of two manners.
1) hostile overthrow. 2) lack of resources.

Although FM ain't goin' down simply because it ran out of the once seemingly ubiquitous plastic bags, the nerd in me took notice of how the dwindling resources seemed to dissappear.

Being a parcel on Saturday, D-Day to some, I got an outside view of the goings-down of the plastic bag dispersal: cashiers frantically rummaging through the lesser used checkstands for unclaimed bundles of plastic bags, me walking by the backs with my own unclaimed bundles, passing to see who needed them the most (or who I liked the most). Cashiers who received tribute shouted how much they loved me for my generosity. Others grabbed their bundles and hid them away.

Getting down to the end of all plastics in our department, I thought I'd pilage the other two departments that have registers at the other two enterances. I sweet-talked the girl from apparel into giving me a few bundles.

See over there, they were not away of the mayhem that was about to come upon them. How devious am I? I should be a politician.

Then I went to the other entrance and scoped out the place. Nothing but a half empty box of plastic bags. Feeling sorry for them, I took only half and left them unknowingly to a quicker run-in with the paper-only trend that will soon hit.

The reconnaissance went fairly well and I distributed those bundles as I had previously done.

But this was the thing that actually interested me. Even though I was given or stole bags from either entrance, they still outlasted us!
By the time Sunday rolled around and it was my time to face the music, apparell and hardware were still going strong with their plastic bags, while we at the central checkstands had totally blown through our supply.

Is that how it is in the real world?
The largest consumer, even if they get the largest influx of a resource/product, will diminish them sooner than a smaller, lower density user. I guess that makes sense. It was just confusing because we had massive quantities, and they were left with next to nothing and yet they still survived longer than we did even through the trade and pilaging.

This is probably how it would go down in the real world. Before supplies are totally diminished, the larger consumer would act in the similar way: nicely request supplies from some and squarshing others, however probably for their complete supply.

My question is this:

Is this what we're doing right now with oil?
Is it that close to the end? Or just close enough to enact these methods...

And then a further question:

Will we then, being the largest consumer, be the first to be devastated by the lack of oil, whereas other, less dependent societies will still continue to thrive a while longer to a point where alternative fueling sources can be found?

It's an interesting thought.
Is that what has brought down other great societies?
Their demise was brought upon them from the relative depletion of a luxury item?
Enough to where their dependence upon the resource can't be met within that society, but can still be sustained in other smaller outliers?

Damn. I wish I had answers.
I guess that's what archaeology is all about: physically finding them.

Dowry

I picked up a People magazine today and was flipping through it. I found an article about the author of this book: Self-made Man.
The only real reason I read the article was because I had seen her interviewed on either the Daily Show or Colbert Report and she actually did a fine job stading up to their ridicule.

In reading the article, I came to somewhat of a conclusion on an issue that's been bothering me since probably high school: dowry.

If women are the allegedly more attractive of the genders, why is it that throughout history, in most cultures, women and their families are the ones who have to buy off the male.
But then I read a passage about the author posing as a man and interacting amongst all her new guy friends: "The way they told it, it sounded as if male sex drive and marriage were incompatible."

And that may be the answer I was looking for. Maybe it's common knowledge to everyone else, but I was never one to ask questions when I had one, I'd lament about them until I found the answer on my own. And here it is: women have to buy off men's monogamy.

Nowadays, I don't really see this as being so much a trend. I guess there still is a slight bit of pressure for the father-of-the-bride to take on the majority of the costs of the outlandish weddings, but depending on financial and familial situations, both sides may take on the burden.
And today, men are having to buy a fat rock for women so he can promiose to eventually attach a ball-and-chain to his ankle.


Since when did women start gaining all the power?


In other exciting People news:
Chris Penn, brother of Sean Penn, dies at 40. No foul play involved.
Jared Leto puts on 50 lbs. in preparation for a film where he portrays John Lennon's killer.

Special

Today I was asked if I was going to compete in the Special Olympics.

Maya

I just felt compelled to share this passage with everyone.
It's from the book Collapse, in the chapter on the fall of the Maya.

"Maya kings fought to take one another captive, one of the unfortunate losers being Copan's King 18 Rabbit. Captives were tortured in unpleasant ways depicted clearly on the monuments and murals (such as yanking fingers out of sockets, pulling out teeth, cutting off the lower jaw, trimming off the lips and fingertips, pulling out the fingernails, and driving a pin through the lips), culminating (sometimes severl years later) in the sacrifice of the captive in other equally unpleasant ways (such as tying the captive up into a ball by binding the arms and legs together, then rolling the balled-up captive down the steep stone staircase of a temple)."

I guess when your culture thrives on warfare, because of such a densely packed population (5 million people in an area the size of Colorado), sacrificing is a good way to limit population growth. And with increased sacrifices and torture, comes more practice and inventiveness on increasingly painful ways to mutilate and kill.

(You might say 5 million isn't that much, but these people were all self-sufficient in terms of food. No outside sources were brought in.)

As for the overall view of the book, I may have already mentioned it, but it seems that there are 2.5 major resources that, when depleted, lead to collapse.

1) water - drought's a big killer of crops and people
2) forests - deforestation leads to change in environment
2.5) soil - once the trees are gone, so leaves the rich topsoil.

funny how it comes down to the basic amenities.
i guess, however, in our post-industrial society, we'd also be rather fucked if we ran out of oil without any comparable alternative in sight.

sick

I'm finally sick for the first time this winter.
But the thing is that I feel relatively fine.

Yesterday I was tired as all hell and my back kind of ached.
Today I had the chills for a little bit, but now my body has decided it wants to expel itself of all fluids.
That will make for an interesting day at the pool. Although I can get away with not being around there, but come Saturday when I have to work at Fred's, I may actually have to call in sick for the first time since I've been there this round, which has been over a year.

Heh. Saturday sick call. They'll love me for that one.

This reminds me of some bad falafel.

Alki Junkyard

Went diving on Wednesday. Cory offered up a new place. It's still around Alki, where we normally go, but this time it's on the west side of the spit at a place called the junkyard.
Down there we found sporadic droppings of machinery probably dating to at least 50 years back or more. Washing machines, large metal chairs, and many other unidentifiable metal objects.

The area here had way less vegetation than I have been used to, pretty much none, aside from the short grasses in the shallower end. Otherwise it was just sandy.

There were so many new sites, I'm very sad I didn't bring my camera. However, on land my camera soon died after a few pictures, so I wouldn't have come up with that many shots.

So instead I'll use the internet as my visuals.
The first really new and exciting thing for me was a Moon Snail. The one we came upon, however, didn't have its shell, so it just looked like a white underwater cowpie. Either that, or a really developmentally challenged sea anenome.

Next was a tiny Sculpin that was hididng out in an abandoned moon snail shell. He was a little guy, but nothing I'd seen before.

Now this picture is from a previous dive, but I didn't get a picture of it then either. I thought it was for a bit of protection, but according to the website, these Crabs are mating. They fit quite well, don't they?

Aside from the moon snail blob, I think the other most interesting new thing for me were the Squid eggs
. There was a metal pole stuck in the ground that had these attached all around it. It looked a lot like a bunch of elongated white grapes. I still haven't seen an adult squid yet though. Oh, and if you couldn't really tell, here's a Closeup of the eggs. There's hundreds inside each capsule.

Again I ran into a Halibut, so that's nothing new. But i think my new mission with them will be to see if they're one side dominant. So far, with the three that I've seen, i think they all lie on their left side with their right side exposed to the world.

I saw tons more anenomes and starfish, but I've taken multiple pictures of those. What I did find interesting however, is where the anenome color stayed constant from Cove 2 to the Junkyard (white or the occassional orange), starfish colors changed. Purple and orange are the major colors at Cove 2, yet over at the Junkyard, a brown seemed to be the color of choice, especially for the sunstars. Maybe it's to better blend in with the sandy environment.

Anyway, I'll have to go back to that place with my camera, then it'll help me remember more of what I saw.

Stats:
max depth: 55'
down time: 45 mins
temp: 48 degrees (the coldest I've been in yet)

I'm now getting used to my dry suit enough to where I think I can manange both it and a camera. The day I dove, I also stopped into my dive shop and bought a light. They didn't have it in stock, but it should be coming within a week. Very exciting. Night dives might be scary.

zombies

Zombie movies have always intrigued me. Something that enrages a species to turn on itself. People don't do this because for the most part, people living in your society will fill a niche that may benifit you in some way. That and an established law enforcement will to some degree hold fear over the heads of the citizens.

But reading my latest book: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Succeed or Fail, zombie-like qualities aren't just things in movies. When resorces become scarce, it's not just the head hunters of the South Pacific that go hunting for people. It did happen in Easter Island once the forest was depleted and sailing to neighboring islands was no longer an option, lack of imports and a population that couldn't be supported by the amount of arable land on the small island. So shit hit the fan, people built fortresses for their only domesticated source of protein: chicken, meanwhile themselves living in wooden shacks. Death for many became imminent until enough were dead, dying or killed to support a smaller population.
Then, enter the Europeans who thought they'd help the resulting population by shipping half of them (1,500) off to guano mines in Peru. So you're either fighting for your life or shoveling shit for a living. Tough call.

But secluded islands aren't the only places cannabalism has occurred in the past. Of course there was the Donner Party in the 1840's who show proof of cannibalism. Women ganged up on the men. They always have the tighter bonds.
The area I'm reading about now is about the Pueblo and Anasazi from the areas that are today northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado, in the Chaco Valley and that good ol' Mesa Verde.
You know, the cliffdwellers.
Well, apparently as the forest was the Easter Islanders' limiting resource, so also did it seem to be for the Anasazi. What was once a Juniper and Pinyon forest, by 1170, became how you'd envision this area today: shrubby and dry. A drought right around this time also hit these people.

So no more trees and no more water, and no more land to cultivate because of increasing populations spells disaster. Inside houses are found smashed items along with pot-polished bones which assumes cannibalism. If that weren't enough evidence for you, there's feces also in the house with traces of human muscle tissue that is never present even if there is internal bleeding in the intestines. Along with these human remains were found headless mice in some human feces. Without pinyon nuts and deer for the regular sources of protein, people were resorting to almost anything. And in times of need, it's apparent that people will most definitely turn on each other.
In even more modern times, WWII, Russians resorted to the practice when secluded in Leningrad.

And what does it all come down to? Resources. The curious thing about human nature is that when there is an abundance of something, not a care in the world is given to its limitations; that is until its limits are visible.

A stupid example: you're over at a friend's. they offer you a beer. you graciously accept when you open the fridge to see a 24-pack waiting for you to grab at it.
Maybe you go over again the following week, the 24-pack's looking a bit meager, but the offer is still extended and you eagerly crack open another.
The next time you come around, you think you can just bust into that fridge and grab out the next party-time beer. Problem: one left. You think about it, but end up leaving it because your friend might be a little pissed when he goes to get their beer but its all gone. Not any time before that last beer did you really think deeply about the consequences of taking that next beer.
Then there's only one and not enough to go around.
If you're lucky, you've got a fistful of dollars and a means to get to a store.
Otherwise you're hosed and your friend gets to party without you.
I'm sure you can draw comparisons to the beer and slightly more life-giving resources.

Along with goods, space is another resource.
Being a cashier, I have a perfect example, although unfortunately, the rest of the populace might fail to grasp it simply because they don't have to deal with it.But here goes:

Every time I have an order, I'll scale the size of the order. Say it's a small order. I'll bag like I always do, but then I'll haphazardly throw bags into the cart because I know I only need to fit maybe 4 bags in the cart.
It's when you see a full belt that you carefully pack the bags together to allow for maximum use of the cart's volume. So when it comes to finishing time, you have all the heavy stuff on bottom and you can throw the eggs and bread on top that have been waiting patiently on the side.

But then there's the curveball. People with two orders who seemingly have one small order to begin with, you throw all their crap into their cart, 4 bags, get ready to yell "NEXT" when they inform you that they do, indeed, have another order that's even larger than the last.
FUCK. Now everything must be rearranged to accomodate the for the new groceries. Stuff pulled out, pushed around, held up while other stuff gets packed underneath.
It's a huge hassle.

But my point is that this too is human nature. Space is a resource that gets abused with all the rest.
When limitations aren't a forseeable factor, no caution is used.
But then something unforseen comes along and totally makes you rethink the way you were doing things. In the larger scale, we're talking things like drought or natural disasters, of course which momentarily open our eyes to the finite world that we live in.

It's kind of amazing that we actually do live in a society that denotes a small part of its conciousness to the thought of conservation and reusing resources. Although I'm fairly sure that it's not seen across the board. The only areas that it may be looked into, is where a profit might be extracted.

But as for now, fuel-economical cars might be the only conservative aspect about the oil industry, and this is only because it is a consumer demand. Even with harder to aquire oil, the hundreds of billions of dollars still being made isn't having anyone in power looking for other avenues of power for electricity, transportation, etc.

It's just like the beer. They'll wait til their last barrel til they start to ponder how else can they make their money. By then they'll be screwed.
They've spent their last dollar, they have no way to get to the store.
Let's just hope that they have some undiscovered wine lying around that may not have the same satisfying taste, but will still get the job done.
If not, everyone's in for a bad time.
It'll be the death of the party.

Langley

Susan Langley is now my new hero. I emailed her a few days back after meeting her at the SHA convention.
I expected nothing.
Today I sit down to read my email and I see a response from her.
Opening it, it's a novel, comprised of mostly a list of contacts and areas of the field that I should look into. I've already emailed one for information on research done in Mexico with regard to cenotes (see wikipedia) and precolumbian/colonial contact in Mexico's oceans.

I don't know why the woman felt so obligated to help me out. But I can't say that I mind it.
I think you get a sense of betterment in yourself when you relinquish information that will help the younger generation; ya know, make their lives easier.
I know I do that. At the pool I talk to high schoolers that are soon to graduate, and I give them the heads-up on things that they should look out for. It's amazing how a few simple words could theoretically change someone's path in life.

Speaking of the pool, it's good to be missed.
After missing my usual Thursday and Friday shifts, I come back today to everyone happy to see me. They were wondering where I was. I guess I've had a greater impact than I had previously supposed.
What also interested me was the dynamics of the pool.
I've always known about the gossip that infiltrates Fred Meyer about all the goings-down and who's doing who, and how quick it travels, but I never felt the pool as being that way.

But yesterday, I had so many people coming up to me and trying to get the dirt on Rob. Rumors are flying everywhere and I suppose people think that I'm the one to go to with questions.
"Is it true, he's not coming back?!"
Yup.
I try to keep my information as tight-lipped as possible, depending on how close I am to the person. Some people I've told the whole story to. Others I tell he just ain't coming back.
But the realization came from a woman who's been coming to the pool since her childhood and has known Rob for twenty years. She knows he's a weird dude, but they keep in contact and stay friendly. But I got two things from her:

1) About a month ago, Rob mentioned to her that the air in her tires were somewhat low.
Who the hell notices that? Apparently Rob, cuz he later noticed that my tire was low after deflating it.

2) Rob's sister drank herself to death. I don't know when, but I'm assuming a while ago. Alcoholism must run in the family. Another reason to feel sorry for the guy while still remaining spiteful at the same time.

Aside from Rob's name being on every lip, yesterday was also weird because it seemed like my absence spawned the need for people to open up to me.

Last night I had someone admit to cheating on their spouse.
I had someone else tell me their stories of stalking a woman.
I had a third person tell me they were addicted to crack but are now attending AA for it.
Unfortunately this has led instead to their drinking of beer.

It's odd, the pool.
I feel like a bartender. An ear that gets paid to pass the time in one location and people vie for my time to get their story out. Everyone needs someone to talk about themselves and their life to, and I am someone who will listen to them because I have to be there and I am looking for someway to pass my time. That sounds like I don't care, which isn't the case, but that's basically what it comes down to. Apparently I'm the poor man's psychologist.
Although, for those who would of for a bar tender over a psychologist, I guess my position is more healthy than someone paying for drink after drink to get the bartender's attention.

Can you see why I don't want to leave this place?
Not only do I do therapy sessions, but I have children of all ages to play with. From the tinest of toddlers that can barely walk to 14 year-olds who tell me how I should dress to look cool for Jr. High. I play kickball. I play dodgeball. I play tag. I throw kids into the pool.
I've seen these kids grow and mature.
I've even become closer to the owners and their family.
Everything about it seems like a family to me now and I'm going to miss it when I do eventually have to go.

general disposition

few things i've done recently:

1)written an email to the head archaeologist of Maryland

2)written an email to an archaeologist at an environmental conservation firm with a branch in Bellevue.

3)applied for another position in my store.

4)gotten more pissed at my former coworker.

the first two will hopefully lead somewhere. actually, hopefully the first three will, but the third is hopefully just short term but better pay in the time being.

that last one hit me today when i went out to my car to leave from work. while backing up i noticed my car wasn't running right. i roll back into the spot and check my car, finding that the tire that my coworker, Rob, had once let air out of, was completely flat.

who knows if this was a huge coincidence, but i guess i'll find out tomorrow when i go to see if it's fixable.
there's no blatant slash marks, but the first time around that wasn't his objective either.

i'm kinda trying to wonder how long a case can be held before they're null. i filed a complaint the night of the incident, but i've been out of town since then and haven't followed up on it.
maybe friday i'll give the ol' 911 operators a little holler to see what i can do.

this bitch is going down.
and it's not just me.
my boss' new car's tire was actually slashed.
they don't know how it happened, but they have a good idea.
there was also a problem with the drainage in the hot tub.
after creating a gynormous hole in the boiler room that necessitated drilling through inches of cement,
my boss found a pair of swim shorts stuck in the pipes.
he seems to think that only someone who knew what they were doing would be able to have gotten those shorts to where they were.
so they've been prodding me to report this Rob, but i've been reluctant until i've heard of these other incidents.
before i just kinda felt sorry for the guy. he's got nobody and looks to alcohol and silly pranks to get him through life.
but now he's being an asshole, and he must pay.

hopefully i can get a better job/school opportunity and just get the fuck out all together.
however, i like the pool. i'll really fucking miss it.

and now the only thing that i'm missing from that list above is to apply to colleges.
it's not that hard, i just have to sit down and do it.
i guess that's the hardest part.
me and my ADD.

Sac

I was getting geared up for another dive at Alki after two weeks in Redondo when I was telling my dive buddy, Cory, about my upcoming trip to Sacramento.
He asked me if I was driving.
No, flying.
When?
8ish.

Then it hits me.
We can't dive.
You have to wait 12 hrs between diving and flying to allow for the nitrogen in your blood stream to escape as to not get the bends.
So I disassembled everything.
I still got a few pictures off but it was a huge dissappointment.

So later that night I headed off to Sacramento.
If I get the urge, maybe I'll fill you in later on more about the trip.

For now I'll just say that it was that SHA convention that I previously posted about, and yes, I did learn a lot, and yes, I did make some contacts.

Tagged

Manuel singled me out with a tag.
So I'll oblige. Here goes:

5 JOBS YOU'VE HAD IN YOUR LIFE:
Blimpies
Fred Meyer
Landscaper
Archaeologist's bitch
Fred Meyer

5 MOVIES YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:
Donnie Darko
Abre los Ojos
Ong Bak: Thai Warrior
--
--

5 PLACES YOU'VE LIVED:
Long Beach, CA
Kirkland, WA
Santa Barbara, CA
Seattle, WA
Broken Mammoth, AK (1 month)

5 TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH:
The Daily Show
Family Guy
Futurama
The Simpsons
Random History Channel Shows

5 PLACES YOU'VE BEEN ON VACATION:
Tahiti
Egypt
Morocco
Hawaii
Non-Scandinavian Western Europe

5 WEBSITES YOU VISIT DAILY:
Flickr
Buffoonery.org
CNN
Google
Blogger

5 OF YOUR FAVORITE FOODS:
Thai Noodles
Burritos
Salmon
Pizza
Spinach/Artichoke Ravioli

5 PLACES YOU'D RATHER BE:
South America (Chile/Peru/Ecuador)
South Pacific (Easter Island/Bora Bora/Pitcairn)
Australia (Darwin/Adelaide/Brisbane)
Mexico (Oaxaca/Yucatan/Baja California)
Underwater (Mexian cenotes/Florida sinkholes/Great Barrier Reef)

5 ALBUMS YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT:
(We'll go with songs since I don't do albums)
Tool - Aenima
Adam Ant - Wonderful
Sondre Lerche - Sleep On Needles
Finch - What It Is To Burn
Incubus - Wish You Were Here

5 PEOPLE YOU'D TAG TO PLAY THIS GAME:
Amidy
Dork
Katy (insert LJ here)
Leanora
--

new

trying new things...

last week i watched my co-worker's 6-month-old kid.
she had to get a root canal, so in the meantime i rolled him around the alderwood mall.

i prayed to god that i wouldn't have to touch his diapers.
my prayers were answered.

he cried twice.
i shoved a bottle in his face twice.
all was well.

i burped him in Borders as i read him some Darwin.
he's a good kid.

next up is Sacramento.
going to SHA's conference there.

don't be too sad, i'll be home saturday night.

Bob

You know what sucks?
It's that I was at Redondo on Wednesday, and then the next day, Bob Bailey comes along at the same place and depth, yet sees all this crazy shit!
Not fair.

Vashon

It would be kind of cool to live right on that little isthmus of Vashon Island.

Spiltec

My sister's boyfriend's dad is awesome.
He has dove around the world cleaning up oil spills.

Rob update

So apparently the cover story for Rob's absence at the pool has turned into, "Rob dislocated his shoulder."

Which may in fact be true, but we don't tell people how it happened.
Seems that later on that night, after the pool had closed, one of the employee's son was driving by Fred Meyer and saw somebody fall.
He stopped to see if the guy was alright and it turned out to be Rob.
Maybe that's when the dislocation happened, who knows.
I do know that Rob's dislocated an arm before, so I think that makes it easier for it to happen again.

We've had three people fill in for Rob now. One girl that used to work at the pool and fills in at emergencies, one girl who guards and used to teach, and another new girl who's 22 and has been lifeguarding since she was 13.

It's kinda nice. Other than Clement, who's 21 and married, I'm the only guy working at the pool now.
And I have to say. After that drama that went down on Friday, I seem to be closer to Karina and Elisa now.
Weird how an incident like that can create better friends.
Now more than ever, I feel some sort of loyalty toward the pool.
Maybe it's because I'm also getting to know the owners and their whole family.
It's insane how many people's lives I keep in contact with and check on at least once a week.
I don't know if they'd miss me if I'd leave, but I'm sure the absence would be felt.

Redondo

Went diving again today.
Over at Redondo Beach, like last week.
The tide was probably at least 10 feet lower than last time, and the water was 48 degrees.
I believe that's the coldest I've ever dove in.

This time around we saw a lot of sunstars again, and tiny to medium sized dungeness crabs.
We came upon what looked like an old-time car that was rusty and in pieces. The axle was still in tack but completely brownish-red with rust.
Down further we found a boat that still had its windshield.
Rocks had slid down the hillside and started to pile up behind the glass.

This was my second dive in my drysuit, and I'm beginning to get the hang of it.
As you go deeper, you have to introduce more air or you get squeezed.
You have to also be aware of not getting too much air in around your legs.
It's a difficult task.
When you're ready to dump air, you tilt upright slightly and point your left arm toward the surface. My dump is on my arm, so I just squeeze my arm together and the air releases.
Then you return to the original position, and the air repositions itself.
It's a very odd feeling to have a bubble of air surrounding you.
It's rather difficult to control.

Because I have no thermal insulation, Cory only had us out for 25 minutes.
I was kind of cold. But I could have gone for another 10 minutes.
It's weird how now with only my hands and head getting wet, that it seems the cold is intensified in those areas, when before I was wet all over and the intensity, I guess, was dispersed throughout my body and didn't seem like as much of a deal.

In other diving news.
there was a small article featuring some people from my shop.
Bones is one of them, I've chatted with him before, but I don't know his real name to tell which is him in the picture.

Then I got an email from another diver, Raul Alvarez, who caught a sunstar trying to get on a clam.

And Bob Bailey put up some more pictures.
I like the squid.

Rob

Ok. so here's the deal. I'm finally getting around to writing about what happened to me on my mom's bday, December 30th.

I go to work. I'm expecting the usual lazy friday, although i have to be a bit more cautious tonight since the night before my boss put me on probation, seeing as how a week before i left the pool deck with a dozen little floating children in the pool. so if i was caught away from the pool deck again when kids were around, i would be let go.

so i was on the lookout. making sure that if i did go out to the front desk, that i somehow had my back covered. luckily for like an hour there was nobody even in the pool. so i was ok.

i went out to the desk to talk to my coworker, when i saw my other coworker, Rob's, car in the middle of the parking lot.
he just sat there. i figured he was watching me. cuz the guy really wants me fired.
maybe he'd report back to my boss...

so he kept sitting there in his car. eventually he starts driving off, but he just goes to the farside of the parking lot and parks between my car and my coworker's car. i tell her.
"he better not be drunk. i don't want him to hit my car."
she says that there's no way he'd be drunk.
however, she wasn't at the pool on Friday July 3rd, which was the last time Rob had pulled the showing-up-to-work-plastered stint.
i figured it's right before the holidays that the man gets the loneliest.
he's got no family, his parents are dead.
not sure about siblings, and he's also not so big in the friends department.

so even though i don't really like the guy, i do feel for him. that's why i let him do his thing last time when he came staggering into the pool.

but this time. he's being more weird. after parking between our cars, he rolls around to the upper lot and sits up there for a while. just sitting in his car.
time passes and he repeats the process, going back down to the middle of the lot and sitting there.
all the while i think he's watching me, so i'm hiding behind pulled blinds while talking to my coworker.
he goes for a third round of musical parking spots until he ends up again in the upper lot.
by this time it was 6pm and my other coworker came in to relieve the person already at the front desk.
they watch Rob as i go to check on the pool.

when i come back, they tell me that he ducked behind my car.
i ask, "are you sure he didn't fall?"
they say it looked deliberate.
so the first front desk person is off, Karina, so she offers to go out to her car which is two stalls up from mine to see if she can see what's up.
Once again i head back to the pool.
when i come back, Elisa, the relief, tells me that Karina heard the sound of air hissing from somewhere (most likely my tire).
so i get worried and walk out there.

i see Karina taking her time with putting stuff in her car as i walk below both her and my car.
when i get to the street, i see Rob sitting on the ground in front of my car leaning into the juniper bushes intently focused on Karina making sure she can't see him and isn't looking.

eventually, i speak. "She can see you." i say.
Rob's head turns my direction and his jaw drops.
"what are you doing back there?!" i calmly ask.
"D-dinner." is all he could muster.
maybe that was his intended excuse if he got caught, that he came to get one of those frozen pizzas out of our employee fridge. he wasn't so eloquent in his answering, however.

so i disregard that and move on.
i tell him. "Look. I don't know what you're doing back there, but you're making me very nervous sitting there infront of my car. You can either get back in your car and go home, or you can use the pool."
Struggling to get to his feet he tells me he wants to use the hot tub.
Strangely, in the almost two years that i've worked at the pool. that's the most i've ever spoken to the man.

So now Rob is inside. he goes to his dingy office and does whatever he does. I stay outside and check out my car to find that the right, front cap on my tire was missing, along with half of its air.
wonderful. at least it wasn't totally flat and i could drive it to the nearest gas station. it didn't looked slashed or slowly leaking, so that was a plus.

In the meantime, Elisa has called our boss who came and had a long conversation in the locker roomwith Rob. I'm not really sure what went down, I just left them alone, something Rob didn't do when my boss' wife was chastizing me the week before. When they were done, Rob staggers back outside. He got into his car and sat down.
I followed from a distance and eventually ended up standing right outside his window where he pretended to not see me and manuever ever single item in his car around. His favorite game: seeing how long he can ignore you.
Eventually the rain and cold temperatures get the better of me in my shorts and sandals and i head to go back into the pool. as i round about the junipers and reach my car, only about 30 feet away, i turn around to see that somehow Rob had bolted.

FUCK! now i have to watch my car again!

We tell our boss that Rob just up and dissappeared, and he goes walking around the neighborhood to find him.
Things get a bit more dead, but i'm still worried about my car. i get distracted when one of the patrons i know pretty well comes up to me and tells me it looks like there's puke all over the locker room floor.
sure enough. right where Rob had been straddling the bench, there was a brown, liquidy puddle.
i wasn't about to touch that shit.
my boss came back and sprayed it with cleaner and i hosed it down the nearest drain.
fucking Rob. always cleaning up after that guy...

About a half hour later, Rob shows up again. This time to actually use the hot tub. But he takes his sweet time in the locker room. Actually he just straddles one of the benches with his head hung down.

I don't care to watch him as he uses the hot tub, so i go and talk to Elisa and Karina, who decided to hang around for the excitement.
Once Rob is done with the hot tub, he goes back into the locker room to get his towel.
He comes back out with a small rubber basketball who he fakes throwing at one of the patrons who gives him a look of, "what the fuck are you doing?".
i'm standing by the lifeguard desk, on the outside, so as to not be pinned behind it.
Rob walks by with his towel draped on his shoulders and mutters, "If you don't get that flat fixed, I'm going to tow you."
I didn't really catch what he said until after i thought about it, so i just nodded and said ok.
maybe that pissed him off even more.

he goes back into the locker room, finds his way to the toilet and sits there for 20 minutes.
He leaves again. When i figure out that he's left again, i follow again.
i start walking down the steps to see Rob casing my car, checking out the tires.
A patron coming into the pool walks by and has a few words with Rob.
I ask the guy as he passes me what Rob said.
Apparently Rob was going to go to Fred Meyer, half a block away, to get a pump for HIS tire.
i yell at the unexpecting patron, "That's not even his F... That's not his car!"
Rob sees me and starts heading north to Fred Meyer.

That's when I've had it.
I walk back in and tell Elisa. "I'm going home, fuck it. I'm watching Rob more than I'm watching the pool. I don't need to put up with this shit!"
So she calls the boss, and this time both him and his wife come out.
They apologize and say that it's ok if i want to leave.

By that time i already had all my shit together. I wasn't going to wait for their go-ahead.
I get into my car and putt a block away and across Lake City Way to the Chevron across from Fred Meyer.
Air ain't free, so i have to rummage for 50 cents. finding this i go back to the machine and realize that there's two spots for the quarters.
not sure that i have two more quarters, i go inside to ask the guy which spot to put them in.
he acts like i have no idea what he's talking about and when i prod further, he says he'll hook me up. i hand him the 50 cents and he presses a button from behind his desk.

the rain was coming down heavily still and i was still in my t-shirt, shorts and sandals.
that tire took forever to fill and i got totally soaked. especially my back.
somehow in the process, in my numbed state, i bloodied my knee. never felt it, don't know how it happened.

5 minutes later, the tire was full and i made some calls.
grandpa was in the hospital. i needed to visit, but couldn't til about 1am.
so i wandered in a daze to Fred's and got some consolation.
I picked up a few coworkers there and we went to see Grandpa.

all in all, not such a good night.

however, come Monday, i get some actual good news.
Rob was suspended for a month. He isn't allowed to enter the club for at least two weeks (although he already violated that the day after the incident, but i wasn't there).
It seems that they're in the process of finding new people, actually, they already have two possibles lined up.
I show up on Monday to everyone with a smile on their face. "It's been an unusually stress-free day," she tells me. All because Rob isn't there to bug her.

This has turned into such a good thing. The guy who tried to get me fired is now himself getting fired.

No more having to see him wear something from the lost and found.
No more smelly lockers right as you enter the locker room.
No more intentional annoyances just to give him his jollies.
No more knives or saws laying around in the open.
No more of his touching the girls while being wet.
No more picking up his kickboards and noodles.
No more picking up his trash.
No more farts in your face.
No more mildewed towels.
No more Rob.

Life is good.