Science Fiction Camp
Just a quick note to say:

(a) Bummer! on the EuroCup final. Yeah, sure. Spain is really cute but I wanted my German boys to win.

(b) My bedtime at science fiction camp is getting later by the minute. Me, the 9pm sharp girl is now thinking, 11p is my bedtime except tonight I'm staying up until 12.

Is there an award for this?

(6 hours of sleep last night and an honest-to-goodness catnap this afternoon after soccer. Yay, me.)

Cognitive Load (Clarion West Week #1)
I decided this morning that my super power is insomnia and that it's a good power because otherwise I am going to go insane. I didn't sleep well the night before I got here and I've been here 8 nights and the best night I got was 7 hours — still waking up twice. One night I got 6. Otherwise it's 4 or less and I am an 8-9 hour a night kind of girl.

Last night I didn't go to bed until 1am. On purpose! 3:30a I was still curled up in the dark wondering why my body has turned on me in this way. Then I woke up at 7a.

I'm not sure what's going on. I figured it was being in a new place and the noise and and the constant stimulation but last night I was so tired I couldn't see straight so I suspect I am broken OR I have a new super power.

But everything this week has been filtered through this crushing tiredness and I'll admit to a couple of meltdowns (in private) that I'm sure had more to do with lack of sleep than anything else.



On the drive up I got behind this ancient hunk of junk that I figured was filled with hippies and garden-burgers and turns out it's an official state vehicle for parks and rec. See the Tacoma Dome in the background? I should add that I have the cheapo camera and no Photoshop on this machine so my photos are lamer than usual.

The whole sleep issue aside, everything is great and I am in love with all of my classmates. They're total brainiacs—I have no idea what they're talking about half the time but it's like this endless conversation that you'd never have in your regular life that involves vampire pirates and inter-species romance and zombie godzillas on space ships and it's really fabulous.

Our instructor this week was Paul Park and I've been going through my notes and I don't think I'll get too into what we learned because it'll just end up sounding like regurgitated writing book and it was way more than that. But what I will say is that the approach was to break things down and talk about the bits that make up a story e.g. characterization and setting.

Talking about my submission story and taking a look at it now, I can see how I made a lot of decisions randomly rather than having a purpose to my choices.

I was feeling a little overwhelmed by all the information and how would I ever remember to apply these things in writing stories.
But like everything in life, I started to think of it like yoga. How many classes I took and books I read and heard about little precisions in practice like extend down through the outer edge of your back foot in triangle pose and for years I had no idea what that meant or how that would even be possible, but I set my intention to do this and then one day I got it and now I do this without even thinking about it.

Here are a couple of Paul Park quotes:

"The characters are always right."

"Epiphany really bites as a strategy because when do these things really happen?"

RE: the lesson in Romeo and Juliet "Don't be in such a hurry, especially if you're a moron."



This is the window where I look out from my desk.

From my desk I can see the gate at the back of the house and the parking area and a huge stretch of the back alley so I can watch everyone come and go and the fraternity people, many in impossibly nice cars, and the tiny Asian man and woman who come through the alley in the morning and get the aluminum cans from the trash bins. They had quite a haul this morning.

I'm jumping around here. I've done yoga workshops with Bob and Ki in Portland and I was thrilled to find that their yoga center is a 10 minute walk from here. I went to a class last weekend and it was exactly what I needed and I even bought a class card and plan to go back. It's a traditional Hatha based class and very much like the style from my first teacher, Holiday.

Meanwhile, I found 8 Limbs Yoga online and wanted to try that as well in the hopes of keeping in shape for my home class. I was my usual half-wit self and somehow got the impression I could walk there from here and then set out on what quickly became an epic hike that involved giant hills. When I saw the time I thought I might not make it so I started running uphill until I finally clued in that only a idiot would try to walk to this yoga class from where I'm staying.

During this adventure I passed another yoga studio so I went back down the hill and checked the schedule and a class was just starting and it was a style I was familiar with so I achieved my goal of getting more exercise and I got my yoga.



This is the view from my other window.

I bet people in Arizona are laughing right now because there is a "severe weather" warning this weekend because it is supposed to hit 90 degrees here. Yeah, yeah, I know it is severely hot for up here. I might have to go sleep (or lie awake) in the scary basement if it's too gnarly in my room.

I've got a story to write this weekend. I'd like to get a first draft done today so I can watch the soccer game tomorrow (Germany v. Spain - I can't wait) guilt-free. Today is our only day without any activities. Already tomorrow we start with a new instructor. It's strange but not a bad strange — but this is such a different rhythm of life — class, writing, hanging out talking about aliens. I like it but I wish I could sleep.

Room 5
There's a little bit of a sleeping problem going on. It is noisy outside but I don't think it is just that. I think it is also strange bed and no Bob and running around at activities until late at night without any wind-down time. There's also a cough issue. I bought an over-the-counter remedy which I'm hoping will help.

Time for me to go downstairs. Things are getting started.

I Made It Here
My room has one bed, 2 closets and 5 bureaus. I still haven't figured out where the bathroom is. Off to have adventures.

Less than 24 Hours
I still can't believe I'm not going to be at work for 6 weeks. Today kicked my butt but it was very liberating to realize that something wasn't going to get done and just move it into the "when you get back" pile.

Still tons to do and a Germany v Portugal soccer gaming waiting.

Wednesday Countdown to Friday
I forgot to set the DVR to tape soccer today. Greece v. Spain and Russia v. Sweden. Which game would I have picked? Doesn't matter because I don't have time to watch soccer tonight. I'll get my fix from the highlights show.

I've been loading up on extra underwear in the hopes of getting as much time as possible between loads of laundry at the workshop. I am greatly looking forward to doing not-so-much laundry. I like my underwear cheap but not too ugly and usually do pretty well at Nordstrom Rack but this time the selection seemed weighted heavily on the boy-shorts style which in my limited experience is the ride-up-your-ass style and I didn't want those. I grabbed a few pairs in girl style.

Yesterday I did a Target run and decided to pick up a couple more pairs. I grabbed what I identified as my size and later, when I got them out of the package I started laughing because they were the smallest underwear I've ever seen. Barbie underwear. The package said they looked small but promised to fit. We'll see.

Tuesday Countdown to Friday
Yesterday I made it through one entire soccer game for the first time since last week. Germany v. Austria. Good, with weird moments, game.

I probably won't get through another game before I leave. Too many things to do and last minute errands to run. Although two great games tomorrow. Tempting ...

Last night was my last yoga class before I leave and I did a bad headstand and now my neck is ruined. I woke up in the middle of the night with a stiff ache when I tried to roll over. Fabulous timing.

There was a thing in today's paper that said Friday is Bring Your Dog to Work Day. Is this a national thing or just Portland? I have to say, I think this is dopey. What possible purpose could there be for bringing your dog to work?

Monday Countdown to Friday

I updated the garden photoset. I'll probably post a couple more before I go. The only thing I'm going to get out of it is baby turnips. Nothing else is close. Also I'm worried about the pumpkins because every single one I put in the ground: slugs snacked on the stems and they don't look very healthy. We'll see. Meanwhile, this resulted in aggressive use of slug bait. Do not mess with my pumpkins.

What's the deal with Doctor Who this season? There's hasn't been one episode that I thought was great. (Unlike, say, Battlestar Galactica which peels my face off every time.) I hate the new companion. I've really tried to like her but she's annoying and completely charmless. It's really bumming me out. The one with the daughter who looks like Veronica Mars was especially wretched.

The renter(s) next door moved out a week or two ago. I've mentioned them a few times. They never bothered us but at one point there were at least 4 possibly 5 20-ish young people living there in addition to the grown-ups and this is an absurdly tiny house for so many adults. Every person had a car and there was lots of coming and going plus one of them had a snarly dog. But they weren't noisy and didn't render fat in the backyard and the grown-ups were friendly. Nothing to complain about. However, I did wonder if the landlord knew about all those people living there but at one point the man came over and asked me about his son's car for sale in front of our house and did it bother me because other neighbors had called and complained to the landlords. He had a long sob story and I felt bad if the neighbors were giving him a hard time.

At some point he left and then most of the young people left and then I saw the woman moving out and went over to say good-bye and she had a long sob story and I felt bad that she was having a hard time.

The home owners live out of town and one of them came up to check out the house. They called us because we have this shared hedge that was growing out of control and Bob talked to him and turns out they had no idea any of those people lived there except the woman. They also left the garage filled with trash.

Now thinking back on those conversations with the people that lived there, I'm guessing they were practicing their stories on me.

And Boy Are My Arms Tired
I can't believe I was worried about getting enough exercise today. I took a break from my preparations to have a yoga practice.

I ended up doing about 6 weeks worth of yardwork in 2 and a half hours. Our yard won't look as good the entire year.

I'm not packed but I have piles of things everywhere. My classmates are going to laugh at me when they see how much crap I'm bringing. We might need 12 colors of Sharpie.

RE: the photo

A couple of years ago my camera went dotty and I began calling it the special effects camera. I got it out a couple of months ago to see if anything had improved and not really.

The Backpack is Finished

Before Bob and I were serious (we married in 96), I planned a trip to Germany by myself to visit my family. When we got together, one of the first things I told him was that I already had this trip planned and I hoped he wouldn't object. Of course he didn't.

I was looking for a backpack and we went to the Oregon State Fair and found this one. It was more expensive than one you'd find at the sporting goods store. But we bought it from the actual guy who made it and it was sturdy and had interesting artwork which if you can't tell: it's a Pacific Northwest Indian design on the top and hieroglyphics on the bottom.

This pack has been to Europe at least 4 times. It's been to New York, Las Vegas, High Sierra Music Festival, Reno, Seattle, Albuquerque and every single plane trip I've taken since I bought it. It's carried my crap to work, to Orleans. A backpack has never better served its owner.

It's finally been showing some wear and the interior lining has been peeling off. Finally, in the Boise airport this week, the main zipper died.

Good bye great backpack.

In other news, I still haven't finished anything but I've started a lot. Also, those cookies I made last night turned out to be "watch your dental work cookies." But everyone liked them.

How Am I Doing?
I just found out a few hours ago that Father's Day is *this* Sunday, not *next* Sunday which means I don't have it totally together, I'm totally late.

I fed my sourdough this evening and just noticed a blob of white flour-y paste on my foot. Not sure how that happened.

I wanted to watch the soccer game (Netherlands v. France) but first thought I'd whip up a quick treat for the writers meeting tomorrow and didn't really clue in how long I would be standing there stirring to get my damn caramel made. I skipped the game and could barely keep my eyes open during the highlight show. The Italy v. Romania game looked like a good one, too.

I did not finish one thing today. I'm busy most of tomorrow. I'm not confident I'm holding it together. BUT: I have baby turnips. And also, apparently, a frankenhand.

Snit of the Day
Bob and I recently borrowed some money from a national lending institution. Before they gave us the loan we both had to provide all our information about our incomes and so forth and we both had to sign all the papers stating that we would be responsible for repaying the loan.

You can imagine my irritation when we received a survey about how satisfied we were with the loan process, addressed only to my husband. And in my usual award-winning way, I wrote exactly how I felt about that on the survey form.

Boy, won't I be embarrassed if I receive another survey form today addressed only to me.

My Own Private Idaho



I arrived in Idaho this morning for a 2 day conference thing. Ideally Monday would have been a travel day except I didn’t want to miss a yoga class or take any more time away from the office and there’s a 6am flight from Portland to Boise which seemed ideal at the time and I suppose it was except for the part when my alarm went off at 4am. I am a total morning person and even I thought that was gruesome.



Plus sitting in a conference when you're already tired is not an easy feat. I was very tempted to live-blog it because I could have made it very funny but unfortunately, it's not cool to publicly make fun of work. I've done this conference before and let's just say this time was unusually action-packed.



I did something I've never done before and I went out and had adventures. Usually when I travel for work, I'm the person sitting in my hotel room eating an apple and watching TV. Co-worker travels to Boise more frequently and said I should try to find the Basque blocks.



The gals at the hotel front desk said that there was a great greenway for walking and if I turned right I'd be on my way downtown. I set off with great optimism. I did grab my raincoat because it was grey, windy and spitting.



I walked for about 40 minutes and didn't see anything that seemed like downtown. This tunnel said Main Street which sounded promising. And about every mile the greenway had a map and I thought I was gradually making my way toward something. But I was worried about getting lost and also worried about how safe the greenway was. The women at the hotel didn't hint that I should be cautious but it was pretty isolated and there were a couple people that felt faintly sketchy.



I finally seemed to be making progress and I decided to screw it and keep going. I could take a cab back to the hotel. Once I knew I had a ride I didn't have to be so concerned about where I ended up. The deeper I got into downtown the better it seemed.



Co-worker talked to me on the cellphone until I found the Basque blocks and the restaurant. This is something I never do: go to a nice restaurant by myself.



I put myself in the hands of the very capable and friendly staff and had a fabulous meal. Took a cab home and now I'm ready for bed.

Morrison Bridge Parking with Rose Festival
This is where I park on Mondays for the screaming deal of $9.25.

My level of wigging has advanced from yellow to orange. If I had more time I would make a CW wigging-threat advisory chart. I leave for Seattle on June 20. I have 6 more days in the office, two days of work-related travel and 3 days at home. For the three days at home I have one appointment and two get-togethers.

Otherwise I have to figure out packing and run errands. I haven't figured out what I'm going to do for bedding yet. Good thing I talked Bob into getting rid of that extra bedding that was just sitting around when I cleaned out the linen cupboard last November.

I said to someone that I had no idea how much shampoo one should pack for 6 weeks and he very intelligently pointed out that they have stores there. This morning I woke up at 4am thinking about the things I need to take care of before I leave. This is good practice because I have to get up a 4am tomorrow and take a 6am flight to Boise. I think any time the alarm goes of before 5am is just wrong.

I keep telling myself that the world isn't going to end if some of this stuff doesn't happen. But still, the list clicks away in my head.

Yesterday's game between Germany and Poland was a good one. I love the German team. Can you even look at a picture of Michael Ballack without wanting to run your fingers through his hair? Even though I want to see Spain play, I'm resisting the urge to tape games this week. Hopefully I can cram in a couple next weekend between episodes of wigging.

Pitch Pitch Baby

Guess what started today?

If you guessed the UEFA European Football Championship, you are right.

Sadly, I don't have time to really "get into" the tournament this year not to mention I'll be in Seattle during the finals which means if either of my sweetheart teams: Germany or Spain is in the finals, I'm going to have to take dire measures to see the game.

I taped the tournament pre-show and one of today's games plus one game tomorrow (Germany v. Poland, obvious) and added the daily highlight show to my DVR subscriptions. Also during today's game they mentioned that there is a friendly between Argentina and the U.S. tomorrow which I also taped even though the idea of having time to watch two complete games tomorrow is out of the question. I still haven't seen Doctor Who or Battlestar Galactica yet. Plus we have to do some household errands and we're invited to a house-warming. And I have to finish my story.

It's hard to be me. I'm going to set my alarm for tomorrow and get up early.

I'm working on a writing project for the writer's meeting next weekend and since I've organized my time poorly PLUS been side-tracked by other obligations, I'm in a crunch so I held today's game over my head as a big, juicy carrot on a stick to keep me on task. As it turns out, my story is about soccer so my entire day was immersed in soccer. But as usual, it took me way longer than expected just to get the first draft ground out so I didn't give up until 6pm. That means I spent most of the day chained to the computer and didn't work on any of the other things I need to do. Oh. Well.

A few brief notes about Euro Cup. The super-annoying Dave O'Brien is not involved. D'oh! I guess he doesn't get out of bed for any soccer that doesn't involve the U.S. No problem Dave — you do what you do best which I'm sure has nothing to do with soccer.

Instead we've got my favorite commentators ever: Adrian Healy and Tommy Smyth and some new guy named Andy Gray, who is new to me but has a colorful history in sports and looking at that bio, his personal life as well.

ESPN classic is airing the games live. Maybe my recollection is hazy but I don't recall ever having the Euro Cup live and free on cable. It is obvious that the ad-selling team had a great start with a killer VW ad and another hilarious Honda Pilot ad. Car ads have got to be great coin. But at some point they must have lost steam leading to some desperate sales including something called FungiNail which the commercials tells me "women have trusted for years." Really? So, men don't get nail fungus? I don't know. I'm just telling you what I learned from the ad.

There was also an ad for something called a Grill Daddy which is basically a grill brush with something inside that squirts water. So basically you can squirt some water on your grill and use a brush OR you can have it all in one handy device with the Grill Daddy. Be sure to tell them pamrentz.com sent you.

The game today was awesome. Portugal v. Turkey. I already knew Portugal was a bunch of hotties (hi Nuno Gomes!) but who knew that Turkey fit the bill, too? My favorite Turkish player is named Kazim Kazim. Hm, Wikipedia says his name is Colin Kazim-Richards. I don't care. Kazim Kazim is one of the best names ever and Turkey lost so not like exaggerating his name gave the team an advantage. There were some slow moments but lots of highlights in this game. The first goal, by a guy named Pepe (see why soccer is so great?) was a particular classic making me wonder once again how anyone can think soccer is boring.

Another classic shot from the 60's. I'm the one in the red dress.

Remember the Beverly Hills diet? I thought about it because I just peeled and ate an entire (huge carbon footprint) mango. It was delicious.

The Beverly Hills diet was where you ate only one fruit for a whole day. Like one day you'd eat only pineapple. But you could eat as much as you want. Do you have any idea what that does to the inside of your mouth?

I think other days you could eat different fruits for different meals. Like for breakfast as much mango as you want and for lunch as many strawberries as you want.

I'm doing this all from memory so this may not be a 100% correct representation of the diet. Do not begin without consulting your doctor.

If you've ever eaten nothing but fruit for a day you can imagine what this does to your digestive system. Nothing dawdles in there for long.

One other thing I remember was that the diet recommended air-popped popcorn as a "natural broom for the system." Like your system needed a broom after eating pineapple all day. It's hard to imagine that diet was ever appealing but as I recall it was all the rage and you'd see the book with its little gold pineapples on the cover in every bookstore window.

If you're curious, abebooks.com has over 500 copies for cheap.

It's Rose Festival in Portland and that means cold drippy weather and the ships come in.

And this is the best I have to offer.

Stupid White Subaru
Yesterday on the way home a Subaru pulled out in front of the bus in the HOV lane. I didn't see what happened because I was reading my book but that's what the other passengers said happened. The bus had to slam on its brakes and skidded for a long time and veered to one side and I fell on the floor with all my stuff. I wasn't hurt but I was embarrassed. Plus I've always joked that if there's ever an accident on the bus that I will probably die and now I'm sure of it. The bus driver stayed cool as a cucumber but the passengers were rioting to chase down that Subaru.

Then I got home and I'd barely put my purse down and the doorbell rang. It was Sierra Club. Whenever these people come to the door they always tell me that it's important that we do something about the environment and apparently the most important thing that we can do is to hand them a check right then. They have nothing on paper that you can look over and decide later. Also his story waffled a bit because first he said when I joined I'd have all these benefits of membership like a magazine. Then when I objected to giving them money so they could send me tons of crap he said they wouldn't mail me anything. I sent them on their way.

I don't give money to people that come to my door except small children selling candy for ballet camp and baseball uniforms.

After dinner I watched an XFiles from the first season called Gender Bender that was good and creepy and included a bit part with Krycek before he became Krycek.

Queen of Shortcuts
Today the Dining In section of the NYT has an article about Recipe Deal Breakers meaning what would make you pass on a recipe.

Most of my reasons are the same as the ones in the article. Things that have crazy ingredients or take a team of people to accomplish or have zillions of steps. "General fussiness" the article calls it. Along the same lines: something that takes too many pans.

When I read a recipe that wants me to blanch something in boiling water and then cool in an ice bath and then put in a bowl and set aside and while that's cooling heat something up, strain it into a blender and once blended pour into a bowl and refrigerate and that's only the first two steps in the recipe, I'm ready to move on.

I don't deep fry. I don't even like to shallow fry. Too messy and then I have this jug of oil to deal with.

Bob is a good sport and will eat a plate of just about anything but I try to avoid stuff I know he won't like or won't agree with him. He has a hard time with recipes that rely heavily on tomatoes. He's not a big fan of legumes.

One of my favorite things to make is soup and I have one cookbook where every single soup recipe calls for a cup of heavy cream. While heavy cream makes everything delicious, we do like to button our pants so I don't make rich recipes on a regular basis.

I don't mind labor intensive recipes but I have to have a whole weekend to plan around and it has to be something will last for more than one meal and will be really delicious.

In my general cooking I don't like things that take a lot of babysitting. That's the one bummer about bread-making is that you have be there to do certain steps at certain times so even if you want to run a quick errand or go for a walk you need to keep an eye on the clock.

My favorite recipes are things you can make in one pot or pan and have plenty of leftovers.

Old Brain

The last thing I did before I left the office last week was leave a note on the top of my desk that says "Inventory?"

I have no idea what that's for.

I've had it sitting by my keyboard all day waiting for that moment of recognition so I could remember to find out about the inventory, or inventory something, or follow up on that pesky inventory question.

Still don't know what it's about.

Chives

The guy in the newspaper says these flowers are edible. I see no reason to doubt him but I'm not sure how to serve them.

I've been working on a writing project which means that everything else has been abandoned. Except the garden. I put in some good time on weeds and edging and more weeds and I re-planted a bunch of dahlias that I dug up last fall. I probably should have given them away but I dug a trench and tossed in some bone meal and put the moldy blobs in there. I also did some creative vandalism and dug up some of my next door neighbor's weeds and planted some bulbs over there.



Future Raspberries

Doctor Who is really bumming me out. I had a disk of three episodes I missed from last season and I hated them all. There was a two part Dalek one that was doody and another one about a ship falling into the sun which also was pretty lame. And for the new season I don't like the new companion who seems like a whiner. I wish Torchwood would start up again.



Future Apple

I didn't have time to watch the season finale of Lost yet. I can't believe that myself. Battlestar Galactica peeled my face off. It's a great show in the sense that no one does anything that you want them to.

I did clean the interior of my car which I know will be rewarding when I sit there tomorrow on my way to work.