Lindsay Loves

Friday Five: The Summer Has Come

1. Can you share a tale of a favorite summer cookout/get together? No. I’m not much of an outside person, so any time spent outdoors is usually only in transit to someplace indoors.
2. What is a favorite summer ritual of yours? Sometimes I sit on the porch and read. I don’t stay out for very long, though, because it’s hot.
3. After a long hot summer day, what is your favorite way to quench your thirst? Water. When I was little, I drank a lot of Kool-Aid. Randomly (or at least that’s what it seemed to my seven-year-old mind), she’d decide I’d had enough Kool-Aid and should drink water if I was still thirsty. I hated that. Now I realize that nothing quenches thirst better than water. We don’t have have any (unflavored, bottled) water right now, which makes me very upset. And my mom did the grocery shopping last week.
4. The 4th of July is coming up, what plans, if any, do you have? None, as usual. My favorite Independence Day in recent memory (which is kind of the only kind I have) was when I spent the day at home alone reading Draco Dormiens. It took hours, but it was so worth it, and a lovely way to pass time.
5. What are you looking forward to doing most before the summer ends? Writing. Every summer, I promise to work on my writing, and every summer, I don’t do it. So far, I haven’t actually written anything, but I’ve read three and a half books on writing, and I’m working on a fourth. That counts, sort of.

There’s a mosquito in my room. It won’t go away or die. This makes me upset. It’s bitten both of my hands, the left one in that weird almost-web spot between my ring and little fingers. I think it also bit the side of my neck; there was this big, itchy bump there, like pencil-eraser size. Freaky. Bugs suck.

In my quest to find some Catholic blogs to add to my list, I came across Catholic Ragemonkey, where I found this cartoon. Very interesting. I also found Catholic Girl Talk, whose writers go to UMD.

In my very mundane prophetic way, one of the tutoring centers did in fact call me on Wednesday. I made an appointment to interview and test on Thursday. They apparently give all potential tutors an old SAT. Slightly freaked, I Googled for practice questions. I didn’t do very well, but practice questions from anyone who’s not the College Board are always iffy. Unfortunately, my appointment was in Columbia. That’s quite far from here. So I went from “Ohmygosh, finally, something!” to “Crap.”

I slept horribly that night. I guess my body’s not used to going to bed so early. There’s something relaxing about watching double Degrassi at 2am, then going straight to bed. Relaxing and slightly deluded. I think the characterization has me hooked. Anyway, I woke up super early, but still after a snooze. I left early, figuring that I’d rather get there early and have to sit and read in my car than get there late.

I was expecting horrible rush hour traffic, but it wasn’t bad at all. I followed my easy Mapquest directions, but I had to turn around twice before I got to the right place. I had time, though, and I found good places to turn. And I did find it eventually. I went up to the suite, and spent the next two and a half hours taking the SAT again. I could have gone without that. After I finally finished the test, I sat waiting for the program director to finish meeting with a parent. When that woman left, I still found myself sitting in the waiting area. Being too patient has cost me before, so I went up to her door after about five minutes of silence. Then I continued to wait as she looked for my résumé. I was floored. I know I sent them my résumé. I faxed it, and I called to make sure they got it. How else did they know to call me? She finally just gave up and wrote down the information she wanted. My parents and I had been worried that I’d only be hired in Columbia, which is much too far to go if I want to make any money. She asked me which center I wanted to work at, though, eliminating that problem. After what felt like no time at all, she said she’d get back to me, so I came home. I hit minor traffic near the Andrews exit, and my air conditioning is perpetually screwed up, so I was really hot.

After I ate, watched Trek, and took a lovely nap, I sat on the porch with a book for a while. I don’t know why I go out there. It’s hot, and there are bugs, and I can never be comfortable for very long. It beats being cold inside, though the a/c hasn’t been as bad lately.

I need something to do. That’s the only good thing about school or work. It gives you a reason to get up in the morning. A reason to leave the house. Something to live for. I shouldn’t be bored. I find things to do, and I don’t regret how I spend my time, but there’s definitely a strand of boredom running in me lately.

Friday Five: Bedtime
(I am fully aware of today’s day. I just like doing these.)
1. What do you wear to bed? I have a thing for cute pajamas. I have a group of just bottoms, so sometimes I’ll put those on with whatever shirt I wore that day, but I don’t do that often. I’m far more likely to wear actual pajamas.

2. What side of the bed do you sleep on? There’s twin beds in the dorms at school, so I sleep in the middle to avoid rolling off. (That’s actually a big fear of mine, considering the distance to the floor even without risers.) At home, I sleep on the left side (standing at the foot; lying in it, it’s the right side) because it’s closer to my dresser. Being close to my glasses is a priority.

3. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? No. I used to, but when I woke up in the morning, I’d have to fling back the covers to look for it. I decided my stuffed animals didn’t deserve to be smushed under the covers (or under me!) anymore.

4. Blanket/bed hog? I sleep alone, so it doesn’t matter.

5. Do you make your bed everyday? Of course! People don’t? Why? There were a few mornings in high school when I’d be in such a rush, I’d have to leave it unmade, but then I’d make it first thing when I got home. I absolutely will not climb into an unmade bed to sleep — which is not a problem, since I make it every morning. Also, once I get out of bed in the morning, I do not get back under the covers until I’m going to sleep for the night. I’ll sit, nap, or lay on top of them. That wrinkles them now, due to my lovely mattress pad, so I try to just sit at the foot of the bed to keep the covers neat.

Writing that last answer makes me realize how incredibly compulsive I can be. But I always answer the Friday Five honestly, so it shall stay as is.

Maura invited me to a music/movie thing in Silver Spring on Friday night, but I wasn’t up for it. Hermit!Lindsay is back in full swing.

My phone had issues last week. Sometimes, when I pushed the soft keys or the joystick, it wouldn’t respond. I had to push two or three times to get a response. I’ve taken to using it as an alarm clock. I have to completely scoot over in bed, get the phone, and wake enough to push the snooze button. Plus, it’s less annoying than my regular alarm clock. The non-response issue didn’t affect the alarm, though. At least until Sunday.

I awoke Sunday morning and peered at the clock, fully expecting to see about 5am. My mom had plans to go to the 10:30am Mass instead of our usual noon, so I’d set my phone alarm for the insane hour of 6:30. Stupid hair-washing. Imagine my surprise, confusion, and disappointment when the clock read 9:30. I went upstairs to tell my mom there was no way I could be ready to leave by 10. Still upset, I came back down to get dressed anyway.

As I was finishing my hair, I realized that my mom’s car was still parked outside. My grandma had called and apparently seemed disappointed that we wouldn’t be there for dinner. (My mom had wanted to go to 10:30 Mass, go visit my grandma, then get dinner and go to the movies.) So she revised the plan and decided to go to noon Mass after all. I felt much better.

At Mass, one of the men from my dad’s RCIA class was the altar server. We usually don’t have altar servers. After Mass, one of the RCIA instructors approached my mom to say hi, then explained the situation. Apparently there aren’t enough children willing to serve, so they’ve been using adults when they can get them. I offered to learn how to do it. That may turn out to be a bad idea, but we shall see.

We came home, I had a bagel, then we gathered my dad’s gifts and went out to my grandparents’ house. We gave both dads their Father’s Day presents. My dad liked his Whoppers.

After eating, we went out to Hoffman to see Batman Begins. That was an excellent movie. All the reviews were right. The villains were appropriately downplayed. Is it just me, or is the Scarecrow the first genuinely scary Batman villain? I was scared. The Batmobile was awesome. How cool is it that, in some of the shots, at least, it’s a real, full-size car? No computer animation. I enjoyed it immensely.

So today I Googled OfficeTeam, and submitted an application-thing with my resume. I found a job listing that looks like it might be good. I’m really hoping one of the tutoring centers will finally call me with something definitive tomorrow. Would it be so hard to say, “We’re not interested in hiring you right now”? Any answer would be better than this constant waiting.

For some food for thought, check out this Candorville comic.

This breaks a long pattern of Friday-only posts, but I didn’t want to forget before I forgot to post.

For the first time ever, I am blogging from my room. It’s kind of cool. My dad designed my computer. It was my graduation present and the single most expensive thing they’ve ever bought me. I would have preferred to have input beyond the “okay” when he showed me what he’d ordered, but it wasn’t a big deal. As far as computers go, mine is lovely. (I used to call it Bethany, but the habit never stuck. I’m crazy enough already.) The one crucial thing it lacked was a wireless card, but my dad ordered one for me a few days ago. My mom decided I didn’t have to pay for it. Snaps for her. I would have, even though I thought my dad should have had it added when he bought it in the first place, but it’s nice of her to override him. So, I now have my computer on my desk, in my room. It’s more comfortable, and I won’t have to completely leave the room if I need something (like my library card). The downside is that it furthers my isolation. Now, the only reasons I really have for leaving my room are the bathroom (which is directly across the hall), the kitchen, the front door (which, in typical Summer!Lindsay fashion, I don’t use much), and the living room for Degrassi. At least I’m not cold.

Speaking of Mom overrides, I went with her to Wal-Mart yesterday to find a Father’s Day present. We stopped at the dollar store for cards first. The one I got has a fishing father on the front (though my dad doesn’t fish often), and on the inside says, “Because it’s Father’s Day, you can do whatever you want. Mom said it was okay.” Perfect. I’ve gotten him various presents in the past, but I think the best was when I got him socks. He wears his long after they have visible holes, and he totally used them. It’s a goal of present-giving that you pick something the recipient wouldn’t buy for him- or herself, but when I do that, they wind up kind of useless. So I asked my mom for suggestions, revealing my mission to get something he’ll genuinely like and use. So what’d I get? A big carton of Whoppers. It’s odd when I open my closet and remember that I’m giving my father candy for his holiday, but I couldn’t bear to get another DVD that would lay around unwatched.

This morning, I was watching Dawson’s Creek and making my bed when Ryan knocked on my door. “This man said you have to move your car,” he said. I peeked under my shade and saw a bulldozer directly behind my car. Flustered, I grabbed a sweatshirt and my keys and hurried out of my room. I came back to put on shoes, then went outside. The man gestured that I should move farther back on the curb, which I did. I came back inside, finished making my bed, and tried to make sense of what had just happened. I complimented myself on coming back for shoes, and chastised myself for wearing a sweatshirt. It’s summer. It’s hot outside. Yeah, covering up my pajamas was a good idea, but still. Being inside all the time is ruining my sense of temperature. Then I thought about that bulldozer weaving between my car and our neighbor’s basketball hoop, and went back out, sans sweatshirt, to pull into the driveway. Then I continued getting dressed.

A few hours later, when my dad came home, he revealed that the bulldozer men were probably going to rip up our sidewalk. There were chunks of curb missing yesterday evening, but they must have just done the sidewalks today. My main concern was how Mom will react if they plant grass and the quality doesn’t match. (She had our wimpy grass treated a little while ago.) I went about my business, eating lunch and watching the episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Picard et. al. become little kids. They’d just gotten to the climax, where Kid!Picard plans to use their appearance to rescue the Enterprise from the Ferengi, when the picture suddenly cut out. Not into snow, just to black. I immediately thought, “They cut the cable.” And they did. The stupid bulldozer dug into the yard and yanked up the sidewalk, snapping our cable line neatly in half.

So we have no tv for the rest of the day. My dad called Comcast, and they said they’ll be out tomorrow to fix it. I think he said our neighbors’ cable is out, too. So at least we’re not suffering alone. Stupid county work. They didn’t even let us know they’d be ripping up our sidewalk. There is currently a big ditch in front of my house. It was weird seeing men standing in my yard. Yay for deeper meaning (pun not intended).

I am currently in love with “Breathe (2 AM),” by Anna Nalick. It’s such a beautiful song. It reminds me of Sarah McLachlan, whom I also love. Maybe this is Anna’s version of “Sweet Surrender.” Here’s some irony: Singing along recently, I realized that to sing it like she does, you really don’t breathe all that often.

I am still unemployed. Really, is it that hard to respond to a message? I’m tired of calling. I sent in another resume, but it looks grim. I called Huntington, a company with a center right near me. Apparently, they only hire certified teachers. To ponder: I am trying to earn the credentials for certification. To do that, I need to have experience with kids in the age group I want to teach (grades 7-12). To get experience, I’d like to tutor. But to tutor with Huntington, I have to be certified. You’d think, with all the advancing and evolving we do, we’d have more employers who are aware of that catch-22 by now. It figures that, when I finally choose a career path, I run into this while trying to move forward. I have to have experience and three recommendations by next May 1. I don’t want to give up on a chance to get some of that out of the way (and I could use the money), but I only have so much hope.

The desk in the computer room where I kept my computer has such a bad surface. The lid of my laptop is all scratched from when I was installing my wireless card. My first instinct was to set it on the floor. I think I’d rather have had to do massive blocking to keep anyone from stepping/falling on it than have those scratches. Of course, my near-plummet onto the glass of our coffee table makes the scratches seem okay.

Friday Five
1. How do you feel about the technology advancements of cloning people and animals? I don’t think people should be cloned. There’s something about the innate uniqueness of humans that we shouldn’t mess with. As for animals… it might be a good idea for food, but otherwise, no.

2. If this technology became readily available to all, how do you think this will affect the future of our race? It would destroy the uniqueness of life to clone people. And it’d infringe on the ability of people to be the only “vessels” that can create more people.

3. If your much loved pet died and cloning was available, would you elect to have your pet cloned? What about family and friends? I’ve never been big on pets. And even if I could get another animal with the same appearance and same mannerisms, it wouldn’t be the same. Like I said, no cloning people.

4. Would your family have your consent to be cloned? Why or why not? No. Especially not while any of them was still living. Everyone daydreams about having a clone to live the worst parts of their lives, but who would want that reality?

5. If you had the authority to clone any person no longer alive, who would it be and why? Maybe Shakespeare. Just because he’s pretty much the greatest writer that ever lived, and it’d be interesting to see what he’d think about our world, and what his writing would be like.

I like church a lot. It makes me happy, and it brings me peace. God’s just awesome like that.

I have a new tv obsession, Degrassi: The Next Generation. Think Dawson’s Creek, only younger and way more dramatic. It has a much bigger ensemble cast, so there’s a million plotlines running around. It airs on The N, one of Nickelodeon’s sister cable networks, though it’s imported from Canada. It’s fun when their accents are obvious (“that’s not what I’m talking aboot”). Unfortunately, it’s on channel 131, which is digital, which we only have in the living room. It takes some strategy to camp out in front of the tv at just the right time, but I’ve managed it more often than not. They also air episodes at 2am. I’m so hooked, I’ve been up to watch several times this week. My problem is that they’re so young! These characters are in early high school and already they’re moving in together, having abortions (though The N didn’t air that episode), and wrecking their rapist’s cars. It’s not realistic, but it’s compelling, so I watch.

I called back the tutoring company I’d been trying to work with. I finally got the attention of a real person, who finally told me that they did not have my resume. I emailed it in mid-May. Maybe this is a sign that I should look elsewhere. I had my mom fax another copy, then called to confirm that they actually got that one. So far, no calls or emails. I’ll call again Monday morning, but if there’s no response, I’m giving up. There’s a place just a few streets down that does tutoring; maybe they’re hiring. I could try OfficeTeam (the temp agency Maura works with), but I might not be able to get to the places they send me. I’ve posted a resume on an Air Force site for office work at Andrews, but I won’t hear about that for a while. Is it so wrong that I want a real job? More real than Janet, I mean. Working with her was nice, considering it cost me nothing in gas money and she paid me well for what I did. But I need real experience now. I can’t clean and file forever.

It hurts a little, watching Joan reruns. I still do it, though. I sent my letters; I did what I could. I think it’s gone, though. Still on the fence about buying the DVDs. My love for reruns and inability to spend that much money (even from my as-yet-unused giftcard) stand in the way. I would love to see where it all came from, but I’d love to have that money for books, too.

I went out to MVA on Wednesday. I didn’t think my accident would keep me from getting my full license after 18 months, and it didn’t since I wasn’t even charged with anything, let alone convicted. I only spent about two hours there, which wasn’t bad. I panicked a little on the way there, though, thinking I was lost. Yay for brightly-colored, clearly-labeled signs. So, I am now a fully-licensed driver. Yay me. My picture looks better this time. It’s weird seeing pictures of myself. It makes me remember that other people see my bangs the exact opposite way I do. I don’t know, maybe they’d look better on the other side. But New Permed Hair Lindsay is good for now.

Snaps to the wonderful customer service rep from Verizon who just helped me! I didn’t get her name, but she was lovely. It took… maybe an hour, but I’m always patient, and now I can get online again!

Friday Five: Childhood Revisited

1. What things did you enjoy as a child that you no longer do? I used to play outside a lot. I was actually happy out there. Now I am way more comfortable indoors than out.
2. What things did you enjoy as a child that you still do today? I have always loved to read. Always always.
3. What things do you do now, that the child you were never thought you’d like? I drink water. I loathed water when I was little. Drinking water was the punishment I got for asking for Kool-Aid too often. Now, I like water a lot.
4. If you could go back to one age and stay there for a while, what would it be? My life hasn’t so much defined by ages as phases. There’s pre-school, school, Japan, Germany, Flowers, high school, and now I’m College Lindsay. I wouldn’t mind being Germany Lindsay again for a while. It was awesome there.
5. If you could fast forward to an age (you do get to come back!) for a while, what would it be? I don’t know. Maybe Recently Retired Lindsay. Or New Mom Lindsay. She might be cool (if she even exists!)

Mom and Ryan went to church with me on Sunday. Apparently, my dad’s new work schedule has him at National every Sunday morning at the crack of dawn (seriously, he gets up at 3:30am — inconceivable for someone like me who occasionally gets to bed at 2). He only just joined the Church, and now he can’t go to mass at our church on Sundays. He should go, though. I stopped going to mass shortly after confirmation (when we moved), but I wish I’d stayed. I want him to stay.

I didn’t do much this week, either. Still jobless. I applied with a tutoring center, but I’ve called twice so far and no one has called me about my application. I’ll try once more on Monday, but if no one gives me a straight answer, I’m looking elsewhere. Maura is working with a temp agency. She posted the info on her LJ; I may just go do that. There might be some hang-ups in my getting to various jobs, but I have my car, and I could probably get to the Metro station if necessary. There are exactly twelve weeks twelve weeks and two days before school starts again (on Wednesday?), and I can’t afford to just sit around through all of them.

I woke up way late on Tuesday. Summer-late for me is after 10:30am; I woke up around 11:20. I grumbled at my dad because my whole schedule was thrown off. I have it set up just right so that I can be dressed by a reasonable time, but still manage to watch as many reruns as possible.

Wednesday was effectively J-Day, for Joan of Arcadia. I wasn’t a huge fan for very long, only for the last four or five episodes. I completely ignored most of its run. But I was angry when it was canceled. Is closure too much to ask for? I know Amber’s moving on. I doubt CBS will pick it up again, even midseason, and I don’t know if I’d watch if they did. The guy in charge of programming said, and this is an official quote, “I think talking to ghosts [as in Jennifer Love Hewitt’s JOA replacement, Ghost Whisperer] may skew younger than talking to God.” Does he think young people are that superficial?

So, long ramble aside, I did some mailing on Wednesday. I printed and sent letters to Sony (the production company), the WB, FOX, NBC, and ABC asking them to pick up Joan (or in Sony’s case, keep trying to sell it). To be gimmicky, I also put in copies of a poem on bright-colored paper, from the first season of the show. Our efforts may not work, but at least we tried. I tried to get my computer to print out a “postcard from God,” with the Goth God avatar on it, but it didn’t work. I’ve watched two reruns so far. I miss it. It was a lovely show. (Side note: Someone posted that it’s kind of ironic that the two reruns CBS chose so far were “No Future” and “The Rise and Fall of Joan Girardi.”)

Yesterday, I mailed an envelope to my workshop TA. She said she’d sent us our final portfolios if we sent her SASEs, so I took her up on the offer. I’m determined to actually work on my writing this summer. I’ve started another of my writing books, but I don’t think it’s going to be very helpful. I guess I kind of just have to do it. See what happens. Maybe revise “Image” again.

Today was also lots of nothing. I went to Courtney’s NJHS induction. They ran very late, but my patience helped. I went through my small yet substantial shoe “collection,” handing some down to Courtney. I read, I watched tv, I “made” leftovers. Then I spent some time with Lovely Customer Service Rep. I hope lovely things happen to her; she totally has good karma after helping me for such a long time.