The Break Room

There's a real drawback to the communal break room in the work place. You see, today I took my lunch* up to the break room, heated it up, and sat down to eat. And then my co-worker came in with pizza. Which looked SO much better than my lunch. And someone else heated up their lunch, and it looked way better and smelled better. And all I had was my mediocre meal. And boy, I had a case of food envy. How do you not?

It's not that my food would have tasted so much better if I had been eating alone. I just wouldn't have had anything to compare it to which would have been a minor improvement.

So, beware of the pitfalls of break rooms, people. 


*which was nothing really amazing because 1) I'm lazy and didn't put in the effort to fix anything, 2) I'm going to a conference for the rest of the week so why go to the effort of making something for a whole week, and 3) it was one of those "just add water and cook it" kind of things, which 8 times out of 10 are kind of meh. They are never as good as you think they will be.

Trade-offs

On Monday, I went to the grocery store, which is not as straightforward as it sounds because I ride the train. Well, light-rail. And I have to switch trains, which is an insignificant hassle. On Monday, though, it was raining which, in my book, makes things better. I LOVE walking in the rain. I walked from my transfer to the store (a little over 10 minutes, so not a big deal). It didn't really count as walking in the rain, though, because it was really just sprinkly. Still, it was nice.

On the way home, I didn't do much walking - half a block to the train stop and a block home. But, it was raining harder and I gave myself permission to just stand in the rain and soak it in. Not so good for my cereal boxes but who cares. It was great. But very wet. And when I got off the train, I had to step down to the door, and when I did, I lost my footing (it was wet, guys!) and slipped and fell. I'm now sporting a very bruised shin and a very bruised upper arm. Although you can't actually see the bruise on my shin.* And the bruise on my arm only started to show today.**

So, getting drenched in the rain at the cost of a couple of bruises. You know, I think it was worth it.

*It sure hurts, though. I will lean against things when I stand around and I cross my legs and it just hits that spot every time. Grrrr.
**It also hurts. And t-shirt sleeve hems happen to hit right where the bruise is. 

Hum drum ho hum

It seems like there is a lot going on lately but there also isn't. There's a lot of cerebral stuff in my life the last couple of weeks but cerebral is boring and quite frankly, I've had it going non-stop in my head for so long, the last thing I want to do is think about it more. There is a project at work that was unexpected and has taken up a chunk of time, but it is also not that interesting, other than it was unexpected. I need something of interest to occur, and by something of interest I mean something fun and hilarious that would be worth writing about. NOT something calamitous and tear-jerking.

I don't even have really great photographs to share. I did try to photograph a robin sitting in her nest, but she was out when I got to the nest. Maybe I'll have more luck tomorrow. I do have lots of flower pictures but I've already done those and they are also a few weeks old, which feels like cheating. Although, who doesn't need some flowers in their life?

Mostly, life is just life and it's the same old stuff as usual. I really need a vacation--even a day trip to someplace new. Or maybe I should just cut my hair or buy a car or move. Those just seem like a lot of work. Maybe I'll just try eating my lunch outside in a new spot all week--weather cooperating, of course, which is has been really iffy lately. Or maybe I'll buy some exotic produce. Or a new shirt.

Or maybe I'll just go to bed and get some good sleep and see if things look brighter in the morning.

Camels

I just finished reading Exiled: Memoirs of a Camel. It's about a camel who was brought to the U.S. as part of the United States Camel Corps, which, yes, was a thing. In the 1850s, the military tried to find ways to use camels in the desert areas of the Southwest and found they were very useful for hauling things but then they got super busy with the Civil War, and kind of forgot about the camels, and then they had railroads, so didn't really need the camels. So some of the camels were sold and some were let loose, and word on the street is, there were random camels roaming around in the southwestern US for decades after. All of which is kind of cool and one of those stories that make people think, "Why don't they tell the cool stories in history class?"

Anyway, this book talked about camel wrestling, so I was curious, and this really is a thing. Camels do it naturally, to win a mate, but  camel owners actually will enter camels into sporting events where they wrestle. And, can I just say, camels might just have the most disgusting mouths ever. When they are wrestling, their mouths foam and it gets pretty gross. Also, bactrian camels are WAY shaggier than dromedaries. I have no idea why, but bactrians are very hairy. Or furry. It looks furry, but I'm not sure, scientifically speaking, what the difference is.  And in terms of weird mouths, you should check out camel racing. Their bottom lips are crazy!

Also intriguing is their back legs. They have a lot of joints, it seems, and their back 'knees' bend in what we might call the wrong direction (which is obviously the right direction for a camel). Which then got me wondering if all four-legged animals are like that, so I checked out horses, and it doesn't look like horses actually bend their hind legs when they are sitting. Maybe they do, and the internet just doesn't have photos. But a camel actually bends his back legs underneath his body and does the same with their front legs, so that their hooves are all pointing at each other. And if that isn't weird enough, have you ever heard a camel? It is not the sound you expect but then somehow, once you hear it, it kind of seems obvious that that is what a camel would sound like.

Camels are just weird critters, but they are also super cool. Seriously. Nature is kind of amazing.

One hot July day, downtown was overtaken with livestock, including this guy, so I got some pictures. 

Can't go back

There are these little moments in life - those moments that are little and big all at the same time, but they somehow make a mark on your life. And they are a huge deal and maddening and you start trying to unravel the snarl that led to that moment and you feel like it's this mark that you have to carry around for the rest of your life and it's just a huge mess. After a while, though, you move on and you adjust to that little chink and go on with life and it gets a little less of a big-deal-little moment. But somehow, it does manage to come back and haunt you.

Phlbbbbbt. I hate those moments.