Sight Seeing

Last night, there was a really awesome storm. Thunder. Lightning. More thunder. More lightning. Oh, and rain. And it was around 11:30, and I should have been going to bed, but where's the fun in that? So of course I stayed up watching. And attempting to take pictures of the cool lightning. The only problem with this is 1) it was cloudy, which makes it tricky to really see the lightning, unless it's a really good flash, 2) (oh, wait, I said one problem, right? Sorry about that). My camera isn't really designed for flash photography. Yes, you can groan at that one, but it really is the best way to describe it. My camera just takes a while to actually snap the picture. Which really makes me want to invest in a different camera, to have all my bases covered. And 3) I don't have professional photographer skills.

Today also offered some interesting sights. Along with a lot of pictures of Gerald R. Ford (man, I love working in an archive!!! I wonder if he ever got tired of that picture of him as center for UM being flashed everywhere...), on my way out of work, I saw a very interesting caterpillar on the doors. This is NOT the actual caterpillar, but it is the kind of caterpillar, so you can also see how interesting it was:

"Orgyia Leucostigma caterpillar Michigan" by Thaddeus - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Now envision it on a glass door and you'll have the right angle and all that. And hopefully see why it was a weird site. (By the way, I stole this picture from wikipedia). What a weird caterpillar.

My last bizarre sights for the day was the Nutmobile. I honestly had never heard of this before. And I saw it and had no clue what it was called, but instantly named it in my head the "Planter's Peanut-mobile." I don't know that I was really that shocked to find out that it's official name is, in fact, the Nutmobile. No, the real mystery here was what on earth was the Nutmobile doing in my town, and particularly across the street from where I work? 

So, those are the sights I saw today. A little hairy, and a little bizarre. And definitely out of the ordinary. Not bad for a day's work.

Life happens

So, for a while my 'life' scriptwriter and I have had some disagreement about how exactly the plot should go. If I were smart, I would be better at remembering that the Scriptwriter knows what he's doing, whereas I can barely manage to do my job credibly half the time. So, definitely don't think I'm planning on firing him anytime soon. He miraculously manages to write me out of the jams I seem to constantly land myself in, and does it quite nicely, so I've made a lifelong and then some contract with him.

Anyway, this was not my point. I was actually chatting with a friend and pondering why life has been so rough lately (lately being a relative term meaning "what seems like ages and eons and really, I think we've had enough, let's try something new") and the honest truth is, it's life. Rough things happen. But, there is a silver lining to this gloomy cloud, which I will now impart, because I'm oh-so-wise-and-snarky: at least if life is happening, you know you're alive.

Thank you.

Credits:
pulses everywhere
clouds, without which there would be no silver linings?
the internet, which prevents people from pelting me with actual tomatoes
analogese
persimmon, for no other reason than it's kind of fun to say

Watching the Wildlife

The other day, I was walking to the bus stop and I took a different route. I figured, why stand around waiting  on a bench outside the hospital when I could be walking and enjoying the nice weather. I'm walking along, and I stopped to double check the bus schedule. Stood up and lo and behold, a deer, just hanging out in the greenery (foliage? bushes? Trees? Foliage.)

That night, I was in the gym, and watching out the window, checking out the wildlife. Which, maybe isn't that wild. I mean, we're talking ducks, geese, squirrels, and robins. The geese are strutting around with their offspring, who are in the awkward adolescent stage of life. There was a bit of a gang war going on, with one of the kiddos crossing into someone else's turf. The next thing you know, the poor guy was getting hissed at by the jefe goose, and then his pop started hissing back. Fortunately no feathers flew, but it did make me wonder how they've gone so long without any casualties, considering the insane numbers of geese sharing the pond front property around here.

It was pretty hilarious to watch the poor awkward geese running after their parents. They had this funny gait when they ran. They are shifting balance from one leg to another, and it creates this goofy toddling run. They would mosey along, look up, and see that there parents were getting too far ahead and start their goofy run. On the bright side, the adolescent stage for a goose can't last too long. And, since they will grow up to be mean hissing geese, I don't feel too bad for them.  

The turf wars didn't end with the geese, though. Apparently some squirrels were loitering in a robin's yard, because all of a sudden, there are two squirrels being chased by a bird. One went up a tree, where it watched apprehensively as it's friend fled the scene, tailed by the robin the whole way. And I couldn't help but imagine the robin hollering, "Get off of my lawn!" 

So, what have we learned? Well, life ain't bliss in the animal kingdom, either. I guess it's hard times for everyone. Every critter. Yeah. All of us. 

Theoretically speaking...

I was having a discussion about politics and government with someone this morning and I have come to several conclusions. 1) I have become quite cantankerous on the subject somehow. I don't know how long I've been cantankerous about the subject, and it probably has more to do with my frustration with life in general than it does with the actual government (politics, well, who does like politics, besides politicians?). 2) I much prefer being the mediating influence in conversations. And I don't like debates. At least, not when I'm sparring with one other person. (I love being a 3rd party observer who can mock the debaters and argue unreservedly with both sides). I find that, whether I really feel strongly about my position or not (and generally, I don't), having someone 'argue' for the other side makes me feel contrary, and then I get annoyingly stubborn, and it is ridiculous. I hate having my contrariness stirred up. I generally try not to be a contrary person.

And, 3) (and the real purpose of this post), I am really a hands-on, practical person. I can point out all the problems and how theoretically it needs to change, but what really frustrates me is there really is nothing that can be done about it. I mean, there is theory, and then there is reality, and I am much more concerned with what really, really matters. And not just with politics. In my graduate program, there was this one lecture where they were arguing about whether an antelope is information. And my first reaction is, "What does it matter if an antelope is information or not? There's still some wild animal trying to eat it and being able to claim 'information status' isn't going to stop that." There was also an article about whether a Mardi Gras celebration on some Caribbean island is a record. Which is great and an interesting topic of discussion, but I can't put the parade performers in an archive, so what does it matter if it is a record or not?

I don't often think of myself as an action person, but I am discovering that I get fed up with talking about stuff. If there is a problem, I want to do something about it. Maybe it won't fix the problem, but I want to be at least doing something. But I also want to do something that will make a difference. Not necessarily on a global scale or anything huge, but at least a difference for me and maybe the people around me. So, government isn't perfect and has it's problems and people still need help. Well, I can't make government start taking care of my problems or my neighbors problems, but I can try to help my neighbor. What does it matter what should or shouldn't be happening? If it isn't, I can waste a lot of time trying to make other people fix the problem, or I can do what I can in my sphere of influence and stop worrying about right and fair and all that hooplah.

I am definitely not a theoretical person. At least not in that sense. I am really just interested in living my life and doing the best I can to make things better for the people around me. I really don't care about making a big impact on the world--it seems like a huge headache and an impossible task, so I'll pass. I don't know what that says about me as a person, but that's the way it is.

A bunch of patikiwaka

I just feel the need to write something, although I have nothing in particular to say. So, no theme here, just randomness. Which is pretty darn much what life is like.

I fed some geese (and ducks) today. The baby geese that were pretty cute a few weeks ago are in the awkward teenager stage of gooseness, and, yeah, they are just kind of awkward. Traces of baby cuteness and hints of adultness, but not really one or the other and an awkward mix in the meantime.

I have discovered why peer pressure is so terrible, and while it will sound ridiculously 'duh', bear with me. It's because it's your peers pressuring you. Duh, I know, but in high school, 'peers' were everyone in your grade. And quite frankly, a lot of them were in no position to pressure me. I didn't care about their opinion a whole lot. But real peers are people that you do care about your opinion. They are the people that have common interests and common beliefs. People you relate to. And that is why peer pressure is so potent. Because if those people who are like you (not just the same age, which is hardly sufficient similarness to make one a peer) are doing something, then there must be something wrong with  you if you aren't. 

Comic Sans should not be used on reports from executive level administration. I'm just saying. It's really hard to take an executive officer seriously when it looks like their six-year old wrote the cover page. 

I miss my stuff. I know it's just stuff, but I miss it. I miss having my books on my shelves. I miss using my own cooking stuff. I miss having more than one rubber scraper in the kitchen. I miss having a desk chair, even if it was a swivel chair with wheels that was stuck on carpet, which what is the point of wheels on a chair if it is on carpet, I ask you, but it wasn't my fault that that was the setup and I miss having a desk chair all the same. I miss having a place of my own. 

I have recently developed an aversion to breakfast, which is a travesty. I am a huge believer in breakfast and generally eat it at least 10 times a week. (After all, it is the most important meal of the day, and so why not eat it often?). But suddenly, nothing sounds good in the morning. The thought of pancakes makes me queasy. Muffins? Nope. Eggs? Blah. (Maybe eggs with bacon. And a biscuit. That sounds good. Unfortunately, by the time I can purchase all of that, it won't). Cereal? No thanks. Not even chocolate pudding sounds good. And summer hasn't even arrived, with it's nauseating heat. I think I might be in trouble...

Monday doth approach, but hey--at least science has proven that it's not worse than any other day of the week! Bet that changes your day! But, I for one am decently excited about Monday, because there are treasures buried for me in the archive. It's going to be awesome. 

And that is all.