funny things.

Wednesday night Jesse and I went to our last Tigers game of the season. A little boy and his dad were sitting in front of us and the little boy was hysterical. He looked to be about 4 years old and was very talkative and not shy at all. He offered Jesse and I peanuts and little doughnuts. When the Tigers score a run they play a really loud tiger growl (roar?). After the little boy heard the growl he turned around and did his best imitation. Then he asked me if he sounded like a cheetah. I told him I thought he sounded more like a tiger.

Last night when I got home from work the 10-year-old kid that lives across the street was outside. He came over to tell me that his dad just got a new car, a Pontiac Grand Prix. Only when he said it, he pronounced it 'pricks'. Awesome.

This morning I had my annual-woman-kootchie-spelunking exam. Not something enjoyable. At all. But I did find out that I lost 11 pounds since last October. Awesome. Must be the Ritalin! Unfortunately I'll probably gain it all back since I'm not going to take Ritalin anymore. I am going to try Strattera. Hopefully it will work.

My day was going really well until I was sitting in the apartment of one of the families I am working with. The back of my thigh, right below where my butt starts, felt a little cold. It was cold because my jeans have a hole right under my back pocket. When I got back to the office I was going to cancel some appointments and go shopping for new pants but my coworker assured me that she didn't notice and I wasn't being obscene. I was going to call my boss and tell her I need a raise because I can't afford clothes and they are falling apart but then I remembered that she was off today. Maybe I'll go shopping tomorrow.

But maybe not because I think I am getting a cold. And tomorrow we have to go to Costco (twist my arm) and then shopping for a new stove. I'm hoping to get a nice kick ass stove so if we ever move it will be hardly used and pretty much brand new and add to the value of the house. If we cook on it then that plan will be ruined. I'll be keeping that in mind.

Now I have to write a paper.

short cut

Probably 75% of my commute from work is through construction zones. It's exhausting and I hate it. Tonight I decided to take a short cut on the back roads. I found a road that I thought went parallel with the freeway and was shocked that nobody else was smart enough to go that route. "Haha on you," I said to the other cars as I sped away from the gridlock. Okay. I live in Michigan. We have more roads than the rest of the planet combined. How is it that I got on the one road that first of all, turned to dirt after a mile, and second, then went waaaaaay out of my way before there was a cross street? Why didn't I just turn around, you ask? I didn't turn around because I live in Michigan and there are a bzillion roads and if you are patient, one will be just around the bend, or over the hill. Unless of course, you are me and you haven't eaten lunch today and you are tired and just want to get home. Then you end up going way south because you are a stubborn asshole and then when you finally do find a road to head west on, it goes by some plant and the shift is getting out so there is a whole new gridlock to deal with. Haha on me. That's what they were all saying to me as I turned down that empty road. So. With construction it takes about an hour and ten minutes to get home. With my short cut it took an hour and twenty-five minutes.

When I got home Willie Horton was sitting on the dining room table (bad cat), Barbaro Garbey immediately started whining for attention, and there was a package in the mail for me. The other night Jesse told me he bought something for me but he wouldn't tell me what it was. I almost had him convinced that he bought the rabbit for me (the rabbit, not a rabbit) but we were both fooled. I called him to see if I could open it before he got home and he said I should wait. Luckily he was only a few minutes away. I know I've said it before but I have to say it again. Jesse is the best boyfriend ever. The return address on the package was "Steel's Used Christian Books" so imagine my surprise when I found this book inside. Tonight I am working on a paper for my microtheory class. I wonder if I will have time to read this new book and add something to my paper just so I can cite it. That would be awesome. It probably won't happen. But I will be sure to update you as I read.

it's not that bad.

I have to keep reminding myself that no matter how bad I think my life is, it's not nearly as bad as others!! Today a woman called looking for shelter for she and her three children, 11, 12 and 15. She had contacted another shelter in the area but was turned away when she told them her 15 year old daughter is on house arrest. House arrest for a homeless kid? That's right. I didn't get the particulars of why the kid is on house arrest but the mom did tell me that when she told the judge the family is homeless, the judge basically said 'too bad.' So now the kid keeps getting in trouble with her probation officer because she isn't in compliance with the court order. It is so ridiculous that it's almost funny, except now the kid will probably end up in juvey. And is it true that most kids come out of juvey/jail behaving worse than when they went in? It probably is true. Ah the juvenile justice system. I'm so glad it is there to rehabilitate and take care of the youth of America. I kind of want to talk to the judge to find out what the hell they are thinking. Isn't there any other punishment for this kid? If 'just' being homeless isn't punishment enough, how about some community service or something? I went to court with one dude and the judge ordered him to get his GED in one year. If he didn't comply, he would have to serve time. I thought that was really cool. Of course the dude didn't get his GED and ended up doing time but at least the judge gave him a chance.

okay. back to work. i love my job. god bless america. home of the free. land of the brave. equal opportunity for all. unless you are a 15-year-old homeless girl.

nothing.

I have nothing to blog about. Yesterday I started to post something but it was nothing so I didn't. Today I decided to post about nothing. I find that when I don't post I sometimes get emails from Joanna wondering why I'm not posting anything. Can you tell I fear the wrath of Joanna? Just a little bit? Not at all?

Summer is leaving and I can tell because my skin is getting dry again. And when I was driving home from class last night at 7PM it was already getting dark. And when I got home from class at 7:45PM (I stopped to buy food at the Jack), the dudes announcing the Tigers game on 1270 AM were saying it was dark already. I guess I knew that because I am not blind. But that reminds me that I do have to make an appointment with the eye doctor. I've been squinting at road signs lately. When will my eyes stop getting worse??

See Joanna. This is what happens when I post about nothing. Nothing.

i'm an asshole.

Last night Jesse and I ate Pizza Papalis for dinner. I ate a lot and was kicking back on the couch with my feet up on the coffee table when Jesse said something about me giving birth. I thought it was a crack at my fat belly but it was more a comment about the way I was sitting with my legs wide open. He was sitting next to me and stuck his belly out and said, "I'm 3 months pregnant." I looked at his belly and said, "Oh that's way more than 3 months." And then I realized how mean it was and started to laugh hysterically. But what I meant is that I think most people don't even show at 3 months. Yeah. That's it.

We were watching the U of M vs. Wisconsin football game and I said I hate that they add the yellow lines on the field to show you where first down is. Jesse asked why I don't like it. I said that I know where the mark is and it makes me mad that they assume I am too retarded to figure it out. Then Jesse said they help him. Oh.

for jesse

jenjen: i just know he's sitting there in his underwear and his coke-bottle-glasses stroking his kitty and not laughing at my blog sipping on chardonnay while his pool boy named susie dances the troika around the house in his best green beret.

rain.

When I was little I loved the rain. My friends and I would go run around and jump in puddles and it was so much fun. Now that I am all old I don't enjoy the rain. Rain makes the shit in the yard grow. And I don't mean 'shit' literally, Greg Brady. I mean the weeds and the grass. It makes me feel like I should mow or cut down weeds. And then I don't mow or cut down weeds and I feel lazy and shitty. The other thing rain does is flood roads. Last night a pretty bad storm came through. As I was driving home from work at 9 or so I noticed traffic on I-94 slowing down. I realized why when I saw the big-ass semi in front of me slam on the brakes and then drive slowly through a lot of water. All over the road. Sometimes I don't think very clearly after being at work for 13 hours. I realized that there was no way around the puddle and backing up on the freeway isn't all that safe. My next thought was, "well, the semi got through so it can't be that bad." I don't drive a semi. I wish I did. That's why I'm getting a masters degree in social work, you know. Half-way through the puddle the semi's wake washed up on the hood of my little car. That's not fun! I made it through. And feeling like a badass, when I came upon the next small pond in the road where there is construction on Gratiot, I plowed right through that, too. I'm pretty sure one of these days I'm going to get stuck in the middle of a giant puddle. Maybe I should put a raft in my car just in case.

That was a really long story about nothing. Sorry.

wah wah wah.

I'm tired and I swear all I ever do is complain. So why stop now? This week has been crazy busy and it's only going to get worse! I think it's a good thing I took Monday off to chill and get some school work done. Last night I didn't get home until almost 8 because I had an appointment with my fabulous hair stylist, Dwight. Today I was supposed to take some homeless kids to school at 8 AM, which meant I had to get up an hour earlier than usual. Their mom ended up calling me to let me know she found a ride but I was already up and about to leave so I went in early anyway. Tomorrow morning I am going in early to take them to school for real. Unless their mom finds another way to get them there. And then I have to work until 9 PM because I am training a bunch of new volunteers. Then Friday night there is a going away party for one of my favorite co-workers who found a new job. Saturday morning I head back to work to train the new volunteers on crisis intervention (thank God none of them know me and so none of them know that I suck at crisis intervention and have zero patience lately). Saturday afternoon I have class. Oh and there will be a quiz in class and I'm not sure when I will study for that. Shit I think that's what I'm supposed to be doing right now. And then Sunday Jesse and I are meeting my parents at The Common Grill, which is one of my favorite restaurants but holy SHIT it's an hour away and what was I thinking????

This week, for the first time, I ran into a Katrina survivor. A woman showed up at the shelter with questions about how she was supposed to get MI identification. Her Louisiana ID had expired and the Secretary of State told her she had to have two pieces of proof of address. Big problem since she is currently living in a hotel paid for by the Red Cross. Due to the patriot act it is damn near impossible to get identification in this state, and probably everywhere. I know I've talked about feeling angry that natural disaster victims get more compassion than everyday poverty victims but I felt really bad for this woman. I wished I could give her the information she needed and send her on her way. She said she had a job all lined up but she needed valid identification before she could be officially hired. This is exactly what I was worried about. Helping survivors will involve so much more than offering an apartment! My supervisor was in the office when the woman stopped by and my supervisor, the wise woman she is, said, "she shouldn't have any problem getting ID because I heard there are special programs in place for the survivors. She should just call the Red Cross and they'll help her." The woman just looked at her and said, "I already did that. They couldn't help. So now I'm here." Then my supervisor got the phone book out to look up the Red Cross in the yellow pages. I took the woman out on the porch and finished talking to her there. Then I fantasized about my supervisor telling me she got a new job.

Time to get some homework done. Or something.

Cedar Point

Anyone ever been to America's Roller Coast? Probably a silly question because if you read this, you probably know me, which means most likely you are in the Midwest, which means OF COURSE you've been to Cedar Point. Jesse and I went yesterday with my sister and her family. It was a perfect day. Sunny and about 80 degrees and not very humid. Since it was Sunday and late in the summer season there weren't many people there. The longest wait in line we had was about a half hour to ride the Millennium Force. Almost every other ride we just walked on, or just had to wait a minute or two. Jesse and I were the only ones to brave the Millennium Force and I'm glad we did. Kind of. Apparently my body did not enjoy the 300 foot drop because I blacked out for some of the ride. But I didn't die so it's all good. The first time I rode that roller coaster was three years ago and I didn't black out. I must be getting old.

Speaking of getting old, because we walked around an amusement park for 9 hours, my body is super sore. My neck hurts. My legs hurt. My feet hurt. My head hurts (I think I didn't drink enough water). So I stayed home from work today.

If you are thinking of heading to Cedar Point sometime in the future, I highly recommend going late in the summer and on a Sunday. I've had to spend hours waiting to ride rides and this was so much better. It didn't matter that the park wasn't open as late because we pretty much rode every ride by 6PM and then went back to ride the ones we liked for a second, and sometimes third time. And we were home by 10PM.

school is hard.

Tonight sucks. I'm supposed to read all this crap for class tomorrow and I can't get through it. I'm trying. I really am. And I'm having flashbacks to the first time I was in college and couldn't read for more than ten minutes AND comprehend what I was reading. I took Ritalin and it isn't working. It hasn't been working for a while. My doctor had increased the dose and I thought I was better. But I'm not. And now my next appointment with doctor isn't for two weeks. I can wait but I have an awful feeling that I will be way behind in my school work and I might be single because my boyfriend is getting a glimpse of what life is like with an adult with A.D.D. and I don't think he is enjoying it very much. Everything is so loud in my head tonight. I can hear my can of Coca-Cola Classic fizzing next to me and it is so distracting. Just drink it. I know. Noise-reducing headphones and an ipod might work. We'll see...

it stinks in here

When I walked in the door this evening I noticed it smelled like ass. Or like sauerkraut cooking in the basement. It probably didn't help that it was pretty warm today and the house was closed up all day. I'm hiding out upstairs to get away from the smell. I'm too lazy to hang out downstairs because it would involve opening windows and then closing them before bed time. It is wonderful living in a place where you can't leave windows on the ground floor open for fear of burglars letting themselves in. The village people did this to me. Made me afraid. Assholes.

I think I had a good day at work today. Maybe I'm just drunk. Just kidding. One of the families in the shelter was told they have a place today. YAY!! They had been approved a long time ago but I was pretty sure they were going to be put off because apparently hurricane katrina victims are more worthy than regular people. This family has been through a ton of really hard stuff. They are new to this country and are here legally but have been discriminated against and just shit on in general. The husband is an accountant and the wife is an R.N. but because they have accents and dark skin they have been denied housing and passed up for employment. I'm about to file a complaint against their DHS case worker. Anyway, the woman was so happy when I told her they have a house that she started to cry and then quasi-tackled me with a hug. Because she was so happy and they have been through so much I let her get away with it and didn't beat her up for invading my personal space. I'm such a good social worker.

Tonight I got a chance to meet with a guy who started working at the agency about 6 months ago. He works in another program but we have the same lovely supervisor. I feel awful for him because he's really starting to notice she is crazy and an awful person. He seemed relieved when I told him I know what he is going through. I took a huge risk and told him that she is the cause of her own drama and that if he doesn't buy into it, he will probably be much better off. And I told him that if he tells anyone what I said, I will tell them he lied! So much for taking risks! But he seemed to take what I said to heart and I hope that I will be able to help him see through all the bullshit. I wish someone had done that for me!! Speaking of shitty supervisors, my supervisor was working on her cover letter for a job she is sending her resume in for. At first I thought she was going to ask me to proof read it for her. But she just ended up asking me what kinds of things I put in cover letters. I gave her real advice because I really really really want her to get this job. But I pretended like I was a little bummed she was thinking of leaving.

Time to find a snack and go to bed early.

yard work.

I hate yardwork. That's probably why I haven't done any all year. On Sunday I decided to trim the shrubbery in the front yard. I took the little shrubbery-cutters and cut away...until I saw this big ass spider. It was huge. And tonight I got an email from Joanna telling me about our friend who is recovering from a bite from a brown recluse spider. I have no idea what one of those looks like but oh my God I am regretting not killing this big ass spider when I had the chance. With my luck it will find it's way inside my house and bite me. I already have to big bug bites on my arm. I'm not sure what bit me but the bites are big and itchy. Yuck. I took the weed whacker in the back yard and there are weeds so big the weed whacker won't whack them. So I took the shrubbery-cutters to the weeds. But then my oh-so-out-of-shape arms couldn't take it anymore. By the time I am done cutting weeds and shrubbery I will have forearms that will make Popeye proud. Maybe that means I should start smoking again. But just a pipe. Like Popeye. Yeah. That's it.

I can't sleep tonight. Not sure what that is all about. Tomorrow night is baseball. In September not many people go to the week night games so we should be able to get really good seats. Watch for us on tv.

oh no.

When I got to work this morning there was a fax from one of the local housing commissions. They are not accepting anymore applications for housing unless you are a victim of a national disaster. My first thought was that we could still have our families apply because homelessness is a national disaster. Unfortunately I went on to read something about FEMA having to declare it a disaster and blah blah blah. Then I was talking to one of the women staying with us and she was frustrated because of a conversation she had this morning. She had gone to Headstart to enroll her daughter and met another woman enrolling her child. The other woman was a victim of a national disaster. She has only been in the area for a few days and already has housing and a $2000 debit card that she used for furniture and household goods. I didn't know what to say. I don't know what to say. I'm still struggling with being glad that people are getting help and being angry that because people are getting help so many more people are being bumped to the bottom of another list.

The latest on the village email list is that a woman was attacked by a pack of stray dogs. Luckily she was treated at the hospital and is okay. Villagers are pissed because when the woman went to someone's house to get help, the person called 9-1-1 and was told the police had shootings to deal with so wouldn't respond to a dog attack. It sounds like if the attack was in progress they would have responded but since she had already escaped they said to call animal control. Anyway, someone responded to this and ended their email with the following:

"i also feel pretty bad for these abandoned animals who have become so predatory and vicious. what are we thinking?
love to all of you good people.
d***"

It warms my heart to think that at least villagers have a place in their heart for dogs since they don't give a shit about people.

laughing is fun.

There has been so much shit going on at work that I haven't really felt like laughing. I'm trying to catch up today while hanging out with Jesse. Sucks to be him because most of what is funny to me is at his expense. I'm so lucky to have such a funny funny boyfriend who is patient and kind and doesn't beat the shit out of me. I mooned him earlier and that was really funny to me. Sometimes it just feels good to moon someone. You should try it. And then I threw a quarter in his general direction and that was funny to me too. He seemed to think I was throwing it at him but I really wasn't. I just happened to throw it behind my right shoulder which happened to be where he was standing. These things make me laugh. We just went shopping at Astoria and bought key lime cheesecake and tiramisu. Parking in Greektown is a nightmare so we parked in the casino ramp, went and gambled for a few minutes and got our parking ticket thingy validated. Sometimes we are so smart. So parking only cost $4, which is what I lost in the slot machines.

It's a good weekend so far. I went to my first class of the semester this afternoon. It is going to be a buttload of work and I haven't identified the funny person to blog about. Hopefully they will make themselves known soon.

hard week.

I think it's good that I have had kraut to occupy my mind, I mean my blog. I've had lots on my mind this week. Everyone has Hurricane Katrina survivors on their minds. At least they should. Here's my problem. I am struggling with the common viewpoint that the survivors who are homeless are somehow more worthy of our help than the homeless in our own communities. The response of a huge apartment management company in Washtenaw county to provide 100 apartments for survivors sickens me. This same management company has phased out almost all of their subsidized units. Their apartments are not affordable for poor people. And I am scared of what will happen to the survivors when their FEMA grants/subsidies end and the same company that agreed to help them kicks their poor asses out. The fact that providing housing for the survivors is just the tip of the iceberg also scares me. All of the social service agencies I know of are stretched really thin. Who will help the survivors find employment? Who will help them figure out the severely lacking public transportation system? How will they know what to do when, if they are lucky enough to find employment, they can't get help from the state with paying for child care until they have been working for 30 days? The amount of support and kindness extended to the survivors has warmed my heart. Tonight while I was watching the Detroit Tigers get their asses kicked by the Kansas City Royals I wondered exactly how many people were made homeless by hurricane katrina. And I wondered how many people were already homeless in the state of Michigan. In the county of Wayne. In the city of Detroit. How do those numbers compare? Does anyone give a shit? There is not one thing positive about this unimaginable disaster. But my hope is that we will be able to see that homelessness isn't just a problem for survivors of the hurricane. Homelessness is a problem for survivors of poverty and some people have small disasters every day that might not be a hurricane or a flood, but are just as devastating. I hope that survivors are able to make fresh starts and that the kindness and caring we have shown so far will continue. Tonight it just feels like too much to hope for.

kraut again

My life, I mean my blog, has come to this. All kraut, all the time. This is a photo of day 5, which would be today. It's gross but not that stinky. Joanna, should I be skimming that nasty looking stuff off yet?

oooops

Funny stuff from the village:

"From Tuesday and overnight:
--blue Chevy pick-up, 9***47, older model, beat up, homemade non-glossy paint on the trunk, parked on the south side of Goethe bet. Burns/Iroquois, partly on the grass, two occupants
--green Subaru,1***83, parked on the south side of Goethe bet. Seminole/Maxwell, stolen, VIN **********blahblahblah"

Then today this was sent:

"Friends:
The green Subaru listed in S****'s note is not stolen. To my knowledge, it has never been stolen. It is our car, we drive it every single day, and it is registered to me. Yes, it was parked on the southside of Goethe -- right next to our garage, because the garage door is broken. And last night it was parked on Seminole -- right in front of our house -- for the same reason. I realize it is a bit beat up, but it is what we have. As soon as we can get the door fixed, we will put it away, but in the meantime, we need it to get to work every day."

I can't believe she was kind enough to address the list as "friends". I would have started the note with, "Assholes:" But that's just me.

kraut update.

I took this photo today. Joanna, is it supposed to look like that? It's getting pretty stinky.

Sauerkraut fun.

Here is the first in a series of sauerkraut making photos. I took this yesterday, which was day 2 of sauerkraut fun.

pretty nature.

We got the chance to head to Lake Michigan for sunset on Saturday night. Of course I had to take the pretty pink sky lighthouse photo that everyone takes. I'm not very original.

I just realized that these aren't posting in the order I want them too. I hate posting photos. It just never works out well for me.

On Sunday Jesse and I went to Sleeping Bear Dunes. I hadn't been there in a lot of years and he hadn't ever been there. Someone forgot to tell us how much work it would be to walk up the damn dunes. And they also forgot to tell us that Lake Michigan is really far away and that once you climb the first one, there are a bzillion more to climb before you get to the lake. I don't know how many there are because we stopped after two. After dinner we ventured down a dirt road and found a trail that went through the woods. We thought it would be cool so we headed down the trail and ended up climbing more dunes. Still didn't get to the lake but the views were beautiful and there wasn't anyone else around. Then we decided to do the touristy scenic drive thing. It was really cool and finally got to see the lake. We did not go down the 450 foot bluff to actually touch the water because there was no way in hell we would have been able to climb back up in time to get to work on Tuesday morning.

I will post sauerkraut photos sometime soon. I wish I could post the smell. It already stinks a little bit.

labor day weekend fun

Jesse and I headed to Kaleva, MI to hang out with Joanna and her family this past weekend. I think it was the best weekend I have had in a really long time. We did nature stuff, like pick blueberries and blackberries and take pictures of cows that will soon be slaughtered and pick tomatoes and cabbages for the sauerkraut that is fermenting in my basement. We laughed and laughed and laughed and slept. Perfect.

It's amazing that all that goodness can be wiped away by a shitty day at work. The drama that was bugging me last week came back in full swing today. I'm so glad I was able to forget about it for the weekend.

Stay tuned for photos.

poop.

I work in a building with one other person. We have one bathroom. Two people work in the building on the other side of the property. They have one bathroom. Over the past few weeks I have noticed that one of the women from the other building has been coming over here a lot. Today I realized that she is coming over here to poop in our bathroom. She poops and sprays some Febreze and leaves. What the hell? I'm about to go over to her building and show her what an upper decker is and I don't think she'll like it. Although, if she never goes in that bathroom over there she won't even notice.

identity theft in the village. watch out!!

This email cracked me up:

"Only tangentially related, last week at about 2:00pm, I was on my wayto my building, and some homeless type was going through B**s' garbage to the point of looking at pieces of paper, for what I do not know. I stopped to say to him that I thought what he was doing was improper, only to be rebuffed with the wave of his hand, saying "I've been doing this for years. I find all kinds of useful things like food, returnables....Look at my cart (grocery)." I shrugged and went on, but I was impressed by his good looks: clean shaven, well groomed, youngish (early40's?) medium complection African American with Caucasian features appearance, as well as his reasonably educated response (words, tone, accent), plus he did look familiar. Last night, on returning from VanDyke on Agnes I saw him again, but this time he was standing on the cornerof Parker (NE) stradling his mountain bike, and not appearing the least bit homeless. He looked me straight in the eye for a moment. I can't place him as to where I have seen him before this, and I do not know if he is someoneto be particularly worried about, but I thought it was worth noting and reporting. Regards, J**"

But then it got a little bit better with this response:

"Everybody,
PLEASE get a cross cut shredder. Spending $25 on this indispensable device could save you thousands in the long run. Sounds like this fellow is looking for an identity to steal. There isNO other reason to sift through people's papers. I knew that this would happen eventually as we are pegged as an "affluent" neighborhood.
M*******"

If I were a police detective I would want her on my team. She was able to deduct that this man is looking for an affluent identity to steal. What tipped her off? Was it the good looks? The cart (grocery)? My guess it was the straddling the mountain bike that sealed the deal. Thank GOD for this person who was able to figure this out. I'm going to email her to see if she wants to watch some Law and Order with me. I won't have to watch entire episodes because she will solve the crime in 2 minutes. Maybe less.