Sunday afternoon, time to blog my little trip.

It was good, but fast.

 

( The condensed version... )

 

Anyway, that's my weekend.

Let's see if I can catch up.

Beltane: Totally rocked, despite the wild and woolly weather. Rain, hail, sun, we had it all! Got to see good friends, hear good music, dance and drum. Good stuff. Had a friend join us for his first Beltane, and he's already talking about the next event, so that's a good sign, I hope.
I've got plans for Summer Solstice, and I'm the coordinator for the Lughnasadh event, so that'll keep me busy and involved with the pagan community. Several of the folk in the community are also taking time to teach me the local culture and traditions, and I'm feeling quite honored by this.

School: Got a 4.0 in the Spring classes. Studying now for the state EMT test, which I'll take on June 6^th. I'm a tad nervous about it, since there's the gap between class and the test. I've already started my next set of classes, though, so that helps me get my mind back into that mode of thinking. I'm still short one book, but it'll have to wait till my scholarship check comes in. I've already had to spend more on books than I care to think about.
I have five classes for summer term, but one's only 5 weeks long, and two of them are half-term in the same time slot, so it's not as bad as it sounds. Ten credit hours, though, so I'm gonna be working hard.

Life: I have sent off my last truck payment! W00T!!!! On the downside, the gas is off, so all the baking I was doing to raise money for my little Chicago trip next week is done for now. I should be able to save up enough to get it back on late next month. Luckily, the days I have to go to Clovis for the EMT test are a pay week, so I will not have to worry about that expense yet.
Ok, the Chicago trip...For those who haven't heard, I have an appointment for a live Jeopardy! audition on May 29^th, in Chi-town. I'm flying out on Thursday, the day before, and coming back on the Saturday. I'm really excited, and a bit nervous. This audition will put me in the contestant pool for a year, and I may or may not get called to actually do the show, but this is a lot closer than I've ever been! And yeah, I already know what I'll do with my winnings. ;-)

The reason for coming back on Saturday is also important. Go check out www.brothersericksen.com and you'll see. These are my friends, and they're doing a show, one night only. I am not going to miss this! Anybody in Abq who can make it, come on out. It's gonna be a lot of fun.

 

Anyway, I'm off to a barbeque, hosted by one of my co-workers. I have my box of Boca burgers, and she said we didn't have to bring anything else, so off I go.

Last night, I went to hear some live music (Dianivy & Tribe), then went to see Cheech & Chong's “Up In Smoke” at the Guild with a friend. Wow. I have a social life! LOL

 

 

Okay, let me catch you all up on progress so far.
I am getting A's in both my classes, EMT and Algebra, though it's not a cruising A.  I'm working for it, and while the math is not too hard, I get tired and do silly mistakes if I'm not careful. EMT stuff is harder, of course, and makes for a lot of memorization in brain as well as hands.  But I'm confident that I'll do well.
I've filled out my FAFSA for next school year, and we'll see if I can qualify for some financial aid.  If it's enough, I would consider going to school full-time for the paramedic courses.
Work has been "meh".  It's work, and the good calls and bad calls average out on most days.  It's the ones that come in at the last second and keep me way past my scheduled time that honk me off.  That, and the ones transferred from another center in particular; no info gathered that the rep should have gotten, nothing done at all, and sometimes they don't even tell the customer that they'll be getting transferred.  Grrrr!
I have been getting out and about a bit, though not as much as I'd like.  Ryan and I did get together last night for margaritas and Buffy DVDs, and it was worth skipping the margarita night with my co-workers.  I should stay away from tequila, though, because that's the one booze that ever gave me a hangover.  Granted, that was over 20 years ago, but I don't care to go through that ever again!  Just gotta remember to eat, and drink water.
Laundry today, while I catch up on the blog and my surfing.  I'll study more tomorrow, as we have a quiz Monday morning.  Memorizing drug doses and rules is very important, so it's good that we're getting another quiz on it.
The weather has started to get nice, and the sunshine makes it feel warmer than the thermometer says it is.  I'm just looking forward to getting out on my bicycle again.  Next weekend, when I'm helping with the Medieval conference (MAP 2009) at UNM, I'm just going to leave the truck at home and do the bus/bike thing.  Saves on parking fees, too.  As a bonus, the more I can walk/bike, the better my success with losing weight! I splurged on a couple of pairs of jeans at the thrift store, and ended up going with the pairs that I thought would be too small when I pulled them from the rack!  Nice feeling, that.  Pretty soon, I hope to be freecycling some of my clothes that have gotten too big. 
I'm working on getting the needed repairs done on my truck.  I have gotten hooked up with a local charity called Pit Stop Ministry that helps folks fix up and maintain cars.  They will help me with my brakes!  I need to get the front right hub bearing replaced first (about $300) and as much of the rest of the front end as I can manage, then front brakes will be done in March, rear at the April clinic, and then I can get the tires and alignment.  The truck will be paid off in May or June, and then things should improve greatly.  My EMT test will be in June, and we'll go on from there!
Other than that, Ostara's coming, and that's gonna be a nice celebration.  On top of St. Paddy's Day earlier that week, I'm gonna get my share of socializing, I'm sure!  Work hard, play hard. Sounds like a plan.

At last, a chance to blog. It's been a busy week, with school starting, changes in my work schedule because of it, and even some social activities.
School is good so far, despite the adjustment to getting up very early. I'm up at 6:30 a.m., with classes starting at 8:00 on Monday and Wednesday, or 8:30 on Friday. Add to that my work, which goes till 9:30 at least, and it makes for a long day. I'm glad to be able to recover on the other days! I have homework already, of course, and I needed to replace my printer. Darn thing starts off fine, then fades out halfway through the page. The ink is full, so I can't figure out what's going on. I think it's just worn out, as it was a cheap one to begin with. Luckily, I found another one that uses the same cartridges. Our EMT lectures have powerpoint slides, and we need to print out copies to make notes with.
I'm grateful to my friend Ryan for giving me a calculator to use for my algebra class. The prof prefers that we use them, which is very unusual to me. I can see his point, though, as the process of doing the algebra is far more important to learn, and we should all know math by now, so why waste time on doing it all by hand. I still do some of it in my head, though!
We don't have class tomorrow, for the MLK, Jr. holiday, but that just gives me a chance to catch up for Wednesday's class. There's a lot to learn, and I'm glad that I have a whole semester to do it in. I'm not sure which class will be hardest, so I'm trying to take it a bit at a time. There are many changes in the whole classroom setting, especially the online part. Yeah....last time I was in college for any length of time, there was no such thing! Now, my textbooks come with DVDs and online materials that are required for quizzes and tests. Very strange.
I have also had to break down and get a coffeemaker. It's a 4-cup, freecycled, but it's enough to get me through a morning. Finally found a use for the travel mug I got at the Woodwind/Brasswind! I'm not a big coffee drinker, honestly, but I may turn into one at this rate. I got myself some good coffee, too. All I need are some filters, and I'm running some weak vinegar water through it to make sure it's clean.
I also managed to come up with a better desktop computer over the weekend, on the extreme cheap, and have been putting it together. I'm missing some of my disks, so it was trial and error getting it going. Had to reformat and do a fresh install on the HD, and all I had available was XP Home. I much prefer Pro, and now that I've got the thing set up and online, I think I'll be upgrading at least that far soon. I'm tempted to try out Windows 7 Beta, and there's always Ubuntu, if I can ever manage to get it downloaded.
As for the socializing, one of my co-workers hosted a RockBand party at a local gaming center. I've never played it before, and was happy to find out that there's even a way to play by singing! Don't know how it compares to Guitar Hero, which I've also not played, but I really had a fun time with the crew from work. That was Saturday, and Friday was the ASFS meeting (which I missed 95% of, naturally) so I got to have some weekend fun. Coming up this Friday, a band containing two other co-workers is playing at a local bar, so I'll be going to that, I think.
All work and no play makes Harriet a raving stress-bomb, so hopefully I'll get to keep balancing the two.

Finally feeling up to a bit of blogging tonight. It's been a rough week. My broken tooth started acting up again, and developed an abcess infection. Not good, especially for someone who talks for a living! Luckily, my dental insurance kicked in on New Year's Day, and I was able to go to a dental clinic on Friday morning before work. Yay!
For now, the dentist was able to clean out some of the decayed tooth, pack medicine into it, drain some of the infection and put a temporary patch on the tooth. No more broken edge for a while, the swelling is going down, and the pain is subsiding. I have pain pills and antibiotics, and an appointment for Thursday to go back for an exam. Now the long-term work starts, to get my mouth healthy again. I'm just glad that I can eat and sleep. Granted, today started with me feeling like someone had punched me in the face! The only time I'm ever accused of having a small mouth is when I'm getting dental work, and my muscles are a bit sore. On the plus side, it looks like they'll be able to save the bad molar without too much trouble, and eventually straighten my front teeth.
Work was really busy this week, almost too hectic. I guess a lot of people got new computers or aircards for Christmas! It's rough when there's no time between calls to gather your thoughts or reset your brain, and most of our tech support calls are fairly long. Lunchtimes and breaks are often delayed till you can finish a call. At least my customers can't hear my stomach growl!
I'm looking forward to starting classes on the 12th. I've gotten one of my books in the mail already, and the others should be arriving soon. I'll have to pick the last one up at the bookstore when they open up again, since it's only available there. I think I've got the rest of what I need, though I might have to get a calculator if I can't find mine. I'm sure I'll find out more once I get to class.
For New Year's, I did go over to a friend's house after work that night, but left shortly after midnight due to my toothache. Had to work New Year's Day anyway, so didn't want to be out too late, especially that night.
I did go out on Monday night, though, to see a local band, My Majestic Mind. Two of the guys in the band are co-workers of mine. Good stuff, very talented group, and it was fun. Gonna hit their next show in a few weeks, too. They have a MySpace if you want to check them out.
Other than that, I've been working on a few projects. I'm still baking what I can, have some sewing to do, and am writing my latest bit of fiction. I've also got some non-fiction writing planned that will be shared online. More on that when it's ready to go.
Hopes and goals for 2009? Sure, I've got 'em. I'm optimistic, overall, as far as the material things I want to accomplish. The personal stuff, well, what I can control, I will. What I can't control, I will let the universe take care of. That's the harder part, for me, honestly. We'll see how that works out!

Accomplished a fair bit today. 
I walked to the CNM campus and took my placement tests, had a talk with an advisor, and explored the campus a bit.  I know what classes I need to register for this semester now; EMT-Basic, a general Health class (mainly about HIPAA and such), and a Math class.  The math is needed for doing drug calculations, of course, and can be taken as a co-requisite.  My test scores were actually pretty good, considering how long it has been since my last math course (1983 or 84, in college).  Naturally, my English and Reading tests were very good, and I wasn't worried about them at all.  I also found out that I can register on 11/26 instead of waiting till 12/1, so I'm less likely to be shut out of a full class.  Books are my next worry, and even though the bookstore doesn't have the books in yet, I can go online and find the exact list I need so I can look for used books or online bargains if need be.  Once I've registered, I can get my ID card, bus pass and parking permit.  I'm looking forward to that, believe me.  Access to the library, computer labs, student discounts...oh, yeah! 
Having school to look forward to is already helping me.  I was in a deep blue funk for most of the past week, and being able to think about school and what it will help me do in the future helped pull me out of it. Or pull my head out of my ass, take your choice...
Walking back from CNM, I had a snack and then stopped by a used book store.  I had found one book on the dollar cart (on archery), but the owner was on an errand, so I waited till she got back so I could go inside and look around.  Found two other books (Victorian Murderesses and a Zen Macrobiotic Cookbook), and since I'd waited, she only charged me two bucks for all three!  How nice!
Stopped for a bit at Satellite Cafe on Central for a cup of "London Fog".  It's Earl Grey tea with steamed milk and a shot of vanilla, yummy.  A bit of blog while I'm here, then I'll walk the rest of the way home soon.  I think we're plotting at Rurik's again tonight, so I'll drive to that since it'll be dark by then.
Plotting...hee hee.  There are enough Hordefolk here in al-Barran now that we are going to start working on making our presence felt.  To that end, we are planning entries for the A&S competitions at the Midwinter event.  Details later, but it will be good and there will be photos....
Let's see, I also made bread on Sunday, with a new-to-me recipe that calls for evaporated goat's milk and oats.  It was quite easy and good bread, so that recipe will stay in the repertoire.  The goat milk made me think of Irina....
Last but certainly not least, a big shout out to all Veterans and current members of the Armed Services.  Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.  I honor you as I honor my ancestors, both blood kin and heart kin.  Those who know me have heard me speak of the fact that there has been at least one service member in each generation of my family, in a line that stretches back to the French and Indian War.  Some of them didn't make it home.  I am grateful for their sacrifice.  Most of them did come back, and for them I am thankful.  If you love your freedoms, thank a veteran.  'Nuff said.

First off, I voted this morning.  No line at all, so once I found the right place it was about 15 minutes of filling in the ovals.  Not bad, but no stickers ;-)
Went to the library and picked up books and DVDs.  More on the books later.  Then off to the tire place for a free flat repair and free replacement of my valve stems (there was a recall).  Then down to Nob Hill Starbucks for my free coffee (tasted like crap, had to put massive amounts of cream and sugar into it...hope that's not an omen for the election!)
A pot of tea at Satellite Cafe (much better, and the wi-fi is free) while working on the Free For All Fruit website.  I have a page up!  W00t!  It's at http://www.freeforallfruit.org if you want to check it out.  It's not much, but it's a start, and I'm proud of it anyway.

So, about the books.  I'm boning up on algebra.  Why? Because I'm going to go back to school next semester! I need to take placement tests before I register, and my math skills need some help.  I thought of taking the tests today, but I think I'll wait till next week.  I'd still have time to retake them if I need to after that.
I'll be going to CNM, which is a community college, and studying to become an EMT and hopefully Paramedic.  Good skill, better money, and it gets me closer to my dream of being on the mountain.  I'm not abandoning the bakery idea, either, as CNM offers culinary/baking courses, too.  The classes are also mainly free since I live in the tax district, and all I have to finance is my books, fees and supplies, which I can manage to do.
It's a bit scary, since I've been out of school for about 20 years.  A co-worker of mine is also going to be in the same classes, so I'll have a study buddy.  At the very least, I will have tried something completely new.  Registration isn't till December 1st, and classes start in January.  Work says they'll work around our school schedules, so that's good.  Once I get through EMT-Basic, I'll be able to start working in the field. Next is EMT-Intermediate, and then Paramedic follows that.  Two years to get through all of it, and that's not really all that long.  Should be interesting!