South Africa Update

My tickets are purchased.  I’m unbelievably excited.   I have a feeling I’ll wish I booked a longer trip, but I didn’t want to impose myself on my friend for too long, especially since she’ll have to take a few days off work after a very long holiday.

I talked to her today, and there was talk of renting her company’s house in Durban on the coast, and going to a game park that her friend owns and going up in the helicopter.  She said there wouldn’t be enough time to go to wine country, as that’s closer to cape town, but … I guess I should leave something for a follow-up trip! 

My next big adventure

My airline tickets are on hold, I’m going to call and pay tomorrow…. and from the morning of January 1, 2009 through the evening of January 14, 2009 I will be traveling to and from, and vacationing in….

South Africa!!!

I’m visiting my friend Regan.  She lives in Benoni, Gauteng (I’m flying into Johannesburg).  There’s been promises of the South African Coast, Game Parks, and taking me all over.  I’ll have a total of 10 or 11 days in South Africa.

To make matters even better, I’ll be off work from January 1-January 19, returning to work on January 20.

Now…. if January 1 would hurry up already!

I might be a poor underpaid civil servant, but I do get paid in freedom. 

Thanks for getting my hopes up, SparkPeople!

I joined this website called Spark People a while ago. I like that you can keep track of what you eat and the exercise schedules they can generate- but I don’t particularly find the articles very helpful.  They seem to cater to people who know nothing about diet and exercise, rather than the average person who does know, but wants a regimen of optimal exercise for faster results.

Today they sent an email with the subject, “How do I lose Belly fat?” Well, that immediately piqued my interest. Surely this meant they had a work out regimen to help lose fat and build up the core- rather than the standard “no amount of crunches will help lose the fat, it creates muscle tone which cannot be seen when covered in fat. The best way to combat belly fat is cardio exercise.” I read the email and it contained the standard answer. No regimen, no tips on sleeping more and eating avocados–nothing. Thanks for getting my hopes up.

Anyway, that’s the end of my rant. I guess I’ll have to continue with my boring regimen of running, rowing, step aerobics, core exercises and weight lifting and hope one day I’ll lose the fat. *sigh*

I’m a peace-lovin’ hippie-type with gypsy feet

Or something like that anyway. People just don’t get me, including 99% of my friends and family. Part of that is probably my fault- as I’m sort of treading water at the moment and veil myself from those who wouldn’t understand. When I do hint at parts of myself, I may as well tell them I’m an alien from the planet Xenon, because it would elicit the same reaction.

Here’s 10 tidbits about me:

1) I’m an extremely spiritual person. This is the single most important part of my life. Those that do not know that do not know the very core or essence of who I am. I’m currently practicing in Science of Mind. I take classes that may some day lead to being a minister or some sort of related field. I don’t share this very much with people–As one of my friends put it, to them, I may as well be debating the length of a unicorn’s horn.

2) I do in fact enjoy my job. I might gripe about it, but the gripes have to do with something you’d get in any job- schedule, deadlines, having to go to work… SO ANNOYING!  I love the time off. I love my coworkers (particularly since the lunatic left a year ago). I love the location. Honestly, it’s the best job I’ve ever had.

3) I hate commitment, or anything of the sort. I love my cats and my new car- but if I think about the sort of commitment they’ve imposed upon me, I start to hyperventilate. I want to break free, I want to run out to the street and hitchhike, and make a run for the border.

4) I love being alone. When I’m around people too long, I grow tired. Alone I rejuvenate and rebuild my energy. I’m pretty intuitive/empathic and being around people, particularly needy people, is too dang exhausting.

5) I hate schedules. I hate planning, having things planned for me, being asked to do stuff on a Friday when it’s only Tuesday. I’m a spur of the moment kind of person. Obviously there are some exceptions, but for my local friends- call me up a few hours before, it seems to work better.

6) I’m 90% sure that I do not want to have kids. I’ll leave 10% open to wanting to have kids, far be it from me to commit to a decision to not have kids- seems kind of limiting. The whole body ruined for life/never sleeping again/ bigger commitment than my car or cats is a huge turn off for me.

7) The quickest way to shut me down is to judge me, have expectations that one day I’ll do something with my life, or hint at some sort of disappointment with me. Surely you’re not a harsher critic of me than me, so I don’t need it from you too!  Related to this is when others are judged.  For example, I’m constantly getting racist emails from family members and I automatically delete them without reading them. I’m most “at home” when I’m traveling and have no schedule or expectations of the day. Any sort of schedule is exhausting to me. Schedule=cage=relating to gorillas sitting in a cage and staring out at you with a look of boredom.

9) I don’t see being single as a failure on my part, nor do I think I should scramble and grasp at anything that looks at me twice, just so I can say I have someone and am therefore happy. Being with someone is no guarantee that you’ll be happy and you won’t feel lonely.

10) I have many gifts relating to the spiritual side of me- I’m known for prodding at someone when they’re hurting or confused and getting them to open up and asking them questions, leading to their own realizations and personal epiphanies. That’s something, right?

Anyway, don’t feel sad for me. I’m a Gemini, I’m ruled by my emotions- one moment I’m high above the mountains and everything is glorious, the next I’m in the pit of despair. I express everything I’m experiencing, and each experience tends to be short-lived.

Maybe I just need more sleep.

Monday Night TV Sucks!!!

I should be working out, but I can’t get my ass off the couch and I’ve resigned myself to watching The Universe: Dark Matter, which is recorded on my DVR. It’s a bit more intellectual and abstract than I was hoping for on a Monday night.  I’ll spare the details.  *adjusts pocket protector*

I’ve watched several episodes over the past week.   My favorites were: 

1) The Most Dangerous Places, which discussed Magnetars and Black Holes.

2) Cosmic Holes, which discussed Black Holes (proven), Worm  Holes (mathematically proven) and White Holes (mathematically proven).  To my dismay, this episode was NOT about Britney, Lindsay or Paris. 

I’m sure I’d be much more into this, if it weren’t Monday and my brain was operating at normal capacity.  Right now it’s pretty much “Fire bad, tree pretty.”  But hey, at least I’m not watching Dancing with the Stars. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

The Hubble Deep Field: The Most Important Image Ever Taken

I came across this online today, it was really freaking cool and I had to share.

The Hubble Deep Field: The Most Important Image Ever Taken

The Caucus for Adams County Precinct 161 was a Joke

So, on February 5, 2008 I participated in the caucus for my precinct for the first time ever. What a complete joke. It was chaos from the start. There was no preparation for the people who forgot which precinct they were in (meaning, no list of people and the precincts). Not very many people received precinct cards and were really uncertain about what to do. Once I finally found my precinct, I had to stand in line forever while they made us fill out 3 different papers. I had to fill in a straw poll, and I didn’t want my vote on paper, so I wrote uncommitted, as I was assured SEVERAL times that I would not be committed to this.

The whole process was unbelievably slow. Representative Judy Solano was running the show for our precinct. Our precinct chair was stopping and running all over the place to ask questions, it took forever to do about 5 votes. I caucused for a candidate. I was selected as a delegate. By the time most precincts had left, mine was still there, trying to get organized. I was exhausted and trying to leave, since I had to work several extra hours at my job, so I interrupted a personal conversation my precinct chair was having, and I asked if there was anything that I needed to fill out or sign. He assured me that I was set to go, and he’d contact me.

3 weeks later, there is no word. I contact Representative Solano. I found out that everything was a mess (judging by the way my caucus was run, I am not surprised). Apparently independents and republicans caucused in the democratic caucus. They were trying to sort everything out.

I get an email today informing me that they had record that I was uncommitted and did not change my vote. I beg to differ. I begged, I borrowed, I pleaded, I bargained to become a delegate. I had to stand up and give speeches. I did everything in my power… only to find out that due to poor record keeping, and the general way in which our caucus was run, I’m being penalized and punished? I’m probably the only delegate that cared enough to follow up on the status. Now I can’t even attend as an alternate.

I’m so annoyed at this point, and I wonder, if a caucus with a District Representative is so disorganized, how were other caucuses in comparison? And if this is the best we can get for a relatively simple caucus, how is the county government run? I’m not going to bother again until the primaries. What a waste of time.

____________________________

Update: I just received a phone call from the Adams County Chair. She stated that “Obama supporters were there and only gave people half information.” This is not true. Obama supporters were on the phone to the national party, helping people find their precincts. I never once heard them give anyone false information.

She said, “Obama won the precinct.” Me: “Does that mean the delegates were not divided proportionately?” Her “No.” I was trying to explain to her that the precinct chair and Rep. Solano told us that the delegates were distributed proportionately, which is why there is so much confusion. She then blamed the Obama supporters.

I was upset that she didn’t seem to get it. I don’t understand why it all has to be a pain in the ass, or why everyone has to point fingers. I think either candidate will do great things for our country, but for different reasons. I’m going to whole-heartedly support the candidate that is on the ballot. I also feel like I’m being talked to like I’m the idiot that got it all wrong and one day I woke up and decided, “Hey, I’ll be a delegate.” Sometimes I feel like I’m smarter than most other people… if it was likely that I would be running the show as a precinct chair, I would have read up on it the weekend before and figured out what the heck I was doing.

LSAT Round 2

Despite the fact that I was extremely prepared, the LSAT didn’t go so well, so I canceled my scores and am now waiting to begin round 2 of studying.  Class starts up again on Saturday. *sigh*

It’s a huge pain in the ass, and I’ve had way too much time to think and doubt myself.  4 months is a really long break between tests, and I’m wishing they would administer them every month.

I will rally.  I have to rally.  I’ll be fine.   I think I need to get a personal trainer…  Any takers?

I’m Famous! Well, almost.

And too bad I didn’t think to change my name before I gave them permission. They asked to use this photo from my flickr website.

Schmap 

I F#$%@#$% hate the LSAT

*sigh*

That’s all I really have to say.