![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Oh geez... Rather than launch directly into a bitch-fest, I'll share a couple of pics first.
Ok...so that's the happy. Here's the unhappy.
Yeah. It's character-building time.
In other news: I am SO glad I'm not a teenager. So. Glad. Really. Just look at Charlotte's face on the morning of her first day at school.
That look says it all, really.
Happier by the second day though. Too busy to pause, with a phone plugged into her ear.
Picture day. I thought her hair looked so cute.
So the social games begin anew. There has already been a small amount of drama. Into every EmoKid's life, some rain must fall. Hand. Staple. Forehead. Tomorrow is "hazing day", which is a barbaric thing that never happened to me in high school (oh no...I just got beaten by barren old Franciscan nuns who hated children. Very different thing, that.)...Char's already planning to bring shampoo & a change of clothes. In case of eggs. *eyeroll* See what I mean? In retrospect, dead cars & dead AC units are much preferable to being 14.
I'm off to take a nap (was up all night working on some pretty neat custom masks...pictures soon). Hopefully, nothing else will break while I am off duty.
Some of my very neat San Francisco swag.
That's my seal! Isn't it neat? It's made of some kind of stone...the craftsman hand-carved those characters while I waited. "Ahn-shi-rah"...I don't know what those characters actually mean but phonetically it sounds like my name. I picked that stone seal because it has a snake on it, & I'm the year of the snake according to the Chinese zodiac. Funny thing; my other astrological sign is Scorpio & the description of that sign is almost identical to that of the Snake. Weird, huh? No matter which culture you look at, astrologically speaking I'm supposed to be vain, beautiful, high-tempered & artistic.
I like the look of the seal...I think the characters balance well. Isn't that going to look neat stamped on my next piece of artwork? It makes me want to do a ukiyo-e version of Sesshoumaru, just so I can sign it.
Speaking of ukiyo-e...
This book is extremely cool & VERY HEAVY. I do not recommend hauling a 25 pound art book halfway across San Francisco, if you are on foot. I got this at the gift shop of the Asian Art Museum (found the seal-making guy there too).
That's my seal! Isn't it neat? It's made of some kind of stone...the craftsman hand-carved those characters while I waited. "Ahn-shi-rah"...I don't know what those characters actually mean but phonetically it sounds like my name. I picked that stone seal because it has a snake on it, & I'm the year of the snake according to the Chinese zodiac. Funny thing; my other astrological sign is Scorpio & the description of that sign is almost identical to that of the Snake. Weird, huh? No matter which culture you look at, astrologically speaking I'm supposed to be vain, beautiful, high-tempered & artistic.
I like the look of the seal...I think the characters balance well. Isn't that going to look neat stamped on my next piece of artwork? It makes me want to do a ukiyo-e version of Sesshoumaru, just so I can sign it.
Speaking of ukiyo-e...
This book is extremely cool & VERY HEAVY. I do not recommend hauling a 25 pound art book halfway across San Francisco, if you are on foot. I got this at the gift shop of the Asian Art Museum (found the seal-making guy there too).
Ok...so that's the happy. Here's the unhappy.
I hung around the house all day yesterday because I had a repairman over to fix our air conditioner. It's a big outdoor Lennox that is usually trouble free, but for some reason it stopped working & it is HOT here right now. 90 yesterday, 93 today. So! It turned out to be a fried wire, which was actually not a bad fix. He re-did some other connections as a safeguard & the compressor is working just fine. About 200 dollars & I was pretty happy about that because I felt like I got off cheap (visions of replacing the entire unit were dancing in my head).
As I said it is HOT and I waited until 5 pm to go for my bike ride. I also waited for Greg to get home first, so I could tell him to cut the lawn please (which is dry-dead & yet somehow still shaggy...we haven't cut it all summer). Loaded the bike onto the rack, got my water & my I-pod & headed out to the island for my favorite trail. As I pull into the toll for the bridge, the car just dies. Dead. Nothing, like a switch was turned off. No gasping or sputtering or hitching, just...dead. Electrical was fine...the radio was still on & all the lights were undimmed (so no, it's not the alternator). I have no idea, short of a blown fuse, what can kill a car like that with no warning. A fuel line problem would sputter & give you SOME kind of warning. The engine didn't over heat. *shrug* I'm baffled.
Anyway, there I am, dead at the toll during rush hour. I look at the lady who takes your change for the bridge & say "My car just died. Call for a tow & shut down this lane...ok?" She just looks at me like she's the dullest, dimmest toll taker on the planet (this is entirely possible). I repeat myself, & still, no response. I consider that perhaps she's having a petit mal seizure. Fortunately the guy behind me comes to my rescue & pushes my car while I steer it to the side of the road.
So there I am with a dead car at the foot of the bridge. A tow truck showed up eventually (pretty fast really...rush hour must continue to rush, after all), & he gives me a tow to my mechanic who is fortunately right nearby. He actually offers me a ride home (which is dumb, as my bike is clearly strapped to the car), and also hits on me & asks for my number. Some might be offended...some might be flattered. I'm pretty neutral really 'cause frankly all I'm thinking about is my dead car. I'm also a little floored by the hypocrisy of it all, as I'm quite certain that he wouldn't have asked for my number 40 pounds ago. *shrug* Plus, my rings are plain to see. But then, so was my bike.
So, I leave the keys in the drop box with a note for my mechanic ("Mike!! My car DIED! On the BRIDGE! I don't know why. Call me so we can discuss my stupid car"), & off I go on my bike.
Riding on a nice, smooth trail for 10 to 15 miles is something I do almost every day. Mike's garage is about ten miles from my house. Ten miles on busy streets during rush hour is NOTHING like my usual ride. I didn't listen to my I-pod or keep track of my heart rate. Instead I was concerned with things like not getting killed, & avoiding monster potholes & broken glass. Also, it's really fun, getting up close & personal with all the well-aged roadkill one finds at the side of a busy four-lane highway. The 90 degree heat only added to the joy. It was...special.
Still I was pleased with myself for being so resourceful. I had no option really...I left my cell phone AT HOME & besides, no one else has a bike rack on their car.
When I finally pulled into my driveway, I note that Greg still has not cut the lawn. I walk in & the conversation goes like this:
ME: "I see the lawn isn't cut."
HIM: *irritable...playing a computer game* "Yes yes. That's right. I didn't cut the lawn."
ME: "Well. My car died on the bridge. I had to get a tow to Mike's, & the tow dude hit on me. It's a hundred degrees out there & I nearly got killed twice on Military Road. And it's uphill all the way here from Mike's."
HIM: "...."
ME: *fuming* *sweating*
HIM: "I think I'll go cut that lawn now."
The lawn is cut, the AC is working again, but my car is still mysteriously dead. I probably (almost certainly) won't have it all weekend. I guess I should be glad I wasn't actually driving on the bridge when it died (there is no way that scenario would have had a happy ending, as it is a tiny two-lane bridge with no shoulder). So, I suppose it could have gone much worse. Also, I have AAA, which means I didn't have to pay to get towed (or hit upon), which would have just added insult to injury.
As I said it is HOT and I waited until 5 pm to go for my bike ride. I also waited for Greg to get home first, so I could tell him to cut the lawn please (which is dry-dead & yet somehow still shaggy...we haven't cut it all summer). Loaded the bike onto the rack, got my water & my I-pod & headed out to the island for my favorite trail. As I pull into the toll for the bridge, the car just dies. Dead. Nothing, like a switch was turned off. No gasping or sputtering or hitching, just...dead. Electrical was fine...the radio was still on & all the lights were undimmed (so no, it's not the alternator). I have no idea, short of a blown fuse, what can kill a car like that with no warning. A fuel line problem would sputter & give you SOME kind of warning. The engine didn't over heat. *shrug* I'm baffled.
Anyway, there I am, dead at the toll during rush hour. I look at the lady who takes your change for the bridge & say "My car just died. Call for a tow & shut down this lane...ok?" She just looks at me like she's the dullest, dimmest toll taker on the planet (this is entirely possible). I repeat myself, & still, no response. I consider that perhaps she's having a petit mal seizure. Fortunately the guy behind me comes to my rescue & pushes my car while I steer it to the side of the road.
So there I am with a dead car at the foot of the bridge. A tow truck showed up eventually (pretty fast really...rush hour must continue to rush, after all), & he gives me a tow to my mechanic who is fortunately right nearby. He actually offers me a ride home (which is dumb, as my bike is clearly strapped to the car), and also hits on me & asks for my number. Some might be offended...some might be flattered. I'm pretty neutral really 'cause frankly all I'm thinking about is my dead car. I'm also a little floored by the hypocrisy of it all, as I'm quite certain that he wouldn't have asked for my number 40 pounds ago. *shrug* Plus, my rings are plain to see. But then, so was my bike.
So, I leave the keys in the drop box with a note for my mechanic ("Mike!! My car DIED! On the BRIDGE! I don't know why. Call me so we can discuss my stupid car"), & off I go on my bike.
Riding on a nice, smooth trail for 10 to 15 miles is something I do almost every day. Mike's garage is about ten miles from my house. Ten miles on busy streets during rush hour is NOTHING like my usual ride. I didn't listen to my I-pod or keep track of my heart rate. Instead I was concerned with things like not getting killed, & avoiding monster potholes & broken glass. Also, it's really fun, getting up close & personal with all the well-aged roadkill one finds at the side of a busy four-lane highway. The 90 degree heat only added to the joy. It was...special.
Still I was pleased with myself for being so resourceful. I had no option really...I left my cell phone AT HOME & besides, no one else has a bike rack on their car.
When I finally pulled into my driveway, I note that Greg still has not cut the lawn. I walk in & the conversation goes like this:
ME: "I see the lawn isn't cut."
HIM: *irritable...playing a computer game* "Yes yes. That's right. I didn't cut the lawn."
ME: "Well. My car died on the bridge. I had to get a tow to Mike's, & the tow dude hit on me. It's a hundred degrees out there & I nearly got killed twice on Military Road. And it's uphill all the way here from Mike's."
HIM: "...."
ME: *fuming* *sweating*
HIM: "I think I'll go cut that lawn now."
The lawn is cut, the AC is working again, but my car is still mysteriously dead. I probably (almost certainly) won't have it all weekend. I guess I should be glad I wasn't actually driving on the bridge when it died (there is no way that scenario would have had a happy ending, as it is a tiny two-lane bridge with no shoulder). So, I suppose it could have gone much worse. Also, I have AAA, which means I didn't have to pay to get towed (or hit upon), which would have just added insult to injury.
Yeah. It's character-building time.
In other news: I am SO glad I'm not a teenager. So. Glad. Really. Just look at Charlotte's face on the morning of her first day at school.
That look says it all, really.Happier by the second day though. Too busy to pause, with a phone plugged into her ear.
Picture day. I thought her hair looked so cute.So the social games begin anew. There has already been a small amount of drama. Into every EmoKid's life, some rain must fall. Hand. Staple. Forehead. Tomorrow is "hazing day", which is a barbaric thing that never happened to me in high school (oh no...I just got beaten by barren old Franciscan nuns who hated children. Very different thing, that.)...Char's already planning to bring shampoo & a change of clothes. In case of eggs. *eyeroll* See what I mean? In retrospect, dead cars & dead AC units are much preferable to being 14.
I'm off to take a nap (was up all night working on some pretty neat custom masks...pictures soon). Hopefully, nothing else will break while I am off duty.
