Stars

WTF? I look on my blog today and see stars at the bottom. If I wanted to be rated, then all I have to do is look at the comments. Or lack thereof.

Yeah, so it seems I've hit a bit of a dry spell on the ol' blog. I've tried, but lately, like Cara, I've just not been feeling it. Not much purpose to it now...well, I guess for Wiley there is, if he'd ever write (um, yeah, Wiley, I'm calling you out again, but you won't check this before you go to Zvornik again). But not for me. I like reading others' blogs back in KC, but can I go to the Blogger Happy Hour? Not so much. New job doesn't allow for much vacation time. Not one for spouting off on the new job - I don't really like to do that. I get to learn new words and remember the ones I'd forgotten, like thrombocytopenia. I really am quite clueless when it comes to typing motions and filing stuff with the court because I never dealt with them in my old job, so I'm constantly asking questions, and so far, they haven't rolled their eyes or given me the "haven't you figured any of this out on your own yet?" look. I haven't yet found Bloomington blogs....Indy has quite a few of them, and I even emailed them to ask them if they knew people an hour away, and they didn't. Sigh. Spyder posted an article about how some people blog as a form of therapy, and I agree that it can be, though it can be Debbie Downer if you're hoping for feedback and get none. Wedding plans are coming along nicely. I finally have a baker for the most important piece of food at a wedding, the cake. (You knew it was cake, if you've been reading my blog at all.) So, there's a bit of listlessness going on here. The jellyfish feeling is back, where I just lilt along the water and see where the tide takes me. And I hate it. What's the point of it all?

Guh-Rumpy

Today was turning out to be such a great day, and then Wiley dropped the bomb: the person who had offered their bedroom to us and the cats for the month of August mentioned it to her roommate, who decided she didn't feel comfortable having a man in the house. So I went from being elated to being super grouchy in 2.2 seconds. It was all too perfect, so of course the bottom would fall out. So now the quest begins again for housing for the month of August, not so much for us because we can live in a tent, but for the cats, who have higher standards.

grumble grumble grumble.

Sunful

Why is it that legs won't tan but arms will burn? I was out for not even an hour, and I have a nice pink on my arms, but my legs have nothing. They are stark white.

This stinks.

Pocitelj

Melinda has called me out! Before last week I hadn’t posted because my life is boring. I write, I read, I research! The last week has been much more eventful. I spent Sunday through Tuesday in Zvornik attempting to figure out what is going on there and from Thursday through today I had the pleasure of a visitor from Austria. The pictures from Ulli’s visit can be found here. I’ve included a few of Ulli’s pictures as well as more of mine. Most of the pictures are from our trip to Pocitelj, a well-reconstructed ottoman fortress town built to defend Hercegovina from invaders from the sea. The trip with Ulli went off without a hitch, with the minor exception of the Bosnian museums, which were closed for the holiday weekend (May Day). This is the second time I’ve tried to go to that museum, but I’ve been thwarted both times. They seem to be open for about 4 hours a day on days when most people can’t visit them.

My trip to Zvornik was much more interesting and challenging(pictures here). Zvornik is a fortress city on the Drina River, which now forms much of the border between Bosnia and Serbia. During the war in the early ‘90s, Zvornik was the location of a well-known ethnic cleansing operation carried out by some of the more infamous practitioners of the crime. My adventures in Zvornik had little to do with the cities recent history and much more to the difficult economic situation in which the city (and most of the region) now finds itself. Here are the highlights in chronological order:

1) Sharing the highway to Zvornik with livestock. Apparently Orthodox Easter is “let your cows, sheep and horses wander on the highway” day.

2) Staying in a “class B” hotel. I’m fairly certain that I was the only person staying in the hotel. It was in a great location on top of a hill overlooking the river. The non-functioning television and warm water weren’t so great. When I asked if there was a way to use the internet, the guy pulled the cord out of the back of the phone and informed me that I would pay 12 cents a “pulse”. I just had to “do what I usually do” to get on the internet. I’m guessing I was supposed to use a dialup connection no one has anymore.

3) The mobile phone “beep of death”. I’d loaded my pre-pay cell phone with plenty of cash so that I could keep in touch with Melinda and meet my contacts. Since I’m still in Bosnia, it shouldn’t cost me anything to receive calls. Imagine my surprise when after talking to Melinda for only 10 minutes I hear the beep that means my phone is out of cash. It turns out that my phone was connected to a tower in Serbia despite the fact that I was still in Bosnia. So, I was roaming. Lesson learned.

4) Trying to get work done on holidays. I found out too late that Orthodox is a four day holiday in Republika Srpska.

5) The old woman on the bus who told me her life story for 45 minutes before she realized that I’m a foreigner and only understood half of what she was telling me (partly because of the language and partly because of the engine noise from the bus). 45 minutes of answering her own questions. I tried to answer… but my answers didn’t seem to interest her.

A Word.

I ran some errands today, on Commencement Day. I drove through the university, and along my way, I saw students in their caps and gowns. Some were black; some were red with black stripes. There were parents walking with their children, couples holding hands with the wind blowing their gowns behind them. Today is a day of freedom for many students. Indiana U has about 40,000 of them, and while many will go home for the summer, many will not return. They are on their way to bigger and brighter things. It dawned on me today that a year from now, Wiley will be one of those on his way; that if he chooses, he will don the cap and gown, and we will join with friends, family, and thousands of other people to celebrate this happy occasion in the lives of our loved ones.

Today's graduates are confident and have the electronic wonders of the world at their fingertips. Better yet, most of them know how to use them, which helps in the "real world". Sure, on some things, they will be clueless until they get that job. College, unfortunately, does not teach you everything. You learn about history, about current events, about marketing, finance, how to sight-read, psychology, criminal justice, philosophy, how to swing a tennis racket or how to figure out your VO2 max. Some of this will help you, and some of it will be forgotten. Actually, according to my last job, we forget 75% of the things we are taught a mere three weeks later. Don't fret that you don't know everything, Graduate; you're not supposed to. Sure, people tell you you're supposed to have everything all figured out now that you're 22 and done with school, but life is a learning process that doesn't end when you leave the doors of your favorite (or least favorite) building. Keep an open mind to the situations you will encounter. Learn what you can and forget the piddly bullshyt. Do not get caught up in the rat race, and please don't compare yourself to your peers. You are setting yourself up for disappointment. Find your own inner compass, find what makes you happy, and go do it. Don't listen to the family members that tell you your chosen profession won't make any money. Let it go when your friend brags about their salary, which is double yours. There are more important things than money. Yes, you have to pay your bills, but do you need a Lexus SUV? Could you get by with something a little less flashy and more reliable? That's affirm. Get the job you want, get the shelter where you're safe and pets are accepted, make sure you can pay your bills and can save for retirement while at the same time spending some of that cash on a little fun. (I've found that living the 50-30-20 rule worked well for me in my previous life, where 50% of your monthly income is spent on bills, 30% is yours to spend, and 20% is to be put into savings for retirement.) Live simply so that you may simply live. Don't be afraid to try new things. Sometimes you surprise yourself when you try something - you may find that not only do you like it, but you're good at it. This new thing could be the start of a hobby or maybe someday a new profession. A friend of mine liked the Native American flute, so he bought one, and then decided he wanted to make them himself. He now has a very nice little business making flutes, and professional artists are using his product. But he just kinda stumbled into it. When you and your friends drift apart, you have a decision to make: try a little harder to remain in their lives, or let them go, and be glad you knew them for the period you did. Friendships come and go, and it's up to you to decide how much effort you're going to put forth to keep them going. Remain honest with everyone. Nobody is a mind-reader, and sometimes you really have to spell things out in order to get someone to see what it is you're trying to say. That's ok. I guess in this long list of what to do, it comes down to this: be true to yourself. Always. And enjoy the journey. Congratulations, graduates of 2008!!

Wiley, Time to Write

You tell me you have this research to do, but you also need to be writing here! How about plugging your trip to Zvornik? (Peeps: look for the link to the right if you want to see a bare-bones view of Sserbia.) If you don't start writing, I'm shutting us down!

Rallying the Troops

Tonight, my friends called me up and asked if I wanted to go with them to the Obama rally here in Bloomington. As I'd never attended a rally, I thought it would be good if I go. Doors opened at 6:30 for an 8:30 start, but we decided to leave home at 8:30 and avoid the crowd. It turned out to be a great choice. The Secret Service said I was not a threat, and neither was my purse. Barron Hill came out to try and pump up the crowd, and then Obama came out with his rolled-up white shirt and black pants. That was really all I could see because we were in the middle nosebleed section, except that I think he's got large feet.

Obama can be a very charismatic speaker. However, I learned that he's not big into details. For example, he tried to tell us to get out and vote on Tuesday, but he flubbed up the time. It seemed that he didn't read the sheet before and said "uh" a lot. That's not the image you regularly see on TV, so it surprised me he wasn't quite so polished. But then he was when he started describing Everyfamily that has their share of problems, such as being sent to Iraq with a baby on the way and not having health insurance and not having a job. He had a lot of ideas, but he didn't back anything up with proof of a plan. One minute, we're spending $10 billion a day, the next we're spending $100 billion a month on the war. He wants students to get a $4000 credit so they can afford college by doing community service, but he didn't really outline any sort of plan. So at this stage of the game, there's a lot of marketing, but the product is still a little fuzzy. I will say that he didn't attack Hillary much. He said that they have differences, which pale in comparison to the differences between Dems and McCain, and that the Dems will be united come November. After 45 minutes of hearing his speech, we decided to leave and go to Tutto Bene for some drink and conversation. A friend is driving to Nebraska tomorrow - I told them how to find the cheese curds. Another's parents from Germany were in town - I asked them how their flight was in German, but that was about all I could squeak out. My brain just wasn't working. I might have a part-time gig setting up an office for a rental business that's taking off. All in all, a good night, but oh goodness, morning is going to come too early, so I'm hauling my azz off to bed.