Embedded or Dependent clause? that is the question

I just had an open note, open book exam in functional grammar. It sounds like that should be so easy, right? Open book, open note...

But when you’re allowed to bring your books and notes it’s normally cause they won’t help you much. It’s like being able to bring your formula book in math or physics, it helps cause you don’t have to memorize formulas and laws, but it’s not like it gives you the answer.

I think I did ok, but I don’t know if I got above ok.

Today it’s spring outside. In Swedish, spring means run. And in German, spring means jump. In Pocatello, spring means it’s kinda warm outside.

Call me, I won't be answering

Tonight I have to go to Crisis Line Training again. I feel bad that I think it’s so boring. I can see the point of me going through the training and all, but I will never be answering the Crisis Line. It’s just not for me. Does that mean I don’t care about people and don’t want to help those in need?

Maybe.

Or… Or it means that I don’t think I’m a good fit for that particular way of helping. If I call 911 I want somebody well suited to be a 911 operator to answer my call. Not somebody like me. I’m not somebody to lean on; I’m more of a leaner.
And I can just see myself walking onto a scene of domestic violence as a support advocate… poor, abused victim is going to take one look at me and be like
“what are you, twelve? I need some help here!”

Yeah, it’s not for me. Sorry.

Identification issues and lack of neon

Pocatello needs to get a Peppermill. And some excitement (other than trips to the ER). Vegas is just more spectacular, who would have guessed?

I caught Daisy drinking out of the toilette this morning. I don’t think she got the memo that she is in fact a cat. She doesn’t catch mice or birds or anything else that’s alive (she does however kick the shit out of my bras if I leave them on the floor), she doesn’t like cheese, she’s totally non-independent and also very, very clumsy. We love her deeply, but she’s pretty dumb.

Now I’m going to do some more drugs. Drugs are great.

on vegas time

Time doesn't exist in Vegas. The only time you have to know is when you're flight leaves and you have to go back to reality. In Vegas days turn into nights that morph into new days and the lines are as blurry as the millions of lights in the Sin City if you squint your eyes. We still haven't seen a show and I want to so I hope we get to that tomorrow. My favorites spots so far are the Peppermill, Caesar's Palace, Freemont street and the Volcano that erupts with drums and fire.

It's equally fun and sad. Vegas. Humanity at it's finest. Capitalism putting on a poker face and turning money around faster than the wheels of fortune. I would love to come back. Would hate living here.

in Vegas

Vegas delivered last night. Rain and wind. And fun. But we lost a lot of time on walking and waiting. Jake flies in tonight. Excited to see him, seems so long since his fifteen going away parties. But I have a feeling it will just be a few minutes (and by minutes I mean drinks) before it's just like he was never gone. Jake, Jake Snowflake.

Me an Bobby are going to check out an outlet mall today. Dylan is going to check out the hot tub. He doesn't like stores unless they are the thrifty kind. Right now Bobby is the shower and his phones are ringing off the hook. Mr busy. Mr Buisness. Mr Balloon. You have to have a safe word when in Vegas.

Today is also Kasper's birthday. Jennie's on Saturday. If I ever manage to attend one of those kiddo's b-days....well, it may get to their heads. Don't want that. I'll bring presents this summer. You can so buy love. Kid's love come to the cost of whatever their friends don't have but want.

says Lisa

This woman just called the office and asked for Lisa. So I was like “there’s no Lisa here” but she insisted and said she wanted to talk to Lisa who was always in charge of Event X.
And I again said there’s no Lisa here, but admitted that there probably was at one point, only I was new and didn’t know for sure. Then she wanted to know who was in charge of Event X this year and I said I was.
“So who are you?!?”
Loud, demanding, not very nice voice.
I said I was Åsa.
“Spell it for me!”
Eh.. ok. O-S-A (makes it easier and less confusing for them, most of the time anyways…)

“Well then, Lisa, let me tell you…” and she goes off on this rampage about how we always use her company for our event shirts and how we are late in ordering them for this year etc etc.

What a pleasant lady. First she (deliberately?) calls me by the wrong name, then she tells me how to do my job and then she wants me to do business with her.
Hmmm, yeah I don’t think so.
Plus I just had a meeting with a different company this morning about event shirts. They weren’t exactly spoon feeding me cake, but they were a lot nicer to deal with. Imagine that.

Dear Lady,
You are rude. Rude is bad for business.
Love,
Lisa

Vegas up in the air

Nothing like coming to work on a Monday knowing you only have to work two days. Our Vegas plans are still real fuzzy. There might be two of us going. Or five. Or anywhere in between. We kind of just decided not to worry about it before we know what it is we’re supposed to worry about. It would be so much fun to go with a group though, so I hope it works out that way.

Grey skies over Pokey, campus is just as dead as you’d expect it to be on spring break and I just can’t wait to go on vacation.

snow day

It’s pretty crazy how it can be fairly sunny and nice in Pocatello and still be snowing like mad at Pebble. “That’s Idaho for ya” like Dylan always says. If I could get one turd to disappear from our lawn every time he says that we’d have a shit free view from our window.

This might have been one of the heaviest snow days we’ve gone in this season. We made it kind of a short day, but it was nice to get out there still.

Now there’s basket ball on the TV, no home work being done (in spite of the need for that to happen) wet socks and stocking caps drying by the heater and birthday wishes being sent out on facebook. I wish I had a sauna. Or a hot tub, that would work too.

Today Fat Black walked into our kitchen. Just a few steps and then she turned around, but still. She lets us pet her all the time now and basically lives on our front steps. I gave her food last night, which I don’t know if that’s the best idea…. But I figure as long as I don’t do it all the time or too regularly, it’ll be ok.

March madness is on. I don’t really care for it, but I don’t mind it either, it’s not like it’s football.

Java with a touch of spice

Whoever thought of cinnamon flavored coffee? Brilliant! You crazy freak. Sounds so gross but tastes so good. Just like banana/curry/pineapple pizza or dark chocolate with sea salt. Mmm.

Jimmy Fallon just got his own Ben & Jerry flavor. I wonder if they get an input or if it’s just like “hey, we’re gonna launch this new ice cream flavor and wanna name it after you, sound good?”
Did Jimmy Fallon think vanilla ice cream with salty caramel swirls and fudge covered potato chips sounded delish? Or did a professional crack that idea?
Sounds gross either way. Just curious.

rainy days and fat strays

Ah, Monday. Rain and grey skies. Today I’m looking forward to my favorite fitness class and… well, actually that’s it. But at least it’s something.

Work wise I have about a million surveys from last week to enter into the computer. Pretty sure a chimp could do it just as fast (probably even faster since it wouldn’t get distracted by random stuff on the internet) but after last week’s craze, it’s actually pretty nice to not be using my head much.

Daisy’s new best friend is starting to more and more treat our house as hers. I don’t want to get her used to being let inside though, because when we leave this summer and stuff… I don’t want her to sit on our porch and wonder why we deserted her. It’s a nice cat though. We obviously don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl, we just call it Fat Black (as supposed to Skinny Black who also sneaks around our house but is way shy and never lets anybody come too close) and give it some TLC whenever it comes around.

I swear there are more Sundays than Saturdays

Day light saving saved me from a good portion of this day. We slept in late and then went for a long walk. Just strolling in the sun and (as always) dreaming about moving across the railroad tracks. Dylan really wanted to try a new restaurant for lunch. Unfortunately he didn’t want to eat at a church, but that’s really all that’s open on a Sunday in Pocatello. We finally ended up at JimmyJohns.

And now, some unsuccessful shoe shopping later, I still haven’t started my homework. Dylan started his, but just barely and now he’s sleeping in the rocking chair. Another unproductive Sunday to the history books.

At lunch today...

-So what all here is vegetarian?
-Oh, it all is. Well...I guess the chili isn't...but the rest is!
-Ok! so what's this?
-That's beef stew.
-Right...

Also not impressive was the lunch speaker. She went on and on about about offensive pop lyrics about women and all I could think was "I've heard this before. So many times, in so many forms....Somebody please tell me something new already!"

But there has also been some real strong speakers today. I've learned a lot about drag and that culture. Truly fascinating. And then right before we broke for dinner was a girl presenting a paper on rape, her own rape. She had a real hard time not crying and it was real emotional just listening to her.

And now we have another 45 minutes before the key note speaker. I hope we get a good turn out and I hope she is as good as they say.

outvoted outfit

Dylan gets this look on his face sometimes. And when he does, there’s no need for words. The looks says “you look absolutely ridiculous in those clothes” and I got it today. So I guess I won’t be sporting that outfit again any time soon. Not that I was too happy with it either, but I didn’t think it was that awful.

In my defence though, I got dressed while I was practically still asleep. This week is packed fuller with events than an over ambitious birthday party. But just one and a half day more now; after the brunch thingy on Saturday it is over.

I should go to bed. But before I do, I guess I should figure out what I’m wearing tomorrow.

Yay for Women

International Women’s Day today. I just want this week to be over. Women and all. It’s just too packed to be enjoyable. I slept like crap last night. And, yeah. No, I’ll tell you later. Now it’s just work.

Slacker Sunday

I slept till 1:30 today. That’s insane, I never sleep that late. Actually, I’ve slept till 4:30 once but that was in Chile where time is twisted and it’s normal to stay out till 7:30 in the morning.
Bobby’s party was fun and I’d be willing to guess most of the attendees stayed in bed pretty late this morning. I have some homework to do, but luckily nothing too challenging.

slacker afternoon

I’m having one of those “I really want to work and be productive but someone kidnapped my brain so I can’t” kind of afternoons. I keep sneaking out into the office library where we have our mini-fridge and microwave and grab soda and man fists of nuts (left over from our focus groups meetings last week, we don’t always have a supply of soda and nuts… thank god!)

We’re getting stuff ready for the conference next week. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like a lot, but at the same time it is. Just one when you finished one project, ten more pop up.

I finished one poster since I came back from class. Two more to go. Go, go! I think I need another glass of soda, though. Those nuts are salty.

Ingen fara

Today I was asked about my Swedishness in one of my classes. Not out of the blue, we were on the topic of cultural acquisition and personal identification. But so my teacher asked how I felt about my being Swedish, whether I lost a little bit of it every day being in America. And it seemed like she, and the other students in the class, thought I would. It was weird. Cause no, no, no. My Swedishness is doing great, thanks for asking.