it's gonna be a little quieter

so, a lot has happened in the past week. but i choose to view all of them as good things, despite what it may sound like. you know that saying, all things happen for a reason? well, i believe it. i, of all people, need lots of good reasons for everything. which is why it's OK that i no longer have a job. yes, i lost it - which makes me the fourth adult living in this house that has become unemployed within the last four months. we are a bunch of very intelligent, highly capable and qualified people without any jobs. i can't quite blame all of this on the economy, but it definitely played a part. so, where's the silver lining? well, we had to make a silver lining ourselves. johnny and i decided to put 110% of our effort into starting the business we have been thinking about for a while now. we have been brainstorming like crazy and made some moves in the past few days to get the ball rolling. and we are very excited. scared, but excited. is it completely insane to start a new business right now? or is it a smart move? will we be able to get financing or are banks scared to loan money to anyone right now? we shall see what the next couple of weeks holds for us, but we'll either make the business float or we'll be desperately searching for a new job. the stakes are pretty high but i'm willing to bet on us. if you're curious about what kind of business it may be, i'll give you a hint - it has to do with printed media :) wish us luck!

vote for me!

oh, there's so much to tell you....

but for right now, click on this link and vote for my design! You should make one for yourself, too!

**well, i wanted pictures to back this up but i have no working camera as of yet. my new one is still at nikon's service department and my crappy old one goes through batteries like a newborn goes through diapers. so, imagine if you will....

all last week johnny and my stepbrother have been building me a new front porch. yes, i was very excited because as you all know, my front porch was hideous (see below). the porch is now more or less done, waiting only for a few last embellishments, but let me tell you it is fabulous and i LOVE it. i want to spend all morning and evening out there. i have a place to perch and watch the neighborhood, hang out and chat, water my plants and enjoy other leisurely activities...



here is a progress shot from last tuesday. you can barely see the corner of the old porch to the right where it caught on fire last year. thank god i don't have to see that anymore...
here's what it looks like nearly completed:

as you can see, a vast improvement and i was very impressed with the workmanship. notice that the same day the deck was laid was Penelope's birthday. i have since then bought a bunch of plants and graded the area in front of the porch to create a path to my garden which (surprise again!) johnny built for me using the wood planks from the old porch. i can't wait to show you all of this but my stupid &$%# camera is dead.

and last but certainly not least - a small mystery worth remembering. at some point during the day last sunday while johnny and i were busy doing yardwork i noticed that Louie's whiskers were missing. yes. missing. at first, it was so strange i couldn't even wrap my mind around it so i spent the entire day questioning johnny and wondering out loud what the hell could Louie have gotten into that would cause all of his whiskers to disappear. well, they weren't entirely gone, but cut really really short. then i noticed his eyebrow whiskers were gone, too. in fact, every whisker in louies head was gone except for one lone whisker above his eye. he looked quite ridiculous and blissfully unaware of it.

i figured he may have gotten into the bathtub and was chewing on one of my razors? or perhaps they got singed off somehow? i can't even describe the frustration and sheer perplexity of wondering what happened to louie. although it was funny to watch him licking his chops and making weird faces. so after we finished doing yard work and were chillin' on the porch, i noticed that syrus had a few whiskers missing - but only a few... now that was truly weird because syrus is notoriously obsessive compulsive and would not allow anything to happen to his whiskers. i checked bibi's face - she was fine. so it was something that only syrus and louie could have gotten into. hhhmmm...

well, all i could do is wait for other members of the household to return home for questioning. i wasn't entirely convinced that johnny was innocent but i needed confirmation from B and my stepbrother. finally, late that night B comes home and sits next to me on the porch. we share the peace pipe and i started to ask her about the whiskers when johnny immediately went on the defensive before i could explain to B what happened. all she could do was laugh...and laugh...and laugh... she told me that SHE had "groomed" louie. he apparently needed a whisker cut. she said syrus wouldn't sit still for it. no shit.

i swear it was the funniest thing ever. you had to be there, i suppose... but what made it so funny is that this is the sort of trivial mischief that I would have done myself once upon a time... louie is just too easy to pick on. and only a mother would notice something like that... good one, B.

Dove Kills.

the good 'ol days

i thought i would post some pictures (yippee, photos!) of some models i built in school, just fyi. these are all 100% my design and fabrication. enjoy!

japanese "style" teahouse...







american dream house...



oatland island aquatic center...





mars labitat...







and here's a special treat for those of you who actually read this whole post... found on digg.com:

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

help me baby jesus

i have a migraine headache so bad it hurts to breathe and i have to do building code research. my vacation is so close i can almost smell salty air, and i am just about to say fukitol and leave. except i took marta to work today and i can't pickup my rental at the airport until after 5. wah. this afternoon is going to crawl by....

work, vacation, life!!

i should be pmsing right now, but for some reason i'm not. no, i'm not pregnant. it seems anytime i sneeze or get a funny look on my face people (my mom, mainly) ask me if i'm pregnant. i kind of think its rude, but i guess it's just a part of life. i am in very very good spirits lately, which is nice. maybe i notice it more because i have been tracking my mood everyday. suddenly things don't seem so bad. anyways, i'm happier at work because i have been busy. isn't that funny? the busier i am, the happier i am. well, i don't like being too busy for too long, but putting together a permit package of only about 10 sheets rather than 100 sheets is just right for me. i can handle that. i am actually looking forward to a nice vacation. before, going on a vacation would actually stress me out further - the planning, the money, the arrangements, all the stuff i would be missing or potential disasters that may occur in my absence. nope, none of that.

maybe its because its spring. there's more daylight, more enjoying the outdoors. i don't know, but i am grateful. i missed these feelings last year cause i was stuck in bed or in a wheelchair. it's a good thing that happened to me because now i can appreciate everything that much more.

i have about a dozen little side projects going on, too. i am helping my mom design, print, put together, and mail out her inauguration invitations. she also wants me to redesign a space as a lecture hall for her new position as president. i am also helping co-ordinate a baby not-shower but bbq for my dear friend V, who is having her first kid in may. i am so excited for her, and i am so happy to be witnessing all of it, i feel like i have been priviledged to be a part of her life during this awesome time. i need to sew that baby sling we bought fabric for and meanwhile i am making the arrangements for johnny and i to go on vacation in a couple of weekends to florida to get some R&R in the sun. i just finished designing the new NUUC sign for my boss, and now am designing the sanctuary for him. oh, and i am also trying to get the damn pines cut down and dealing with the shadiest tree cutter in town while simultaneously trying to get an estimate on the roof and finish cleaning, painting, and organizing the house for a potential month-long house guest. yea, so i'm pretty busy. but happily so.

ironically, by the time i get home all i can do is be a lazy ass and eat dinner and watch tv. i really need to get more exercise so i have more energy. today a co-worker and i are going to IKEA for lunch to power walk and have lunch. i just love those swedish meatballs.

oh, and did i mention that we are having a huge yard sale in april?

my boss

i have to say i have a very interesting relationship with my boss. no, not that kind of relationship. he is a very dynamic person. very intense. he can be extremely annoying yet amazingly understanding. his mind races so he speaks like he's on some kind of timer, trying to say as much as he can within a limit. on top of that, he really gets lost in these tangents and you end up forgetting what he was originally talking about. he does, too. in any case, him and i have a startling amount in common. he is very environmentally conscious, politically liberal, religiously liberal, and completely open about all of it. he does not hide very much. i really admire that. he talks to me about science, religion, politics, the environment, relationships, real estate, business, and everything in between. i think he knows more about me than my mother does at this point.

anyhow, he has introduced me to a whole new kind of church. its called unitarian universalist. i had never heard of it before, but the more he explained it to me, the more it sounded exactly like the kind of church i would actually want to go to. and believe me, i am the last person you would see voluntarily walking into a church. uua is a very open-minded organization. they are more about spirituality than preaching the word of any particular god or religion. before, the closest religion i identified myself to was pantheistic, of which i did not know of any physical church or anyone else who considered themself to be panthiestic also.

well, at uua i can be pantheistic, buddhist, christian, muslim, whatever and also have the sense of community that other religions share. and that's mostly what i want, to be a part of a community. to have someplace to go if i need a spiritual pick-me-up. i want a place to take my children to that will teach them tolerance and respect for nature. the congregation has these covenants to affirm and promote: the inherent worth and dignity of every person, justice, equity and compassion in human relations, acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth, a free and responsible search for truth and meaning, the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process, just to name a few... these are tenets i totally agree with, and they do not require worshipping a god.

an added bonus is that their church looks more like a hippie commune than a church. it's very welcoming and comfortable. my only problem is that it is in mt. vernon which is further away from my house than i normally venture. plus, i'm too lazy to go anywhere sundays, even though the service is at 10:30. but its an investment worth making because what if one day i really need the spiritual support that only a minister can provide and i have nobody to turn to? i have to build a relationship, not just knock on a door when i need it.

so, i'm really considering joining. i might be a "friend" of the congregation first, but i think this is as close as i am gonna get to having a religion.