My Summer - Fiction, fiction, fiction. (And a little Queso.)

::crinkles nose:: I don't think the "Save as Draft" button works in blogger... I totally wrote this whole post, but decided to publish the thing about lemons, first. I go to my drafts, and it's gone. This has happened before and that was the only other time I tried to save a post. Anyhow, I just scanned some of my friend Xangas after (ironically... I probably should've gone and deleted my account right then and there, but alas, Xanga has cast its spell and there is no recovering me) reading Kurt's comments (kurtmckee.org - "Sorry Frederick") about how horrible it is that Xanga makes you join to post comments. Now, I'm feeling rather Xanagish, (So, I like went to the store today and it was fun. I wish I was cooler. I need some new stuff for my apartment. etc, etc, etc) but I'm going to attempt to recover and try to write something siginificant.

I have found that when I am given free time in my life, I surround myself in fiction. Books, movies, writing, TV (occassionally), etc. Look at my summer so far:

I've been spending some time with Josh getting Star Trek cultured. I've watched all of the movies (several I had not seen before) except for "First Contact" and "Insurrection," both of which I have seen before. He's even written some fanfiction and I've read one of his stories and started reading his book. I really enjoy Star Trek. However, I can't wait to watch episodes from the actual TV series. I did watch some of "Voyager" and "Deep Space Nine" and enjoyed them a great deal. It reminds me of Star Gate, which is one of my favorite television shows.

Josh has never seen the original Star Gate movie. I know! If you haven't seen it, go out and rent it. One of my favorite Sci Fi films ever. I am planning on spending the summer culturing Josh in Star Gate SG-1. I just found out that he has cable with access to the Sci Fi channel. This means I'm might exploit him to catch episodes from the eighth season which I have almost entirely missed. (Save for Jacob telling me a key point to the story line, which miffed me considerably.)

But my influence on Josh will not be limited to Star Gate. I absolutely intend on having him read some of Stephen Lawhead, Timothy Zahn, and Orson Scott Card. It's a heavy reading list, but well worth the effort. I just spoke to Elizabeth yesterday, I also plan on having her read Stephen Lawhead. Fortunately, the influence goes both ways, and Elizabeth will also be giving me some books to read.

She already exposed me to Garth Nix's "Sabriel," "Lirael," and "Abhorsen." Fantastic novels. And I just found out that Nix will be publishing an additional book to this series this summer. Rockin'. So, now I can wait for that as well as waiting for "Half-blooded Prince." Yes, all you Harry Potter fans out there just gasped slightly in anticipation and joy.

I actually just gave my mother those three books as well as "Shadow of the Giant" by Mr. Orson Scott Card. I'm absolutely stunned by his capacity to keep putting out books and books that I love. I've read like 15 of his books and they're all fantastic. He also has a really interesting website (ornery.org) where he states his opinions about current events. I don't always agree, but it is interesting to note his perspective after reading some of his books. Anyway, I just finished reading "Shadow of the Giant" and it was fantastic. Actually, I cried a little at the end of it. One of the few books I actually cried while reading. If you haven't read "Ender's Game," please step away from the computer and read it right now. Without a doubt, one of the best novels ever.

I actually just read a review by Orson Scott Card about "Revenge of the Sith" (http://www.hatrack.com/revengeofthesith.shtml) and I have to say I do agree. The story is so good, but it is a pity George Lucas can't write! But, no matter how bad the writing was, I still loved it. I waited eleven hours in line opening day for a movie I expected would only be mediocre. I was uniquely satisfied, though, seeing the end and I would probably see it again if someone invited me.

I love stories. If you know of a good story (TV, movie, books, or otherwise) let me know, 'cause that's what I'm going to be doing this summer when I'm not waitressing at El Chico.

Lemons Lining the Wall

I had a random memory today and I am determined not to forget it again. When I attend College of the Ozarks, I worked in the school cafeteria. It was extremely demanding work and in no way pleasant. I worked every weeknight from 4:00 to 8:30 (sometimes later) keeping the dining area clean. I also had to work a nine-hour shift every other Saturday morning. On Saturdays, though, I had to work in the dish room. I'm sure you have been in a cafeteria before and left your tray on one of those little conveyor belt things. In the room that the conveyor belt leads to is a series of washers: one who dumps the cup and flips it, another who throws away trash and extra food, one who washes of the plates, and another who loads everything into the machines. At the other end of the machine are a couple of people who stack the dishes and return them to the serving area.

It's absolutely disgusting work. They give you a plastic smock and plastic gloves, but you usually end up with food particles up and down your arms and on your face. And then your shoes and bottom part of your pants end up soaked from dishwater that has flooded over onto the floor. Also, the dish room reeks of rotting food in unknown locations. You learn to hate people who waste their food or leave messy trays. I worked the morning shift on Saturdays, so I had to be at work before 5:00 a.m. Because it was Saturday mornings, very few people actually went to the caf, so I was the only one they scheduled to be there until 11:00 a.m. Those six hours were painful. I was tired, because no one on God's green earth should have to wake up that early. And I was alone. A tray might come through every thirty minutes. I would quickly go through each process and then wait in exhausted silence until another tray came through. It was quite natural that I searched for ways to amuse myself. That's where the lemons came in.

Beside the drink machine (is there an actual title for that machine?) there was a bowl of lemons, sliced fresh every day to add to your drink. Most people would toss them into their drink and let it sit there until they set their tray on the dish line. As I dumped the drink into the dish line, there would be chunks of clear ice and a bright little slice of yellow. I had told people that lemons made me happy, but one day I decided that sending them down the garbage disposal immediately was a bad idea. So, I began lining them up on the edge of the dish line against the wall. My best friend was one of the two dish room employees to come in at 11:00 a.m. for lunch and every time she came in, we'd count the lemons from the morning. Of course, we'd continue to collect them during lunch until they completely lined the dish wall. It was great, too, because we had to clean the dish room after lunch, and so we'd clean everything but the lemons first. Then, we'd toss the lemons into the garbage disposal and so the stink of the food that had been washed down was replaced by the scent of lemons. It was happy to watch while we were washing and it left a pleasant smell for the people who came in for the dinner shift.

I remember talking to my manager at the end of the semester, and he thanked me for being so committed to my work. He said that the person who worked the opposite Saturday showed up late, never actually did the work, and then complained about having to do it. My manager was so appreciative that I not only did the work, but I chose to be happy doing it. Of course, for me, this gave me an intense sense of pride.

I promised myself I'd try to remember that, but it has faded with time. I think I remembered it because I'm trying to get a job at a restaurant and it made me thinking of my last position in food service. I am determined not to forget it again. It's a really fantastic lesson, I think. You've been waiting for the line, I'm sure: If life gives you lemons, line them up on the dish wall.

Spotted Landscape

I love driving the back way from Yukon to Norman. Fifty cents is a reasonable fee for the peace of mind that comes with avoiding I-40, I-44, I-240 and I-35. I was very happy to notice that most of my skin was no longer spotted. God bless steroids used in the correct fashion. When it is partly cloudy outside, the vast stretches of Oklahoma land is a mix of dark and light spots. Just looking at the growth that costs the state too much to mow down made me very happy. I have a sense of pride from the slight sun burn I bore from sitting in the sun for several hours waiting for Star Wars, which turned out to be a very fine end to that trilogy. I hope that my summer is filled with such simple joys.

There is nothing to do but be happy...

I bound into the urgent care center and giggle as I approach the counter. The nurse smiles and says, "Just fill out this form and--" she pauses and looks at my brother, "Oh, are you the one who's here to get treated?" The nurse behind her smiles and says, "Of course she's not sick. She's too happy to be sick." My head feels like my brain is about to burst out my ears, my throat feels like I swallowed a cheese-grater, and I itch from head to toe. How do I respond? I laugh.

April 21st is when I first started feeling sick. I think I must have just eaten something bad. My stomach hurt and I spent much of the night on the floor desperately trying to read my Astronomy textbook while my friends partied in the living room. The following Monday, my throat began hurting. Soon it was full on sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes, and coughing with a fever. The sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes, and fever went away after a few days, but the cough lingered well into the next week. My boyfriend broke up with me, which merely confused the matter. Was I not feeling well because I was actually sick or am I responding physically to the surprise of the break up? I waited as my cough continued to linger, but after a week I begin getting piercing headaches that make me so dizzy that I was forced to sit down in the middle of my shower. I go to the doctor and he tells me I have a sinus infection. He prescribes an antibiotic and tells me to take 4 Ibuprofen not to exceed 12 in a day. Well, I've been taking my antibiotic, and nothing has gotten better. I've been taking 12 Ibuprofen a day until Sunday. I stopped because I know that much medicine is bad for me, but the headaches return. I had planned on scheduling an appointment with my doctor, but on Monday night I noticed that I had been scratching my ankles frequently. I look down to find little red bumps all over my ankles. I walk into my brother's room and point at my ankles and ask, "What's that?" I then notice the bumps are all over my hands. I was hot, so I pulled my shirt up off my stomach for a moment while we were discussing possible problems and Nick says, "Uh, Jess, they're all over your stomach." Sure enough, the red bumps are spreading quickly up my arms, legs, and torso. I call my mom and she tells me to go to the urgent care center.

Which leaves me laughing at the nurse who believed I was too happy to be sick. I simply respond, "I have been sick for close to a month straight and when you've felt this way for that long, there is nothing to do but be happy." She smiled nervously at me and returned to her work while the other nurse continued to help me. Turns out I had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic. The new doctor prescribed a simple decongestant for my sinuses, and now my headaches are gone. I'm still covered in little red bumps that are very itchy, but the steroid he prescribed is making that situation better.

This has physically been one of the worst months in my life. Please pray that this is the end of my misery. I am in desperate need of healthy body.

What Kind of Influence are You on Jesi?

Wow, I woke up at 7:00 this morning with a piercing headache, sore throat, and body aches. Clearly sick and clearly not going back to sleep, I browsed the internet bored as hell. Then I came across this quiz site and saw I could create my own quiz. In my egoism, I wrote a quiz about how you influence me: http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=35300. Let me know how you score.

Yeah, I'm hot!

Today I was walking towards the Jenkin's Parking Lot when I passed by a group of construction workers and they whistled at me! One of them yelled out something like, "Hot as July!" I know that for the sake of respect to all women everywhere, I should be so mad and talk about the injustices of women only being seen as sex objects. But I'm kinda proud.

Do You Realize?

I was reading on of my brother's musical lyric away messages the other day. It was the song "Do You Realize?" by The Flaming Lips, which is without a doubt one of my favorite songs of all time. I came to my favorite part of the song, "You realize the sun doesn't go down/It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round." I like this line so much because I think that it communicates a desperately important part of life: don't be afraid of something simply because you don't understand it. The sun setting should be a terribly tragic part of life. Every night, the sun leaves us and we have no idea where it goes. The thing that gives life to the world, gives light that we can see, food to the plants that feed us, and warmth in the day goes away for hours. There is no guarantee it will return. Our expanding knowledge of the sun realizes that the sun never leaves us. It never goes away. The setting sun is just a part of the natural flow of the universe. It's an illusion caused by the rotation of earth. What a wonderfully hopeful idea! Even in the darkness, we have hope that light is waiting for us on the other side. It's only hidden from us temporarily because that is the movement of life.

Anyhow, I just found that the PEZ my friend left here still has candy in it. I'm going to eat that and go to my Geography final.

Queso for the Children.

I'm devestated! My friend from Kansas just IMed me today and our conversation is as follows:

"Josh: yo..."queso" means cheese doesnt it?"
"Jesi: Oui."
"Josh: So you guys were driving around looking for "free cheese?""

::points frantically at her stunned face:: I know! Apparently he is unfamiliar with the idea that every good Mexican restaurant gives this cheese sauce substance with salsa at the beginning of the meal. I guess here in OKC we have it everywhere: Chelinos, Casa Pericos, La Luna, Alfredos, Las Fajitas, Ted's Cafe Escondido, etc., (please forgive me if I spelled any of those wrong) that it had not occured to me that there might be places in the world where this does not exist. You go to Abuelo's or Don Pablos and they make you buy it seperately. Granted, it's thicker and arguably better, but it's not served with the meal automatically. There is a recognition that queso is not automatically served. I'm saddened and I now feel a new sense of responsibility to insist that we make Queso available to all of God's children, in Kansas or elsewhere.

Call the Search Off.

It warmed up outside. But that sucker better not do that again or I will kill him myself! Drawned and quartered, quartered and drawn, drawned/quartered-whatever hurts, damn it!

Who Said This Was Okay?

Another morning under 50 degrees. It is May. This is Oklahoma. There is something seriously wrong. I really despise cold weather, but I specifically abhor it when it comes in times where it does not belong. I'm a rather level-headed person, but if it snowed in Florida in July, I might murder someone with no reason. Oklahoma is pushing it's luck. It's pushing me to more minor offenses, like snarling at strangers. I have been suffering from sickness that I believe was exacerbated by the weather than can't seem to decide what season it is. In some ways it is a blessing, because I've been too busy thinking about how I sound like an 85 year old man when I cough rather than who should die for this horrid weather. The cough, though, is fading.

If you find out who agreed to this weather indecision, please have them quartered and drawn. They are really encouraging unnatural behavior in respectable Oklahomans. All we want is to leisurely bitch about how hot it is, but ultimately we know it is our own fault for living here. If we wanted cold, we'd move north. Anger cannot arise, because we control our location on the map. But this cold? This is truly unjust.

Is this a Mexican restaurant?

So, I just had one of the worst weekends of my life. And the pain is dragging its way into this week, but I am determined to find joy in my hardship.

Sunday night, Cassidy drove me back to my apartment and said that she wanted to go eat Mexican food. We were both having boy issues and so we were going to try to sort out things together. I wanted Queso, and On the Border doesn't serve free Queso, so we want to go elsewhere. So, we hop in the car and head over to a Mexican restaurant I had heard of and it was closed. We then drive to another Mexican restaurant that we had been to before and climb out of car to go in.
"Is that a chain on the gate?" Cassidy asks. I nod my head. It was closed. We drive over to what I thought was a Mexican restaurant, and we run inside to find that they actually serve hamburgers, ribs, and the like. We cannot believe our luck and we just want to eat so we ask the waitress, "Where is the nearest Mexican restaurant." She names off the two we've already been to that were closed. She shrugged her shoulders and suggested we go to El Chico. I'm not a terribly big fan of El Chico, but I agree. As we are driving over there, we see Don Pablos.
"I think they have free queso," I say and so we drive on over. We sit down and I examine the other tables realizing that they do not have queso. I sigh and when the waiter asks us for our drink order I tell him, "Yes, and we also want an order of queso." The best queso I've ever paid for. But, seriously, what is wrong with Norman that it is so hard to find Mexican restaurants?

Ultimately it was just really awesome to hang out with Cassidy that evening and we have absolutely got to do that again.