So it's a lazy Friday afternoon at work, as I've just spent two hours working on a pie chart that will potentially be put here. (The first one is a bit confusing in its labeling.)
I'm playing Texas Hold 'Em on Yahoo! Games and chatting with Christine and Asma. In my supervisor's office. AARP is lame in that they disable administrator rights on everyone's computer. This means I can't install AIM or my favorite text editor without having someone from the IT department install things for me.
On top of that, the office I'm working in (which belongs to a lady that's out for a few weeks due to some surgery), has the computer ergonomics set up uncomfortably. The monitor is also harsh on my eyes, and makes me dislike computers.
On top of that, the work I'm supposed to be doing is pushed back a couple of weeks (if not more), so I haven't been doing much overall. It's a slow death. Things will pick up, hopefully.
I had my first hookah last night with Asma, after first watching Persepolis Recreated (something like that) on campus; the graphics were a bit tacky, and it oozed a tacky academia-produced documentary vibe, but it was sort of interesting.
That was followd by Afghani food, which was delicious. They had pakora! For those not in the know, it's vegetable dipped in batter then deep-fried. I love how my mom makes it. This place was also good (spicier), but it wasn't fresh.
Then hookah, with rose-flavored tobacco. I learned last night that hookahs are not to be smoked too fast, especially not when the intake is large. Unless one wants to feel sick and uneasy. It's fun before that.
Can't do another night like that, though. Too Persian/Arab for me; I don't want to be on the FBI watch list (1ol). Who has ideas for a Bangladeshi night? Ryan, Derek?
Time to leave work!
tempestinateacup: The new Cleveland Park California Tortilla, located at 3501 Connecticut Avenue, is giving away a Free Burrito and Soda to everyone at our Grand Opening on Monday, November 1st from 11am-2pm and 5pm-8pm!* (And if I were you, I'd get the Blackened Chicken Caesar Burrito, the Crunchy BBQ Ranch or the Honey Lime. So darn good
express kaiser: =-O=-O=-O=-O=-O=-O=-O=-O=-O=-O=-O=-O=-O=-O=-O=-O=-O=-O
tempestinateacup: heee dinner?
express kaiser: yeah!
tempestinateacup: yay
Dear Everyone,
Due to no time, sheer laziness, or lack of creative motivation, the updates have all but died. Your comments and impatience are much appreciated; I am honored for your loyalty.
I'm not sure how long this will be, so I'll start with the biggest news first and see where my writing momentum takes me.
[edit] This will be long.
A hobo's life
Fear not for my debt, because I now have two jobs!
One of them is part-time at Antharia doing mostly programming sort of things thus far (I only started on Wednesday). Once my full-time gets going, I'll be at Antharia one day a week and telecommute the rest of my work.
The other job I got through Aquent. I'll be working at AARP this Tuesday, and that will go no later than December 31. I've already been told that the lady that hired me thinks I'll be useful for another project (the current one is just me mostly proofreading HTML; the new one would involve actual coding).
I will start to feel less of a burden from my financial woes now and actually pay much more than the minimum payments. Gotta get my record clear from the debt police.
Shirin's fiasco
Roughly two weeks ago (October 13) Shirin was running about Asma's apartment. When it was time to put her back in the cage, she kinda wedged herself behind the dresser. So, we pulled the dresser away from the wall to get her to fall. In the process, an old ventilation grating (located on the wall and touching the floor) was knocked loose, but no attention was paid.
The next night, after a fairly long day, Asma and I were enjoying a yummy baked pasta-thing dinner and some Woodchucks as Shirin did her nightly ritual of scurrying around and hiding under the sofa and dresser.
As we were ready to call it a night, I went to the bathroom to poop and heard a disheartening sound. And it wasn't something I did.
No, what I heard was a chinchilla making a distress bark behind me, in the walls, from the sound of it. But that made absolutely no sense. I tried listening more closely, and heard the barking two more times, though not nearly as loud as the first. I tried to convince myself that it was just a dog outside.
As soon as I finished my poop, I began looking for Shirin in every conceivable hiding spot but had no luck in finding her. So I stood near the dresser, exchanging confused glances with Asma, when I noticed the open vent.
Oh shit.
The worrying set in, and we tried to locate Shirin. We could hear making noise above the bathroom. In the closet adjacent to the bathroom, I brought a chair in and moved aside the ceiling tiles, hoping to get a peak of her. Unfortunately, there was a wooden beam separating the bathroom and closet. I tried calling out to her, and she seemed to respond by moving around, but I had no idea where exactly she was.
She stopped moving around, and we were clueless on what to do next. So we went to sleep, scared that she'd be trapped in the ventilation system.
The next day, I managed to find the number of a lady who routinely rescued squirrels (Asma lives in an old, hippy sort of area). She didn't have experience with heating systems, but her husband did. He kindly stopped by and examined the vents and did everything he could to locate her.
He found some interesting things about how Shirin managed to get up so high (her only viable option was to work her way through the heater internal and that, without knowing where she was, he couldn't really do anything. Perhaps she'd found her way outside of the vents and is somewhere between the walls.
He didn't charge us, nor did he want to take any money for coming out. Good man.
So for a day, all was quiet. No signs of Shirin. A bit unsettling.
The next night (this would be Saturday), Asma was near the bathroom and called out to me in a cautious voice: she heard Shirin through the walls. Eeee!
Our overly curious chinchilla was now trapped behind the wall in the closet next to the bathroom. I tried to tap on the walls to lead her into the bathroom, because the wall under the sink was partly open, and she could've found her way out. No such luck.
We wanted to cut part of the wall, but Asma wanted to get permission from her landlord first. It was too late that night, so when the next night rolled around, Asma went up to talk to Janet (her landord).
Except that she was sick and sleeping.
Ah well, no time for permission. Asma pulled the old wallpaper off a bit and cut a small hole into the decaying drywall. She called me to check out the new hole, and what befell my eyes was Shirin, looking like nothing had happened. She was noticeably thinner, poor little thing.
We rejoiced while she went in and out of the hole a few times. Asma set the open cage nearby and we waited for her to walk in, but I grabbed her in the end, just to make sure she didn't decide that disappearing into the walls was better than having a clean, comfy home with food and water.
(Shirin was terribly dehydrated and went through water quickly. She also suffered from diarrhea, as evidenced by the clusters of poop near the food. Chinchillas have a sensitive digestive system, so the jump from near starvation to food was a shock to her system.)
She's now safe and hasn't managed to elude us again.
Apples, sans sodomy
At about sometime during the apple-picking season (October 10), Asma and I wanted to go apple-picking. So we, along with her family, went to Homestead Farm and ended up with an abundance of Pink Lady apples.
We then proceeded to bake four apple pies in a week, and they were delicious.
These are scenes from a quick detour we took before getting to the farm. That third person is Mona, Asma's weird little sister.
Greetings from three years ago
There generally comes a point where you end up meeting online friends you keep in touch with, and such was the case when Christine came to DC to visit her friend and go to some book festival thing. Asma and I trusted Mapquest to give us clear directions to Georgetown.
Mapquest sucks.
There were something like 10 streets and several turn-arounds to get in the direction Mapquest instructed, when we could've gotten to Georgetown in maybe 4 main streets? But it was kinda fun.
We ended up in Bethesda and went to Caribou Coffee. To make a long story short, I had to pay $131 because Asma parked in a tow away zone, and we almost ran out of gas trying to find Target.
Jenn is next on the ‘let's meet’ hitlist, because I've known her for as long as Christine (three years), give or take a few days.
Miscellany
Spray-painted on a brick wall at UMD
On a sign at a Silver Spring Metro station.
End
I've already messed up a bit at my new job and in other things. My head is hurting. This was started on October 21st and posted today, the 24th. The hair which I hadn't cut in nearly six months was buzzed off last Sunday.
I hope everyone is doing well.
Yes, I'm talking about my urine. It's been a sort of neon-yellow for the past few weeks and it started to worry me. But now that I've gone back to drinking Pür-ified water, things are mostly clear again. Does that mean my urine is a purity indicator?
Asma and I went to see my dad off at the airport yesterday. I never thought I'd tear up over that.
I'm on the phone with Visa. Apparently, I've been getting stuck with a cash advance finance charge along with a normal purchase finance charge. I found a site that said some card companies that send out a check to do a balance transfer from another card treat that check as cash. Which would explain my situation. Which pisses me off.
It's probably obvious that how much more I'm doing (other than sitting around the house) is inversely proportional to how many posts I make. So while Asma is out doing some work, I shall write a little bit of nothing.
Today is absolutely gorgeous and perfect. People are out mowing the lawn and taking walks, the sun is bright and cheerful, and the wind is calm and soothing. I finished my leftover George Bush burrito from Caltor and had a bit of tiramisu gelato. I am sitting in a lungi and a spouse beater, and the window is open.
Ahhh. Yum.
My dad came into town Saturday for a meeting at the Census Bureau and is leaving Wednesday. I picked him up at the airport and we went with him to a family friend's house for dinner. I haven't seen him since then, but I will definitely see him tomorrow. We're going to Asma's house for dinner. Her parents will meet my dad.
Monumental.
I still miss my mom. My dad, too. I should go see him tonight, though I'm not sure what we'd do really. Hang out and talk? We don't do that together. We did talk shortly on the phone about fifteen minutes ago.
Yes, I am a poop.
My grandma is leaving tomorrow for Bangladesh. I need to call her tonight, but before that, I'm going to write out some things to say to her, then translate that into Bangla, just so I don't keep agreeing or fumbling with words or whatever.
John Kerry inserted dynamite into Bush's rectum. I hope it ignites and explodes on the next debate.
Still unemployed. But I have three possible opportunities awaiting, all of which I'll know about by the end of the week. Hmm.
If Asma was inside right now, she'd probably say hello to everyone.
Perfect weather. Yay!
