Wherein a nephew acknowledges you're homeless

It's Spring Break, and, as I mentioned, I'm back to being a Youth Development volunteer. Only this time, I'm related to the youths.

I've got my two 7-year-old nephews 24/7, and my niece, who's 9, all day. We're mostly enjoying it -- Mackenzie is bossing the boys around a lot, and Kocur is getting quite a bit of unwanted attention -- and yesterday might have been the high point.

Today, we're heading over to Wendy's to see the animals, but since the 4-wheeler is broken, horse rides will be the big item on the agenda. But I don't think it can top yesterday.

We went to Wild Adventures, sort of a redneck, low-budget Disney set in big time Georgia country. (The boys had a lot of trouble believing we were in Georgia.) I hadn't known this place existed, really.

So, we plunked down $206 for five people (that's the in-advance AAA rate) and ventured an hour and a half through azeala and rose territory, which included -- quite randomly -- fire hydrants spaced about 200 feet apart along farmland. That was weird.

Anyway, Barry and I herded three kids between the two of us on varying rides. Sometimes we all went, but usually one of the adults had to sit with a spare kid who didn't want to go on that particular ride.

Each kid had his or own phobias, so there was usually sitting out at some point, though. We did all agree, foolishly, on two: the Dizzy Dragons and the Ferris wheel.

Dizzy Dragons, which is basically the teacup ride tamed slightly, was a mistake in that we had eatend an early lunch before we got to the park. Barry offered to spin us fast and we agreed. Lesson learned.

He spun us really fast and Nic started feeling really green. So did I, but he spoke up first. Mackenzie accused him of faking it, but he wasn't And I was so thankful to slow that sucker down. Oh, my. And I felt queasy the rest of the day, including and especially the second time we did Dizzy Dragons.

The Ferris wheel was wrong in that Nic and I went in the same car. We're both not heights people. He absolutely panicked. I mean, sheer terror, when we went up the first time. I talked him through it, which really was mostly for me. I had him look at me until we stopped, then encouraged him to look out. He did and I think he enjoyed it.

I told him it was sometimes goood to do things we're scared of because we get used to them, and as we went around again it became easier for him to look around as we did it. We even found Barry's truck in the parking lot.

A failure, though, was bumper cars. Nic is a sensitive soul. We had four cars between five people, which made up the bulk of the cars out there. (I think there were six.) Nic got rammed once in the corner -- I think by me -- and I pulled away. He had a little trouble with his car and got bumped by someone else (not in our group). Barry and Mac pulled in to slam him, and did, but as I wound up to give them payback, Nic's tears turned on.

Immediately, the ride stopped. Nic was done. His little faucets started up. I tried to get him to sit with me, but he made a "throw up" motion and I was out of there with him.

Both the guys working thought he was really hurt, but it was like, uh, no, he is just sensitive. He was definitely OK and went through the Coke coin returns, plus all of those in the arcade, while we were waiting on the other two cars to finish pummeling each other.

Barry said Zac got them good, and that he knew it. He said he saw Zac coming all the way, and the look on his face was maniacal.

We broke for lunch, and while they were sharing their nuggets, I went in search of the adult roller coaster. Not the Cheetah one, but the one that didn't go upside down. It was situated to where I could see it, but I couldn't figure out where the entry was.

I walked around that thing four times before asking about it. Turns out, I was on exactly the back and eventually got to it. I had to ride in the first car, which wasn't my first choice but there were only three cars anyway.

As I wound back to the kids, I went ahead and did that thing to where you're dangling and they jerk you up high, then drop you and bounce you a couple times. It scared me but I was glad I did it.

When I got back to Barry, he only had Nic with him, feeding the fish. The other two had gone to the baby one of the high-up-bouncy thing. Barry said they'd done it seven times.

We pried them away from that one and tried this bird thing. It's one of those hang-from-a-chain-and-spin things. They raise you up, and once you're spinning in the big circle, you can move the bird's head to change directions.

Holy cow, they loved that thing. Since there were no lines, they essentially ran off and ran back on until we made them stop.

We saw the animals, briefly, and fed the giraffe. That's the only that that gave Mackenzie pause. She'd start to do it, but as soon as that tongue came out she dropped it. Nic and Zac weren't so freaked out at that.

They really were good the whole time, which was a relief. They had different tastes in rides and entertainment -- only Nic was into the snakes, for example -- but they all cooperated nicely.

Barry told me later that they'd watched me trying to find the roller coaster. He said, "Look at her, she looks like she's homeless, wandering around like that."

He said Nic thought about that a few minutes and observed, "Well, she is homeless."

A nice reminder of what's next.

I'm legal!

I finally got my car tag. I'm legal, although they screwed up and sent me an Orange County tag. At this point, I just don't care. It's legal and that's all that matters to me.

Well, not all. The whole thing took so long -- I bought the car in January, remember? -- that I've aged since. Since I had a birthday, the tag was renewed. Hamdullah!

It's spring break now, and I'm back to being a Youth Development volunteer. Sort of, anyway. I have my nephews from today until the Monday after Easter. Laurie and Chris are busy preparing the next shuttle and it's easier this way. (For them anyway, although I am hoping it all goes smoothly.)

So like Morocco and yet so different

In Morocco, you have to improvise a lot. Bzaf. I had bamboo sticks as curtain rods with Coke caps holding them into the wall. The Coke bottles themselves were utilized as a poor man's (read: PC volunteer's) Tupperware, and kdim cartonas (old cardboard boxes) got salvaged and turned into shelves, Halloween decorations and English teaching implements.

So I'm pretty good at figuring out how to do something with nothing.

It comes in handy here in America, too.

I'm back playing softball and managed to pull my back. If I'm moving, I'm all right, really. It's just the getting up or sitting down process that hurts.

The popular advice is to ice it, but there are no ice packs at the house. Or peas or anything like that.

Luckily, Barry took us to Sam's this week and Zippy splurged.

I have a side of bacon cooling my back.

For obvious reasons, this exact scenario wouldn't have played out in Morocco, but it does bring to mind my second (and final, inchallah) nosebleed when I held a Coke can to my nose.

Luck of the Irish

It's been a lovely, rainy and ugly St. Patrick's Day in the greater Havana area. Both Dodger and Kocur have become accustomed to their morning walk and make sure I get out the door early. Kocur stands on my back and digs at me in order to wake me up.

And, even though it's crappy weather, I had to get up and out. I'm still trying to solidify my permanent tag for my car and I went to Workforce Plus to try to get some pointers. Had to rush home to listen to a seminar on how to write a cover letter.

Inchallah, all this means I'll have employment soon. And, in fact, a little came my way today!

This afternoon, Parks & Rec called. Even though a couple weeks ago, they told me there wouldn't be any part-time work until fall, something came through.

It's not much -- maybe 10-15 hours a week, but I am a park supervisor, complete with rule books and shirt. Hamdullah.

Technically, I start Monday, but there is a kickoff event Saturday so I am working that, too. Yay, paychecks!

In celebration, and in part because I have to be able to communicate with people at the park, I got a cell phone. It's a little more gadget-y than my old one, although it's still basic and without a camera. I didn't get texting, either. I might regret that but I can always upgrade.

Sprint gives a 15 percent discount to Red Cross volunteers and government employees, but you can't double up. But I did get one of them and it comes to about the tax, so that's helpful.

So I'm connected, if not quite in the 21st century.

In other news, I'm watching 21 Jump Street. The Netflix on demand has a crappy selection, but I found that and am getting into it. I never watched it when it was out originally, but it's entertaining. Of course it is. Johnny Depp is always entertaining.

Trying to do yard work and plant stuff, but the yard is just a wreck. And it's been way too rainy.

Still plugging along on the book -- I've done eight chapters, but haven't gotten a status update on it lately, so I'm not sure if they're done yet. I'm thinking I'll be revising again, but I'm working on it. I do enjoy it.

Nothing else productive going on. Really, nothing else nonproductive. I scratch Kocur's ears quite a bit. Not as much as she'd like, but she's not lacking for attention.

I was born in a small town. And I live in a small town.

I've never really known the population of Tallahassee. To ballpark it, I guess around 250k, but I never know if those stats include students or not. But it becomes frighteningly small sometimes.

Now that I am job-hunting both here and far, I'm realizing how small it can be. I've got a softball team's worth of people scouting out leads and am turning up a few possibilities.

And, hamdullah, I got an interview the other day. It's a fantastic part-time job at the hospital, and I mentioned this to my SIL. As it turns out, she knows someone in the department, but not the person with whom I interviewed.

Coincidentally, I also attended an event with the book author, and it happened to be directly related to the hospital staff, although not with the particular department.

So, during the interview, I mentioned that I am helping research a book and she pulls out a Tallahassee magazine profiling the author. Small world. (Previously, in the lobby waiting on interview time, I'd seen a Tallahassee Woman's magazine with a story on a woman in my French class. Small world, again.)

Later, at the end of the interview, I did a short tour around the office and met the person my SIL knows. I mentioned the relationship and we then mentioned a mutal friend of those two, and from there it went to a volunteer colleague of one of the two whom I'd happened to run into while eating at Hopkin's just prior to the interview. And the person also knew my brother, too.

So I really walked out of there just smiling at how different it is to me than Detroit, where, although I lived forever, I had no history or roots.

Today, I had a similar thing occur, too. I sent a resume for another position, a communication coordinator one, and called to confirm they got it. I'd noticed the name of the company was similar to one on an email my SIL had sent me which contained a job posting. A friend of hers had sent it to her.

As that side story turned out, it is the same company, which could work to my benefit. But that's not today's development.

I called the nice HR lady to confirm that my resume was received (I really don't trust online resumes anymore!) and she hadn't caught the name of the person whose call she was returning. In fact, she had merely seen the prefix and assumed it was a neighbor calling about her dogs.

Turns out, she also lives in the same small town.

So that's my big update this week. Nothing substantial, just forward progress in a very small world.

(Photo is my new "niece" Fendi.)