first of all, new feature: closer to fine by the indigo girls. that "fiIIIiiiine" part is really hard to do. this girl does it well. this couple is really good too--i think i like the first girl's voice better, and also i decided at the beginning of this mini-competition to not listen to any guys trying to cover it (there's no real reason for that distinction, i guess i just don't like male singers, whoops). but i give these people props for harmonizing well and playing the guitar and the violin. good job.
my weekend was so wonderful. i need to start taking piano lessons again; i stopped once i started working at babydaycare because my hours are so random. but i should really just pick a day/time and start again. i also need to make my keyboard work. somehow, somehow...it would make my life to be able to play songs on the piano. i need to keep that in mind.
the kid i tutor has the flu, so i didn't see him today and might not see him thursday. i'm sad that he's sick; i'm also sad that i'm gonna make 100 dollars less than originally planned this week. i need to email my boss and see what the cancellation policy is.
also i'm sad, i figured out how to do the math problem i couldn't help him with, and i was gonna be like sup! here's the answer.
i'm getting excited about going to guatemala. stina can't live with me in northampton until august, though, which is depressing. i don't know what to do; i feel like everyone else has an automatic person to live with (aka, a significant other), and i don't, so i'm just like, set out to the winds without a sail. bad metaphor. but you know what i mean.
talked to stina on skype for 3 hours last night though, which was wonderful. <3 my friends.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Friday, December 7, 2007
a hobby that has led to a new feature
so, to get over the frustration of not yet being a famous singer, i have an awesome hobby, which is to judge and pick apart everyone who tries to sing on youtube. it's really awful. i'll pick a song--usually from a musical, but during the past few days i've also been doing songs by regina spektor--and then i'll watch every 15 year old high school girl who has attempted to sing it, and i'll go all simon cowell on them in my head.
and then i feel like a horrible person. people take this huge risk putting themselves on the internet, just so people like me, who don't have the guts to do that, can be assholes. so to get over my guilt: from this day on, each post will provide a link at the bottom to emma's youtube feature of the day. in other words, a person/people who i honestly think is/are really good. here's the first one--it's two high schoolers singing "by my side" from godspell.
they are by far the best people singing that song on youtube. but here's a runner up--definitely not as polished, but these kids look like they're about nine years old, so it's still amazing.
next time: deep thoughts about "happy babies," extended info on my life plan, and the best cover of something else awesome.
and then i feel like a horrible person. people take this huge risk putting themselves on the internet, just so people like me, who don't have the guts to do that, can be assholes. so to get over my guilt: from this day on, each post will provide a link at the bottom to emma's youtube feature of the day. in other words, a person/people who i honestly think is/are really good. here's the first one--it's two high schoolers singing "by my side" from godspell.
they are by far the best people singing that song on youtube. but here's a runner up--definitely not as polished, but these kids look like they're about nine years old, so it's still amazing.
next time: deep thoughts about "happy babies," extended info on my life plan, and the best cover of something else awesome.
Monday, December 3, 2007
progress on my life plan + all about smoothies
i think in march i will go here. thank you lynnea.
still doing some comparison shopping, but it's a start.
about a year ago, i went to stop and shop with some friends and ended up randomly buying a smoothie mix. it was one of those things that cost about 89 cents, and called for bananas, milk, and ice. as many people have pointed out, those are pretty much all the ingredients of a smoothie, so it's unclear what the mix actually does--but, whatever. so i bought this mix and i figured that, living in tenney, i would actually have milk and bananas around, so maybe i would use it someday. that never happened. it's unclear why.
this year, while home for thanksgiving, i found the mix lying around my room (along with other items such as, well, everything i've ever owned and everything that my family has decided to put in storage. when i go home these days i have to carve out a little channel to walk to my bed; the shit piles up at least 3 feet). so i decided to bring it back to dc with me and see what could become of it....
OMG. BEST SMOOTHIE EVER. seriously, soooo good. i was amazed. but also saddened, because where would i ever find such a smoothie mix again?
well, my friends. well. this evening, i went to safeway to pick up a box of cheerios, some more fake meat, and a tomato. while trying to pick out the perfect tomato, i saw some bananas and thought, perhaps i should get one of these too. and then--lo and behold--at the top of the banana stand--tons of packets of my smoothie mix!!!!
but first, an obstacle. the banana stand was surrounded by several rows of boxes. a fortress of boxes, if you will. i tried to put my cart down and reach for the mix, but it was to no avail. now, when it comes to height, i would definitely not say that i suffer from height oppression. included in my invisible knapsack of privilege (how many times can i link to that article??) is the fact that i generally never have to worry about not being able to reach something. however. this smoothie mix was completely out of range. i tried to look around for someone that could help, but short of moving all of the boxes away, i wasn't really sure what they would even be able to do. so i stood there, completely baffled, for a minute or two. i walked around the banana stand, trying to find an opening. was this some kind of joke? i was reminded of miranda's favorite computer game, super tux, which features an adorable penguin with a red hat who sometimes has to jump around randomly until a thing pops up saying he's found a "secret area," and can now reach something really high up. i wondered what would happen if i, too, started randomly jumping around the banana stand.
instead, i found a pen in my pocket. i leaned over the boxes, reached toward the smoothie mixes, and started to jab at them with the pen. the pen barely reached the mixes. i jumped up, terrified that i would knock the whole stand over, and jabbed again. on the third or fourth jab, i finally loosened the mix enough that it came falling down to me. it was quite a moment.
then i came home and made another awesome smoothie. all in all, i'd say it was worth it. this may cut the amount of money i devote to smoothies in half.
in otherrrrrrrrrrrr news. miranda managed to come up with the movie i've been wanting to see forever, as well as sicko, which i've already seen but would see again and am happy to own by proxy. i'm so overwhelmed; i don't know when we're gonna have time to watch them. tuesday and wednesday are big nights (tuesday is the dc usas alumni meeting, as well as tila tequila night with zack, and wednesday is our huge tv night--kid nation AND project runway. and america's next top model, but that's on at the same time as kid nation, so we usually wait until thursday and watch it on youtube. the reason for this is that that way, we get to watch kid nation with our surrogate third roommate via the internet, mary dishes), and then we leave on thursday. might have to wait until next week. sigh.
ok, i should go to sleep. highlights of this weekend:
-doing dinner and a movie with jess, while miranda was in nyc. we are becoming actual good friends, perhaps even "automatic friday night friends," (at least when she's not traveling), which is really nice. we came up with the chapters of a book jess is gonna write, called "the inside scoop on the labor movement." the best chapter will be the permanent shit list. then there will be other chapters about why various organizing drives are about to fail, and then a chapter called the permanent awesome list. we think the shit list will be longer. in jess' words, "i'm not sure we're actually gonna be able to publish this book. even if i use a fake name, everyone will know that it's me."
-skype date with stina in the middle of the night. it's pretty awesome that insomnia means i am often on swedish time.
-smoothies
-in general, i feel like i was on the phone with a lot of people this weekend, which is always nice.
-had a deep but also very funny conversation with my mom about racism (hi mom!)
things i am looking forward to:
-tila tequila night with zack!!! he has been traveling for weeks, so we've had many zack-free tila nights, and i'm excited that he's back.
-babydaycare tomorrow
sometimes, i think that the length of my entries often suggest more substance than there really is. and with that, i leave you.
still doing some comparison shopping, but it's a start.
about a year ago, i went to stop and shop with some friends and ended up randomly buying a smoothie mix. it was one of those things that cost about 89 cents, and called for bananas, milk, and ice. as many people have pointed out, those are pretty much all the ingredients of a smoothie, so it's unclear what the mix actually does--but, whatever. so i bought this mix and i figured that, living in tenney, i would actually have milk and bananas around, so maybe i would use it someday. that never happened. it's unclear why.
this year, while home for thanksgiving, i found the mix lying around my room (along with other items such as, well, everything i've ever owned and everything that my family has decided to put in storage. when i go home these days i have to carve out a little channel to walk to my bed; the shit piles up at least 3 feet). so i decided to bring it back to dc with me and see what could become of it....
OMG. BEST SMOOTHIE EVER. seriously, soooo good. i was amazed. but also saddened, because where would i ever find such a smoothie mix again?
well, my friends. well. this evening, i went to safeway to pick up a box of cheerios, some more fake meat, and a tomato. while trying to pick out the perfect tomato, i saw some bananas and thought, perhaps i should get one of these too. and then--lo and behold--at the top of the banana stand--tons of packets of my smoothie mix!!!!
but first, an obstacle. the banana stand was surrounded by several rows of boxes. a fortress of boxes, if you will. i tried to put my cart down and reach for the mix, but it was to no avail. now, when it comes to height, i would definitely not say that i suffer from height oppression. included in my invisible knapsack of privilege (how many times can i link to that article??) is the fact that i generally never have to worry about not being able to reach something. however. this smoothie mix was completely out of range. i tried to look around for someone that could help, but short of moving all of the boxes away, i wasn't really sure what they would even be able to do. so i stood there, completely baffled, for a minute or two. i walked around the banana stand, trying to find an opening. was this some kind of joke? i was reminded of miranda's favorite computer game, super tux, which features an adorable penguin with a red hat who sometimes has to jump around randomly until a thing pops up saying he's found a "secret area," and can now reach something really high up. i wondered what would happen if i, too, started randomly jumping around the banana stand.
instead, i found a pen in my pocket. i leaned over the boxes, reached toward the smoothie mixes, and started to jab at them with the pen. the pen barely reached the mixes. i jumped up, terrified that i would knock the whole stand over, and jabbed again. on the third or fourth jab, i finally loosened the mix enough that it came falling down to me. it was quite a moment.
then i came home and made another awesome smoothie. all in all, i'd say it was worth it. this may cut the amount of money i devote to smoothies in half.
in otherrrrrrrrrrrr news. miranda managed to come up with the movie i've been wanting to see forever, as well as sicko, which i've already seen but would see again and am happy to own by proxy. i'm so overwhelmed; i don't know when we're gonna have time to watch them. tuesday and wednesday are big nights (tuesday is the dc usas alumni meeting, as well as tila tequila night with zack, and wednesday is our huge tv night--kid nation AND project runway. and america's next top model, but that's on at the same time as kid nation, so we usually wait until thursday and watch it on youtube. the reason for this is that that way, we get to watch kid nation with our surrogate third roommate via the internet, mary dishes), and then we leave on thursday. might have to wait until next week. sigh.
ok, i should go to sleep. highlights of this weekend:
-doing dinner and a movie with jess, while miranda was in nyc. we are becoming actual good friends, perhaps even "automatic friday night friends," (at least when she's not traveling), which is really nice. we came up with the chapters of a book jess is gonna write, called "the inside scoop on the labor movement." the best chapter will be the permanent shit list. then there will be other chapters about why various organizing drives are about to fail, and then a chapter called the permanent awesome list. we think the shit list will be longer. in jess' words, "i'm not sure we're actually gonna be able to publish this book. even if i use a fake name, everyone will know that it's me."
-skype date with stina in the middle of the night. it's pretty awesome that insomnia means i am often on swedish time.
-smoothies
-in general, i feel like i was on the phone with a lot of people this weekend, which is always nice.
-had a deep but also very funny conversation with my mom about racism (hi mom!)
things i am looking forward to:
-tila tequila night with zack!!! he has been traveling for weeks, so we've had many zack-free tila nights, and i'm excited that he's back.
-babydaycare tomorrow
sometimes, i think that the length of my entries often suggest more substance than there really is. and with that, i leave you.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
what happens at grandma's, stays at grandma's
sweet things that happened today:
-two best friends, who we'll call emily and jennifer, came together and kept hugging each other and doing other adorable best friends activities. we called them the babydaycare bffs. at the end of the day, jennifer's parents came to pick both of them up, and emily was more excited about it than jennifer was. the mom held jennifer and the dad held emily and i was like aww, baby friendship. i'm feeling nostalgic because i went to the museum of natural history with my best friend from baby days over tgiving break, and we tried to relive our baby experience--everything from the entrance we used down to the conversations we had (she once told me that if i touched the glass and it broke, i would go to jail. i told her that she was lying because everyone knew kids couldn't go to jail, and she responded, "but you could go to JUVENILE jail!!" we were like, 5 when this happened).
-at one point, the director turned on some really loud music, and everyone started dancing, laughing, and jumping up and down. i danced along with them, and discovered that my baby dance moves are very similar to my actual dance moves--i mostly wave my arms around and raise my eyebrows a lot. i'm not sure whether that is funny or very sad.
-someone's mother bought babydaycare a baby basketball hoop. back in my day, a baby basketball hoop just consisted of a hoop and a basketball--but now, you see, things are different. this baby basketball hoop lights up and talks to you when you make a basket. "way to go, sport!" and "you should join the allstars!" my favorite was "someone call the fire department, you're burning up the nets!" too much, too much. anyway, like many of the toys at babydaycare, the basketball hoop is a a little over their heads (literally)...but it does provide an exciting tool with which to play peekaboo. they took turns hiding behind and jumping out, and i started saying "hi [name]!" every time a kid jumped out. after a few times, they all started repeating me--they couldn't pronounce any names, but they all shouted "HI!" several times for at least ten minutes.
-one of the babies had a shirt that said "what happens at grandma's, stays at grandma's." one of the teachers asked him, "what happened at grandma's?" and, true to his convictions, the kid held his ground and didn't tell her. inability to speak may have also been an issue at play here, but i don't want to underestimate the power of his will.
afterwards, miranda and i went to a paula deen book signing, in which we stood on a line for an hour to tell paula deen that she should tell smithfield to stop abusing their workers. i felt a little bit guilty, yelling at an agoraphobic woman outside of the safety of her home, but we did it anyway. paula deen is kind of adorable. it's a problem because it makes it harder to hate her. also, the staff at the bookstore went around handing out free cookies (a paula deen recipe! page 44).
paula deen's response was that she had talked to the workers and they were fine. in addition, "working for smithfield is work. it's not supposed to be play." hearing that made it easier to hate her. however, regardless, i'm keeping the autographed book and giving it to my sister for christmas.
i was too excited to keep that a secret, so i told her. her reaction:
sister: um, ok. it would be a better present if i cared about paula deen at all.
me: don't you like her? didn't you say she was funny once?
sister: i think i meant less, "she makes me laugh" and more "i find her situation comical."
but whatevs. we agreed to make some christmas recipes together from the book.
oh man it is late. i'm out...
-two best friends, who we'll call emily and jennifer, came together and kept hugging each other and doing other adorable best friends activities. we called them the babydaycare bffs. at the end of the day, jennifer's parents came to pick both of them up, and emily was more excited about it than jennifer was. the mom held jennifer and the dad held emily and i was like aww, baby friendship. i'm feeling nostalgic because i went to the museum of natural history with my best friend from baby days over tgiving break, and we tried to relive our baby experience--everything from the entrance we used down to the conversations we had (she once told me that if i touched the glass and it broke, i would go to jail. i told her that she was lying because everyone knew kids couldn't go to jail, and she responded, "but you could go to JUVENILE jail!!" we were like, 5 when this happened).
-at one point, the director turned on some really loud music, and everyone started dancing, laughing, and jumping up and down. i danced along with them, and discovered that my baby dance moves are very similar to my actual dance moves--i mostly wave my arms around and raise my eyebrows a lot. i'm not sure whether that is funny or very sad.
-someone's mother bought babydaycare a baby basketball hoop. back in my day, a baby basketball hoop just consisted of a hoop and a basketball--but now, you see, things are different. this baby basketball hoop lights up and talks to you when you make a basket. "way to go, sport!" and "you should join the allstars!" my favorite was "someone call the fire department, you're burning up the nets!" too much, too much. anyway, like many of the toys at babydaycare, the basketball hoop is a a little over their heads (literally)...but it does provide an exciting tool with which to play peekaboo. they took turns hiding behind and jumping out, and i started saying "hi [name]!" every time a kid jumped out. after a few times, they all started repeating me--they couldn't pronounce any names, but they all shouted "HI!" several times for at least ten minutes.
-one of the babies had a shirt that said "what happens at grandma's, stays at grandma's." one of the teachers asked him, "what happened at grandma's?" and, true to his convictions, the kid held his ground and didn't tell her. inability to speak may have also been an issue at play here, but i don't want to underestimate the power of his will.
afterwards, miranda and i went to a paula deen book signing, in which we stood on a line for an hour to tell paula deen that she should tell smithfield to stop abusing their workers. i felt a little bit guilty, yelling at an agoraphobic woman outside of the safety of her home, but we did it anyway. paula deen is kind of adorable. it's a problem because it makes it harder to hate her. also, the staff at the bookstore went around handing out free cookies (a paula deen recipe! page 44).
paula deen's response was that she had talked to the workers and they were fine. in addition, "working for smithfield is work. it's not supposed to be play." hearing that made it easier to hate her. however, regardless, i'm keeping the autographed book and giving it to my sister for christmas.
i was too excited to keep that a secret, so i told her. her reaction:
sister: um, ok. it would be a better present if i cared about paula deen at all.
me: don't you like her? didn't you say she was funny once?
sister: i think i meant less, "she makes me laugh" and more "i find her situation comical."
but whatevs. we agreed to make some christmas recipes together from the book.
oh man it is late. i'm out...
Sunday, November 18, 2007
i'm not very good at sleeping
but whatever. so much to blog about, so little time. well, almost. it's definitely true that i'm capable of doing the most when i have a million things to do. and when i don't have a million things to do, well...i watch a lot of reality tv.
however. since we last left off, i started working at a babydaycare. so far i've worked one full day and one half day, and i have the same number of hours scheduled for next week. apparently, getting hours is something that you have to earn by proving yourself; it's not a god-given right. i've calculated that i can almost pay rent and have enough left over to eat if they give me an average of 20 hours a week, and if i keep tutoring (which pays like, 2.5 times more than babydaycare). thank god i made money over the summer, though, as it's severely helping out my lack of motivation to get a job that would require any commitment.
but anyway. I LOVE WORKING AT BABYDAYCARE. so many sweet little babies. the place i work, which actually has a very professional, corporate-sounding name, (i prefer babydaycare or uBaby), specializes in emergency childcare--so there are some kids who are there every day, but there are other kids who show up only when their normal childcare arrangements fall through, or when schools have holidays that parents don't have, etc. so the majority of the kids are real, bona-fide, babies--like, the diaper-wearing, non-talking kind--but then on days like veterans day (my first full day--trial by fire, oh my), the place is swarming with toddlers and "big kids" as well.
so, two observations on my first day: 1) 6 year olds are at least as angsty as i am, if not more (one kid told me flat-out that she was scared of being rejected; another one cried in my arms about her day being ruined forever by the fact that her best friend was playing with someone else); and 2) board game pieces that are made to look like white children fit nicely into that invisible knapsack of white privilege that peggy mcintosh writes of. that second revelation, plus the fact that the kid i tutor wants to drop out of school because his guidance counselor told him that college was an impossibility for him, makes me really wanna go here right now. and not just because i miss northampton, i promise.
speaking of that place, check this shit out. i can only imagine the number of hours i would have spent reading the jolt, checking the facebook group, and discussing this with my friends if i was still there. oh wait! actually i did all that tonight anyway.
back to babydaycare. on friday, i attempted to change a diaper for the first time since i was twelve. the part i was anxious about--the diaper itself--was easy. the clothes, on the other hand, were more of a challenge. babies apparently need to wear about twenty times more layers than we do--i'm not exactly sure why this is the case, but apparently it is. miranda disputes this, and argues that her present fondness for and ease with the cold comes from the fact that her parents only dressed her in the number of layers they themselves were wearing. this could be true. but anyway, this baby's mother clearly did not see things that way, as her baby had on at least three different pairs of pants. and of course, in putting them back on...i forgot the middle yellow pants. so after i finish changing him (a process which involved a lot of crying on his part and a lot of soothing/apologizing on my part), i bring him back to his little swing up front, and i rock him back and forth and make faces at him. he starts to laugh and is clearly back to his old self and happy to have a clean diaper.
but THEN...oh shit...a fellow staff member comes over to say hi to him and notices somehow that the yellow pants are missing. so, back to the changing table he goes. this time, while undressing him (again amidst crying and apologies), i notice that his bottom pair of pants is kind of wet. i ask one of the other staff members if he has a change of clothes, and she retrieves one for me. so ok, great, except...i have to take off all 500 layers and put 500 new ones back on.
the kid is not having this. he looks at me in bewilderment, and i apologize again for putting him through such pain/incompetence. as soon i have all of this clothes off and i think he's about to smile at me, THE DRYER LOAD FINISHES AND A HUGE BUZZING NOISE GOES OFF REALLY LOUDLY RIGHT NEXT TO HIS HEAD AND KEEPS BUZZING FOR 30 SECONDS AT LEAST. in a very instintive-mothery fashion, i cover his ears with my hands, but it's really fairly pointless, as the thing is like RIGHT IN HIS EARS. he starts screaming, as any rational human with sensitive baby eardrums might do in that situation. i'm like, i am so sorry that we just made you deaf, and i try to hurry up my dressing-him action so we can get back to his little swing.
of course, in the midst of all this screaming, who shows up but...his mom! who has of course never met me and who comes in after a long day at work to find this awkward barely-adult girl trying to push a yellow shirt over her baby's head while he screams and screams. i try to act calm and collected ("look who's here! is that who i think it is? it's your mommy!") but it's clearly a show that's more for the mom than for the baby. the mom hugs him and kisses him and asks what's wrong, and it becomes clear that she's actually talking to me. i try to explain about the diaper and the clothing and the dryer noise, leaving out any mention of forgetting the middle pair of pants (without which this whole incident could have been avoided), and she nods and pretends to understand. however, she quickly takes over the dressing-him process. he continues to scream while she dresses him, which makes me feel better (although that thought makes me feel like a bad person. but, whatever).
so that's one excerpt from my babydaycare job. there are a million more in my head. get excited.
of course, always one to keep me in line, dishes has informed me that for something to actually be considered a "blog" and not a livejournal/xanga, you have to adhere to the definition of "blog," aka, "weblog," which means, a log of things you read on the web. that sounds almost too meta to handle, but i'm trying in this post (you may notice there are more links than ever before. that's not an accident).
i should really go to sleep. vegan potluck tomorrow; we made cupcakes with $9 worth of crystallized ginger.
however. since we last left off, i started working at a babydaycare. so far i've worked one full day and one half day, and i have the same number of hours scheduled for next week. apparently, getting hours is something that you have to earn by proving yourself; it's not a god-given right. i've calculated that i can almost pay rent and have enough left over to eat if they give me an average of 20 hours a week, and if i keep tutoring (which pays like, 2.5 times more than babydaycare). thank god i made money over the summer, though, as it's severely helping out my lack of motivation to get a job that would require any commitment.
but anyway. I LOVE WORKING AT BABYDAYCARE. so many sweet little babies. the place i work, which actually has a very professional, corporate-sounding name, (i prefer babydaycare or uBaby), specializes in emergency childcare--so there are some kids who are there every day, but there are other kids who show up only when their normal childcare arrangements fall through, or when schools have holidays that parents don't have, etc. so the majority of the kids are real, bona-fide, babies--like, the diaper-wearing, non-talking kind--but then on days like veterans day (my first full day--trial by fire, oh my), the place is swarming with toddlers and "big kids" as well.
so, two observations on my first day: 1) 6 year olds are at least as angsty as i am, if not more (one kid told me flat-out that she was scared of being rejected; another one cried in my arms about her day being ruined forever by the fact that her best friend was playing with someone else); and 2) board game pieces that are made to look like white children fit nicely into that invisible knapsack of white privilege that peggy mcintosh writes of. that second revelation, plus the fact that the kid i tutor wants to drop out of school because his guidance counselor told him that college was an impossibility for him, makes me really wanna go here right now. and not just because i miss northampton, i promise.
speaking of that place, check this shit out. i can only imagine the number of hours i would have spent reading the jolt, checking the facebook group, and discussing this with my friends if i was still there. oh wait! actually i did all that tonight anyway.
back to babydaycare. on friday, i attempted to change a diaper for the first time since i was twelve. the part i was anxious about--the diaper itself--was easy. the clothes, on the other hand, were more of a challenge. babies apparently need to wear about twenty times more layers than we do--i'm not exactly sure why this is the case, but apparently it is. miranda disputes this, and argues that her present fondness for and ease with the cold comes from the fact that her parents only dressed her in the number of layers they themselves were wearing. this could be true. but anyway, this baby's mother clearly did not see things that way, as her baby had on at least three different pairs of pants. and of course, in putting them back on...i forgot the middle yellow pants. so after i finish changing him (a process which involved a lot of crying on his part and a lot of soothing/apologizing on my part), i bring him back to his little swing up front, and i rock him back and forth and make faces at him. he starts to laugh and is clearly back to his old self and happy to have a clean diaper.
but THEN...oh shit...a fellow staff member comes over to say hi to him and notices somehow that the yellow pants are missing. so, back to the changing table he goes. this time, while undressing him (again amidst crying and apologies), i notice that his bottom pair of pants is kind of wet. i ask one of the other staff members if he has a change of clothes, and she retrieves one for me. so ok, great, except...i have to take off all 500 layers and put 500 new ones back on.
the kid is not having this. he looks at me in bewilderment, and i apologize again for putting him through such pain/incompetence. as soon i have all of this clothes off and i think he's about to smile at me, THE DRYER LOAD FINISHES AND A HUGE BUZZING NOISE GOES OFF REALLY LOUDLY RIGHT NEXT TO HIS HEAD AND KEEPS BUZZING FOR 30 SECONDS AT LEAST. in a very instintive-mothery fashion, i cover his ears with my hands, but it's really fairly pointless, as the thing is like RIGHT IN HIS EARS. he starts screaming, as any rational human with sensitive baby eardrums might do in that situation. i'm like, i am so sorry that we just made you deaf, and i try to hurry up my dressing-him action so we can get back to his little swing.
of course, in the midst of all this screaming, who shows up but...his mom! who has of course never met me and who comes in after a long day at work to find this awkward barely-adult girl trying to push a yellow shirt over her baby's head while he screams and screams. i try to act calm and collected ("look who's here! is that who i think it is? it's your mommy!") but it's clearly a show that's more for the mom than for the baby. the mom hugs him and kisses him and asks what's wrong, and it becomes clear that she's actually talking to me. i try to explain about the diaper and the clothing and the dryer noise, leaving out any mention of forgetting the middle pair of pants (without which this whole incident could have been avoided), and she nods and pretends to understand. however, she quickly takes over the dressing-him process. he continues to scream while she dresses him, which makes me feel better (although that thought makes me feel like a bad person. but, whatever).
so that's one excerpt from my babydaycare job. there are a million more in my head. get excited.
of course, always one to keep me in line, dishes has informed me that for something to actually be considered a "blog" and not a livejournal/xanga, you have to adhere to the definition of "blog," aka, "weblog," which means, a log of things you read on the web. that sounds almost too meta to handle, but i'm trying in this post (you may notice there are more links than ever before. that's not an accident).
i should really go to sleep. vegan potluck tomorrow; we made cupcakes with $9 worth of crystallized ginger.
Monday, November 12, 2007
midnight leafleting!
so glad i went. despite the fact that it's 3am, and i have to work a 10 hour shift full of screaming babies tomorrow starting at 9...i'll manage it somehow. this would have happened even if i hadn't done midnight leafleting, let's be honest. anyway. i'm gonna actually go to sleep now. more on this later.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
or not...
i'm gonna hold off on the reality tv train of thought for now, although i will mention that i have watched more antm episodes today/night than ever before, and my brain feels like oatmeal mush at the moment.
tonight was fun, though--jess and i got dinner and played photohunt at the cue bar, which is basically recessions (the favored hangout spot of last summer) with a makeover/a blue color scheme. it was good times; we gossiped and analyzed and came in 2nd place. not bad. and we learned that, "like partying, [photohunt] is better with friends."
ai, it is late. i got out of bed around 2:30pm today, and expect similar results tomorrow. the problem is, i actually have to work on monday from 9am-7pm--taking care of small children and making sure i don't kill or injure anyone. so i need to normalize myself quick, somehow. i was able to do this over the summer, right? anyway, i'm a little worried because i told jess that i would do a 1am leafletting action with her tomorrow/today (sunday/monday/whatever), which i'm now not totally sure is the best idea, but i still really wanna do it. i like feeling connected to labor and organizing even though it's not technically my job right now/i'm not in school running some big campaign. on the other hand, i don't wanna be a space cadet on my first day at work. dilemmas dilemmas...
ps, i like how the word "dilemma" is basically dil + my name.
ok. g'nite.
tonight was fun, though--jess and i got dinner and played photohunt at the cue bar, which is basically recessions (the favored hangout spot of last summer) with a makeover/a blue color scheme. it was good times; we gossiped and analyzed and came in 2nd place. not bad. and we learned that, "like partying, [photohunt] is better with friends."
ai, it is late. i got out of bed around 2:30pm today, and expect similar results tomorrow. the problem is, i actually have to work on monday from 9am-7pm--taking care of small children and making sure i don't kill or injure anyone. so i need to normalize myself quick, somehow. i was able to do this over the summer, right? anyway, i'm a little worried because i told jess that i would do a 1am leafletting action with her tomorrow/today (sunday/monday/whatever), which i'm now not totally sure is the best idea, but i still really wanna do it. i like feeling connected to labor and organizing even though it's not technically my job right now/i'm not in school running some big campaign. on the other hand, i don't wanna be a space cadet on my first day at work. dilemmas dilemmas...
ps, i like how the word "dilemma" is basically dil + my name.
ok. g'nite.
Friday, November 9, 2007
sup sup sup
hello lovelies,
so i've wanted to start a blog since i got to dc, to help entertain myself during my period of unemployment...but i suffered from severe writers block when it came to the first crucial step of coming up with the absolute perfect name. i'm not sure if i totally found it, but this is gonna have to do for now. dissonant cognition is a conjugation of the phrase cognitive dissonance, which is something i experience from time to time (and may in fact write about on this very blog someday). and i now live in the district of columbia, so you know...DisCoInDisCo. it's kind of clever.
the genesis of this blog was jumpstarted by one of my bffls, who inspired me by starting her own blog largely about the neighborhood i just moved into. i'm a volunteer participant ethnographer for her.
another primary factor inspiring my first post is the current absence of my roommate and better half miranda, who is visiting her boyfriend (and our soon-to-be-third-roommate) in chicago. this occurrence has indirectly led to me not having plans this friday night. i say "indirectly" because i do have other friends here, i swear, but i don't have automatic-friday-night-friends yet and, lucky for you, i didn't really plan ahead.
finally--i dedicate this post to insomnia.
stay tuned for next time, when i problematize the phenomenon of people who consider themselves socially conscious/aware claiming to watch bad reality tv "ironically," or "to problematize it." and by people, i mostly mean myself and several of my closest friends.
peace darlings
so i've wanted to start a blog since i got to dc, to help entertain myself during my period of unemployment...but i suffered from severe writers block when it came to the first crucial step of coming up with the absolute perfect name. i'm not sure if i totally found it, but this is gonna have to do for now. dissonant cognition is a conjugation of the phrase cognitive dissonance, which is something i experience from time to time (and may in fact write about on this very blog someday). and i now live in the district of columbia, so you know...DisCoInDisCo. it's kind of clever.
the genesis of this blog was jumpstarted by one of my bffls, who inspired me by starting her own blog largely about the neighborhood i just moved into. i'm a volunteer participant ethnographer for her.
another primary factor inspiring my first post is the current absence of my roommate and better half miranda, who is visiting her boyfriend (and our soon-to-be-third-roommate) in chicago. this occurrence has indirectly led to me not having plans this friday night. i say "indirectly" because i do have other friends here, i swear, but i don't have automatic-friday-night-friends yet and, lucky for you, i didn't really plan ahead.
finally--i dedicate this post to insomnia.
stay tuned for next time, when i problematize the phenomenon of people who consider themselves socially conscious/aware claiming to watch bad reality tv "ironically," or "to problematize it." and by people, i mostly mean myself and several of my closest friends.
peace darlings
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)