Just found out my job ends in three and a half weeks. Feels like I was suddenly
pushed off the branch by momma bird but I'm not always sure it was momma bird
and not the hangman. Or the joker. Or, no, the RIDDLER, the Riddler.
But not the Jim Carrey Riddler, the Frank Gorshin Riddler from the 60s TV show, of course.
Dad had me sift through boxes he'd packed and labeled "Mike" at my childhood
home (which will soon be destroyed so he and Carmen can build their
swanky new dreamhouse). There was quite a pile of long-forgotten fervent love and hate letters written
to teenaged-me by persons known and unknown.
Made me a little woozy, to say the least.
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Emily had a bunch of her friends over for dinner last weekend and I took
a zillion dark fuzzy pictures. This is one of Emily and her upstairs neighbors.
They had us over for breakfast this morning and there was good food and much laughter.
I really like her friends a lot, thus far. Good sign.
On the way home from work the day I learned my company was not to gain the account at
which I have worked my butt off for two years, I was enchanted by the
view of Twin Peaks and that Church on Church from halfway up Bernal Hill.
Here's the view from my front door, while I'm at it.
On Saturday, Dad and I rode our bikes up to the old house in the Saratoga
hills (kinda near the Paul Masson Mountain Winery where they have concerts
and stuff now--last Fall I had tickets to George Carlin there but I calendared it wrong
and MISSED it like a dork). Then we rode all the way around the
Steven's Creek Reservoir for a really gentle 12ish mile loop. They bought
this house in like 1970 before all the super-rich folks moved into the area.
I really did grow up with the mistaken impression that I was poor, just because that
community was so wealthy and such a little bubble of privilege. My parents worked
very hard, and we SO weren't poor. It is very sad to see that house go. I think for
my Dad it is a place for him and Mom; with her gone it's no good to him as it stands.
Oh, you know what, here's more about Mom, for my newer friends:
MDM page
Now all the furnishings and homey elements have been stripped down to little OCD piles
of knick knacks. Shudder.
This'll make you feel old. Yikes.
Dad pulled into a gas station after we came out of the hills and when I
looked at him quizzically he said, "Butt break," and I understood.
The gas station man didn't, though.
Shot a lot of baskets into that hoop. Yep yep.
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And OH my goodness, my new car stereo that replaced the stolen one
sounds SO much better! IPod with richness and depth, crispness and clarity... who knew?!
Gonna look at that as a microcosm of the whole job thing..... you know? And I have job interviews for Teachery stuff next fall lined up too, btw.
Cheeeeers!