Random things you might not know about my life, such as, pelican 911, whether or not I will visit Guyana, and how I became a friend of Southeast Asia

Thanks to the shout out from Ethan my readership has bounced back from its status of zero from my hiatus. I’m going to return the favor by sending anyone who hasn’t already e-discovered Ethan by recommending that you check out his most recent post on the political dimensions of liberals vs. conservatives. Not because I believe in reciprocity (I don’t) but because it’s actually a great read, and it has a link to an awesome quiz that will let you discover the foundation of political morality. It turns out I fit pretty neatly along the liberal lines except for one thing: I value purity LESS. Awesome.

In other news, I have been sucked into the whirlpool that is working and going to grad school at the same time once again. In addition, not only have I refused to give up some of my activities or plans, but I have increased them! Things I am dappling in include:

• Helping my organization furnish and move into a new office (this has been a great excuse for Goodwill and Craigslist shopping). We are now finally moved in, and I have my first real office, complete with a plant and a filing cabinet. How grown up does that make me? We totally have a purple conference table, thrown in by the used furniture company for free because, and I quote, “no one else seems to want it…”

• Volunteering to test how crappy the water quality is when it first rains in Monterey’s First Flush program–because I just love stormwater that much.

why stormwater matters

• Taking classes in subjects that I have not studied since high school, such as economics and energy policy, complete with unit conversions for homework. Top it off with Arabic homework and I could be in senior year studying for the AP tests again. I’m doing math equations, people. Isn’t grad school supposed to be about research??
• Participating in the Young Democrats of Monterey and trying to convince other MIIS students to do so as well–because if Obama doesn’t get elected, I just might have to leave the country for good. I consider it an investment.
• Joining a myriad of campus organizations including but not limited to, the yoga club, the Environmental Task Force (which in spite of its name does not involve rocket launchers or grenades), the conservation club, the Arabic club, the on campus garden club, and the Friends of Southeast Asia. What can I say? I’m a joiner.
• Trying to make it to yoga at least twice a week minimum. Also have promised my roommates that I will try a spin class, test out the rock-climbing gym in town, and attempt the newest fitness craze: Zumba! This is some kind of brazilian music salsa inspired aerobics class that I will only agree to attend with girlfriends with whom I can make an ass of myself in front of. My roommates totally fit that bill.
• Win the war on fleas which I returned to after renting my room out this summer to the SUBLETTER FROM HELL. This is also part of my larger attempt to keep a house of 6 people, 2 cats and 2 birds decently clean from week to week.

fumigation day! the front lines of the war on fleas

• Maintain the basic semblance of a social life. Of course living with 6 people I don’t have much of a choice. But I have a huge mental list of people that I owe phone calls, and really really want to talk to but don’t have the time. Not to mention all the back-to-school social events that are simultaneously meant to get you drunk and kick start your career. My career is feeling a bit too bouncy right now though, so I guess I’ll just go to get drunk. (just kidding, mom!)
• Planning my next flee-the-country trip with my roommate Marja. Actually, my role so far has been to serve as a sounding board for her as she researches how much it would cost to go to EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. I really do not think that I’m exagerating here–just ask roommates 3-6. Marja and I spent about 5 hours sitting at the dining room table one night looking up plane tickets to every place we could think of to go in December. Our criteria are: cheap and not too cold. When our Norwegian roommate Maja tried to help us after about two days worth of searching, the conversation sounded something like this:

Maja: How about Thailand?

Marja & I (unanimously): too expensive.

Maja: Indonesia?

Marja & I: too expensive.

Maja: Germany?

Marja: too expensive.

Me: too cold.

Maja:Brazil!

Marja & I: too expensive.

Maja: Maybe you guys need to raise the budget a little…

In case you were wondering, the shortlist of contenders is: Guyana, Suriname, French Guinea, Trinidad & Tobago, and Costa Rica, which was the original plan that started this all in the first place.

• Attempting to rescue a choking pelican in the Monterey harbor on a break between classes. After a failed attempt to study, my friend and I went for a walk on the trail by the bay. We witnessed some intense bird drama that included a struggle between a pelican and a cormorant who were wrestling over what we thought was a fish. The pelican won, but then seemed to be having an extremely difficult time swallowing his prize. A closer look revealed that whatever he was trying to coax down his throat was a lot more angular than any fish I’ve ever seen. We placed the equivalent of a bird 911 call to the Harbor Master and were promised that the appropriate agency would be called to save the poor guy. As we had class in 15 minutes, we couldn’t stick around, but we called later to check up on his progress. The call had been passed on to a local wildlife clinic. Subsequent calls revealed that no one had gone out–they could only do so if someone stood by and waited for them. I had been planning to go run some errands in that direction and decided to go check up. Because I needed one more creature to worry about.

On my way out I asked Marja if she would like to go with me to buy some plants and perhaps rescue a choking pelican. Without missing a beat, she replied, ok, and followed me to the car. It wasn’t until we were driving towards the harbor that she inquired as to what exactly we were doing. This is one of the reasons I love Marja.

Fortunately or unfortunately, when we got there, the pelican was gone. I made Marja tell me that he had managed to swallow his particularly big fish, and had sailed off into the sky. Then I pretended to believe her.

• And last, going hiking! And learning to appreciate this beautiful area which may end up being my home for a few years more than I had originally considered. After a crazy and full week, I was in desperate need to clear my head. I convinced Marja to take a break from looking up plane fares, and another roommate Paula that her Russian homework could wait. We went to Santa Cruz to hike through a state park full of redwood trees, the San Lorenzo River, and an odd little Western theme park. We hiked into the park from the highway where we parked and spent a good twenty minutes bickering about where to go to find the rangers station to get a map, find a picnic table to eat, and then get on the trail that would get us away from the parking lot portion of the park. This mostly involved me and Marja bickering about which trail to take, which culminated in her insisting on taking the road, and me stamping my feet hollering, “This road is for cars! I am not a car!” And we’re planning on going to Guyana together.

In all seriousness, I had a fabulous time with these girls-they’re two of my best friends in the area, and are loads of fun. We stumbled upon the kind of creepy Western theme park and I was about to pass it by in favor of the trail, but the girls looked intrigued. Ok, fine, I begrudgingly agreed. But then can we go see some fucking trees? This part of the park turned out to be a stop on the Roaring Camp Railroads, a train that goes from the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk to the redwood forests nearby. We took pictures of ourselves doing things like pretending to wait for trains and ride fake horses, and discovered a supremely tacky gift shop full of the kind of things I used to love when we went on road trips when I was a kid. Leave it to us to set out for a hike and end up shopping. One great find was a rack of cork rifles with a sign up saying: “two tests is enough to find out if it pops. If you pop it more than twice, I will have to ask you to leave the store.”

This prompted the following conversation between Marja and I:

Me: what are these?

Marja: you’ve never seen a cork-rifle?

Me: no…how does it work?

Marja: here, like this (takes her first pop)

Me: Ooooh.

Marja: Cool, huh? (takes her second pop)

Me: Hmm. I bet each person gets two pops. So you’ve had your two, but I still have mine.

Marja: I guess so…

Me: (pop) That was cool. Do you think I can save my second pop for later?

We were still debating this when we left the store. Although the bored teenage kid at the counter didn’t look particularly disposed to throwing anyone out, especially not his only customers.

i still get one more pop...

For the record, we did finally see some fucking trees. And they were beautiful. So was the river, although having just had a meeting about the Santa Cruz Stormwater Management Plan, I’m not sure I want to go into it…the hazards of water quality work I guess.

So that’s what’ I’ve been up to these weeks.  For those of you who are on the list of people who I owe phone calls and e-mails, you can see I’ve been very busy. In some more legit ways than others, but the end goal is balancing out the serious and important endeavors with those which will keep me sane. And this was just the highlights. Guyana, here I come.

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