CONGRATULATIONS MOM!!!!!
My mom, who has been a part-time community college history teacher for many years has just been hired for the permanent position of History Instructor at Waycross College!! Yay!!!
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Monday, February 13, 2006
The Hermit Manifesto
My little blogger-bio says that my goal in life is to be a professional hermit, and several people have asked me what I mean by that. As a result, I figured it was about time that I laid the plan and the logic behind it out in full. I know that it has been said that brevity is the soul of wit, but sometimes it's less important to be witty than to say what you need to say. And I have a lot to say.
Ahh, the Hermit Manifesto. Where to begin? Let's begin with my previous job. Because of the nature of that job, even now, as an ex-employee, I'm not going to go into detail about what I did. I left that job because I disliked it intensely. Why? Well, the work was highly repetitive, and essentially simple. I often remarked that a group of blind monkeys could have done what I did. Unfortunately, while I am striving to simplify my life, my previous job was not, in fact, all that simple. In fact, it was an incredibly high-stress job. I had tension headaches all the time, and spent a fortune on ThermaCare heat wraps for my tense neck and shoulders. I kept a bottle of Pepto-Bismol in the drink holder of my work car at all times. I would swill directly from said bottle several times per day. I held this job for twenty-seven months, during which time I developed my first wrinkles and my first ulcer. Of course, this job did have its pros... Like I said, a blind monkey could have done it. He might develop a stress ulcer, but he could definitely do it. Additionally, the job paid well, and was on a set promotion-schedule (the longer you worked there, the more money you made), and I had health insurance and paid sick and vacation days. Those are some good pros, but...
One of my coworkers had worked at that job long enough to retire. He hated it; he was miserable. The month he retired, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Several of my coworkers were eligible to retire, yet they kept working. It certainly wasn't because they loved the job; they bitched about it constantly. Why didn't they retire? Because the longer they worked, the greater their retirement package would be. Before I left, there were two heart attacks and one stroke (none of them fatal) among my coworkers in that category... and yet they were all still working there when I left.
I left because I didn’t like what I did. The job was not personally satisfying in any way, and it was taking a high toll on me physically and mentally. I left that job to accept my current position as an ESL teacher in Russia, where I receive a salary of roughly $200/mo, and I have not regretted my decision.
Why did I decide to come to Russia? Well, I double-majored in Russian and Political Science in college, during which time I spent nine (non-consecutive) months in Russia, and I loved every minute of my time there. I had accepted my previous job, thinking it was the sort of position that someone with a PolySci degree should accept, although while there, I felt as though I was wasting my education, as I rarely put any facet of my degree to use. Additionally, I often felt as though my job was useless; every day I was simply wasting time. I thought that perhaps if I got a job with a non-profit organization, one that works to facilitate international relations between the US and Russia (and there are several), I would feel satisfaction from my work. I would also be using my degree and accomplishing something.
But, there was a flaw in that plan. I graduated from college in 2001. Following graduation, I spent six months in South Korea, two months in Costa Rica, and twenty-seven months within walking distance of Mexico. My Russian skills had degenerated into something that I termed, "spanglorusskikonglish" - not really something to put on my resume. I decided that spending a year in Russia, teaching English and studying Russian, would rebuild my skills, and would look great on my resume. I had it all planned out: a year in Russia, and then I could apply for a job. I even had a specific employer in mind.
Then fate intervened. Some personal things happened to me this fall, which led me to reevaluate the course my life was taking. I'm not going to get into that here - it's personal. I only bring that up to let you know that this fall I stepped back and looked at what I was doing with my life. I realized that I was in danger of making the same mistakes which landed me in my previous job.
Like I mentioned above, my last job was the sort of job that a college grad with a high GPA and a PolySci major is expected to land. And here I was trying to follow the expected path of a Russian major. While in theory, working for a non-profit that works in and/or with Russia sounds appealing, when I began to examine my job prospects, reality was quite a turn-off:
Assist in conducting research on price and quality comparison for necessary office supplies/equipment. Responsible for inventory of office supplies/equipment and ordering. Responsible for receiving and shipping mail for staff. Organize archives, media hits, vendor files and Staff Meeting Minutes. Update and maintain contact database for mailing. Assemble material for volunteer information and general inquires for mailings. Ensure cleanliness of office areas for visitors. Communicate with vendors for troubleshooting and service orders. Answer reception phone line during business hours. Handle referrals to appropriate staff members and questions from public. Assist Executive Director with administrative tasks. Prepare mailings for staff and distribute mail. Assist in researching items for program development. Assemble presentation materials for special events. Provide assistance in special projects. Update and maintain handouts for social services department, legal program and the reception areas. Responsible for paying monthly bills and vendors on a timely basis including mailing of payments. Ensure signature on checks. Track and reconcile credit card statements and time & attendance. Organize check requests, bank statements and deposits for Bookkeeper. Attend and record minutes for Staff Meetings. Ensure cleanliness of conference room. Provide refreshments for Board Meetings. Assist in preparing Board Packet mailings. Assist with staff and Board member accommodations. Assist with organizational events. Organize state and national organizations information, maintain equipment inventory in the Equipment Inventory Log. Coordinate / schedule technology visits. Maintain administrative office files. Other duties as identified and assigned.
Ahh, the Hermit Manifesto. Where to begin? Let's begin with my previous job. Because of the nature of that job, even now, as an ex-employee, I'm not going to go into detail about what I did. I left that job because I disliked it intensely. Why? Well, the work was highly repetitive, and essentially simple. I often remarked that a group of blind monkeys could have done what I did. Unfortunately, while I am striving to simplify my life, my previous job was not, in fact, all that simple. In fact, it was an incredibly high-stress job. I had tension headaches all the time, and spent a fortune on ThermaCare heat wraps for my tense neck and shoulders. I kept a bottle of Pepto-Bismol in the drink holder of my work car at all times. I would swill directly from said bottle several times per day. I held this job for twenty-seven months, during which time I developed my first wrinkles and my first ulcer. Of course, this job did have its pros... Like I said, a blind monkey could have done it. He might develop a stress ulcer, but he could definitely do it. Additionally, the job paid well, and was on a set promotion-schedule (the longer you worked there, the more money you made), and I had health insurance and paid sick and vacation days. Those are some good pros, but...
One of my coworkers had worked at that job long enough to retire. He hated it; he was miserable. The month he retired, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Several of my coworkers were eligible to retire, yet they kept working. It certainly wasn't because they loved the job; they bitched about it constantly. Why didn't they retire? Because the longer they worked, the greater their retirement package would be. Before I left, there were two heart attacks and one stroke (none of them fatal) among my coworkers in that category... and yet they were all still working there when I left.
I left because I didn’t like what I did. The job was not personally satisfying in any way, and it was taking a high toll on me physically and mentally. I left that job to accept my current position as an ESL teacher in Russia, where I receive a salary of roughly $200/mo, and I have not regretted my decision.
Why did I decide to come to Russia? Well, I double-majored in Russian and Political Science in college, during which time I spent nine (non-consecutive) months in Russia, and I loved every minute of my time there. I had accepted my previous job, thinking it was the sort of position that someone with a PolySci degree should accept, although while there, I felt as though I was wasting my education, as I rarely put any facet of my degree to use. Additionally, I often felt as though my job was useless; every day I was simply wasting time. I thought that perhaps if I got a job with a non-profit organization, one that works to facilitate international relations between the US and Russia (and there are several), I would feel satisfaction from my work. I would also be using my degree and accomplishing something.
But, there was a flaw in that plan. I graduated from college in 2001. Following graduation, I spent six months in South Korea, two months in Costa Rica, and twenty-seven months within walking distance of Mexico. My Russian skills had degenerated into something that I termed, "spanglorusskikonglish" - not really something to put on my resume. I decided that spending a year in Russia, teaching English and studying Russian, would rebuild my skills, and would look great on my resume. I had it all planned out: a year in Russia, and then I could apply for a job. I even had a specific employer in mind.
Then fate intervened. Some personal things happened to me this fall, which led me to reevaluate the course my life was taking. I'm not going to get into that here - it's personal. I only bring that up to let you know that this fall I stepped back and looked at what I was doing with my life. I realized that I was in danger of making the same mistakes which landed me in my previous job.
Like I mentioned above, my last job was the sort of job that a college grad with a high GPA and a PolySci major is expected to land. And here I was trying to follow the expected path of a Russian major. While in theory, working for a non-profit that works in and/or with Russia sounds appealing, when I began to examine my job prospects, reality was quite a turn-off:
Assist in conducting research on price and quality comparison for necessary office supplies/equipment. Responsible for inventory of office supplies/equipment and ordering. Responsible for receiving and shipping mail for staff. Organize archives, media hits, vendor files and Staff Meeting Minutes. Update and maintain contact database for mailing. Assemble material for volunteer information and general inquires for mailings. Ensure cleanliness of office areas for visitors. Communicate with vendors for troubleshooting and service orders. Answer reception phone line during business hours. Handle referrals to appropriate staff members and questions from public. Assist Executive Director with administrative tasks. Prepare mailings for staff and distribute mail. Assist in researching items for program development. Assemble presentation materials for special events. Provide assistance in special projects. Update and maintain handouts for social services department, legal program and the reception areas. Responsible for paying monthly bills and vendors on a timely basis including mailing of payments. Ensure signature on checks. Track and reconcile credit card statements and time & attendance. Organize check requests, bank statements and deposits for Bookkeeper. Attend and record minutes for Staff Meetings. Ensure cleanliness of conference room. Provide refreshments for Board Meetings. Assist in preparing Board Packet mailings. Assist with staff and Board member accommodations. Assist with organizational events. Organize state and national organizations information, maintain equipment inventory in the Equipment Inventory Log. Coordinate / schedule technology visits. Maintain administrative office files. Other duties as identified and assigned.
Ahh, the job opportunities for someone with a BA in Russian. Not so appealing. Would I really feel as though I were accomplishing anything if those were my duties? True, not all job descriptions sounded that bad, but none of them made me feel as though I had found the niche that I was looking to fill. Not to mention that nearly all such positions are in some of the most expensive cities in the country, yet pay very little. (Now, I am not all that interested in making tons of money - as I explain further along in this manifesto - but I don't want to run into debt either. I lived like a pauper in San Diego so I could pay off all my debts, and I'd like to remain debt-free as long as possible. But we'll talk more about money in a minute.) Of course the opportunities are slightly broader for someone with a Masters or a Doctorate, and as such, I briefly and seriously considered grad school. But (and I mean no offense to the many of my good friends currently in grad school) the more grad school stories I heard from my friends, the less excited I became by the prospect of an advanced degree. Honestly, so much of grad school sounds like utter bullshit to me. For example, I know someone (a dear friend, highly intelligent, and whom I greatly respect) who earned his PhD by writing a dissertation on third person impersonal pronouns no longer used in the modern Russian language. What is the point?
My father (who has his Masters) once said that BS, MS and PhD stood for bullshit, more shit and piled higher and deeper. Crass, I know, but in many ways I agree. (Well, it's unfortunate that this little joke only works with BS, etc., as I believe this only in regards to non-scientific fields. In science, I wholeheartedly believe that a PhD knows/learns far more than a BS.) Please bear in mind that I am in no way opposed to the pursuit of knowledge, and I truly hope that there never comes a day when I cease to learn new things. But so much of academia just seems so senseless to me, all this specialization to the point of incomprehension. Perhaps one day I will change my mind about this, but for now, I have decided that grad school is not the route for me.
So what is the route for me? I thought quite seriously about remaining in Russia for a second year. I love my job, my coworkers and my students... but financially, I simply can't. As I mentioned above, I paid off all of my debts (car, student loans, credit card) at my last job, and I accrued enough savings to finance my year abroad at a salary of $200/mo without again going into debt, but I simply can't afford to do it for a second year. True, I have enough credit that I could start charging expenses and plan to pay off my debts when I return to the US and get a "real job" - but that's one black hole I have no intention of falling down.
So instead, I thought about what it is about my current life in Russia that makes me happy. I surprised myself with the answer: for me, the best thing about my current situation in Russia is the lack of stress. True, occasionally I fret about things like what to do about my chronic failures, or how to turn the lyrics of I am a Rock into a ninety minute discussion, but I haven't suffered a moment of the gut-wrenching, muscle-clenching stress that I put up with for twenty-seven months in San Diego. Back in 2000, following my seven-month stint in St. Petersburg, I'm sure my answer would have been different. It would have involved the Russian people, or the Russian culture, or the amazing historical architecture, or even the Russian nightlife... not that I don’t still love the Russian people, architecture and culture (I'm a bit too old for nightclubs), but I've changed. I enjoy being here, but I no longer feel as tied to Russia as I once did. I guess that’s an odd thing to say, coming from someone who has been here, enjoying herself for the past six-plus months, but it's true. The best thing about my life in Russia is the lack of stress.
Thus, I arrived at goal number one: Remain in a low-stress situation. But other than low-stress, what else do I want out of life? I made a list of things that I enjoy doing:
So there you have it: the list of things I like to do. Then I decided to make the above list my life goals. Simple as that. You've read the list, so now you know you know what I want to do with my life. But how?
Well first, you might notice that among my list of things that are important to me, I have no desire to accumulate a large amount of wealth, to own an expensive home or a fancy car. I rarely buy new things; I'm perfectly content with clothes and furniture from yardsales and thrift stores. I know how to live frugally. Granted, I can't live completely without funds, but the funds I need don't have to be big. In fact, they can be pretty meager.
The stereotypical "American Dream" that, as an American, one hears about from an early age, is that in America, if a person works hard enough, he can achieve anything. In America, anyone can become whatever he wants to become, so long as he puts his mind to it. In reality, this American dream is simply code for "if you work really hard, then you can make a lot of money." Well, that's great. But do I really want to work myself to death for money? We've already determined that I don't want a lot of money.
How can a person live cheaply? Well, for starters, live somewhere that's inexpensive. I lived in San Diego where, at the time, the average price for a home was $500,000. I was renting a tiny studio apartment for over $700/month. Nearly all of the Southern Californians whom I met were resigned to the fact that they would never be able to pay off their homes. Houses in North Florida (where I grew up) are going for around $150,000 to $200,000 these days. This looks like quite an improvement over SoCal until you learn that my mom got her house in Southeastern Georgia for under $30,000. And goods (on average) are cheaper there too.
Yes, I have decided to relocate to a small town in Southeast Georgia. I've told this to a lot of people who have said things like, "But what will you do there?" and "Won't you be bored?" Look back at the list of things I like to do, people. Half of them I can do anywhere, and the other half, by definition, I can't do at home, no matter where "home" is.
I have decided to buy a home in Southeastern Georgia. I want to relax, to write, to grow squash and to simplify my life as much as possible. Mmmm… but how will I pay for this house? As inexpensive as I hope it will be when I find it, it will still have to be paid for. Well, by teaching ESL of course. True, I have already mentioned that my current ESL job, which I love very much, pays very, very little, but in many places around the world, ESL teachers earn substantially more. I have already lined up a position in South Korea, beginning in August, where I will make enough to put a sizable dent in paying-off-a-cheap-house in one year. (I've set my house-buying budget at a max of $39,900, and I'm certainly hoping to land something less than my max. My mother has agreed to be my lending agent for this venture.) The plan from there is simple: hermit for a while, tending my home and writing. Then, when I start to run out of subsistence funds or become stir-crazy, I will teach ESL somewhere. I would like to go to both China and Japan, as well as Greece, Northern Africa and South America. And I will. That's the plan.
Eventually, I expect that I will grow tired of traveling. At that point I will be perfectly willing to accept some sot of mundane job in Southeastern Georgia. We shall see…
Saturday, January 28, 2006
WD40ian Literature
[This post is cross-posted between this site and from russia with blog, my primary blog through June 2006]
Those of you who know me well, or who have been following my adventures in the blogosphere for a lengthy amount of time, will probably have noticed that I have a tendancy to bring up WD40 periodically and inexplicably. Well, sorry to disappoint, but you won't get an explanation from me today. In fact, as the 65+ pages of the as yet unfinished WD40 story are locked in the harddrive of a dead computer from which I may never recover them, it may very well be that you will never know what I'm talking about. Let's just say that it refers to an extremely bizarre period in my life which began almost exactly eleven years ago. Ever since, anything which yields a poignant reminder to that time has inevitably been described by me as "WD40ian."
Some WD40ian things:
ancient Egypt
Arthurian Britain
Waycross, GA
The other day, my coworkers and I were discussing taxes, and Brooke said, "What's that form called that you get from your employer? All I can think of right now is 'WD40,' but I know that's not right." (Melissa, let's just say that I totally thought of you right then!) While we may have come down to Earth with Britt piping up with, "W-2!" from the other room, I feel I should bring this up, as Brooke is the person who provided me with the item most recently described be me as WD40ian: A Trip To The Stars by Nicholas Christopher.
My apologies to those of you who don't know what I mean when I say WD40ian, but that's simply the best way for me to describe A Trip To The Stars. Let's just say that the book is incredibly magical, although set in the mundane real world of the 1960s-1970s. The author all but beats you over the head with star/space-related imagery, although I for one utterly love that kind of stuff. There's a pyramid of significance, although it's not Egyptian, and there are so many coincidences that you, as the reader, will find yourself wanting to scream at the characters, "Dammit - why can't you see that it's a sign?!"
Over the past few years I have found myself developing an overly fatalistic view of life (which I must say has solidified over the past few months), and even though we never mentioned it back in the day, WD40 was pretty fatalistic. And well, A Trip To The Stars could also be summed up as a fantastical lesson in fatalism. If that intrigues you, get yourself a copy. Otherwise, well, I didn't want you on my planet anyway.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Costa Rica Travelers: Avoid Cabinas Dagmar
While I am in Russia, I do not have FTP capabilities. This means that I am unable to update my main website, janekeeler.com (thus all the mass changes and updates that occurred over winter break while I was in the States). But, I received an email today that I feel needs to be posted somewhere on the internet, until such time as I can update my Costa Rica Travel Tips section of my site. So here goes:
Hi Jane
I saw that you were recomending Cabinas Dagmar at Punta Uuvita/Bahia Ballena. Me and my boyfriend came home to sweden yesterday (12 jan) after 5 wonderful weeks in Costa Rica. We were spending 2-9 jan, 2006 in Uuvita at Cabinas Dagmar an were supposed to pay 15 dollars per night.
I saw that you were recomending Cabinas Dagmar at Punta Uuvita/Bahia Ballena. Me and my boyfriend came home to sweden yesterday (12 jan) after 5 wonderful weeks in Costa Rica. We were spending 2-9 jan, 2006 in Uuvita at Cabinas Dagmar an were supposed to pay 15 dollars per night.
One day were going to the beach and we forgot the sarong so I went back to get it and I found Jose (the owner) in our room. I thought that he was maybe leaving towels or what ever so I only said hi and only told my boyfriend what happened. When we came back nothing was missing. All our money were there and so were the credit cards. We tought just like you that it was a friendly family but we still brought all our “important” stuff whit us rest of the time. We were a bit short on cash the day we were leaving so I paid whit my credit card it was a total of 61.000 colones (about 120 dollars) whit laundry. When I today were checking my account on the internet there is 5 charges from Cabinas Dagmar of a total about 1000 us dollars… I talked to the bank and he have also made a copy of my card and tried to take out money on ATM. He have also tried to make a reservation of a total 600 us dollars but they managed to stop it because there is no more money on this account.
I will get all my money back from the bank but would like to warn people NOT to stay at Cabinas Dagmar.
If you want to respond or ask something:
therese@norstat.se
Kind regards
Therese Eriksson
Friday, January 06, 2006
Back to Russia
From January 7th, 2006 through June 2006 I will be in Vladimir, Russia, and as such, I will be blogging at From Russia With Blog. Enjoy!
Home Fun Round-Up
I've had a lot of fun, being home over the past two weeks, and I'm sad to be leaving already. These two weeks have certainly flown by quickly. Great things about being back (in no particular order):
Seeing friends and family. (My apologies to those of you whom I was unable to see and/or chat with, but I've been busier than I expected!)
Cats! (There's only Gosha at the AH, and he isn't exactly the cuddliest of kitties. It's nice having kitties cuddled up in bed with me, or on my lap while I'm typing. Of course, as my mom is now back up to 12 cats - two strays have decided they live here - my allergies have been driving me mad, and I've taken enough sudafed to knock out a horse or blow up a meth lab, but yet I still sneeze. Sigh.)
House Stalking. Most people would probably call this "looking for a new house" but I prefer "house stalking." You know that commercial where one family is eating breakfast, and another comes in and says they've decided to buy the house, but the family that lives there says that it isn't for sale? I feel like that commercial. I've spent a lot of time driving around looking for houses that I would like to live in. That totally qualifies as house-stalking. Of course, I did look at two that are legitimately for sale (posts below if you don't know what I'm talking about), but neither qualified to be Jane's First Home. Mom is going to keep looking for a house for me. I trust her judgment in this, as we have the same taste in homes.
Driving. I love driving, and I always miss it when I'm overseas. It's so fun and relaxing. (Do any of you have driving calluses? I’m not sure what I do to get them, but it has to do with the way I hold the steering wheel. Anyway, they'd gone away while in Russia, and they're just now starting to come back...)
A shower with water pressure. Let me tell you, a shower with water pressure is infinitely better than a shower where hot water trickles down on your head with all the force gravity has to offer at a height of five and a half feet. This has been a real pleasure.
Sunshine and warmth. I was feeling the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder during my last month in Russia. The sun was only poking its head out for a few hours every day, and for the most part, those few hours were pretty overcast. It's been great being outside, in the sun, wearing just jeans and a t-shirt. Today I took a nap in the grass in the sunshine. Soak up that vitamin D, baby.
Triscuits. You can't get 'em in Russia and I love 'em. Mmm. Maybe I'll have some now.
I'm sure there's more, but that's all for now. I wish I could've stayed longer.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Pictures Are Back Online!!!
Apparently, too many of you have been viewing my blog(s). Okay, so I don't actually mind that, but this way I can say it's your fault that the pictures have been down for the past few weeks! I've been using a free image hosting service, with strict data-transfer limits... and whenever a certain amount of data has been transferred (i.e. images viewed) during the course of an hour, it renders the pictures un-viewable for the remainder of said hour. This problem can, of course, be remedied by upgrading to a not-for-free account. Or by switching to a better free service. Which I have done. So enjoy the photos!
Hebardville Cypress Mill
Okay, so I should be *doing* something useful with my day, but instead I'm wasting time on the internet. Surprise, surprise. Anyhow, here's a photo I took the other day of the old Hebardville Cypress Mill at sunset. (The Hebard Cypress Company logged the Okefenokee Swamp for all the cypress they could get... and then sold the land to the US Government, thus creating the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Brunswick and a Blue House
Yesterday Mom and I decided to drive over to Brunswick, and to explore south-east Georgia a bit. We took all back roads, and drove through all sorts of little, decaying old southern towns with names like Blackshear and Hoboken. Not heard of them? Well, they're even smaller than Waycross, if you can believe that. We ate lunch just outside of Brunswick at a restaurant called The Georgia Pig - delicious barbecue, absolutely delicious. We arrived in Brunswick (I still can't believe they held a G8 summit there!), and stopped for a while to look at the marshland. We didn't head over to Jekyll island or St. Simon's Island or Ft. King George (the touristy things to do there) having done them all before (even if I don't remember), and drove north looking at the sights. We discovered a wildlife preservation area where one can go birdwatching (my mom being rather into this) located at an old rice plantation. We also discovered what was left of an old house, which of course we explored. (Chris, too bad you weren't here!) Soon it began to rain, and the rest of our journey was a bit damp. (We got home to learn that there had been a major storm in southeast GA with tornados and the like... well, all I know is that I have a small dent in my hood where a small bit of tree came crashing down onto it. Sigh.)
The cool old house we found and explored.
Bird sanctuary / old rice plantation
We almost accidentally went here. Good thing they had a sign!
On our way back we drove through the small town of Jesup. As we approached, we could smell this awful reek, which came from the town's Rayonier Paper Mill. When we saw the thing, it was so astounding that we simply had to pull over. I had no idea making paper was so disgusting. It's almost beautiful, in a tragic way.
This morning, we went to look at another house. This one is for sale for $16,000, and has been for sale since July 2004. Well, now we know why. It looks fine from the outside (other than it needs to have bigger windows. Whoever thought pulling out the old tall windows in all these old houses was a good idea?) and has a rather unsightly handicapped ramp. But, once you go inside (the realtor isn't even bothering to lock the place!) and are hit by the overpowering stench of mold, you start to realize that there's a problem. It's kind of weird - there's a new roof on the place, but whoever put it on obviously did a craptacular job, as the inside walls were wet from yesterday's rain! All the walls are moist, and the originally ugly, brown carpet is wet as well. I figure it's worth $5000, and would have to be completely gutted and redone. And well, I might have 5K, but completely gutting and refurbishing a house from 1910 is not on my hermit's budget.
The blue "bargain"
Monday, January 02, 2006
Happy New Year!!
Wow. It's 2006. I'm not even going to get into how weird that makes me feel. But, I will tell you about the past few days. Chris came up from Lake City (where he was visiting his family for the holidays) on the afternoon of the 30th. Mom and I got a phone call from him; he had managed to find his way to the downtown area of Waycross, and had no clue as to how to make it to her house. I figured it would be easier to drive down and get him than to explain how to get from there to here (I know I've mentioned how strangely this town is laid out), so I met him downtown. As it was a nice afternoon, we decided to explore the downtown, and we had a lot of fun. I won't get into too many details... but let's just say this town has some interesting old buildings.
A shot of Chris during part of our explorations....
Melissa and Alex arrived early that evening, and we went out to dinner at a local diner called Jerry J's, featuring some scrumptious down home southern cooking (i.e., everything fried), and upon returning home, we had a small pseudo-Solstice celebration. Melissa, Alex, Chris and I have been sort of celebrating the Solstices every December and June since the winter of 2000... although it's mostly an excuse to get together and act like weirdos/pyromaniacs. Yes, we are aware that the Winter Solstice fell on December 21st, not December 30th, but keep in mind, I was still in Russia on the 21st. Anyhow, the "solstice celebration" consisted mainly of a bunch of candles lit around and atop an old tree stump in the corner of the front yard. We sang all (four? five? six?) verses of Mother Earth and Father Time (a Solstice carol written by Chris to the tune of Angels We Have Heard on High - it's a great song, but my god, it's about three verses too long), Chris sang his new Solstice carol (another song about Mother Earth and Father Time, written to the tune of Greensleeves), and we made up a song to the tune of Oh Holy Night about a burning plastic box and some rosemary. Yes, we're a strange bunch. (This is all on video, as my father gave me a video camera for xmas - thank you, thank you! - so assuming I can get all the necessary cords and software to edit my footage, you may one day get to see what I'm talking about.)
"Everyone" has a candle...
Alex and Melissa burn as one.
The next day (New Year's Eve), we drove down to the Ghost Train at Kingfisher Landing, and (of course!) took many pictures. Then, we drove down to Folkston to the main entrance to the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge, and drove out to the boardwalk. On the drive to the boardwalk, we passed an alligator sunning himself on the side of the road, and along the boardwalk, we saw two more alligators and a snake, which we were unable to identify. We made some interesting video of the swamp (to which I may one day subject my poor students) and we took some great pictures from atop the observation tower.
Chris rides the Ghost Train
Melissa rides the Ghost Train
Melissa and Jane ride the Ghost Train
Jane rides the Ghost Train... again.
Chris, Jane and Melissa at the Okefenokee Swamp
Melissa and Alex at the Okefenokee Swamp
Me at the Okefenokee.
What do you think, my picture for the dust jacket?
What kind of snake do you think this is?
After leaving the swamp, we headed back up to Waycross, where we dined at Ruby Tuesday's (so disappointing) and then strolled over to Wal-Mart to stock up on some booze for the evening. (We are such a bunch of light-weights. We had 12 wine coolers and a bottle of champagne, and half of that is left over, and we were all sloshy. We're getting old, my friends.) While waiting for the stroke of midnight, we decided to film a murder-mystery with the new video camera, which turned out to be absolutely absurd. Again, this may one day make its online debut (but don't hold your breath). At 10:43, in homage to the good old days, Melissa, Chris and I went running down the street after the Ghost Train (yes, there was a train whistle at that time, but with this being Waycross, that was hardly surprising) shouring "wait for me!" while waving wooden swords from Korea. (In honor of Gwen, Alex sat on the front porch and looked embarrassed.) At the stroke of midnight, I opened the Russian champagne (yes Frank, I opened it myself), which for some reason we drank out of ice-cream dishes instead of champagne flutes or wine glasses (both of which were readily available, but we had been imbibing those wine coolers...), and then, old folks that we are, we went to bed. I've spent today recovering.
Jane and Melissa with a bottle of Russkoe Champanskoe
Our first toast to the new year.
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