Today was extremely productive! I had to be at work at 7:30 AM to teach one of our new hires how to feed the boarders, and after we finished with that I was off to be a good Gina! I zoomed around in my parents' Jeep enjoying the massive amounts of fog that filled the air; I felt like a lone woman in a post-apocalyptic world, striking out on my own in an empty land. It was pretty awesome, actually. *g* I was also listening to Dave Matthews Band, "Live at Red Rocks" for the first time, and the first disc especially I think may be their most rocking concert CD I have (out of, like, 50). It was great fun singing along :-D And I went about 2 miles out of my way so that I could keep listening to it, cruising along in Sellwood and Milwaukie. The sun was finally starting to show through the fog, but it was a silvered, ominous disk rising from the clouds; it was just like the time that we passed through the B & B complex fires, except that smoke was black and the sun was blood red. Happy memories!
At last I headed back to Powell to good old Fireside Coffee Lodge and then studied for a good 3 hours. I read 2 chapters in my ornithology book, did the reading for this week in nutrition, and then set about making flashcards for my ornithology lab. We have to memorize about 250 Oregon bird species, which I had been expecting. Only I, being the nerd and arTISTE that I am, am doing color illustrations of every single bird we have to know. *g* Tiny ones, mind, on tiny flashcards. But still. I only got all the way through to Pelecaniformes today, about 20 birds or so, and it took me about an hour and a half. But they are adorable flashcards! I enjoy my mad bird cartooning skills. I also very much enjoy my burgeoning collection of field guides. They make me warm and fuzzy. Every time I go to Powell's? Gotta get a field guide. I'm a big dork that way.
At about 12:30 I finally finished my Pelagic Cormorant and packed up my stuff, then decided I wanted to drive around more and listen to my awesome CD. I meandered through Sellwood again, then wandered past Johnson Creek and then up into Bybee and Woodstock. In doing so I passed Westmoreland Park and, remembering that the ornithology lab TA had mentioned perhaps field tripping there, I immediately decided I was gonna do some birding right then and there. :-P I parked the car and got out. It was a gorgeous day today, sunny without being cold. And there were craploads of birds. I'd forgotten how we used to go there to feed the ducks. Consulting my handy dandy bird guide (and in some cases, just my common sense) I identified a few Ring-billed Gulls, a ton of Western Gulls, two or three Herring Gulls, a ton of Canada Geese and Mallard Ducks, a ton of American wigeons, some sneaky Eurasion Wigeons, a handful of American Coots, about 3 pairs of Buffleheads, and then there were a couple really wonky mallard mixes that freaked me out. Like, since when do you have a duck with a mallard bill, an iridescent green mallard head, and a beautiful reddish brown body with NO other colors at all? Freak ducks, man, they'll get ya. I couldn't identify any of the white/brown geese; I'm guessing domestic mixes.
One of them charged me and bit my shoe. I just looked at it. Oh geese.
When I got home I set about renovating my room/cleaning it. Things are now organized and hidden away and tossed if necessary and things look much neater and nicer. I attacked the massive amounts of mold in my carpet with a third a bottle of tea tree oil mixed with water and thought I was going to sear my eyeballs out of my brain, it was so powerful at first, lol. I forget how powerful that stuff really is. Hopefully that will destroy it. I have also made room for my TV, which is currently chilling in Richie's room but which I am going to steal back, along with a DVD player. w00t Buffy marathons in my own room! Hells yeah!
...sooooooo as you can tell I seem to be a bit manic today, lol. I hope I'm not ACTUALLY manic, 'cause, you know, that would suck ass. I think it's my new way of coping with Ben being gone. I tried being mopey last time, and you know, it wasn't much fun. Hyperefficiency and keeping a good mood seems to be my new tack this time around. We'll see how this goes.
The only thing that's really bugging me right now is that I appear to have developed allergies. I've been sneezing and had a runny, stuffy nose since last week. There's also been major congestion, itchy watery eyes, and BLAAARGH mucus. I am not generally all that mucusy a sick person until a cold reaches my nose, but here it started with mucus that drains down my nose into the back of my throat, and I still have that, nearly a week later. I'm also not coughing at all, except to clear my throat of blobs of mucus, and the rest of my body is utterly unaffected -- it's literally all in my head. So... yeah, I seem to be allergic to something now. WTF!
Well, I ought to hop in the shower so that I can get a good 7 hours of sleep for work tomorrow. I'm trying to eventually have 8 hours a night, but it's hard when this whole break I didn't go to bed earlier than 2. I think though that since I have to get up between 6:15 and 6:45 Monday-Thursday that it will be easier to change my sleep schedule than when I would have an early day at school one day and then not have to be at work until 2 the next. We'll see how it goes.
I wish Ben was here to snuggle me in my nice clean room. March 17, though, he'll be back. Our third anniversary. :) I think I can survive that. Rather -- I know I can.
Good day today. :)
missing Portland
depressed
amused
accomplished
puzzled
nauseated
lustful