Sunday with dad...

Well, I actually got around to painting something.  It's been forever and a day.  I probably chose the worst time ever to paint, but at least I painted, and having done that feels good.  Whether I enjoyed the activity or not.  I feel accomplished. 

I don't love the painting I'm working on, but it has great potential.  I guess, I don't love it yet. 

Anyway here's the reason I can't paint on Sundays...  my dad thinks he can paint too. 

Check him out here.  He's not absolutely terrible.  He actually sells paintings, what can I say... 

This was my view while painting.

Let's just mix up a little paint...

And OMG she has a face!!!  Instantly.

And so does she... and he... well, not so much.

I absolutely love the colors of her face.  She matches with my blog, too...  is it a coincidence?

Wulffmorgenthaler

Found this awesome website with hillarious and beautifully drawn comic strips today.  My friend Caroline shared it with me.

Check it out.

A time for change can be tough on your body

If you're going through a time for change, like I am, my advise to you is BE VEWY VEWY CAWEFUL.  Constantly changing your scene can be exciting and definitely good for your personal growth, but it can be a bitch on your body.  Always being on the go can be dangerous. 

Here are some things to keep in mind, and trust me - I know what neglect can do.  (it's not pretty)

• Sleep is important.  Not how much time you sleep, but rather treasuring your uninterrupted sleep time. 
• Eating.  Just because you're on the go isn't an excuse to eat out all the time.  Make sure to eat fiber.  I usually stay away from it because I have intestinal issues with fiber, but ... when you're stressed out, fiber is good for you.  If you're not the greatest cook, and don't have the time to cook, this may be dificult, but you can make an effort to find local places that make good homestyle meals.  In Costa del Este, there's a great little place at the Business Park foodcourt that makes great food that tastes home made.  Another great option is to actually eat at home - but not necessarily yours.  ;) 
• Relax.  You will get things done.  Trust yourself, and trust that god will help you.  You can't try to be superman. 
• Exersize.  This is what my friend Genevieve says:  "If you have time to check email, watch a sitcom, surf the Internet, have drinks, coffee or dinner with friends, go shopping, etc., then you have time to exercise. Yes, sometimes you have to sacrifice those things but the results are worth it!"  Now, I haven't particularily had time for those things either... but excersizing is what keeps you young.  Trust me.  I know this because I know what happens when you don't excersize, as well.  I lived in the USA.  Which actually should be USF.  And you know what that F stands for. 
• Drink LOTS of water, when it comes to water, it's definitely all about quantity and not quality.  Just drink it, all the time.  Some people think that because they're busy they don't have time to stop to pee all the time, so the solution is not drinking water.  THIS IS THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO. 
• Sugar is fattening, but it also gives you energy, so even if you're trying to be healthy, remember sugar isn't actually that bad for you.  And your body needs it.  My advice?  Eat a banana.  Bananas are delicious. 

I am a horrible example for physical health, but it's not because I don't know these things.  It's much easier said than done.  But people help people.  And having people in your life who support your healthy or unhealthy habits is a huge part of it as well.

Wish me luck, as my life may be undergoing yet another change.  But this time, I will be wary.

Four birds.

I have the strangest dreams.  My brother always tells me I'm making them up but I swear it isn't true! 

Yesterday morning I woke up from a crazy dream about birds. 

The dream starts when I'm hanging out with two friends and they comment on how cute my skirt is.  The skirt is dark olive green and has a matching parakeet.  They notice that it's alive.  To me, this is the most normal thing, a bird tied to my skirt, to live there, as decoration. 

Apparently I had sewed birdseeds to the skirt so that the bird could eat them and not starve.  Either way, my friends and I noticed that all of the birdseeds had been eaten, so the parakeet was hungry. 
I didn't have any food or intentions or getting any for the bird. 

Later, I came into my room and found a purse, with three other birds in it.  I realized then that they'd been in there for a very long time also without being fed.  I found some random sliced almonds in my room and fed it to the green parakeet.  Then I took out a bird from the purse, it was an ochre color, and it ran for the almonds and was devouring them furiously.  The same thing happened when I took out the black bird, and finally, I took out the pink one, and it was really angry and bit me soooo hard!  That's when I woke up. 

For some reason these birds never died despite the fact that I forgot to feed them, they just hybernated and woke up angry. 

What does this mean?  Is there something really important in my life that I'm forgetting to tend to?  Or am I deliberately being careless with other life forms?  Other people, even? 

I constantly have dreams about fish out of water that I'm trying to save.  This time, I wasn't trying to save these birds at all - they were being neglected. 

Why am I neglecting the muted colored birds in my life?

Becoming, once again, native to this planet.

This is my favorite quotation from Cradle to Cradle:

"Seriously, humans evolved on the Earth, and we are meant to be here. Its atmosphere, its nutrients, its natural cycles, and our own biological systems evolved together and support us here, now. Humans were simply not designed by evolution for lunar conditions. So while we recognize the great scientific value of space exploration and the exciting potential of new discovery there, and while we applaud technological innovations that enable humans to "boldly go where no man has gone before," we caution: Let's not make a big mess here and go somewhere less hospitable even if we figure out how. Let's use our ingenuity to stay here; to become, once again, native to this planet."

- William McDonough & Michael Braungart

Tales of a troubled conservationalist

I've never been an avid promoter of recycling.  Ever since I was in middle school it gave me the feeling that the effort wasn't quite worth it - I didn't know why I felt this way, but it was a feeling I had.  This didn't keep me from disposing of all of my paper wastes in the recycling bin though, but in the back of my head I knew recycling wasn't the solution.  

In college I read a book called Cradle to Cradle and it confirmed everything I suspected - teaching me more about how to save the world.  Read it, please: trust me the solution isn't fast or easy, "it's going to take effort and it's going to take forever, but then again, that's the point." 

Anyway, I'm a firm believer in prevention.  (I apply this belief to everything in life.)  Just like what I've read in this book, I don't want to have to recycle.  I want to avoid all that trash.  There's no reason for containers to last so much longer than the products that came in them, for example.

If you knew me back in highschool you probably remember my issues with conserving paper.  I used the smallest possible margins, to get everything into the least amount of pages possible.  I wrote consicely.  I used single spaces, and a small font.  I printed everything front and back.  Lord knows some teachers hated me.  I used scrap paper.  I recycled when I was done with things, or I kept my work so that I could share it with underclassmen (mainly my little brother).

It's not easy being slightly obsessive compulsive and a conservationist these days.  The people who respect you are freaks like you and most people don't get the whole point.  They say, just recycle!  No... what about reducing?  What about spending less money?  WHAT!?  oh that got your attention.  Yes.  Spending less money. 

-Double siding your work literally saves you half of the paper you use. 
-Using bar soap is cheaper than liquid soap because you're not paying for all the water that comes in liquid soap, and it lasts a LOT longer (it's easy to waste a bunch of soap by oversquirting the liquid but unless you spend an hour rubbing the bar you're actually only allowed to use as much as you need - unless you're one of those that throw the soap away when it "get's too little")
-Only drive your car when you need it.  GAS IS SO EXPENSIVE!  Carpool. 
-Don't use air conditioning unless it's actually HOT out. 
-Put a bucket in your shower to collect the cold water while you're waiting for the warm water, and then use that to water your plants or to fill your toilet.  (P.S. there's actually no reason for toilet water to be as clean as drinking water, dear governmentalists, get on that.)

I actually just remembered this wasn't why I started writing this.  The whole point of this entry was RESPECT.  Nobody respects a conservationalist.  Some people interpret it as being cheap, for example... but I really don't feel that's fair. 

The benefits of conserving are endless.  But I guess it's not for everyone. 
Being on track of everything you spend can be exhausting, and I understand.  But it's easier than it appears.  Just getting into a habit is all it takes.  Just being conscious is a great way to start.  Then it all happens automatically. 

Don't use what you don't need.  If it helps, for example with products you use at home, buy in stock (it's cheaper! ) and keep smaller containers to refill.  I do this even with PeptoBismol.  It helps you use smaller amounts, it's crazy, it's psychological.  What happens is that large containers gives you the illusion that you're never going to run out of anything, so you waste incredible amounts of whatever you're buying.  Especially with food. 

This is my biggest battle with the people around me (I'll write more about trying to change people in newer posts).  USE WHAT YOU NEED and WHAT YOU REALLY WANT (it's OK to indulge yourself - you're a human being with dignity)  But if you're using it just because you can, that's a terrible thing.

"Ehem, you're in my seat."

Ok you know what really grinds my gears?  People with seats.  

Right so that's a generalization, and I don't actually have a problem with everyone who has a seat.  Here are some examples: 

• Are you the pilot of this plane?  You get a seat. 
• Are you the stewardess?  You get a seat too.  With a fancy seatbelt.
• Do you have a ticket that says 14B is your seat?  Sure.  Claim that.  
• Are you the bus driver?  Seat. 
• Does this bus have numbered seats?  Nope... ok you can sit anywhere.  
• Do you have motion sickness?  Ok you get to sit at the front. 
• Are you the one who pays the bills?  Please, sit anywhere you like... sit on me if you must.  
• What about the baby in the baby seat?  Yes baby, only you get to sit there. 
• Ok in the theatre:  If there are numbered seats claim yours.  If there are not you can reserve some by getting there first.  Whoops, you left, you took your purse, you lost your seat.   
• I am in your house as a guest, please, tell me where to sit.  And of course, let me know if I'm not in the right place. 

I could go on about people who are entitled to their seats.  But YOU.  You who claim your seats at the lunch table.  You who claim your seats in the school bus.  You claim your seats in the car...   YOU ARE RETARDED.  And sometimes, you're on an unjustified powertrip.  YOU DON'T GET A SEAT.  You get to sit wherever whoever got there first didn't sit.  You can't expect people to reserve your seat and you can't get people out of the seat they rightfully got by GETTING THERE FIRST. 

So please, come back to earth... and chill out.  Nothing will happen if you don't get the window seat (unless you get motion sickness), and nothing will happen if you get the head of the table or not.  Did you pay for the chair with armrests?  Nope?  ...can't claim it. 

Thanks.

What we've got so far. (hehehe)

So... this is what we've got so far. 



Sorry about the reflection on the glass there, I took this from our inspection's offices.  Oh yeah, that's right.  Inspection is riiight there.  Watching everything we do.  This is actually how  much they can see.  (They can see more than we can from the actual site.  Duh.)



That little white trailer is our office.  :)  It's cute but seriously we are cramped in there like the chinese families in movies.  The other trailers (huge ones) are coming sometime this month... hopefully.

Anyway back to the site. 

That yellow machine is drilling holes into the ground.  HUGE.  HOLES.  And then they lower a cage (see the cages all over the place?) and then they pour concrete in there.  That's what piles are.  And they are basically the "roots" of the building that we'll build on top of it.  It's funny thought cause it really looks like we haven't actually done anything.  (I use we really loosely here)



See?  You can't tell there are actually a bunch of piles there under the ground.  So yeah.  Anyway... just thought I'd share.



Oh man the rack on my car is really crooked there.  UGHHHHHhhhhh

Greetings.