08/10/08

05-28-08, 8:18pm: Got the dry goods out of the cabinet and half of the dishes and pots and pans. I'm scrubbing the cupboard doors and shelves as I go so I can have different things to do. I'm planning on going through the pantry, which is where I've been storing paper work. I've been here for more than 20 years and I'm sure there's things there that can be shredded and tossed out. I think one only has to keep five years back in tax papers in case of an audit, which I highly doubt will happen to us.

There were some stacking trays and office things that Said might find useful since I'm going to help him organize his paperwork on Friday.

Gad I'm sweating like I've being paid to sweat. Each year I am the only one doing this task. The instructions state that we don't have to clear out the kitchen, just move everything to the center of the shelves. I don't have any room to move things to the center. It's actually better to clear out everything and give it all a good scrub, get new shelf lining paper in to keep it clean.

There's a bunch of stuff that's going down to recycling. The next step is to go through my old clothing and get that down to recycling. Office suits from over 20 years ago aren't going to come back into fashion any time soon, those big shoulder pads are a fashion statement that's just too 1980s. Well I should get back to clearing and scrubbing.

9:06pm, new episode of Ghost Hunters TAPS. I'm taking a break, eating a sliced orange and a bunch of prunes. Late coffee with hazelnut creamer, it's going to be a late night with the kitchen a little more than half way done, I need to lean on a bean. Bushyaib couldn't find a mason jar or the big coke glass because that's packed up and moved already. So he's taking his evening libation with the 16oz Pyrex measuring cup.

His daughter, Rhiannon, was in town, word has it. BabyMomma went to a wedding, so we'll get current pictures. I'll bet there's current pictures on Rhiannon's BabyMomma 's MySpace. Well I lost a bet to myself. The picture Erica had on her MySpace was too dark so I lightened it up a bunch. Give it a bit more contrast.

I think I snagged a fairly current picture of Rhiannon off of Erica's MySpace. Rats, it was corrupted. Well, we'll have to wait until we get copies from the wedding that happened.   To hope for a visit with my grand daughter is obviously too much for Erica to bear.

I did find a cropped picture of me taken back in 1964. I adjusted curves and sharpened, cropped it a little More. I put it on the index page of this blog. Earlier pictures of me are in my mother's possession. So getting this one is a big deal. The one on the beach with my mother and sister on "Saying Solly", Edymay, my bosslady, snaged that as a screen capture off of my late Uncle Masuhiko's website.  I think I'm on the left in red. I cut my bangs around that time as an experiment. I didn't know for sure if what I saw in the mirror was accurate or not. So I cut a big hank of hair off of my bangs in the front. My kindergarten picture had my hair in a top knot with the buzz growing out. So I can see that top knot in the little girl on the left. Bushyaib told me he did the same thing and was terrified to tell me. When he finally had to tell me he said he remembers I was very understanding. I could relate, I did the same thing as a child.

10:07pm: Time to get back to the kitchen.

05-29-08, 1:13am, taking a break. By my kitchen window are my plants. Spring fern, spider plants and wandering jew, all want to get tangled up with each other. Just clearing them and giving the area a wash was like bush whacking. I'm almost finished with the kitchen and now it's the area near the sink. Bushyaib and Amy needed to forage so I had to bugger out of the kitchen. It's like a galley in a large boat, long and only a couple of people who like each other can be in there at one time. The whole apartment is like a submarine, people have to stop and step aside if they see someone coming down the paths.

2:43am, it's as done as it's going to be. I think I need a TSP sort of cleaner. I'm using Simple Green, a eco friendly product. The build up of grime and tobacco tar isn't friendly. I'm thinking rubber gloves and a gas mask sort of bio hazard cleaning product. I did use Limeaway in the bathroom but I need new grout. This is the same tile and grout since before the 1989 quake. The paint in the bathroom looks like it has leprosy, no mold, but the paint is peeling all over. I'm hesitant to demand new paint or a new fridge because a low profile is a good thing when one's on rent control. I'll call central services if there's a plumbing problem that will cause structural damage. Otherwise I'll deal with enthropy.

The pest prevention personnel is going to be blown out. They always are. "This makes it so much easier for us. Thanks!" they usually say.  I wish I had a couple of days to work on it. James being here precluded that. Not that he'd get in my way. It's just easier when he's gone for a couple of days. I can use his space to stash the stuff from the kitchen.

I could have used a couple of day and about two other helpers.

3:00am, still have to give the porcelain a once over and brush my teeth.

1:57pm, the pest prevention people haven't shown up yet. I fell out around 4am and slept for a good 8 hours. My hands are achy from all the scrubbing I did yesterday but my back doesn't feel like it did last night. Now it's just a matter of waiting for them to show up and then put the kitchen and bathroom back together.

About Sharon Stone and her comment that the earthquake in China was "Karma". I mentioned that on the day I found out about the quake. It's something that's been whispered in circles that believe in karma. Sharon's mistake is to underestimate the buying power of the newly rich in China. They are big purchasers of high fashion so when the house of Dior let Sharon go because of the comment, that too was no surprise to me. One can whisper about karma, but to say it out loud on a red carpet event is not prudent.

Sharon's Mercury squared Saturn natal means that bosses will be upset with some of the things that she says. Sun squared Saturn doesn't help either.

2:48pm, I was feeling James's energy and sent him a ping. We might be going through difficulties in our marriage but that doesn't mean that my Neptune in Libra conjunct his Venus in Libra no longer works. It does. I feel him during the day and often it's when he's been thinking about us. Or it's when he's going through a tough patch. Moon in Pisces isn't fun for his Sun in Sag. He's already a moody guy. He fell into a melancholy mood the last night he was here. He couldn't sleep because he couldn't stop thinking of "lost" things and people. Since I've been in his life for a third of his time on earth, how many sleepless nights will he have when we finally separate for good? Since the other woman is insecure, possessive and jealous, he wouldn't even be able to talk to her about his feelings of loss for me. Between you and me, it isn't going to last between them. She's desperate and I'm patient.  Ah, he just wrote back. He's having a good day and was talking to a co-worker about music. So it was just me thinking about him.  Now we're emailing back and forth. We get more deep discussions when we write to one another than when we're together here at home.

I'm just glad that Bushyaib is here because when Bushyaib comes out into our space to have a smoke he and I get into these conversations about religion, philosophy, SciFi, etc. Then James gets pulled into the conversation.

Earthquake in Iceland, 6.1, there was a news article that speculated that large earthquakes in one part of the world trigger earthquakes elsewhere. Seems reasonable. The earth's mantel is thin and cracked, sort of like the thinness of the peel on an apple and the crust on a hot chicken pot pie. It stands to reason that earthquakes across the globe can trigger other earthquakes, the mantel shifting and readjusting.

3:44pm, the pest prevention people have still not shown up. I want to take a shower. I want to fry some eggs. Jeese.

4:16pm, the pest prevention person came finally and thanked me for clearing out the cupboards. He says everyone is complaining about silverfish. He says that if I want them treated to just give central services a call. Putting boric acid powder around the radiators seems to do the trick. So now I put everything back.

Ever wonder how to juggle? This is the first juggling video tutorial I've ever seen and it's really makes sense. It's funny too. I read somewhere that there is no human culture that doesn't have jugglers. It's something that is part of the human condition.

11:44pm, all the bags and boxes are out of James's space. The plastic needs to be sorted and culled. There's three large paper grocery bags full of plastic. If there's no matching top or bottom it's going to recycling. Moved things around the kitchen and Bushyaib said it feels "Japanese". I'm not sure what he means by that but, ok, thanks, I guess.

My right knee feels worse for wear. Galley kitchens tempt pivoting.

Now to drag things back into the bathroom.

05-20-08, Midnight, I'm as done as I'm going to be for today. The bathroom is put back together, and other than the plastic sort and cull, the kitchen pretty much done. There's a couple of grocery carts worth of recycling that needs to be taken down. The kitchen feels more spacious, which is difficult in a galley kitchen. There's more to do but it's functional and had a better feng shui thing going on. The recycling by the door got covered with a piece of fabric to tone down it's disruptive energy.

Time to brush my teeth and fall out.