July: My New BFF

Yesterday morning I picked up my new gun!  It was a pain in the ass.  The shop owner gave me the run-around for two days straight, and then tried to tell me that I had to wait until Saturday.  This ticked me off because he was the one who originally scheduled me to pick it up on Tuesday (I showed up and shop was closed down with no courtesy call whatsoever).  Even though I had already paid for my purchase and waited the cool-down period, he was basically holding my gun hostage and felt no need to fork it over.  I finally got testy with him over the phone on Wednesday night and suggested that he squeeze me into his busy schedule if he wanted to maintain his business's good name.  He agreed, and we met at 8:00 a.m yesterday.  Twenty minutes later, I had all of the papers signed and was out the door with this:

Don't be fooled by how small and cute it looks.  This little gun's a fireball.  I couldn't wait until Saturday to try it out, so Clint and I drove down the hill and paid to use one of the ranges for an hour.  When I shot my first round, I was expecting it to feel like a 22.  Nuh uh.  If you're not careful, this little thing will try to rip your hand off.  Okay, that's a serious exaggeration, but the .38 Special definitely feels more like a 45 than a 22 or a 9 mm.  It's got a lot of umph in that small package.  By the time our hour was up, the web of my hand was throbbing and I was head-over-heels in love with my new gun.  I nicknamed it "July", because it reminds me of a quirky, explosive little fire cracker.   . 

After shooting, we swung by the sheriff's station, and I picked up an application for a CCW permit.  The application itself is very thick, and will take days (if not weeks) for me to fill out.  Plus you have to have three people (non-relatives) write you a character reference letter.  This would normally be no problem for me at all, if it weren't for the explanation I have to give said-people.  "Hey, can you write a letter saying that I'm an awesome person so I can stash a gun in my purse?" 

After all of the paperwork is turned in, you have to go through a background check and a face-to-face interview.  The earliest they can schedule my interview is November, so this gives me plenty of time to try to fulfill all of the requirements.  Again, this permit is difficult to qualify, so this may all be a moot point.  But I'm still planning to try. 

******

I wrote a whole bunch more, but decided to cut that section out and (possibly) save it for another entry.

Universal Studios Monsoon and Other Unrelated Stuff

I stand no chance of catching my blog up on everything, so I'm going to use Shan's numbering method to hit the highlights:

1. I took thirty Builders Club students on a field trip to Universal Studios on Saturday.  It rained the whole time, although the heaviest fall was right when we arrived to the park.  It felt like a monsoon while we were purchasing our group's tickets.  Of course my idea of a monsoon is probably skewed by the fact that I live in the desert, but I will point out that my socks were soaked within two minutes of leaving the bus, even though I was wearing boots that were supposedly water resistent.  On the plus side, because of the rain, the lines were non-existence.  We walked straight on to Mummy's Revenge and Jurassic Park without even waiting thirty seconds.  Plus my students, being desert rats themselves, aren't used to rain, so they were all excited and festive about it.  The park sold ponchos for $4.00 (decent ones too!), so everywhere you looked there was a sea of bright yellow shiny hooded figures sloshing through puddles.  It was quite the scene to see in Southern California.  But my favorite part of the whole day was getting to tour Wisteria Lane.  Desperate Housewives is my weekly guilty pleasure.
2. While we were in Vegas, the cat (Meow--yeah, we give our pets creative names) decided to give birth in my closet.  I lost a duffle bag and a purse in the process, but I just felt relieved that my favorite boots survived the ordeal considering they, too, were sitting on the floor.  We now have five little Meow spawns.  Their names are:  Ewok (although we call her Wookie), Sunshine, Yowler, Pants, and Kitty Soft Paws.  They are adorable as all get-out, but now my closet smells like kitty litter and my nostrils are perpetually plugged up due to mild cat allergies...although I guess the latter makes the former less of a problem.
3. I've been jogging quite a bit lately.  Not by choice, really.  Clint's mom calls me up regularly asking me if I want to run the track at my school, and most of the time I end up saying yes because I can't think of a good reason not to.  We always walk from my house to my work (3/4 of a mile), jog the track eight times (two miles), and then walk back home (another 3/4 mile).  By the time we're done, we've walked/jogged three-and-a-half miles.  Sometimes I loop the track a ninth time while Teri is finishing her eighth loop.  The funny thing is I really don't like to run.  Yet somehow I keep doing it.  And somehow I got roped into two 5Ks: one in April, and another one in June.  The one in June is at Knott's Soak City, so I'm really excited about that one.  The last third of a mile is through their "Sunset River."  Awesome.  I told Teri if I end up living to be a hundred--or dying in June in the Sunset River-- I'm blaming her.  
4. I used part of my tax refund to buy myself a new handgun.  I know...I could've got myself some cute new clothes for work, or a hot new pair of boots, or a new purse to replace the one the cat exploded on, but no...I go and buy a firearm.  But seriously, I love love love it.  It's a turquoise and black 38 Special.  I hand-picked this one because I wanted something that was very compact, but something that packs a bigger punch than a 9 mm.  Eventually I plan to attempt to get my CCW license, so I definitely wanted a petite handgun.  I say "attempt" because the license is difficult to qualify for, and it is very expensive. I did have to take a handgun safety test just to make my purchase, which was sort of funny because I didn't realize I was going to be taking a test that day.  When the store's owner gave me that piece of paper and escorted me to the conference room, I was instantly thinking, "Oh crap, should I have studied for this?"  As it turned out, the test was way easy.  I only had to cheat on two questions.  Kidding, kidding...anyway, I was supposed to pick up my gun today, but the place was closed because they are moving to a new location.  I was so disappointed that I may have cried a little.  Okay, I didn't cry, but I was REALLY bummed.  Clint and I had made plans to go to the gun range this evening to try it out, but that same gun range is now closed to the general public until this Saturday.  So even if I get my new gun by tomorrow, I can't play with it until Saturday.       
5. I'm on spring break!  Yeeeeeeeeessssssss!
6. Our heater is broken.  Our kitchen sink is broken too (something's wrong with the pipe underneath).  I've been using a space heater to keep warm and rinsing dishes in the tub. 
7. Trin and the rest of her sixth grade class were on my campus on Friday for seventh grade orientation.  It was a lot of fun to have my own kid at my actual work site all day.  There's a good chance she'll be in my class next year, but that's something I'll write a seperate entry about once it gets closer. 

Okay, I'm pretty sure when my sister did the numbered list thing, her items were much more concise.

Glitter in the Air

It's getting late and I really need to go to bed.  My student-teacher will be taking over my classes tomorrow, so I have a busy day of sitting around doing nothing that I would really love to be well-rested for.  I know, your heart goes out to me.

My list of things I need (or want) to blog about is about a mile long now.  If the damn thing was actually a physical list and not a mental one, I think I'd shove it down the garbage disposal.

Other than the lassoing of the moon and "calling me sugar" (she sort of lost me there), I adore this song by Pink.  It normally isn't my style of music...too slow and mellow for my taste.  But the lyrics are so gentle, and pretty, and nostalgic. 

Okay, here goes another feeble attempt to go to sleep.  One of these days I might actually post something of substance.  I wouldn't hold your breath though.

I Love/Hate Blogging

I know, I know, I need to post something this week.  But I just don't want to!  *stamping feet*  To be fair, I've written three different posts in the last few days.  But then I deemed each one as inappropriate for the world wide web and deserted them.  Stupid public blog. 

Yeah, that's all I got for now.    

Two Different Worlds

It's been a pleasant weekend so far.  On Friday night I went skating with my Builders Club. We're all going to Universal Studios in a couple of weeks, but I wanted to put together an informal field trip for the kids who couldn't go to Universal.  The club voted on skating, which thrilled me because that's one activity I'm really comfortable with.  We ended up having an incredible time.  Toward the end of the night we played this insane game of tag (to loud music, beneath a disco ball in the dark), and at one point I swear there were about a dozen of my students "it" with me being their only prey.  It was fine with me though, because even though I'm "old," I'm fast on skates.  The only almost-accident I experienced was when a little boy cut me off.  I was speed skating and had no way to stop or swerve in time, so I ended up picking him up right off the ground before colliding into him.  I carried him long enough to slow down (about eight feet or so) and then set him back down on his skates.  I told his mom I was really sorry, but she was cracking up.  I guess it must be a little weird when some crazy person on skates plucks your little kid right up from the floor.

Yesterday the kids promoted in karate.  Well technically Trin can't promote anymore until her black belt test this summer, but she still participates in all of the ceremonies.  Elijah promoted to a brown belt, so I'm really proud of him.  Unfortunately his promotion ceremony was really boring.  I think my eyes were starting to glaze over.

Today we went to church, out to lunch to this Chinese restaurant that I love (I always get shrimp in lobster sauce), and shopping.  Once we were back home, I painted for about two hours.  I'm finally making some headway on the commissioned painting.  It's actually pretty fun to paint, even though it's not my style.

We're getting ready to go to Clint's parents house for pizza, so I better sign off..

This is not my painting (I wish it were); this is an image I came across online yesterday.  I just find it interesting.