Kapachino

I Lost $182, But At Least I Have My Truck Back

This morning I was awakened around 6:20 a.m. when it began to storm. I thought, “Ahh, what a nice morning to sleep on.” I knew that soon enough I had to get up and start work on my research paper, but it wasn’t time yet. It was raining pretty hard, and then I heard a strange noise outside my window. I just figured it must be hailing, and I actually thought to myself, “I’m glad my car is in the covered parking spot.”

A little later on in the morning, my roommate Carmen went to go work out. When she came back she asked me, “Kathleen, where’s your car?” My stomach sank. I looked out the window and sure enough, it was not in the spot where I had parked it the night before. “Carmen, I have no idea where it is,” I responded. I went outside and looked around, called my mom to make sure no one in the family came to get it–she said she thought it was probably on its way to Mexico–and so I finally came to the sad conclusion that it must be stolen.

I immediately called the police to file a report. My mind was racing. How much money was this going to cost me? How am I going to get anywhere? What did I have inside the truck? I loved that little thing. I was going to drive it into the ground. Was this really happening? After speaking with the police, I called my insurance agency. They were asking me a bunch of questions and while I was on hold Carmen and I began to talk things out. Through this process I realized that maybe my car wasn’t stolen–maybe it had been towed. So she ran to the apartment office to find out if they knew anything while I was on the phone. The insurance agent was in the middle of telling me what was going to happen when Carmen rushed back and said, “Kathleen! It was towed.”

What happened was that when I renewed my registration a few weeks ago, I was sent new license plates with a new number. I forgot to notify the apartment office of this, and they did an inspection of the lot last night and since the plate number didn’t match up with what they had on file, they towed it without even considering that it was the same car. Do you see the irony my friends?? It got towed because it was parked in the covered spot. So Carmen took me to pick it up, and it only cost me $182.39. What did I get for that money? I got my truck back–but it shouldn’t have been taken to begin with. I got my stress level elevated a few dozen notches. And I lost basically the entire morning since I could hardly concentrate on anything after the fiasco. I am not a very happy camper.

But I do have my little delinquent truck. When I picked him up I felt like I was bailing a kid out of jail. I of course documented the experience.

Here is the auto storage place:

Here’s a close-up of the sign out front:

Me signing my life away:

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry:

There he is! The tan one:

I am trying extremely hard not to be stressed out with my life these days, but I have a feeling that sometime within the next month there will be a breakdown. I am serious about this. But for now, I am holding it together.

P.S. UCLA let me down tonight, and I had to say goodbye to the trophy that could have been–and one day will be–mine.

Time (Eventually)

This morning I bought a ticket to see Anne Lamott , an author I love, speak on April 28 at the Episcopal Diocese of Texas.

She has a new book out called Grace (Eventually), a collection of essays of her thoughts on faith. I was of course planning on reading the book sometime, but now I feel like I need to read it before I see her speak. Sooo, I’m going to have to step it up on my reading regimen. Although I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to manage that with my classes simultaneously stepping up their assignment regimens. I just might go a little crazy this next month. I am counting down the days (35!) until the end of this semester, when I will have exactly TWO GLORIOUS WEEKS of nothingness to entertain me, and I can let myself slip into the coma that I have been barely keeping at bay.

Some of Today’s Happenings

So, someone was murdered on a public bus today. Two blocks from my apartment. I ride the bus three times a week. It really makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Also today, I went back and worked a half day at the cancer clinic where I worked for two years before starting nursing school. I can honestly say that if I hadn’t left when I did, I might’ve lost my mind. Things are crazy over there. They are at least 3-4 full-time staff members short. They are weeks behind. They have papers to be filed out the wazoo. I barely even scratched the surface when I was there, and I will probably end up going back to work more half days even though I really don’t have the time.

And finally, be very excited because after my soccer game tonight my toenail is now hanging on by a thread! A momentous day is coming soon…

Stranger Beside Me: Book Review

A couple of months ago, my boyfriend David and I decided to start our own little book club of sorts and recommend books we had read to each other. We would then read them and discuss. The book I recommended to him was The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, the true story of a near-outbreak of an ebola-type virus in the U.S. When I suggested it, I forgot that he’s one of those types of people who take on or become paranoid about all of the symptoms that he reads about or comes into contact with. For example, the other day I had some side-effects from the bird flu vaccine and when I described them to him the first thing he said to me was, “I guarantee that I will have every one of those symptoms within the next ten minutes!” and then, “Seriously, is there any chance at all that I may have the bird flu right now?” Anyway, the point is that although The Hot Zone is an excellent book, it may not have been the best choice for him.

In a similar vein, David recommended that I read The Stranger Beside Me. This is a unique book about Ted Bundy, a serial killer who committed most of his murders in the late 1970’s. The author of the book was friends with Ted Bundy before the murders were committed. She got the contract to write about them before Ted was even a suspect. She stayed in touch with him in one way or another until the end of his life. Her inside knowledge of him makes the book especially interesting.

I didn’t know much about Ted Bundy before I read this book because it all happened either before I was born or when I was a little girl. Basically, he was a charming, handsome young man who no one would have suspected. He eventually confessed to around 30 murders, although it is believed that he killed many more. All of his victims were pretty, young women with similar characteristics. He would pretend to be vulnerable, for example by putting his arm in a sling, and ask for help carrying something. The girl would then be led to his car, bludgeoned in the head, and taken away with him.

After he was eventually arrested (over something trivial in comparison), Bundy escaped from prison twice. The first time he was caught a few days later, but the second time he was free for 6 1/2 weeks. He could have made a clean break, but he was obviously caught in the grip of something that he couldn’t control. It was during this time that he broke into a sorority house and murdered two more girls and severely injured two. He also broke into another nearby house on the same night and attempted another murder.

He was caught soon afterwards, and after years and years of trials and appeals (during which he managed to get married and impregnate his new wife!), he was finally executed via electric chair in January of 1989.

Just like I did to him, David picked a book for me to read that could easily have freaked me out (what are we doing to each other?). I clearly fit the profile of Ted Bundy’s victims. If I saw a stranger with crutches or a sling on his arm needing help, I would surely be inclined to help him. But after reading this, I can confidently say that I will probably now be a paranoid freak. Just because I’m 25 years old doesn’t mean I can stop watching out for strangers. And no more solitary evening walks to Food Town! Doors will always be locked. In fact, I wouldn’t mind moving to a safer part of town.

The book is an interesting read, especially if you like true crime. It made me think, and it made me aware. Maybe that’s why David wanted me to read it after all!

Lofty Aspirations

My family is very sports-oriented. One of the manifestations of this is that each year we are involved in fantasy teams and pools and such. For as long as I can remember my dad and my uncle have picked the NFL games, and when my brothers were old enough they joined in. Being the only girl, I wanted to be involved too. So when fantasy leagues started becoming popular, our family decided to create a private fantasy baseball league for ourselves and I jumped in. The way it worked was that whoever won the NCAA tournament that year got first draft pick in fantasy baseball. Well, we did that for a couple of years and then I WON. After that, fantasy baseball was dropped. My brother Barry cried that the draft was unfair that year, but I know he’s just having a hard time accepting the fact that I am, indeed, a fantasy baseball master.

The way it stands today is that our family picks the college football bowl games with each other, and also the NCAA basketball tournament, which is of course going on right now. This year, my uncle won the bowl games, but I CAME IN SECOND, beating out my entire immediate family. Currently, I am in last place in our NCAA pool, but I still have a lot of points remaining and I am the only one who picked the team that I picked to win the entire thing - so I still have a chance. And things are getting serious now! There is a trophy:


This trophy is soon to be mailed to my uncle for winning the college bowl pick ‘em, and then it will be transferred to the winner of the NCAA tournament after July 4. I have to say…I want it bad.

My dad is excited about it, too. After he showed it to me last night, he said, “Just think, Kat. When you and your brothers get married your spouses can participate too!” And then, abruptly, “But we may have to drop you. You won’t have our family name anymore.”

“Dad! That’s not fair!”

“I don’t know, Kat, the trophy has our name on it, and that won’t be your name anymore.”

“But I will always be part of the family!”

“We’ll have to see what the jury decides.”

I think my dad is just simultaneously dreading and elated about the possibility of me getting married at anytime in the next twenty years. It’s cute and all, but I don’t appreciate being threatened with disownment. (I think I just made up that word.) For now, I’ll just try to prove myself while I am still definitively a part of this family.

Bird Flu Phase One

So I got a lot of grief from some people for enrolling in the bird flu vaccination study. People were telling me that it was stupid for me to put myself at risk, no matter how small, of getting the bird flu. Well, I wasn’t worried. And today, I got vaccinated. I found out that there is absolutely NO risk of me contracting the bird flu because the virus they inject you with is killed. So that should put all the worriers at ease.

I was nervous about the whole ordeal because I knew I would have to get two injections and have my blood drawn. When they took my blood pressure beforehand, it was a little high. My blood pressure is always high when I’m at the doctors’ office. I know that it’s probably because I’m tense and in a new place and not relaxed and all that, but I still worry that I’m going to end up with chronically high blood pressure.

Oh! I also found out that I indeed am not pregnant. (We were required to submit a urine sample for them to test.) Not that I was particularly worried about that due to many reasons, but it’s still comforting to know that no miracles in the vein of Jesus’ birth will be happening in my life at the moment.

The next step after the urine sample and the vital signs was the blood draw. I don’t know why but every time I have my blood drawn, even if it’s just a little bit, I feel weak. I can’t even watch it happening at all; I try to completely distract myself. But I made it through, only to have to get stuck two more times. These vaccines hurt going in, but they didn’t hurt much afterwards. The woman who gave them to me was apparently in training, because she had another lady talking her through the procedure the whole time. I have sympathy for her because I am in training too, but when you’re the subject it’s just not the most comforting thing to hear instructions being given to the one holding the needle.

So the first visit is over with. If anyone is interested in participating in this study (remember it pays $400!), let me know and I can get you the details.

Also, Baylor College of Medicine has other clinical studies going on requiring healthy volunteers, and the UT Health Science Center does as well. Check out their websites if you are interested. I have already signed up to participate in a study where you play computer games while having an MRI done. This may turn out to be my new part-time job!

My Spring Reading List

Well, here it is, my reading intentions for this spring! I have started a couple of them, and many of the rest are books that I’ve had for awhile but haven’t read. This is a little intimidating, but I guess that’s why it’s a challenge!

Nonfiction:
Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush and Larry Sloman

Fiction:
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

Christian:
Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner
Journey of Desire by John Eldredge

A few of these books have quite a lot of pages within their covers, and on top of book club books I’m not sure how this is going to go, but it will be fun either way. If you’ve read any of these books I’d love to hear your thoughts.

In Which I Discuss School and Give You Something Funny To Read

Last night I had a dream in which I was having a conversation, in Spanish no less, with a hybrid of a puppy and a goat. In the same dream I was also applying to graduate school. I personally think that if I am able to have a Spanish conversation with a puppygoat then I should be able to get into grad school.

I am not sure exactly what this dream means, but I tend to lean towards the interpretation that it shows how I am losing my mind due to school. If I ever go a few days without posting, it is a safe bet that I am overwhelmed with schoolwork. I was so happy this morning after the test I took because it was actually easy. But a few minutes later I was reminded that I have a large research paper due in two weeks (on the same day as a test in another class), not to mention the 20-page care plans that we are required to do weekly.

Sigh.

But let’s not be negative! I know no one wants to read about my academic woes (and by the way, I really like the word “woe!”), so let’s end on a more upbeat subject! I am compelled to share this snippet that I read in The New Yorker today, because it made me laugh out loud!

“A Conversation at the Grownup Table, As Imagined by the Kids’ Table”

MOM: Pass the wine, please. I want to become crazy.
DAD: O.K.
GRANDMOTHER: Did you see the politics? It made me angry.
DAD: Me, too. When it was over, I had sex.
UNCLE: I’m having sex right now.
DAD: We all are.
MOM: Let’s talk about which kid I like the best.
DAD: (laughing) You know, but you won’t tell.
MOM: If they ask me again, I might tell.
FRIEND FROM WORK: Hey, guess what! My voice is pretty loud!
DAD: (laughing) There are actual monsters in the world, but when my kids ask I pretend like there aren’t.
MOM: I’m angry! I’m angry all of a sudden!
DAD: I’m angry, too! We’re angry at each other!
MOM: Now everything is fine.
DAD: We just saw the PG-13 movie. It was so good.
MOM: There was a big sex.
FRIEND FROM WORK: I am the loudest! I am the loudest!
(Everybody laughs.)
MOM: I had a lot of wine, and now I’m crazy!
GRANDFATHER: Hey, do you guys know what God looks like?
ALL: Yes.
GRANDFATHER: Don’t tell the kids.

Apparently I Need To Develop My Tactfulness, Or, Shall We Say, Simple Politeness

I was studying at school with a couple of classmates, and since we study diseases it was not strange that the topic of death arose. A snippet of the conversation:

Allie: I don’t know what I’d do if my mom died, I seriously don’t know.
Ryan: Well, you’d cope and you’d move on, that’s just what happens.
Allie: Let’s hope so.
Me (to Ryan): Well, she could kill herself.
(A minute or so later I find out that Ryan’s mom died 2 years ago. Great.)

Or, take these conversations with David for example:
(FYI - this particular David is my boyfriend, NOT my brother, or my uncle, or the kid at church, or my good friend’s brother - all who are also Davids. Does this make life confusing? Yes it does.)

After he tells me a serious story about how his best friend and long-time girlfriend broke up and then she was killed a few days later in a car accident but he was still asked to be a pallbearer at her funeral because her family didn’t know they had broken up:
Me (with way too upbeat of a tone of voice): Man, that’s a bad week!

After we arrived at his house after work one evening having followed each other home in separate cars:
David: I waved at you in the car.
Me: I know, I waved back.
David: I blew you a kiss in the car.
Me: I know.

After very graciously rubbing my shoulders because I had a tension headache and I asked him to do so:
David: So how was that, was it horrible?
Me: I’ve had worse.
David: OK, just so you know, in the event that ten years from now we get married, any comment like that on wedding night will not be acceptable.

Get Paid For Living

I totally scored the best job: dog-sitting. (Oh but don’t worry, I’m still doing the bird flu study too.) I get to stay in the cutest house (which I want to be my very own) and watch this TV:

I got to see the wild peacocks that live in the trees:

I was also excited to take a bath in this tub:

But then I tried it and I remembered why I don’t like baths. It took over a half-hour to fill it up, and then I sat in it for maybe five minutes because I was actually sweating. I never intended to wash myself because I do not believe that baths are effective due to the fact that you are sitting in your own filth. Anyway, the bath is beside the point. The real point is that best of all, I get to play with these boys.

Teak:

and Riley:

Riley is a little insecure and likes to be around people constantly. He follows me into whatever room I go to, including the bathroom. Yesterday morning as I was showering he apparently missed me since I was behind the curtain, because I even saw his little head peek inside. He is also afraid of thunder and rain. Lucky for me, it started thundering and raining early in the morning. After I got out of bed to feed them at 5 a.m., Riley promptly hopped into my bed and situated himself on top of my pillow. He is a lot of dog and is not easily moved. So I didn’t get much more sleep that morning. But he’s so cute!

I am just meant to be a dog owner. I can’t wait until I have my own house and my own dogs, whenever that may be.