I came off the freeway this morning to find a bunch of Highway Patrol guys standing around a banged up KTM 950 motorcycle. The bike didn't look too trashed. The faring around the headlight was broken, as were the mirrors, but it was in otherwise good shape. The forks looked straight and the front end was mostly intact.
Then I went through the light on to 4th Street and saw what he hit:
Note that the whole back window is smashed out, the trunk is crunched, and even the roof took heavy damage. Guy must have been wearing a suit of armor or something.
but... there is more...
I am kind of sucked back into the strange world of the other SIL and her teen aged daughter. You see, my SIL kicked her out to live with her father. A father who has not really spoke to her for the last 7 years even though he lives in the same town. So she left her fathers place due to problems with step mother and step sibling. SIL still will not let her back. So teen aged niece is kind of homeless. She is crashing here for a night or two, she has summer school during the day. sigh...
Yesterday she told me that she will be here at 12:30 because that is when class is over, but she called this morning to tell me she will not be here until 4:30 because of a certain class that has popped up. Um... she has Never been very good at lying. She is probably not even at school today, but you know what?
Not my responsibility. Her parents are dropping the ball with her, it is not my job to do it for them. She needs a place to sleep and food to eat, fine. But if she fails to show up for these, I will not worry myself sick. She is not my responsibility.
For some these words may seem cold. For others you will be proud of me for not making it my job. I am proud of me for not stressing out about all this. They are making their own choices, they are wrong ones, but not my job to fix. I am Growing! ;-) Yay! Haha! I am just worried about getting too close, I am worried about getting sucked into the drama. I am trying really hard to not give away all of my rescorces and not having enough for me and my own husband. I feel stronger this time, but I also feel the pull of the undertow.
Now that I am moving back to California next week I thought it would be a good idea to sign up for a few online dating services in an attempt to meet some new people in my area. I signed up for Eharmony.com (I've used them before and got good results) and Yahoo Personals. I have been an "online dater" for about the last 8 years and I have met some wonderful people who I am still friends with. Unfortunately, I have found that online dating isn't as safe as it used to be. There are some very weird and freaky people online who are trying to pass themselves off as normal. I have come to the conclusion that online dating may not be the best way to meet people. My mother seems to believe that anyone who is forced to find a date online, isn't able to find a date the normal way so something must be wrong with them. Does that mean that something is wrong with me?? The only reason that I choose to find dates online is because I am somewhat of a homebody and trying to find a date is somewhat hard being that I don't go out much. In the past couple of days I have been contacted by some weird ass people and a few of them have turned into stalkers. I had one guy tell me that he was ready to settle down and start a family and then he preceded to ask me if I would carry his children....WTF!!! Whatever happened to getting to know someone (and actually meet them) before asking them to having your children?
And what is it with men and sex? I have had several men tell me that they require sex twice a day. Who the hell has that kind of energy. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy sex just as much as the next person but DAMN, twice a day!!! No thank you! Maybe they think that's a turn on or something......or maybe they have a huge ego and are super confident. Whatever the case may be, I am not interested.
It's only been about a week and I am already turned off by the whole online dating idea. Are there any normal people who use these services? I am really only having a problem with the Yahoo Personals. It's pretty cheap so anyone and everyone can afford to sign up. Eharmony on the other hand is more expensive so I have found that most of the people who I've had contact with are very normal and serious about finding that special someone. So I think I'll cancel my Yahoo membership and just stick with Eharmony. It's more expensive but's it's safer and I like the idea of having guided communication through the "getting to know you" process.
Dating sucks!! **SIGH**....but I'm not going to give up. Chatting with these crazy ass people is very entertaining so I will play along for now. Hopefully the real thing will come along soon cause i'm tired of waiting.
No water bottle used, this is from the morning dew
Bernanke gave us $1,200 (Economic Stimulus Act of 2008) so that we bought Canon EOS 40D + Sigma 30mm F1.4 and we *loved* 'em. At the beginning of our research Rebel XSi (which called "EOS digital Kiss X2" in Japan) looks like enough for us which is a new cost effective entry-level dSLR camera. But I was thinking that buying a bit more expensive camera will make us more motivated. If we don't use it, we lose money. negative thinking though. Moreover, friends are using 40D. Those were good enough to decide what to buy. deal. Specially I liked its high speed shooting capability.
For the lens. Actually, I'm a big fun of shots on a photoblog "dacafe". In those portraits, the subject is isolated from the background amazingly. He, a blog owner, posted a page about what he recommends (you might notice affiliate links on it :). According to it, points to take such a photo are low F-number and single focus. I didn't know what those means at that time. But using the recommended lens and try to copy his way could be a good start to be a SLR owner.
More photos are available on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sekimura/
In the eyes of Australian law, the boy and I are no longer just boyfriend/girlfriend, we're now in a defacto marital relationship! i.e., my temporary permanent resident status has been granted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : )
Temporary because it's a 2-stage process, so I'm basically "on probation" for 2 years, then there'll be a review after 2 years, and hopefully, full PR status! Which unfortunately doesn't qualify me for a HECS (subsidized tertiary education) debt. Boo. I probably have to work my butt off to save money for my PhD, or I could always start a www.fundnoraphd.com page and get 100,000 people to contribute a dollar or something. Hey, better than www.pleasehelpmepayformyboobjob.com or something! And I suppose the break from study will help me really think through what I want to write my thesis on... not that I'm thinking about it. Well, not just yet. Maybe when my bank balance has at least five figures or something.
Oh, and I bought myself a pair of earrings shaped like ancient coins with Alexander the Great stamped on them! Oh.My.God. How divine are these??!!!
Whee, on my PR!
: )
After eight weeks of intense puppy study, Lizzie passed her final today and graduated from Puppy Training!
Lizzie was nervous about her final.
but Stella was there for support.
After a quick cram session with Dad, she was ready to go.
Shake!
She got a gold star from her teach for graduating.
