July 2003

Happy July

2003 Jul 01

Whew, june...what a month. It was cold, it was hot, it was rainy, it was dry...it was full of mosquitoes though. So much has happened.

there was the feline leukemia scare...one of sue's cats, my poor mr. john john kitty (jonathan livingston seagall) died of feline leukemia. sue assumed he must've got it at our house, so there was a wild testing of cats. they're fine though, if you ignore the flea problem of epic proportions. this year, they seem invicible too. i'm under attack anywhere i go in the house.

fruits and veggies, yay! We've had beans, squash, tomatoes, peppers, blueberries, okra and cucumbers from our home garden, as well as peaches and plums from illicit fruit gathering. I've taken to buying melons and corn (there's your big clue that I put in some time in Indiana), and going to pick peaches and blackberries.

liz finally gave up and left memphis. i'm pretty sad about it, but i think it's good for her. things just weren't working out between her and baby daddy, and i've never seen her so depressed. i will miss the hell out of her though. she was my best friend here.

i'm about to start a business. i've been thinking of doing it for awhile, but it always seemed very hard. There's so many hoops to jump through. lately i've realized that actually i don't mind wading through legal and financial information and filling out paperwork, and it's actually harder for me to find employment that does something for me, than it would be to make my own situation. in this case, i think i know enough people with expertise to make something happen, and it's an idea whose time has come, so to speak.

We're trying to find jessica. it's been tricky. cristin told me none of the numbers are working. you know what though, casey went to a grocery trade convention in las vegas, and i bet jessica probably went there too, since it's just the sort of thing she'd try to get sent to... i wouldn't be surprised. but also maybe she's decided to go to school.

i finally got to go see the redbirds on sunday. it sure was hot, but it was fun. that really is a nice stadium.

lotta good it did me now

2003 Jul 09

tj's going away party was tonight. casey kinda sprung it on us at the last minute, but whatever...we both had to work, and it's not like you have to do a whole lot for a potluck anyway.

i didn't get off work until 10:30 though. i tried to finish early but it did me no good to hustle around when nobody else is. luckily there was still lots of food left. the chocolate pie was heavenly. there were tons of people parked on the street when i got home. tj brought the cello that i'll be babysitting all summer with her. but it was really hot and mosquito-y that night so i stayed inside mostly where it was somewhat less hot. the real action of course, was outside.

i wish i were the one going to the pacific northwest...but i don't have the money for it anyway, so i might as well just fuggedaboudit.

mansoor's birthday

2003 Jul 11

His birthday is actually on the 10th, I think, but whatever. He's turning 5 this year. When I went over there, his mom had him all dressed up in what must be his going to mosque clothes. They're pretty swank. He was so excited...all wound up from all of the excitement of getting lots of presents at once and having lots of people around. This year he's discovered baloons and fireworks. I gave him some things that make noise and will no doubt drive his mother crazy, and some books, which as intelligent as he is, will probably do him some good. Reading instructors never die...

A couple of Wida's coworkers came...they were nice, also in attendance was Kristen and Blake (who just moved to Mud Island and says i should come swimming), and Mansoor's Head Start teacher and her son. I had to cut out early because I still had to work, but I got the cake to go.

Work was frustrating because things were off...matt fucked up my gloves, the sanitizer wasn't working, and everyone was edgy because the Health Dept inspection was this morning. To top it off, Fombe wanted me to wash his personal dishes...which is fine, i really don't care whose dishes i'm washing if i'm getting paid...no big deal there, it's just that three extra loads of dishes take about half and hour longer, and it was already pretty late.

Oh well. I left at around 11pm, and passed out. I was tired, tired, tired. One of those kinda days.

I wonder what happened with Reza Baluchi (Bike for Peace). They came to Memphis, and I directed them to the P&J potluck, but who knows if they made it, or how many people were there. (this guy is running across the country from LA-NY, planning to arrive on Sept. 11. He's also riding his bike around the world...or rather, has been since 1996 when he left Iran...he got detained here for 4 months though, because after all, you figure some guy on a bike from Iran must be a terrorist, RIGHT? Oh, no, maybe he's just here for illegal work. ALright, enough of my bad jokes...after all, this stuff hits close to home.)

blah blah blah

2003 Jul 14

i know i said something about liking summer, but i think there was some water involved when i made that statement. since i can't go swimming, i retract it now. sigh, i feel kinda rundown and cranky. it's the heat, mainly. takes a lot of energy to want to do anything at this point. don't get me wrong, i'd still rather be hot, than cold, but i'm a pisces and the lack of water around here is driving me nuts.

i'm at the point where i don't feel like doing shit.

i'm even feeling too lazy to type...this is not a good way to start off the week.

drop the soap

2003 Jul 15

i am not going to talk about how hot it is, or explicate on what happens when every little thing today goes wrong.

it is time instead to think about the boundless energy of youth, to wonder how women and children sitting in the sun will stay cool, to ponder the plants coming up out of the sidewalk manage to grow or even survive without the benefit of water, to wonder why liberals never seem to clean up after themselves, to imagine a world where streets will turn into rivers and trees and parking lots into forests full of birds and butterflies, and the occansional deer that gets caught aware when i am dreaming.

it's funny, but when you watch a bunch of people around a bunch of animals, it's awful hard to justify placing humans at the top of the food chain. in other words, i went to the zoo. i don't think i've been to one since i was pretty small. who knew memphis had such a nice zoo, the hefty $10 admission charge sure kept me from finding out any sooner. luckily, there's free day. it's a lovely place.

in other strange activities, i hit up the police auction too. it would make you cry for me to describe it...it's a fascinating world unto itself with rules and parameters. it's where the down and out go, and with a few dollars and a dream anyone can walk away a winnner...if you have an ID, that is. i saw so much amazing shit there that was just unreal.

only happy when it rains

2003 Jul 29

"I'm only happy when it rains..." I was pleased to see the dark clouds and rain that greeted me when I woke up this morning. Rain is a blessing in the summertime, if you are a farmer, meaning that nothing has to be watered...nature taking care of itself for a change, and i don't have to intervene. a gentler time of porch music, contemplation, growth and serenity. but not for everyone, though...

"I'm only happy when it's complicated, And though I know you can't appreciate it, I'm only happy when it rains..." Everyone seems like they're in a state of conflict or at least a funk. Most of us have been out of work for a whole week...that financial pressure will rear its ugly head in no time. Renae seems deeply troubled, and has been pretty depressed since she got unjustly fired the other day. Sue suddenly reappeared on the scene, and while I'm don't have any problems with it for the most part, not everyone feels the same way. Matt's been testing my nerves in ways i can't define clearly. Denny's planning on moving out. Who knows what all is going on with people, that's just the stuff I actually KNOW about. I'm sure there's at least 12 times as much stuff that I don't know about.

"The planet Mars was in conjunction on August 10th, at a distance of 248 million miles from Earth. Mars will become closer and closer to Earth, until, on August 27th of 2003, it will be a mere 34.5 million miles away; the closest it has been in nearly 60,000 years! A significant and rare configuration...which occurs probably not for a second time during the span of present civilization: The Sun, Venus, Jupiter, and Regulus (a-Leonis) will be forming a very close conjunction, opposing to Uranus. Additionally, Mars will be close to Uranus, and during conclusion of this event, Moon will be visiting the dissolved quadruplet. But the really big Mars deal doesn't happen until the Mars super perigee and Sun-Mars opposition at the end of August - at 09:51 UT on the 27th and 17:59 UT on the 28th, respectively. This super-Mars stuff happens in virtual simultaneity with a Mars-Uranus conjunction in-opposition to a new moon conjunct Venus and Jupiter; with Mercury and Pluto going stationary (retrograde and direct respectively) to boot. And that super perigee alignment, in the 5 Virgo-Pisces polarity, makes a curious set of contacts...This late summer super Mars thing says peace and quiet remains far away, that danger and conflict are close at hand." Basically, y'all, whatever you do, stay home on that day...

"You know I love it when the news is bad, And why it feels so good to feel so sad, I'm only happy when it rains" I wonder what bad news is still coming our way...I guess one of the things I wonder about is who else is planning on dropping a bomb on an already fragile world. "Pour your misery down, pour your misery down on me"

"I only smile in the dark, My only comfort is the night gone black" So much of the city is still without power, and at night, it's completely dark in some places. There's been a lot of weird energy in the air. Last night you could cut through it like a knife through butter. Almost ominous, but yet strangely appealing. "Pour your misery down, Pour your misery down on me"...people are acting like they've got it so bad. I don't even know why..."You can keep me company, As long as you don't care"

"I'm only happy when it rains, You wanna hear about my new obsession? I'm riding high upon a deep depression" This year had been weird hasn't it? Kinda crazy and fucked up for most of us. Yet, I appreciate the way it helps you cut through the bullshit that people use to sustain the unsustainable. Anything that will survive this year, like a drought, will survive anything. There is still truth and beauty in the world, and in a sense they've come out of hiding because illusions are withering away in the heat, being driven out by storms, collapsing from within. Anything that is weak will not survive. Easy living is gone. But there is more to it than that. This is the year of the floods, we will all have to empty our boat, and only carry the things to higher ground that truly matter.

"I'm only happy when it rains"

Vietnamese is very hard

2003 Jul 31

After fooling with it all week, I've decided vietnamese has gotta be one of the hardest languages i've ever seen. Chinese is a piece of cake in comparison...I'm pretty tired of incompatible fonts, pdf files that don't work, and multiple versions of the same software. ugh. But I've almost got the vietnamese civil rights complaint form up and running. Sigh, now I've gotta find someone who will translate it into Urdu, Kurdish, Arabic and Sudanese. Yikes. You would not believe how difficult it is to find this sort of thing in Memphis...Unfortunately all the people I know who speak these languages are not good enough at English.

The Memphis Storm of 2003

HUGE STORM

2003 Jul 22 Tuesday

"astonished at how little coverage this disaster has received in the national press. You would think, given the freakish nature of this storm and the devastation it brought, that there would be some coverage."

The power flickering on and off woke us. Then came the rain and then suddenly the wind. We all ran downstairs and watched as it shoved giant, sturdy oaks into power lines, cars, and homes, smashing windows and roofs from one end of Memphis to another.

Riding our bikes around midtown, you could see how much damage had been done to houses, trees, powerlines and telephone poles, and how much more could have been done.

As bad as it was, we were fortunate that it wasn't a tornado. That it didn't hit an hour later, when so many more people would have been on the roads, That it didn't kill more than two people.

As soon as the storm passed, people were out everywhere seeing what they could do to help.

Clearing driveways, sidewalks and streets. Cutting into fallen trees with chainsaws. Sharing batteries, cell phones and chain saws. Calling radio stations to report blocked roads, downed power lines, and where to find gas, food and lodging.

The wind sucked big oaks out of the ground, sawed off limbs, and hurled them into cars, carports and porches. It turned metal awnings into missiles and shingles into flying blades.

Just about everyone suffered a little property damage, some a lot. Luckily the worst thing that happened to us is that we lost our power for 3 days and had some limbs around the yard. None of our trees fell. None of the garden plants were crushed or annihilated. Somehow no one was hurt.

We did see many houses where a big limb or tree blocked streets, driveways, or smashed cars. Sometimes entire houses were obliterated. This was more common than you would think.

After the storm passed, everyone was out on the street, a bit shaken but safe. Every now and then we could hear sirens, but no one was that worried.

Tuesday 306,000 without power at the peak of the outage caused by the Tuesday storm.

Thursday 190,000 without power

Friday 176,000 without power

75% of intersections with traffic lights had no functioning traffic lights

There was no air-conditioning, no television and nothing to do at home. People were out sitting on porches, sitting in yards, walking in the streets, driving around, kinda at a loss as to what to do when you can't go to work and can't watch TV. Anybody who was selling food or beer could be guanteed of running out of both.

"an electricity-free Memphis at night - dodging trees, electrical wires and finally getting inside one's home using the Braille method of entry" The streets were absolutely dark, and you could see stars just like when you are camping out in the country somewhere.

"Motorists are using other kinds of signals where traffic lights are out...Some are audible...Some were a combination of sound and gesture...It took 52 minutes to travel south 4,000 feet" Most of the traffic lights had no power, so suddenly every intersection in town is a 4 way stop. Some people handled this concept better than others. Amazingly,

no accidents involving critical or fatal injuries had occurred by midafternoon Wednesday as a result of the crippled intersections and clogged roads... the number of accidents might have been fewer than normal, he said. "Most every intersection we got is out. People are having to go slow.

By the second day, "food in your fridge is spoiling. The temperature in your house is rising. The candles are losing their charm. You can't get a cold drink, a hot meal or a warm shower. You rue the day you traded a regular phone for a cordless."

Quote of the week: "if that was a thunderstorm, I don't ever want to be in a hurricane."

We got our power back finally on Friday.

I actually miss the simplicity of not having it. Of sitting in the dark reading harry potter with a flashlight. Of having dinner parties by candle light every day because you have to eat the food in your fridge before it goes bad. Of seeing everyone you know everywhere because suddenly no one has to work. Of having a couple days off from the rat race.