Ayn's Multiple World

Lazying through a late Sunday Morning

Good morning. This is me. I’m getting a late start today. It is already about 11 am. I’ve been up since about 6:30, but I’ve spent the last 4 ½ hours going over things I’ve missed at Marineparents.com. I’ve only gone through though the topics that are in my known areas. It takes a while to process. But, by now I’m ready for some free writing.

We’ve had a very busy 24 hours. I was really impressed with myself – not being real modest here, but I out did my normal performance. The basics are that I went to the zoo and walked/read, I went to the Marineparents.com “Cheesybear” dinner, and then I came home and read into the night. It was a great day – and it was backed-up by a short call to wonderman who is off fishing and then again a very quick call this morning. I also had gotten a call from Thom last night and he sounded really good, but tired.

As to the zoo – first on the list – We had done something a little different and it seemed to make a big difference. I would like to try it again today … yup, yup going out two-days in a row. Now see aren’t I making a big impression? Yesterday, like the last time, I stopped and got a 36 ounce Cherry Icee in those need tube-like containers. That was a great idea – and it satisfied my urge to get more containers, because they are so handy. It really helps having a handle in the middle (balance) of the container which is a little narrower and very eacy to carry while pushing the wheel chair. I could probably get by not using the chair because there are so many benches, but I am loving the part where we can pull-up in a nice quiet shady area away from people – well as far away as you can get in a very busy zoo. I really wish they’d open for more hours, so not everyone is trying to cram in during the several hours open. That’s a pet-peave.

The thing I did different though is – I figured since I had two and a half hours to get through with my walk, that we’d take it at a very leisurely pace. I took about the same walk I had done last time, but I spaced it out with only 4 stops. We stopped by the camels, in front of rhino, over by the polar bear, and then near the merry-go-round on the way out. That’s better than I’ve ever done before. Usually I take twice as many breaks. The thing was though that this time the breaks were much longer. In between each effort, I stopped to read a chapter in the book on learning how to read books. I figured since it was still earlier in the day, I should be reading more seriously than what I’m getting from my evening reading where it’s more casual and story orientated.

I felt much more comfortable blending in with the whole zoo experience when I sat down a little out of the way to be doing my reading. I was hearing the sounds of the zoo – particularly people – but, it was getting blended into the background as my real concentration was into the reading. So, in effect … I was at the zoo crowded with people, but in reality “on my own Island.” That made everything a lot more pleasurable. I sat in the shaded areas for the most part, but then on the last break I sat directly in the sun. I figured that I should reflect some part of being in the wild outdoors. When I took the pressure off of walking with little breaks, I add to the good feelings immensely. I got to thinking how nice it would be to just think of a good majority of my afternoon reading being done in this environment. I think the secret is in going soon enough so you don’t have to worry about time on the other end.

I probably look a little stranger than most, but I find that comforting toward the portions of me who have always dreamed of being eccentric. The first thing is that I dressed in one of the newer skirts. I think of this as casual wear, but nicer. A lot of people at the zoo dress in poorly fitting clothes or shorts with much expressed from the breast area. I think that all looks tacky. Another difference is that I am traveling by myself. The majority of people travel in caravans with kids and old folk in tow. There’s a bit of freedom if you can maneuver around groups stopping in the middle of the sidewalk and cutting through shortcuts. If I’m going to walk in a circle, I’m going to take the inner track. Another difference is with the wheelchair … I haven’t seen anyone yet doing what I am in pushing her own wheel chair and then sitting in the middle of wherever when I need a break. I’ve heard quite a few times passing people and hearing them say things like, “I’d like to have a wheelchair,” or “why don’t you push me!” Naw, naw … private enterprise.

Lastly, is the difference in reading a book instead of milling about just looking at the animals. I think it takes a lot of pressure off the situation when you don’t have to be automatically moving on to the next display and the next. The look in peoples faces after a while – is “who cares if there is an elephant around the corner, which way is the exit? Damm, I’d like a beer!”

I was running close to time when I finished an I was hot and tired. I didn’t want to stop in the zoo bathroom, because its usually a ZOO! I got to the car, pulled in my chair and then stopped in a nice big, clean McDonalds. I didn’t have to share the bathroom with anyone! I washed up and brushed the wind out of my hair and in the process of that and air conditioning, we cooled down a lot. I wanted to look my best in going to the next event. The nicest part was that just about the time I pulled my car onto the main street going west … it had started to rain. Man that’s great timing!

AHH! Thom has just IM’d … cool! That’s my boy. He really wants to be gone from this MCT deal. He was saying that this liberty sucked. I think he’s still in the squad bay … so hasn’t done much. That was the deal last night. Just as we were pulling out of the dinner, Thom called and we talked the entire half hour drive home. It made me very happy. He didn’t talk too much about his activities during the week, but did mention the 10K hike. Apparently, he got in 5 minutes over time and because of it lost 2 hours of liberty. I think that part is still bothering him this morning. He said the hike was harder than the crucible’s “reaper” – that’s the last leg of the hike where he had to go straight up. I’m debating whether I should tell him that a week from Tuesday there is another hike and this one is 1 ½ times the last. Man … they sure do have to work hard.

This next week is a lot of weapons. And if I could remember what M203’s, AT-4’s, and M240B’s were, I’d be telling you what he’s up against. We’re going to be learning, but it’s definitely a process. I hear that next week they are going to be without running water for the entire week. There’s going to be some stinky Marines I think. They would bring their deodorant though, right?

We talked to Thom a bit about our day too. We told him we had gone to the zoo and the dinner. That was kind of cool thinking that if it weren’t for Thom being a Marine, I would not be getting to know this group, but now I fit in as much as they. The meeting went really well. I was one of the first three there – I had gotten their 5 minutes early, so I got a really good seat. One of the head people had come in just afterward, so I felt like I was with a group who was comfortable talking and included me as well. There was a lot of picture showing. People were just passing pictures like crazy. I think it’s a normal part of the procedure.

And, there seems to be another normal part – an that is in wearing t-shirts with Marine sayings on them. I felt a little out of place after someone mentioned it, and I thought ugh! I gotta fit into something and a t-shirt?? It’s not exactly my style. Maybe next time I’ll just where my Marine hat. One other lady there who seemed to have equally troublesome time in getting into a t-shirt made a point of wearing Marine pins. I guess that be another way of doing it.

There were about 20 people by the end of it – during the middle people kept drifting in and filling more and more of the table. It had been raining so the restaurant set up tables in side for us. I was really happy the place – Claim Jumper turned out to be a fairly classy place – not real ritzy, but large and impressive size wise. The table was the best I’d seen as to sharing with a group. They were so big you didn’t have to sit on top the person across from you wondering where to put your butter dish. I had a couple of drinks, but that seemed less than some others. I skipped the drink at around the time of dinner and just took sips of water. I tried the crab cake again, but this time I lost it. I had skipped bread, but had eaten half a cup of steak-chili. I’m pretty sure that was the upsetting factor. I also didn’t get dessert, but that was a really funny situation. I guess people knew how good the desserts were and most had ordered them. Man o man! One of the ladies had ordered an Éclair. They were the size of a small cake – about 1’ x 8.” I’m not slighting the measurements. She ate it with her husband and between the two of them – they got through about 1/3 of it and had left most of the whip cream. It was the size to have fed about 6-7 people. We just laughed and laughed at that.

Another lady had gotten ribs and it reminded us of the order of ribs that Fred got at the beginning of the Flintstone’s show. Argh! And, the lady ate every bit – AND, it was only a half order. I guess the full order comes on two plates. People made a big deal of collecting pictures.

The people we met were really nice. We couldn’t hear some of the others down further at the table, but we had a good time with the one’s we met. Even though they’d been meeting for a while, they made us feel very included. I didn’t feel I stuck out so much, because there were a few other women who cam in uncoupled, but the majority were husband and wife teams. I couldn’t imagine the other bills. The place was really expensive. I paid $13 something for my meal, which was actually an appetizer, the drinks were about $8 and they took automatically a 17% gratuity tip, so I walked out on my own with a $40 bill. Can’t imagine two people eating full dinners ($25 average), several drinks AND dessert. Man … costly. Now it seems next time the group is getting together it will be in Brookfield, WI. It’s about 100 miles straight north and the drive should take about 2 hours. It be really nice if Rich could do the driving with me, but I don’t think this is his kind of crowd.

He’s really not a major talker and he’s not been too exposed to the MP.com type people. It makes a difference when you don’t have a son who is a Marine. That won’t keep me though from trying to get him involved.

There are a couple more things coming up that I’d like to try. They have one day about August 23rd where they pack up about 1000 care packages to go to Iraq and Afghanistan. I guess just to mail these babies it costs about $10,000. They are pulling together fundraising efforts for it right now. They send individual big boxes about the size of a box of a dozen reams of paper. I think one lady said there will be about 80 volunteers there. Many of them stay overnight in hotels.

I’m guessing that a lot of those folks are couples. I’d just have to ask for a job sitting down. I guess its supposed to be real organized and with all those people the job gets taken care of in about ¾ a day. It’s in Columbia, MO. It be a big trip – 6 hours or about 375 miles. Hmm, a really big trip … I’d really want to take Rich along … and stay overnight.

Yeeks the next trip is worse not better … might have to reevaluate. The second trip would be to Kansas City, MO and its’ on the far western side of the state next to Topeka, Kansas. If I were going that far, I would like to see if there was anything open to visitors from the Menniger clinic where Dr. Woollcott learned to practice.

The second trip is due 2 hours west of the first one and would be on August 9th. It cover about 515 miles. That be like going up to Minneapolis. The event is a regional one day conference for Marineparents.com. Rich had said something before about taking little trips, but I don’t think he would think this trip so little. It be like a 3 day investment, but I can’t imagine the information would be that valuable yet. A good part of it is scheduled around deployment. It will come in handy, but I’m not worried about Thom being deployed for another 5-6 months if not a little longer. We’d have to really talk to Rich and see what he says. I’m not sure if that is going to be a part of his busy season or if there will be games scheduled those weekends, plus we’ll want to be saving up for a trip to Pensacola, FL to see Thom graduate his MOS school.

Oh the plans of mice and men.

We’ll see.

Hmm, what else was there? Hmm, there is the part of fishyman calling. He said that Bob caught a 51” muskie and that’s 3” longer than the one he caught last year, which was the biggest one at that point. I guess that might have been bragging a bit.

Rich said he caught a few fish, but not as big as Bob’s. Damn that competitive guy nature! He said he was still enjoying the trip. At the time he called though it was getting dark and the mosquitoes were out. He said he still needed to line his reel. That’s what fishymen do to pass their time I guess. He took a few moments to listen to our day, but he’d gotten bit about 8 times by then and I knew he had to be scadadaling. Hmm speaking of … we had a noisy fly in here. Think one would learn to shut the door … just I like letting the outdoors breath into my living room. HMPF!

I’m doing pretty good without Rich so far. It’s like stepping back into an old familiar pattern that we’d lived before. We had a hard time putting ourselves to sleep last night because we were reading and we didn’t have one of our pills that makes us sleepy. That’s another reason to get out today. Need to pick up some medicine. I’m out 2 of the 6 and its going to get worse before better.

The book that we’re reading on McCoy’s Marines is progressing nicely. We’re at about page 150 – half way through. I’ll go back into that again tonight. I’m a little worried about the next part of this book on learning to read. It suggests that the best way to do it is to keep a little journal. I’m going to need finding some paper and then I’m going to need writing without a table if I take it to the zoo. I guess we could go over to a beer garden or something, but we don’t really want to get into the habit that the zoo costs extra money. Hmm, forgot about the bank too. Rents going to come due … and I won’t be prepared. I guess this time we should do the bank and pharmacy BEFORE going to the zoo. It’s about 12:30 pm now though … and I can’t say I’m yet in the mood. You have to remember the years and years gone by … where we NEVER left our apartment after we got off work Friday night. We’re just built against going out the door.

Ahh … got it! Turns out the white binders that can open with the cover in back of itself will be perfect. We have loose lined paper, and the folders already contain see through pockets so we can easily group the books we are working with. That leaves the top paper always blank and ready for the next page written. I think we’re still going to want to pick out the table opportunities at the park. I think they are primarily located on the north, south and east sides. That is where the food places are. So what if we had to get a beer while waiting? Umm, that would lessen the impact of cost and walking don’t you think? Well, maybe … we’d have to see if we could freely use the tables when they are meant for people eating. We could still hold the notebook on our laps now that it has a firm back, but it be hard to reference things directly out of the book, because the left hand you need to hold the notebook. Man – are we obsessive. Little things become large in our world. Probably, be a good idea to take a shower pretty soon. Don’t you think?

I know, I know … we’ve already had our power drink. That’s not a good excuse … thing is … it’s hard for us to move. Oh … that part was covered already, hmm? Ok, shower and then come back. It’s about 12:30 pm now … so we’d be looking at a 1:30 pm departure. Errands are going to take 30-45 minutes so that puts getting to the park at 2:30 – 6 … what’s that 3 ½ hours? Plenty of time – right? OK< OK … but ONLY if you get going! Yes ma’am … time for a shower.

Pswhoo. That’s done … and we have the deposit slip made out. No, nothing much past there.

Hmm, I’ve been studying the zoo map. I think that I’m going to try going into the zoo a bit deeper to the west today. I want to check out my endurance by walking alongside the Indian Lake Trail by the Salt Creek Wilderness, dragonfly marsh and Regenstein Wolf Woods. I didn’t know this before, but they’re building a new exibit that should be open next year they are calling “Great Bear Wilderness.” That’ll be nice … maybe they’ll take the bears out of their grottos, but then maybe they are bringing in more bear. That would be nice. Everyone likes bears! I think if I go past the more woodsy part with less animals, I will run into a quieter time at the zoo. It was way too stacked with people yesterday. I will look forward to the day they start building on the opposite side of first avenue. It’s called zoo woods, and they then must lay some claim to it. I think the whole thing is owned by the park district. Surely with all those people coming in – they could afford to open more AND open the hours a little more 10am – 6 pm is the hours they are MOST open. 8 hours is just not enough time. It feels like a mall.

Shhh, let’s remember the part of absorbing into the background watching or not watching people graze past. That was ok, right? Why don’t we think good things like just being out of doors on a nice day. Very nice! Ok, you … let’s not get too drowsy. Maybe we better get dressed, hmm?

posted by Ann Marie @ 6/29/2008 01:22:00 PM Comments: 0