The mail must go on!

I am reading Mark Twain's Roughing It. Like most of his books, it is hilarious!

Mark Twain and friends have recently changed from a stagecoach to a "mud wagon" in their journey from St. Louis to Nevada. They are traveling with the mail and have to cross the South Platte River, which apparently is rather quicksandy even when there is a lot of water in the river. (I wouldn't know; I've never seen it in person.) Anyway, Twain and friends ended up getting stuck on the way across:

"But the mails had to go, and we made the attempt. Once or twice in midstream the wheels sunk into the unyielding sands so threateningly that we half believed we had dreaded and avoided the sea all our lives to be shipwrecked in a mud wagon in the middle of a desert at last."

Haha! Happy Tuesday!

More collages...

The second one didn't come out quite the way I wanted it to, but I still like it.

Overwhelmed and underpaid

UPDATE: Since writing this...yesterday (27ish hours ago), I have gotten a job as a private tutor 2 days a week, worked about 2 hours at a tutoring center where I will be for another 2 days of the week, and worked 2 hours babysitting 2 little kids, with the proposal of subbing for 2 days in the first week of October. God is good! And maybe He wants me to love the number 2, since that is how many days I had worked up till now, with 1 sub job and 1 day of babysitting (2 hours, with 2 kids)...this is getting weird. ;)

Yes, that is me. If I could get paid to worry, I would be a billionaire without even trying! However, God says not to worry. So that is out.

The thing is, in my seven weeks now that I have been down here in SoCal, I have worked ten hours. Yes, TEN (10) hours. That's all. Ten hours + selling books on amazon. That does not add up to much. At all. Very small amount.

Unfortunately my car doesn't understand that I haven't worked that much. It still wants gas.

Sadly my stomach and the stomachs of my roommates can't go without food for seven weeks (I think that exceeds the Forty Days in the Wilderness limit).

And really, can't my car insurance understand that I am not working right now? Sure, I'm basically hired by three different businesses, but that doesn't matter that much if you don't actually work.

What to do?

Basically to pray. To be happy for those friends (and roommates) who get the jobs, while I sit at home for another day, wondering when MY phone is going to ring. To find things to do that are profitable, even if those activities aren't profitable in the monetary sense of the word.

It is hard. I don't like it. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't like waiting. I don't like it at all.

So if you think of me, pray that I get called soon for a job, whether it is tutoring or subbing or babysitting or something else. Pray that I will pray about this and give it to God, Who loves me and wants what is best for me.

Conglomeration

Hello, readership, it's Saturday night!

Here's what I've been doing recently:

-Hanging out with my mom. (She came down for a few days.)

-Reading Nehemiah. (Awesome guy in the Bible.)

-Selling my 12th book on amazon.

-Visiting Santa Barbara.

-Eating avocados.

-Hosting guests. (My mom plus two other girls.)

-Taking pictures.
-Hanging with Amos.

Santa Barbara, the second time

Pain

There is so much pain in this world.

So many persons of infinite worth walking around, messed up,

broken in spirit,

broken in body,

broken in mind.

What can I do? What can I do to help?

How can I break out of

my own uncertainty,

my own shyness,

my own schedule
to help?

Pink

I just read this quote on Todd's blog. Wow. How true.

"I seriously doubt if God has called or requires us, merely to 'study' His Word. What we need to do, is FEED thereon. How much nourishment would your body derive from a study of the chemical properties of food - or from seeking to ascertain the various sorts of soil in which they are grown - or the meaning of their Latin names? None whatever! And I am persuaded that much of the modern 'study of the Bible' is equally profitless spiritually!"

-A.W. Pink

I hope that this will not be a demotivator to read and study God's Word, but a motivator to study God's Word correctly and with the proper purpose.

This is my comfort in my affliction,

For Your Word has given me life.

-Ps. 119:50

I will never forget Your precepts,

For by them You have given me life.

-Ps. 119:93

Moses

When you get to the Promised Land, don't forget.

-Deuteronomy 6-8

Don't forget the hard things you've gone through in the Wilderness and the lessons learned.

Don't forget to be thankful.

Don't forget that you were humbled.

Don't forget to give the credit to God.

Don't forget to obey all the way.

Don't forget to continue to trust.

Don't forget to thank God that He cares for you, "to do you good in the end."

Hurry up and...............................

So I've been in SoCal for about five weeks.

Here are some things that I've done so far:

Waited for a call for subbing.

Hung out with Amos.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Made cookies.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Hung out with Amos.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Read a book (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou).

Waited for a call for subbing.

Hung out with Amos.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Sold books on amazon.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Hung out with Amos.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Applied for other jobs.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Hung out with Amos.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Waited for a call for subbing.

Does anyone else get tired of waiting?

I know God has it under control, but I don't know what else to do. Some days I wonder if I should have stayed home for an extra month, because all I've done is sit around, wait, spend time with Amos (the best part), spend money (the worst part), and wait.

Oh Lord, please provide something soon.

Until then, I'll just wait.

'Cuz sometimes that all that you can do.

Dream = Dashed

If you have read my blog for a while, you know that I really, really, really like the writings of Richard Halliburton. He is mentioned in seven other of my posts. If you have not read my blog before or for a while, Richard Halliburton was a traveler/adventurer who lived from 1900-1939. His first big adventure was to run away to Europe when he was in the middle of college, at age nineteen, working his away across the Atlantic Ocean on a boat. His last adventure was the attempt to sail across the Pacific Ocean from China to San Francisco in an attempt to bring a Chinese junk to the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. Authorities are still not sure if he drowned in a storm at sea or if the Japanese fighter planes bombed their boat (I think it was the former, though the latter sounds more exciting).

Another of Richard's adventures was visiting Central and South Americas; his escapades are recorded in his book New Worlds to Conquer. While in Mexico, he went to the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza and stayed overnight, just because he wanted to do so. He regaled the reader with ancient tales of Mayan sacrifices to some rain god who supposedly lived beyond the bottom of a huge sacred well called a cenote. Each year a girl was sacrificed to this god by being thrown into the cenote. An armored warrior went along to make sure she made it safely to the next world (or to drown her if she was a good swimmer, it seems). (Please note that I am only retelling the story and that I do not believe in the mythology behind it.)

The surface of the cenote at Chichen Itza was seventy feet below the surrounding cliff. This was no "let's go cliff jumping at the river." If you fell or jumped in, this was pain. Like, ow. ;)

Well, Richard Halliburton, the caught-up-in-the-romantic-moment-and-can't-resist-for-the-life-of-him type of person, jumped off this platform in the middle of the night! Seventy feet! Thankfully for him, he did not do a belly flop. He then jumped a second time a few days later to be captured on video and to retrieve his moccasin boots. That time he practically did a face plant. From seventy feet up. Pain...lots of pain... [that's for Kat, Lester, and Danielle ;) ]

Anyway. My wonderful dreams, vivid imagination, and sense of adventure all received a rude awakening this afternoon. I was perusing the pictures of a friend of a friend on Facebook, which can be a dangerous activity. I saw that one of his friends visited the cenote at Chichen Itza on her honeymoon. The picture was beautiful; long vines were hanging over the cliff edge, trailing into the crystal-blue water and...what is this?
WHAT IS THIS?!?!

They put STEPS in the cenote at Chichen Itza! STEPS!!!! In the cenote! So that tourists, many of whom are NOT even adventurers, could get down to the surface of the well and jump off fifteen-foot ledges into the water!

Now don't get me wrong, I myself would never jump into the well at Chichen Itza; I can't swim well, and I don't like heights. But it was rather sad to see that one of the locations of my favorite adventurer's exploits had been exploited itself for tourists.

*sigh*

What can you do.

Moral of the Story:

Beware of Facebook. It can ruin your day. ;)

Ahhh, my little sweet potato!

Five months ago, I bought a sweet potato to make sweet potato fries. In the busyness of school and life, I left it in the plastic produce bag for a little too long. One day, upon looking in the bag, I realized that the sweet potato had not gone moldy, as regular russet potatoes do, but had sprouted leaves!

I decided to plant part of the potato in one of Kat's planter boxes on the deck. Why not? If anything, it would just die and I'd be where I started, with a potato I couldn't eat.

However, the sweet potato did NOT die. He survived a few more months in Aptartment 29 before being taken home to NorCal. He had a nice summer on the deck, crowding out Mom's flowers in the planter he was "sharing."

He was transplanted again into a tiny pot to make the trip down to SoCal, where he hung out with Amos for a few days. That was very sad. He did not like the little pot. His leaves turned yellow one by one, and I kept pulling them off, hoping he wouldn't die before I was able to take him home to the new apartment.

I am happy to report that he was recently relocated to a nice, big pot where he is growing very rapidly. I expect that my roommates and I should be able to eat a few sweet potatoes in a month or two, as his roots are getting to be eatin' size. Look out little sweet potato! I have plans for you...

CAUTION: Prone to absurdity and misadventures

Friday was a free day! Amos didn't have to work, and I didn't get called to substitute. I had the idea that we should go to the beach to see some tide pools. Nice idea, right? We thought so.

We headed down to San Pedro this morning and had lunch on a bluff near a lighthouse overlooking the beach. Amos said that we had to take a picture with the lighthouse because some friends from back home took roadtrips just to see them.

At the lighthouse we met a docent name John (or "David" if we didn't like the tour) and joined his tour. At first I was kind of like, "I don't know about all the time this might take, but...why not." It actually was interesting. We got to go all the way up to the top and learn the history of the building. When we came back down, Amos pointed out the replica of the lighthouse that was on display. You would not believe it. The replica won first prize at the Nevada County Fair!!! Which is crazy because San Pedro and Grass Valley are 450+ miles apart!!! I told the docent that I was from Grass Valley. He didn't seem that interested, but I was very excited.

Lighthouse picture taken, we headed out for the tide pools. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe the tide was too high, maybe we were in the wrong spot, maybe...I don't know. There were no tide pools. The beach actually looked a lot like a NorCal beach. There was no sand. Anywhere. No sand, just big, loose rocks the size of baseballs, basketballs, and boulders.

Amos and I decided to climb back up to the top of the bluff and drive farther down the coast to find some real tide pools. Unfortunately, as we were walking back ...

"Ow!" Amos' glasses broke.

Yep, the metal snapped and a lens popped out. Ohhhhhhhh dear. This is not good.

Amos really can't see without his glasses. Amos has a manual car.

Thankfully, I learned how to drive a manual this summer. Otherwise, I would have had a much more stressful day, either learning how to drive or riding back as a passenger!

Putting the glasses in my backpack, we decided we should ditch the whole tide-pools-that-aren't-tide-pools-beach-town-day idea and try to find a Lens Crafters instead. The stressful thing was that there were a lot of hills in San Pedro. I kept hoping that no one would get too close behind me as I stopped on said hills. The cars thankfully kept an adequate distance.

We got back on the freeway and headed for Santa Clarita. No problem, right?

Well, there was traffic. Intense traffic. My left leg started hurting from using the clutch constantly. After driving for close to two hours (when it should only have taken one), I decided that I had had enough of the freeways. Amos told me which street to get off on so that we could bypass the bad section of the 405.

Squeezing through the lanes stuffed with stubborn drivers who didn't want to let me over, I got off the freeway. Amos told me to turn left. I turned left. He said we should probably go straight. I went straight, but then I realized that we were getting back on the freeway! So...

I turned into the parking lot of a mortuary. I told Amos to warn me if he saw any dead people, but then I remembered, "he can't see!" Amos assured me that they did not wheel dead people around in plain view even at the mortuary, so I should be fine. We accidentally drove the wrong way through the parking lot and headed back for the surface streets. The bad thing is that I should wear glasses when I drive.

There was a lot of,

Me - "What does that sign say? Oh yeah, you can't see."

Amos - "What about this street?" Me - "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, no, that's not it."

Me - "What street is this?"

Amos - "What about this street?" Me - "Ummm, no."

We found Balboa, turned right, and continued on to Santa Clarita. But of course, there was another twist. The road we were travelling on went up a really steep, long, traffic-jammed hill.

Oh no! Not the hill! Not with a clutch! Not with stop-and-go traffic! Not with a nice car behind me who keeps inching closer!

You can guess what happened next. Yep, I killed the car. On the hill.

So. I pulled the e-break and revved the engine. If you drive or know how to drive a manual car, you realized that I didn't apply the clutch. I let the engine slow back down, revved the engine, applied the clutch, smoked the tires (literally, I could see the smoke), and took off the e-break.

Let me tell you, that car stayed waaaaay back for the rest of the hill. ;)
A few minutes later we were back on Amos' street, hoping for dinner but poised for any new misadventure that might waylay us.

For an anticlimactic end to a crazy day, we went to Ralph's to get food for dinner and super glue for Amos' glasses. We made and ate dinner, and I said goodbye to Amos and an insane day that will not soon be forgotten.

:)

amazon

I am proud to announce that I have sold EIGHT books so far on amazon.com! I am very excited about this, especially because I don't have a job right now. On Tuesday I spent a few hours sitting on a pillow on the floor with two boxes of books, looking up ISBN numbers, comparing the covers to make sure that I was selling the same book, listing the condition, choosing a selling price, etc. It was tedious.

However.

I survived and have sold eight books so far. It is quite the fun little business. I like wrapping up the books and taking them to the post office.

That is what has been keeping me busy, though I'm hoping that I will get called soon to substitute teach. I also have a possible interview next week with a tutoring company. We'll see how that goes.

Until then, I'll keep selling, and printing, and packing, and shipping, and...