Ahh, Summer!

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One of my favorite things about summer is the roadside stands selling fresh produce. Where else can you buy 4 pounds of premium local cherries for only $12? And 4 ears of salt and pepper corn for only $1?! This summer has been different too because of instead of the typical sweltering heat from which there is no escape, there was been a pleasant mix of rain and cooler weather. Usually by this point of June in Utah we have hit the 100 degree mark multiple times. I don't think we have even hit 90 yet! So in honor of summer I dedicate this song. Click below.

Matt Costa- Sunshine

I Blame Rachmaninoff

In 2003 I started working in nursing homes and began the interesting and arduous task of learning everything I could about the daily life of someone who grew up in the 30's, 40's and 50's. I acquired all kinds of useless facts and became very familiar with the music from those eras. Earlier this year I changed careers and began working with children. This presented a unique challenge because all of the music I had been using was from their great-grandparents time and the only children type music I knew was too young for 10-12 year olds. The other standards I have included mostly classical music which kids are definitely not too keen on.

I began to search around for music these kids could relate to, but mostly they talk to me about which rapper did what. I'm pretty sure that sheet music for rap music is not available, nor would I know how to play it. Not to mention that 9 times out of 10 the lyrics would not be appropriate at an elementary school.

The point of this is that music to me is life. No matter what I do I find some way to incorporate it into my daily life. I don't work well without it and only like silence when it relates to enjoying nature. Eleven years ago while I was still taking piano lessons I learned a hard lesson. Having small hands often impedes. I was at school one day and suddenly couldn't feel my left hand. The lack of sensation gradually spread up my arm all the way to my elbow. I was terrified!! I was having to use my right hand to pick my left up and move it. Turns out the previous eleven years of playing the piano had finally taken their toll and I had acquired carpal tunnel.

Carpal tunnel is an extremely frustrating thing to deal with. You know your hand(s) are there and can even most of the time move them around but can't feel them. It is a strange and sometimes scary sensation. At the time of the onset of my carpal tunnel I was working on a difficult piece written by Rachmaninoff that clearly had been written by someone with much larger hands than I. My sometimes overzealous practicing for perfection became a disadvantage. Anyone who has had carpal tunnel can tell you that the strange pain and loss of feeling is inconvenient at best and alarming at worst.

As the years have gone on I have not had problems with my carpal tunnel and in fact the symptoms had completely disappeared. The main reason was because I have not been practicing the piano for at least 2 hours a day. It has been a nice reprieve not to worry about it. As I started my summer hiatus job cooking I found my carpal tunnel symptoms returning with full force. All the repetitious chopping and stirring and squeezing of sink sprayers has sometimes left me with debilitating pain. One of the most frustrating things is that I am also beginning to lose the strength in my wrists and fingers. Things like lifting a pan or plate, or twisting a lid become a chore. I am counting down the weeks until my summer job is done and I can go back to teaching which does not aggravate my carpal tunnel. In the end I still blame Rachmaninoff. Blast him and his man hands.

Self-confessed Geek

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I am a self-confessed geek. I love Star Trek and just about anything sci-fi or action based. My family has a tradition of seeing movies like that at midnight on opening night. I have seen so many movies at midnight that I couldn't even name them all. A few of the most memorable include X-Files, X-Men 2, Quantum of Solace, and most recently Transformers 2. The great thing about midnight showings of movies is that you are guaranteed that anyone willing to do that REALLY wants to see the movie. Sitting in audience of true fans is exhilirating. It is the one time that applause and out loud cheering at a movie are encouraged. Undoubtedly you will also find people dressed up as characters from the movie or at least wearing a related T-shirt. The only downside is that you have to be careful who you go with. If you go with a true fanatic the time after the movie will undoubtedly be spent in pointless debate about the logicality of some plot point or another. I had that experience when I went to Star Trek in May. I don't go to movies because I expect people or things to have rational explanations. That's what real life is for right? So what if someone uses a car to take down a helicopter. It isn't a practical or probable situation but it looks totally awesome!! So instead of going into a movie and expecting the world I go in expecting to be entertained and hopefully to see some really awesome explosions and hopefully laugh a little bit. By the way, Transformers totally rocked!!!

Favorite Things

Some of my favorite things lately:

• Naps after being at work at 6 a.m.
• The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. So funny!
  
• Hulu!! Love that I can watch my shows whenever I want and from more than one network.
• Summer movie season. Going to see the midnight showing of Transformers 2 tonight!
• Seeing friends. I have been too focused on work lately and it was great to see some friends last night that I hadn't seen in a while.
• Nature. I love working up Emigration canyon, it is so peaceful.
• Liquid bandages. It allows me to still get my work done without worrying about getting a band-aid wet.
• Good advice. Someone I really respect gave me some advice last night and it has been said to me before but it is easier to follow through when it's someone you admire.
• Medium rare burgers. So delicious!
  

Republican Oppression

Things I Have Learned From Cooking for Massive Amounts of People

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Cooking for 100+ plus people a day has taught me some things that I thought I should share.

1. Small children don't like biscuits and gravy. Don't know why.
2. Vegetarians irritate me. I already have to adjust my menu weekly based on random food restrictions like red and yellow food dye allergies, or gluten allergies. If I put out 5 dishes and only one of them has meat, why do you then demand that I basically take the salad, which you have already eaten and put it on a piece of bread so you can have a sandwich.
3. You will never please everyone. Shocking, I know.
4. You must give people instructions on how much food is appropriate for one person, if you don't, people take liberties and you run out of food.
5. In reference to #5, karma is a killer. One of the staff members was serving himself food and blatantly ignored my sign that said 2 pieces of bacon and piled on 8 pieces. WHILE I WAS STANDING THERE! Not too long after that the staff member in general spilled a very large mop bucket full of water on himself. Karma!!
6. Kitchen accidents are inevitable. I have had one mishap a week so far.

• Week one- singed arm hair while barbequeing.
• Week two- singed hair net and possibly some hair
• Week three- sliced my left thumb while trying to slice tomatoes
• Week four- burned myself on the convection oven
• Week five- julienned my own thumb on a slicer while julienning carrots. The same thumb from week three, resulting in an overlap of wounds.

So hooray for food. I have also found myself unable to eat anything that I have prepared. It's a little weird. It's not that the food is bad, I only make things that I think are good, but I have found myself cringing at the thought of eating food I have prepared even at home.

Surprises All Around!

This has been a week for surprises. First surprise came on Sunday when I received a phone call that I was not expecting. It was a good surprise though and perhaps more on the context and contents of that call later.

Second, I got a text last week from someone at my summer job stating that they had quit and good luck to me. This lead to my promotion to head cook.

Third, I was extremely worried about starting my new job this week as head cook at a camp for people with disabilities. Mostly because I AM NOT a morning person and I needed to be at work sometime between 5 and 6 a.m. depending on the day. And surprise! I have actually been able to make it there. I have been seriously exhausted especially because my days have ended up being 12 hours, but I can do it apparently!

Fourth, my phone decided that it had put me through enough misery after randomly deciding to vibrate on it's own without provocation for the last few months. My phone decided it would no longer charge which becomes problematic when the battery runs out. Luckily my sister has allowed me the use of her phone so I just switched SIM cards with her but also lost all my phone numbers.

Lastly, on a different note, I am a believer in things happening for a reason. Whether it's losing your job which leads you to another opportunity or a chance meeting with someone that reconnects you after years, I think that even bad things can be beneficial to life's experiences. They are not always pleasant at the time but it happens. Sometimes we lose touch with people because of life's twists and turns, or an argument or some kind of misunderstanding. However, the last surprise came because for some reason I have lost a dear friend. There was no argument, no gradual losing touch. I have seen this person and they have acted like we have never met. At the time that I met this person I felt an instant connection and have learned a lot from them. They helped me solidify some things in my life and realize that I don't have to hide who I am, even if people don't necessarily agree or understand, including my family and friends. I have no clue why I am being treated like a leper, and as much as it hurts, if this is the end of the friendship then there is nothing I can do about it. You cannot force someone to talk to you or acknowledge your presence. So if this is the end then I say to that friend, goodbye and farewell, your friendship will be missed. Thank you for everything you taught me.

Things That Make Me Go Hmmmmm?

1. 10 year olds with cell phones. Is it really necessary?
2. Vending machines so old that they don't take dollars and you have to open a door on the front and turn the knob for the soda you want.
3. The sudden and inexplicable loss of a friend.
4. Refrigerators with a light switch. Shouldn't the light just turn on when you open the door?
5. Irresponsible people who quit their jobs by leaving a note and don't even finish the day which means that 92 disabled people don't have lunch.
6. My agreeing to a job that requires me to be AT work at 5 a.m. What was I thinking?
7. Adults who forget how to drive when picking up their children from school.
8. Teachers that have a reputation for being hard to work for and still haven't changed 16 years later.
9. Double standards. Like a friend who rarely calls me back and often flakes out on plans with me but then acts like the one time I don't call them back is the end of the world.
10. My grandmother wanting me to come over to her house so she can show me her "stash" so that when she dies no one will throw it away. Stash? Should I be worried?

Evolution of a Blog

I began this blog almost two years ago because I thought I had no one to vent to. It evolved from "Rantings of a Semi-Sane Woman" because I realized that there was a lot of negativity in my life and that I didn't want to live that way. I then changed the name to "All You Need Is Love." I was hoping to promote peace and tolerance for ALL people whether you agree with their political or religious ideology or not. As I have become content with my life's current state I have decided to make a return to the original purpose. Sort of. Sometimes it is important be able to comment on the strange and sometimes upsetting things that happen to us in life, but I have learned to take joy in the journey so I am now making a small change and have rearranged my original title and now dub this blog "Semi-Rantings of a Sane Woman"