Phil and I took a trip to Sesquicentennial State Park this past Sunday. The last time we were there, it was freezing outside, and a dog was swimming around in the lake trying to catch the geese minding their own business. He must have swam around for a half an hour trying to catch those geese before he gave up. For a while, I thought we were going to have to call the fire department to swim out and save the dog. It was a rather funny sight. It would have made one of those funny animal TV shows for sure.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures on Sunday. There wasn’t a whole lot to take pictures of really – just a lake, the geese, and the trees. Since I hardly ever put any pictures up anymore,(besides that of my baby plants) I thought I would put up at least the two that I took and liked. I wish the Downy Woodpecker that I saw had been closer to me. He was just too far away for my camera to properly focus on him. Maybe next time.

A lake side view.

A close up.

Another week, another set of pictures of my baby plants. This week, I actually have some pictures of the green pepper plants. I have no idea why it took them three weeks to sprout. It was only supposed to take about 7 days like all of the others. Of the 18 that we planted, about 14 of them are now visible. Phil’s watermelon seeds sprouted, too. I didn’t think that they would for some reason, but they proved me wrong. I can’t wait until the plants grow up and start yielding a crop.

Cucumbers

Week 3

Snow Peas

Week 3

Green Beans

Week 3

Tomatoes

Week 3

Cantaloupe

Week 3

Green Peppers

Week 3

Watermelon

Week 3

A Friday or so ago, Phil and I decided not to go to Red Lobster(even though we had a free $25 gift card) and went to Captain D’s instead. I’m sure the service and food would have been better at Red Lobster, but I probably wouldn’t have gotten the laugh that I did. While standing in the rather long line, I read the following sentence on the daily special board and started laughing. You’ll probably only find it funny if you are a pervert like me. I really don’t try to be one – it just happens.

Happy Ending Fried Brownie or Fried Cheese Cake with Strawberry Topping $1.95

If you aren’t laughing, there is no need for me to go into detail about why that particular sentence made me chuckle. I don’t want to be the one to corrupt your mind. I’ll leave that to cable television, rated R movies, and the other perverts of the world. If you are laughing – I’m shaking my finger at you. : )

As you may have read in an earlier post, Phil and I decided to plant a garden. We planted some cucumbers, snow peas, green peppers, green beans, cantaloupes, and cherry tomatoes. All but the green peppers have sprouted and started to grow. I’ve read that green peppers can be hard to germinate. I may have to plant some more and put them on top of the frig until I see them busting through the soil. But for the ones that have done well, I’ve got pictures of their progress over the last two weeks.

Cucumbers

Week 1

Week 2

Snow Peas

Week 1

Week 2

Green Beans

Week 1

Week 2

Tomatoes

Week 1

Week 2

Cantaloupe

Week 2

For those of you who did not believe me that I had an awesome office, here is photographic proof! I couldn’t get everything in the one frame. To the left there is another chair and a shelf. To the right, right in front of my desk, is another pair of windows. In the afternoon, my room turns into a little sauna, but it isn’t that bad. I’ll just have to buy a desk fan or something. So what do you think? Is it what you imagined?

In China, I was sick more or less every other week. Sometimes every week. It was just a part of being in China, I think, and getting used to Chinese germs. I never really got used to it, but I did become less and less surprised each time I came down with something.

I’ve been back in the States for five months now, and (knock on wood here) I haven’t had any sort of sickness that has lasted more than say, a full day – if even that. I no longer have the sort of bathroom issues that plagued me in China either. That was probably the worst thing about China(besides Richard Guo) – me nearly shitting myself to death every other week. I wish I could say that I was exaggerating . . . okay, to a point I am, it wasn’t that bad(death and what have you) all the time, but it did happen a lot and it was never, ever fun. Also, since I’ve been home, I haven’t really even had a sore throat or a cold. Now there have been times since I’ve gotten back that I could feel the beginning of such sicknesses, but nothing has ever stayed with me or progressed to the point where I needed a doctor or lots of over the counter drugs. I’ve been healthier in these last 5 months than I ever was in the last year and a half.

I have a theory.

My American immune system has been overthrown, and has been replaced by a whole battalion of Chinese martial arts fighters. They are my new front line. If they see a cold coming they chop it to bits and leave the carcass to rot in the sun. They laugh in the face of the American germs. “Ha, ha,” they say,”is that all you have?! Bring it on, I dare you!”

Just yesterday, my little Chinese fighting immune system took down a virus that totally conquered my mother and very nearly my brother, as well as most of my immediate family. I woke up with a slight tickle in my throat and my head felt heavy. I was sure that I was going to get sick. I radioed my guys and told them to hop to, and they did. Throughout the day, there were times when I was starting to feel up to par and then that tickle would start to come back. It never stayed long, though. I think they may still be fighting as I write this now, but the battle seems to be almost over. And who has won? Well, my Chinese battalion, of course.

I hope they stick around for a while. I like the fact that because my immune system fought so much evil crap in China that it now is less likely to be overcome by the bacteria running rampant in Columbia. Of course, that is just my theory, and I may be way wrong. And yes, I know, my imagination has a way of running away with itself sometimes.

And finally, like that crazy, cracked out Amy Winehouse says in her song about not going to rehab, my immune systems says the same about any germs trying to infiltrate my body – “No, no, no!”

Well, I have now been at my new job for one week and three days. I’d say things are going pretty well. I’m starting to pick up on things and slowly, I am getting more responsibilities. This past Wednesday, I got to run a booth at the Career Fest job fair with two of my co-workers. It was pretty fun. From 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, I greeted students and told them about our website and how to use it. We were provided with a small breakfast, and a boxed lunch. It was pretty good, too. I was impressed. Because I had to shake a lot of hands, I made sure to keep slapping some antibacterial gel on.  I didn’t want to take a chance with all the germs I was probably touching. The only thing that sorta sucked was that my feet hurt toward the end.

This next Friday, I will have my benefit orientation. I’ll finally be able to sign up for health insurance, and I won’t have to worry so much about getting sick. I’ve been without insurance for a good long while now. Also, I’ll be able to start saving for retirement. I’ve never had a job that offered any type of retirement plans.

I wish I had something more exciting to write about, but other than working, I haven’t been doing a whole lot. I mean, I get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, watch some TV, and go to bed at 9:30 pm Monday through Friday. I don’t have a whole lot of time to get caught up in something blog worthy really.

This weekend though, Phil and I went to Lowes and bought the makings to plant some seeds for a little garden. We are going to try and grow some cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, snow peas, green beans, green peppers, and cantaloupes on his patio. If we run out of room on his patio, we will just move them to Phil’s house where his Dad has a yearly garden. I sure hope that the seeds germinate. I haven’t had a garden since I was about 8 years old.

Well, if I want to enjoy what is left of my Sunday, I better get. I’ll try to think of something interesting to write soon. I know reading about me sitting in front of a computer all day can’t be exciting for you.

I’m tired, so I will make this quick and easy.

I talk to a lot of people about my year and three day experience in China.  And as you can expect, people usually have a ton of questions to ask.   Sometimes, these questions fall under the category of  “neverbeen” questions.  And if you want to have a better understanding of what I mean by that, click on the link.  Ryan will tell you everything you need to know.

I’ve been asked a lot of questions since I have been back, but I think the one that tops the list is the one you’ll read below.  I mean, it is like the candles on the cake.  Lit candles at that.

“What language do they speak in China?”

I looked at her with a blank stare for a second, thinking that she must be joshing me, but she was serious.  Then a light bulb went off.

“Oh.  Chinese I guess, huh?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Chinese.”

On our latest trip to Walmart, Phil and I found ourselves standing in the light bulb section. Phil looked at me and asked, “Do you see a cheap three way?”

I started laughing.  It took Phil a few seconds to figure out why what he said was so funny. He looked at me and said, “You are such a pervert.”

We looked around for a bit, but couldn’t find one of those newer bulbs that can last several years with a three way function. I hate it when I can’t find things, so I went in search of a Walmart employee. In my mind, I could imagine me bringing an employee back, him/her looking for one, finding it, but it not having a price. This would of course lead the employee to asking someone this question.

“Could you please do a price check on a three way for me?”

Phil’s right. I am a pervert, but I know you laughed, too.  So, does that make you a pervert,too?  🙂

Ugh.

I have a job. I do. I just don’t know when my first day on that job will be. I was initially told that I was going to start on February 1st. Then that date got pushed back to a possible 6th start. Yesterday, I was informed that all of the paper work was in order and was being passed(mailed rather) down the line. The person I was speaking to on the phone said as soon as that was all taken care of, then I could start. But she didn’t give me a date. All she said was that she would give me a call and let me know.

Ugh

Oh, the title of the post is referring to what used to be a high school on USC’s campus. At least that was what I was told once. The school was of course called University High School. It closed down a long, long time ago.

The reason why I can’t bite beef jerky anymore.