Thursday, May 18, 2006

Serene

Thanks for all the luck, folks. I did you proud with a 79 (out of 100- 70 is passing), and you wouldn't believe how hard I had to think. What, for instance, do you know about packed aeration towers and the VOC's they remove from drinking water? I had to track Bud down to tell him I passed. Good thing Kate's ("A Place for Libations and Conversations") is on my cellphone speed dial. (Bud: "How did you know to call me here?" And then a self-conscious chuckle. "Nevermind.") At any rate, I am so relieved that I'm celebrating with chocolate alcohol (double whammy!) and staring ahead at another stress-free year (I can't believe I have to do this two more times), and reveling in the prospect of some spectacular fun in Rock Springs tomorrow night, Pinedale Saturday, and Mom's Sunday. I'll be exhausted, and I'll love it.

I got home and found they're peeling strips of sod like green fuzzy fur from the park across the street and piling it in rolls in the bed of trucks. They are doing this because they are going to build a new elementary school where the park is now to replace the aging bomb shelter that is the current elementary school on the other block. This makes me incredibly sad, because there are softball games played in the summer twilight there, and the tink of the aluminum bat makes me smile. Also they hold P.E. class there when it's nice, and the kids laugh and run and make me smile some more, especially when they do that thing with the big colorful parachute. I had already heard about the proposed construction. But if I had known that the park would be leaving this summer, I'd have spent more time lounging on the grass last year.

At the laundromat last night I emptied the contents of eight pairs of jeans' pockets onto the top of the washer. Seven elastic hair bands, five lists (written on textured notepads made from screwed-up City letterhead: "City of Evanton") I probably never completed, about two dollars in change, and two tubes of lip balm. I brought a tiny bottle of "super concentrated!" All detergent and stood there staring at the quarter of a cup of thick blue translucent soap, wondering if that was really going to do the job. By all accounts, it did. Dispensing it into the second washer, I found I was pouring the blue goo through a membrane of soap over the surface of the lid, so as the soap filled the cup, a bubble grew up and drooped over the edge. I waited thirty seconds for it to pop and decided we'll have to try this stuff in Cordale's super bubble blower set this summer. I already have so many plans for these quick warm months.

Two tests down- two more to go. But I can relax for a little while now and maybe enjoy the hell out of the brief and glorious Wyoming summer. Maybe I can use some of those twenty days of vacation I've got piled up. Anybody up for a road trip or Vegas or some four-wheeling in the brush? A picnic. Hogle Zoo. Jetskis on Bear Lake, campfires, rain on blooming creosote and rabbit brush and sage. I kept falling asleep in the Taurus on the way home, even mid-conversation with Kendra and Tyler. Maybe because I've got a load off. Maybe because it was toasty in the backseat. It was at least 80 degrees in Green River today and after the test, while waiting for Kendra to finish, I sat in the backseat calling everybody and just soaking in the desert heat, getting up once in a while to smoosh my shoeprint in the melted rivers of tar on the asphalt with the phone pressed to my head.

I'm so glad it's over. I can't concentrate any more tonight, and I can't be creative. I'm sorry for the dearth of posts lately, and I can't promise to make up for it because there's a whole world out there to enjoy until it freezes over again. But Twinkie's married off and Jo's Hodgkin's prognosis looks hopeful and I've passed my Level II and the Renewal Ball poster is finished, framed, printed, and an unrelenting hit with the people who've seen it. We'll have a rolling/tying party Tuesday at James and Julie's and be done with it and all have a wonderful time at the ball (no dancing, no princes), and that, my friends, is the happy ending you've been waiting for.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congratulations!!! So proud of you Lil' A. I was thinking of Kendra and all her stress and worry - that baby's gonna come out spouting calculations and will have more knowledge about sludge and well...waste water treatment than she will ever need! Hee hee! At least now you guys can relax, and she can move on to having her baby without anymore stress...about the test, anyway!

That's just great...you have all this vacation to use and I start a new job where I can't take any for a year. Oh well, the JOB will probably be like a vacation for a while! And I'll have a REAL lunch hour, and only two minutes (instead of 40) to the office! Kindra W. said "Whoohoo" when we told her about it the other night...my centiments exactly, Ku!

May 19, 2006 at 8:26 AM  
Blogger a572mike said...

Congrats! I was thinking the other day about how I took a class at UW back in the day that went over the basics of how all of that kind of stuff works... Thinking about it made my head hurt! I'm glad I'm an airport engineer! Again, congats on the passing grade, who cares what the score was, as long as it was passing!

May 19, 2006 at 10:37 AM  

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