A Delayed Post....

A day doesn't go by for me where I don't think, at multiple times, what I was doing a year ago while still in Italy and Europe.

One year later, in January, Kim and I found ourselves back in America and taking part in a national pastime and tradition: Super Bowl Sunday.
These are the treats that we indulged in while watching the game of which the Louisiana team won--the New Orleans Saints, I believe.

While I do greatly miss Europe and my time there, I do try to stay committed to my goal of finding the splendor in where I reside. You may not view Super Bowl Sunday as a splendid event, and I'm not weighing in either way--I would say, however, that one cannot purchase good wings in Italy.

A Question....

So what is a girl to do when she already works full time and finds
that there are never enough hours in the day?

Answer: Why go back to school, of course!
Good thing there's a community college just up the street.

This past week I found myself at Seattle Central Community College trying to figure out their admission's process. I want to earn what's called a "Certificate in Chemical Dependency." Having one expands job opportunities and allows me to do evaluations that can only be done by Chemical Dependency Professionals.

So, there I was Wednesday afternoon, walking down the halls, trying to find the correct offices and mixing in with students who have more tattoos than I have wrinkles.
Is that a good thing? Just something to ponder.

So in my quest I ended up at Admissions with the nice young man behind the desk who spoke ever so softly (I'm sure) leaving me to say "excuse me?" after each of his sentences. Then he would kindly repeat and I would catch what he was saying this time being very careful to also watch his moving lips...

Where he really caught me off guard was when I turned in my sealed transcripts from both undergraduate and graduate school and he casually announced (after a quick perusal) that I needed to take a math test...

"A math test? Seriously??"
"Yes Mame. You haven't taken math in the last three years."
"Well, yes, that's right. I haven't taken math in T H I R T Y years... Are you sure?"
"Yes Mame; go down the hall to the testing center on your left then come back here with verification."
"Oh geeze."

Down the hall I went to a very bored woman who circled a piece of paper that said 'Math--$17.00'
"Go down the hall to the payment center and bring me back the receipt.
By the way, we close at 4:30..."
Oh geeze.

OK, back to the admissions office area and to the payment window. Whew, straightforward. Back to bored lady who escorted me to a room with computers. She sat me in front of one that read, "MATH".

How hard can this be? I found myself thinking; HA HA HA, silly me!
This was my problem:
I do not remember how to do square roots.
I'm not so sure about: 1/3 + 12/18 = 1 ?/30; they had many other interesting combination's.
I do not know what /4-3/ equals or means: I do not understand what those / / enclosing the numbers are for.
I do not remember my triangle areas and angles.
I'm only partially able to do certain percentages.

Once finished (before 4:30; doesn't take too long when you're sure you don't know most of the answers) the bored lady handed me a piece of paper that said '31'.
I do think I know what that means.

So back to the nice young man who repeated all his sentences to hand in my test score.
He handed me back a piece of paper and said,
"Now you need to see an adviser; the information's on the piece of paper."
"Will I have to take math?" I meekly asked.
"You'll have to see an adviser" he repeated.

So, that's where I'm left. Monday night I meet an adviser at 6PM and hope to talk my way out of taking math. Perhaps they will trust that since I have a bachelor's, master's and acupuncture degrees I should be able to successfully accomplish the academic challenges ahead of me without taking math. What are the mathematical odds of that?

Wish me luck. More later, for sure.

My Little Friend, Wendy

My dear friend, Wendy, is traveling the world. She just recently sent me her picture while touring in Egypt. My, how she is expanding her world views!

Kids These Days....

This past week, Kim and I went to a fund raiser for the Puget Sound Community School where our "second grouping of children", Emma and Alex attend.

They had silent and live auction and I was out bid each step of the way and came home with no treasures in hand.

But, I did spy T-shirts for sale and did snag one of them. It's black and on the back are the following recommendations:

practice integrity

engage the community

act with courage

The things we teach our children these days.....
I guess I did find a treasure after all.
Thank you future voters.

One Night Count....

This morning at 2AM I met several hundred other people downtown to participate in Seattle/King County's "One Night Count". The count was sponsored by the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness; this was "the counts" 30th year....

King County has one of the nation's best-established point-in-time counts of homeless people. The One Night Count remains the largest community-organized count in the United States. 978 volunteers and 30 teams covered our county. Here are two volunteers and co-workers,
Jenny and Kelly.

The 2010 One Night Count also collected information from select hospitals about emergency room usage, and from Metro night owl buses operating throughout the county.

We were assigned grids and our job was to walk each section, street, park,
lot, within the grid.

2,759 people were counted--adults, children, families, elders all living on our streets or in cars.
After we finished, I came home at 6AM to my home and went to sleep;
That's all I will say.

Life Continues....

In four days it will be the first anniversary of our friend Ken's death. A year ago at this time, I was in Vienna and Kim had flown back to Seattle to be with Ken and his family. So much has happened in the last year...We've returned home to Seattle, gotten resettled, become reemployed, and are encountering what each new day brings--some of it I like, some of it I don't but isn't that what life is about? I could rant about politics and the state of the world and nation but I will spare us all of that...."Well done, Rachel!" (Sister Wendy here; I am checking for typo's since Kim is absent.)

And speaking of Kim's absence, she is currently in Florida visiting her father who is living in an assisted living facility ; I don't think that he knew she was coming for a visit. I will leave you with this image that Kim shared with me by phone.

Upon her arrival at the facility, she saw her father giving dancing lessons to those around him. He had his back to her and didn't see her come in. She walked up to the woman he was dancing with and said, "May I cut in?"

These are the moments to savor. Thank you.

Cannon Beach, Oregon

Question to Self: Where's the most comforting & beautiful place you've ever been?
Self: Hmmmmmmm?. Italy? Chile? Russia? Spain? Argentina? Austria? Hungary? Sicily?...
Self continues: How about the place Kim and I return to year after year:
Cannon Beach, Oregon, United States of America.
Self concludes: Yes, that is correct.

Hay Stack Rock, Cannon Beach Oregon.

Cycles of Life...

A happy beach stroller...