Keep It Together

I was no older than eleven the first time I got CPR/Basic First Aid training.  It was part of a baby-sitting-certification class I'd been eagerly anticipating.  It was the first step in a lifetime of keeping-myself-prepared for emergencies.

...that's not creepy at all...

I went on to be a lifeguard in high school, which obviously required even more training, and the "re-upping" of my various certifications every two years (or even more frequently, if you were me and paranoid about keeping your skills sharp) (I took my job very seriously).

The truth is I'm still fascinated by emergency medicine.  I love reading about the technological advances (you want scifi?  Read up on battlefield medicine, my friend.) Part of me would dearly love to become an EMT, or even a paramedic, but then I have a long, hard conversation with myself about the realities of those jobs, and I have to confess that I'm happy with the low-stress, relatively-well-paying job I have.  Although I suppose that wouldn't keep me from just getting my EMT certification, if I'm serious about it.  Because the truth is, I like being the calm, level-headed one in a crisis, who keeps her shit together and gets other people through it.  I think it's a gift that is due partially to my own nature, but more to my mother's nurturing (she trained to be a nurse, and it definitely comes through in her parenting).  It's something not everybody can do, and in a way I feel like I have a duty to be as prepared as possible.

Which is why I was at the Source this morning, getting my refresher on (man, that muscle-memory just kicks right in, even a decade later) and while I'll be at the next wilderness first aid class when it's offered.  And hell... maybe I'll even enroll at Clark College and put my money where my mouth is re: the whole EMT thing.  After all, what good is a relatively-well-paying job if I don't do something good with the proceeds?

At the End of the Night

Tonight was the Murder Myth-tery party, and I think it went pretty well, although I didn't realize just how bloodthirsty our circle of friends is!  Literally over half the party was murdered within the first half hour.  Anyway I had fun, and I think other people had fun, and most importantly of all I believe my Katie had fun, so win-win-win all around.  ^_^

I'd meant to take pictures of everyone in their wonderful costumes (and some people really went all out- it was fantastic) but I got so caught up in being A Good Hostess that I didn't get a single shot!  Boo!  So instead you get a picture that shows how much hard liquor we went through (never mind the beer and hard cider and wine...):

(pretty much four people demolished that bottle of bourbon)

The funny thing about this party is that it started at five, and the very last stragglers (who, come to think of it, were the first four here at five!) left sometime after ten, and I was all, "Man, people stayed so late!" in my pleased-mental-voice, but then I had to laugh at myself because, really?  We've reached the age where hanging at a party until ten on a Saturday night is a late night?  I think back on parties past that literally didn't start until 10pm, and I just smile at the college-kids we were and the adult-kids we've become.

Of course, I'll be in pretty good shape for my 0900 CPR/First-Aid re-certification in the morning, so hey... that's better than being sick with a hangover, right?  Sure it is!

(hat tip to Adam for enabling all our grownup shenanigans!)

Prepare the Way

Tomorrow night is my Katie's bachelorette party, which I am hosting here at the house.  It's going to be a co-ed Murder Myth-tery party (that I wrote myself because I can't ever seem to do things the easy way), complete with shiny "gemstones" to be used as in-game currency.  And because I had to know how many there were in order to divide them evenly amongst the players, I had to count them.  And obviously if you are going to count rainbow-colored glass ingots (or "dragons' tears", as I grew up calling them), you lay them out in proper color order.  And this is how you discover that Orange is the rarest color (less than half of the next rarest color, which was Red in case you were curious) and that Light Blue is the most common color (by about ten more than Green don't judge me) and that the Greens and the Dark Blues are considerably larger than the other colors, like to the point where your lines won't go straight WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE MANUFACTURERS?!

::cough::

Yeah.  Anyway.  They're pretty.

It's okay: I want to put them in MY mouth, too.

A Storm of Wind and Light

I woke up this morning not to the alarm, but to howling winds and dancing tree limbs.  I checked my weather app, and sure enough- we're under High Winds Advisory until seven tonight- gusts up to 40mph!  Needless to say, I opted not to ride my bike to work today.

Once I got in to the office, the effect of the early-morning shadows on the walls was too fascinating not to try and capture on film:

...but of course it's not the same without the movement...

Bribery

When you work in certain industries, vendors bring you swag:

If the vendor remembers your office manager has a dog, and brings her poop bags, chances are he's going to make it back on the schedule...

Boozeday Tuesday and the Natural Science Field Trip

It's Tuesday, and you know what that means!

Boozeday!

Rosé from a plastic cup, ya'll.  Classy!

With my ladies!

My Katie was there, too, artfully dodging the camera.

And one gentleman!

Blue lookin' dapper in Green!

We took a field trip down to Portland to watch the swifts, which was pretty dang cool. I'd never even heard of it, but Melanie suggested it and we all thought it sounded like fun, and it totally was.  Aided, naturally, by junk food and booze... (my thermos definitely had hot cocoa made with heavy cream, sweetened with honey, and spiced with cardamon.  Plus, you know... vodka...)

Aaaaaanyway, the end result is that yet again I can't really choose between two of my photos as the official "photo of the day", so you get both:

Our Inverted Stars

Swift Descent

(...see what I did there? Didja?  Didja?)

Spice in the Afternoon

It's been so insanely busy lately that I haven't been able to get to acupuncture for over a month.  Today was my first day back, and for some insane reason the traffic was so amazing that I got there early... an hour early.  So I wandered down the street to a little cafe, and had myself a glass of milk flavored with honey and cardamom.

Delicious

Then I sat in the sunshine and read my lovely book.