wire wontons

It's summer. The temperature isn't uncomfortable, but any movement provokes the humidity to crawl around you and cling to you with a ferocious and one-sided love. There's nothing much to do, and the idle warm days turn into idle warm nights until the passage of time is barely noticed at all. The sun has set, but the diffused glow shines down my driveway and casts lazy half shadows on the ground. I'm standing outside the back door of the house, watching the moths and the other indistinguishable insects fluttering around the timed light above my neighbor's door.

I've got a roll of wire screening in my hands along with a pair of scissors, and a sheet of twist ties between my lips. Standing in front of the tree, I look upwards and take count. This is the fifth summer after we have planted the Asian pear tree, and the pears have never ripened. Although it produces more than a hundred gumball sized fruit every year, squirrels tend to eat all of them once they exceed the size of a golf ball.

It's an easy enough job, I try to imagine. Outwitting a squirrel shouldn't be difficult. I cut a square from the netting and hold it around one of the dozen remaining fruits, trying to think of ways to secure it. A couple of bars run through my head of an anonymous song, and I hum it again and again and again. Folding and refolding the screen square, I do my best to cover the fruit. I settle for a familiar shape, bringing the corners of the square together to form a wonton. I secure it with twist ties and pinch the edges together.

As I begin working on the third wire screen cover, I let my mind wander. Although it's summer, I'm thinking about school, and about college. This is it, I think. There is an award winning college essay written in this moment, and I just have to figure it out. Here I am, standing in my driveway in the light from my kitchen window, and I am composing topic sentences and paragraph transitions that I will never actually use. I prick my fingers a couple of times on the loose wires, but I keep threading the twist ties and folding the screen.

Another metal dumpling down. Here's an analogy for my biracial identity. I bend down to the next fruit and get to work. As I'm folding the next square, I feel the bite of a mosquito on the back of my leg. If I swat at it now, I'd drop the little makeshift cage that I've spent the last five minutes forming, and I'd have to start over. I ignore the growing itch, and fold the wire into shape. Here's an example of my determination to finish the tasks that I've set. I stand back to look over the tree, and to admire my work. Tidy looking wontons hang at the edges of branches. It's a peculiar sight, but it'll do the job. If a squirrel can get through this, it deserves the fruit. Here's an example of my out of the box thinking.

It has been gradually growing darker, and soon it's too dark to see the top branches of the tree that I've been working on. I light up my wristwatch, and across the yard a firefly echoes my false bioluminescence. It's late, so I gather my things and go inside. I put the things back, the twine and the twist ties into the drawer, the scissors in the jar by the phone, and the spare wire screen back into the closet with the gardening gloves and gardening supplies. Whatever great admissions essay hides in this moment that has just passed, I will let it stay mostly hidden. After all, it's summer.

Teatime Tuesday

Oh the alliteration!
I felt that it was appropriate, considering the amount of tea that I drank today.
(For those curious folks, that was half of a gallon.)

I'm sick. And drinking tea is the only thing that I know how to do sometimes. (I may not be very good at a lot of things, but I'm excellant at what I'm good at.) Here's the cup that I'm using.

Most of the time, when you read about me drinking tea, I'm drinking it from this mug. It holds three cups of water, making it absolutely ideal for me because of the copious amounts of tea that I always seem to find myself drinking. It was made by my very talented aunt, who has her own pottery studio. Most of the various mugs and platters around my house were made at her studio. mmmmm talent in the family.

I spent the first half of my day (okay, first two thirds... maybe three fourths.) in pajamas. I did homework, took various cold medications, and did some more homework. Spent about two hours this afternoon sitting on my front porch doing my math homework. Birds were chirping and my nose was honking like a french horn. We could have made a band. It would have been the next big thing, I promise you.

I invested an hour in researching some of the places that I want to visit... and proceeded to use google streetview to walk from my apartment to various destinations. Don't worry, I know that I'm really cool.

Here's to hoping that your day was as pleasant as mine... just without the hacking and coughing and whatnot.

5 days

of break.
and now I am on my last one.

Its been a little too long. But not in a bad way. Just in the way that I have had absolutely nothing to do for the past three days. :-|

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My mom spent a lot of time in the kitchen, cooking and listening to the De-Lovely soundtrack.
My dad spent a lot of time reading, napping, and going on walks.
My brother came home from college, but spent most of his time home hanging out with his friends.
And as for me: I spent a lot of time doing a lot of things.

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I cleaned my room. I let my room get messy. I cleaned my room. I let it get messy. I cleaned it again.

I bought some new movies (The Princess Bride, Across the Universe, and The Patriot) some used books, and a very comfy flannel shirt.

I was trusted with electric hedge clippers and I managed to not cause grievous bodily harm to anybody. I took the opportunity to wear my flannel shirt, and I whistled the lumberjack song while I worked.

I watched the same couple of television stations and listened to the same sort of music as I always do. (National Geographic, Disney, Cartoon Network, etc., and Bob Dylan, Ludo, and more Bob Dylan.)

I tried to organize and alphabetize my Dad's CD collection. Then I remembered that I don't know my alphabet and I gave up.

I finally organized my camera. and loaded everything onto my computer. and deleted everything off of my camera.

I made some jewelry. And then I wore some of it.

In short, I just sat around the house and did nothing of great significance.

but I did remember to be thankful. and I hope that you did too.

today is sunday.

AND WHAT A BEAUTIFUL AND SUNNY DAY IT IS! (and why yes, I'm even thinking in caps right now.)

I went for a walk with my dad. :)

There was an awful lot of people in the park today, on account of the wonderful weather.

Sweet: a toothless baby smiling at me.
Awfully nice: spending time outdoors.
Random: seeing a couple being pulled in a horse drawn buggy.
Ridiculously delightful: hearing somebody scream "FOR NARNIA" at the top of their lungs atop a giant rock. (and here I was thinking things like that only happen on the internet.)

I love people so much sometimes.

dinosaurs, cocoa krispies, and stoichiometry (oh my!)

Today I finished a stoichiometry review sheet in chemistry before the class was over.

So, I went to the cafeteria, bought some food, and went to the lobby of the main building.

I spent the next thirty minutes eating cocoa krispies in chocolate milk and reading Jurassic Park.

Sometimes I wonder how/when I got this dorky.

In the past week:

I've walked a dog, went for a run, watched unnatural amounts of the Disney Channel, babysat, ate more cookies, made double layer jello, read some books, forgot to blog, attempted to clean my room, ate a box of popsicles, forgot to blog, bought things to put into fantastical care packages, slept.

So, why haven't I been blogging?
Answer: I forgot entirely. When I remembered, I felt bad about forgetting, and promptly forgot again.

Here's to hoping that I don't forget again.

What I'm up to now: preparing for the fourth of July party, blogging, feeling content, not really doing much of anything.

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What I've done since I created this blog post, saved it as a draft, and went to explore the greater world around me: Went to Hoboken, did not see an emergency relating to an oversized chicken, bought lemonade from an adorable boy on the sidewalk, saw family, felt tall, saw more family, felt short, played with five year olds, watched the Disney Channel, ate some food, walked around Hoboken, saw the house my Grandpa was raised in, saw some fireworks, rode in a car, and multi-tasked and watched fireworks while riding in a car.

I've driven through Hoboken before, but I don't think I've ever actually been there. I was excited about expanding my horizons. Sometimes, I like to think about what life would be like for me if some details were changed. Today, I explored the idea of being raised in Hoboken. I can't say that I disliked the idea. But, I can (and will!) say, that I am entirely content with being raised where I was raised, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. :)

My fathers family always gets together for the Fourth. My Aunt and Uncle own a lakeside house, and we alway go to it. This year, we went to Hoboken instead. Half of my family is shortish. There are several outliers. These outliers could step on me.

The good thing about driving on the fourth of July is that you get to watch tiny pieces of firework shows. You get to see the smallest explosions, and the biggest explosions, and every color of the spectrum. At night, as you lie in bed, thinking about your day, you get to take the memories of fireworks, and mend them together. You get to create an entirely unique light show. You get personal fireworks.

Today was my Grandma's birthday. Because it fell on the fourth of July, we always had big parties. It has always been, and will always be, one of the high points of my summer. ♥

Today:

1. I got hit in the head by a guitar. Accidentally, of course.
2. I learned that my kleptomania is getting out of hand: I'm now stealing the intangible. (i.e. places in line, THE MUSICAL, hearts of millions.)
3. I was an amazing postmaster. or postmistress, considering I am a girl.
4. I saw a squirrel with a stubby tail. He was a cutie.
5. I also saw a chipmunk. and a cardinal. and some sparrows.
6. I watched my brother flail/dance to techno and rock. while in the car. while driving. (I love my family.)
7. I presented my favorite sophomore with a bouquet.
8. I was rick-rolled by my favorite 8th grader.
9. I realized that I'm genuinely starting to love Rick Astley and his music.
10. I was forced to accept that some people do have siblings, regardless of how much I don't believe them.
    
11. I lied when I told people that I believed that their siblings were their siblings. I still think that they are all hobos.
12. I went channel surfing, which brought me to the movie 'Who Framed Rodger Rabbit'.
13. I rekindled my love of the movie 'Who Framed Rodger Rabbit'.
14. I played on swings.
15. I never thought my downward arc was anything like falling. It always felt like I was flying.
16. I realized that I've held more hands in the past several days then I have in the past several months.
17. I thought about how horribly depressing that statement was, largely because the only reason I've held hands with anyone has been because of the musical my grade put on.
18. I used a lot of sentences which started with I.
    
    
19. I learned that you can't always get what you want.
    
    
    
20. I realized that you're forever going to be one of those things.
    
    
    
    
    
21. I still have yet to decide if I'm going to be okay with that.