| In other, happier news... |
[Aug. 15th, 2006|08:27 pm] |
A lot has been going on since my last informative post. My roommate moved out (his job ended two weeks ago), so I'm all alone with the shotgun wielding neighbors. The birds have all stopped singing at work, so it's just hours and hours of sitting around right now. I fill the time by reading. I feel so literate right now.
This job is done in a month, after which I'll be going directly to the Grand Canyon for a two week adventure down the Colorado river in a raft. This is the trip my parents go on every year and have been promising to take me on since I graduated High school. I'll probably be with my parents at the GC for about a month (they've made it clear that I can't leave without at LEAST one rim-to-rim hike). Then I'll be heading back down to Austin, where my tentative plan is to sublet a place for at least a while and start looking for a seasonal job starting early spring.
Why go back to Austin, you ask? Because I'll be applying to grad school at Texas State, that's why. I've been talking with my boss's adviser and he wants to work with me. At this point all I have to do is apply to the school and everything is set. I'd be starting Fall 07, going for a M.S. in Population and Conservation Biology, and would probably be looking at reddish egrets for my thesis. It's all very exciting (and a little scary). |
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| Holy Fucking Shit |
[Aug. 14th, 2006|08:14 pm] |
From this page:
"Also located in prison in Miahuatlán is the ornithologist Ramiro Aragón Perez. His two companions were tortured and beaten before their release. The three were abducted from the town of Santa Maria Atzompa, allegedly betrayed by the mayor, who is now in plenty of trouble of his own with the townspeople. Aragón was allegedly discovered to be wearing a bulletproof vest and owning a military weapon.
The wife of Ramiro Aragón insists he is innocent of the charge of carrying weapons, and asks the international scientific community to intercede on his behalf. Aragón is known for his studies of birds and the environment."
Ramiro was my boss the summer of 2004 (the first time I lived in Killeen). I have never worked with a bigger bird nerd. The man was obsessed, in the best way possible. He spoke often of his love of his home in Oaxaca and how he ultimately wanted to go back there and study its native birds. I just wrote a letter in the support of his immediate release and sent it to a woman who is collecting such things.
I know no one reading this can do anything about it, but I just wanted to spread the word about this great injustice. |
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| Good thing our outside walls are brick... |
[Jun. 18th, 2006|10:38 am] |
I officially live in the ghetto.
Last night, while I was at the bar, a man knocked on our door. When my roommate answered it the man said "sorry, wrong apartment" and headed next door. What followed, apparently, was our neighbor and the man screaming at each other, threatening to shoot each other, a neighbor further down yelling that he called the cops, and then what sounded like a shotgun being cocked (this was when my roommate moved to the living room, away from the window). By the time I got home (around 1:30am) the cops had just left, everything was quiet, and my roommate was still working off the adrenaline rush.
Just now I heard my neighbor talking on his phone to someone about the incident last night - "Then the nigger let me turn my back on him to get my 12 gauge! He said 'you know I got more guns than you' and I was like 'well you don't got them now!'"
This is the same neighbor that, my roommate reports, regularly has screaming arguments with his wife that end with both of them threatening to shoot each other in the face. At least it's not me that shares a paper thin wall with them.
These two have an adorable toddler that I'm sure will grow up with no issues whatsoever. |
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| How Romantic |
[May. 28th, 2006|03:33 pm] |
I went to the gay bar in town last night. Had a great time, made some friends, drank too much. So I had to get a ride home and leave my car in the parking lot. Today I returned to pick up my car and what was on my windshield? A note!
( This is what it said: )
Isn't living in an army town fun? I'm thinking of sending it to Found Magazine.
Edited to add: The name of the bar - Texas Closet. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 15th, 2006|07:34 pm] |
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An endangered bird died in my hands yesterday. |
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| Adventures in used game systems. |
[Mar. 19th, 2006|08:48 pm] |
I decided to buy a Playstation 2 and a couple of games today. You would think this would be an easy enough operation, wouldn't you? You would be wrong.
So, I went to the local game store (one of 60 gazillion in this town, seriously) and picked up We Heart Katamari, Kingdom Hearts, a memory card, and a used Playstation 2. I then go home, plug the thing in, pop in Kingdom Hearts, and.... disk error, cannot read disk. Dammit. I try Katamari. Disk error, again.
I drive back to the store, tell them my tale of woe, they plug it and try it out. Disk error. They take the defective used system and give me a refurbished system. Here's where I should have opened the thing up in the store and tested it out there. But I didn't. I just drove home.
I plug in my new, refurbished system. It can play the game! But... the controller doesn't work, it's some cheap-ass off brand imitator, not the Dual Shock that the box claims it should be. So pack everything up again and drive BACK to the damned store. Boy were they happy to see me. They gave me a working controller, we tested everything out (see? I can learn), and I went on my way.
So I plug everything in, the Playstation can read the games, the controller works, aaaaaand.... it can't read the memory card. DAMMIT! And by this time the game store is closed, so I'm stuck waiting for tomorrow before I can save anything.
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In other news, I still like my boss! There's hope for the next 6 months after all. Haven't seen any Black-capped Vireos yet, but that's ok, since we only have one of three necessary permits, so can't really do anything to them anyway. Here's hoping those things show up some time.
St. Patty's day I went to a party thrown by one of the Nature Conservancy people, got to know the other bio-geeks here, made some connections. I left as things were getting interesting, but I'm a party pooper like that. Before I left I did get to see some man-flesh, apparently a common occurrence at these functions. I was warned beforehand. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 14th, 2006|04:24 pm] |
Back in Madrid. Ahhh.... Back in a hostel with central heating. Back in a hostel where I'm sharing a room with three other women in a space the size of a gym locker. Good times. At least this time I've got a top bunk, the beds in this place give you about a foot and a half of space if you're on the bottom (and I'm not even exaggerating... much).
Last time I was in Madrid I reconnected with my old host family, who I had not talked to in over 7 years. They were THRILLED to hear from me. They have not changed a bit - they have a dog now, that's it. I hung out with them on the 8th and 9th for dinner, and am under strict orders to call them when I get back into the city, which means I must call tonight.
I just got back from three nights in Sevilla, which was cool enough, except the hostel there wasn't set up like most youth hostels, so I never had the opportunity to meet anybody and therefore spent the entire time wandering around the city alone (I must have done about 10 km yesterday). I don't mind that for the most part, but it's nice to have people to talk to at least once per day.
Speaking of wishing I had people to hang out with - I went to this tourist-trap flamenco show thing last night. It was overpriced, but hilarious on so many levels. There was the guy that looked like a taller, lankier Prince (as in artist-formerly-known-as), the girl with the perma bitch-face, the 60 year-old aging starlet with the plunging neckline, and the star of the show with the oddest, most over plucked eyebrows that made her look like she smelled something nasty. And so much more. And me with nobody to laugh about it with. Oh well, I got pictures. I haven't looked through them yet, so here's hoping at least one captures the wonderfulness of last night. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 7th, 2006|05:31 pm] |
I´m in Valencia now, in a much nicer hostel than the one in Barcelona. The other one was a classic youth hostel, full of loud, drunken college students (not that that´s always a bad thing, but it gets old after a few nights). This one is is much smaller, very clean and quiet. The owners are very friendly and have gone out of their way to make me feel comfortable and answer any questions I have. I´ll probably end up staying an extra night.
If you ever find yourself in Valencia, Spain, I wholeheartedly recomend the Russafa Youth Hostel.
I spent the day at a wildlife preserve (that the hostel owner told me about) about 11 kilometers outside of the city. I went into the preserve´s office to ask where to go to see birds, and the next thing I know I´m in a truck with the management staff, going out to a spot that´s closed to the public. They gave me lots of information and told me all about the work they do there. The place was basically a Spanish version of the wildlife area in Los Banos, same types of birds, similar management practices, and similar problems. It was very cool, and very unexpected. I thought I´d just go there, walk around a bit and look at birds on my own, instead I ended up having an expert guide and insider information! |
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| ¨Catalonia is not Spain¨ |
[Feb. 5th, 2006|03:26 pm] |
I´ve been touristing around the city for the last couple of days, taking lots of pictures of this very photogenic city. So far I´ve kept to my resolution to stay active and see the sights, and to keep moving, tomorrow I go by rail to Valencia.
Go here and click on the Europe 06 album for some of my better photos from the last couple of days, I´ll probably be adding to it as I go. |
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| Impulse Vacation |
[Jan. 25th, 2006|05:25 pm] |
Holy shit. I just bought a plane ticket to Barcelona. Leaving next Thursday.
I should also mention that I have a job lined up. It's mid-March to September, back in Killeen, TX! A place I already know I hate! Good times. But the job looks like fun, I'll be nest-searching and banding Black-capped Vireos with a PHD student. I won't be making as much as I am now, but housing should be a bit cheaper, and rumor has it I'll have benifits. |
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| Nudge |
[Jan. 18th, 2006|07:18 pm] |
It's been brought to my attention that I have not updated in over a month. I guess I should do something about that, people want to know what's up with me and who am I to deny them?
The good: I'm out of here in TWO WEEKS! No more boss from hell! No more Los Banos! I can almost taste the freedom!
The bad: I, uh, don't know what I'm going to do after leaving here. I still have no job lined up, and since I need to be ready to go somewhere for a job at the drop of a hat, I can't make any plans. I will be driving out of town with all my worldly possessions piled into my car and nowhere to go.
Reason to hope: I finally got a reply to an application! This is my first contact with a prospective employer since being turned down by that woman who called me at 6am for a surprise interview. A month of ignored resumes was getting very depressing, I was feeling very unemployable. I now have a glimmer of hope.
I'll probably end up following my parent's around in their RV. It's a place to stay, and I'll get to see some amazing places on the way. In my ideal world I'll have a job lined up before I leave here, and therefore be able to plan a bit ahead. If I have a couple of months before the next job starts I'm thinking of either travailing around South America, or subletting in Fairfax (a nifty little town a bit north of San Francisco). The sad thing, bumming around S. America is probably the cheaper option (though I don't know what I'd do with my car, and I'm not good at travailing alone). |
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| "So, what do you like about birds?" |
[Dec. 17th, 2005|06:45 am] |
I was woken up at 6 by a ringing phone this morning. It turned out to be a surprise job interview.
I don't think it went too well. |
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| I cannot ignore a Tag |
[Aug. 25th, 2005|09:15 pm] |
1. Go into your LJ’s archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag 5 people on your friends list.
"I don't know what I am looking for, but that's besides the point."
This is from my first ever private entry (it said so in the title). No more detail for you, it's private.
No tagging, I think everyone on my friend's list who would do this, has. |
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I'm doint this only because ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) marvelahs wanted me to |
[Jun. 4th, 2005|09:10 pm] |
List your current six favorite songs, then pick six other people that have to do the same.
Emphasis on current.
Uno: "Restless" - Alison Krauss and Union Station
Dos: "What's a Guy Gotta Do" - Joe Nichols
One: "Some Beach" - Blake Shelton
Two: "Living Room" - Tegan & Sara
Tres: "Wicked Little Town" - Hedwig and the Angry Inch Soundtrack
Cuatro!: "9 to 5" - Dolly Parton
Boy have I been listening to too much Country Radio lately.
Because I'm such a rebel, I'm not going to pass this one on. I'm keeping these cooties to myself, thankyouverymuch. |
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| Who here is in need of a hysterical paroxysm? I can help! |
[Jun. 4th, 2005|08:25 pm] |
Today I actually got the hell out of Los Banos for once. I went about 30 miles up the road to Turlock, which felt like a completely different world than the one I currently live in. The grass was greener, the trees leafier, the people friendlier. The antique shops infinitely cooler (though that's not too hard, since LB doesn't have any).
I spent the afternoon antiquing, then ate dinner at a bistro downtown. Since I was alone, I took the opportunity to do some reading. I finished up The Botany of Desire, which I borrowed from Becki of the Veg Crew. Great book - highly recommended. Even if you have no interest in plants or can't stand non-fiction; this is an easy, informative, and entertaining read.
( Now, back to why the antique stores in Turlock are the coolest ever. ) |
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| 'Cause they're songs about me |
[May. 16th, 2005|08:44 pm] |
Quick and incomplete update on my life of the past couple of months:
-I somehow picked up an appreciation for popular Country music (I always liked the old stuff). This is due to a depressing lack of decent radio stations in Central California coupled with a co-worker who loves the stuff. Plus we drive around all day every day in beat-up old GMC trucks. When you do that you can't not listen to country.
-I went to San Francisco by myself and had a night of debauchery that ended with the worst hangover of my life, and my glasses broken in two (I have no memory of that happening). My glasses were apparently made out of some sort of space-aged material that is impossible to glue/tape/will back together. Driving for two hours with your only method of seeing the road periodically breaking free of their restraints and jumping off your face while you're going 75 mph is not fun. Note to self: never start off a pub crawl with three shots of tequila.
-I literally count birds for a living. It's awesome. "That's 500 Dowitchers, 350 Dunlin, 20 Black-necked Stilts, 15 White-faced Ibis, two Snipes, and a female Marsh Hawk." I got to sit and watch a family of owlets out for what was probably their first ever flight the other day. They're so cute with their fuzzy heads, big yellow eyes, and lack of coordination. I love my job, though I sometimes have to remind myself of that after dealing with my incompetent boss. |
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| Trading stories of near-muggings |
[Dec. 22nd, 2004|08:09 am] |
Conversation over dinner last night:
Mom: Amber, have you ever been mugged?
Me (hopefully): Uhhhh... no?
Mom: So why did your uncle Mark* say you have?
Me: Ok, well, it wasn't exactly mugged, I mean I wasn't beat up or anything...
Mom: Nice try.
So I tell her about how I got surrounded by a group of men while waiting for a cab at night in Quito. They were all saying "moneymoneymoneymoneymoney..." and walking around me. So I give them the money in my pockets (probably $20), then one of them grabs my bag. This, I was not going to allow. So I yell out "LADRONES!" (which is Spanish for THIEVES!), they scatter, I run. There is no reason why this should have worked, the street was empty, the closest person was blocks away. No one would have come running to my rescue. Yay for the element of surprise.
Mom (hyperventilating): What the HELL were you thinking!? You could have been raped/killed/left fo dead in a ditch! Ican'tbelieveyouletthishappen!
Me: This is why I lied to you!
Once mom had calmed down she told me about the time she was walking home from work in winter in Chicago. It was negative 10 out and she had about a mile to walk to get to her train home. No one was out that night and she had the choice of walking above-ground or under the expressway. It's cold out, so she decides to go for the sheltered walk. Besides, who else would be out on a night like that? Halfway through the tunnel she looks behind her and there's a guy coming up behind her rather fast. So she runs. She makes it all the way to the stairs up, figures she's nearly to safety when she feels a hand come up her skirt and cup her ass cheek. Now she knows she's as good as dead. So she whips around to look at him and he turns around and runs down the stairs and around the corner then peeks his head around with this huge grin on his face.
Both my mom and I have more luck than we really deserve.
*Mark is the uncle I went to Peru with, he is notorious for talking all kinds of shit about people, most of it untrue. This, unfortunately was not shit. |
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