5.26.99

    There's this company called Cascade Rubber Products close to where I work. Every time I walk past it I'm so amused with all the rubber bits that surround the area. How does it get out there? Does it just bounce away from the trucks as they load up with rubber products? Does it accidentally spout from the roof in a rubber processing sneeze? It makes me think of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. If you lived by the Chocolate Factory I bet that it would not be surprising to find chocolate bits and random colorful sugar chunks lying around on the sidewalk. Although, you probably wouldn't want to eat them.

(No, I got plenty of sleep last night. Why do you ask?)

    I really love the Willy Wonka movie. When I was a kid I really marvelled at the candy fantasy room in the very beginning. I *wanted* to shake gummy bears from trees and eat whip cream out of the spots of mushrooms. I really *needed* lickable wallpaper in my room. Didn't you? Lately, I could really use some Fizzy Lifting drink.

    I've been feeling the need to escape lately. Going to the beach on Saturday really helped. I just finished Judy Blume's latest book Summer Sisters. I haven't read such a trash romance novel in ages. It was completely pointless but I really enjoyed it. Most of it is set on Martha's Vineyard if you can believe that. I bet that's where Judy lives now. She's probably got quite a bit of cash stashed. Her books were a rite of passage for kids my age. How much she taught us! If only our parent's knew.

3 days later

    Yes, I started an entry on Sunday and here it is Wednesday and I guess I can finish it. So much has happened since Sunday, though. For one, T. arranged my birthday shindig for Friday. I really wasn't wanting to do it because the fear that I would invite people over and they wouldn't come was just too much. It doesn't matter if they have a legitimate excuse either. I would still feel bad. I also have issues with inviting people to come celebrate *me* on *my* day. I would rather have parties spontaneously erupt around the theme of what a wonderful person I am. That's not too much to ask, is it?

    We're not having a party, though. We're going out with an assortment of friends to the Crystal Ballroom for an evening of 80s music. I'm so excited. It's going to be fun. I've yet to go to the Ballroom and I'm looking forward to being there.

    Yesterday, I went home early from "work" since they didn't have anything for me to do and T. and I went and got his car registered and then went to two animal shelters. We decided that we wanted a cat and we found a gorgeous black cat at the Oregon Humane Society http://www.oregonhumane.com. He's two years old, neutered and has had his front claws removed. When I picked him up he immediately began to purr. We're going to pick him up tomorrow. I hope he likes us.

    The reason why I say "work" above is because this job definitely isn't even close to becoming something permanent. I was told yesterday that they wouldn't be needing me after the end of this week. They really haven't been able to keep me that busy since I've been here. I did a stellar job optimizing graphics and coding a sub-site for Intel but I don't know how much that is worth to them.

    I'm feeling a bit weary of the temp agency dangling "permanent employment" in front of me if it is no way reality. I kind of thought I'd be pushed a little bit here to see what I can do but that really hasn't happened. Oh well. I did a good job at what they gave me especially since I was hand coding with Simple Text on a Mac.