Danny's Car Wash

So Roy and I are at Danny's car wash with Alyssa's little silver cobalt getting it suds and rinsed and filled with gas (but no Danny's air freshner which is so overpowering you have to drive with windows rolled down for 30 minutes and in 114 degrees at 2:00 pm that is not doable). She will be all set for the week long haul back and forth from home to ASU and back again, lots and lots of driving.

County's mental-health system failing

County's mental-health system failing

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We are in the month of Elul 5769

Days of Repentance are here, I love this scripture:

"The LORD, the LORD, God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in kindness and truth, who keeps kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin, and who cleanses. (Exodus 34:6)"

creation bear by Marissa

Monument Sign

So, Roy and I are driving up I-17 and pass a large Monument Sign on the left and in electric yellow type the first line reads "Creation Bears" and I was startled what does a creation bear look like? and in the next nano second my eyes read the rest "the autograph of God" and that was alright but "Creation Bears" makes me laugh :)

Roy is Home!

Roy Samuel drove in late tonight it is good to have him home! It is late, about midnight, and defrosting rice or beans was not appealing, so we are at Jack In The Box for a Spicy Chicken Sandwich.

the picture

Goodnight

Here is a portion of Wallace's description of the city at night, as I get ready to read before going to sleep (I could not resist posting this and I have a pretty good picture from my Blackberry to go with it - well maybe not quite dark enough for night but it projects a getting dark sort of mood).

"Planes' little crucifi of landing lights well ahead of their own noise. Crows in trees. You got your standard crepuscular rustles. Ground floors' lit windows laying little rugs of light out into their lawns. Porch lights that go on automatically when you stroll by. A threnody of sirens somewhere north of the Charles. Bare trees creaking in the wind."

Growing Sentences with David Foster Wallace

http://www.kottke.org/09/03/growing-sentences-with-david-foster-wallace

Where Did It Go?

I think DFW would appreciate the irony, apparently my blog entry which I e-mailed earlier today was too long to successfully post!, or it was too long with the picture attached, which threw it over the virtual cliff. I hit send and the blue check mark appeared on my BlackBerry screen which is supposed to reassure me the e-mail went, unlike the red x meaning you failed. But, when I logged on to Blogger my post was not there, and I cleared my cache and visited Blogger Help and let time pass and refreshed the page and still no post.

Ok, so I will try again.

I read before I go to sleep every night and I read Infinite Jest every night now as I am keeping up with the pace at Infinite Summer; I am more than halfway through and last night was distressing because one of the Ennet house characters, Randy Lenz, has been killing animals which puts horrible images in my mind that I do not want there at all especially before DREAMING however skipping pages feels like cheating and also David is saying something important here: about the impulses of this character and agitation and rage and the twisted pursuit of "resolution" that the character is pursuing, a release of a very evil sort: "the more basically Powerless an individual feels, the more the likelihood for the propensity for violent acting-out - and Lenz found the observation to be sound." 1



End Note 1: see "the unresolved Powerless Rage issues" and see also "he has numerous aspects and experiences to mull over and issues to organize and mull, and (like many people hardwired for organic stimulants) talking is sort of Lenz's way of thinking."



End Note 2: I sure wish all Lenz did was talk it would be easier to take.

Shopping

Here are the girls getting ready to leave for back to school shopping, I was able to catch them before they dashed out the door

Marissa and SAT Prep

So Marissa says that the guy on the cover of her Kaplan SAT Strategies for Super Busy Students 2009, looks just like Roy!

Roy :)

Ok, so I have a juvenile sense of humor but this made me laugh during weekly grocery shopping at WalMart this morning

Cookie

Today is a perfect day for sitting around (like Cookie in Roy's lunch box), watching TV, and in my case trying to learn how to play poker! I joined an online game through Facebook with Roy and Carolyn and was surprised to learn that Texas Hold Em is a 7 card game! I did not know how this works, I have only ever played with 5 cards, and the play was fast and there was a haloed timer surrounding my head and there were Other Players at our virtual card table and even though my listing was "Rookie" I felt like it should have been something else like "Inept" or "Uncomprehending" and Roy was very nice about my panic as I "stood up" from my virtual chair and fled to the virtual "lobby."
So, Marissa tells me she has Texas style Poker on her Nintendo DS so I will have a chance to practice!
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

The Hulk

Watching the Hulk, well sort of, I am reading IJ and am at 45%! and The Hulk is on, very loudly on at the same time. This entertainment is a repetition of the normal sized and good looking man becoming excited or enraged transforming into this huge green muscular Hulk of behemoth promotions and then he is repeatedly shot at and rocketed and engulfed in flames and bombarded with sound waves that rip the world around Hulk apart, interspersed with tender melting love scenes with the beautiful girlfriend (Liv Tyler).

Is it synchonicity to watch this entertainment from the corner of my eye while reading IJ?
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

I am not sure until I write for a bit

Alyssa finished her Japanese summer class today and she feels like she did really well on the final. She studied until 1 in the morning. We went to Macaroni Grill for lunch to celebrate and she has a few weeks of free time before starting her Junior year.
Sam is visiting the girls at the moment at the kitchen table. Alyssa mentioned that she texted Tara and hasn't heard back yet. Plans are up in the air for the weekend.
It was good having Roy here this past weekend, we miss you if you're reading this!
Marissa has to get up early in the morning for freshman orientation, the cheer squad is already working on homecoming! Chenoa is helping the girls, she is such a good dancer and has lots of good ideas.

Great Quote from Infinite Jest:

That sometimes human beings have to just sit in one place and, like, hurt. That you will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do. That there is such a thing as raw, unalloyed, agendaless kindness. That it is possible to fall asleep during an anxiety attack.

Office Max

So, I went to office max for expanding files and a new white board and markers and on the window was a cute owl "Back to School for Pennies" and I thought of how much it costs for classes at ASU and the special fees and the $60. Charge if you pay by credit card and the books and so on and we are so far from affordable college costs but here is office max with good prices at least on markers and folders and the folders are in primary colors like ruby red and canary yellow and berry blue which makes me feel better about work and organizing cause I step away from my computer and my desk is surrounded by color ;)

Roy's Computer

Here are my two Roys working on the computer, Roy Samuel is upgrading to a better graphics card. My contribution was to look up "how to stay grounded when changing the graphics card" on google: 1) do not stand on the carpet; 2) keep one hand on the case. :)