Walking On The Surface of The Sun

About Wednesday of last week we were greeted by rain. It rained on Independence Day, almost all day. Our neighbors had apparently bought a large roll of firecrackers and lit them. It took about twenty minutes for the entire roll to burn, giving off the characteristically loud report. The rest of the neighborhood, justifiably annoyed by the noise, came out to investigate. The police came and promptly confiscated the fireworks (there was a fire ban in effect, ironically), ticketed the owners. We heard little intrusions thereafter.

The weather was pleasant all the way until Tuesday of this week, when July returned from her own five day weekend. Overall we recieved over six inches of rain here at the house. When it rains here heavily for several days two things happen. For one, the entire property accumulates the water. As it had not rained for several weeks, the water spread and collected in large pools of water. When I was younger we used to dip our feet in the cool rainwater after the storm had passed, splashing the water around and getting our feet muddy. The other reason lies entirely not only in the architecture but also the fauna. Last evening, and the evening before last, I sighted (and subsequently killed) two large Spassaridae spp., commonly called Huntsman Spiders, in the kitchen. They are either looking for somewhere dry to burrow, or for a much larger, more aggressive female to mate with. I hope it is the former rather than the latter, as these spiders terrify me quite badly. But this is the kind of thing that happens when you live in a subtropical environment. I was delighted, conversely, to discover a small colony of Jack-O’-Lanterns on an old dead log sitting out in the backyard that occassionally puts them out quite nicely after heavy rains. The last time these showed was back in 2000 or 2001, after a spectacularly rainy summer. These mushrooms glow in the dark and can be seen at night.

For several days the weather was more autumnlike and agreeable. I love it when the summer gets like that, although now the weather is humid and warm again. However it makes me look forward to the end of the summer, and sweet light of the autumn and the cool evenings it brings. I get nostalgic looking forward to that.

I’ve been feeling pretty good lately; a change in my work schedule has taken place and things have accelerated. I will now be working from five-thirty in the morning to two in the afternoon, a most agreeable schedule I believe, for freedoms in the afternoon.

I should be recieving my new iBook sometime soon, as Scott tells me, perhaps on Saturday, if he can get it to me overnight. He has included things aside from the computer (see my Tumblr for a picture). It was nice of him to give me his old computer. He just bought a brand new Mac Mini for himself, as a well-deserved present courtesy of his IRS rebate check, which everyone else complains of not recieving.

Earlier this week I got to talk to Juan Carlos, Ryan’s new love interest and apparently a very nice, somewhat cordial, affable man. I do not know if Ryan will continue his trafficking with other gentlemen he speaks to on his favorite social networking site. I don’t know how I personally feel about the whole situation. How embarrassing it is for someone (anyone really) who was in love with a person to be introduced to that person’s new love interest. It hurt a little afterwards, but I soon forgot about it and was able to go on with other things. I’ve discovered that being emotionally hung up on things has proven to be a liability to productivity.

I think about Aleks and his attentiveness to his doctoral dissertation, and the immense amount of labor that goes into it. I do not think that I could ever be able of producing something that substantive, but when I spoke to him about it he simply waved it away as just something that a person does to gain a degree. But then I guess if I was able to sit down and produce something like a thesis or a dissertation about music then it might be possible, but only if I got very serious about what I was doing, like Aleks. I have these envious feelings of his intelligence but these soon pass over as I begin to realize that (without totally being arrogant, which I don’t want to state) I have a reasonable amount of intelligence about things that no one else might know or care about. I am trying to be careful about making statements of unwarranted self-importance. I don’t ever want to be a know-it-all who becomes a social Typhoid Mary, whom everyone avoids. Nor do I want to become the opposite of that, a stupid jock with nothing to talk about. I have found that I routinely blank out on things, which I guess is just natural, but I feel will haunt me one of these days.

I haven’t seen or heard from Lennard in many days now. When I called him last time, he said he was undergoing a serious audit from the IRS concerning some unresolved profits from his law business (the problems stem from non-payment by his usually poor clientele, including our family). I don’t feel so apprehensive by being around him as much, as I’ve come to discover that once you get to know Lennard he isn’t so cold. His intellect, as I’ve said before, is razor-sharp and I like that alot. I hope I can be like him someday.

We shall see what my birthday will bring about. I hope this new year will cause many changes. I think the changes that I foresaw at the beginning of the year are finally beginning to show up after some major derailments earlier. I think I’m back on track now.