Ti | Book Chatter

Well, I survived my first week back at work. I think within 30 minutes of arriving to the office, I was back in full swing. It sure doesn’t take long, does it? The semester begins on Tuesday which means that this past week was spent prepping for that. Lots of little things and some big things that needed to be taken care of. I will say though, it made the week fly by.

Today, The Girl is heading to a sleepover and my one “to do” is to take The Teen for tap shoes. He needs them for the next show he is in. I fear that we will have a hard time finding his size. He’s like a puppy with large paws.

What am I reading?

At the moment, I am reading two books. The first one is The Secret of Raven Point by Jennifer Vanderbes. The second book is Mr. Lynch’s Holiday by Catherine O’Flynn. Both are very good in different ways. I find that I read the first one during the day, and the second one at night, before I go to bed. I hope to finish them soon. Since work started, I haven’t been able to really dive back into them. Maybe I can later today.

What am I cooking?

This morning we had cinnamon rolls and bacon. Well, they did. I just had bacon and lots of it. Oh, and coffee of course.

We had planned to grill steaks for dinner but that is The Girl’s favorite dinner and since she is heading to a sleepover, we will grill burgers instead and save the steaks for tomorrow. I am off tomorrow so I can grill them a little earlier so they can still make rehearsal on time. Yep, nothing like singing and dancing with a stomach full of steak. It’s so nice to have the extra day off, even though the kids still have rehearsal.

What am I watching?

Oh, I am still weeding through my DVR. We watched a Steve Martin/Goldie Hawn movie last night that I had totally forgotten about, The Out of Towners. It was cute, typical funny fare. We also watched Fast Times at Ridgemont High and a movie that I thought I would never watch, Zombieland (ended up being a total hoot).

I think someone in my house will be watching football but today, I am hoping to steer clear of the TV and read a little. I had a fever last night and feel a little off, so I just want to rest. Production week for Oliver begins soon and I really don’t want to get anyone sick.

What are you doing today?

That reminds me a little of the Barry Manilow song, but guess what guys? I made it through the week. Wednesday was rough. It sure doesn’t take long to feel exhausted. But we switched up some stuff around the house to make our mornings a little easier, and so far, it’s going pretty well.

The topic of the week has been our weather. The dryness is a bit ridiculous now and I fear that water rationing is around the corner. Which makes no sense because if our yards die and turn to dead brush, they’ll go up in flames and then the fire department will use a ton of water anyway so why not just cut back? The talk is that we won’t be allowed to do ANY outdoor watering. That’s just not possible in dry California.

Also, today is the 20th anniversary of the Northridge quake which screwed me up in many ways. I lived at the epicenter and we lost everything. We were renting, but we lost most of our stuff since we couldn’t get stuff out before it was red tagged. I lost my place of employment which was also red tagged. It was rough. I had also just finished my B.A. at CSUN and yet, my records were not easy to access and confirm. I had also just applied for a job there. It was an interesting time.

This was the parking lot that I used to park in. Since the quake hit during a holiday, I was not there! That parking lot was the first multi-level parking structure for the campus and as you can see, it was a goner.

CSUN Quake Damage

And this is a picture of the building I work in now, but right after the quake. It took a long time for the campus to rebuild. People worked in portable domes for many years afterward.

Oviatt Library Quake Damage

I should note, that there have been four small earthquakes this week. As soon as I get home, I am just going to put some things together (just in case). Before the Northridge quake, I remember there being a series of small quakes and it’s making me a little nervous. It’s hard to keep an earthquake kit up to date. Things expire, even fabric becomes brittle and after rotating stuff out a few times, I felt it was very expensive to keep it up. So now, when I notice a pattern, I try to put stuff together.

And just so we don’t end this on a bad note, this is the library today. I work underneath all that concrete at the very bottom. No windows for me but the “garden” level held up pretty well and seems like the most stable place to be. I like to think that anyway.

Oviatt Library