inflatable t-rex

January 15: One of my Spanish apps taught me how to say “I am a cat. Do you need money?” in Spanish today (Soy un gato. Necessitas dinero?). So that’s helpful.

January16: AmeriCrops had mandatory community service for MLK Jr Day. I got put to sanding and paining a porch for four-hours straight. Other people from our team got to man the tables, helping to make flower crowns for children or passing out free condoms.

January 17: Robert cried today when I told him we would have outdoor recess and he thought it was too cold to go outside. Ten minutes later, he cried again when I told him that recess would run short because we were running late for our electives. (The next morning, he glared at me while waiting for the rest of the after school students and told me that he told his mom about how I took away his recess. He continued to glower at me with the self-satisfaction of a person who was convinced they could get me fired whenever they felt inclined to.)

January 18:The cafeteria served cucumbers at snack today. My girls skipped eating them and instead laid back on the benches with two slices placed on their eyelids and pretended to have a spa day in the middle of the crowded cafeteria.

January 19: Abel was two cards away from beating Shanah at Uno. He giggled and could barely contain his glee. “I can almost smell the taste of victory!”

January 20: Skye was trying to figure out what time the inauguration would take place to see if she could watch it on TV or if she would be working then. We finally decided that we would know the inauguration had happened when you felt a sudden chill running through your body.

January 21: The peaceful protesters slowly marched through the steady drizzle down Market Street. Most people were not prepared for the weather and their posters with catchy rainbow phrases were running down onto their exposed wrists. Women belong in the resistance. Girls just want to have FUNdamental rights. An inflated T-rex stumbling over the potholes, clutching a sign that read "Evolve".


much love,
hedgie

african killer bees

January 8: I called Shannon tonight so that we could catch up on each other’s lives since we last saw each other a few months after we ended our therapy sessions at Kaiser and we ended up spending an hour talking about African Killer Bees.

January 9: A few weeks ago, the heater was left on overnight, leading us to open up the bungalow to a sauna the next morning. Ana taped up a sign to remind us to turn the heater off before we leave. A lot of kids end up misreading the sign and once a week, one will ask me why I need to be turned off.

January 10: Natalie suggested that all the people teaching the brains segment of the nutritions camp to look up the UCSF lending library. Apparently, they rent (or at least used to a few years ago) actual human organs. I tried to imagine what it would be like to walk to work with a brain sloshing around in my backpack.

January 11: I woke up with a sore throat this morning. No matter what I am eating, it feels like I’m trying to swallow the state of Arizona whole.

January 12: The boiler room flooded and cut off the electricity for the entire day. It was dark and we couldn’t even boil water to make hot drinks. Jen was so cold that she wore a bright purple monster hat, a part of her daughter’s past Halloween costume.

January 13: The electricity at the school was fixed, only for there to be a gas leak. School was cancelled today.

January 14: I can’t stop thinking about ice cream. I’ve spent almost all week drinking only hot tea and eating only hot soups that I’m missing other temperatures. Nick bought me a pint of Three Twin’s Mint Confetti and it took all of my self control to not eat it all in one sitting.


much love,
hedgie

second choice

Fear not, friends, I am alive and well. I started a new job awhile back and once you read my daily brief vignettes and get to know my students a bit better, I think you'll understand why I had to abandon the internet for so long.

January 1: On the Grapevine, about 50 cars were pulled over to the side of the road so that families could have a spontaneous snowball fight with the drifts still lined along the highway.

January 2: Nick is going to give his two weeks notice to EMC today. Fingers crossed that he gets fired!

January 3: Milo, Luna, and Joanna begged me to do my dance at snack today. Then they ran over to Ana and tried to convince her to fire me because the dance was so bad it was making it impossible for them to focus on their homework.

January 4: My students asked what my elective this quarter was going to be and I told them all about my detective course. Even though they have only heard about my class, a number of them have already listed it as their second choice.

January 5: Luna won the raffle and choose to be my assistant this week. She has been leading the class through our transitions with an uncannily good impression of me. She even waited for the students to gather by the door to count them all before dismissing them by yelling, “FREEDOM!”.

January 6: In the big tent, Nick, Greg, Elaine, and I watched a man contort himself into terrifying loops and knots on the Cirque du Soleil main stage. He looked more like a snake than a person. I couldn’t decide which was more unsettling, the inhuman way he could sit on his own head, or the inhuman way he stared into my eyes as he did so.

January 7: ‘R’s are almost silent in English, which makes it very hard to correctly pronounce words in Spanish. I keep either not rolling my ‘R’s at all, or rolling them way too much until every word sounds like a bad impression of a snare drum.




much love,
hedgie

pokemon go

Just like 90% of the people who are walking around outside right now, I have started playing Pokemon Go. If there's one thing I have learned from the extra exercise, sunlight, and camaraderie, it's that Magikarp really needs to get his shit together.

There was a woman my age in Banana Republic who rolled her eyes at me when she figured out I was playing Pokemon Go while waiting for Nick to try on dress shirts. So there is a slight chance that I may need to get my shit together too.

JUST KIDDING I'M HAVING TOO MUCH FUN

much love,
hedgie

27

This was my view when I woke up.

I can already tell that being 27 is going to be awesome.





much love,
hedgie

juggling june

 This month started with a trip to the Bay Area Book Festival:

We listened to Richard Russo read a section from his latest novel, Everybody's Fool:

And then we almost convinced him to flip off the camera for this photo:

We wandered through the fountain of free books:

Then we cast our votes for the best Sherlock Holmes-themed erotic fan fiction:

The Silent Film Festival played two movies starring my one true love:

And two puppies were pooped:

I felt fancy for an hour:

I received texts from my loved ones calling me a traitor because I was wearing this to the game where The Giants took on The Dodgers:

We had good seats:

I said a tearful goodbye to my running shoes:

But Addie helped me work through it by assisting me in yoga:

We went on a hike that we were told was way shorter than it actually was:

George did better than I did:

Poor Rex needed a little relief from his robot legs:

I saw the most incredible sunset I have witnessed in three years:

BART was a little crowded during Pride:

Adding a little love and color to the world:

Muttville! Thank you for George:

Don't rain on our parade:

Seriously, be nice:

I got non-stop cuddles from this guy:

He and Addie bonded over their love of barking at children outside:

I can't get over how cute these two are:

First road trip with George:

Orange County, we are headed for you.





much love,
hedgie

eating like an author: elizabeth bishop edition

The blanket fort is still up. Adulting is still hard. Time to make brownies. 

Elizabeth Bishop's brownies-

Ingredients:
4 squares bitter chocolate, or 1 cup of cocoa
4 eggs
1/2 cup butter
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup flower
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups chopped nuts

Steps:
1) Build a time machine and travel back to when slow ovens were a thing.

2) If you use bitter chocolate: melt the butter and the chocolate together.
If you use the cocoa: melt the butter and mix in the cocoa, half the sugar, and a little water.

3) Let cool, then beat in the eggs and the rest of the sugar.

4) Mix in flour, vanilla, and chopped nuts.

5) Spread the batter about an inch thick into a thick square pan. The batter is fairly stiff and will not run much.

6) Bake in a slow oven (325° F) for 45 minutes to an hour. They are done when they are dry on top, damp in the middle, and just pulling away from the edges.

7) Get too excited to wait for it to cool and eat it directly out of the pan with a fork.

The result:
Damn, that lady loved chopped nuts.
This came out to be a delicious creation halfway between brownies and fudge. I can see why she was frequently asked to bring 4 dozen of these and a chocolate cake everywhere she went during her time in Brazil.





much love,
hedgie