Just a few photos...

Check out more of my photos at my flickr account!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/locomocos/

Happy New Years Anyone?

PCV Cassie

Well folks, I´ve made it. I am now a full blown volunteer. I was able to pass my language test and now I speak Intermediate Mid level Guarani and Intermediate Low in Spanish. I can´t believe my Guarani is now better than my Spanish.

As Will Farrel said in Elf, ¨That´s Shocking¨

So I leave for my site on Tuesday. I am currently in Asuncion staying at a sweet hotel with my other 40 newbies, along with some oldies from our sister G, G-22. My group is actually G-25. G is our sector and my family. There are 3 waves of volunteers that come to Paraguay per year. So as we are swearing into Peace Corps as the newest "G", G-19 is signing out.

I've also got a phone now! I will expect tons of phone calls to me, as it's free to recieve calls! It is NOT free for me to make calls, so I might be calling on your phones and hanging up.

My phone number is 595-971-702-151.

CALL MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I will write later as I have to go get my ginormous bags back to my hotel and get ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow is the first day of my next 2 years. I can't believe it. It's a little crazy just thinking about it.

I think I'll go get some movie popcorn and Pizza Hut to celebrate!!!

Thanks for the Memories

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! My Big 3-0h went well here in Paraguay, and I hope to upload some photos soon. My host family had a barbecue, we built a bonfire, and well - 40 of my fellow trainees showed up. It was my Double Quincenera.
Double.

I wish I could have spent it with my family and friends. But we'll have plenty of time to celebrate my next 15 years.

This coming week is going to be crazy. I will be packing all my stuff, going to Santa Barbara and swearing into Peace Corps. I will be a full fledged volunteer when next we speak. I will also have a phone and you all can call me (as I can´t call you - I only get paid $2 a day).

I´d like to take a special moment to thank my Aunt Paula for sending me so much mail. You are making me feel so loved and thought of. I really appreciate it!

Thanks Dad, for the day planner. I loved it and it got here right in time for my b-day!

Everyone, if you want to send a package, Please Change my Title to PCV because of the change within the next week.

I will post my info on the right side of my blog, for all of you to use!
my email is locomocos@bust.com and locomocos666@gmail.com for those of you who want to chat!

I´ll post as soon as I can, before I go to my new place of residence for 2 years. San Antonio was beautiful and the people were wonderful. I can´t wait to get there. I will take tons of photos, as soon as my mom sends my camera.

San Antonio, La Pastora, Caaguazu

I found out my site assignment yesterday. I´m in a small town called La Pastora. It probably won´t show up on any map, but the two closest towns off the main highway are Caaguazu and Coronel Oviedo

I´m pretty excited and here are a few photos of the region.




Happy Thanksgiving!

I´m spending thanksgiving at the CHP which is our language and tech school. I´m spending it with my other fellow trainees, so I won´t be ALL alone this holiday. We are having rotissere chicken, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, fruit salad, green beans, and I HEAR someone found cranberries. Not QUITE what I´m used to (no casserole, pumkin, or croatian potato salad) but I think I´ll make due! haha!

Don´t forget, the BIG 3-0h is coming up in a few days! I will have successfully made it through 3 months in Paraguay and turned 30. That´s right. 30. Everyone else here is turning 23-24. Yep. 30. So this year for 30, my body has given me giardia, more grey hairs and a werid bump on my neck. I´m also going to bed at 9 pm and not drinking anymore. Man, I´m an old woman.

Well - off to get fatter than usual! Happy Holiday!

Ode To Longfield Practice

To Costa Lima and back I managed to go
For a Glimpse of the future I wanted to know

With high hopes in my head and a rumble in my gut
We drove over 5 hours stopping only for peanut (butter)

I arrived at my new lodging with purpose and steady course
When a man worthy of Joan Wilder galloped up on his horse

I started to sweat, my stomach flipped, and I got weak in the knees
The opposite direction I ran, for I now had the chivivis*

All morning I labored with my host mom and daughter
I did the best I could do, for I felt like bantha fodder

We toured a well managed farm and ate pure sugar cane
Along with a 100 year old house from whence Paraguayans came


My family slaughtered a pig, I ate his head - what a scene!
Not to mention the time I fell into their latrine!

Finally we gave a charla, and it became a big joke
Afterwards with food and drink, a fire we did poke

For one week I worked and spoke in complete Guarani
And in less than 1 month a true volunteer I will be.



*chivivi is the word for explosive diarreah in Guarani

Do you got a shirt that you really love?

One that you feel so groovy in?

Well, I was all excited to get custom clothes made for me, when after checking back again and again at the modista (seamstress), she finally told me in a round about way that they weren't done and I should come back later. Yikes. Guess I'll have to try a different approach....

So next week is my Longfield Practice, which is a week in the campo (country) speaking and working at an existing volunteer's site. I'm pretty excited cause right after I get back, I find out my site assignment.

After my return I have a whirlwind of stuff going on in training. I've got multiple presentations to give (in Guarani) and all kinds of preparation and last minute training to cram in. I'm swamped. No more beautiful waterfalls for me. Boo.

Other than that, I am on my way to try out a 'real' pizza place i've heard about. Supposedly it has french fries too. I don't think you know how much you really miss any of these things when you can't get them. They have pizza here, but it's usually a premade crust, stewed tomato and onions, and slices of ham and cheese. Not to mention no such thing as french fries.
It's the little things, people. The little things. Wish me luck. I hope i don't end up ordering the pizza with the pig cheek on it. I'm not kidding on this one. I've seen it, smelt it, and ate it.

What a Day...

So this weekend I went on a tech excursion. My whole group gathered up in a van and drove out 2 hours east of Ita to a one year volunteer's site near Lo Comena (translated as The Hive). We arrived Friday afternoon and did some work in one of his obliging farmer's field. It was an impresive site up on a mountain surrounded by a valley and tons of forrest.

The host volunteer is super guapo. Guapo in mexican spanish means good looking. But here it is meant as hard working. The volunteer built his own 1 room house, made his own squat latrine and works about 1 hectacre of land. He rulz. For the night, I stayed with one of his neighbors. They put me up in a shanty created of a bunch of 1 x 4 s and a grass roof. I kept thinking some crazy monster of the campo was going to come get me, but fortunately there were just tons of moths. Since there was no light in my room, I got to lie on a mattress (luckily i brought my sleeping bag) and listen to some scary cemetary movie from the other house in spanish. Unfortunately I understood it, and was scared shitless. I kept hearing the weirdest of noises and I didn't bring my flashlight! All I had was a little light on my keychain that I ran the battery out as I stayed up all night trying to pinpoint where the chupacabra was hiding.

The next day we did some more work in the fields buiding A-Frame contour devices and marking swales in a sugarcane field. Next we ate some lunch, pushed our van out of the mud, and went on our way to here -

Salto Cristal Falls

It took us 30 min just to get there, because we had to CLIMB DOWN A ROCK WALL 100 FT. I'm not kidding. After the decent, we trekked up a fast moving river just to get to the falls. It was nuts. I was not a happy Cassie. UNTIL I beheld this sight. We jumped in and jumped off those rocks right next to the waterfall. It was amazing. I never really felt like I was in a totally different country until I started swimming in this lagoon at the base of a waterfall. It was nuts.

The ascent was not nuts. In fact, I did not like climbing up to get out after I had spent most of my energy getting down and swimming around a lagoon. Today, I am crazy sore, but glad I was able to go.

Next week, I will be finding out where my 2 year site will be. I'm really nervous. And a little scared.

Thanks to everyone who has been writing me. I will write a blog about intitial thoughts and realities like Caffx mentioned next week. I've been writing about in my journal so I'll bring it and take notes this week.

Until next time....

A Day in the Life

So - what do I do everyday besides learn how to better the life of Paraguayan farmers, you ask?

I get up at about 5:45 am and do some stretches. This is about the only time I get to listen to my CDs, so stretching is very important to take time to reflect, listens to some music to make me feel more at home, and process my previous day.

I head off to the bathroom, which is an outhouse, at about 6:15 to take a shower and possibly wash my undies. I usually have to fight with some mosquitos while in there, so I take a little longer than necessary - while wearing my shower shoes.

After my shower, I go back into my room to get dressed and go into breakfast around 7:20. For breakfast I have ¨cafe¨ which is really a cup of warm milk with a few instant coffee teaspoons and sugar. My host mom feeds me some hard bread with jam - and I´m out the door. I walk next door to my fellow volunteer´s house, and we walk to school to learn Guarani from 7:45 - 11:30.

At 11:30 I come back to my house to have terrere. Terrere is a tea from Yerba Mate. Yerba Mate drank cold is Terrere. Yerba Mate drank hot (and I mean boiling) is called Mate. My family drinks mate at 5 am every morning, in a small wooden cup with a stainless steel strainer straw. I can´t drink it because A. it´s too early B. it´s too hot C. they make fun of my sensitive palate. So I drink terrere because it really is refreshing and it´s drunk out of a taller wooden cup or a cup made out of an ox horn. Paraguayans all over carry thermoses with either hot or cold water, and a little cup holder attached to it. It gets addictive.

I eat lunch around 12:15 which is considered the biggest meal of the day. It usually consists of starch, starch, and fried starch. Yesterday I had some pasta with a small amount of tomato paste as a sauce, a few pieces of meat, a piece of mandioca (which is a yucca root just like a potato), and a side of bread. They are really big on bread at all the meals, because it´s cheap. Of course, you can´t drink water or soda with a meal. If your meal is hot - you can´t drink a cold drink along with it. So i have to wait until after I finish before I get to wash everything down.

After lunch I go back to school from 1 pm to 5pm to learn technical training from my Peace Corps trainer. So far we´ve planted a few gardens, played with some bee hives, and visited a volunteer (which is where I believe to have gotten my pique!).

After school at 5, I walk home and either terrere with my family again, go on a walk with other volunteers, wash my clothes by hand, or study my guarani. We have dinner at 8-8:30 which is usually smaller, but still consists of bread, starch, and fried bread.

After dinner which ends at about 9, I ususally go to my room and get ready for bed. Most Paraguayans go to bed around 9-9:30 since they get up anywhere from 3:30-5. So that business about eating dinner 2 hours before you go to bed doesn´t apply here. Usually I get ready for bed by using the bathroom (cause I can´t go out after 11 pm, cause they lock the door and I´d have to wake someone up) and reading a good book in order to deflate a little.

That has been my work day. I go to school Monday - Friday and half a day on Saturday. Sundays I usually go to the nearest small town of Ita and use the internet cafe. Wednesdays I get to take the bust to another small town of Guarambre and have class all day here with the other 40 volunteers. They are broken up into 4 groups:

Crop Extension (me)

Agroforestry

Environmental Education

Beekeeping

There are 3 waves of volunteers, and we are the last group of the year. There are a lot of health and municipal volunteers here as well. About 160 of us at a time.

So that is my typical day. Of course I´m learning loads of stuff, working on my Spanish and Guarani, and finding tarantulas on my chest like Peter Brady when he went to Hawaii.

Okay, so maybe not on my chest. But there are tarantulas here, and moths the size of birds, and horn nosed beetles that will hopefully not get into my mosquito net. But then again, it´s not summer yet and it´s already 90 degrees! Summer hits in December right when I turn the big 3-Oh and find myself a full blown volunteer out in the campo (country) in the middle of nowhere, by MYSELF with only my Guarani to defend me! Yikes!

WI-HOO!!! I can DO this! I AM Survivorman!!!

Piques!!!

Piques!!!
Originally uploaded by locomocos

A word about Piques...

Piques are a pain in my....foot.

They are a little bug that burrows into your foot and lay eggs. It feels like you're walking on a tiny pebble, and it's annoying as hell - and everyone gets them. I tried so hard to only wear tennys and never wear flip flops. I was so scared to touch the ground with my naked foot - for fear of piques.

Last weekend I went to visit a Peace Corps volunteer who lives 2 hours north of Caaguazu in the campo (country) and touched her floor barefoot only twice. Both times to get up to turn her light off before I went to bed. 2ce. And BAM. I got 2 piques. One on each foot. The medical officer will be in the office today, so I'll get her to take them out for me. I will watch how she does it, so I will be able to do it myself from now it. It's just like removing a splinter - so i've heard. Most of my fellow trainees have had one by this time.

Although you remember that story about the girl who was babysitting and thought she had a zit - but it was actually a spider bite that laid eggs and while she was taking a shower the babies burst out of her face? I think that actually happens with pique. But not on your face. One of my fellow trainees let her pique go - and it ended up "bursting". Gross me out.

So after this precious moment on the compu - i'm waiting in line for the doctor. Ugh.

Plus while at the volunteer's site, I was constantly teased about my name. In Spanish, the word "casi" means "almost". So after the tireless jokes (yes - the native people never tired of joking about my name, weight, and my age) I have decided to go by Elizabeth when I become a volunteer. I think it will be alot easier than trying to explain than in English, "casi" isn't a word.

Suerte a mi.

who are these guys?

New Email

Due to a plethora (pleh -thor - ah, like Gabriel, my #1 friend on Trekkies) of emails to my dr.teeth account, i can´t get into my account to clean up the messages sent within 1 week. SO PLEASE - no crap emails anymore. I had to create an entire new account and now I don´t have anyones email addresses.

So PLEASE send me your home addresses (for postcards) and email addresses (by sending it in a quick email) so i can create my new address book. I´ll try to clean up the other account, but at this point - I can´t even login.

email me at
locomocos@bust.com

Once again - no large or junk emails. I beg you. I can only check my email and update my blog about once a week, and I´m paying an arm and a leg at this internet cafe. Be kind. Re-no more.

I am having a good time, but today was the first day i started feeling some homesickness. i was crazy excited to check my emails - but to no avail. Thanks for posting hellos for me on this blog. i almost started crying! Unfortunately I don´t have much time left to post anything good - but I Have bought postcards for anyone who sends me their address!!! Yeah!!!

I washed all my clothes yesterday. it took about 3 hours and my knuckles are rubbed raw. That´s right, raw. Meaning I put my clothes in a bucket of water, and started rubbing them together with some soap to get all the dirt out. After my family situated their chairs around me (I have become their new favorite comedy program) they gave me a scrubby brush (after 2 hours of scrubbing) which aliviated some of the loving blood i was putting into the soapy water. hooray! Of course, at about 8:30 pm, right before we were leaving for a sugar cane fiesta in town, it started raining and my clothes were soaked! not to mention the roads became flooded. No fiesta for me. :(

Saturday after training, we all got together with most of the kids in town, and played soccer, frizbee and pique volley - which is a game like volley ball, except you can´t use your hands! The kids down here are CRAZY good at it! Only feet, heads, a volley ball net, and a soccer ball! Loco!

I´m going to Ascuncion this next week for a meeting at the main PC office. I hope to buy a camera and a flash card to upload photos onto a computer without having to load a program. I think I can do it with a usb type adapter, right?

Well, once again, please email me at my new address at locomocos@bust.com to talk to me. I miss everyone so much and need your home and email addresses again!

I´m in friggin´ Paraguay

I´m at an internet cafe and it is harder than hell to type. I just went to a soccer game in a town next to my village. Seem like an odd post? Well, I´m in friggin´Paraguay!

I don´t have any photos yet, cause I plan on buying a camera next week - but what a whirlwind in getting here!!! What should I have brought? Sheets, Swimsuit and sanity. I am speaking purely spanish with my new host family - and I realize how terrible I am. They don´t speak English AT ALL and my spanish sounds like a 4 year old. not to mention I´m learning the native language, Guarani first - which barely sounds like spanish. Sounds more like Alien crackly language. Tomorrow I spend all Sunday with my host family which consists of my mom (42) dad (47) sister (25) brother in law (28) and their son (2). I live in a "rustico" house with an outhouse and a mosquito net. it´s crazy.

I don´t have much time, but I´m okay, learning to drink the local tea, and dying of heat since i can only wear long sleeves.

I miss you all and I´m okay!

Chow!

4 More Days

Well it is now crunch time. Apart from painting my mom's new house, I haven't been doing much in the way of pre-trip pondering. I'm pretty much packed with a few things still to purchase. I'm taking a myriad of things:

sleeping bag
yoga mat
accordian
knitting needles
cd player and cds (no ipod for me!)
new coat
hat/gloves
multiple pants/shirts/shoes
12 month supply of tampons and lunapads
books
hat/bandanas
swiss army knife from dad
Leatherman A-Ron bought me
(only) 4 pairs of shoes
my loverly stained red hooded sweatshirt


I have decided against my little pillow and have decided to purchase a nice compact travel pillow instead. No use destroying a family favorite.

I'm at the point of return - which means that I could still back out if I wanted to. But really since I got my tooth pulled and a new one installed (thanks to my dad) I figured I past the point of NO return back in July.

Ways to contact Cassie:

1. You can send me letters at

Cassie Doolittle PCT (for trainee - the first 3 months) or PCV (volunteer after I am placed)
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. López
Asunción 1580, Paraguay
South America

An estimated 80% of letters arrive which takes 2-3 weeks by airmail.

Please number your letters in case any of them get lost. If I recieve a letter that says #2 and I never got #1, you'll know why I haven't been in contact.



Packages are often opened and items stolen. If you decide to send me something in the mail, make sure it is of little value (like Jiffy Pop). Send nothing worth over $200. A big bonus will be burned CDs. I will constantly be listening to the 10 cds I can bring and will be desiring new music all the time. Remember when we used to make mix tapes and trade them in the mail? Well I can't make you any, but maybe you'll recieve a banana leaf with a magic rock in it or something. PLEASE send me music!

2. Email Me

Most of you have my email address. I will be primarily using my blog for updates, but if you would like to send longer letters my address is

dr.teeth@bust.com

I will check my account as often as I can, but after the first 3 months, I won't be sure if I will be placed in a location with email access

3. Read my blog

I will be posting on my blog as often as I can. It will become my new travel journal. I will be sure to post whenever I get into town, but I would LOVE to see as many comments as possible, even if you just say hi!

I can't promise that I will have the time to read all your blogs. I'm not sure how the internet cafes are set up, and if time is an issue, I hope you all understand why I can't gab it up. I DO, however, appreciate all the support you have given! SEE Quine and Vivavavoom - you guys RAWK! Thank you for remembering me even though I've been MIA!

4. Visit Me

I won't be able to leave the country or recieve guests until after the first 6 months of service. Remember that as Paraguay may not be the most desired area to visit - there are plenty of places in South America that I can easily travel to! I can meet up with anyone - anywhere! I will be visiting Machu Pichu while I'm in the Peace Corps, and HOPEFULLY my mom will allow me to visit Rio de Janerio while there! haha! Not to mention all the other wonderful places like Chile (hint hint vivavavoom!). Let me know if any of you have an interest in visiting and we can set something up!

In case of emergency:

If there is a critical illness, death, or emergency where I need to be notified ASAP please contact the Peace Corps' Office of Special Services at any time.

800.424.8580 extension 1470

If it is after hours, feel free to call my mom and she will be able to pass the information along to me. Her number is 816.587.6924

Last but not least - be patient with communication, but don't forget me. I've been told repeatedly that I will experience depression, constipation, and homesickness. More often than not, alcoholism - but trust me, if I can't poop (or too MUCH poop) there will be very little drinking!


27 months of Cassie the Nun? Who knew!

Back on the Blogroll

I apologize for my short yet necessary break from blogging in order to get my crap together before I ship off in 13 days.

I have been to Colorado to say goodbye to my urban family, and I have come back to Kansas City to say goodbye to my Croatian family.

I am currently pulling my hair out trying to figure out what to pack.

I have a large duffle and am about to embark on purchasing a framed backpack - as my other one is completely inefficient for my 27 month journey. I never knew how expensive it would be to join the Peace Corps.
These next couple of weeks I'll be packing, and unpacking, and packing again until I get it right. I'll also be painting my mom's new house which she bought a month ago. I'll put pictures up, but I think it fair to say that I don't know the first thing about painting a house. Just another first in the next couple years to come.

Yesterday, although sick, I went to see the Kansas City section of the Tour of Missouri. It was quite exciting, and made me want to someday go to the Tour de France. I think when I get back from Paraguay and my Peace Corps issued mountain bike, I will get more into my cycling and even buy a custom bike. It would be great to get one from Josh's brother, but I have a feeling I won't be able to afford a local celebrity like him!

If you get a chance, check out the tour on the Versus Channel. You might see me cheering away!

Please Stand By

Why no posts? Well, within days of each other, both my mom and me lost our computers. I feel like my arm has been cut off. Apparently I will have to *gasp* call people instead of email, and *gulp* look up phone numbers in the phone book. Not to mention no IMDB. Ugh.

I should be getting it fixed soon. But for now, I have been getting ready for my depature date of September 25th. I should be out in Colorado around the 20th of August. I'm buying my plane ticket today *OVER THE PHONE* AHHHHHhhh!

If anyone would like to talk to me, you will have to call me. Weird, huh?

I can't Wait for the new BOOOOOK!!!!

I saw this sticker on a car at my work this morning. I laughed my AZZ off!
Did you all reserve your copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows?
You KNOW IT!

It Could Happen....

thanks Josh!

And the WINNER IS:

I leave the 24th of September! I will be doing crop extension which is to motivate Paraguayan small scale farmers to optimize their use of available human, material, and natural resources in order to raise their standard of living and to improve food security.

That's what the invitation says. Sounds like I'm going to be a farmer in South America and learn to speak the native language of Guarani!

Check it out!

Hold Your Breath....

Cross your fingers everyone. I was just going to post about all the hoops I've been going through lately with my medical clearance. I had to get additional shots, blood work, and a health evaluation ON TOP of my physical - to see if the doctor thought I was physically fit enough to do demanding manual labor.

I also have been trying to get in contact with my placement officer as she was requesting additional information regarding my education, finances, and volunteer work.

I was getting to the point of hysteria as no one was calling me back!
My mom offered to give me a down-payment on a little house in Strawberry Hill (the old Slavic neighborhood in KCK where she grew up) if I wanted to stay here and forgo service!

I was going to cry and scream through the ginormous gap in my teeth when lo!

I received this email:

Attention Cassie Doolittle:

Peace Corps sent you an invitation kit on July 9, 2007. Within 10 days of receiving your kit, please call us regarding your decision to accept or decline our invitation. If we do not hear from you within this period, the assignment may be offered to another applicant.

Como say Star Trek?

Star Trek XI?

Hell Yes.

Drunk Friend Dial

Saturday night I hung out with Katherine and while we were watching movies, my phone rang multiple times.

The next morning I awoke to find I had 7 messages and 2 text messages. All from my friend Ed, in Denver.

As I listened to these while driving home that morning, please note: They started around 10pm and ended around 3am.

MESSAGE 1:

Hey sweetie! Just calling to say hi! We’re going out dancing tonight and I was just thinking about you! Talk to you later!

MESSAGE 2:

(muffled dance music) Hey Pooks! Just wanted to tell you we wished you were here! (muffled dance music) Talk to ya soon! Bye!

MESSAGE 3:

(muffled dance music)Where are you? Why won’t you call me back? (muffled dance music) Call me tomorrow! I really need to talk to you! Love ya! Bye!

MESSAGE 4:

(muffled dance music, slight slur, and slight desperation) Okay. I really really need to talk to you. I’m serious. Call me tomorrow!

MESSAGE 5:

(sounds of cars and people in the background, slurry, and agitated) Okay. So I really miss you and just want to talk to you. You NEED to call me back tomorrow so we can talk. Love you.

MESSAGE 6:

(sounds of I don’t know WHAT in the background, really slurry and higher pitched) SCHWEETIE!!! I am about to cry! I mean it! I am on the verge of tearsh! I jus need you to rally call me back and jus tell me I’ma loved! Call me tumorrow! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE call meh tumorrow!!!

MESSAGE 7:

(No background noise, calm, and non slurring) Hey Pooks! I’m just getting ready to go to bed. Call me tomorrow so we can talk. I’m feeling a little down and wish you were here. Talk to you soon. Love Ya.

Yes. Even in Kansas City, I feel loved. No need to feel left out when I get drunk dials like those! The 2 text messages were more of the same thing about calling him ‘tomorrow’, even though it was evident I really needed to call him ‘right back’. I DID call him the next day after I went through all his messages, and I got his voicemail. He didn’t even call me back! Haha! Probably TOO hung over!

I love you Ed! Call me 7 times in the course of the drunk evening, anytime!

Kisses!!

Still Feelin' Crappy

I am still trying to find the humor in this situation, but alas, I cannot.

I am in the depths of despair, and no matter how many jokes I make about using mini marshmallows and chicklets are going to raise my spirits.

It hasn't even been a week? Ugh.

Remember the Toooooooooth!!!

"Be quiet, please, my poor Duke. You haven't much time.

That peg tooth I put in your mouth after the tumble at Narcal--that tooth must be replaced, in a moment, I'll render you unconscious and replace that tooth." He opened his hand, stared at something in it. "An exact duplicate, its core shaped most exquisitely like a nerve. It'll escape the usual detectors, even a fast scanning. But if you bite down hard on it, the cover crushes. Then, when you expel your breath sharply, you fill the air around you with a poison gas..."

Cool remoteness spread upward from Leto's jaw, across his cheeks. The shadowy, hall narrowed to a pinpoint with Yueh's purple lips centered in it.

"Remember the tooth!" Yueh hissed. "The tooth!"

As in Dune - I have decided to replace my baby tooth with a cianide capsule. That way, in case I get into a bind, well, you know not to try and kiss me. They even put it into a little box for me after the extraction.

I'm not to get false tooth (grillz) after 2 months. Since I have a permanent tooth directly above the baby - the dentist wants to make sure it won't be dropping down only to be brutally rebuffed by a retainer.



Dentists are a bunch of assholes. If I had known I just needed to get an extraction - I would have done it before I reached 29. The dentist told my mom when I was 14 that I needed to 'be patient' and then get braces - which turns out to be a bunch of bullshit. Imagine the dentist who tried to sell cosmetic dentistry to a single mom of 2, with an income of $20,000 a year!

I must go eat mashed potatoes and practice not smiling for 2 months.

Jogging? Me?

All right. I did it. I went jogging today.

I have no idea what possessed me to do it. I thought - "Well, I don't feel like biking, and I really don't want to go to the gym, so maybe I'll go down to the park and jog."

I know.

Is this really Cassie talking?

I've been on vacation and eating like a pig with NO exercise for the past couple weeks. I thought it was high time to tighten and lift some things. But by jogging?

Why didn't I just go to the pool and swim it off? Seems like a more acceptable form of exercise - but no. I had to pant and sweat and get shin splints for the sheer joy of running for recreation. I'll stick to biking. Speaking of which, the MS 150 is coming up and as soon as I get some scratch to sign up, I'll be hitting the Donations Box again. Hooray!

Plus I'm really nervous about my tooth issue. I'm getting it pulled on Tuesday and I'm not too happy about it. I also got another letter from the Peace Corps telling me I 'missed' some immunizations, my eye doctor didn't fill out his form correctly, and one of my lab tests was incorrect - so I have to take it over. What gives? Not only will I wear that damn baby tooth around my neck while in South America - I'm going to make a t-shirt that says,

Bureaucratic Bull-Shit - Call Me!

They must really want you to be sure that volunteering in a 3rd world country is really what you want to do for the next 2 years of your life. Maybe it's so that when you're FINALLY done with all the hoops they send you through, you are so GLAD to be going, that high will keep you going when you realize you're living in a hut for 27 months.

I'm feeling a little disgruntled lately, but I'm trying to stay positive. That damn tooth is really going to take all of my remain goodwill. I can't even imagine walking around like Cleavus (that's the female Cleatus - with boobs) talking about my home town of Dog Patch for 2 months.

Ugh.

So instead of dwelling on it, I'm going to St. Louis for the weekend to visit Amber. Hooray for small pleasures!

Home again, Home again - Jiggety Jig!

Well, I'm back from the east coast. I must say, I wish I had more time to spend out there, but alas - my money is all but gone! Lucky for me, I might have a new job next week. It would be working part time at a mechanic shop - running the front reception area. Sound out of character? Well, it's only part time, and I can make my own hours. It would mainly be keeping the books and making call backs. Plus, its close to my mom's house, and I'll be able to ride my bike there.

On a crappy note, I found out from the Peace Corps that I will have to get my baby tooth extracted. No big deal with all the new dental surgery and Grillz, right? Wrong. The dentist said that I would have to live with my newly gapped teeth for two months in order to assess the damage. She said the permanent tooth which is underneath might come down once the baby tooth is gone. If that is the case - no false tooth needed. If not - I'm off to get a gold tooth. Just kidding. A silver one preferably.

I promise to start reading and commenting on blogs ASAP. Sorry I've been so neglectful while hanging with my dad. I'll post my pictures soon, too.

I'll leave you with a good note:


It's always fun to hear about a new movie. Especially a movie of one of your favorite books. Stardust by Neil Gaiman is coming out August 10th. If you get a chance to read this book, I highly recommend it. It has also been made into a graphic novel if you are interested. Don't forget Neil Gaiman wrote Mirror Mask and has a new book out. He really is one of my most favorite authors.

Croatians like to Party!

The Don Lipovic Band - are you KIDDING?

So Far, So Good, So What?

I'm here in loverly Allentown, PA visiting my dad! Sorry if I haven't been online and on the blog roll lately! I'm here for another week, and keep uploading pics - but I've been pretty busy making myself useful around the house, driving my dad and bro to Philadelphia, and going to NYC tomorrow!

I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art the other day, and of course I had to

run up the stairs

And when I got to the top:

Please note in the first picture as I ran up the stairs - the guy in the far right of corner in the blue shirt. Alas - I fear I am not the only person who has seen Rocky.

haha!

I got to see Sunflowers

And Degas

And Picasso

And Bosch

And Bosch/Bruegel followers

I saw many more - but was only allowed to take snapshots with my camera. I really wanted to complain as THE LOUVRE lets you take REAL photos! Hmph!!! I tried to get a photo of the Duchamp Urinal and 'Nude Decending a Stairway' - but some security guard told me he would throw me out. The jerk. That was only after he got off his cell phone talking with his 'special lady friend'.

Tomorrow I meet up with Josh in NYC at the top of the Empire State Building.

Just kidding. We are going to MOMA and then spending the afternoon with my friend Leslie and his brother, John. I will take TONS of photos!