Back to the Real World

Dear April -

It really has been lovely. Thank you for inspiring me, keeping me writing, and giving me back some creativity I thought I'd lost.

I would have liked to go out with a BANG! but alas, the head cold is only now moving on and I don't want to do anything that might draw its attention back to me. Today I am back at work, hopefully I'll accomplish something.

Yesterday the interview went...fine. I didn't leave with a sense that they loved me, but I also didn't leave feeling I wasn't qualified or that my chances were slim. The woman mentioned having a few more interviews to do next week, so by next Friday, I should hear the final answer. One thing I could strengthen up on is my Young Adult reading. The woman who's position I would be filling described her one challenge as being able to tell "super readers" new books to read. Now that's the kind of challenge I want - to read more books to be able to recommend them to students! Being at the school, talking about books, seeing the students really made me excited. I can't wait for my school to start!

So, onward and upward into May. Remember -

There are only five days until Cinco de Erikka.


Fondly,
Erikka

Free At Last

Dear Sudafed,

You have made my life so much better. I can think again! I can get up, take a shower, and LIVE again. Thank you sudafed. Thank you for making this day less snotty and more bearable for when 3pm rolls around and I go to my interview.


Cheers,
Erikka

Day Three and Holding

Dear Head Cold -

One good thing about you is that you allow me to be at home on a Monday morning at 10:30am watching Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory. Wow, what a horrible mode of torture it is to tape someone's eyelids open and turn on a strobe light...

Here's to at least a better day tomorrow for my job interview. It's for a part time, pre-professional librarian position during school and I really think my qualifications match and exceed what they are looking for. I sent an email earlier today to let them know I am sick, and the woman was all like, C'mon down! Then I remembered, oh yeah, it's a school, they're used to it.

Wish me luck...and a less snotty day.

Cheers,
Erikka

Head Cold Part II

Dear Head Cold -

You might just be packing up. Last night I didn't snot nearly as much as I did the night before. Yay, the end is in sight...

Good news! A coordinator called me and bestowed upon me a GARDEN PLOT! One that is close to my house and comes with a raspberry bush. How sweet. Cold or no cold, I'm going there today to see what's up and to plant some seeds. I've got the following which might not be too late to plant -

Sugar Snap Peas
Purple Coneflower Echinacea
Scarlet Na..somethings or other carrots
Butter Crunch Bibb lettuce
Early Wonder Beets

All except the carrots will be first time direct seedings for me. We'll see how it works out!

As for you Head Cold, I hope you don't stick around to see.

Cheers,
Erikka

Why Now

Dear Head Cold,

You sprang your bad self on me without warning. One day I'm fine, the next, BAM! I wake up with an achy throat and that night, it's all over - teary eyes, snotty nose, no sleep. The pressure is hurting my face. I wish you hadn't chosen right now. Today I was supposed to attend a conference at my soon to be new school. Alas, I am not going to infect innocent bystanders with your snotty germy ways.

Even more awful is that the sky is blue...the sun is shining...and there's not a cloud in the sky...and all I feel like doing is staying in my pajamas and lounging.

Thanks a lot for throwing everything off.

Miserably,
Erikka

Whole Foods BANS plastic

Dear Whole Foods,

Thank you for taking your crunchie, granola, hippy loving ways into action and being a little more environmentally friendly than you already were. By banning plastic bags in all of your 270 nationwide stores you will reduce the amount of plastic in landfills! Yay!

But I have one question for you - why didn't you ban...ALL BAGS in the store? Couldn't people just as easily be

forced encouraged to purchase reusable canvas satchels that Whole Foods could conveniently sell at registers if people forgot their own? (can someone please teach me how to make strike throughs that dont make my paragraph messed up? thanks)

Just a thought.

Thoughtfully yours,
A Whole Foods Canvas Satchel

If this don't make you quit...

Dear Duval Patrick (thanks Aaron) -

Thank you for not smoking. Thank you for encouraging others to not smoke too with this recent tax increase on cigarettes. The price went up by a $1 per pack, that's pretty good news. This means a carton of cigarettes costs $6.41, almost a 20% increase. Who wants to pay that much?!? Hopefully no one.

The opposition is throwing out some worries like - what about losing money to NH or RI (states without taxes)? what about losing money to pirated, underground sales of cigarettes? There's even the murmur of health concerns for smokers if people start buying more underground cigarettes with no inspection or approval to make sure they are truly tobacco, tar, nail polisher remover, and whatever else goes into a cigarette. While these may be valid concerns, I do appreciate the one step to making cigarettes a little less affordable, especially to teen smokers.

There will still be smokers willing to shell out the cash, I'm sure. All I have to say to them is - GROSS! You smell gross, you make me smell gross, and you force others to breath smoke when they choose not to! OFFENSIVE!

Yesterday as I was walking across a bridge, I was behind a woman pushing a carriage with two pre-teens walking beside her. The pre-teen boy had an obvious mental health problem and was silently plodding along behind the woman and the pre-teen girl. Mid conversation with the girl, the woman lights up a cigarette. Here's my evaluation of the situation: a woman working with maybe a day center for youth with mental health issues has taken some youth out for a day at the children's museum. These are not even her kids (I know from listening to the conversation she was having) and she lights up! And there was a freakin' toddler with them too. I don't know if it's just me, but this situation seemed SO WRONG. Not only was she subjecting youth in her care to her second hand smoke, but she was subjecting me to her second hand smoke AND her thoughtlessness! And the young, impressionable girl at her side took it all in and who knows how she processed the happening.

Mr. Patrick, if there is anything you could do to stop this from ever happening to innocent youth, I would appreciate it. Until then, thanks for doing your part.

Respectfully submitted by,
A Non-Smoker

What better time for Green...

Hello Spring!

Glad you could finally join us. There are many signs of your arrival outside my apartment. The witch hazel in bloom (that yellow bush there), the crocuses coming out, the red tulips beside the doorstep that open and close with the coming and going of the sun. Ah, Spring, my friend, how I welcome you back!

Wait, how did I welcome you back, Spring? Recently I have been wearing lighter jackets and putting away the wool sweaters...but there is one pesky thing I've yet to do - turn down the heat! Thanks to Green as a Thistle, I've been inspired to properly welcome you home Spring by turning the heat

off (which was done about 5 days ago, belated post b/c I was waiting for these pictures). She was much more eager than I to welcome you back and actually did the turning down in MARCH! March in CANADA! Cripes, that's brave. For me, now will do the trick.

The last few nights I've been very hot while trying to sleep. Perhaps along with this thermostat option, it might be wise to switch from the down comforter to the...other one. The IKEA one I bought last year, not quite sure what's in there. Wait, do I even have that still...One good thing that remains and can stay around a bit longer is the plastic over the windows. (by the by, does anyone know of any other way to weatherize windows with as much efficiency and effectiveness without using plastic?) Until the heat is entirely off, the weatherization can stay and conserve the little heat there is in the apartment.

Onward and upward my friends. Rejoice and welcome Spring in with your own green action. Anyone else willing to turn down the heat? What else would you do?

In peace and serenity,

Waiting For Spring

Earth Day is Every Day

To the New York Times Magazine -

Thanks for putting out a special Green Issue to commemorate this year's Earth Day. This year's green edition was titled 'The Low-Carbon Catalog - bold steps to reduce your carbon footprint,' or something like that. This is not your first time acknowledging the green movement, so you get my respect for bringing important information to the masses.

Wendell Berry, a pioneer of the movement for reducing humans' impact on the soil/earth, was quoted by Michael Pollan in his call-to-arms opening article as saying - "'we can go on as before, recognizing our dishonesty and living with it the best we can, or we can begin the effort to change the way we think and live.'"

NYT Magazine, you did a great job with this issue. You took Berry's and Pollan's siren call of personal action to heart and set out step-by-step instructions on every day things people can do to help lower their carbon emissions. You even broke it down into sections [Act, Eat, Invent, Live, Move] to make this issue an easy reference guide for any beginner in the green movement. Thank you, NYT Magazine.

And to every one of us out there already doing any little thing we can to change our impact on this planet, keep up the work. No matter what, don't give up. The effects of our efforts are not always seen or felt directly, but they matter. To whom? If no one else, to ME damn it! You and your efforts matter to me. And my actions matter to ME too. 9and if you want to be held accountable to me too, let me know in a comment and we can start our own Green Support Network)

At the end of the day, the only person I am fully accountable to is me and I want to be happy with who I am and what I've done. I keep trying when I fail and that's all each of us can do. Keep trying.

Happy (Be-lated) Earth Day.

Love,
A Tree Hugger

Cape Cod Getaway

Dear April,

the week-end was good to me. the weather was gorgeous. there was plenty of delicious food. friends laughed, talked, and played games. approximately 60 miles were clocked by the Rusty Chains on the Cape, no less.

i apologize April, for letting you down. It's just...sometimes, life gets in the way of 40 straight days of blogging and those are the times I live for.


Cheers,
Erikka

Drink H20 then go go go

Dear Water Drinkers -

drinking water in small sips = better for absorption. i read something like this on an informational sign in the Joe Dodge Lodge up in Franconia Notch, NH. eye opening to me as a professed gulper. the fact may not be a fact, but it was a reminder if nothing else. i started taking smaller sips and more of them more often.

there's a lot of controversy surrounding water, did you know that? one doctor says drinking lots of water is healthy where as another says drinking lots of water doesn't matter. who's right? does it matter? then there was the myth busting page where all the positive effects of drinking water were BLASTED out of truth's existence.

regardless of what is fact or fiction, i like drinking water. nothing refreshes me more than a cool glass of water (gulping just intensifies this feeling, but I can sacrifice here). i say for me the fact is - listen to my body and give it what it needs. if i feel drinking the water i do makes me feel healthier (which it does) and my skin less dry (which it does) I'm going to believe that over what anyone else tries to prove to me. i've noticed since i stopped gulping that i seem to be going to the bathroom more. is this a correlation and or can i interpret it as good, who knows? it feels good though :)

to "green out" my habit of drinking water, I purchased a Klean Kanteen. Stainless steel, sleek design, wide mouth. I got a 48 oz one, which has been a bit too big to lug around hiking or walking, but it is perfect for sipping over the course of a day at work. I'm definitely getting at least 6 cups a day outta this baby.

I also learned that there are people who manage global water ways and ownership. A co-worker told me her cousin does this for the US government, but it's an international job. Is there a need for such a one as this? Yes, actually, because outside of the US there is a water crisis in many places. So, while I want to encourage each of us to listen to our body and act accordingly, there should probably be a little disclaimer too. Not sure what it is, but I guess to keep the thought in mind how lucky I am to have water at my beck and call is pretty amazing.

Give thanks to Water.

Love,
A Wanna Be Mermaid


ps. here were the results from the little survey on water sources I conducted -

Straight from the tap	3 (25%)
Well water	2 (16%)
Tap water via a brita filter	5 (41%)
Tap water via some other filter	1 (8%)
Bottled Water	1 (8%)

Brita Takes the Flack

Dear Brita Filter -

We the people of the United Brita Filter Users demand change. We are on to you and your sneaky ways. Recycling in Europe, but not here, here on the continent that uses the MOST of your filters and creates the MOST trash out of any developed nation. Well, my word, how illogical and unreasonable.

Fake Plastic Fish has started a campaign. Brita, you better watch your back because this woman's smarter than you. For some reason, you changed the design of the filter from being replaceable, as it is over seas, to being one time only use here. Fake Plastic Fish points out some logic - if you can do it one place, Brita, why not every where you sell products?

Being a Brita filter user myself (yeah, I love that dirty water, Boston), I'd love to see one less piece of plastic sitting in a landfill. Head over to the Take Back the Filter site to sign the petition. AND Fake Plastic Fish has even upped the ante for people by making it easier. She is saying we can send her our used filters (only Brita filters though folks, one cause at a time). This way, when Brita receives said petition signed by hundreds of thousands of people AND a butt load of their own waste back, I think they'll get the picture and think of a solution. Send filters to -

Take Back The Filter
5245 College Avenue, Box #815
Oakland, CA 94618

There is an option and instructions on how to refill the disposable filter. I don't know how easy or safe it is, and you have to purchase your own carbon something or other which is part of the mix that goes into the filter...Some may be bold and daring, so give it a try and tell us how it worked out.

Otherwise, Brita, if you don't change, our relationship. is. over.

Sincerely,
A Conscientious Consumer

ps. take a minute to do the survey up left there...

For Every Man Who Ever Wondered...

*disclaimer: the following blog post may contain words and images of a somewhat graphic nature. please be advised if you choose to read on*


Dear Boobs,

The day I finally got you two, I finally understood what all the fuss was about. Trust me, you deserve this post. We both do. We waited a long time for each other. I must have "hit puberty" squarely on the nose in grade school sending the message of "don't change, body!" because my body didn't. The only thing that changed was I went from 4' something to 5"2, big deal. I was still shorter than everyone in my class.

Entering high school, I looked like a sixth grader, all 98 lbs of me, mostly due to my outrageously long hair, bangs, and tight rolled jeans. Still I waited. Other girls were getting boobs. I knew mine would come some day too, if I just waited. The day just did not come fast enough. All of high school my chest and I were bereft of boobie bumps. I was a little less freakishly skinny freshmen year of college, with minor lovely lady lumps, but they weren't about to get anyone drunk or to spend all their money. By this time, I thought my wishin' and hopin' was over. Puberty had come and gone and left me nada.

Lo and behold, somewhere in that year, boobs, my body came into its own shape. When I went home that summer, lady lumps were in their rightful places - ass and breasts - and though not huge in any way, big enough for me to appreciate the fact that, LOOK, I have BOOBS! From that day forward, we have been inseparable. Some days you are bigger than others, some days we don't talk or notice each other. Other days, I work your magic and flaunt you because, heck, it took me about 12 years of delayed puberty or something to GET you! I have grown fond of you and the way you fill out my clothes. Both you and my ass have garnered me the kinds of unwanted attention from men I'd always dreaded would some day come. (in college this guy wrote on his house's living room wall - "Erikka ____ has the sexiest ass." Thanks, Sean.)

This post is dedicated to all the beautiful, late bloomers of the world. There IS HOPE for you too!( Though I'm not quite sure if there are a lot of them out there these days. I see many the middle school girl with boobs bigger than mine will ever be. Go figure.) But to those of you wall flower, late bloomers, hiding out in your baggy clothes and your training bras, don't give up! Just wait...and tell yourself that if they don't come, the jokes on the rest of the women trapped in over the shoulder boulder holders. You'll be FREE!

Boobs, I don't mean you, I'm happy we're together. I just like to remind us that you don't make me a woman (you either, ass), but I'm happy you're here to share the journey with me.


Love,
The Rest of You

You said it would END!

Dear Dermatologist -

When I was 16 and I sat in your office, you told me some day my face would stop having issues with acne. Well guess what?! You lied! YOU LIED. To this day I still have an uneven skin tone and small break outs now and then. If I compare myself to my 16 year old self, yeah, my skin has much improved. But who knew I'd be 27 and worried about a zit on some big night out? The creams, the antibiotics, and the methods you prescribed...nada! All they managed to do was dry my skin out, make it flaky, and red, and leave me more insecure and more prone to pick! Let me tell you what DID work for me, Mr. Dermatologist - the moment I cut back on dairy products, BAM, immediate change. Now, no doctor told me I am lactose intolerant, but all I need is to see my face's reaction and I know. The one time I asked you about this, you hemmed and hawed saying there was no research to prove this, but yes, you'd heard about similar cases.

You failed me. I've since tried other dermatologists (that's right, you're not the only one!), Proactive, this other stuff like proactive but from an esthetician (my friend is one), and some home remedies too (burt's bees blemish stick is really great). Well, now there's a new solution I might try, one you would probably scoff and laugh at. The dear people at frutels have made fighting acne sexy! Look - I can suck a lollipop and be clearing up my face all at the same time!

Frutels will solve the problem where you could not, derm man! Ignore the patent pending part, and the asteriks symbolizing that none of the statements or facts were FDA approved on the website, buddy, because frutels will WORK . I know it. If fighting acne can look that good, I'm sold.


Acne be GONE!

Sincerely,
Zit Face

Dream the Impossible Dream

Note to self:

Remember to keep your goals always in sight. Imagine in the most vivid detail the way you want the future to look. Who knows how close you might get to the real thing? Remember the farm, Erikka. Remember your love of the process of growing, tending, and harvesting. Hold on to these secret and not so secret goals, Erikka. God hears these things, hears what is in the deepest corners of your mind, and wants to give you exactly what you want.

A fortune cookie told you once that only she who attempts the absurd can achieve the impossible.

Never lose sight of your goals, Erikka.

Love,
Yourself

Bye Bye Bike

Dear Ghanaian resident,

I hope whoever you are that you enjoy the bike I donated to you yesterday. There's this really cool organization, Bikes Not Bombs, who have been bringing bikes like mine to youth who need them. They started here in Boston, spread to Southern towns, and are now coming to you in Africa. It's a pretty exciting and new idea - teach people to ride, build, and share bikes as transportation, business, and recreation.

My bike is a Schwinn Caliente. There's a bike rack on the rear. I picture you, Ghanaian resident, riding around with a crate tied there, the crate filled with things you need for home or school or work. I hope it rides smoothly for you for many years to come. Enjoy.

Peace,
Bike Donor

Give It Up For Da Jelly

Dear Munchkin Eaters -

Why do y'all have to be hatin' on the jelly? What'd the jelly ever do to you? You know what I'm talkin' 'bout. Boxes of munchkins arrive in offices around the country. Like vultures, office workers pick away at the munchkins. After about an hour, all that will be left in the bottom of the box is every. last. jelly. donut.

Who am I to talk? I do not eat jelly donuts or munchkins. There is something...WRONG with the image of red jelly slowly oozing out a donut orifice. I just can't put that in my mouth. Plus, the jelly is too freakin' sweet. These are my reasons, what are yours?

Sorry jelly donuts. I don't mean to be hatin' or discriminatin', but I'd rather see a bavarian creme munchkin than your oozing red puss any day.

Sincerely,
Jelly Donut Avoider

Are there no limits?

To the Paranoia inducing Government of the US of A -

Signing on to the world wide web to check my yahoo email (ancient), this news alert greeted me -

"'Text messaging on mobile devices has grown from banter between teenagers to a new emergency notification system for cell phones, as approved Wednesday by the Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC said the new rules "'support the ability of the nation's wireless carriers to transmit timely and accurate alerts, warnings and critical information to the cell phones and other mobile devices of consumers during disasters or other emergencies." The policy meets the requirements of the federal Warning, Alert and Response Network Act, whose acronym is, appropriately, WARN.'"

Already there are GPS components in most cell phones. At any given time I could be found via satellite, a somewhat comforting thought when I am winter hiking in the White Mtns. or doing something on my own. Somewhat paranoia inducing because..I can be found by satellite at any time. I've been told "Erikka, do you have something to hide? Who cares?" My response, No, but that's not the point. Anyone who has seen Enemy of the State will understand my concern. A seemingly non-invasive chip can suddenly be turned into a tracking device at any time for any reason.

Then comes the new FCC passing of emergency text messages. The government buying access to frequencies to transmit "life saving information." Right...if I learned one thing from watching Legends of the Fall, it was from Anthony Hopkins. When his son told him he was running for Senate he asked his son and his band of men, "And what do these gentlemen hope to gain if you are elected?...you have asked yourself that question?" What else does the FCC get access to in buying an air frequency?

Maybe I'm paranoid. I hope so. Otherwise, I'm going into hiding G'vment man...and leaving my cell phone behind.


Yours truly,
Paranoid Conspiracy Loving Lady

Boston, How I Love Thee...

Glorious Boston -

There is so much history contained within your boundaries. In less than ten minutes, I time traveled from the present back to colonial times then back to the present. There was an old cemetery conveniently across the street from the bar at which I was to meet my beau for a cold beer. This is how close history is here, my dear Boston - you step out the door of a pub into a historic spot! I walked through the cemetery for another five minutes and crossed paths with Paul Revere, Sam Adams, Peter Fanuiel, Mother Goose, and John Hancock. These are giants in the creation of you, Boston, and in the history of our country. And for no money and for five minutes, I relived history.

Back in the day, tombstones were handled differently than now. Instead of angels and cherubic faces carved in marble predominating the scene, the more macabre figure of skulls ruled. Some may find this scary, depressing or somber, but I found it...a relief. More honest as to what is really going on with the process of burying the body of a loved one. For though I want to believe there is a place out of this world beyond the imagination, Boston, I'm just not sure. What I am sure of is that bodies placed in the ground decay and turn into skeletons like this -

before becoming dust...and that body exits existence.

Boston, thank you for holding the past so close to the present. Thank you for constantly reminding we, the current inhabitants, of all that came before us and all that lies ahead of us. Thank you for keeping your dark corners as well as your lighted city centers. You are the best of old and new, scary and comforting, timelessness and modernity.


Sincerely,
A Boston Transplant,
but always a New Englander

Got Milk Genes?

Dear Recently Lactose Intolerant People,

The gene in humans for digesting lactose is SNP C/T13910. Until only about 10,000 years ago humans digested milk until about age 4 or5. With the domestication of dairy producing animals, this has changed gene SNP C/T13910. Now, about 86% of Northern European peoples have evolved life long dairy digestion. As opposed to one-third of Southern Europeans with life long lactose digestion and in the Far East, the gene is non-existent. So really the only thing people with this capability have in common is cows and other dairy producing animals.

So, newly lactose intolerant folks, welcome to the club of the 14% who may not have developed this gene mutation.

Cheers,
Tummy Grumbler