Tag: requiem

Once upon a time, a teacher told me to keep a notebook with all the information I would need to apply for a job.  I believe this was my ninth grade reading teacher, and her name has fallen out of my memory, though I can picture her classroom, where it was located (in a school that has now been torn down) and the fact that Ryan Fitzgerald was in that class with me.

I thought this was good advice and I wanted a job, so I found a notebook and started my list.  [And now I see that it can’t be my ninth grade reading teacher who told me, because the first entries were all put at the same time and I didn’t start working until tenth grade. So I’m not sure what happened there.  Maybe I had a different notebook as a starter notebook?]

At any rate, I’ve kept it all these years, adding to it every time I started a job search again. In tidying last year, I set it in my inbox to transition to a Word document, because job hunting has changed and no longer do I need to fill out paper applications (thank god).  I’ve finally made a word document called “Yellow Job Notebook”, but thought I would capture it one last time before I sent it on its way.  Notice the addition of my typing speed and the type of printer I once owned.

Here’s the first page.  Ah memories.  Wild Waters doesn’t even exist anymore.  Though someone has made a helpful Facebook page of Where Wild Waters Used to Be  and some photos.  And look at my rates of pay!

I can no longer remember who bought me this grater.  My best guess is that it was my Aunt Carol as she enjoys going to the kitchen stores.  But I’ve had it for probably 10 years or more and it’s been a good grater.  So good that I went out and bought a new one the next day.  Thanks microplane grater. You did a lot of work in your time.

Back in the day (c.1998-1999) I worked for Bread and Circus Whole Food Market, which was the official name of the Whole Foods stores in the Boston area.  I worked in Prepared Foods, which meant I wore an apron and a chef’s jacket every day. We worked right in front of the ovens and though most of the case was refrigerated, there was also the hot case.  I was always moving, whether to restock or to get a customer just the right amount of Mexican Casserole.  I also (and still do) sweat a lot.

So I always wore tank tops to this job, even in the dead of winter.   (I had a sweater I would wear over the tank top during transit to and from.)    One day, I put on a shirt with sleeves, thinking it would be okay. It wasn’t and on my first break, I bought this tank top from the nutrition area so I could make it through the rest of the day.

This is my last wardrobe item from my time at Bread and Circus.  I outgrew it years ago (I mean it fits, but really it just “fits”) but kept it because I liked the feel of the functional organic cotton, even if I was just brushing by it in my drawer.

Farewell soft cotton tank top.  You are an end of an era.

I found this red 50s swing cost many years ago and it’s been my go-to “theater” coat for years.  It’s got 3/4 sleeves, and it always makes me wish I had long gloves to go with it.  I love the button closure at the top and the material.  However, I have a good winter coat (that is actually warm) to wear to the “theater”, so I think it’s time for this coat to find a new owner.

I’m terribly sorry that I only have a blurry picture of the Recess Coat.  I bought this years ago at the William Temple Thrift store, because it was reversible.  I’m a sucker for a reversible coat.  It was also obnxoious in it’s fake fur nature.  It kind of sat around for a few years until I got the job at The Emerson School which came with recess duty as one of its requirements.  This coat then migrated to school and was always ready to keep me warm.  I always accesorized it with those $1.00 stretchy gloves from Fred Meyer and some chapstick.  The white card was my laminated “bug and a wish”* reminder to use with the kindergartners. With it, I wore a wool hat (which I am not getting rid of) that I bought at the Council Crest Thrift Store. This coat kept me warm during many a cold and rainy recess.  When the weather would warm, I would joke that I’d look like a crazy person, because I would still wear the heavy coat.  Because standing outside in shade for 45 minutes is still chilly, even on a sixty degree day.

As I do not have recess duty any longer, it’s time for this most excellent coat to find a new home.  Note that it took me almost two months to part with this coat.  We’ve had a good partnership.

*It really BUGS me when you [follow me around].  I WISH you would [stop following me around])

It was 2002 when I signed up to be an advisor for the Young Religious Unitarian Universalist (YRUU) group. That’s code for “high school youth group” at the UU church.  I had recently 1)moved to Portland, 2)joined First Unitarian Church. When I signed on, I was still living with my Aunt, Matt and I were flirting, but thing had gotten going, and I was temping at Wedbush Morgan.    By the time my first year of YRUU was done I had moved into a studio apartment downtown, Matt and I were a thing, I had quit working for Wedbush Morgan and started graduate school at PSU.

When I signed on, it was only me who had made a firm commitment, with maybe Jimmy, one of the current co-advisors, sticking around for another year or so.  By the time we started in the fall there were five adults total: myself, Jimmy, Frank, Chris and Eric.  Dana, the head of Religious Education for Youth, broke us in.  We had an amazing group of kids that year, with Kitty, one of the few seniors, setting the tone.  She loved the song “Take me Home, Country Roads” and we sang it a lot that year and in nearly all the years to follow.  She also realized that by pressing your hands together you could make a chalice, which is the symbol of Unitarian Universalism.  So that was cool and it went on the back of our sweatshirts.

On the front it said YRUU, which was not only the name of the group, but also an excellent question.  We had shirts or sweatshirts every year, but this first one remained my favorite.  For seven wonderful years I got to hang out with incredibly cool high school kids.  Seemingly a million things changed during that time, while everything also stayed the same.

It is with sadness I say goodbye to the YRUU sweatshirt, but it lives on in many happy YRUU memories.

My new 40-hour per week job means no more volunteering for Teen Lounge at the North Portland Library.  Today is my last day.  There were never many teens at teen lounge, but I did enjoy two solid hours each week to write these blog posts.  And I really enjoyed the setting.  The woodwork is beautiful, much darker in real life than in this picture.

I have an Uncle Tom.  A Great-Great-Uncle, actually.  Well, he’s dead, but I did have one. And he had a chair.  This really great pink chair with excellent bones.  After Uncle Tom died, it sat in my grandparents’ basement, which, when they died, became my Aunt’s basement.  I can remember sitting in the chair reading and thinking, “someday, I’m going to have this chair in my house and I will sit and read in it.”  And indeed, all of that came to pass.

I liked how the chair fit my hips exactly, and I was charmed by the spring that had come loose, so the seat was a little askew.  Eventually, the cats took over the chair. Antares decided it was a great scratching post.  I held off getting a new chair, because I was afraid they would adopt the new chair as their scratching post, just as readily as they did this chair.  But I have acquired a new chair, so this chair will stand by the side of the road until it finds its new owner.

With tidying comes discarding and it is time for these favorites to go.

I got this skirt from my roommate in Somerville, who got it from her cousin Diana. I wore it a lot over the years and often received compliments.  Originally, the hem was very uneven, so much so that when I took it to the tailor to even out she had to get out the official hem marking device and mark her way around.  Its still a fun skirt for Contra Dancing, but it’s tighter in the waist than it used to be, so it’s time to find a new owner to love it.

Another stalwart from the Massachusetts days is this fabulous Deerstalker which I bought in a thrift shop in Somerville.  I could tie it quite tightly and keep my head warm for the cold walks I took every morning at 5:30am to get to work at Whole Foods.  I feel great affection for this hat, but have not worn it, even once since I moved to Portland.  There just isn’t a Deerstalker’s amount of cold in  my part of Oregon. 

I suspect I purchased this belt at Newberry Comics, a local chain I didn’t like because it tried too hard to be an Alt Record Store, when actually every location looked exactly the same.  I did love this belt though.  Who wouldn’t like to wear flames on their belt?