Random Musings of a Ramblin' Fool XLIV

It has been just over three months since I last did this column which means a lot has happened in my life. Therefore, I have a lot to share with you and I shall do my  best to do so without sending self-occupied. On another note of prefacing this blog has really exploded in membership this Summer. We are not up to 137,575 views and averaging over 13,000 views per month. I thank my friend Mark Wiberg for giving me the idea of doing a blog at all. I thank my former friend and girlfriend Krissa Klein for originally setting up the blog and being my tech support. I thank my friend and adopted big sister Lin Kerns for continuing as my tech support and for carrying out a masterful job of remodeling the layout of this blog about a year ago. 

Spring 2012 Semester Grades

In my previous Random Musings column I had just taken my finals at Cuesta College for the Spring 2012 semester but had not learned the results nor what my semester grades were. My final grades for last semester were as follows: English201A ~ A (4 units); Spanish202 ~ B (4 units); MATH07 ~ A (3 units); History207B ~ A (3 units). My total course load was 14 units. My grade point average is now up 3.346. My grades have been nearly perfect the past two years with straight A's aside from two B's in two 4-unit Spanish classes. What is most dragging down my grade point average is my sub-par performance during my second semester at Cuesta College (Spring 1990) following graduation from high school. At that point I was steeply circling the drain in my mental health department as severe depression and anxiety wracked my mind and soul and I could not adequately cope with it and devote sufficient focus on school. I now have 68 units in total from Cuesta College spread over three academic years there, to wit, Fall 1989-Spring 1990, Fall 2010-Spring 2011, and Fall 2011-Spring 2012.

Summer School That Never Was (For Me)

While in Salt Lake City, UT, for Gem Faire last June I experienced an epiphany. I realized that my then-determination to attend Summer School at Cuesta College and take a 5-unit MATH123 class was a terrible mistake. It would not allow me the pace of learning to give the class the sort of time and effort and opportunity for absorption such as I desire to put forth in everything I do. I also did not wish to risk my ongoing high GPA with a potential dud performance in Summer School. Last but not least: Summer School would preclude my taking any trips out of state for Gem Faire over the Summer which would be the closest thing to vacation I have experienced the past few to several years. The wisdom of this choice was borne out by the outcome of the now just -concluded Summer break.

Fall 2012 Class Schedule

Last week I resumed my studies at Cuesta College as the new semester broke forth up the second half of my year.  I am taking 12 units of studies this semester divided amongst three classes: MATH123 (intermediate algebra) (5 units), English201B (English literature) (4 units), and History203A (world civilizations) (3 units). My math teacher is quirky but cool and will make an otherwise boring class quite bearable. My English instructor completely rocks and the subject is something in which I ought to thrive. My history professor (yep, he's a PhD in history) is teaching this subject for the very first time at Cuesta College and Cuesta College has not offered this course in its catalog in quite a number of years until now so I'm getting in on the ground floor. My history prof will challenge me but I already respect the guy and know I will learn a lot from him just as I did from Dennis Judd for the previous three semesters. I expect of myself A's in all three classes.

Great News On The Financial Aid Front

Earlier this year I signed up very early for a Pell Grant for academic year 2012-2013. Unbeknownst to me  in so doing I unwittingly qualified for a second grant of $400 simply for signing up so early. I also qualified for the full amount of the aforementioned Pell Grant. This money will help with automobile repairs, rent money otherwise not earned from shows I will miss this Fall due to my class schedule, other basic life necessities as well as an "oh shit" fund, something I have not had in a very long time.

What I Did With Myself This Summer

The thing that stands out foremost in my mind about my just-concluded Summer Break was my work travel schedule. Over the course of my Summer Break I helped my friend Dave do Gem Faire events in Salt Lake Lake City, UT; Tulsa, OK; Portland, OR; and Eugene, OR. On the Salt Lake City trip I got to enjoy downtown Salt Lake City and the scenery of the drive there and back. On the Tulsa trip I got to visit John Brown University in Siloam Springs, AR, where I am contemplating transferring upon completion of my Cuesta College course program. My friend Dave was willing to make a run over there for me to check it out since we were so close already given that we were in Tulsa, OK, which isn't very far west of there. I also got to experience Old Town Albuquerque (New Mexico) as well as Old Town Flagstaff (Arizona) and Downtown Portland (Oregon). In addition to all these places I visited I also had the privilege of observing and on a couple of occasions and experiencing first-hand the mighty thunderstorms of the South. Lastly, I also experienced the pleasure of confronting my agoraphobia issues from the past and trample all over them as I traversed the flatness of the Texas Panhandle and much of Oklahoma without any issues arising that I was not able to quickly confront and deal with on my own. On the home front I helped with the harvest at Kiler Canyon Farm and took a day trip out to Parkfield, got in some decent fire-chasing (Calf Fire Blow-Up) and some El Ejercicios activities and attended a beach bonfire event. Oh, and I worked my arse off the rest of the time!

El Ejercicios Fall 2012 Line-Up

As I reported in my previous Random Musings column I have perchance become a member of an ad hoc eclectic accumulation of schoolmates at Cuesta College. We all became friends in Spanish 201 & 202 during the Fall 2011 - Spring 2012 academic year. We used to hang out before class in one of the student common areas and then began hanging out away from campus earlier this year taking a series of hikes and even hooking up for birthday bonfires at the beach. We have lost Maile, Tanner, and Dina now as they transfer elsewhere.

21st Annual Rockhounds Round-Up

In three weekends the Santa Lucia Rockounds will host its 21st Annual Rockhounds Round-Up gem, mineral, and jewelry show at the Pioneer Park in Paso Robles, CA, the weekend of September 15-16, 2012. I am a member of that club and am the chairman of this show and strongly urge you to come visit us. There will be educational and entertaining activities for all ages both in park as well as in the adjacent Pioneer Museum. This year we are involving local schools in promoting this event as we hope to get students to come to the show with their parents, something we had not attempted in the past. On that note please read the following item below.

What is Wrong With This Picture?

The Santa Lucia Rockhound's past-president recently approached the school districts of Atascadero, Templeton, San Miguel, and Paso Robles in regards to acquiring permission to leave show fliers at the schools so their teachers can dole them out to their students. All four school districts assented to this but one of them added a caveat: Paso Robles Unified School District. They require that any promotional materials left at their schools be printed in Spanish and English. As someone who is in the process of learning Spanish (two semesters of it at Cuesta College already) and whom believes it is a good idea for Americans to know two or more languages simply as a matter of cultural sophistication not to mention practicality,  I am appalled and outraged by this requirement out of the principle of the matter. Spanish is not an official co-language in this nation nor should it become so just as Mexico does not have an official co-language nor ought it to do so. Needless to say, out of a matter of principle and practicality we are not going to be passing out fliers to any schools in the Paso Robles Unified School District as our fliers are already printed on two sides and this requirement would be an unaffordable added cost of a whole separate run of fliers needing to be designed and printed out. The political correctness and misguided motives of the top leadership of the Paso Robles Unified School District managed to ace ALL their students out of a benefit right in the middle of their city that the kids in Atascadero, Templeton, and San Miguel will benefit from in three weekends. D'oah!

On The Job Front

I currently have all the work I can schedule into my life. Between working with my friend Dave helping him do gem, mineral, and jewelry shows and working for him on his grounds doing general labor stuff as well as doing general labor for several other clients I have all that I can handle for now. Add to that my volunteerism time and I have no extra time and energy left to devote for much if anything else! That being said, I would love to upgrade to a weekly job working in a wine tasting room. Were I properly trained for this sort of work I would be an irresistible monster working a tasting room. Given my love for decent wines and my ability to connect with all sorts of people and engage them where they live and and talk to them on their level whomever they be I feel that I would be scary good working in a wine tasting room environment. Somebody around here needs to recruit me! Do I have any takers?

California Fire Season 2012

Following two sub-par fire seasons we are back to burning here in California. Currently, there are six major fires burning in the state for a total of 475,317 acres. Dozens of homes have burned in this fire and the next community in line to get burned appears to be Seiad Valley in Siskiyou County as the Goff Fire in the Fort Complex bares down on it. California's new largest wildfire (by acreage consumed) is winding down now, to wit, the Rush Incident in Lassen County near the Nevada state line (and a bit over that line). Over the past week the Ponderosa Fire consumed 52 homes and 90 outbuildings. Yesterday, the North Pass Fires burned up a fire engine in Mendocino County. Be careful out there!

There's A Whole Lot Of Shaking Going On

The Imperial Valley is once again experiencing a vigorous earthquake swarm reminiscent of the one that struck that area back in 2005 except this one is a bigger deal. It began last Saturday evening August 25th and continues into the present with nearly 500 events in the sequence to date. The climax (thus far) were two damaging moderate events (M5.5 & M5.3) that left nearly two dozen mobile homes red-tagged as a result of being knocked off their foundations/supports. Odds are this will ebb and disappear without anything major hitting the San Andreas Fault Zone but one cannot say that with certainty as anything is possible and that segment of the fault is 10-months pregnant with a great quake (M8.0+).  

Tropical Storm Isaac

This monstrous storm (in reference to its great physical size) continues to churn in the Gulf of Mexico with the Big Easy sitting below sea level in its path. At last check Tropical Storm Isaac was near hurricane strength and continuing to intensify even as it slows down giving it more time to strengthen prior to making landfall and also giving it more time to build up a destructive storm surge which its huge size also helps generate. Given that this storm has already killed people in Haiti its name will undoubtedly be retired from the list of storm names per tradition. It will probably kill some Americans next by way of the aforementioned storm surge as well as the inevitable flooding from torrential tropical rains. This storm bares watching!

My Journey Continues Apace

I am bringing this up last but it is not least but of foremost relevance to me. This has been the best year of my entire life to date. My life continues to get only better and better. As time passes I continue to draw closer and closer to God and I am growing and can see God's progress with me from month to month. The progress is not at a constant pace and at times I get sloppy following a prolonged period of progress and inevitably I loose a bit of momentum and temporarily stagnate. Quite fortunately my loving and patient Creator invariably prods me into getting back with the program. In such instances I recover my equilibrium and things move forward again in yet another spiritual growth spurt. I need to and am working on consistency (the right type, not the wrong type). Not only is tithing money important but even more so tithing time to God as it pertains to devotional time spent reading the World and praying. I also need to continue to make progress toning down my use of at-times overly-colorful metaphors and invective when I get peeved. All that being said, I am incredibly grateful for all that my Creator has done within me and all around me in my life. I am incredibly excited in regards to what the future holds for me. I hope the handful of people who used to be in my life years ago but left my life at the time because they did not like who I then was now give me another try. I invite them to come back to me and see what marvelous things God has wrought within me the past few years and see if they wish to resume friendship. I am metaphorically in transition between being a homely-looking caterpillar and a beautiful butterfly.