100th Post

Saturday April 17th 2010 9:30am

I almost labeled this entry "Some Scares" but with it being my 100th post, I figured that I might as well acknowledge the milestone.

Wednesday
As I sat typing out an entry to my blog, our office heard a shot. It was close, but not as close as the ones that killed the woman right outside of our office. Some people decided to go investigate, but I decided to stay put at my desk this time. A few minutes later, they came back without any news. There were no crowds or anything on the street, and apparently the shot had either been a misfire, or someone playing around.

I still felt a little shaky that afternoon, and was happy to go home right at 4:00. That evening, I made a frozen pizza and played RISK with Ellen and Brian. We had planned it so that we would all eat pizza and play together. Again, it really sounded like a cool idea, but when I type it out like this, it feels very nerdy.

Later that evening I read some of "The Whiskey Rebels" a historical fiction book about post-Revolutionary Americans. My parents had loaned me the book, and I can see why they like it. I also watched a couple of episodes of Modern Family, which helped to relax me and help me enjoy my evening.

As I tried to lay down to sleep, a storm rolled in and the rain thundered above my head. I drifted off, but was awake again around 2:00am when a huge thunderclap shook the whole building. The rainy season is upon us.

Thursday
With less than nothing to do in the office, I have been using my time at a computer all day to write little short stories, Saturday Night Live-esque sketches, and some random free-writes. It takes up some time at the office. I did a translation for Marisela Thursday afternoon, and felt good about having something to do.

I had noticed that Noemi hadn't been around the office much and asked Marisela if there was a reason for her absense. Apparently I was the only one left out of the loop, but on Monday Noemi and her husband had been robbed. Her husband had pulled into their garage after work and several masked men dragged him inside, tied him to a chair, then robbed the house. They have taken the week off to change locks, talk with police, and settle down a bit. When the locksmiths came, they told Noemi that they had been really busy and as of that afternoon had already visited 10 different houses to change their locks just that day.

That evening, there was no Thursday night television, so I read some more and played EXILE. As I was playing, I saw a lightning flash, and the rain immediately began dumping on the city. I even got used to the sound of the rain on the roof, and was able to sleep fine.

Friday
I have been taking taxis to get to work since Freddy doesn't work with the CCD anymore. It is an expensive habit, and I realize how much I had taken for granted the free rides from Freddy. Friday morning I had a very talkative taxi driver named Franco. When I told him about how I worked at a Christian organization for Development he proceeded to tell me about most all of his personal beliefs and how they were formed. There was a lot of traffic that morning, which allowed for him to manage to squeeze in most of his faith story in the ride to the office.

At first I was slightly annoyed by his incessant talking, not by the subject matter. I paused later and thought about how much more freely people discuss religion here. I believe that it stems from a comfort that 97% of the time, most of the people here are speaking with another Catholic, and 99.9% of the time they are at least speaking with another Christian, who more often than not goes to church every Sunday.

I definitely respected Franco's readiness to discuss his religious beliefs, and thought I could certainly learn something from him.

The work day it self was unproductive, as Marisela, Alfreddy, and Nancy were gone for the whole day which left me with nothing to do.

After work, I bought some groceries from Plaza and headed back to my apartment. I talked with the landlady (Lady) for a while about how I was going to have to leave at the end of May. She seemed disappointed with my imminent departure.

I made some spaghetti for dinner, and watched the online version of the Reds game. I couldn't get audio, but I got second by second updates. I don't really want to talk about the game though...it was not the best ending.