Hummingbirds!

Wow, y'all! Today as I was walking into work I saw what I thought was a leaf on the sidewalk. Usually a step on all the leaves I see downtown, just in case they are crunchy (stepping on crunchy leaves will always be fun, no matter how old I am). Well it's a good thing I took a closer look at this leaf before crunching it, because it turns out it was a hummingbird!

I've never seen a hummingbird downtown before. He was just sitting on the sidewalk. I bent down, and strangely, he let me touch him. I gently scooped him up into my hand and he perched on one of my fingers. He let me just carry him around downtown, never trying to fly away or anything. I figured he was hurt or sick. I brought him up to my office so I could do some research. His name was Pochipo. :)

Turns out, it's hummingbird migrating season. Hummingbirds will often fly into windows and stun themselves. This little guy was sitting in direct sunlight on the sidewalk and I think he was overheated and stunned. He cooled off for maybe five minutes in my office and I decided to walk him over to capitol hill where there are trees and flowers and grass instead of sidewalk and concrete and glass. Now that he was rested, cooled off, and un-stunned, he flew out of my hand and was a happy little hummingbird back where he belongs. Hooray!

Then as I was walking back to my office, there was ANOTHER hummingbird on the sidewalk! His wings were splayed out. You can see how tiny hummingbirds are.
























He was also in direct sunlight on the sidewalk, and he was hot and stunned. His wings weren't broken or anything, and he tucked them in shortly after I picked him up. I walked him over to capitol hill, and held him in the shade for a while so he could cool down and regain hummingbird consciousness without being stepped on or ran over. It took a few minutes, but then he was good to go! Another hummingbird rescued from the unsafe downtown streets. Hopefully they are headed back on their migratory route safe and sound now, avoiding skyscrapers this time around.

Let them...

1. Make cake.

2. Eat cake.

3. ???

4. Profit

My Addiction Detox Week

Next week, July 25th through July 31st, I will give up everything I can think of that I might be addicted to.

Luckily, I never got into drugs or cigarettes, but I find my life has been consumed by a few things (mostly the internet) and I'd like to spend my time in a way that I know will be more fulfilling to me if I just give it a chance.

For the detox week, no:

Coffee/Caffeine.
This will be hard. I consume caffeine multiple times each day to get me through my day. I know that if I just get more sleep I won't need it, although I'm not looking forward to the headaches from withdrawal.

Chocolate/Snacks.
Yeah, I eat chocolate almost every afternoon. I'll be better off to give it up (and maybe I'll lose a pound). I will plan my meals mindfully.

The Internet.
No email, no endless blog feeds, no webcomics, no facebook, no twitter, no flickr, no etsy. I am wasting my life on the internet. I usually idle away hours online while I procrastinate doing other more important things. I will not check my email/RSS on my phone constantly either. It's become such a habit to immediately pull out my phone if I'm waiting in a line or something of the sort. This week I am breaking my digital chain. I only watch television I download from the internet, so I will also not watch any TV.

Shopping.
I spend way too much money on things I do not need. I abhor the fact that shopping is something I do for recreation. This week I will only purchase things I need to live, or for specific projects I'm working on during the week.

I'm also addicted to my car but I don't feel like I'm in good enough shape to ride my bike everywhere yet (especially since it only has one gear and it is hard to get up hills). I will make an effort to ride my bicycle to destinations within two miles of my house, however, to step in the right direction. Gotta start somewhere!


Things I WILL do:

Ride my bike, read books about bikes, learn how to fix bikes, do my handlebar tape.
Read books and zines! I've got a big backlog of things to read. I tell myself I don't have enough time to read, but I do!
Spend time with my boyfriend.
Fix up and spray paint a medicine cabinet that will become my new spice rack.
Learn Reason and make some music.
Clean/organize my house! Yep, all of it!
Walk in the woods.
Cook healthy meals.
Get enough sleep.
Anything else I want to (that doesn't involve the above restrictions, of course)!


And sure, it's only a week. But it'll be a week to see how different my life can be. Maybe I CAN live without coffee. Maybe I DON'T need to read those 400 blog posts each day. Maybe my mind will be more focused without constant distraction. Maybe I can find entertainment in the world around me instead of in a fake world inside a box.

Wish me luck!

This morning sucks so far

So you always read not to post your negativity online, right? Well I want to talk about my morning, so please skip ahead if you are so inclined. :/

This morning I woke up at 5:45. Usually I wake up at around 7:45 with just enough time to check my emails before heading out the door to work. I figured I'd use my two hours productively. I've got a copper bracelet that I need to shine up, but no vinegar. I've also had a sore throat the past few days, so I decided to go to the 24 hour grocery store and pick up some vinegar, medicine, and maybe juice and a piece of fruit.

Recently I got this totally awesome business card holder from UNEARTHED on etsy.



It's amazing isn't it? It's the perfect size for business cards, my ID, and some cash.

I put just those items in just that business card case and headed out to the grocery store. I picked out my purchases (including some delicious cherry vanilla soda) and headed to the register.

Unbeknownst to me, I had set down my business card holder probably while looking at granola bars or something. Long story short, it was lost somewhere in the store. I retraced my steps, checked customer service, but it was nowhere to be found. So now I've lost my $45 brand new business card case, twenty bucks in cash, and my driver's license, and I've got twenty dollars worth of groceries (and medicine that I could really use) and no money.

I wrote down my contact information for in case somebody turned in the card holder, and decided to head back home and get more money so I can get the groceries. I tell the checkout person to hold my items. I head home and quickly pick up my full wallet.

In the five minutes this takes, there has been a shift change and the new person at the register has no idea where my groceries are, and has no idea I've lost my business card case. I wait around for five minutes while the new lady tries to get the last-shift-guy to answer a page to enlighten us as to where my groceries are. I literally told him I would be back in five minutes to pay for my things, which I was, and my things were gone.

Finally he comes to the front and thank god no one put back my selections. As I'm scanning my items at the self checkout, when I get to the medicine, it asks me to show my ID to the cashier. Yes, the ID that is somewhere in the store, but lost fifteen minutes prior to the transaction. I suppose I finally look 18 though (I'm almost 23 now and strangers in elevators still sometimes ask me what I'm doing in a skyscraper downtown, and shouldn't I be in school?), because the lady can see that I'm visibly frustrated and upset and sick and just types in something so it says I'm 18 (the one good thing of the morning).

I finish scanning everything, and when I go to pay, I only have fifteen dollars in my actual wallet (read: not enough money to pay for everything, which I would have had had I not lost my twenty dollars previously). I've been trying to use only cash to pay for things as I'm saving all my other money for when I move soon. I ended up using my debit card to pay for the rest, which I really did not like. (But I would have liked asking the cashier to take some of my things out of my order even less. How pride injuring.)

Once I got in my car and was halfway home, I realized I forgot the vinegar, the whole original purpose of the trip. That was a great way to top everything off.

SO that's my morning. Now it's 7:49 and I've got to head to work.

But I guess it's not that bad. At least I don't have cancer and I have access to clean water and I'm not getting bombed and it's finally SPRING. So I'll take a deep breath and hopefully my day gets better from here on out.