Bertha dies again...

But not by my hands this time... A few days ago, my buddy Chris, comes back to the pot room where I was scrubbing away to tell me that he killed Bertha by blue tray in the gears...Special forces had to come down and Bertha survived to sanitize dishes again. Chris and I decided that we should put DA's (what we're called) pictures on the side of Bertha that almost do her in...
I'm slowly starting to form my tribe of friends... Maria, a social worker in California whose family is from Mexico, and I had a long talk in Spanglish after stretch break. Mostly about how it's hard doing work that has no meaning and how we both thought we would enjoy mindless work more. We also talked about how much we missed our close friends from home...our community... and how strange it is to live in an unfiltered community--You have to see and interact with EVERYBODY, if you like them or not. That part took a while to get used to, but I think I'm okay with the whole communal living thing again.

My knitting is going well...I have a good bit of a scarf done and I'm going to learn how to purl next.
Lucas and I went to Castle Rock for a hike(the pictures are from there--it was about 7 miles). the weather was divine and the wind was just a whisper. I'd say it was almost warm for down here-- I had to strip down a layer...I never knew I could say that the cold is all relative. That same day, Kendra and I went to the airfields on campus with a guy who was checking generators. I think I ended up being some kind of chaperone, but it was so nice to get off campus...I have a really bad sunburn on my face because I didn't put on sunscreen and the ozone hole is unforgiving even to my Latin skin. Lucas looks healthy with a rosy glow even if he didn't put on sunscreen-- it's not fair!

I have been sleeping like I have mono. It's like I'm paying back all those all nighters in college and graduate school back...I usually like to get about ten (TEN!?!) hours of sleep to feel totally rested, but could sleep for like twelve or thirteen hours if I could. I'm just trying to enjoy it and I know that's the only reason I haven't gotten frightfully ill like a lot of my co-workers...my love to everyone!!!! alex