Filmed from a bridge that crossed over I-26 near downtown Asheville. This is a last burst of the fireworks show. Towards the end the camera refocuses and that distant small red fireworks are from Lake Julian. We also saw the ones from McCormick field from our location so in effect we got all three major shows in Buncombe county!
I’ve had a bit of an amazing week work-wise. Earlier in the week I was worried I might have to work in a store that was in a highly questionable neighborhood. Then I received a phone call from the store that’s two miles from my future house. They need someone to do customer service and wouldn’t you know, I ran customer service for twenty months!
It’s not something I look forward to going back to, but having a guaranteed job is comforting. Now I just need management to release me from my store. I also hope that there isn’t too big of a decrease in pay.
Beyond that, my exciting week has led to me leading my first safety meeting, writing up reports, sending official email updates & instructions to management, driving the heavy power equipment, releasing a statement at the morning, and signing off on paperwork as the safety leader. All the responsibility is exhilarating. I’m going to hate giving it up to go back to being a mere peon at the front.
Last Tuesday I officially signed off on a meeting as the team leader. Today was my official day of leading a meeting. I was a mess of nerves as I tried to do something I’ve only seen done a couple times before. The new loss prevention lady-in-training told me I did fine. All this only after I had spent a couple hours sneaking away from my regular duties to brush up on the skills I needed to master and topics to cover at the meeting.
So while I cannot post on here what my official new title is called, let’s just say it is an extension of my duties guarding and maintaining hazardous wastes but extended to the whole store.
Today was the third anniversary of my friend’s death (fell 50-100 ft from a waterfall) and I left work early to go be with him at the cemetery for awhile. I wore the black dress I wore to the funeral but this time flip flops. I was chased by honeybees awawy from his grave and then stood in a sudden, heavy rain. It was raining when we said our goodbyes. I was soak to mid-thigh, ran out by the rain, so I went to my friend’s house and took her grocery shopping.
I’m moving in a few weeks, my first time out on my own. The days when I could visit the cemetery, take a friend shopping, anything will be done soon. I’m scared but thankful that I know the end of this way of life is approaching. I don’t want it cut off short. So I’m hoping that on future anniversaries of his death (he was 20), I will be strong enough to do something besides sit at the cemetery and whisper my thoughts and prayers.
Expectant parents are eager to share their ultrasound pictures in my experience. My best friend showed off her 20 weeks pictures and I was surprised to see the bones showing up so well. Then there was the matter of the doctor having felt the need to write <<<<<
Later in the day I stopped by another friend's house who is 28 weeks along. Her ultrasound pictures are also from week 20. Her son is captured in 2D and 3D. Technically the 3D pictures are from a 4D ultrasound but since the photos don't exist in the realm of Harry Potter moving photographs, I will call them 3D. Anyways, the baby's movement along with the still imperfect technology made it look as if bones were protruding from his eye. Otherwise he curls and turns and once again a doctor felt the need to >>>>> Boy his genitals. I hear his father mistaked his leg for that part first and was disappointed when his son was not quite that gifted. :-) Here too an alien was photographed in the 2D ultrasound picture.
It seems like aliens are impregnanting our women everywhere.
While off on our trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway, the storm tore the branch off the tree that is in front of my parking space. Power up and down the main highway is out in both directions. When we get inside the house to drop off our groceries, the power flickers on after a moment. We head back outside to remove the tree branch.
It was a pretty impressive branch to be sure… Dad then got his bow saw and cut the smaller branches off the tree before ripping the rest off the tree trunk. He pulls the pieces out of the road then starts towards the house. He looks to the left, stops, then starts forward.
Our neighbor’s house was on fire.
He yells at me to call 911 and dash into the house, my flip flops sliding on the muddy ground. Dad throws the bow saw and runs to the front door, slamming his fists against it, yelling at anyone inside. I grab my phone and run back out. The emergency operator is nonchalent with a Southern twang and Valley Girl way of speaking of, “Alrighty, they’re on their way. Have a good day.” The fire battelon chief is there in under three minutes as a small orange flame flickers out the kitchen window. Smoke is pouring around the window. The fire chief takes his time prepping.
The fire trucks take forever to appear. And when they do, there are six of them. Smoke is coming out from around both doors and all the windows now. The firefighters move slow, the fire is burning leisurely.
In the end, the neighbor lady had left the oven on when she left. The power must have gone out shortly afterwards. When the power came back on, the oven sparked and set the wall on fire. Outside their backdoor lies their burned oven and crispy pieces of wall. I believe it was all about timing and a miracle from God that Dad and I happened to have just arrived home when the power returned. So thank God for that fallen tree branch!
