The past few days have been the scariest days of my life. On Saturday, my doctor found two lumps in my breast. While the logical side of me knows that statistically it was highly unlikely to be anything serious (I’m under 40, have no family history of breast-or for that matter any other-cancer), my reactionary side pretty much took over.

Before anybody panics, this morning I went in for a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound, and it is indeed nothing to worry about. They’re fatty deposits, and I was told they are very common in women who’ve had breast reductions and then subsequent weight gains (check and check). Basically I just have to know where they are and what they feel like, and make sure nothing changes.

And I still have the nasty infection on the other side that brought me in to the doctor in the first place. But that is also nothing to stress over.

But anyhow, it brought me face to face with my mortality, which got me thinking about everything I still haven’t done.

At the beginning of this school year, my principal handed out a list of non-negotiables. I decided to use that format to make my own list of things that I absolutely must do/accomplish/experience in my life. What follows is partial. These are also only the non-negotiables. There are tons of other places I want to see, but not with the same priority level.

Places I have to visit:
-Alaska
-Canadian Rockies
-Spain
-Ireland
-Greece
-Egypt
-Madagascar
-Australia/New Zealand
-Peru
-Dubai
-Costa Rica
-Tierra del Fuego

Places I have to live for no less than one month but not forever:

-Buenos Aires
-Manhattan
-London
-Southwest Colorado

Things I have to accomplish:
-Get a doctoral degree*
-Be in a healthy relationship lasting longer than two months
-Publish a book

There’s a lot more. I feel like it’s time to get started. I think the first one on the list needs to be the phd.

They say all budgets are being cut. Well, you know, except for prisons, random road repair on roads that have nothing wrong with them, and of course, anything involving immigrant harassment is just fine and dandy. Oh, and of course the salaries of our representatives haven’t been cut at all.

But us educators, that’s another story. I am grateful I still have a job and am VERY aware that many others in my field do not, but I’ve still been taken out at the knees. My base salary has been sliced by 5%. My stipends are a thing of the past. And sadly, my evening parent education classes have been eliminated. This leaves me making $700 LESS per month than I did last year. Hardly a drop in the bucket.

So yeah, that community college class would have more than made up for the shortfall.

So while I am still looking for a part time job, I had to take my dad up on his offer to help me get through “a bad school year”. Don’t get me wrong, it is much appreciated. But to be a grown-ass woman with a masters degree who is 12 years into her career, having to ask Daddy for an allowance ranks up there with pissing my pants in terms of being able to hold my head up high.

And I’m still looking. He’s helping cover some of it, but I’m still looking at quite a shortfall.

Which summer trend sent you running to the shops? Which trends are already tired?

I have a confession to make. I love anything shiny, shimmery, and/or sparkly. Bring on the bling! I also love designer purses, hats, and glasses/sunglasses frames. I’d probably be into designer clothing if, you know, they made them in plus sizes.

My favorite purchase of the summer is a pair of the world’s most comfortable flip flops. They are brown and the uppers are covered in brown and amber rhinestones. Boo-yah.

While smearing glitter on one’s skin is a bit too 90′s for me, I do confess that I have a powder puff with just a light shimmer with which I have occasionally been known to dab on my shoulders.

Where I draw the line, and the trend by the way which I find the stupidest thing ever, is……..

Vajazzling.

Yes, you heard me. Apparently, the latest and greatest trend in feminine hygiene. After you get your brazillian, you go to another person who affixes bling art to your lady parts. I don’t know how long it does or should stay on. Apparently this can range from some basic silver raised dots to elaborate works of art in nearly true color. But you know, shinier. And on your vaj.

I usually let my pictures stand without any commentary, but I have to say here that this was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done on photoshop. And what makes it the funniest is that I made the silhouette from a picture of my friend, Wendy. Who probably has never owned anything remotely bling in her life. She’s a hippie who wears all natural fibers.

And what would a Chasha blog be if it didn’t drift to the random from time to time?

Jackie called me at work today. That in and of itself is odd, because once she has a number for somebody (in my case my cell phone), she will stick to that one number forever.

What freaked her out is that after a decade of a big fat nothing, she logged on to facebook this morning to find a friend request from Josie’s father.

Some background. Jackie and-he doesn’t even warrant a pseudonym here so I’ll just call him BD- had only shortly been dating when Jackie got pregnant with Josie. At first he was supportive, but then he basically stopped calling unless she hounded him. She left him a message when Josie was born and never heard anything. About a year later, she and Josie ran into him at a Pagan Pride event. Jackie introduced him to Josie, but no conversation ensued.

She has never gotten a dime from him. The state was hunting him down at one point, as she had to go on public assistance for the first nearly two years of Josie’s life. Jackie had worked in a laboratory, and as soon as she found out she was pregnant she had to quit, as many of the chemicals she was working with were harmful to fetuses.

Her lab job also had long and unpredictable hours, so she ended up going back to school to become a teacher. It was during that period when she collected from the state. She gave them BD’s name, but they were unable to track him down.

She never really pursued anything, as she had plans to move out of state and didn’t want that to be interfered with. He never tried to find her either before now.

She hasn’t decided whether or not to accept. She’s well established in another state- I think she’s lived there four or five years now. If nothing else I think she should let him in at least enough to be able to answer any of Josie’s questions. And here what she has to say about him.

On that she’s made herself abundantly clear. His absence has always been notable in her life. Starting when she was about three, when in public she would point at random men and (very loudly) ask “Is that my daddy?” She’s always asked everybody a million questions about him, but he wasn’t part of Jackie’s life long enough for any of us to even have met him. For about two years, Jackie had a boyfriend whom Josie got quite attached to, and she took the break-up much harder than her mom. Lately she has taken to calling Rob “Dad”. He is her godfather, but still doesn’t think her doing this is healthy.

Now she’s trying to encourage Jackie to get out and date because she (her words) needs a Dad. When Jackie explained that BD was her dad and that somebody she married would become her stepdad, Josie said “No, BD is my father. If you get married, that will be my Dad. She then went off on a rant about her interpretation of the word Dad, and of the ways that BD has failed that. And it’s notable that Jackie doesn’t badmouth him at all to her or even privately with us. All Josie has ever been told about him is his name. The rest she has pieced together from observing other families.

He deserves the Wrath of Josie.

What is your ultimate dream job? Do you think you’ll ever live the dream?

I was fortunate enough to spend the two greatest summers of my adult life in Argentina. While I was there, I maintained an almost daily travel blog, complete with facts, photos, and my own unique impressions of my experiences. (No, I’m not linking to it, as it was not in the least bit anonymous, and I would censor the hell out of myself if I thought somebody might connect this blog to the offline me). I got really into writing it, taking pics, and planning what I would write about next. While I traveled all over the country, many of my blogs were written while sitting on the balcony from which the above photo was taken.

My dream would be to do that professionally. To get to travel the world and blog. And not to go on some whirlwind all places run together tour. I’d want to spend at least a few months in each place and get to know the land and the culture as deeply as I got to know Argentina. I could travel the world with my dogs, my laptop, and my camera. And of course, be paid handsomely for it.

Ah, pipe dreams.

Why do people care so much about the private lives of celebrities? Is it idol worship, schadenfreude, or something entirely different?

This is something to which I have never been able to relate. When I hear about former child stars going to jail, or any other celeb scandal, I really just don’t care.

Part of it is that I think that this distracts us from the real news. When 6 of the 20 minutes of my broadcast news is filled with reaction to Lindsay Lohan going to jail, it comes at the expense of hearing about what the problems in my actual community are and what is being done about it. A perfect example of the time both of these concepts were juxtaposed was when Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan. True he wasn’t an A-list celebrity, but at least locally there had been a minor bru-ha-ha about somebody walking away from a lucrative NFL contract to go and fight for the country. Yet when he died, something I heard from almost everybody who was talking about it was “I didn’t know we were still in Afghanistan. And it was true. This was a year and some change after the current Iraq war had started (you know, back when it was still in the news every day)

But really, I never understood the fuss. Now I get enjoying somebody’s performances and wanting to see/hear as much as you can. But to care so much about their private lives that you devote hours of your time to learning, gossiping, and ultimately supporting a media industry that prevents these people from ever leading normal lives, you really need to get out more. I have enough real drama happening among my friends and colleagues.

I can understand lusting after celebrities. Real people just aren’t that sexy.

The Future Mr. Chasha

Anyhow, yeah. Despite it still being hotter outside of my body than inside it, the Fall 2010 semester is underway. Once again I have playground duty from 12:15-12:45. Don’t get me wrong, once the heat breaks it’s the best duty in the world. It’s third and fourth grade recess. For those of you unfamiliar, this is a magical age when children are old enough that they can tie their own shoes and no longer feel the need to tattle any time they have a disagreement, but they are still young enough where they think you’re cool and they haven’t discovered drama.

In other news, as of today it has been exactly one month since I have consumed soda. I’ve already gone down one size. Who’d have known that the culprit was diet pepsi? It hasn’t been as hard as I’d thought. I was traveling for the first two weeks, so I was out of my routine anyways. And it’s amazing how much cheaper restaurant meals are.

The only thing is that this has turned me into a coffee drinker. Gotta get that caffeine somehow I guess.

She seems, based on her interests and what pages she’s a fan of (all of which show in her public profile), that we should get along fairly well.

I’m just ashamed of myself for spying like that.

What are five things you love about where you live and five things that you hate? How does it compare to previous places you’ve lived?

Things I love about Arizona

I love that depending on time of year, I am never more than a two hour drive from hiking, skiing, or whitewater rafting.

I love the sun (even now when we’re about 110) and love that we have about 9 months a year of beautiful weather.

I love the intensity of our storms, and what the desert smells like before the rain starts.

I love how laid back and relaxed most people are, and how easy it is to make friends.

But most of all, I love that this is where many of my favorite people in the world live, the people who love me for who I am no matter how difficult I can be.

Things that suck about Arizona

In the urban and suburban areas, the placelessness can be overwhelming. As Quarters frequently points out, everything is located in a strip mall. And every few miles are the same chains.

The power that the conservative right holds in this state. Our legislature has no problem passing laws that make it legal to harass people based on race, but can’t seem to manage passing a law against texting while driving. Oh yeah, and as of yesterday I no longer need any sort of permit should I want to carry a concealed firearm.

When the snowbirds come down in the winter, the sky over much of the valley turns brownish

It’s kind of a pain to travel to my family back east. You lose most of the day in transit.

And of course, Sheriff Joe.

Wow, that was fun.