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Working two (two and a half? three?) jobs this summer was a rough. But I managed. For the most part. =)

My morning routine is (and has been for years) something not unlike this: I wake up (generally a half hour later than I intended) and shower. Then,I procrastinate until the exact moment I need to be walking out the door, before panicing, collecting my wits and necessary items for the day, and flying out the door, all aflutter, as it were– typically five, ten minutes late. Often my procrastination phase is quite short– a few minutes at most– as, often, I’m stepping out of the shower at the same moment I need to be stepping out my door for a timely arrival. On the rare occasion that I do have extra time, I typically fare no better– I eat breakfast, check email, play guitar or count the hairs on my arm until, yes, the very moment that I need to leave the house. Then I panic.

Like evacuating one’s home in a fire, I always have an approximate idea of what I need to grab on my way out the door. Most items make it through the door; some items make it half-way to the door; some items are left unmoved altogether.

Most days, anyway.

I recall, with mixed fondness and embarrassment, a particular moment from last summer. I was working for a contractor, doing general landscaping. Work started at 8:00 and I, as usual, was running late. Living out where I do, it takes a while to drive to work– twenty minutes or so, on average.

I might note (at this point) that I have a certain habit of only stepping into my shoes on my way out, tying my laces later on straight roads or at red lights. If I’m especially late, I might not even step into my shoes at all– grabbing shoes and socks on my way out the door, barefoot, instead.

Well, it was one such morning. On a straight road, nearing the office, I pulled on my socks–left, then right– and then had a moment of panic. My shoes! Where are they? Are they in the back? … No. Hmm. Oh, good heavens. I left my shoes at home!

Needless to say, it was a somewhat embarrassing phone call to the office. “Hey Charlie. This is Mark. Yeah… I’m going to be twenty, thirty minutes late today. Oh.. why, you ask? Well, you see, I left in a big hurry this morning and I … mumble mumble forgot my shoes at home mumble mumble.”

—

Well, that was last summer. Old habits die hard. This summer was, again, the same morning routine. Complicating the matter, though, was multiplicity of jobs and their varying uniform requirements. Which is to say that I had two jobs. And for Papa Johns I needed a uniform: close-toed shoes, khaki pants, my Papa Johns shirt, and my Papa Johns hat. The shirt and pants were easy. It’s always the details (like shoes) that catch ya. Fortunately, there were extra hats I could borrow if and when I forgot my beloved hat at home.

Tucked away in a dorm-room drawer are no fewer than six pairs of K-Mart socks. It’s not that I prefer K-Mart socks, but rather, let me explain:

Often, I would wear jeans to B&B and throw a pair of khaki shorts in my car in the morning. Everything would be fine, until I arrived at Papa Johns, that is, and realized that, having changed into shorts, my socks quite visibly came half-way up my leg– an effect that, coupled with a poorly fitted hat and funky Papa Johns polo-shirt, could only mean poor tips.

Actually, I tried the knee-highs one night. The only tips I got were … fashion tips.

That’s a joke.

Anyhow. K-Mart, as it happens, was the closest department store (excluding Wal-Mart). So, well, now I know. Walk straight in and half-way back. Turn left. Two isles down: that’s where you find the socks. Low-profile socks, to be exact. I hate to say, but I once visited K-Mart three times in a week. For socks.

Eventually, though, I embraced my inner hippie and began wearing flip-flops to B&B. And yes, it was glorious. As long as I remembered to pack extra socks.

But man, I sure did feel ridiculous when, one afternoon, I showed up at Papa Johns, pulled on my socks, and realized my shoes were waiting for me by the door– at home.

In case you didn’t already know, I’m in Bozeman these days. Three days in, I’m mostly settled and partially unpacked. I’m living in Quad D this year, 30 feet from Quad E of freshman year. Speaking of freshman, I’m living with three–all science related majors–but they seem like good guys.

Classes start Monday. I suppose I’ll go buy books sometime. Maybe tomorrow. Is the bookstore open on Sundays? I guess we’ll find out.

My updated contact information, including my dorm phone number, is (as always) at the bottom of this page.

Well, it was bound to happen– amazingly, it’s taken all summer. I woke up late for work today. By late, I mean that when I woke, I was already late for my shift.

Fortunately, my schedule at B&B this summer has been exteremely flexible, so arriving “on-time” hasn’t been an issue. At Papa John’s, on the other hand, I definately have a traditional, rigid schedule. Normly, though, getting to Papa John’s on time is just an issue of leaving B&B when I’m supposed to– rather than something tricky like … waking up. I seldom arrive on time, but, similarly, I’m usually never more than 15 minutes or so late.

Today, though, I woke up about five minutes after my shift started. The kicker, though, is that my shift started at 5:00. That’s 5:00 … PM, mind you. Admittedly, it was a late night last night, but not that late. I just happened to sleep for about … twelve and a half hours. Heh.

Needless to say, I think I’m going to plug my alarm clock back in tonight. =)

And, as I get ready to go to bed, I feel rather guilty, knowing that I slept for 12.5 hours last night, I’ve been awake for about 10, and now I’m going back to sleep. *tsk*

Paul Simon sings that “these are the days of miracles and wonders.” Yeah. Well, are they? Me? I sing: “these days have been / another senseless whirlwind.” Without purpose, without intention, but with no shortage unfulfilled purposes and abandoned intentions. Flurry and bustle. No, it’s not “fulfilling,” per-se, but it’s time-filling, which amounts to the same, at the end of the days. [sic]

I could elaborate on that point. Or I could … not elaborate on that point. I’ll opt for the latter. I’ve written enough. Or I’ve written nothing at all– more likely.

School approaches rapidly enough. Fine.

I don’t have a phone any more. You can call me at home–307.634.9607. I won’t be there, but I’ll get the message if you leave one.

I realized tonight that there exists a tenuous but disturbing parallel between the early years of the Cold War and the current situation in the Middle East.

Although there was never any direct (“hot”) military conflict between the United States and the then-USSR, there were two significant “hot” conflicts– the Korean War and the Vietnam War– which could be described as “puppet conflicts” (there’s another term the history books use, but it eludes me at the moment), in which the two competing world super powers engaged each other, by proximity rather than directly.

At the end of World War II, Korea was divided in to Northern and Southern zones: the north occupied by Soviet powers and the south by the United States. In 1949 both forces withdrew.

The Korean War began in June 1950, as a civil war between the northern provisional Communist government and the southern provisional Nationalist government. North Korea’s military was advised and supplied by the USSR. Similarly, (erroneoulsy) viewing North Korea as a Soviet Pawn, the United States provided the South with military equipment and advice. After the North’s invasion, President Truman sent American troops into South Korea, who narrowly prevented the success of the North in their drive to re-unite subcontinent.

Moving back to the present, tensions between Iran and the United States have been escalating (not to mention that the situation with North Korea is still a mess, although primarily dormant at the moment) since the War in Iraq. The Western powers have just recently decided to refer Iran to the UN Security Council due to concerns about Iran’s development of a nuclear programme.

Still pending Iran’s actual referral, Israel schizes and invades Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon.

But here’s the kicker: Israel is American “eqipped and advised.” Israel’s current military offensive would be largely impossible without the support of American money and military equipment. Although America hasn’t openly sanctioned the invasion (how could they?) they certainly haven’t condemned it, nor has America stopped the influx of American money and military technology into Israel.

Meanwhile, the general speculation seems to be that Hezbollah receives significant support and amounts of military equipment from Iran. The rockets being fired in to Israel (over 3,000 since the war began) by Hezbollah are primarily Iranian rockets (or at least, so I read) (just as the Israeli jets pounding Beirut are American made).

So the question becomes: Israel being a blatantly American sponsored military power, and Hezbollah being Iranian backed, it is entirely improbable that the invasion of Lebanon actually takes the form of a “puppet war” between America and Iran?