Time for some change
By that, I mean two kinds of change: change in my pocket (there needs to be more of it, pronto) and change in my job situation. As you can see, the two kinds of change are related. As I walked into IKEA the other day, I realized that while parts of my job there (really, just saying, yup I work there when I'm out in public) are pretty cool, the actual job sucks ass. The place is setup so that you go into one little area, in my case, the exciting world of returns, and that's it. You can move around but you can't really go from place to place during the same week. So it's either one thing or another. To that end, I've applied to go to self-serve but really, it's all the same many people and their many issues.

None of whom and none of which lend themselves to my future career as a master of recreation. If I'm going to be making this little money, which I assure you is really not enough to survive on, not if I ever want to wear new clothes or replace my (sadly) aging Passat, that I should be making this little money doing something in recreation.

So I'm going to start applying for recreation type jobs again, this time with the help of my advisor, a well-respected PhD in the field. Hopefully I'll land something both interesting and relevant to my future.

In the meantime, if you see the money fairy, could you ask him to drop a Honda Element and it's paid-off title on my doorstep so I don't have to drive around, worrying that the cehck engine light that is now always on has become significant?

I JUST SCORED MY FIRST CO-ED GOAL!
I have played co-ed hockey for almost 3 years, about 1.5 years longer than I was really ready to. I've had a (small) handful of assists but never a goal. Not even really close.

Tonight, I was determined. We were up 2-1 in the last minute, the other team pulled their goalie and I knew this was my best chance. After all, it's easier to score on an empty net than on a net with a halfway-decent goalie in it. So I got control of the puck in the neutral zone and started skating hard. Their defenseman pushed me toward the boards and I almost lost control, but I didn't. I looked up from the corner and took the shot I work on in practice, shooting from the corner, just above the goal line. The puck slid across the front of the net, popping in at the very last possible moment.

My team went nuts. They knew how badly I wanted to score, that I never had. I high-fived each one of them and they gave me the puck. It's proudly displayed on Alice and Ellie's shelf, where their ashes and favorite toys and my lone other puck from a long-ago green game sit.

That hard-earned puck is in good company and tonight, I'm on top of the world.

Liz Doughty, scorer of two goals in one week!

Saturday, I was at work with Andrea sent me a text message about this: Hollister woman killed in crash, asking if I knew her.

The answer is yes, yes I did. Melissa was my closest friend at West Valley. She was in all of my classes, save one. We talked a lot and I rode in that little green Hyundai a number of times, on our way to one field trip or another. I've only met one other young person so sure of themselves and their beliefs, that would be my friend Jos, who was killed just before her 18th birthday in 1988.

Melissa was an adamant vegan, wore only animal-free clothes, ate the smelliest vegan crackers in class and chose that little green car because it was vegan. She'd research any medicine her doctors prescribed and not take it if it contained any kind of animal product. She loved the outdoors and wanted nothing more than to be a ranger. She camped whenever she could but was also tired all the time from commuting back and forth from Hollister to San Jose for school. I have no doubt that she fell asleep at the wheel.

She was sure that there was no afterlife, that once you're dead, you're dead. Game over.

I can only hope that it's better than she thought.

Yesterday, I doubled my annual goal scoring by putting in an unprecedented 2nd goal this season! It was a nice one, too.

Liz Doughty, scoring machine!

I also got a phat penalty with Seals Friday night, essentially pinning Angie against the boards. Talk about playing the body.

Liz Doughty, kicker of asses.

And now, Heed is rubbing himself all over my (still wet) sock from yesterday's maroon game. Yum.

Lesson of the Day
Wet hockey gear, left in even the sportiest of bright yellow backpacks, will still be wet the next day. It will also grow smellier.

Could someone please explain to me why our oldest dog (Zeus) is the biggest pain in the ass? I've let him in the office with me while I vainly attempt to finish the remaining piece in my portfolio for last semester's english 201c class (it's a long, rather sad story that won't be disclosed here) with the hopes of claiming the A- that should be rightfully mine instead of the incomplete that I currently hold, or the B+ I could've held already. There I am, minding my own business, when in saunters Zeus, sniffing at everything, boldly climbing in to the big bag of Eukanuba that came with Heed (free! with purchase!) for a snack and refusing to settle down. Thanks, dude. Really.