Catch up

things not to do-a short story by Janel Astor

Several months ago while trooping through oregon, washington and california-sometimes by bike and sometimes by car-i had ALOT of time to contemplate my life and the simple fact that i wasn't going to be able to move to portland anytime soon. With this in mind i decided that the time had come (23 years later) to finally embrace san jose and make it my home, rather than just the place i live.

I came home with piles of ideas and promptly (in true Janel fashion) started work on accomplishing everything in one day. i joined my local neighborhood association and got active in my primarily spanish speaking neighborhood-i speak 17 words of spanish, many of them animal sounds. i applied to the bike and pedestrian advisory committee for the city of san jose (and got accepted), i already had a full-time job and a part-time job and a really part-time job, so when offered the opportunity to teach a class i thought, "what the hell, i need the money", and i took that job. i also had 6 new baby chickens,one older arthritic dog, an old house in constant need of repair, a small urban garden/farm and a desire to continuing riding my bike 3-4 times per week. Did i mention that my full-time job involves work for a non-profit serving very young children in programs that our governor decimated this year? Not the best year at the office with everyone wondering if they would have a job and me being the one responsible for these types of things. did i mention that i have some troubles with my back and kaiser is my health care provider? oy

Somewhere around october i began to realize that i was really screwed. That not only was i no longer able to work 4 jobs, but i had over committed and i was over employed, and baby chickens, dogs and friends require care and feeding. Holy shit was i screwed. Of course by then there was little to do except see it through. i absolutely freaked out, but put my head down and plowed through. And here i am emerging from the prison of my own creation and ready to roll, or stumble, back out into san jose and my little life experiment. hope you'll join (again), and i hope that anyone who's interested will come along on my weird jaunts to find worthwhile stuff in san jose