I've folded a lot of bags the past few months...

...for the annual luminaria display they have at my workplace.

It's a repetitive, boring task that does take practice and dexterity to master and I've been doing it every year since the club I advise started.

Years and years it seems.


While it does get to me now and then when the count left to do is high and the stack seems implacably large, through its simple motions I feel a kind of relaxation. Granted any sense of peace I feel is probably stolen from the muscles in my neck where knots seem to form after several hours at it, it's still a good feeling.

The display is less than two weeks away at this point and I'm done with my/our allotment.Set-up begins the Monday following Thanksgiving, though I think I'll skip helping there until the day of, choosing to help straighten and light for the evening.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post in a few weeks.

...

It really is quite a sight. Especially if it there's a light snow in the air. We had to cancel one year do to a heavy-ish snow (well, heavy-ish for the high desert), but if the flakes start falling the hour of, it just magnifies the beauty of the display.

I wish we could leave them up the entirety of the season, but then where would anybody park?

Ah, well... my part is done for now. All there is to do is wait for time to roll by and concentrate on other things.

Hope to see you there~


The San Juan College Luminaria Display is an annual event that begins around sundown on the first Saturday in December. Visitors driving through must start at Butler Avenue, traveling on Sunrise. Walkers may park by the Quality Center for Business or CFDC by traveling south on College Boulevard from Pinon Hills.

You know, I really love my Jeep...

...in that weird way in which people get attached to their vehicles.

I occasionally see commercials that try and capitalize on that idiom most recently for station wagons. That particular bit of advertising used both warm and fuzzy nostalgia and the heat of first love remembered (for an actual lover, not necessarily the car).

It's funny because I'm currently searching for both a new car and a new love... and I'm feeling doubly put upon because, while I've been single and lonely for quite some time (it's been almost a decade since I've been in any sort of relationship beyond wishful thinking and a few one night stands), my '93 Jeep Cherokee has always been there for me when I needed her.

Until now, I guess....

Sure, if I had the money, I'd love to give her a huge refit... fix all that needs fixing, replace all that needs replacing. As it happens, unfortunately, I've only had enough to keep her limping along... and have now hit the breaking point.

I've done a serious disservice to something I say I love. I couldn't afford to take care of her properly and literally can't afford to keep her going. Already in debt for the last repair (only a month gone by) this new problem with her innards is way beyond my budget. I wish I had the courage go even deeper into the red to resurrect her, but I don't.

I'm a coward for not saving my Jeep. I feel it every day as I ride past her on my current mode of transportation. And I think said cowardice is a symptom of why I'm still missing out in other areas of my life. Perhaps it is a reflection of my personality flaws.

Perhaps I'm reaching... over-thinking it too much in my lack-of-funds/lack-of-car/lack-of-love depression?

....

...could be.

Either way, I miss my Jeep.