mom's first day of work

Yesterday was mom’s first day of work. I can’t reveal too much about it, except that it’s a government job and its related to her credentials as a tax attorney. She seemed pretty excited about it, and it is kind of novel since she hasn’t worked in in office since, oh, before the internet. Larry kindly lent me his truck for the day after mom left.

First stop was vaccinations- DTaP booster shot in the arm. Easier than I thought it would be. The Walgreens down the street had a pharmacy that administered it: $65. Spendy, but cheaper than contracting any of those three diseases. I should be up to date with my Hep A. I still need to figure out my typhoid vaccinations, which might be available in pill form.

Ran by the new library at South Mountain Community College. Another piece of Arizona modern architecture with boxy forms, frosted glass, cor-ten and copper. I liked the spaces overall, I liked some of the details, and I thought the way the interior was lit was interesting. However, I thought the detailing was a bit to fussy, too much filigree. I’ve seen so much of the Arizona desert cor-ten modern, and so much of it is the same. I shot some quick photos and went on my way.

Next stop was lunch with Gina from DWL, I wanted to find out what was happening in the office with everyone, and, more importantly, to find out what I could about living and working in Mexico City. It turns out her parents live there, and they’re a good reference for museums and for emergencies. She also gave me the names and numbers of some of her friends down there. Switch is the same as ever. Overpriced pitas and iced tea.

Stopped by a camera shop on 7th street. I showed them my lumix camera and the dust inside the lens and the small lens scratches. They looked at it, but told me it wouldn’t be worth the time and expense to fix it. So now I’m kind of torn about whether to take Grandma Loretta’s offer to buy me a new camera for graduation or to hit her up for something related to coming back to the states for graduation (hotel room, anyone?).

Mom came home around six after she got off work- apparently the entire day was spent on paperwork, badges, and beaurocracy. She wasn’t even really allowed more than 15 minutes for her own welcoming luncheon (takeout Peiwei). She was a little frazzled, but it sounds like she’s going to enjoy working there. Said the people were nice. We drank wine on the patio and talked about our day. I helped put together a cheese plate from a fruit and cheese basket they’d received and we ate that for dinner along with more of the wine.

After dinner, I left to go climb with Sal and learn more about living in Mexico City. So I met him at the Arizona Rock Gym and we bouldered for awhile. Bouldering in St. Louis was kind of exceptional in that the bouldering routes there are very accessible and relatively easy. You don’t need to be a master climber with a lot of experience to handle some of the easiest routes. Almost every other place I’ve gone to climb, however, the bouldering room is the domain of the master climbers. It’s the weight training room to the baseball stadium to fine tune movements and muscles. Experts only. These bouldering routes are really hard since it seems the implicit assumption is you approach climbing first as a top-roping novice and work your way up to bouldering when you get good enough to need it. I figure as soon as I build up my strength and stamina with the top roping, I’ll be in pretty good shape since I’ve already got a solid background of bouldering.

I left my climbing shoes and bag in Phoenix. It occurred to me that it was stupid to bring them since 1) I dont even know if they’ll have climbing in DF (distro federal aka mexico city) 2) I needed to lose bulk and weight in my luggage and 3) I should be top-roping, if I top rope, I need a belay partner, and 4) climbing is something that I’d rather do with Saori.

Phoenix is a good city to drive in at night. The roads are wide and clear, the desert nights are always fair, and the low city rolls on by in its neon ambivalence.