I went fishing Thursday, for the first time since I was in Oregon! There are several deputies on my shift who have boats and who go fishing fairly regularly (in fact one is a charter boat captain!) but the thing is, their wives--who are already jealous of me and the fact that I spend more time with their husbands than they do--tend to get uptight at the thought of me spending several hours on a boat with their menfolks. It's stupid, but the guys won't invite me to go fishing because they're afraid of getting into trouble with their wimmin.

Idjits.

Thankfully, though, last week one of the other female deputies heard that I'd been dying to go fishing, and she has a boat and she goes fishing fairly regularly, and the so two of us went out Thursday morning and had a terrific time. We ended up catching a mess of flounder, and she caught a nice-sized trout (we also caught about five stingrays, but those we just beat to death on the side of the boat, pried our hooks from their mouths and let them drop.) We saw a ton of jellyfish in the water, the weather was utterly gorgeous, and I got sunburned on the right side of my face and neck, since I was facing the railroad trestle the entire time we fished.

We ended up staying out almost the entire day, and I was totally whupped by the time we got back. But then I had a load of fish to clean, so I headed over to Mom's house, and after a few not-so-pretty starts, remembered how to cut the filets off of flounder. (It also got easier when I made Mom sharpen her incredibly dull knives so that I had a chance of hacking through fish-flesh.) Ended up with a sizable number of filets, which are now in neat plastic baggies in Mom's freezer. I think next time I go fishing I'll end up giving away many of my fish to friends and neighbors. There's no way I can eat that much fish!

Mom and I went to the opera Satuday night, to see Carmen. This was my first time going to a traditional opera (I've seen Porgy and Bess and Phantom but I don't really count them as being traditional opera.) I consider myself to be relatively cultured and educated, but I have to confess I really didn't think much of the opera. Perhaps it was the fact that I was tired, and that I knew that I wouldn't be getting home until after midnight and would then have to get up at 3:30am to work the next day. Or maybe it was because the story is set in Spain, but was sung in French, which just sorta struck me as weird. I mean, I could have handled Italian, since that's kinda the "traditional" opera language, but French was just strange. But really, I didn't care for the storyline, or rather the characters all that much. I mean, Don Jose is a complete blithering idiot! I have a hard time feeling any sympathy for a character whose motivations are so weak.

But the thing that struck me as the most surreal about the opera was at the very beginning, after the orchestra had finished warming up and tuning up. The conductor tapped his baton, everyone fell silent, and then the orchestra launched into the National Anthem. And everyone stood and by god the entire audience just belted it out, singing to shake the rafters. I expect the anthem before football games and other sporting events, but it was odd to have it come before a spanish opera sung in french.

So right now I'm working a detail, this time at the credit union. Ten hours of sitting behind a desk, and occasionally doing something kind of security related, like watching as they count down the vault, or refilling the ATM. Nice thing about this detail though is that you can read a book, or work/play on a computer. I brought my laptop with me today with the express intent to get some writing done. And actually I did get a bit done earlier--and with four hours left to go, I'm sure I'll get even more done before I leave.

In other news, I'm going back to Meridian, MS for yet another school, this time for Raid Planning and High Risk Warrants. I leave Sunday and return the following Friday, and this time I'm going to bring (or buy) more of my own food! I'm doing so well on my diet/exercise program that I refuse to spoil it by eating the drek that they serve in that cafeteria--even if it is free. There are fridges and microwaves in the rooms, so I plan on bringing my blender and my protein shake stuff, and can also stuff the fridge with chicken breasts and other healthy crap. So far, after three weeks of being insanely good with my eating habits and working out like a fiend, I have lost about 8 pounds, and an inch each off my hips, waist and thighs. I am loving the fact that I'm able to wear clothes that I haven't worn in months (and still be able to sit, move and breathe.)