He said what?!

So V & I went out tonight and were joined by his tranny friends and this other random guy. I've met the trannys before but this other guy is one they had just met. So we're up on the 3rd floor playing darts. He has already sidled up to the 2 trannys and had some sort of discussion that I couldn't really hear. So he comes around to where I'm at the table and says to me "There's just something about a man in drag that I find so hot you know. I'm not hitting on you or anything, but..." And at that point I cut him of and say "Uh, sweetie, you realize I'm a woman right?" He says, "Yeah, I knew that." Then he wanders off and I don't get to talk to him the rest of the evening. I laughed my ass off after he wandered away. He was kind of weird and even after the trannys left he kept talking to V, the whole time I'm thinking 'Please V, stop talking to him and shoo him off.' Finally the guy left.

New Year's Rockin' Eve

What to do what to do for New Year's Eve? The question is on the table again. My 1st option is to just drink the 2 bottles of rum that followed me home from the liquor store and watch a video and eat raspberry sorbet. My 2nd option is to go to RPlace with V and drink heavily. My 3rd option is Michelle's suggestion - Drink before I go to the bar so I don't spend too much money there, kiss lesbians and then come home and eat raspberry sorbet. My gayboypotheadbartending fiance** will be there I'm sure. I will probably do #3, although probably not with kissing lesbians, but depending on how drunk I get that may happen too.

**And just to clarify because I've talked about him a lot lately, Once upon a time, like a year ago, Jeffy started calling me his wife and I played along. Recently he asked me when we were finally going to get married and I said whenever he sets a date so he did. April 20th (which is how I discovered he's a pothead too.) Are we really going to get married on 4/20? Eh, probably not. Is he really gay, sadly yes. Is he really a pothead, yes obviously since he's always wanted to get married on 4/20. Is he really hot, oh yeah.

You got questions - we got answers

A) One Hour Photo (for a rare sighting of Michael Vartan's pubes) Seen it, scared the piss out of me; Homecoming Queen by Winifred Madison I will consult Seattle Public Library on this one; Ven Conmigo by Christina Aguilera I'll have to look into that too.

B) Who was someone in college who I knew who you had a crush on who I would be totally shocked to find out about? I did have a total crush on Helen's Rob but I think you knew that. I can't think of anyone you knew that I had a crush on that I wouldn't have told you... BUT I will tell you that there was this guy I used to make out with in the library closed book storage while we were supposed to be working. Who I later found out from Al that he just really liked kissing. We never went any further, just would make out once in a while in this closet. That's a funny memory.

What is the one thing you absolutely wish you could say to your mom? I've been thinking about this question for days. I think I have always wanted to point out that many of the things that she has bitched about about her own upbringing and her relationship with her mother are the same things she's done to me. She always used to complain about how she was a second class citizen in her own home and her mother loved her brother and sister more... and it was the same for me - She didn't even hide the fact that she loved both my sisters more, and she rarely makes the effort to really understand who I am. Which brings me to the fact that the bottom line reason I don't want to have kids is that I'm terrified that all those people who say "Just wait until you have kids and you'll find yourself saying those things too" might actually be right and that no matter how hard I try, I'll end up sounding like her. No 11 year old kid should be told "You'll be just like your sister and have abortions" when you don't even know what one is. (Ok that might be an overshare)

What is one thing you would do differently in your past if you could? I totally should've jumped on Aaron when I had the chance! :) (Aaron would be the boy of the hat story) Damn if I had a brain cell in my pretty little head and realized that there may have been some mutual interest...

Hockey!

I just got back from my hockey game. I really enjoyed it. The T-Birds won by 2 points. Towards the very end of the game, the Everett team pulled their goalie (T-birds were only up by 1 at that point) which allows them to have an extra man on the ice. T-Birds get the puck and manage to score on a no goalie situation. The last 45 seconds two fights broke out. It was kind of strange because the refs didn't stop it. They didn't do anything initially until like they were pulling each other down to the ground. However... I AM CURSED! Apparently when I choose my own hockey seats (as opposed to when my friend Sommar picks them when we go together) I get stuck sitting near pucks. I'll let you think about that for a minute to figure out what I mean by a puck... I had 2 of them next to me. Apparently at least one of the 2 has dated players on both teams as she felt the need to cheer for whoever had the puck at the time. They spoke in those high annoying valley girl way and reminded me of little bird girls. By the end of the game I wanted to kill either them or myself but I couldn't decide which. There was much discussion about how "I told zack he better not hit my curtis and now I'm pissed" and "Oh don't give him a bigger fat lip, I need to be able to kiss those lips." I was so tempted to put my headphones on so I didn't have to hear this crap anymore, but I didn't want to miss the announcements. In college Kate, Shelley and I always managed to find ourselves near an entire row of pucks. We learned far more about the sexual behaviors of our hockey players than any sane and normal person ever wanted to know.

On the way home from the Seattle Center, I walked to the bus stop. Here's one of the times Joanne isn't so smart. I could've picked up a bus on Broad in front of the EMP (I think it is Broad it might not be) which is a very busy street. If I had caught one of those buses I would've had to switch in front of Benaroya hall to the 2, so I decided catch the 2 directly. The 2's stop is on a road that would be busy, if it was during the day but it wasn't. So I'm standing there just hanging out waiting for the bus and for some reason I started crying. I blame it 100% on menstrual syndrome, but I was just standing there thinking about the single life and how tired I'm of being single. Michelle once told me (with regards to self-confidence but it applies here) that if you fake it long enough you start to believe it. So mostly I believe it that I don't mind being single and my life is great but standing there waiting for the bus, I stopped believing. And it made me sad. And I started wondering why I think I believe in fate or balance in the universe because obviously there is no justice out there. Then I stood there and realized how sad it is that I'm crying waiting for the bus and that made more tears fall. Luckily the bus came and I wiped my tears and came home. Sigh. I can't wait for the week to be over. (And then I read Michelle's comment about Greg and it made me giggle)

Stuffing big things into little things

Today I finally took down my Christmas tree so that I could have my craft table back. I have no idea how the original company managed to stuff that tree into the teeny tiny box. I can't ever get it back into the box without having a weird bulge in the middle. It is like when we were at Girl Scout Camp. These campers would come in with these sleeping bags that had to get stuffed back into these little bags. It would be Saturday morning, and parents would be pulling up and we'd have this little girl in hysterics "M..m..my f..fa...fath...father w..will be soooo so so mad if I can't get it baaaack innnn!!!" So Joanne and Michelle and all the other counselors would spend their morning trying to shove something very big into a fairly small hole. (Luckily I have had some experience with that... ;) ) (And I've just scandalized my little sister hee) After about the 1st week of camp we would be so used to the process that we could get them all done before breakfast. Random side note - if you have daughters (Timmy! and Katie) and you send them to summer camp and they come home with their hair braided - they haven't showered since at least the day before you picked them up and quite possibly since long before that. That was our trick, it was already difficult to get the girls to shower and they'd wash their hair but who knows if they did a good job or not so on Saturday morning all the little girls would get their hair braided by counselor Joanne or counselor Janel or anyone else to hide the fact that their hair was kind of icky and messy. I have had camp on my mind a lot lately. I was sitting here on the sofa yesterday and a random camp song came into my head. I think I just want to go to camp and not have to work a real job. :)

Diabetes

Apparently the only people who are home during the day have diabetes. This I have been able to learn from my 3 vacation days thus far (Next year, I don't know what I'm doing but I am SOOOO not spending them here in this apartment not cleaning and not working on any useful projects except playing Legend of Zelda Oracle of Seasons). I know I shouldn't complain because I am lucky I have these days off. Most people I know don't. But back to diabetes, I was able to discern that the entire stay-at-home population has it by incredibly scientific method. That's all the commercials they show during daytime television. Wilford Brimley (Didn't he die??) and his diabetes test strips. The new medicare prescription cards that will pay for your diabetes supplies. A variety of drugs that will help you with your diabetes. New testing apparatus that are out. AND My personal favorite - Mary Tyler Moore talking about Juvenile Diabetes with these annoying kids talking about who their hero is. Of course, with my tendency to snack all day long because I'm bored, I could be well on my way to adult fat chick diabetes so... (Ok just kidding Katie, don't get all worried). BAH! Again with the Wilford Brimley. I can't cope. Tomorrow I am going on a field trip. I don't know where, I don't even care where but I can't be in this apartment all day without wanting to kill someone. (uh oh, I'm the only one here.... :D)

Excessive shopping & traumatic TV

So one of my biggest problems when I was unemployed was that I would get bored and go wander downtown and spend money I didn't have. Now I'm gainfully employed, on vacation and bored and wandering downtown spending money I kindof have but shouldn't spend. :) Although today I only spent $27.00 so that's not too horrible. At my almost new favorite store Bed Bath & Beyond I found another extremely cool thing... Ok actually I already bought it like 2 weeks ago but I bought the wrong size and they let me exchange it even though I had lost the receipt. Anyway they have these shower curtain rods that are tension based so you can put it in a doorway or I guess the wall between the bathroom, but they are fabulous for me because I didn't want to put screws in the wall to hang up the curtain I have for between my living room & kitchen (doorway but nothing there) and the one I have for the closet (for some reason I have no closet doors). Anyway look how easily I get sidetracked... I also bought Wil Wheaton's new book Just A Geek. Yay. I have a small schoolgirl crush on Wil Wheaton. I loved him in Stand By Me. I only watched Star Trek Next Generation when he would be on. After he left the show, I stopped watching. Once I started reading his blog, I started having a great respect for him. Any guy who loves his wife and step-kids the way he apparently does is a good guy. I'm excited to start the book... :)

With nothing else on this evening, I decided to watch Mystic River. Somethingorother Award winning for Tim Robbins and Sean Penn. All I can say is I want that 45 minutes back. It was painfully slow and required way more focus than I wanted to give it. So then I switched to The Amazing Race for the last 15 minutes of the show. Michelle & I have been talking about this show recently because she knows one of the women on the show this round. I figured I would check it out since Veronica Mars is in reruns. It was painful (not painful sad, but painful like a tooth being drilled without novacaine). I think maybe it was because I don't watch the show regularly AND it was a highlights clip show but I didn't like any of the people shown and thought they were so awful I wouldn't want to see any of them win. Of course much of reality tv is like that.

Noah's Ark Dream

Ok not exactly a Noah's Ark dream, but there were several animals in last night's dream. It is entirely possible it is related to the watching of the Lion King yesterday but here goes...

I was with this guy and we were shopping. We were looking at these little stone carvings of animals. He was looking for a bear and found it but I (I think it was me) dropped it. So we were crawling on the ground and there were all these other little stone carvings of animals on the ground too and we couldn't find his bear. I found an alligator, a bird, a turtle, I think a dolphin or whale, a dragon fly and I want to say a Lion (but I could be thinking that based on the aformentioned Lion King sighting).

According to Dreammoods...

Stone: To see stones in your dream, symbolizes strength, unity, and unyielding beliefs. Consider the common phrase "etched in stone" which suggest permanence and unchanging attitudes. Some stones also carry sacred and magical meanings. Alternatively, stones may relate to issues of moral judgment and/or guilt.

I couldn't find a description for charm or little carved thing. So we'll go with the animals

Bear: Alternatively, bears symbolize the cycle of life and death and renewal. It may signal of period of introspection and thinking. The dream may also be a pun on "bare". Perhaps you need to bare your soul and let everything out into the open.

Alligator: To see an alligator in your dream, symbolizes treachery, deceit, and hidden instincts. It may be a signal for you to take a new perspective on a situation. It may also represent your ability to move between the material world of waking life and the emotional, repressed world of the unconscious. Alternatively, the alligator represents healing powers and qualities.

Bird: To dream of a chirping and/or flying birds, represents joy, harmony, ecstasy, balance, and love. It denotes a sunny outlook in life. You will experience spiritual freedom and psychological liberation. It is almost as if a weight has been lifted off your shoulders.

Dolphin: To see a dolphin in your dream, symbolizes spiritual guidance, your intellect, mental attributes and emotional trust. Utilize your mind to its capacity and you will move upward in life. Alternatively, it suggests that a line of communication has been established between the conscious and unconscious aspects of yourself. Dolphins represent your willingness and ability to explore and navigate through your emotions.

Lion: To see a lion in your dream, symbolizes great strength, aggression and power. You will overcome your emotions and/or difficulties. As king of the jungle, the lion also represents royalty, leadership, pride and dominion. You have much influence over others. You may also need to exercise restraint in your own personal and social life.

Turtle: To see turtles in your dream, suggests that you will make slow but steady progress. You need to slow down and pace yourself. Alternatively, it indicates that you are sheltering yourself from the realities of life.

Whale: To see a whale in your dream, represents your intuition and awareness. You are in tuned to your sense of spirituality. Alternatively, it indicates a relationship or business project that is too enormous to handle.

Dragonfly: To see a dragonfly in your dream, symbolizes changes. It may also indicate that something in our life may not not appear as it seems.

Anyone care to take a stab at what this all means?

It's Michelle's Fault

Since I responded on Michelle's Blog I have to post this here (I don't HAVE to, it isn't like she's twisting my arm or anything).

(A) First, recommend to me:1. a movie2. a book3. a musical artist, song, or album
(B) Ask me three questions, no more, no less. Ask me anything you want. Answers will be posted in a couple days--great time for strangers to say hi.
(C) Then go back to your blog and copy and paste this, allowing your friends to ask you anything; say that you stole it from me.

Christmas Week Goals

Well, since I have a week off for Christmas I feel compelled to make a hypothetical list of things I would like to accomplish during this week. I would like to think I'm not going to spend a week sitting on my ass watching TV and IMing my friends all day long. (Although in all honesty that's what I'll probably end up doing). So here's my list.

• Clean (HAHAHA)
• Begin my quilt project
• Take down Christmas tree and stow Christmas boxes
• Hang new shower curtain (ooh I need to go to bed bath & beyond to get new hooks)

Day is done...

Gone the sun... From the lakes from the hills from the sky!

Ahhh days of camp memories. I wasn't planning on telling this story tonight but, for some reason it came into my head, so first a little tale (hee I almost spelled it tail which is funny considering the story) then I will regale you with my adventures of today. In my apartment, hanging on the old intercom box (no longer use intercoms here) is a kind of gross looking tie-dyed bucket hat. I love this hat because it represents one of my great unrequited loves. (That's not saying much, almost all my great 'loves' of the past have been unrequited... for some reason I and the boy never have enough balls to say what needs to be said.) Anyway, at camp for 2 years I worked with this fellow whose company I genuinely enjoyed. We had good conversations. He was, for the most part, a good person. I was smitten. :) So the 2nd year of camp, I had this hat that I would wear every day, a white bucket hat. One day, while on the lake canoeing, said hat flew off my head and landed on the water. It floated for a minute, than was run over by another canoe and sunk to the bottom. This was not a normal lake, this was a former gravel quarry. Anyone who knows about gravel quarries will know that they are bizarrely deep in some areas, so we couldn't even see it on the bottom. One day towards the end of camp, boy comes up to me bearing something in his hands. My hat. The hat I loved. He managed to fish it out of the lake. I don't know how, or how long it really took but he had it. It stunk so bad that the smell was actually indescribable. It was fishy green and brown from a month at the bottom of the lake. But I had my hat back. And after multiple washings with bleach, simple green and more bleach, it didn't stink too badly. That may be, in all honesty, the sweetest thing a guy has ever done for me. I have to point out, this is also the same guy who, when I was in a fit of rage (which is fairly rare for me) at the camp boss of the time, he walked 2 and a half miles with me to a campsite down the road and then 2 and a half miles back while I raged and fumed and eventually calmed down.

Anyway, thanks for indulging my little trip down memory lane, on with today's adventures. Got up and went to the fat chick store, which was having a sale. I was sorely disappointed with much of my choices but did end up with 4 bras (the real reason I went) a white shirt and sweater. But the trip was saved by a trip to GI Joes sports and automotive (who thought of this combination I wonder?). One thing I failed to point out about my bad Thursday was that I discovered that my absolute favorite forest green Converse Chucks have been worn through the sole. Sigh. I love these shoes. I have been wearing a pair of forest green Chucks since college. They have gotten harder to find. ANYWAY, at GI Joes Sports and Automotive I found a pair of chucks I couldn't live without. Not forest green this time, but a soft dove gray with pink accents. I lurve them. More than I should probably. I also got a new pair of workout shoes. It was a good shopping day. This evening I spent watching The Lion King (for a 2nd time in 4 days) while volunteering at the Paramount theater. It was relatively uneventful. I always wonder what people think when getting dressed up for the theater. The clothing seems to run the full gamut from almost ball gowns to sweat pants. When I was growing up, on the very rare occasions we went to the theater, it was a dress up occasion. To show respect for the show and the theater and all that, plus it was a huge treat and a huge deal. I like to see the little kids with their parents dressed in their Sunday or Christmas dresses or in their little button down shirts and sweaters with slacks. It is just the way it should be to me. Now I'm relaxing, and watching A Knight's Tale. This is another one of those things I shouldn't love but I do. I think (oh please I know) it is a Heath Ledger thing. Mmm... Heath Ledger. And for my final thought, since Sorbet is really just pureed fruit with some sweetener and then frozen, wouldn't it always be fat free? My raspberry sorbet is proudly proclaiming this. I don't get it, but it is damn yummy.

Plastic

Those people who design that indestructible plastic used to surround items such as little tiny computer parts or my new pedometer should be forced, when they die, to spend their eternity trying to escape after being sealed in one of those plastic bubbles. They are impossible! I cut a portion of one of the manuals trying to cut out this little memory stick thingie.

In other thoughts, now that Christmas is SOOO over, I just did an estimation of my taxes for next year. I should be getting a tidy little refund. I may have to use it to replace Jakob... (computer over 5 years old) With the computer discounts we get at work, this might just be doable. I think I'll have to go for another laptop, though. There is just no space in my apartment for a desktop and all the equipment that goes with one.

One other thought...

The new shower curtain I am oh so excited about courtesy of Archie McPhee and my little sister, has no shower curtain weights on the bottom. Maybe because it is vinyl and not whatever that other shower curtain material is, it doesn't need weights. But if it does the billow in on me thing like my other one does I might be a tiny bit disappointed.

Dammit

There's little so acutely disappointing as having an idea of something you desperately want to eat and not having all the necessary ingredients. I just posted that I was looking forward to banana nut muffins for breakfast... little did I know that the mix I had in the fridge that I thought was muffin mix... it is angel food cake mix. Why in the hell do I have that? I probably could go to QFC and get some mix, but I really shouldn't patronize a store that forces its employees to work on Chrsitmas instead of being at home with their families. Eh who am I kidding, I'll probably totally go and get mix. :)

Merry Christmas To All!

And to all a good night. Michelle will laugh at this, but I initially misspelled Merry Christmas in my title. Hee.

This year my family finally came through with the Devil Duck shower curtain I've wanted since last Christmas. My mom even bought the matching bathmat and trash can so now I have to clean the bathroom to make it worthy of all this finery. But I got a fairly decent haul, and much of what I wanted so life is good. I went last night to buy a roast to have for Christmas day dinner... not so much since they didn't have any of the type I wanted. They did have some fancy schmancy roasts that made my head explode when I looked at the price. Over $50.00 for a little roast? I will not be eating that. I will be eating a Christmas Steak for dinner tonight. :) Mmm. but I'm hungry now I think I'll make some banana nut muffins for breakfast.

Happy holidays dear readers I hope all your dreams for the new year come true.

Hakuna Matata!

I will be seeing The Lion King at the Paramount 3 times in the next week and a half. Not so much because I love it beyond anything else, but today I got an email from the volunteer coordinator desperate for ushers for several shows over the next week. I will be attending as a volunteer tonight, Sunday night and as a paying customer (bought the ticket a month or more ago) on Jan 2nd. It may be more than I can handle seeing it THAT much.

What a day!

And thankgoodness it is over, mostly. Today was our department potluck for the holiday. We did one of those gift exchanges where you bring in something 'white elephant' and then we open it and you can steal someone elses. I am not that fond of doing these gift exchanges. Really, I am not fond of gift exchanges at work at all. I would much prefer it if we would all just take a name off the toys for tots tree and do that instead. Anyway, today's heavily traded items were a book of George Bush paper dolls (Punch out George Bush and his pals), a purse from China and a blue glass ball. At one point I had each of these items, but people kept trading me out. I ended up with a soap/lotion gift set. This would be okay except that it is rose scented. I HATE rose scented things.

Last night I very carefully made pizza. Many in the department were wanting to taste my pizza. I carried it to work. I managed to stow it in the refridgerator at work (if you aren't sure where I'm going here, you probably rode the short bus to school). I take it out at lunchtime and head over to the Student Center Pavillion where there is an oven to heat it up (I had cooked it last night. It was so beautiful, the cheese brown and crispy the way pizza cheese should be). I set it on the counter and removed the foil and stepped away when whammo! Somehow I had not set the pan down correctly on the counter and the pan flipped completely upside down on the floor. The 3 second rule did cross my mind, very seriously crossed my mind until I looked at the floor. Not especially clean and it had that grit built into the floor to be non-stick. Plus there was a witness. :) So no pizza. I was a tiny bit heartbroken.

My boss, (Whose job I will soon have thanks to the power of positive thinking) annoyed me much of today trying to make sure everything was done. Surprisingly enough it was. :) We got to go home early. Now I had my backpack on, a bag in my hand, a coat on and am walking downstairs on my way out the doors when... I get handed a form. Sigh. Instead of going back up to my office, I just tossed it in my mailbox in the HR office. I then saw a person I had been waiting for a form from so I made her fill it out and tossed that in my mailbox too. In final thoughts, I think I lost my bus pass for the month. V usually uses it, so it doesn't affect me TOO much, but that means no bus pass for him... unless I've already given it to him. AND I had this whole idea that I had a car rental voucher that would give me a $100.00 off a car rental so I would rent a car for the week that I'm off and get to do little day trips to like Tacoma where there is a zoo and aquarium that's supposed to be awesome. I looked at the voucher finally. It expired on the 8th of December.

I am SOOO looking forward to this next week off. I really need it after today! :)

10 Things I have an unholy love for

1 - Tacos! Like tacos wouldn't be on this list? Tacos to me are like sandwiches to a regular bread eating person.
2 - So I married an Axe Murder I love Mike Meyers and his poetry in this movie. I've watched it far too many times this week since it is on one of the fancy ass cable channels I have.
3 - Fancy ass cable channels Currently I get Starz and HBO. I used to get Showtime, but now that they have cancelled Dead Like Me, there is absolutely no reason to get Showtime. How many times can I want to watch the crappyass 80's movie For Keeps?
4 - Real World/Road Rules Challenge I know I shouldn't love it, but it's like crack. I watched it a teeny tiny bit and suddenly I needed more and more.
5 - Cheese Mmmm... cheese. Do I need to say more on this one?
6 - Eminem As a woman and a friend to the gays, I shouldn't love him. But I do. Does it make it right since I download his music instead of spending my own hard earned cash?
7 - Anything Disney My religion can do no wrong for me. Like any good fanatic, I worship at the alter of the mouse. It is getting to be time for me to make another trip to my holyland. When I get my boss's job, I will have the money to be able to do that.
8 - Movies with Drew Barrymore Even the not so good ones like Home Fries. If it's got Drew in it, I'm tuned in. Maybe because I think it is so awesome that she had such a crappy childhood and yet has turned her life around. (I had a similar love for Danny Bonaduce for the same reason, until I heard he cheated on his wife. Then I became sad for Gretchen because she put up with a lot of shit from him, more than anyone should. AND she continues to put up with shit from him because unlike Michelle and I would do, she took him back after he cheated.)
9 - Games on MSN They give me something to do when I'm sitting in my office eating my lunch day after day. I should get out and socialize more (especially if I'm to be a successful stalker of workcrush), but...
10 - Jammies Every day I get off work at 4:30. I'm almost always home by 5 (except on Brownie Wednesdays). I'm usually in jammies by like 5:15 at the latest. I don't like to wear work clothes at home because I'm a sloppy eater and because, well, they aren't comfy like jammies. It does get embarrassing when the UPS driver comes at like 5:30 and I'm already in jammies, but I suspect he's just glad I'm wearing clothes at all (or was that a bad sporno I saw on HBO?)
11 - (The secret and totally guilty one) 7th Heaven It is like watching a car accident. You just can't believe it could get any worse, and it DOES! Then you think, ok they can't be more preachy and stupid and the next week they are. It is horrifying, yet oddly addictive.

He's been redeemed

By the the blood of the lamb... or actually because he signed for my stupid UPS package. The he who has been redeemed would be my landlord who I have previously bitched about mostly thanks to Cujo. Cujo is actually not a bad dog at all. I pet her today and she is kind of cute and he laughed that I called her Cujo. We had a nice little chat about packages and Cujo (now that I think about it he didn't tell me her real name) and stuff like that. I continue to have a hatred for UPS since they won't just leave packages. If it is a little package, I'm okay with it because I can have it delivered to work and just carry it home. If it is a big package, not so easy.

Done!

Phew. I applied for my boss's job today. I want it. I hope I get it. I'll be crushed if I don't. It was difficult I guess is the word, since the online application process requires things that make me go huh. Like references. I listed the old ones I used to use to get this job. Because really, I already have a job with SU. They know about me. Why do I have to do this?! If it is any consolation to me, everybody I've spoken with has asked if I'm going to apply and/or assured me I would get it. Here's hoping. My contact at one of our retirement plans said he'd put in a good word for me if I wanted him to, and there was a faculty member in my office recently who did 2 things. 1 - offered me a part time job helping her with her financial stuff. I can barely control my own financial stuff. 2 - went next door and told my current boss how awesome I am. If my current boss hadn't been there (and within earshot of her saying 'who is your boss? I want to tell her what an asset you are') I totally would've sent her down to big boss.
Fingers crossed? Check
Toes crossed? Check
Offering to gods? Check
Knocked on wood? Check
Wished on a star and in a fountain? Check
Found a lucky penny? Check
I think I've covered all the bases. :D

It's a wedding!

Now who could I possibly be marrying, I am sure you are all wondering. Since just what, 4 posts or so ago I was lamenting my single status. My gay, pothead, bartending fiance has set a date for the wedding. April 20th. Probably around 4:35 PM. This will give him a chance to get prepared. I will be the one in the green dress. Location to be determined. We've both agreed that this will be an 'open' marriage to ensure that either one of us gets laid sometimes. We also won't be comingling finances because, well, I'm not supporting a pothead's habit. At least I think this is what we agreed to last night. The details are kind of fuzzy thanks to said bartender's ability to pour most of a tumbler full of rum with a shot of orange juice on top to make it seem like a real mixed drink. I could be entirely mistaken about the wedding plans. :)

Joanne's Googlism

joanne is a hot teen sex slut Well, yes that's obvious.
joanne is going where god is calling I just go where he tells me... to be a hot teen sex slut.
joanne is committed to providing you outstanding personalized service through her genuine caring for her client's needs I'm just good at my job.
joanne is it our fault you have a problem? Yes, yes it is.
joanne is already making use of her artificial leg
joanne is a crossdresser married to lisa Lisa knows all about me and accepts me for who I am, a hot teen sex slut.
joanne is now president of boise's chapter of sisters in crime
joanne is an e
joanne is constantly reminded
joanne is the perfect Was there any question?
joanne is married to actor paul newman and they have three daughters
joanne is a romantic
joanne is a dreamer
joanne is honeybear
joanne is a sculptor do the sculptures count if they are in mashed potatoes?
joanne is here
joanne is the total package You get what you pay for.

Chores

I hate to do chores, as is obvious by my constant discussion of how much I hate to do dishes. I realized part of the reason why is because we don't seem to have cooler water from the taps. I am always scalding my hands. I move the little water spigot handle thing closer to me to be colder, no dice. It is always too hot. The other chore I hate to do is the recycling. I think it is because doing the recycling always involves an active role. In taking out the trash, I just take the bag, tie it up and run it downstairs. The recycling always involves more. I have to flatten whatever boxes. I have to wash out cans and jars (ok this actually gets done as I use the can or jar or else that can or jar just gets chucked, they're too hard to wash out later on). Coke cans I think I'm supposed to crush, but I don't. I'm sure one of these days there'll be a nasty note from the trash nazi lady. Soda bottles have to be washed out. It is a lot of extra work! Last night I took out the recycling for the first time in a LONG time. I had 3 plastic bags of plastic bags and like 4 paper bags of crushed cardboard. I felt like one of those dads trying to hook it all on my fingers so I only had to make one trip. Then there was someone in the elevator. I felt compelled to explain why I had 52 bags of paper and plastic. So now I have 52 bags of trash and I'm explaining it to this kid who lives upstairs as if he cares, and as if I care what he thinks. It was kinda ridiculous.

rough night

Last night. I woke up at 2:30. And that was it, I was just awake. I tried all the tricks, counting backwards from 1,000. At about 650 I gave up because I was still wide awake. I turned on the light and played my gameboy hoping that would help. No such luck. Read my Tarot cards. If they're right, I may be screwed the next few months. :) Turned the light back off and did that relax each part of your body until you fall asleep thing. That finally worked at 4:00. I so did not get up to the gym this morning at 5. :)

I did have a weird dream, though. I dreamt that Michelle was visiting. And we found an abandoned big dog. She decided to take it home with her, but at the last minute she decided not to since she has 2 big dogs already. So she left it with me. I had angst over keeping it becuase I live in a small apartment, but in the end I kept it and we were walking and it was on a leash.

According to Dreammoods.com

Dog:To see a dog in your dream, indicate a skill that you have ignored or forgotten, but needs to be activated. Alternatively, dogs may symbolize intuition, loyalty, generosity, protection, and fidelity. Your own values and intentions will enable you to go forward in the world and succeed.

Airport: (since we were at the airport getting ready to leave when Michelle changed her mind) To see a busy airport in your dream, signifies the desire for freedom, high ideals, ambition, and hopes. It is an indication that you are approaching a new departure in your life. Some new idea is taking off or is ready to take off. You may be experiencing a new relationship, new career path or new adventure.

Leash: To dream that you are holding a leash, indicates a need for more control in your life.

Hmm... What this means... what this means.

Health, health, health darling!

Today I had a rather unusual craving for salad. Why is this unusual, mostly because I don't eat green stuff if I can avoid it. :) But today, I thought a nice crisp cucumber and some lettuce would be yummy. Now before you all go thinking I'm healthy and crap, you should know what was in this salad...
Lettuce - Iceberg. I'm not a big fan of the rock & twig lettuce. I ate a salad once at the Captain Cook in Anchorage and it totally seemed like I was eating dandelions. It was not yummy.
Cucumbers - Yum. I've always loved cucumbers.
Carrots - Again yum. I've always liked carrots (raw never cooked).
So that's all relatively good right? Here's where the salad started going downhill...
Chicken. Ok, chicken isn't really bad for you. Protein and all that.
Shredded Cheddar - Yum cheese! Really, it's all about the cheese.
Ranch - Based on the amount still in the bottom of the bowl, I used way too much ranch. :) But it is so yummy. And it was Lite Done Right, that counts right? :) Right??

I made this salad while I was STARVING so it was huge (the middle size of one of those 3 glass mixing bowl sets). Now I'm completely full, except maybe for a little space for a fudgsicle. Those are healthy, right?? RIGHT?

Hockey Yay!

I bought a ticket to go to a Seattle Thunderbirds game on the 29th vs. the Everett Silvertips. Since Everett is just a little north of here, this is a big rivalry and there will be a lot of Everett fans at the game. This may be the only time I leave the apartment the entire week I have off. Last night, I was trying to order a ticket at ticketmaster. I hate them. For my $20.00 ticket, they wanted to tax me 2 bucks and then their 4 dollar convenience charge. Plus I was hoping to get an aisle seat. So today I called the Thunderbird ticket office directly. Booya! Although I didn't get my aisle seat, I got a seat in row number 2. ROW 2! I am ever so excited about this. But now that I look at this ticket, I have a sinking feeling I may have picked a weird place to sit. I chose it because it is behind the penalty boxes and I remember in college that these were fun seats (although in college we were actually behind the players' benches). I also like to be in the middle because I can see the action better. The other 2 times I went with a coworker, we sat behind a goal and you can only see well that goal and not the other. It has since dawned on me, though, I may have just picked a seat in the 'Everett section.' Eh, life goes on... or those Everett rednecks will kill me. :) At which time Michelle or Volodiya will have to do the apartment sweep before my parents' come to officially clean it out. There are definitely some skeletons in my apartment I don't think my poor Catholic mother should see. :D

Christmas Presents

Whee! Some have arrived from Michelley and my parents. I opened Michelley's already. Very nice, the 2004 Starlounge CD and a penguin (I collect penguins) charm. Of the random crap my parents sent, (and sadly I'm not even talking about the Christmas presents except for 1 yet) a coat rack to hang on the wall. I've actually battled with my mother over this one multiple times. The battle being... DON'T SEND IT! Obviously I lost. A cordless rechargable screwdriver. That's okay and actually kind of useful. And some quilting tools, also kind of useful. I have opened one present already, because it was bottle shaped. I was apparently wrongly hoping for it to be alcohol. Not quite. Maraschino cherry syrup. If there's no cherry rum and redbull to make a 'cherry blast' I don't want to know about this. I haven't opened the other presents yet, maybe because I'm a tiny bit scared. Despite providing my mother a list, I strongly suspect she ust randomly chose stuff (a suspicion reinforced by cherry syrup).

To sleep perchance to dream

I had a lot of really vivid dreams last night. I can only remember snippets of them though. There was one I remember waking up and thinking, 'I need to find the pen and write this down because I want to remember in the morning' but I think I fell asleep before I found the pen. This got me to thinking about the weird crap that is currently in my bed with me. I am a single person sleeping dead center on a queen sized bed. I seem to stockpile crap in the space around my head. On one side, the aforementioned notebook and somewhere a pen (although that may have rolled to the floor by now) 2 books and a broken lamp. The other side... my glasses go, a little stack of rubber bands, a bandana for putting over my eyes when it is sunny outside so that I can sleep, at least 2 magazines and... at the edge of the bed, puppy biscuit crumbs and Baxter's bell ball. Apparently that's her spot. Anyway, back to the dreams. Among other things I remember dreaming about was being late to work. Not at the job I work now but I worked for a kiosk in the mall and I was supposed to be there at 9:00 and it was already 9:00 and I was just in jammies and had to go home and get dressed then go. For some reason I was on the street in front of a Starbucks with 2 of my friends (who were not actually people I know in RL) and they worked there and I was trying to convince one of them to just go open the kiosk for me and I'd be there as soon as I could. The other was about me and a non-existant boyfriend. We were doing all the cutsey boyfriend/girlfriend things people do around the holidays. I think that one came up because I was going over old posts yesterday looking for when exactly the beloved Bronco died and came across my posts about the yeti and all the cutsey boyfriend/girlfriend things we were doing during the holidays.

New Year's Eve

What to do.. What to do?

New Year's Eve is one of those weird holidays people have to cope with. They suck when you're single because there's that whole "kissing someone on New Year's Eve" thing to contend with. They suck for me because I really don't like crowds or people overly much. Then of course there's the "What did you do for New Year's?" question. If you're hypothetically young and hip, you're at a party or a bar and having a wild old time. Is it a sign of old age then, when you don't want to do that anymore? I've been pondering what to do this year and come up with a few options, none of which please me.

A - Do what I did 2 years ago. Go out with V to the gay bars and hang out with gay boys. Several downsides - a - Gay boys... hello they don't help me. :) b - V. His behavior while drinking lately has on more than one occasion made me angry with him. I don't really want to deal with that bullshit.

B - Volunteer. There is an art museum that is having a huge bash and they need volunteers. If you work for them for 2 hours, you get into the gig for free. I like Harvey Danger, who is playing. The downside - a - I won't know anyone and that will make me uncomfortable. b - It will probably be crowded.

C - Stay at home and watch videos (I might even break my Pay Per View cherry so to speak and order them on PPV as opposed to Blockbuster). The only real downside to this one is it is a depressing way to spend New Year's Eve given the hype that it should live up to.

What I would really rather do... If I had unlimited resources, I would love to be at either Disneyland or Disney World and just enjoying the parks all night. Yeah it would be crowded and all that but still... It is the happiest place on earth! :) Otherwise, I wouldn't mind a small party where people I know and like are all together playing board games, maybe having a few drinks and eating good food. Just something low key. Unfortunately, I don't know enough people here to do this kind of thing, or more specifically enough people here who would want to do this sort of thing. Of course... there's always a booty call in Fairbanks. ;) Bwahahaha! Or not. :) Next year, when I have my boss's income, I'll go someplace and visit people like Michelle or Katie Girl, or even, my sister.

I promise I'll be funny again..

Yesterday I noticed that my blog had been updated so I figured a comment had appeared and proceeded to go back through a bunch of posts. Hmm... no comment so I go further back. No new comments... Hmm... Then it dawns on me, I'm a retard and I was the updater. I added a new link. Anyway, as I was reading through some of my previous stuff I realized I used to be funny and kind of insightful. Lately, maudlin and preachy. When did this happen? How did this happen? I can only blame being in my 30s on this. Damn 30's. To that end, I'll try to be funny again but have to throw at least one more log on the maudlin/preachy fire. So here's a bunch of thoughts of the moment...

1 Year Anniversary Since I've been without a car. I looked back and discovered it was December 2nd that the beloved Bronco died and I made the heart wrenching decision not to get him fixed. It's been okay, especially with the assistance of Flexcar. I don't miss the expense, but I do miss the freedom. It was nice to know that if I randomly wanted to drive down to Portland for a long weekend I could. I never did that, but it was nice to know the option was there. Kind of like having condoms in the nightstand. I may never use the damn things, but it is nice to know the option is there. :)

Christmas shopping is done! I had 8 people and 2 birthdays this year. I came in 30 dollars less than I had mentally budgeted which is good. The only downer, I'm so bad with money. In my mind I had extra money (for Christmas presents) so I kept buying things for me because 'I had extra money.' Sigh. So ultimately I spent more than I had planned. Eh whatever. When I get my boss's job, I won't have to worry this much about money. Yay me!

Workcrush I haven't seen workcrush in days. I may have to dust off my stalking shoes and night vision goggles and go seek him out. :)

Worms & Random high school story

It has been raining for like a fortnight, I swear. (Or about 5 days but close enough.) As a result, there are worms all over the sidewalk. I don't like to step on them. I know they are just worms and don't have the complex thought process to register Aggghh! Someone has stepped on me, but still I feel a tiny bit bad for the worm. Plus, worm guts ew. So, as a result I walk everywhere right now with my head down, staring intently at the sidewalk to avoid them.

Which reminds me of a story from high school biology class. I took bio as a freshman because our high school had this path toward college: biology, chemistry, physics and if you were serious AP chem or AP physics. I wasn't that serious. :) So here I am, lowly little freshperson in bio class a little tweaked out about having to dissect anything. The worm was slightly tolerable, although the fumes made me cough. So next in line is the frog. I'm paired up with T&A ditzy blonde cheerleader type. Oh no, I think. Anything but this. Little did I know that T&A was totally into dissection (probably used to ripping hearts out). It totally grossed me out and I didn't want anything to do with it, but she dove in with scalpel and forceps. We actually made a good team, she would pull body parts out and I would identify them. I remember she had a big thing about fat in the frog. She cut it all out. I wonder whatever happened to her... probably is now a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills.

Today's horrorscope

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You'll be daydreaming about the things you long to do. A love interest will capture your attention. Together you can come up with a great plan. 5 stars

Hmm... Maybe this will help me with Christmas wish #2. (eh I have to have hope or optimism or something)

Farking Pill

Somehow I have only 2 weeks worth of pills left after a 1 year prescription. Crap. Since my doctor has left my clinic, it isn't like I can just call the pill place and have them call her to refill it. Double crap. And I'm switching to Group Health starting Jan 1. Triple crap. Apparently I'm going to have to make a girlie appointment the 1st week of Jan. Well happy farking New Year to me. I just did the math and discovered why I've completely run out of pills early... 1 pack of 4 weeks worth, 12 packs per prescription year = 48 weeks, not the necessary 52. Luckily it isn't the pills that keep my Dermatitis Herpetiformis under control. That I couldn't wait 2 additional weeks for.

Christmas Wishes

I just had 25% of my Christmas wishes come true today... I guess it would be 25%. I have 2 Christmas wishes...

1 - Boss would quit and I would get her job.
2 - Meet a nice youngish man for holiday adventures with potential to become a 'thing.'

The drumroll on what portion came true today...

My boss quit. She will be terming sometime in Jan/Feb. I am very excited about this, but also full of trepidation, since I WANT HER JOB! My biggest boss was talking about pulling out the job description and interviewing candidates and the types of interviews blah blah blah and my heart was sinking a little bit. Then he said that all of that doesn't mean I shouldn't apply if I want it. If I want it?! Are you kidding me? Since day 3 I wanted it. More money, less mindnumbingness and on and on and on. But I'm secretly terrified that if I do apply I won't get it. Then what? I'm such a girl.

I rock!

I hit the gym this morning for the 1st time in a month. It was good to get back in the swing of things again. I managed to keep my strides/min up which made me happy. I love the showers at the gym, not the showering with other people because I have naked issues, but the water pressure and the shower heads are sooo nice! I missed those. :) I'm getting back on my 4 mornings a week program if it kills me.

Ice Skating

Whee! It was so nice to go ice skating. I love the coldness of the ice and it reminds me of Alaska. It is very zen to just go round and round. I was wobbly at first but eventually got my ice legs and felt more comfortable. The bad part was the ice was very chopped up. I don't think they ran the zamboni (although the rink was WAY too small to run a real zamboni). That was another issue, the rink was very small. And there were children with those ice skating walkers, to try to help them learn to ice skate. I don't really think they help because the kids lean too heavily on them and they don't learn to balance themselves. Plus there were several kids using them who totally didn't need them and were just playing around with them and there were some very little kids who did need them. I only stayed a little over an hour. My right leg does not like ice skating too much and it gets very cramped and tired. I was thinking about this as I was on the bus home. My right leg frequently gets leg cramps when I'm walking, and I wonder if it is a carry over from when I injured my back when I was a sophmore in college. (Holy shrit that was 10 years ago?!) My left leg was always in pain because the disc was pressing on the sciatic nerve that ran down the left leg. Since I spent over a year limping, I wonder if I still have some residual walking issues, like I developed bad walking habits. Before I lived here, I didn't do this much walking ever. I dunno.

Ice Skating Party

Yay! I am going ice skating tonight as part of the party for the International Children's Festival. I did a little research and they have ice skating as a part of Winterfest at the Seattle Center. Yay! I love ice skating and yet hardly ever go for multiple reasons. In college Shelley and I took beginner Ice Skating. I got a "P" in that class. :)

Enabler

Apparently, unlike Katie girl, I'm an enabler not an empowerer. V & I were out tonight and he was beyond drunk. I ended up dragging his sorry ass out of the bar, he claimed to want to leave, although the only way to get him was to grab his hand and take him out. He almost got into a fight, not shocking considering how gone he actually was. I was going to leave earlier, because he annoyed the crap out of me. Yet I stayed, like the fool I am. We went into another bar but did not drink. We went to IHOP (his idea) and had to bail fairly quickly because he was too drunk to sit in the restaurant, so I packed up his sandwich paid the bill & we left. I had to reassure him about 7 times that he did have his bank card and he still had to take his wallet out and look at the damn card twice.

Some random 40+ year old woman came up and talked to him and he introduced me as his wife. I didn't bother correcting that weirdness. Apparently she and her husband were in the bar trying to pick up a 3rd. She hit on me and then called me uptight when her husband pulled her away telling her to stop. I should feel annoyed by that (being called uptight), but seriously... big blonde hair married to mullet ponytail guy. I felt a tiny bit bad for the guy because he seemed a bit more than uncomfortable. She at one point asked me how I put up with it all, "Heavy drinking," was my response because really... what other response is there when you're not sure what's going on.

Shopping for the kiddies...

Today was one of those mass field trip days that I do. Although if I hadn't slept late, I wouldn't have been late for every bit of my day. :) I went up to Target and bought presents for Toys for Tots. I had picked a couple names off the tree at my work. It was fun, but I get too neurotic wanting to think it would be something the kids would really enjoy. The tag has the present idea, but you know... like when it just says books. What kind of books? But I am pleased with what I got and it was fun. I also got new panties which were necessary.

After leaving Target, I went out to the gluten free restaurant in Edmonds, Kaili's Kitchen. I got the stuffed french toast. It was good, but there was too much cream cheese and for some reason I was hoping my French Toast would come with something besides just French Toast... like bacon. :) And the service is a bit slow because there doesn't seem to be enough people, or maybe enough people who know what the fuck they're doing. Or maybe I should really be grumpy at the people taking a lifetime to make up their minds ahead of me at the counter.

Duran Duran

When I was a little girl, my best friend and I LOVED Duran Duran. We had all their pictures out of Teen Beat and Tiger Beat and all those magazines. We had all their music on either vinyl or tape. We loved them. Junna had a crush on Simon Le Bon and I had one on Roger Taylor. I must say, Roger Taylor has not aged well. They just showed a video for their new song on VH1, and hmmm... not so hot as when I was little. I had a whole method to why I liked Roger Taylor best... Junna had Simon Le Bon so clearly he was off limits according to the best friend's code. John Taylor everybody liked. Andy Taylor was creepy and Nick Rhodes was too girlie. He wore make-up! So that left Roger Taylor. Voltaire! The logic of 5th grade girls.

Batting for the other team.

It has come to my attention that if I were a lesbian I would not be single. How have I determined this, you might wonder. Well, apparently lately every time I've gone out on a busy bar night (as opposed to the random Monday V & I go out on some nights), I get hit on by a woman. Tonight's was a 'lipstick lesbian,' according to V. I'm not 100% certain what that means, although I will infer based on the girl it means very femme. She was really pretty, probably too hot for me. :) She was waiting for her friends who all turned out to be very butch. It was an interesting dichotomy.

And now a very special message...

From 7th Heaven. Yes, I have learned something from the most craptastically fabulous show 7th Heaven. That lesson... Preacher's kids are the devil. Brownies started off so well tonight. I had the 5 quiet ones (please note I only have 8 brownies in the troop when all of them show up). And then the 6th quiet one showed up and I thought to myself this will be the best meeting ever! Then came 7 & 8. Neither of whom tend to listen to me although 7 is slightly better than 8 and 7's dad attended the meeting so she was totally on good behavior. Which brings me to 8. 8 makes me crazy. I ask 8 to not sing... 8 sings. I ask 8 not to sing... 8 sings and on and on. And, you guessed it, 8 is a preacher's kid. Despite all this, though, we had a good meeting. We made coptors from our badge book and as long as they were quiet and walked up the stairs appropriately and listened while we were up on the balcony of my work, we got to throw them off the 2nd floor and they thought that was the coolest thing ever. The silly little coptors actually took up almost the entire meeting time. So we didn't get to have Brownie smackdown that still needs to happen... mostly because 7 & 8 are the ones that need it most and they were like 15 minutes late so we had already started on the coptors. There's always next week I suppose.

Lunch with big gay friend

I just got back from lunch with big gay friend and found out why he was being so weird about workcrush... (See this post to jog your memory) He was going to fix me up with workcrush. And now it is hard too tell if he is or not after all. :( He thinks workcrush is the type who is too independent. But he is also the type for whom one thinks why is he single? keeping my fingers crossed, but gay boys are so unreliable sometimes. :)

Yay Mail!

I got a box from Amazon today. Yay! I ordered Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Circle of Friends and Disney's Season of Song on CD. I am so excited to watch my new DVD's and listen to my CD, probably will take it to work tomorrow so I can listen to it there. Yay!

Also, I have noticed there are 2 times when it is guaranteed I will have to pee a lot. When I'm doing dishes... It is like I'm 6... the running water makes me crazy. I seriously have to pee at least twice while doing them (of course this is over like an hour and a half which is how long it takes me to really do the dishes given how much I screw around while doing them). The other, something about walking in the door when I get home from being wherever. The need is proportional to the amount of crap I'm carrying/wearing etc. If I just walk in and I'm wearing normal jeans & a tshirt with no coat or back pack... I only have to go a little bit. When I walk in with bags, coat, MP3 player plugged in, backpack on... I'm doing the dance by the time I get everything off. What am I? 5??

Seattle Marathon Volunteering

A few thoughts on volunteering for the Seattle Marathon today, but first a minirant. If you see cones dividing a 2 lane road, and you see runners/walkers filling the left lane, do you really think I'm going to let you turn left? Do you even need to ask? Just fucking turn right and I would kinda appreciate it if you wouldn't scowl at me. It isn't my fault you didn't read the bulletins and signs around the neighborhood telling you about the marathon. And NO, I don't know an alternate route to Capitol Hill.

7 hours in the cold with no break is too fucking long to schedule a volunteer. Luckily the volunteer from the corner down the block didn't have anything to do since his corner had a cop directing traffic so I managed to go pee and get a cocoa at about 12ish (after getting there at 7:40 AM) When I left at 3:00 I was exhausted and FREEZING and hungry. Luckily, I had remembered the basic living in Alaska lesson... dress in layers. I had on: Silk long johns (hypothetically better at 'wicking', jeans, long sleeved t-shirt, another long sleeved t-shirt, hooded sweatshirt, old UAF jacket, hat. Both hoods were up and my scarf was up around my neck. For awhile, it was nice and I was in the sun and it was on my back and I felt like a cat probably feels, all toasty and warm, but the sun went behind the building nearby... it felt like it dropped 10 degrees for me. I enjoyed watching the runners and walkers. It made me... a little bit teary maybe to see some of these folks just plugging along. It was cool to see the fast ones too, that first runner for each the 1/2 and whole marathon... there's something oddly inspirational to that. It almost made me think I could do one. At least a half marathon (13 miles). With not much else to do except tell cars right turn only, I had a lot of time to stand and daydream. I figured Greenlake is 2.8 miles around so if I started slow and eventually built up to 5 times around Greenlake that would be a half marathon. I dunno, it is a nice thought. I bet I could at least walk the 1/2 marathon. Maybe I'll let it tumble in the back of my mind for a bit.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

The apple box is probably older than I am, the contents wrapped carefully in Kleenex and paper towels, yellow with age. One of my parents' favorite Christmas stories is how when they were first married all they could afford for their first Christmas tree was the cheapest Christmas balls possible, the red ones. Apparently back then (keep in mind they've been married 40 years this year), they were sold in boxes by color rather than now. They vowed that we wouldn't have a Christmas tree like that so each year when we were kids, our parents would purchase Christmas ornaments for us. In the beginning they were just random pieces picked up at craft fairs. I have a little girl on a swing who, for some reason, never manages to stay upright on the swing, her little thread 'chains' twisting her upside down. There's the stick horse, with a pixie stick for the stick. I don't even want to think how old that pixie stick is. As I unwrap each thing in the box, I am flooded with memories of each thing. The knitted stocking with the white bear, Nan's was a horse and Mandy's a brown bear. The skier I made when we (in a rare family activity) sat around the table and made them. The little Santa box that lifts open to reveal a teeny tiny space inside, one of the last things my sister gave me. Doesn't Joey make a comment about the little tiny boxes women love... too small to put anything in them. Missy, old roommate, used to call them our crack vials. The little green and white elf, I think it is supposed to be an elf, I have had since I was a small child. The crazy salt dough ornaments Kate and I made one year, my first Christmas in Alaska in my very own apartment, that are too heavy to actually hang on the tree; they fall off. There's the Christmas ball one of my students made fore me, 100 years ago when I was a teacher. Each time I reach into the box, it is with a tiny bit of anticipation since I have no idea what I'm going to find. It's like an archaeological dig, dusting away at the layers of my past life. After a while, she switched to the Hallmark ornaments, but for some reason, they don't mean as much to me as these weird mismatches from my childhood.

Just breathe

The elevator in my building is apparently out of order. I am not pleased. Further, I am not pleased with the fact that climbing 4 floors has just about killed me. Seriously. I work out 4 mornings a week. 45 min on the elliptical trainer. At what I believe is a fairly high stride/min level. Why can't I walk up stairs? Why can't I walk up the hills? Gah. I've been working out for a year. By now I should be in decent enough shape to do this, right?

Cool new toy

I love Bed Bath & Beyond. I bought the coolest thing today. I bought a back lotion applicator. It is so cool. It has a long handle and a head that you fill with lotion and these little balls in the head that do the applying and act like a little massager. It is the simple things in life that are so cool.

Turkey Day!

I am oh so sleepy right now! I went to my coworker, R's, house for Thanksgiving with her, her mom, 2 roommates, and 2 other random extreanous friends. We had so much fun! Suffice to say, heavy drinking was involved. I think it was about 2:30 when I stopped drinking... maybe 2. I ended up staying because I was not catching a bus at 3:30 in the morning. I woke up at 7 and slipped out and caught the bus home and went back to bed. I don't even like wine and we drank a shitload of it. I am very lucky I'm not hung over this morning, because I was kind of fearing that. The food was really good. R's roommate A, made my favorite potatoes, twice baked. Her mom made this amazing AMAZING pumpkin cheesecake. I don't even like pumpkin, but that cheesecake was the BOMB. Yum. I will have to get the recipe to try it my own self.

Why is it I think I want to buy something at the most inconvenient time possible? I was just thinking today I want to go to Target and get a new bathmat, but then I remembered Day After Thanksgiving and thought ewww... So I think I'll travel down to Bed Bath & Beyond. It'll still be crazy, but maybe not as bad as Target? I can hope right?

Drunk and Maudlin

As I was walking home from the bar I was writing in my head a whole fucking whine about what the fuck do I have to be thankful for. Then I walked past this old folk's home that has a little overhang and there's a homeless person sleeping under it. Even when I want to feel sorry for myself I can't because there's always someone who has it worse. It is my Voltaire! given right to feel sorry for my lonely ass self during the holidays. Dammit! (I also just almost totally choked myself on the roast beef I'm eating)

Story from the past...

Subtitled Small Town People are so Nice
Also subtitled How to really piss me off and not be my friend anymore

I think periodically when I think of them I'll tell a story from the past, probably more to remind me of them some time in the future...

Once upon a time I was a camp counselor in Prescott Az. I LOVE Prescott. If I were to ever consider moving back, I'd go there, except it is all old people anyway not really pertinent to the story. These details are... Prescott is 4 hours from Phoenix which is 4 hours from the town I grew up in. My best friend from high school was at Girl Scout camp in Peyson, about 2 hrs from Prescott but across the state so still about 4 hours from Phoenix and 4 hours from SV. On my last day at camp, I was supposed to pick up Jenny in Peyson and me, another counselor from my camp and she were all going to drive back, dropping Laura in Tucson then Jen & I would go back to SV. My parents had told me not to go to Peyson, but to pick up Jen in Phoenix. Yeah whatever. So we drive to Peyson and up a curvy windy mountain road where I discover that all the people from the Peyson camp had left. The day before. WTF? They had all gone to Phoenix the day before? I had not heard about this and since I was there to pick up Jen, this was a problem. So I do what any normal person would do, I called her mom. Who explained that Jenny called me (uh no, I would've gotten that message) and told me. Jen was back in SV already by that time. So a little pissy, I go back out to the truck and head down the hill. Apparently one of the bumps we hit did something bad to the truck because I had no electric in the car. No brake lights, no turn signals, no headlights and most importantly no way to turn the car back on once I turned it off. To get it going again to get down the mountain we (with the help of the camp host) push started it. So we are driving around Peyson on a Saturday afternoon (small town world, Sunday, the next day, is the kiss of death... there's nothing open) as it gets dark. With no headlights. We find a Texaco station that has a garage attached to it (closed of course) and without turning off the car we go in to see if they would be able to help us in the morning. Luckily they could. So we turn off the car and leave it and go to a restaurant to eat and figure out what to do next. Apparently something very exciting was going on in Peyson that weekend because there were no hotels open (ok there's 1 there I think) and the campground was full so now we don't know what to do. We had seen a park and wondered what really would happen if we were caught sleeping outdoors (we had all our camping gear) so we called the police and asked. Apparently they were less than sure about letting 2 19 year old girls sleep randomly in a park so they had us call back in 20 minutes while they work something out. We call back and they have arranged for us to sleep in the fellowship hall of their police chaplain's church. We get the camping gear and start walking towards the church and get picked up by a sherriff. Poor Laura had to ride in the back behind the mesh. They let us in the fellowship hall and we unroll the sleeping bags to go to sleep. I can't remember what time this was, probably around 9, but we were exhausted and kind of creeped out. The church was really quiet but had the normal bumps that happen in the night. We woke up the next morning and could hear the church ladies making coffee so we snuck out. Again, we were picked up by a sherriff's car that took us back to the Texaco station. They fixed the car and we were on our merry way several hours later. I get back to the home town, my parents are of course, pissed. And I don't hear from Jen. And I don't hear from Jen. And I don't hear from Jen. Finally 3 weeks have passed and I was already pissed and now I'm furious. (Anyone who really knows me knows how unusual for me this really is). I called her. She was leaving in like 3 hours to go back to college. She gives me some song and dance about how she sent me a letter and called me about it (both lies). I was too angry and we stopped talking shortly after I went back to college. I couldn't be her friend anymore after all that shit. I'm fairly forgiving, and if she had called and said that she forgot to let me know I would've been okay with it, but to not hear from her for 3 weeks, which I know is because she knew she was totally in the wrong, that was what set me over the edge.

Eeek! Sex Dream

With moral turpitude guy of all people. Well since the deed was not actually accomplished I guess it was only a 1/2 sex dream. We were at a party (not together but at the same party) with a bunch of people from The Real World. There was this lesbian hitting on me and not taking no for an answer so I turned to him for help since he was the only person I actually knew there and he started kissing me. Somehow we ended up under a blanket, he was not clothed I was. But then he got called away and had to put on pants and I just lie there thinking thank goodness. We ended up together again later somehow but he got called away by Chuckie who needed him. (Yes the scary doll from the movies Chuckie, that commercial has been on way too much.) So then I'm out in a park and I stomp on Chuckie's head and kill him. And we go to the funeral and I keep thinking if he was so easy to kill why did they have to make all those movies about him? And then I woke up and was thinking about why was Chuckie so hard to kill. Altogether too weird I think...

Funniest statement of the morning...

I heard from this youngish guy in the elevator. I said "You live on the floor with the crazy old lady right?" He thinks for a minute and says "You mean the one we call OCD grandma?" Hahaha OCD Grandma.

Colin Firth & Women's Entertainment Channel

Here it is Saturday afternoon and I'm watching Circle of Friends on the Women's Entertainment Network (or Channel?) I totally did not realize that Colin Firth (star of Bridget Jones among other things) plays icky Simon Westward. I actually just read it on Amazon when I ordered my own copy of the movie. That being said, WE is a crappyass channel. This movie is not especially racy, but they've still edited out naughty parts. Including a scene where Eve Malone and her boyfriend are playing checkers for dares... So she loses and Adian wants her to hold "it", and she agrees but she won't jiggle it about. Hysterical line.

Absurd

I just realized that the Ener-G crackers I ordered from Kinnikinnick foods are made here in Seattle. They get exported to Canada, then imported. You'd think I could cut out that middle step, but they are 1.30 cheaper at the store in Canada than for me to buy them here at Fred Meyer.

From the random file...

1 - I took home 3 of my plants from work today. They're dying (ok really 1 is dead). I had to make a big production of the fact that I was just taking them home because they're dying and not for some random reason like I'm quitting. Although my 2 comrades teased me about being like Phoebe in that episode of Friends where she secretly moves out without letting Monica know. I will be bringing in 2 new healthy plants to attempt to kill. :) Apparently the amount of neglect they get at my house is better than the amount of neglect they get at work. Earlier this month I had to leave early to take Bax to the vet. When I asked if I could go early my boss was like "You're not going to interview are you?" That was so weird...

2 - My big gay friend Troy has started doing this weird thing at work. He works with workcrush and he and workcrush wander around together doing techie things. For the past 2 days anytime he has seen me when he was with workcrush he makes this big production of ensuring we know who each other are. [Imagine in big gay voice] "Joanne, so glad to see you! You know workcrush right? Workcrush, you know Joanne right?" I fear he may be up to something. I emailed him and asked him and he said he was trying to impress workcrush. I said with what your weirdness or your gayness? The queen was not amused. :) My fear... he knows I have tiny crush on workcrush... Need I say anymore about my fear? :)

3 - I broke down and bought the big guns of acid reflux pills. My stomach has not settled down in days despite liberal coatings of pepto. Pepcid AC rocks! I managed to sleep through the night last night for the first time in a week.

4 - My new coworker cracks my shit up. She reminds me so much of Marion from college. A little flighty and very giggly.

Edited this morning... EEEK! I used his real name, that's never acceptable! :)

Am I a REAL Pisces?

You are 93% Pisces

How much do you match your zodiac sign?

Apparently yes.

Moral Turpitude Part 3

Ok so he asked me about the cheating/divorce thing that Michelle IM'd him about earlier... here's our convo. :) I will admit that I pretended not to know anything about Michelle's convo with him.

Cheater says: Do you think that cheating ( one act of indescretion) is automatically grounds for divorce
jo says: Yes
jo says: Why do you ask?
Cheater says: Michelle and I had this discussion days ago and I just thought I would run it by you to see your opionion
jo says: Oh... Yes I do
Cheater says: she agrees with you
jo says: She is a smart cookie.
jo says: You, I take it don't
Cheater says: Well, my point was that marriage is suposed to be this sacred eternally strong commitment based on love...and if marriage was important enough for two people to agree to bond for life than I dont think a single act of indescretion should be automatically grounds for divorce...people are people and they make mistakes
jo says: Yeah but if you make a mistake that is so basic and is so against the most simple premise, than what you're telling your partner is that "Yeah I made this promise, but something hotter/better/skinnier/whatever came along and I slipped" there's a mistake and there's a MISTAKE
jo says: You're telling the person that the promise you made is basically worthless.
jo says: and that you have so little regard for that person you can't keep a promise.
jo says: And if you can't keep the most basic of promises, how can I trust the person to keep other promises?
Cheater says: or maybe that the stresses of life accompanied by a recently emotionally distant wife and alcohol and purley by accident you found yourself in a situation that you made a wrong desicion
jo says: if your life is that shitty you got bigger problems and probably will end up divorcing anyway.
jo says: and that's really an excuse.
jo says: so if you weren't able to get it up one night, she should be able to go out and find someone who can?
jo says: And if you love her how would you find yourself in that place to begin with?
Cheater says: well maybe not, maybe it just happen to be a situaional low in the relationship acccompanied by overwhelming stress from the work place
Cheater says: well lets say you are hangin out with the guys at one of your friends homes drinking, just trying to relax and escape life for a little while, you get too drunk and some women friends of you buddies show up and start coming on to you
jo says: then you repeat the following line.
jo says: NO I'm married.
jo says: No i'm married
jo says: No. I'm married and I made a promise.
Cheater says: it could happen, and you loving your wife had nothing to do with you being in that situation
jo says: Fuck that situational low
jo says: Then you get the fuck out of the situation
jo says: if you're that worried about these girls coming on to you... fucking leave
jo says: You don't cheat.
Cheater says: you are too drunk to walk out
Cheater says: and one of em undoes your pants and start sucking your johnson
Cheater says: ha ha
jo says: Then I guess you feel fucking guilty for the rest of your fucking life but you sure as shit don't tell her.
jo says: And you're still in the wrong.
jo says: If you're so drunk that you don't even know what the fuck you're doing... there's bigger issues.
Cheater says: yes true, I agree with that
Cheater says: but I dont think that a situation such as that, should be automatic grounds for termination. Maybe the man is a wonderful dad, a caring husband very generous with his time and money with his family...is a good person
jo says: Obviously he isn't.
jo says: If he is haning out in situations where this kind of thing could happen.
jo says: If he is hanging out with guys who know girls (or knows girls on his own) who would have so little regard for his marriage.
Cheater says: he is not hangin out in these situations, prior to this his friends house had never had this kinda women hangin arounds
jo says: And for the most part, girls don't just jump on without some sort of invite.
Cheater says: Not true, I have been in several situations where It was difinately clear that I was not interested but the women chose to continue the pursuit of physicalnesss
jo says: Well then you're just a fucking special boy aren't ya... because mostly we don't jump on ya without some sort of indication that you'd be willing.
jo says: We're much more uncomfortable with rejection.
Cheater says: any way I am not trying to prove the likely hood of a woman jumping on his joke uninvited, I am merely saying that a single act of indescretion should be automatically a divorce..it is a problem to be worked through with people who truely love eachother
jo says: And I disagree...
Cheater says: that should have been should not be
jo says: A single act of indiscretion indicates that he or she has no regard for the individual.
jo says: For the person's feelings.
Cheater says: maybe they have plenty of regard for the other person but just made a mistake or slipped up
Cheater says: well anyway, I do appreciate you sharing your opionion with me.
jo says: But see that's the base of our argument... I say that there should be no slip up or mistake making because the basic premise the very original deal behind marriage is "Forasking all others"
jo says: Forsaking not forasking.
jo says: Basically you've made a promise not to fuck someone else and that promise should always be in the back of your head.
Cheater says: I am trying to get a monogram design to etch into my dads wine bottles
jo says: Hee... I notice you give up the argument... you're learning. That sounds like a nice idea, a monogram.
Cheater says: well, it was not one I thought I could change, just thought it is one I could could give people something to think about
jo says: Nope, not me on this one.
jo says: There are 2 things automatically grounds for divorce in my world... cheating & physical abuse.
jo says: Perhaps since Michelle agreed with me that's something for you to think about.
jo says: Or I agreed with Michelle...

He didn't respond to that portion... :)dumbass (I will say that while I'm tipsy and this makes me swear more, it doesn't change my views on affairs)

Added at 8:00 this morning: Upon further reflection on this conversation I should've asked that what person as an adult (not as a 21 year old kid) gets so drunk at his friend's house that he is incapable of extricating him from the situation... not that he had to drive home but get out of the situation he is in. And let's face it... if he really is THAT drunk... the johnson probably isn't going to be standing at attention any time soon.

On drunkenness and tits...

And eventually moral turpitude part 3 but I'll post that after the convo is done...

So... V and I went out drinking tonight and I will say that I'm still drunk. I have to sober up before I go to bed so I may not make it to the gym tomorrow morning. How frightening that I can type this with my head tilted back on the sofa and my eyes closed. And be mostly correct in my typing, although once I open my eyes I will edit this... So, back to my drunken story. We were out and met these two boys. One of whom was straight and married and the other was gay and in a committed relationship, although I do feel bad, I dropped the gay guy's wedding ring on the floor. But I picked it up. So the straight guy, I found out about 1/2 way through the evening is married, I didn't know that originally and he wants to see my tits. We have a whole discussion about the fact that he is married. And here's where I may be a tiny bit hypocritical especially in light of moral turpitude part 3 (but is flashing someone a tit cheating? probably not). Oh look, I just shared... I flashed str8 guy a tit. Then the other. That may be the 1st time I've done that in a bar, but he challenged me. He claimed I was not the size I am. :( Like he knows... he thought I was only a 34 band... HA! I don't know when I saw that band size... maybe in high school... Luckily the bar was almost empty... I definitely wouldn't have done it if it were full like usual.

The other news is that I may have picked up a different straight guy. One who is single, but honestly I didn't get a 100% straight vibe from him. I gave him my email though, and he gave me his card so... who knows... I'll get some random email tomorrow from him and have no idea who it is. :) And here I was actually thinking of making a deal with the devil (moral turpitude guy) because he seems to be the only one in the world lately who is even remotely interested in seeing me naked. I'm having a bit of a low esteem moment, although Michelle is very right in that fucking him would solve nothing and in fact probably plummet the self esteem even worse. In my more cognizant moments I know this... but sometimes... hell it feels nice to be wanted, even if it is by pervy mc perv.

Speaking of Pervy Mc Perv, I got on the elevator after work today and this guy on the elevator stared at my tits the whole ride up. It isn't like he was subtle either... Full blown head down staring... I know I'm proud of them and all, and sadly I do get some self worth from their size (God I would totally get breast cancer and lose the only 2 things I like about myself, breasts & hair) but still...

Bridget Jones & Hockey... a review

Last night I went and saw the Seattle Thunderbirds at the Key Arena. I went with a coworker and her husband. They clearly sit in the seats we sat in regularly because they knew everyone around us and talked a lot to them. It was a good game. The Seattle team won by 2 points. The players are all pretty young, so it is like a college game almost. But unlike a college game where there are offenses called every minute or 2, they let these kids get pretty far. There were something like 3 fights. Even though I'm against violence, there's something about a hockey fight... It is the one outlet I have to get out my aggression. (Damn cujo just started barking again!)

Today I went and saw Bridget Jones the Edge of Reason. If I hadn't just reread the book I may not have been as agitated by the glaring and sometimes unnecessary changes in story. It was cute though, and as a sequel it was fine. However, I really need to lay off the romantic comedies, watch a nice bloody action movie or something.

Final thought... work study student (and I know I've been talking about him a lot lately, he has been in my office a lot lately) agrees that I give off a don't fuck with me vibe. We were discussing the bus and riding the bus and I told him my theory that I give off that vibe, he was like "Yeah you do." Then he tried to backpedal when I glared at him.

Veggie Saturday

Ahh... I love weekends like this one. I've nothing on the agenda except hockey tonight. I'm still in my jammies. I have at least showered but then put pjs back on because really, what's more comfy than jammies? I ate a yummy doughnut for breakfast. I'm thinking nachos for lunch. I began and finished Bridget Jones the Edge of Reason. Now I want to see the movie, but I'm more wary because the way Bridget ends up in Thailand varies from book to movie. (Not surprising but hmm...)

Life is good, but I'm a sap...

I've long admitted that I am a complete and total sap. I was watching Joan of Arcadia tonight and sobbing freely. The show has high heartstring tugging tendencies anyway, but tonight's episode. Bawlsville. It is like I'm 5 or something.

But life is good for multiple reasons...

1 - My food order came in from Kinnikinnick foods so I have fresh doughnuts and hamburger buns and pretzels. Yes, although I ordered crackers, pretzels are what arrived in my box. I called and was like, "Um I'm not Canadian so I'm not sure if pretzels are crackers in Canada but I ordered crackers and got pretzels." I'm sure the extremely nice Canadian customer service rep hung up on me after the call and said what an idiot American I just talked to. They are shipping my crackers at no cost. :)

2 - I called and abandoned Showtime for HBO. Until Dead Like Me comes back on Showtime. Their usual programming sucks ass.

3 - I had tacos for dinner. Y'all know how I loves me some tacos.

4 - I'm going to a hockey game tomorrow night. I also loves me some hockey. I'm fairly excited. I'm going with a coworker and her husband. I have been dorkily excited about this all week long. I am a geek sometimes I admit it.

5 - I am watching Beautiful Girls tonight on my newly subscribed to HBO and it is showing my favorite part ever. Where Rosie O'Donnell is lecturing Matt Dillon and Timothy Hutton about "real" women vs. the models that the boys love. It cracks my shit up.

6 - Work study student again spent the day entertaining me with his tales of 22ness. OH OH OH I just remembered the funniest thing he told me all day. So yesterday I posted about the futility of the Febreze Scent thingie... Today, work study student tells me he OWNS one of them. I nearly died of laughter. He claims his house is very neat and I would be surprised. I told him all men's bathrooms stunk, it is like a rule. He tried to bet me that if I went to his house it would not stink in the bathroom. I told him I liked my job too much to accept that bet since gambling with students is probably more than "frowned upon." Other random things I learned, he boned some girl and is now dating the best friend, but the best friend doesn't want to tell 1st girl they are going out. But that he can tell he's into her because he wakes up humming "American Music" by the Violent Femmes. I didn't get it either. He wants a girl who will take care of him. Apparently he needs a living alarm clock since he is incapable of getting up on his own. And finally, when I razzed him about being gay because he was making a big deal about the fact that my white computer keyboard does not match all the black computer components on my desk. He said something to the effect that he thought about it for a little while, but came to the conclusion it was not for him. The way he said it made me go... did he just admit to what I think he just admitted to? On his way out the door again I got the hand motion and not for him. He cracks my shit up. Seriously.

7 - Despite Michelle's distaste for Renee Zelweger (I'm well aware I've totally misspelled her name), I think I'm going to go see Bridget Jones this weekend. I liked the book although I'm having a hard time remembering it so I think I want to reread it before I see the movie.

Random Thoughts

I was going to go out with the boys tonight, but something about my stomach... It was very unhappy. Didn't really want to field trip too far from my apartment. I'm not sure what is making it that unhappy since all I had to eat was at the restaurant at around 2 then I was eating some red meat. I think it may have been TOO much red meat. Sometimes if I eat too much I get ill. Moving on...

Have you ever wondered where certain ideas come from? Like who came up with Febreze Scent Stories? Ok even though I linked to their site, I don't recommend going there. It has excessive flash. I hate excessive use of flash technology in websites. I'm on dialup (and I know I'm part of a dying breed but I refuse to pay all that extra cash when most of the time dialup works just fine). I will tell you, going to their site, the 'player' retails for 35 bucks. Do people really have so much money that they don't know what to do with it so they'll buy a fancy schmancy air freshener? That's kind of ridiculous. Pine Sol. About 3 - 4 bucks a bottle. Smells just fine too. :)

Another have you ever... wondered or thought that reality TV shows have gone too far? Seriously. Of course, I'm watching The Apprentice as I write this so I don't know that I'm one to talk. But so much of it is so mean now. My big fat obnoxious boss, the 25 million dollar hoax, and the biggest loser. It makes me a little bit sad. (Ok seriously, I have to start going to the gym again. I've not gone in 2 weeks and I think I might be going through endorphin withdrawal.)

Final thought... I'm becoming totally addicted to the game Shape Shifter on MSN. This may become a problem.

Kaili's Kitchen Review

I was really starting to think that somebody somewhere didn't want me to ever eat at this restaurant. Sunday, the Flexcar reservation system was down, so no way to get there. Today I go to get into the flexcar and my pin keeps coming up as invalid. For those unfamiliar with flexcar, I use a credit card type keycard to unlock the car door then inside is the key and a place to enter my PIN so that I can start the car. So it kept coming up invalid despite my getting out of the car, locking the doors and then unlocking them and entering the PIN. The card has a pin attached so if I were to have walked up to the car and someone had left it unlocked I still wouldn't be able to use my PIN on someone else's key card. So I field trip home, call flexcar and find out that the car had been left in valet mode (so that you don't have to use the PIN). They adjust it I field trip back out and am on my way. Out to Edmonds. That's far. Mapquest failed to tell me that 244SW and 205 are the same road so I drive in circles for about 25+ minutes. Finally found it... The restaurant reminds me of Tacks in Fairbanks a little bit. It is very mom & pop. The hamburger on a real bun was awesome. The bun was soft and tasted almost like I remember them. They offered to make me some barbecue sauce when I asked but I declined. Now the bad... the french fries tasted like they had been cooked in old oil and they were out of coke. They had some things in the 'bakery' I could purchase but I decided not to this time. I think I will have to go back out there at least one more time to give it a decent chance. I'd like to try the pizza or the fried chicken. Although seriously... it is WAY out there.