Weather & Retail

I realized today as I was walking from the bus from Fred Meyer that it is 1 day until June. JUNE! This is important when you realize that I was wearing blue jeans, and my gray fleece pullover. It was not hot. Isn't it supposed to be hot in June??

Eventually even your favorite retailer fails you. Fred Meyer (whom I usually sing the praises of because I lurrve them!) failed me today. I hopped the bus at like 9:15 because I wanted to pick up all the crap on my ginormous list and I figured I could do it before I had to leave to volunteer. I had to be down at Seattle Center by 11:00 for Northwest Folklife Fest volunteering. I walk into Broadway Market to go to ghetto Fred Meyer. It is not yet open. :( They are not opening until 10:00 even though usually they are open at 9:00... asshats.

Northwest Folklife Festival & Sundays

Today was day 2 of my volunteering at the Northwest Folklife Festival. It is really fun and I like to do it. However, there are 2 things that I hate there... 1 - the random stoppers. I've already discussed this in relation to something else, but I really want to push them out of the way and say "oh I'm sorry... but you are randomly stopped in the middle of the walk way." Someday I may.
2 - More than random stoppers, I hate SOME parents. Not all parents. I would never say that... but you know the parents I am referring to... The ones who are pushy. Who push their kids to ridiculous levels. All we were doing at today's activities were stringing together beaded bracelets. So I had 1 mom making a big deal about how the little boy next to her kid was making a necklace, and they should be able to make a necklace too. I really wanted to say something to her about tattling. Instead, we had to not let the boy make a necklace. I had one dad gripe at me that the adults who were making bracelets were 'ruining his daughters' experience.' I am really not sure how they were doing that. I had another dad pushing for perfection... on a beaded bracelet. Something about these types of events brings out the worst in parents I think.

Sundays -

Sometimes I wonder where I live. When I lived in rural Indiana, crap closed either early on Sunday or didn't open at all. Here in downtown Seattle, one would think that things would be open later. Nope. So many places are closed by 7 PM (or earlier). WTF? I guess if I lived in Suburbia, I could find a place that serves dinner after 7.

Goddamn Outkast

Yup... as I predicted that goddamn song is running through my head. Has been all day long.

They just showed a SNL skit that was about Appalachian ER and a woman walked in with a tampon/pad machine from the ladies' room stuck on her arm. They laugh at this as though no one would be that stupid, BUT... When I was working at one of my previous companies, we had an employee who filed a Worker's Comp claim. She had bruising and abrasians on her arm. How did this happen, one might wonder? She put her arm up a tampon machine because it took her quarter but didn't distribute any product. Damn, I'd lie about how that incident occurred. She at least tried to be smart about it, she soaped up her arm before she put it up the machine. People are dumb.

Parent Anniversary

Once upon a time, a long time ago, my father gave me this instruction with regards to their anniversary "Don't worry about our anniversary, it is OUR anniversary and has nothing to do with you." Well I took him up on it and have promptly not done anything for their anniversary for at least the last 15 years. This year, however, I get the following statement from my mother, "Since it is our 40th Anniversary, I don't expect you to do anything special, but YOUR FATHER..." We can translate this as such... "I expect you to do something special." Interestingly enough when I asked my dad about it, he said something about going to this little Mexican place they like to eat at and he has plans or something. So I asked him if he wanted some big deal made, and he didn't seem to think so. *sigh*. If she wants something specific I wish she would just make our lives easier and tell us. I think this is actually the first time I know how long they've been married. In the past they always gave stupidass answers like "forever" or "too long" or "since the beginning of time." My darling little sister just had a brilliant idea. Apparently they are going to New York in August (who knew?) and we could get them tickets for a 'real' Broadway show. Damn I hope that isn't TOO expensive.

Other random thought, this song by Outkast, I think it is called Roses, is freaking hysterical, but infectous and it will be running through my head all freaking weekend.

Sad - Northwest Bookfest Cancelled

This makes me sad... I have volunteered for them for 2 years and was looking forward to a 3rd year. To know that they had to stop the festival because of money makes me very sad. It was such a neat thing and they were so excited for this year being a big anniversary.

Test & Flexcar

So I went to take this test I was worried about. It was ridiculous. Here I was expecting a written test that would be you know graded and hard. Instead it was me, the instructor and another girl. Instead of writing anything, we just answered the questions orally. If we weren't sure of an answer she helped us. It was silly.

The flexcar I took tonight had an issue. I couldn't open the driver side door from the inside. I had to crawl across the passenger seat. It was so weird. Then I had to call and let them know. I wonder if they're going to give me a deduction for my inconvenience.

It is a mystery

Those of you with children, or who know children, or have had interactions with children or even seen them in public know that the red juice children drink is the most indelible stain known to man. NASA should study this crap. NOTHING gets it out. You see a kid with a pink shirt, it wasn't originally pink, the kid spilled red juice on it and instead of trying to get the stain out, the mom (or dad) just dyed the whole thing to match the stain. You can imagine, then, my dismay when I noticed leaving Brownies Tuesday evening that I had red juice all over the sleeve of my WHITE work cardigan. Damn I thought. I'm not even drinking red juice, one of the kids must've gotten me. So I gamely go home and rinse the sleeve still seeing the pink as I let it dry. I figure I'll take the new Clorox Bleach Pen (TM) to it on Sunday when I do laundry and hope for the best. When I got up Wednesday morning, a miracle had occurred. I liken this to weeping statues or the face of the Virgin Mary appearing in the mold in my fridge... the stain was GONE. How did it happen? I don't know... Even more surprising, as I looked over my sweater, I noticed a spot I had previously missed. Well, I thought, it worked once before. So I rinsed that section. This morning... all stains gone. It is a mystery.

Test taking

You'd think by now I would know enough to study for a test and prepare and not forget about them. I'm not apparently. I have forgotten for a week and a half that I have a Troop Camp Training test tomorrow evening. HELLO!!! Without this test, officially I can't take the kids camping...

You had to be there.

This is probably one of those stories that will be hysterical to me but everyone else will go heh...

Our work-study student (who in his defense of this is gay and how would he know about them?) and I were talking downstairs about how he is sick right now.

Me: You should go home, you're spreading your germs everywhere.
Him: I will as soon as coworker gets back. I'll wipe down the computer and desk with a sanitary napkin or something.
Me: chuckling... I don't think that's what you want to use.
Him: Why?
Me: I'm not really going to explain this, but that's not what you want.
Him: OMG! (The light dawns)

We both just cracked up

Job

I applied for a 2nd job last night. I laid it out in my cover letter what I was looking for and what hours/days I could work. We'll see. The type of position I applied for is always desperate for people qualified and experienced and it would be a nice little 2nd source of income, since I am finding it increasingly difficult to live on the paltry sum I get from the U. Don't get me wrong, I love my job and my quality of life (mentally) is wonderful... my quality of life (financially) sucks. The extra few hundred dollars this 2nd job would bring would ease my purse a tiny bit and maybe I could look at affording to do things, like go to the dentist. A prospect long over due, but one I am terrified of since I know that there are bad things wrong with one of my teeth and I know I can't afford anything the dentist would recommend. Well and add to that my general terror of dentists... not really a good thing altogether. How, in 30 years, have I never had a decent dentist? That's a profound question.

Someday...

I want to be one of those psycho ex-girlfriends that boys always seem to have. I think it would entertain me. Although I think I may actually have too much self respect to do it properly. AND I would never actually boil a bunny.

Boring gym stuff

But I'm proud! :) I managed to stay on that roman chair thing for 10 leg lifts before falling. I was determined to do 30, so it went like this: 10, fall off, 7, fall off, 5, fall off, 2, fall off, 3 fall off, 5. (which doesn't equal 30 I know.) I was so proud of that first 10. Good thing no one was there this morning to see me make a fool of myself. :) AND on the rotational ab thing, I increased my weight to 40 lbs (up 10 lbs) and didn't want to die so that made me happy too.

Sad little brownie

Well, my fear was realized tonight. The two Brownies who didn't do any presales didn't show so it was my 4 girls who sold over 100 boxes and earned the teddy bear and the one little girl who did sell, but not over 100 boxes so no teddy bear. She looked like she was going to cry and it made me feel TERRIBLE. I so know that feeling. I think I handled the passing out of awards poorly too, but I struggle with wanting to recognize those who did well and not disinclude (ok I know not a real word) those who didn't do as well. My boss is of the type who worked her ass off and sold like 400+ boxes of cookies when she was a girl. She is all for the recognition of those who work hard for their accomplishments - capitalism. In an ideal world, all things would be equal and capitalism, pure capitalism, would work. Except, wait, it isn't an ideal world so in some aspects it doesn't... otherwise how could we explain how professional ball players, movie stars and ah nevermind, I'm tired of this thought process. I'm tired of nothing on TV. I can't believe it is 8:30 at night and I'm contemplating going to bed already.

Selling incentives

I have picked up the prizes for the Girl Scout Cookie sales for my girls who sold cookies and did well. I am troubled by sales incentives for kids who sale for groups or organization. I think that 1 - To purchase these prizes we're taking money away from the group that they obviously need or else they wouldn't be doing these sales. 2 - There are various levels of parental support/push that happens with these types of sales. Which leads me to 3 - Kids who do poorly are made to kinda feel bad for not getting that next prize (or even a prize at all). I know that a huge portion of why I struggle with this was my own youthful selling of crap. My mom only worked off and on and she never worked in an office of more than like 5 people so she wasn't very helpful. My dad worked with a max of 5 people. They would encourage us to go door to door (oh my how times have changed) but I was always so shy about doing that that it would take me like 5 min of agonizing just to walk up to the front door of a house to offer them my wares. (hence when I lived in suburbia I ALWAYS bought from children selling door to door even if I didn't need wrapping paper/magazine subscriptions or additional crap in my life) As a result, I never won a good prize... hell I almost never won any prize, and I remember that sucking. Especially when you knew some parent would take their form to their office and sell like 300 boxes or candy bars or whatever. My little sister's best friend in elementary school was the big editor of the local paper. All his underlings bought crap from his daughter and she was always one of the top sellers. Is this fair? Is life fair? Isn't it all about who you know?
So back to present day Brownies. I had two little girls who did not do any presale. Does this mean they are not worthy of a prize? They were out at all our site sales with us and sold there. The mother of one of my other girls commented that if she had known it was a big deal to sell cookies she would've pushed harder. Her daughter only qualified for the bottom prize. Ultimately, I have 7 girls... 4 sold over 100 boxes and got the 2nd level prize as well as the bottom prize. The other 3, well technically 2 didn't qualify because they didn't presale and 1 qualified for the bottom prize. Are all 7 getting the bottom prize? You betcha. I can't exclude those other 2 just because their parents didn't 'push' them to presale. Will they all be happy with their carabeener keyrings with a clock? Sure until it breaks. :) Will the other 4 be happy with their ladybug bears yup. Will the 3 who didn't get one realize the error of their non-selling ways and repent for next year? Probably. Will I have to go through this every year I am a Girl Scout leader. Of course, how else can we pay for camp? And ultimately that's the deal. We paid for our encampment with these cookies so that's a good thing.

Sad

Sometimes the things that make me really happy makes me really sad to realize that this is all it takes to make me happy or excited. Case in point... We recently had a couple of seminars for our retiring employees. There were so many questions about medicare etc, that I went online and ordered a bunch of booklets from the state insurance commission to answer questions. I then emailed all the attendees and let them know I have them and that if they are interested email me. I am so excited because 9 people responded that they want the booklets. This makes me realize how sad (pathetic?) I am sometimes.

Crush

I have such a crush on this boy at work. He is such a good person, which to me is a HUGE turn on. I feel like I'm 15 again and giggly, but I get all happy when I see him and he stops by. Luckily he has to go to the controller's office kinda frequently which is right next door to mine. He usually stops in to chat.

LOOK OUT! ïòð

joanne is a radioactive squirrel!!

Username:

From Go-Quiz.com

This is only funny because V and I have a whole long running joke about squirrels. When I first came to visit I said "Look a squirrel" and he informed me that they are just rats with bushy tails. Now every time I see one when we are together I say "Look a squirrel." I guess you had to be there.

New Library

So I field tripped down to the new library today. A few things I noticed. Yes the building is beautiful. Very unique and the views from the upper floors are amazing. However, two other things I noticed... It is HOT in the building. It isn't yet that hot outside, I fear what this may mean for the future... Maybe it was so hot because of the sheer number of people who were there and I'm sure there won't be that many people in there at one time in the future. Second, I was down in the children's area and there are these very mod columns made from cement. The first thing I noticed about these... the edges are sharp. I wonder how long it will take a kid in the CHILDREN'S area no less to bang into one and injur themselves. The floor on the 1st floor is very cool. It is wood with all sorts of words inlayed. They are in a variety of languages and for all I know it may actually be one sentence but I didn't investigate that closely. In my chucks I can feel the texture on the bottoms of my feet. (That's a bad sentence I realize)

Past

I find it amazing how a certain smell or sound can transport you instantly but briefly back to a place in the past. I was at the zoo today. There is this one spot that is animals of the arctic: wolves, bears, snow owl, caribou. To get to some of the animals, you have to walk across this wooden boardwalk. As I stepped across it and heard my feet on the boards and smelled the air I was taken back for just a second to Girl Scout camp in Alaska. For the briefest of seconds I was walking on the boardwalk from the kitchen to the rec hall. It made me a tiny bit homesick for Alaska.

Spit-upon and lesbianism

Spitupon - So you know those scenes in movies where someone says something shocking and someone inevitably spits out their beverage. And you know how in real life that rarely if ever happens. Apparently if someone says something shocking enough, it really does happen. Here's the scene: V, Microsoft Steve (who failed on the bbq for Michelley and I) and I are hanging out in RPlace. Steve and I are leaning against a counter and V is right behind me. We are talking about this guy Steve went home with recently. Steve makes a comment about him having big balls. I'm not really getting how it is a bad thing, so I ask Steve. He says it isn't he is just joking, but he doesn't like a big cock. Now a gay boy saying this is like a straight boy saying he doesn't like big boobs. (Or you know, a straight girl saying she doesn't like big cocks, which we all know is foolishness). Suddenly I feel something cold and wet all over my back. Yup, V had just taken a sip of a drink when Steve made this announcement. I was now wearing V's drink. He did have enough courtesy (random interjection, the GI Joe cartoons have gotten so amazingly high tech... I loved the old fashioned one...) to apologize and be all embarrassed about it. Luckily despite the fact the drink he was drinking was decidedly pink, it is only these vague brown spots on the back of my white shirt.

Lesbianism - Lately they have been having a lot of lesbians come into RPlace. When I first started going there, it was mostly men with the occasional fruitfly like myself. The last couple of times, it almost looked like a str8 bar (ok except for the men making out with each other). I am not fond of gaggles of lesbians. Of course that could be because I am not fond of gaggles of women in bars in general. I'm not sure why that is, I think because they are usually loud and shrill and foolish and not at all entertaining. Add to that the lesbian that wouldn't take "no thanks, I'm straight" for an answer one evening and kept muttering that she knew I was straight while continuing to rub up against me. Of course my first thought was to flee to the bathroom. How silly was I (or drunk whichever you prefer). Luckily she stayed and bothered my friend Dana (a boy). Final drunken thought of the evening... Why do lesbians strap their boobs down? (hee ok one more final thought... spell check doesn't recognize boobs, but wants to change it to boobies)

Workout & Weekend

Wahoo! I'm starting to get that whole exercise endorphines thing. I did my usual elliptical trainer this morning. I managed to stay in the high 150s low 160s the entire time (that's strides/min). I think this is the first time I hovered so high. Like I've managed high 140s low 150s but I crap out on the 150s pretty quickly. I am very pleased. My coworker Jessica and I have been doing this for the past 6 months. People claim they can tell I'm working out. I can't. In any event, I feel better. Now if I could only get up that damn hill! (I think I've mentioned it before but I live on top of a hill and the university I work at is at the bottom so there is this one hill I walk home most every day and by the time I get to the top I want to DIE... someday I will conquer it!) Ooh... and my calves are feeling better. I am making a much more conscious effort to stretch before and after the workout so that they stop cramping up all the time. Life is good!

I think I want to go to the zoo this weekend. Maybe if I clean in the morning, I'll reward myself and go. I like the zoo. I know, I'm 5. I'm also going to the grand opening of the over 100 million dollar library. Why, since I'm philosophically opposed to it, would I go one might wonder? Well since it is built, there's nothing I can do about it now. And there might be free food! :) Plus I've got books to return and since that is now my main library they have to go back there.

Sap

It has been long established I am a sap. Within 3 minutes of Extreme Makeover Home Edition I was in tears. The family was just so sad... 9 kids... dad died of brain cancer... blah blah blah.. SAP

Hmmm...

Things are going a little TOO good right at the moment. Where's the shoe so I can duck?

Yippeee!!

I found a quantity cook for the Encampment I'm planning! This may not seem like a big deal to some of you, but trust me. I HATE HATE HATE cold calling people and the thought of having to call everyone on this 3 page list was making me nauseus. So the kiddos will be able to eat during our encampment. Next hurdle, someone with the right amount of first aid training.

Banking

OMG! I think for the first time since I took this job in September I am not going to run out of money by the end of the month (a week and a half). WOW! There really IS a first for everything! :)

"Ugly baby judges you!"

That is all.

Random Thoughts

I just watched Colonial House. It was fascinating and made me cry a little bit. It was sad. There was a girl who was returning to the colony to be with her dad. Her fiance' had died only 5 weeks earlier. The way she ran into her dad's arms just sobbing. It was so incredibly sad to me. The mom and brother also were joining the dad. It was ultimately fascinating. I couldn't imagine doing it. Beyond the obvious computer/tv/hot running water, there's so much else I would miss. Asprin. Deoderant. Toilets that flush (and quite probably toilet paper although I don't know that for certain). The nice part about watching something on PBS... no commercials.. The bad part... No commercials. :) How can that be? I was trying to cook dinner while watching it and ended up missing several spots. I think I'm going to try to find this show again.

I hate sensationalist news. The NBC channel that I'm watching here just played up a big "investigation." Whether or not kids are being forced into AP classes. AP Classes... college prep or some insidious thing that I already forgotten. I took AP classes in high school. I turned out mostly normal. (depending on who you talk to) :)

Bedrest

My boss is on bedrest. Quite possibly through the rest of her pregnancy (2.5 weeks), although maybe not. She'll know more tomorrow... HOWEVER, if she is on bedrest and is going to call me for the next 2.5 weeks every 20 minutes to look something up I may snap. Seriously. Snap.

New Library

The new downtown library is opening up next week. Of course there is a lot of hoopla in the papers and a big to do surrounding its opening, but I am troubled. I wasn't here years ago when they made the decision to build it. It is a beautiful building blah blah blah. My issue... it cost over 100 million dollars to build. One hundred million dollars! Yet one week a quarter they close all the libraries because of the budget and all those employees spend a week off, without pay. I find THAT disturbing.

Movie Quotes

One of the best movie quotes ever... "Kneel before Zod"
The way Terrence Stamp says it... awesome. :)

Negative Sense of Direction

Hello, My name is Joanne, and I have a negative sense of direction. I can tell this because when I walk past people downtown, they seem to stop and get confused for a moment. Once I'm out of range, they seem to be able to resume their trek to their destination. I can get lost WITH a map and a person who knows the city. I can never give directions since I never have any clue of what the road names are. Tonight I had a meeting about 4 blocks from the Seattle Center (Space Needle for those of you out of towners) and since I was running completely late, I decided to walk there instead of catching the bus or taking the monorail figuring walking would be quicker. Here's where ideas obviously sound better in my head than they are in real life. I begin my wandering... zig zagging up and down streets going in the general direction of the Space Needle. It is nice to have a landmark that HUGE to walk towards so hypothetically I know where I'm going. Eventually I walk past a bank clock... 7:15 crap I'm already 15 min late and not anywhere near the Seattle Center yet. Keep walking... and walking... finally get my bearings and realize that I've overshot where I needed to go and double back... I head up this other road and realize that actually I didn't need to double back, if I had just continued down Aurora I would've found what I was looking for. Sigh. FINALLY I get to the meeting about 45 minutes late. It was probably the best Service Unit meeting I've been to in months. :D

I've just made these chocolate chip muffins. They look beautiful. I'm hoping that they are as yummy as they look.

My mother

Here's one of those questions that really has no answer... why does my mother think I give a rat's ass about the email that she is going to send to my nephew? She just quoted it to me verbatim on IM. I think she did it to 'dig' (her usual phrase when she's being mean to my sisters) at me since she threw in a bunch of comments about how I want the computer she won. Because god knows they do NOTHING on their computer. They enter contests, play free cell and maybe my dad plays the video game I got him, although I suspect he doesn't. Sigh.

Charity

I'm feeling a bit peevish today about the various charities I volunteer for. I am frequently bombarded with letters or phone calls pleading for money for them. I understand that obviously since I volunteered for them in the past, I must support their causes, but just because I volunteer for them doesn't mean I have the money to (eeewww this shrek dial commercial was GROSS) give to them. To make matters worse, the ones who call are using outsourced telemarketers so they NEVER fucking give up. AND since charities are exempt from the do not call list, I am stuck with them. Presently I'm getting 1 - 2 phone calls a day from a company called Legacy. No messages of course, and I'm either actually not at home or on the 3 occassions they've called when I have been at home, I'm unwilling to pick them up. I looked them up online and discovered that (of the many companies with Legacy in the title) they are a telemarketer, specializing in, charities. I know I could just answer it and tell them not to call me and be done with it, but face it, I'm a wuss and I am not so good at telling people no. They just keep talking and cajoling etc. So for the next couple of days my voicemail says "if you are calling from Legacy at (phone number) please stop calling and take me off your list." We'll see if that works. On top of that, I get a barrage of mail (ok barrage being 1 - 2 pieces every couple of weeks) from the other charities I volunteer for asking for money. Dammit! I'm poor. It is a waste of paper. Stop sending me crap!

Phew...

Surveys

I love to do surveys. I don't know why. Maybe because I can delude myself and think my opinion counts. Presently I'm working on one about cookies & candy. Now I LOVE candy, and used to love cookies so I'm a pretty good authority on these topics. Frequently though, the questions are about what I've last purchased and/or consumed in the past (insert number of months here) months. Well, here's where I end up skewing the results of surveys. Since I can't eat cookies anymore (at least not mass produced except the special Gluten Free ones I get at Fred Meyer's), of course I haven't purchased or consumed any of these in the last x months. But I watch a TON of TV so of course, I've heard of all these brands. It is quite funny to me. (and probably to me only)...

Random side note, Golden Oreos. That just sounds obscene to me...

Brownies

Ugh. Some nights the brownies just make me tired. I could fall into bed right now! I can see my bad classroom management skills rearing its ugly head in my brownie troop. I struggle with wanting them to have fun vs actually getting stuff done so it can be fun. Tonight's meeting we spent over 30 minutes just talking about potential camping menu and our encampment. Yet we really got nothing accomplished. It can be exhausting. We did have a great time with the tongue twisters though. I printed out a page of fun tongue twisters for their Let's Pretend badge. We split up and practiced them then got back together and each girl got to do one. Apparently some evenings I provide entertainment for the parents too since I noticed them chuckling as the girls were trying. That's okay by me though. The kids were pretty funny. :)

I appreciate that Queer Eye shows reruns of their shows early on Tuesday evenings, but must it always be the same 3 - 4 episodes? I've missed several, but they keep showing that broadway one.

Fall Down go BOOM

Well, the thing that every high schooler fears would happen, happened to me today. Except of course I'm not in high school anymore. I fell down. In public. As I was walking out of QFC, I just stepped wrong and totally came down on my ankle instead of the bottom of my foot. This caused me to fall completely. Since my hands were full of grocery bags of course I didn't have too much to catch on so I hurt my wrists too. Now V would say, quick get up before anyone sees you. Too late, there was a woman right behind me who totally saw me bite it. She was really nice, though, and helped me pick up my bags. I now have a HUGE bruise/bump on my left knee. :(

Everwood, Enchiladas & Ennui (?)

Everwood - a show on the WB. Typically a good show. I liked it until..... This season finale. The boy got the girl he was dating pregnant. Now, I realize that this makes for good (good being entirely subjective here and I don't actually think that this makes for GOOD drama) drama according to the people upstairs, BUT the contrivance is so icky. Can NO teenager on TV have sex and just have sex?? Must EVERY teenager on TV who has sex get pregnant?? Seriously people. I may have to give up watching this show... And with the loss of Friends this year, that would only leave me Joan of Arcadia in my regular television viewing. Not that that's a bad thing, but since I live alone and don't go out too much in the evening what else will I do?

Enchiladas - I made some yummy ones tonight. Now I have almost a week worth of lunches. (ooh we interrupt this boring post with some excitement... the people across the hall and over one are fighting again. I am SOOO Edna Cravitz. It is just that the husband is so typically mousy that you would never think it possible for him to get THAT angry and yell....)

Ennui - Fancy word for bored. I'm bored... And my feet are falling asleep. :)

Encampment - An E word that wasn't in the subject line. No one ever answers my emails. People don't return calls. I am SOOO not doing this next year.

Letter Carriers' Food Drive

I just got back from unloading trucks of food for the letter carriers' food drive. I am REALLY tired and a bit sore. It was just me and this other guy at the main Seattle downtown branch. He was the guy who actually works for Food Lifeline. He was kinda cute and since it was just he and I we talked a lot. It was fun... So the weirdest thing that we unpacked to put into the totes (huge boxes) was a bag with these two items: fried nori and blue marshmellow bunny peeps. That's it. Now I'm going to have to go figure out what nori is. :) According to my friends at dictionary.com Nori is: An edible, dried preparation of red algae of the genus Porphyra. And now that 'm thinking about it, I remember in one of my books from childhood about a girl in Japan, she ate Nori for lunch one day. Well, you learn something new every day.

One other random thing, I opened a gmail account. You can email me at joanne3482@gmail.com.

Hair as a prison...

I am watching What not to wear on TLC. I was interested in this episode because the woman had hair down past her ass (about the same length I had mine the 1st time I cut it all off, not this past time). They kept showing these clips of her crying about making the decision to cut it all off. She did cut it all off to just past shoulder length with some layers in the front and she said the same thing I've said both times... it is so different feeling. She also said something I found interesting... that it was liberating to have it cut off. I can see her point. When you have hair THAT long, holding on to it is a source of pride. People always say something about it. It has taken you forever to get it to that length and you get to the point where you can't remember what it was like to have hair that wasn't that long. Prior to Feb (when I cut off all my hair and got a style and all that) I had pretty much the same hair since jr high. I know that for me, part of the reason I never cut it all off was that I had such a traumatic time when I cut my hair in the 5th grade. It had been especially long and my mom draged me to this place to get it all chopped off. All of it. Somewhere around here there's probably a pic of me but basically it had bangs, layered around the face and stopped at where my hairline is in the back of my head. I got teased by kids in school about whether or not I was a boy or a girl. It made me want to cry. After that, I vowed never to cut it agian. And I didn't for a very long time, but cutting it all off is liberating. This woman looks very good with her newly cut off hair. The hosts' reactions were amazing. They both screamed about how good she looked. She really did look so good... I think i'm a little weepy over this episode.

WTF? - My weight

So from some random website I got hooked up with American Singles.com. Okay well, I'm game. I'll try anything once... I'm doing their little online profile and there is one section that talks about height/weight. Now no one... let me emphasize this... NO ONE except my doctor's office knows my real weight. Quite honestly, no one should know my real weight. So I try to skip that question and not answer. Nope, not an option. It won't let me pass without that information. So I give it up because under no circumstances will I reveal my weight to my friends or family, let alone the random strangers that would look at an online profile potentially to date me.

Odds and ends

Now that I've got my computer back at home, I'm sure these posts are going to become a lot more random. Here are my thoughts thus far this evening:

1 - I can't believe that the ads for the Friends finale are running at like 2 million. All I can think of as I watch some of these ads is that the company paid 2 mil for this... I wonder if each time they show the ad (or a different ad for the same company) did they have to pay the 2 mil?
2 - There is this escalator I take down stairs from one road to another on my way home. It has been broken since like December, but I've noticed that people tend to keep using the 'correct' one to go up or down. (ie I take the one on the right because that is traditionally the 'down' escalator)
3 - I love Gunther. (although I think he has gotten a bit fat which in no way is a problem because I like me big boys but still)
4 - Fuck now! How many commercials are they going to have during this Finale? Is this only really a 30 min episode with 30 min of commercials?!
5 - I watched Survivor All Stars for the first time (and first time watching Survivor since the first show) It is interesting to me to start watching a show I wouldn't ordinarily watch but I have talked to my coworker about. I don't have the same views about the same people she has. I will actually be able to discuss the show with her...

Damn I'm focused on TV tonight. :)

Ooh... so I work with this cute guy (not directly he just works at SU), and he and I were having a little chat this morning on our way from the Connelley center (the gym, he parks in the gym parking lot) and he was talking about all his different volunteer stuff. So hot and a volunteer! AND 30... I will continue to stalk... but subtly.

It just gets better...

They fixed the broken keyboard too! And didn't charge me for it!!!! 66666666^^^^^^-------_______ wheee!!!!

MY COMPUTER IS BACK!!!

I am so happy I could cry. Now lets hope it works...

Weekend Update with Colin Quinn

(ok so teeny tiny slightly embarrassing confession here... when I was younger I used to watch Remote Control all the time and I had a teeny tiny slightly embarrassing crush on Colin Quinn. I realize he is like Michelle's Father's Age but there was just something about him... which completely confirms my weird taste in men) Anyway back to the tales of woe and woah and wow for the weekend! (maybe not so much wow)

Friday night: Was FUN! I went out and drank and danced and got to see all the boys I don't usually get to see. I really liked that! Stumbling home at 1:30 in the morning I realized I was EXHAUSTED! I could barely keep my eyes open for the walk and seriously considered just sleeping on a stoop somewhere. Getting up at 5:30 AM to go to the gym and not stumbling home until 1:30 AM makes for a LONG day.

Saturday: Well, we went to the Vet. Baxter does have adrenal disease. I will have to take her to the vet every month to get her a shot. Could've been worse, yet as always could've been better. :( Napped on Sat afternoon. What a lazy slug I can be! :) Shopped for groceries, etc. It was mostly a good day. Saw two movies. The Magdalene Sisters and Casa de los Babys. The Magdalene Sisters I highly recommend. Casa de los Babys? It was good and the actresses do a good job with it, but of the two the Magdalene Sisters was better.

Sunday: Did Laundry... Watched TV... Shopped for Mother's Day... that sums it up...

Updates: Unfortunately I did not get a volunteer in the mail on Saturday. I was really looking forward to it, especially if it was, you know a guy, and maybe a little hot but civic minded too... Instead I got a volunteer LETTER... Oh well, what can ya do?

Kudos to my baby sis for her attempt at encouraging my mother to give me the Alienware computer she won. Unfortunately no dice... they are keeping it since their computer is so old... to add insult to injury, she wants my opinion on which she should take should she have a choice (she won't). She claims that if she gave it to me Chris (my nephew) would be mad and if she gave it to Chris, I would be mad. Good assessment on my side of the house, I would be furious. Having said that, hello... just don't tell Chris. She didn't buy that. Nor did she buy my getting her a Dell to replace her old one and then give me the new one... I still have her dough, you know. :)

Well, other than the fact that they don't seem to know which day it is, I am a little perturbed about this organization sending volunteers through the mail. Do you have to sign for your volunteer or will he just be waiting at your door when you come home on Tuesday? Where can I get a volunteer? I would like someone who is willing to pack up my stuff for me for House Move 2004. I would also like someone to do the grocery shopping. I may or may not be watching my carb intake again.