Nightmares!

Ok, whomever said that you shouldn't eat before going to bed was obviously brilliant! I didn't get home last night until after 7. I didn't eat dinner until around 8. I went to bed at 9. I woke up at somewhere around 3 after having had 2 terrible nightmares. The 1st one I can't remember. The 2nd was a crying dream. I'm having them a lot lately and I don't like that. I don't remember too much about the dream except I think I was younger than I am now. I was still living with my parents and I had all these boxes in my room. My mom was doing some clean sweep type show, but hosted by this scary skater looking guy. But they didn't ask me if I wanted to participate so every time I went into my bedroom a new box of stuff was missing. I kept yelling at him that they were stealing my memories and they couldn't do that. So I would leave and come back and another would be gone. I was cyring and begging them to tell me where they hid all my memories. He said he would give them back to me but I had to do something, and I can't remember now what it was I had to do. And then I woke up, eyes wet. Sucked. The 3rd one happened just before I woke up this morning. A large group of us were going somewhere on the monorail. It was like I was still in college, and I had a boyfriend but it was a 'secret' boyfriend. (That's never good. :) We had to take this suspension bridge to get onto the monorail, but it was like the kinds at amusement parks, realy squishy. So this whole huge group of us gets on the monorail to go somewhere. Then we have to get off and get back on again. While I'm trying to get back on, the monorail starts going (and at this point it is still monorail shaped but we are on the ground). So I'm hanging off it while it goes fast and I can't get the door open and trying not to fall off. I'm waiving my arm at the monorail driver and he is not stopping and finally I get the door opened but not before I see this truck drive through the back part of the monorail severing the back cars from the front cars (yet somehow the truck is able to still go) and it mowed one of the members of our group down on its way through. Then I got pulled inside the car I was trying to get into and the driver just kept on going like nothing happened. So then I was somehow in a different car. Then we were stopped and all standing around outside and my 'secret' boyfriend announced that he was a 33 year old senior. And there was something about how we were riding in the boys' car. These were the fanciest monorail cars ever because they were for touring so they had chairs that converted into comfy beds and cupboards for our clothes. I remember in the dream I went through the cupboards and there was some of those conversation hearts. And I was talking to the girls and the dead girl was Tammy.

Completely unrelated, but I'm watching this music video that is a huge group of famous musicians singing about voting (kinda like Live Aid) and this one singer has been up a couple of times and it just dawned on me that it is Eddie Vedder. He looks SO different. He looks a little like Adam Rove from Joan of Arcadia if Adam had a beard.

Finally I got complimented multiple times on my poodle skirt yesterday. The one I made with my own two hands. I'm so pleased. :)

Fucking hate CUJO!

The dog who lives across the hall. At 1 fucking 30 this morning s/he (I don't actually know anything about cujo across the hall. I've never seen it.) started barking. At some time after 2:30, Cujo started barking again. At 4:15 the people in the apartment building next to mine were standing on the balcony chatting. Loudly. While smoking. Some smoke blowing into my somewhat open window. I hate them too. I'm too light a sleeper to be a city dweller. I've gotten completely used to the sirens and cars. Now it is dogs and people. Sigh.

I had a good time volunteering at the Pacific Science Center. They had us rotating from the different centers so that was fun. We weren't stuck at any one station the whole time. I've thought about becoming one of their regular volunteers, but they want a 4 hr commitment once a week. That's always kind of held me back because that means either my Saturday or Sunday. I'm thinking about it again, but will probably ultimately decide against it.

Darigold milk scares me. It has like a month long expiration window. If I were to go in and buy a carton, it would probably have a December date on it. The quart I have in the fridge now is good until 10/31. I know I haven't bought milk in like a month, but it is still good. How is that possible? I still buy it, because hell, I have a month to use it. I never use a pint of milk in a month.

Damn IRS

Holy random money batman! I knew I would have more tax taken out, but $1,100??!! Normally I pay about $300 in taxes. I could almost cry. I know I'll get it back in the spring as a refund, but it was QUITE the shock. I asked my payroll person and apparently I was bumped into the next tax bracket. Damn. Oh I get it now. Hypothetically twice my salary (is what the computer thinks) would put me into this great much higher bracket than I normally reside in. Sucks. Amex and Mastercard got much less than initially earmarked. I'll have to make it up in the spring when I get big tax refund. Luckily only 1 W-2 this year so hopefully I can file early.

Giggling Gaggle o' Girls

Also known as Brownies. We had the funniest meeting tonight. We started out talking about plants. Moved on to our take home science experiment. Nothing is more fun than telling a group of little girls that they are going to grow mold! :) This is a testament to the 'cityness' of my girls. I got a chorus of EEEWWW!!! So we set up our experiment. We took 2 pieces of bread and wrapped both in tinfoil, but with one we put a moist papertowel. Next week we shall see what grows. I'm not 100% positive the moms are too happy with the project either. :) Finally for our citizenship badge we talked about voting. It is such a testament to the power of campaign ads the way these kids can recite pieces of them. They are all supporting Kerry. I tried to encourage them to not say, but...8 year olds are hard to shut up. They remember so much about the ads, it was frightening. One of mine even knew Prop I892 (which in my drunken stupor I couldn't identify the correct number) and told me that I should vote against it because kids will be late to school because they are watching the gambling machines. (Totally a scene from the commercial). They were like little parrots of what they had heard from I can only really assume, their parents. "We need to get Bush out of office, he isn't taking care of the people." Cracked my shit up. They even knew the "I'm John Kerry and I approve this ad." I think the parents may have also been a bit surprised by both how animated the kids were about voting and how much they retained from the ads. I look at this and am fascinated. And a little sad. I realize these are kids, but there are so many adults out there who get influenced by these ads too and that makes me sad. Next week I'm hoping to get the point across that many of these ads are finger pointing and manipulative. I also spoke with one of our public safety officers. Young, African American woman who is new to the U. I asked if she would be willing to talk to the kids about safety some evening. She was touched. :) And I like that I can have an African American guest speaker since 6/7ths of my troop is African American.

Panic Attack!

People make me tired. Oh so tired. In the past couple of weeks I've gotten so many of those stupidass panic emails from friends, that it is just sad. While I realize that the US government doesn't necessarily make all the best decisions 100% of the time, it is run by people. And at least a handful of those people have a conscience. (Maybe a handful and a half...) So seriously, do people REALLY believe that there is a man putting his HIV infected blood into the ketchup? That they put asbestos in tampons so that we bleed more and thusly use more. The list goes on and on of all these horrible things that people and/or businesses allegedly do. I heard the tampon one years ago, and actually sent the person who sent me that one (a coworker at the time) the snopes link refuting it. She replied that "The government lies to us. Why should they be honest?" Um, hello? because we live in a such a litigous society that a person can sue becuase they burn themselves on hot coffee, because they ate too much fast food and sat on their asses too much so now they're fat and unhealthy, because their kid didn't get on the sports team the parent believed they should've. We have the most ludacris warning labels on EVERYTHING. My hairdryer actually has an instruction that says "Do not use while sleeping." How could I use it while sleeping?! Or if it to be more like do not use on a sleeping person... who would do this?? Why? And if they did, then the person deserves what he/she gets for being a moron. In the tampon one, the lawsuit payout would be in the billions. Seriously, would Tampax risk that to sell a few extra per month? The ketchup HIV one I just received today. I emailed the link and she replied something like "Well I thought it might be fake but I figured I'd forward it on just in case." Just in case of what? Wouldn't one think any number of major news outlets would've picked up this story if it were true? So she is really just continuing to perpetuate the myth. Give me a fucking break! When will people learn to think?

Scary Halloween Story...

So I'm sitting here at my desk eating my lunch when suddenly, out of nowhere a random memory from Alaska surfaces in my brain. This is a tale... about a boy and his dick shark. (You know if you say that enough in your head it is kind of funny... try it you'll agree). Michelle, V (my alluring gay boy), Matty P, Kate in Vermont and I all went to the same college in Alaska. Fairbanks Alaska. I promise you, Fairbanks is where the weirdos live. Kate, I'm pretty sure, has countless tales about the wacos she met, because somehow they found a kindred spirit in her. Like the woman who thought she was still married and could move into married student housing because "They haven't found the body yet." But that's another story for another time. The person I'm thinking of was Travis (I think). Travis was a geek or nerd or maybe a mixture of both. He made Screech and Urkel look hot. Luckily, for the female population at least, Travis was also gay. Although V frequently exclaimed that they were going to revoke his membership. Travis had a keychain/coin purse in the shape of a longish shark with a mouth that zippered open to hold coins. His dick shark. Now whether or not he actually shall we say used his keyring for anything other than keys and pocket change, I have never wanted to know. Luckily this was before my current level of fruitflyness so he never overshared that little detail. Why did this memory suddenly appear in my head. Damn I wish I knew. Hell, I wish I knew what part of the brain that little tid bit was stored in so I could gouge it out. I have a pen I could do that.

Stupid or optimistic?

That is the question... you know how sometimes you do something that you're pretty sure you don't like but you try it again anyway? Is that stupid, or optimistic. I prefer optimistic, but you know, that's because I'm the one doing these things. :)

2 examples:
1 - Last week I made a roast beef. I love roast beef. I used to love roast beef sandwiches, but no more. Of course there is way too much meat for 1 girl to eat (hee) so I end up with leftovers. About the last 3 - 4 times I've made roast beef I've tried to make the leftover into beef fried rice. It is never good, yet like the dim wit I can be, I keep making it hoping this time it will be better. Something about the way the spices on the meat when I cook it and the spices I use for beef fried rice that don't meld well together. But, did I eat it for dinner that night and for both days I brought it for lunch at work. Of course... because I am turning into my father. That's the only explanation.

2 - Over the weekend, V & I went shopping. We both needed new headphones. I bought a new pair of behind the head type. The ones that came with my MP3 player were behind the head type. I hated them. They were always getting caught on things like my hood, and the collar on my shirt and sometimes just my neck and my hair would get tangled in them (the little baby ones that hurt). Did I think about this when I bought them, well briefly, but then I discarded the thought. Why? Optimism? (Or stupidity). I thought these new ones would be better. They are not. Really I have to just figure if I don't like something there is a reason for that.

Good Morning!

Ahh the good news... I am not hungover. That makes me very happy. I'm not sure if it is bartender's theory which is that drinks mixed with redbull somehow through some long and, when he explained it to me I was drunk so like I'd retain that, complicated process ultimately translates to no hangover. Or it could be V's theory which is that before you go to bed, drink 1 glass water and take 2 headache pills. I tried them both loving this drink Eric makes for me... Cherry rum, redbull, a little grenadine for color, a little soda for a little fizz and last night I noticed some other random alcohol he poured in for good measure. YUM and SWEET! I'll never be one of those martini drinking types. (V likes them dirty, I finished one once and almost threw up it was so gross!)

There's a sign down in the laundry room this morning about how if people would pick up their laundry promptly then we wouldn't have the potential for lost stuff. Hee... I hope it works, but I doubt it will. Last week there were 4 loads of laundry still in washers & dryers when I went down to do my laundry. I am the 1st person up and doing laundry so that shit was in there at least since the night before. That's just rude. Someday I will own my own place and I will have the following necessities: dishwasher, washer & dryer and either a balcony or a back yard depending.

AAAGH! I think my newly returned MP3 player is possessed. I was just sitting here quietly and it is sitting 1/2 way across the room from me and suddenly it started playing and scared the crap out of me! Even weirder/creepier. The song that suddenly started blaring was Evanesence (I can't think of which one). Less than 3 minutes later on MTV... Evanesence's Bring me to life.

Final thought for the moment. If you've ever seen the video for Scar Tissue, the road they drive on looks just like the one into and out of the city I grew up in. Beauty of the desert my ass. Try depressing desolate wasteland.

One more before I go to bed...

'Cause you're so kind, I know you would not mind
You'd send away the ghosts that haunt me now.
And the things I fear just wouldn't seem so near
And when I strol out late at night
There would be nothing rattling at my heels.

This song has been rattling through my head a lot lately. Maybe because sometimes I want someone to send away the ghosts that haunt me. Or maybe I'm drunk and that makes me melancholy. Yeah, that's more like it. By the way... that's Ghosts that Haunt Me by Crash Test Dummies.

Tacos for my benny...

To paraphrase my idol Margaret Cho, 'When I said I wanted to be surrounded by beautiful boys, I should've been more specific.' I am just getting home from drinking with the boys. Really I think tacos are just an excuse for drinking... actually that's backwards... tacos are just an damn! Backwards again... drinking is just an excuse for tacos. I love tacos. I may love tacos as much as Timmy! loves tamales. Although I'm pretty sure I don't love tacos in the same way Timmy! loves tomatoes. Mostly I think he is kidding about that but secretly I fear he may be serious... We got our pre-drink on at V's before going out. Then I went to R Place. I ran into my favorite straight bartender (okay technically the only straight bartender I know so he has to be my favorite right?). He is yummy and I would so fuck him but... (in a random completely unrelated note, can someone explain to me the inexplicable allure of Girls Gone Wild? I don't get it. It is just boobies. Every other adult in the country has them... it isn't like you see 'cocks gone wild' advertised on TV. Why? Apparently either men are prudes or women just don't think cocks are pretty. I think the latter is the case.) Back to the topic at hand. So V and I went to R Place. We played darts and hung out with my boy Daniel and his new boy Adam. Adam is geeky cute. When did I start thinking geeky was cute. Never mind... I know when it started. Damn yeti. He periodically reappears in my head when I'd rather he didn't. I'd rather think about tacos. Tacos for my benny. So after V got bored at RPlace we headed to Madison pub. This is not my favorite bar because I really don't know anyone there. I know a lot of boys at RPlace. I do like Madison Pub better than The Cuff. The Cuff is like a leather bar. I've been there twice and neither time did I feel comfortable. The 1st time I was with V and it was before I actually moved up here. Here's what I remember... having to take a ginormous doc martin attached to the ladies' bathroom key to the bathroom and a man wearing rope for pants. He had a red bandana covering his naughty bits but the rest of his 'pants' was like rope macrame. The 2nd time I went... I went with this deaf guy and his 2 buddies from Canada. I don't know how that happened except I understand and remember more sign language when I'm less sober than sober. Again, wandered off topic. We were at Madison Pub. We were chatting with a few boys around us. Some of whom were cuties and V of course found himself a hottie. To paraphrase Margaret Cho again... 'when a gay boy meets a man when you're with him out at a bar it is like 'You can get your own ride home.' I had to get my own ride home. Ok really I walked. You have to love a city where a girl can stagger home alone and not really worry (or maybe that's a problem I SHOULD worry). I did almost get picked up on my way home, but really? A guy I met while drunk on the street... That may actually be less good than picking one up in a bar. Besides, interrupting a dry spell with a one night stand really fucks you up. It is much easier to have a dry spell (or in my case the Sarah (I think I mean Sahara) Desert) and not fuck with it by having sex in the middle of it. After a long time you kind of forget and it isn't a big deal that you havent' had sex, but have it... and that's like all you can think about. You're starting the dry spell back over at the beginning. It is like bread products. It has been so long since I've had REAL wheat stuff I can't remember what REAL pizza or REAL white bread tastes like, but if I were to ever break the diet and eat it, I would want it all the time. Sex is the same way. I interrupted a long dry spell like 2 years ago with a one night stand. For like 2 months after all I could think about was doing it. (Other random note, for those of you who are Seattleites I am so voting yes on proposition I 85 or I 95 I've already forgotten which one it is... I'm only doing it because I totally hate the woman who is doing the advertisement against it.) Other random note, I am so confused by baseball. I thought it was done by now. I must go to bed now. I have to attempt to be up around 6:30ish to do laundry and hopefully not be hungover as hell. Since I had 5 drinks tonight (compared to my usual 2) I may be in trouble.

Major bummer (with a touch of relief)

Tonight was the call in for our Girl Scout Service Unit's encampment lottery where we were trying to get a camp site for our spring encampment. No such luck. There were 54 service units in the lottery. There are only 3 camps and 11 weekends to hold encampments. Do the math... 33 possible camp/weekends. We were #52 in the lottery. We had no prayer. I feel really sad for my girls. They really want to go camping again this year. We are waitlisted in case troops cancel we could have their spot but like 13+ troops would have to cancel for us to have a shot. So no encampment this year. The tiny bit of relief... I said that I would not necessarily be encampment director again this year (after last year's encampment drama) and that I had to consult with my brownie moms to get their views since that affects them and their experience at camp. I suspect, though, that since I said I'd do the lottery, I was goin to end up being the director so, this does mean I'm off the hook. I may look into taking just the girls camping, although since the cabins freaked the moms out, I'm pretty sure tents... may drive them over the edge. :)

Exhaustion

But a good exhaustion (Although no not THAT kind of good exhaustion... :) )

We had our first Brownie meeting of the year tonight. We met at my university and that was a lot of fun but a little bit stressful. One of the kids pushed the emergency call box. The room we meet in has terrible acoustics. Everything echos so loudly. We went over the promise and the laws again. Then we discussed what we want to do for the year. They want to go to the circus, although I'm not feeling that field trip. I was thinking the zoo. There's an animal badge we could totally do. We then went outside and picked up leaves and did a leaf rubbing. That was fun. The kids were really into it once they figured out the trick to making it work. Some of them were pressing way too hard on the crayon. It will take me a couple of weeks to get back into the swing of the meetings but it was definitely a good first meeting! I'm glad we're all back. Oh and I have a new girl. That too was cool. She is a 1st grader and I was hoping that we could just bridge my 2nd grader early next year, but I can't have everything. I really loved hearing from the moms how excited the girls were about Girl Scouts this year. And they totally want to go camping again next year. The service unit has asked me to be encampment director again. I don't think I'm going down THAT road again. I think we may just be campers. One of my brownies wants to go hiking again. I'm excited about that too. This year I would like to be better organized and do more field trips.

Argh, though. I was supposed to pick up my junior Girl Scout because her dad doesn't ahve a car (or maybe doesn't drive). I went out to Flexcar and crap. The key in the ignition will not turn. WILL NOT TURN... I keep trying and trying. Finally I give up and go in and call. They cancel my reservation and credit me 20 bucks for my trouble. They are always good like that, except this meant I didn't have time to go get my other Girl Scout. They offered me a cab to get to my destination or another car and I was like, you are missing the point... I'm just picking her up and coming back here. It is too late. I felt pretty bad about that. I called the dad after the meeting. This almost makes me feel worse, because he actually forgot that I called him YESTERDAY about the meeting. He is flakier than I am!

Boring gym stuff...

I do the boring gym stuff mostly for me so that I can look back and see some progress... you dear reader, can read or not at least I title it so you know what you're getting. :)

Lately I've been feeling rather blah. A little glum... grumpy etc. I'm wondering if it isn't at least in part because I'm seriously slacking at the gym. Last week I think I made it 2 days. This week, I only went this morning. Skipped yesterday. Now that Brownies is starting again I will be skipping Wednesday (because brownie crap & gym crap is too much crap to carry to work). So 4 mornings a week should be good for me. This morning I did both weights and cardio. I was very pleased to discover that I could do most of my usual arm exercises with my right arm. There was only one that made me almost cry in too much pain. It was one where I take the weights and bend at the elbow and then bring the elbows back towards each other. The 10lb weight was bad... very bad. I changed to a 5 lb weight in my right arm and it was much better. I was also pleased that I could still do my 30 leg lifts on the Roman Chair. I expected because I still can't put weight on my elbow like on the bed (you know like leaning on one arm) I wouldn't be able to do this, but I think it is due to the difference in the weight distribution and the angle and all that. Finally my favorite elliptical trainer opened up and I managed 20 min and a 5 min cool down. I spent the entire workout in the high 160's mid 170's. I was wiped out when done. I think I need to check my heart rate. Maybe I should ask for a heart rate monitor for Christmas. I'm considering taking up running... What's wrong with me? I also am asking for a Yoga tape for Christmas. I think that will be good, but I'm going to check a few out from the library to see if I like it or not.

Random weekend post...

My first thought of this evening was how can I have over 200 channels (including Showtime and Encore, both of which are fairly useless in the cool movie department... unless you count For Keeps and other assorted pre-90's crap cool)... So back on topic... how can I have over 200 channels and here is what I was just watching, waiting for Dead Like Me to come on (the ONLY reason to have Showtime). I was watching The Weakest Link... and worse featuring a bunch of B List fauxlebrities including the 'great' Kato Kalin, Leif Garret, Puck, Darva Conger and Gennifer Flowers. Sigh...

Oh exciting news in the 'other' catagory of life. I went shopping yesterday to a fabric shop which was having a sale. I got the pattern and materials to make my poodle skirt for my Halloween costume (I'm volunteering at the Pacific Science Center for Halloween). I also got some beautiful blue flowered silk that I'm hoping to make a skirt from. The pattern for the skirt is ridiculously easy so this should turn out well. I am very pleased to say that I finished my poodle skirt. I got the wrong sized pattern so I had to improvise and am very pleased with how my improvision turned out. Ahh life is good. It's the simple things.

Poll

Okay dear readers... I tried to do the fancy FreePoll thing Michelle did, but there was some error and I don't know enough about HTML to fix the error so... we'll do it the easy way...

What should Joanne do with her winfall?

A) 100% Responsible - American Express and Mastercard (and a little for Christmas presents)
B) 66% Responsible - American Express, Mastercard, Christmas & some new clothes
C) 43% Responsible - American Express, Mastercard, Christmas, new clothes, mini-vacay
D) 22% Responsible - American Express, Mastercard, Christmas, new clothes, mini-vacay, and other cool stuff
E) 0% Responsible - Big vacay in Jan baby!

Holy cow!

What a great day this is today! My boss just talked to me... not only am I getting a 3k supplemental pay on the Halloween paycheck because of all the work I did while she was on maternity leave, but I'm also getting a 3k raise! :O That's like 250 more a paycheck... I suppose I really have to work now. :)

I AM turning into my father...

Further proof I'm turning into one of my parents... I just wrote a letter to the editor. My father does it all the time. Kind of frightening actually. I think he does it because he is bored now that he's retired. Mine was because I was actually angry. (Ok he is angry too but when you are at home with nothing else to do you have more time to get angry about shit). A recent Glamour magazine article was comparing 2 women in various medical scenarios and how one is getting all this great treatment because she has health insurance and the other isn't, because she doesn't have health insurance. They covered 2 women with breast cancer, diabetes, depression and infertility (?). How is infertility on the same level as having breast cancer. Here's my letter (edited by Michelle who added in the last 2 sentences which I think tightened it up where I wanted to finish.):

I was dismayed by your recent article on medical insurance that compared the treatment of young women who had coverage vs. those who did not. I don't feel that fertility treatment can be lumped into the same catagory as depression, breast cancer and diabetes. Having children is a luxury, not a necessity. While I empathize with those who are unable to conceive (I have a condition that will render it difficult, if not impossible, for me to conceive when the time comes), my work in employee benefits tells me that the riders to add fertility treatments to an insurance plan are very costly. Who pays that cost? The company? Other employees in the form of higher copays, deductibles and employee contributions? While I feel for the family who had to pay out over $100,000 to conceive, their struggle is far different from that of the woman facing certain death because she cannot afford her cancer treatments or the diabetic woman who cannot afford her supplies and risks complications such as blindness. The struggle of the childless family is voluntary. They have any number of options to create a family that do not involve costly elective medical treatments. The women with life-threatening medical issues don’t have the luxury of choice.

Gym mumblings... I can't win!

This morning after my workout I decided to try the fac/staff locker room. After my last trauma I didn't want to have to deal with that again. For those keeping score, it is the swim team who lets out of practice at the same time I finish my work out. I heard them talking this morning about swim teammy stuff. Anyway, so into the fac/staff locker room I go. Turn on the water for the shower... can we say SCALDING! I could barely get under it. I showered like you do when you're a little kid... (or a weird environmentalist who makes their own hemp skirts and grows their own vegetables which they blend into healthful smoothies... only after the veggie naturally falls off the tree as not to uproot the poor thing). Anyway, I jumped in got wet, jumped back out did the washing thing and jumped back in and rinsed as quickly as I could. As I was getting dressed again, 2 more staff members came in. Both lesbians. Now the lesbian thing shouldn't bother me, and I don't think it does, but maybe it does a tiny bit... you know? I read an article where a woman and her gay boy were discussing this very thing. Women don't want men in the locker room with us and she wasn't sure how she felt about lesbians in the locker room with her. He accused her of being homophobic. I asked V, my resident homophobia expert and he says that's not homophobic. And actually, now that I think about it... it is one specific lesbian of the 2 that bothers me... and she more bothers me on a work level because she's batshit crazy. The other one and I had a nice chat and it was no big deal. So the question is... 10 - 15 skinny little swimmer girls and poor self esteem vs. scalding water and crazy pain in my ass lesbian? Ahh the dilemmas.

My Gym Worst Nightmare

Once upon a time I posted jokingly about being surrounded by college coeds in the locker room after working out. This morning after my workout (more on that in a moment), I got up to the locker room about 10-15 min later than I usually do... I was surrounded by college coeds! There were like 10 of them. Some team must've just gotten out of practice. There's nothing like a locker room full of young, fit, skinny, blonde girls to make you feel especially old and fat. Throw on to that fabulous image, sweaty and red faced and... I was a pretty picture. I may have to start using the faculty/staff locker room... And before anyone asks why I never used it before Jess & I had 2 reasons. 1 - We weren't actually sure it is for staff too. The sign outside says fac only the sign inside says fac & staff. 2 - It was never an issue. At 7 (when I usually get into the locker room) it is just the eastern european swimming ladies and that isn't intimidating. But now it is fall and we weren't there in the fall so...

I went back to the gym for the 1st time in two weeks this morning. I thought it would kill me, but amazingly enough I did really well and felt really good. MP3 player returned to me yesterday so last night I loaded it back up. Set up a playlist of high energy music and just kicked ass this morning. I worked out for 50 minutes. Broke 700 calories and spent most of the workout (this is all on the elliptical trainer for those new to my gym mutterings) in the low 160's (strides per minute I think) although pushed up to 170+ for a while too. By the end, though... I was dead. My face was bright red except for a weird white patch that ran down my left cheek to my mouth and encircled my mouth giving me a freaky reverse clown look. As much as I liked listening to books on tape while working out, I think they've run their course. I tend to be slower when I'm listening to them.

Rosemary Oil

Since I couldn't find Rosemary Oil to try the readerrob recipe, I decided to see if I could make my own. SU has huge bunches of Rosemary. I found a recipe online that had me cook the finely chopped Rosemary in Olive Oil over a pan of water. Here's where Joanne is a bad cook sometimes. I don't pay attention. I was sitting in my living room and thought that it smelled different wafting from the kitchen. It was different. All the water had boiled off and the oil was boiling. This is probably bad... We shall see. One thought... who knew Rosemary smelled like Christmas?

In other ditzyness... I decided over the weekend that I wanted to open more space on beloved Jakob. I uninstalled Windows Office XP Professional since I had both professional and standard and did I really need both? Apparently the answer is yes... In doing that I lost everything except Outlook and Outlook Express which I never use. Luckily the uninstall set up a resomething or other point so I just went back to that spot and have word and excel again.

Sunday Recap

1st... Happy birthday to my little sis wherever she is! (Ok I know where she is, El Salvador which is why my mother is in Fl torturing, I hope, my little sis's live in boyfriend. :})

2 - I banged my head on the freezer today. It stunned me so much I actually bawled like a 2 year old. That was kinda weird.

3 - One would think with all the Alleve I'm taking for my elbow it would a) help and b) ensure I didn't get a headache from the banging of the head. Not so much... I did try to find rosemary oil to try the recipe of readerrob but at the occult shop near my house they don't have Rosemary Oil and I don't actually know where else to try. Now I'm looking online for an apothecary that may carry it.

Disney's Aladin

Hee... I've read 2 recaps from TWOP where the recapper has mentioned Disney's rerelease of Aladin now with a song by Clay Aikin. Both have pointed out the obvious brilliance of including a song that wasn't good enough to make the cut on the original and is being sung by the #2 of American Idol whose 15 min of fame should be ending right about.... now. Anyone remember those other winners? I thought not. As one recapper pointed out... "Are they trying to make us not like the movie anymore?" And I also feel the need to point out, why did they have to remake that other song with Jessica and Nick? Why can Nick only get singing gigs with the wife? Is he really that bad? And I'm probably going to hell for saying this (Eh probably not) but Asslee is better than Jessica I think...

Random Music Stuff...

I'm watching VH1's top 20 countdown. For probably the 1st time ever, I was not forced to suffer through the videos that I hate, those just had a clip shown, and the ones I did like they played in full. That made me happy and kind of surprised.

I wonder if Jessica Simpson et parent Simpsons realize that Asslee(tm TWOP) is totally slamming them all in her song Shadow about how she's tired of being stuck in the shadow of the older sibling...

I don't think I'll ever get tired of Bowling For Soups 1985. It makes me laugh so damn hard.

I like Joss Stone more and more as I listen to her. I wasn't too sure about her initially.

Yippeeeee!! My MP3 player is coming back from repair on Monday. New apartment manager has failed me again by not signing for my package on Friday when I wasn't here to sign for it so I am having it redelivered to work. That's 2 strikes against the boy. V and I have decided that despite the very homosexual name of Eros, he is not gay. And V has seen bigdog... it is apparently an Akita (or something like that what does V know about dogs?). I may have to celebrate the return of Pip the MP3 player by going up to V's and downloading more cool stuff.

I went out with the boys last night. Saw my buddy Kasey. He is such a funny kid, but I haven't seen him in months so that was cool. He just interviewed to be a switch operator for the Burlington something or other line. Basically a train. And in a year he could move up to engineer. That, for some reason, I find fascinating. I think that would be such a cool job. I also ran into Ben, who recommended my tattoo artist to me. I really like Ben. I almost never lament this, but damn he is one of the few gayboys I know that a teeny part of me secretly wishes he wasn't... or that I could find a str8 guy very similar to him. He is just so fun! (And before any of y'all get all het up I never fall for gay boys... they're mostly like brothers to me. The exception being Nicky in the 8th grade, but hey I didn't know about it back then, and I'm pretty sure he didn't either.)

Dreaming of people past...

I woke up this morning after having a dream full of people I went to high school with. It was only after I really woke up that I realized the signifigance of some of the people. It started out with me walking by my home. There was a big wash we had to walk through to go to school every day. I walked through that and turned down the next road to go toward my old elementary school when 3 boys walked up to me. They were Elson, Jason & Heath. When I was in elementary school, I had a huge crush on Elson, middle school Jason and high school Heath. (Unrelated note I used to have a recurring dream about Heath, a tow-headed son and me at an amusement park. I found out much later that Heath really did have a tow-headed son and he and the wife divorced... it was kind of a weird discovery). Suddenly I'm walking through the town's mall (mall being VERY generous a term. It is very small). In the mall are all these people I went to high school with. I needed a ride home and agreed to catch one with Nicky (who I went on what was probably my 1st date with in the 8th grade... according to my friend Jason he was at our high school reunion with his 'partner.' I'm not traumatized though, there were a lot of girls between a simple date in the 8th grade and gay boy, although interesting to note, even back then I was friends with the gays... ). So Nicky and Joe (who is the 1st person in the dream with no significance except we went to elementary through high school together) and I climb into Nicky's car which is a camaroish type. I end up in the back seat even though I'm much taller than Joe and it was kind of assy of him to make me ride in the back and we leave to take Joe home first. I'm not actually sitting on a seat because the seats are folded down. We drop Joe off in this area way out of town and for some reason I'm not able to climb into the front seat. So I'm still in back, Nicky and I are talking and for some reason he is driving backwards down the highway. (Highway being relative it isn't like the 5 freeway but more like the tiny highways that little towns have that make up the way in & out of it) Of course we run into a cop who pulls us over and I manage to fix the seat so that I'm sitting in a proper seat (but I'm sitting sideways like the seats in the back of the older extended cab trucks) with a seat belt on so Nicky won't get into trouble. The cop wants all sorts of info from me and I refuse to give it to him because I wasn't the one driving backwards.

Some prominent themes that I can find interpretations to:

Car: To dream that you are driving a car, denotes your ambition, your drive and your ability to navigate from one stage of your life to another. Consider how smooth or rough the car ride is. Whether you are driving the car or a passenger, is indicative of of your active role or passive role in your life. If you are in the backseat of the car, then it indicates that you are putting yourself down and are allowing others to take over. This may be a result of low self-esteem or low self-confidence. Overall, this dream symbol is an indication of your dependence and degree of control you have on your life.

Crush: To dream about a former crush, refers to that particular period in your life and what you were feeling. The former crush represents a point in time when you first had the crush on that person.

Mall: To dream that you are at the mall, represents your attempts in making a favorable impression on someone. The mall is also symbolic of materialism and the need to keep up with the trends, fads, and/or the latest technology.

Police: To dream that you are pulled over by the police, suggests that you need to slow down and take things down a notch.

Old Friends: To see your childhood friend in your dream, signifies regression into your past where you had no responsibilities and things were much simpler and carefree. You may be wanting to escape the the pressures and stresses of adulthood. Consider the relationship you had with this friend and the lessons that were learned. Alternatively, the childhood friend may be suggesting that you have been acting in a childish manner and you need to start acting like an adult.

Any thoughts y'all?

WE HAVE SPACE!!

I am so excited I could cry. For several weeks my Brownie moms and I have been struggling with where to hold the meetings because the school has turned us down due to $$. Everywhere I've called has wanted a 20 or 25.00 PER MEETING charge. We pay 1.00 a week dues... where in the hell would we get 900.00 (For the school year) to pay for this?? I asked my big boss about the break room in our building. It is small, but big enough for 5 girls and their moms. It has a sink so if we are doing something crafty we have a sink and water. He said that we could use it and if anyone gives me flack like I have to rent a real room on campus the HR budget would pay. I could cry. This is why this is a great place to work... lack of $$ for me be damned. PLUS the campus has all these gardens and interesting trees so we can do some of our outdoor badges that we haven't been able to do because the school had no interesting trees or foliage.

Drs & boys & dogs oh my!

Doctors: I don't know why I bother going to the doctor, ever. I went. Apparently I have 'Golfer's elbow' and there's nothing that they can do actively for it I just have to take ibuprofin for like a week and let it heal on its own. I was already doing that. That was why I went in. It's been a week shouldn't there be some improvement? Apparently not necessarily. Sigh. Not even fancy pain drugs. (Not that I can take them, I'm allergic to Vicodin) Oh also I should cut back on the mouse use at work (and probably at home since I'm pretty sure the touch pad is worse for me than the mouse).

Dogs: I was sitting in my apartment this evening and heard a big dog barking. I'm hoping that it is my weird neighbor who is active in animal rescue. Maybe she is just taking care of one for a short time. Otherwise, the only alternative is that it is new apartment manager across the hall. This would not make me happy. I heard dog tags jangling outside and wanted to go to the peephole, but you know... I learned my lesson yesterday. :)

Completely random note based on me watching the Gilmore Girls... this Luke guy is HOT.

Boys: My former gym buddy and coworker emailed me today to tell me that former workcrush who got fired saw her at a party over the weekend and asked her how I was. He mentioned how nice I was. She said that I totally should've chased after him when I had the chance... to which I replied had I known I had a chance I would've. :D (And had I known he was about to be fired I might've moved faster...) I also saw tech cutie and had a nice little chat with him about of all mundane and inane things, the weather. (more specifically the cool fog we had this morning that he does not appreciate because he has to drive in it from the town he told me he lives in but I've already forgotten it) At this rate, I am seriously going to die alone with my 40 cats. (Which I will have managed to acquire because I will have lied to Michelle about how many cats have joined my life and I will name many of them the same name so she doesn't catch on).

I am really loving fall. It is nice and crisp outside and I love to crunch through the leaves, although it does make me a bit melancholy. Luckily, my coworker Ruth invited me to her house for Thanksgiving this year so I don't have to dwell on what I was doing last year.

So sleepy... is it wrong to go to bed at 9:00?

Joanne is a dork!

Peeved Michelle and our friend Janel (her roommate from college) used to have a song that went something like this:
Joanne is a dork (or insert any other name of a person who is being stupid)
Joanne is a dork
something something something
Joanne is still a dork.

Today's reason I'm a dork... The new apartment manager was moving in across the hall. I wanted to see what he looked like so I looked through the peephole. I couldn't see anything so I opened the door a little bit and peered out. Of course he happened to look right at me then. I was so embarrassed I giggled and shut the door. Then I felt dumb so I put on my sweatshirt and went out and said hello. I had to put on a sweatshirt since I'm already in my jammies. AND the t-shirt I sleep in has a hole around the boobage area where the pocket attaches to the shirt, although my homemade yellow pants are cute. Why am I in my jammies already you may be wondering, I hate wearing work clothes at home, my proper slacks and button down shirt are not comfortable for slouching on the sofa. I used to put jeans and a t-shirt on after work but realized that was STUPID because I was going through way too many clothes.

Pothead

I have the munchies today like the 3 hippie potheads that live across the hall from me must have on a Saturday night. This morning while mindlessly working (Or not) I decided that I wanted to eat the corn chips in my lunch now instead of at noon. After I ate my lunch, was sad about the missing corn chips so I went downstairs and got cherry slices. Basically kind of gross red jelly candies coated in sugar. I love them. Just got back upstairs after spending FOREVER at the reception area and found the last of a bag of pretzels (GF of course) in the bottom of my desk. Just devoured those and still... I think actually I'm bored and don't want to work.

I've broken down and called the dr about my arm. I have an appointment tomorrow. Basically it doesn't like it when I do any of the following activities: lift, carry, push, pull, twist or bend it. So if I could just let it hang limply at my side it would love me forever. It also loved me yesterday when I wrapped it in a still warm from the dryer towel for like 40 min. That made it very happy. Damn right arm.

Santa Claus is coming to town...

BUT NOT YET!!! It is imminent. I saw 2 Christmas ads today. NOT YET!

My useless landlord is moving out today. He will be replaced by a man named Eros. 1 - There's no way Eros is straight. 2 - He better be more useful. Why can't we get a nice normal Jim or Chris or Bob? Seriously.

I had one of those random childhood memories today. Licking the batter off the spoon. I miss that. I can lick the batter for my cakes off the spoon, but not so yummy I'm afraid. Makes good cake, but batter isn't so good.

Domestic goddess?

In a fit of domesticity, I have spent today being very kitcheney. I did dishes and went to the grocery store. Now I have a loverly cake baking in the oven and in a little while I'll be making enchiladas. I also repotted my jade plant into a huge pot. Plenty of space for it to grow bigger.

This weekend I watched Man on Fire and American History X. I like American History X. I've watched it several times. It makes me so sad to watch it though. I always cry. And I have to turn the channel when the extremely yummy Edward Norton kills the black guy on the sidewalk because it makes my heart hurt. Man on Fire was pretty good, although I wasn't 100% fond of maybe the cinematography. It seemed to be slow and choppy. It wasn't a bad video store rental, but I don't know if I would've liked it had I spent movie theater bucks to see it. It isn't one I'll want to watch again and again. I did notice Saved is coming out this week. That may be one to watch over and over.