Elvis has left the building...

Ladies & Gentlemen! Don't miss me too much! I am on vacation! See y'all Sunday. :D

Countdown....

Today was the last day of Folklife. As I got to check in there was that same guy from the last 2 days already there and set up with laptop and bags of food. Very weird. He doesn't look homeless, but I can't figure it out. I did my greeter shift and got slightly annoyed. We were at the monorail entrance and got a lot of tourists who were just here for the touristy stuff, not realizing something else was going on. That's not what annoyed me. The entrance was pretty busy. There were 2 of us out there doing the money and programs. Behind the table at the information desk... 4. Like 2 of them couldn't have come out and help us? And part way through the shift one of the info booth guys said we should hold on to 5's and 10's from the contributions so we could make change. Yes, let's add one more thing for us to d over here since we're so damn busy and the 4 of you are just sitting there on your asses. The one guy was an older guy... 'been doing this for 20 years' blah blah blah. He kept insisting on doing things his way even though a - he hadn't been working the greeter booths ever and b - he was wrong. AND he was like an adult learner... just kept telling these sutpidass stories. Blargh.

At lunch there was a random stopper. Y'all know how I feel about them. This one carrying a baby. Seriously, good thing I noticed the back of his baby bjorn because I was seriously tempted to push him.

I spent the afternoon with the kids again. We had a good time. Today I was at a booth where we made dragon masks and lanterns. It was a good time. The son of the woman of the booth cracked me up. I forget sometimes how funny teenagers can be one on one. A gaggle of them is not fun. Yesterday outside the boat booth was this gaggle of teens - I don't think they were homeless - but they were in the way AND they were using craft scissors to cut one of the others' unclean hair. That was gross. Also on the bus today, there was a girl and 2 guys. The girl had fangs, although I'm not sure how they were there. She was sitting with one guy who was obviously her boyfriend and this other guy facing them and whatever. Anyway, they go to get off the bus and she's being led by a leash. This overwhelms another girl on the bus who yells at her about if she likes that. Fang girl affirms. It was very odd.

My final thought for the day - the guy who sells Real Change newspapers should make a vague attempt to remember that I just bought one from him less than 5 minutes ago. It makes me less grumpy with him.

Estoy cansada

I am some kind of tired today! I'm sure I'll sleep like the dead. One more day to get through and then VACATION! YAY!

This morning I was a greeter again. I don't think I want to do that again next year. There was a family of dirty hippy contra dancers helping out this morning. They annoyed me giving me instructions. Yes I set the programs on the contribution box... but there were no people! I'm aware that the people won't be able to put their contribution in the box if the programs are there... but seriously NO PEOPLE! Freaks. Then another guy came by... the greeter guru or whatever. I did not like him at all. He was giving me all sorts of instructions about where to set the fucking buttons. On the contribution box so people can just grab them. I'm not 5 fucker. Please don't speak to me as though I am... Your condesencion is seriously annoying. No excessively unusual folks came in my gate. There was a rather interesting trio of adults with 2 smallish children. The adults dressed all in black, tattooed down arms/legs (at least 2 of them were). The men had long scraggly hair. Aging rockers. One was pushing a stroller of black and silver... very high tech looking actually. Then the son... he looked like a soccer mom's kid. Striped t-shirt and probably blue jeans. The baby in the stoller - and it was a little baby - dressed in pink. It was incongrouous. (Random side note, I'm watching Titanic on NBC - I wasn't kidding that I watch crap movies - and in the drawings that Jack does, they blur out the nipples on the naked pictures... so freaking weird).

At lunch, I went to the Center House again. This is the 2nd day I sat up on the 2nd level eating lunch and the 2nd day I noticed the same gentleman sitting up there at the computer. With at least 2 bags of food/groceries at his feet. He seems to munch on that all day while using Seattle Center House's free wi-fi. Of the odder things he does... pours his soda from a 1 literish bottle into a can. So weird. And kind of creepy.

The afternoon was spent making wooden boats in the children's section. It was so fun! I met some very nice people who work at or volunteer for the center of wooden boats. The kids were so cute making their little wooden boats, and I too am now a proud owner of a little wooden boat. I think next year, I'm not doing 6 shifts again. It's just too exhausting and far too killer on my feet. The heel problem I've been having for awhile now, is much more painful after a day like today.

It doesn't bode well

For the day that I flipped my hair over to spray in some leave in conditioner and instead sprayed sunscreen lotion through it.

J'ai mal du tete. :(

I'd like you to notice the time of this post and realize the significance of it. It is 1:40 in the morning! I have a bit of a headache. I spent 16 hours... HOURS at the Seattle Center today. I got there at 9:30 to check in for my volunteering shifts. And just left. I'll get to the reason why in a moment... :)

This morning's shift as a greeter was kind of fun. I like being chipper. :) Plenty of dirty hippies coming in. Plenty of normal families or people like my parents who aren't quite dirty hippies because they're Republican but they certainly have dirty hippy tendencies. (Please disregard any spelling errors. It's very late and I'm fairly tired but I want to get this all down before I go to bed. :) ) Most horrifying thing I saw... a woman in tight white outfit. TIGHT WHITE OUTFIT. The shirt was kind of cropped and a roll of flab poked out. The skirt also psychotically tight, showed off quite a bit of ass. It was cut weirdly but barely covered ass cheeks. That's not the worst part of the outfit... It gets worse. Written across tits in airbrush script of pink/purple/blue... Pussy Cat. Ok tacky as all hell... But then she turned around. Joanne's 2nd biggest pet peeve? Words on asses. Yup, across ass in same airbrush script of pink/purple/blue Pussy Cat. Sigh. So awful. The sign on our boxes says 5 dollar donation but a lot of people seemed to feel that they HAD to donate. I don't like that misinterpreted pressure. They also want us to ask people to donate but I ain't having that.

At 1:00 that shift was done and I went off in search of food. Nothing tempted me so I ended up in the Seattle Center eating normal food. Fair food just doesn't do it for me anymore. I tried Fair Food for dinner - somethign Kenyan - but I didn't like it so I ended up in the Center anyway.

My afternoon shift was spent making beaded bracelets and necklaces and rings with little kids. It was fun but kind of not a lot to do. And it was hot as hell out there! At least I was in the shade. I also wore my cute little blue tank top that is cut fairly low in front and denim capris. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your view of this hair style) my hair was in braids.

So now to why it is 1:30 and I'm just getting home. I went to see workcrush's band again. I did. I got done with my shift at 6:00 and poked around the festival until 9:00. Then I went up to the EMP's Liquid Lounge. I love the Liquid Lounge! There's no smoking in there and it is a fairly small and intimate setting. Somehow workcrush's band always plays last. The first band went on at 10:00, I almost gave up all workcrush fantasies in favor of bass player for this other band, YUM! (and totally my professed type as opposed to the type I usually end up dating - and the type workcrush is) Then I heard one woman introduce another to a 3rd woman as bass player's wife. So now we're back to workcrush. I think he saw me. I can't imagine how he didn't. I thought he saw me and I waved but he didn't wave or anything so maybe not. I dunno. But damn he is sexy when he is playing. Their lead singer is also fairly sexy. Unfortunately my liquid courage did not help me go up to him after the show to talk to him. In fact I slipped out fairly quickly. I was hoping to catch a bus, but I wasn't sure what the times were. Since I wasn't sure what time I would let out, I didn't write down all the possibilities figuring that the times would be posted on the bus stops. Apparently they stop listing times that happen after 10ish. :( Oh and the first band was great. The 2nd band sucked big time. They said this would be the last time they were playing together for awhile, thank goodness for that. And then workcrush's band ruled! :) Sigh. I need to find a nice Hawai'ian fling to take my mind off of workcrush.

Now I MUST go to bed. Two more volunteer days before Vacation. I can hardly wait!

It's wrong and I admit it...

But I'm so glad it is going to be all rainy and gross here in Seattle while I'm in Hawai'i. :) Although I actually like the rain and wouldn't necessarily mind it in place of oppressive heat (like yesterday).

Also I'm watching Control Freak on MTV2. This is kind of cool. I can go to MTV2 and vote for which of 3 videos they're offering up. So far every video I've wanted (and voted for) has been the one to watch. Apparently there are no R&B fans up at this hour of the morning... none of them have won.

Old Navy's commercials are innately wrong and annoying. I hate Superfreak to begin with, but to have it attached to a skirt commercial? Ew.

Crikey, I've got to shower so I can catch the bus!

Friday evening...

We got out of work early. Horray! I went and got a mani/pedi. Horray Horray! Toes are a dark purple and the nails are a metallic silvery with a hint of purple. In the bottle it was more purple, but on my nails more silvery. That's okay they look good to me! :) And I think this is the first time in my maybe 4 manicure history that I didn't fuck up the nails right off the bat. I'm so proud.

This weekend is the Northwest Folklife Festival. If you're feeling like stalking, I'll be at gates in the morning Sat, Sun & Mon and in the kids' areas in the afternoon each day. :D Hopefully I'll survive the heat.

After that... V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!!! God I can't wait!

Houston we have confirmation!

I had to call the shark people but I got my confirmation that Michelle & I are indeed on the boat June 2 at 8:30 AM for our shark encounter! YAYAYAYAY! Now I just hope we get directions on how to get there in the email confirmation. I have also booked us for our Polynesian Cultural Center trip and Luau. Pieces are falling into place quite nicely!

I can't hardly wait any longer!

Where is my confirmation from the shark boat people?! I WANT IT! NOW!!

My final thoughts on Star Wars....and other stuff...

And I swear I'm done bitching about it.

I am not a film snob. I freely admit I like crap movies. I love Gone in 60 Seconds (which I know Michelle finds appalling.). I loved both Charlie's Angels movies. I love Disney movies. I liked 50 First Dates. I even liked the first 2 movies of the prequels. I usually do not like art films and I totally wasn't expecting some great classic of cinema. I just wasn't expecting to walk out of that movie thinking that's the worst thing I've seen since Braveheart. And I HATED Braveheart. I would've walked out of that movie if I hadn't been living in Alaska at the time and my ride was still watching the movie... and that would've meant walking home since I think the busses stopped running after a certain hour of the night.

Other stuff unrelated:

Tonight was our 2nd to the last meeting before we go camping. We needed to do a schedule and figure out what we were doing for food etc. We also needed to practice our ceremony. Only 3 kids showed up. Sigh. We got a lot of planning done, though because with only 3 there's only easy agreement. Michelle had a great suggestion to make the yucky part of the meeting (planning) more palatable. We made s'mores in the office. We used the toaster oven. The kids loved it and it made them happy. Because we got done with everything so fast, we also got to try out our solar print paper. My coworker had suggested rinsing with Hydrogen Peroxide. Here's what I learned the hard way (luckily we tried it on my solar print before we tried it on the girls' solar print.) rinse with water first THEN we could do the hydrogen peroxide. The kids thought they were cool so I'm excited to say we will do them camping. My next two weeks will be BUSY! But in a good way, then everything is done and I'll be able to relax. The only thing left for me to do would be to work on planning for the Paint Out for August.

Am I turning into Joanne's dad?

I just cooked this frozen chicken and vegetables thing. It is not even remotely appealing to me now, but I feel wasteful throwing out the whole family-sized dish of it so I might eat it even though I don't want to.

Updated:
I didn't eat it. I made a cheese dog instead.

I learned from the best...

And that would be Michelle. FYI. Here's our schedule for vacay! VACAY! In case you want to be a stalker or something. :) And I put it together! With input of course. :)

Sunday - Michelle arrives and check into hotel. She goes to beach.
Monday - She's still there alone. She goes to beach.
Tuesday - Intrepid explorer arrives. They go to beach together.
Wednesday - Polynesian Cultural Center with Luau.
Thursday - (Wait for it...) Shark Encounter! (yay!) and then Pearl Harbor in the afternoon.
Friday - Hanamua Bay for snorkling and Lanikai beach for pristine white secluded Hawiian beach.
Saturday - Beach in the AM. Check out of hotel. Shopping in afternoon.
Saturday Night - Fly home. :(
Sunday - Collapse in a fit of excessive tiredness from busy yet totally fun vacation! And maybe do laundry.

Why Gluten Free

Mishka asked in a comment why do I eat gluten free. I don't know that I've ever really addressed it in this forum. Originally when I started this blog it was a way for friends far away to keep up. Few of them actually read it - but they all knew. :) Anyway, about 9 years ago, I was diagnosed with Dermatitis Herpetiformis. It is a condition related to Celiac Disease characterized by an intolerance to wheat, rye, oats (maybe) and barley. Dermatitis Herpetiformis is not related to Herpes. Herpetiformis means lizard skin, which is what happens when/if I eat wheat. My skin breaks out into these very painful, very itchy blisters that burn when scratched open. If you were to look closely at my skin today, you could see scarring on both arms and hands from the condition.

It was so bad when I was living in Alaska before I was diagnosed that I couldn't sleep at night and often thought about burning my skin with something hot just to stop the blisters. (Damn at 3 AM when you haven't slept fully in days because you burn and itch so bad you'll do ANYTHING to stop the pain). It didn't help that the doctor at the poor person clinic I was going to at the time had no idea. She first treated me for Scabies. It wasn't. She recommended Aveeno oatmeal baths. Did you see the part about oatmeal not being on the diet? I was essentially making it worse. Then she sent me to a dermatologist. She biopsied 2 of the blisters and found out that was what it was.

Of course, then what to do? I immediately stopped all wheat consumption and bought 2 cookbooks that were awesome. The first was the Gluten Free Gourmet by Bette Hagman and Against the Grain by Jax Peters Lowell. Of the 2 I'd recommend Against the Grain first, just becuse Gluten Free Gourmet is strictly a cook book, Against the Grain is about really dealing with it in public. I was treated appallingly in public because of the rash. I worked at a bookstore at the time and often parents would say can my kid touch you or can you breathe on them because the mistakenly thought I had chicken pox. I went to KFC with my friends Kate & Katie and the waitress (yeah Fairbanks' KFC had waitstaff, I know that's weird) bluntly asked me first what my problem was without even taking our order. Then she would go out of her way to avoid me. (Seriously, walking in a circle so that she didn't walk near the leper.) I was embarrassed but Kate & Katie were incensed. I believe they sent a complaint card to the home office. I tried a bunch of Gluten Free products. There weren't a lot out there like there is now. The bread was gross. I learned to live on rice cakes and rice dishes.

Eventully, I got health insurance and was prescribed Dapsone. Dapsone keeps the rash at bay. Even going GF, I never fully stopped getting the rash. The intensity was much less and it was much more survivable. But because it is a skin issue, it takes longer for the body to react to a food because it has to go through the whole digestive system etc. Conversely, it takes longer for something to clear up. There're a lot more foods now that are GF and aren't gross. (A descriptor I use frequently). And every year, I forget a little more what good food used to taste like. :)

So there you have it, the entire why I don't eat gluten. :)

I want my 2 and a half hours back!

I wanted to love the movie, I really really did. I saw all the other 5. I remember as a child seeing the '1st' one over and over on TV. We (my friend from elementary school, Joanne M - I was Joanne H) had most of the lines memorized at one point. I can honestly say I hated it.

Warning: I'm spoiling much of the movie so if you haven't seen it stop reading!

We'll start with why does George hate women? Although that was the quickest pregnancy in the history of mankind, I guess we were to infer that 9 or so months had passed during this period. I say the guy is a complete mysoginistic asshole seeing as how a woman brought all this about essentially. He was afraid of losing the woman he loved so he would do anything to save her. Matthew chooses to believe that the images of her dying were planted in Anakin's head just to mess with him and gain control. Also he (George) takes a formerly strong female character and gives her the most trite crap dialogue and weakens her to a shell of a woman. Jeebus! She was painful to watch.

Which brings me to really painful to watch. I knew the kids died. I read that ahead of time, but actually seeing little moppet ask what to do and then seeing Anakin take out his light saber made my heart hurt.

The writing was shite. George cannot write a love story to save his life. The direction was shite. Those are some good actors he had, yet... they left me wanting. The action was pretty good. I totally didn't get the robot general and why he was coughing. Also why did the robots run as though in fear. They don't fear. That's the whole point. I liked the wookies but thought they were gratuitous. And finally, was I the only one who thought of Mr. Garrison's weird invention on some old South Park episode when the general climbed into his circular transporter when he and Obie Wan were fighting on that outer system.

Also... the 2 moles on Ewan McGregor's forehead totally distracted me. And the gentleman behind me was breathing so loudly. He would inhale and then his exhale would have that little pause like I don't even know how to describe it. Maybe like he had heartburn and was burping with his mouth shut. I don't know but that too was distracting. Of course it did help take away from the shite writing. At least now that he's done with the movies, we won't be subjected to this crap again.

Swimming with the fishes...

Michelle & I are going to Hawai'i as y'all are aware. I've been looking at different activities to do when there. One of the things we're going to do... a shark tour! There's a boat tour and an option to go in a shark cage. I so want to do it! I think it would be so amazingly cool and exciting! But I'm a little tiny bit scared too. But it would be the opportunity of a lifetime! I think I'm going to do it. Now I just have to rearrange the schedule to allow for this adventure.

Blame Canada

And so the torch has been passed, but it might die with me.

Total Volume of Music Files on My Computer
557 songs, 2.1 GB... but I haven't started ripping my collection yet. Those are just the CDs from the car, stuff I bought on iTunes, and stuff I ripped from my brother'in-law's collection when I was in Toronto.

Last CD I Bought
The Killers, Hot Fuss

Song Playing Right Now
"SpongeBob SquarePants Theme" by Avril Lavigne

Five Songs That Mean Something to Me or That I Listen to a Lot
"There She Goes" by The La's (I just love it. I don't know why.)
"Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers (I also like the Freddie King version.)
"29" by Gin Blossoms ("29/You'd think I'd know better/Living like a kid")
"Ven Conmigo (Solamente Tu)" by Christina Aguilera (Don't judge me.)
"Fallen" by Sarah MacLachlan (My biggest fear.)

Pass It On
Keeping it in the family, V can post his music stuff here if (1) he even reads this blog anymore and (2) he even wants to.

I want that

So I'm watching the season finale of Everwood, and the scene with Bright & Hannah... I want that. Someone who likes me for me. Why is that so hard? Sigh.

Blame Ian

It's his fault I'm doing this thing... :D

Total Volume of Music Files on my Computer: 3.11 Gig. But that's not everything I want to put into music file. I have a bunch of CDs to convert, like my whole Disney album collection.

Last CD I bought was: I believe Pearl Jam's greatest hits album. And the Killers, Hot Fuss.

Song Playing Right Now: Tatu's version of How Soon is Now. I am the son and the heir of a shyness that is criminally vulger. I am the son an heir, of nothing in particular...

5 Songs that mean something to me or that I listen to a lot:
1) Somewhere I Belong by Linkin Park - Kind of how I feel sometimes.
2) You're the one by Shane MacGowen of the Pogues and Maire Brennen - What I consider to be a completely romantic song.
3) How Soon Is Now by the Smiths, because only Morrissey understands.
4) Tie between Release Me and Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town by Pearl Jam - I love Pearl Jam!
5) In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel (do I really have to explain this one?)

A few honorable mentions - I Want My Life by Smile Empty Soul, Jeremy by Pearl Jam, My Beloved Wife by Natalie Merchant, Something Crazy by Franky Perez and Highwayman by Loreena McKennitt

I'm not tagging anyone because it is pretty much against my religion. :) But if Michelle wants to post hers on here, she can. :)

alarming

I just watched a commercial, PSA, where they said that in 2004 there were 6,500 STD cases reported in teens in Washington state. Ok that's alarming, but not what I find ALARMING. The ages that she claimed counted teens... 10 - 19. TEN?! TEN?!

Attack of the Clones

I'm watching this on Fox (I think) right now. I've had this one thought while watching the romance between Annikan and Amidala. Am I the only one squicked out by their coupling? The last time she saw him he was a child... maybe 10 or so. And now all of a sudden she's kissing him. I know that now he's an adult... but still. The last time she spent any significant amount of time with him he was a child. Ew.

I am a damn fine cook!

Yay! I made chocolate chip muffins. I've been fiddling with the instructions on the box for quite some time. Gluten Free baked goods tend to be crumbly because the gluten is what holds the item together. We use other things in the mix to help with it, xanthan gum being the most common. But xanthan gum is expensive and if you use it incorrectly, you can create a disgusting gummy mess. I did once with chocolate chip pan cookies. They were like chocolate chip taffy. Strangely enough Volodiya thought it tasted great. Boys will eat anything! Anyway, tonight's incarnation of the muffins had 2 containers of vanilla yogurt instead of milk and butter flavor crisco instead of regular butter. I think this may be the best batch yet! I'll know more tomorrow after they've cooled completely. That's where I get the brittleness from.

I went to put the pizza dough on my pan and the pan tipped over and flipped upside down, throwing the pizza dough on the floor. I picked it up, but GF pizza dough is very sticky so every little microid of dirt that was on the floor, and a leaf from my tennis shoes ended up on there. I had to chuck it. Luckily, I had another mix and everything I needed. Usually I use milk and butter, but this time I used water and oil. The instructions say they can be used interchangeably. I'm about to taste the results. Damn! I hate it when I bite into the pizza before it is cool enough and I burn that little spot right behind my incisors. But definitely yum! Someday I'll make Alex a good little wife. ;) You know, or as yet unmet straight man. :D

I changed my mind...

I wanted to go out for a walk. I just didn't have anywhere to go. I went outside. It was chilly. The air was wet. I went back inside and am going to make some muffins. And pizza for dinner.

Your Opinions Please

Workcrush's band is playing this coming weekend in the same location I'll be. They'll be at a bar right there and I'll be at the festival which is all down at Seattle Center. (Where the Space Needle is for you non Seattleites.) I get done with my shift at 6, and I think the show starts at 9. Given how the debacle of last time, do I go? It would be cool to see them again, because I think they're good. And there'll be 2 other bands playing that night. BUT I don't want to be THAT girl.. and I think I've already crossed that line... Please talk amongst yourselves. :)

It's something unpredictible

but in the end is right... I hope you had the time of your life.

It's a beautiful day outside and I'm trying to decide if I want to do a Sunday adventure or not. I don't have one planned, but that doesn't mean too much. We've had the crappiest weather lately. Pouring then stopping then pouring then stopping...

Yesterday I volunteered at the student outdoor concert. They do it every year and it is an all afternoon/evening festival. It poured. I spent about 3 hours sitting out in the cold hypothetically checking ID's for the beer garden. We didn't have that many kids. Big surprise. About halfway through the evening I had to go into my office and fetch another sweater. So that meant: black t-shirt, blue volunteer t-shirt, white cardigan, gray shapeless sweatshirt that I love. I was Pilsbury Dough Girl. But it was vaguely entertaining, and I think I may do it again next year.

Yesterday I also spent most of the day in pajamas, on the sofa, watching TV and playing a computer game. Sigh. What a waste of a day, but it was rainy and chilly and I've been so tired lately that it was nice to do nothing.

Now I shall shower, do dishes, bake chocolate chip muffins and head to the great outdoors for a Sunday adventure. I may have pictures. :)

Oh I forgot, on Thursday night I went to a training for the Northwest Folklife Festival. That really is the place for dirty hippies! There was great discussion of the location of the drumming circle compared to last year's location and on and on. High drama over drumming circle, folks. Seriously. Hippies.

Cult of the Virgins and I am the Almighty!

But I am NOT the almighty of the cult of the virgins... (Although if I'm not careful I may become the almighty of the cult of the virgins)

I am the almighty!
It has been raining here off and on. And when it rains, it is a pounding torrential rain. Everytime I've gotten up to leave the building in the past 2 days, it has stopped and the sun came out. Coworker thinks it is because I've built up all this good karma. If that's the case, I'll get wet let's use the karma for something I'd like better. ;)

Cult of the Virgins
Have I mentioned that the coworker I hang out with is still a virgin? I am sure I have. It isn't for any deeply religious thing. She just has never had the opportunity. I find this vaguely fascinating as she's really cute. Anyway, I have started hanging out with her at lunch and we eat with this fairly large group on Tuesdays & Thursdays. All but one other is a virgin. So this is a table of 7, 5 of whom were virgins. I don't think even when I was in college I knew this many. And none of them fall into the 'saving myself for marriage' group. Is it a pheromone? How do they keep finding each other? Seriously, somebody should do a sociological study or something.

Intuition

I bought a new Intuition woman's razor from Target over the weekend. I used it for the first time this morning. With the exception of a brief period in high school (I think), I've only ever used men's razors. They're the same thing, right? Plus I like that the blade was bendable so that it could curve with the contours of my leg. (Sounds like an ad, eh?) But I was bitter that women's blades were more expensive and as near as I could tell they were the same as the men's razors, but without the bendable blade and what I considered to be a more awkward handle. So I went back to men's. Gillette to be specific, but their site sucks and I can't find the razor I've always used. Unimportant... Michelle had been talking up a woman's razor brand for quite some time so I broke down. Unfortunately I broke down and bought the wrong one. :) But I bought the Intuition. As I was shaving this morning, I kept thinking it isn't doing anything. I don't feel like the razor is even touching my skin thanks to this stupid stuff around the blade. I was so wrong. It totally works. AND I didn't nick my knee which I always do. I'm sold.

Sense of style

I will be the first to admit that I have very little style sense. I am a jeans and t-shirt girl at heart. I was a toughskin* wearing, tennis shoe loving tomboy as a little girl. This continued on into junior high and high school. Dresses were rarely worn. Any attempt to 'pretty me up' was met with scorn. With the exception of first grade, when I had an ankle length green dress with like a white pinafore and at the bottom of the apron was a red rose. I LOVED that dress. Very Little House on the Prairie. I digress. As an adult, I have a difficult time putting together outfits that aren't completely hideous. I really need Garanimals** for grown-ups. And I can freely admit this. I look at some people and the pieces they've put together to make a smashing outfit and realize I don't have either the sense to pick those 3 pieces nor really the flair to pull it off. Michelle is my predominant assistant in finding clothes that aren't hideous. For Christmas or my birthday I convince family to send money or gift cards and Michelle & I shop for the year's clothing. This is a system that works for me and since Michelle tolerant of my quirk so that helps too. I think she really just likes telling me what to do and having me do it. :) My bottom line for clothing is comfort. Unlike Michelle, I will not "suffer for my beauty." Today one of my Brownies criticized my ensemble. Apparently lavender and black do not go together in her world. Last week pink and black didn't go together either. Sigh. :) Matty criticizes my clothing all the time too, but I ignore him. Because although he may be periodically right (notice I didn't say always), I don't know that a notstraight boy can really speak to what appeals to straightboys in terms of clothing. (which I'm well aware that Matthew will refute vehemently in the comments section...)


*For those unfamiliar with the brand Toughskin, these were jeans sold at Sears that had reinforced fronts of the legs. Because of that extra layer of denim, when first purchased they were extremely stiff. The extra panel ran from about mid thigh to about mid shin. Hypothetically the extra layer made it difficult to wear holes in the knees, I still managed it.

**For those unfamiliar with Garanimals, this was a children's clothing line that made matching clothes really easy. They all had tags with animals on it. You matched a shirt and pants like Tiger/Tiger and hypothetically it all matched. I had those as a child, I think I blame them for my lack of matching ability.

I shall call her Pwincess

Today my cookie mom brought in the prizes the girls won from selling cookies. As you may or may not recall, I have a fundamental problem with incentives for selling. I could say that it isn't like I'm a communist, but yeah I kind of am. That whole linked post discusses why I hate sales incentives for children. This year, we did a few things differently than last year. We added up all the cookies sold at the site sales and then alloted the girls more cookie sales based on how many were sold during their shift. Also, I told the moms that any kids who were close to a prize but needed a few more cookies to get there could take mine, since I too got credit for selling. Somehow I still ended up selling plenty of cookies and am now the hypothetically proud owner of a pink stuffed cat. Sigh. Also somewhere in my back pack is a small pink radio and headphones, suitable for well listening to I guess. :) And 2 patches. I'm going to end up being one of those Girl Scout leaders you see (well no one really sees these people becuase they only wear their shirts to Girl Scout events, not like to the Wal-Mart) wearing a bunch of patches sewn on the back of a chambray shirt. I'm pretty sure I have 1 or 2 in the closet I could do this to. :)

Anyway, here's Pwincess happily daydreaming on my bed. Notice the red sheets (vavavoom) and green walls. I painted the walls in a fit of nesting. They aren't finished and actually there is no paint below the mattress area because you can't see it. :) There's not enough room in the bedroom to move the bed, ever.

Joanne - a retrospective

Borrowed from Cat who borrowed it from someone else...

10 Years Ago:

I was 21. (sigh)
I had just broken up with my first boyfriend.
I was in Fairbanks finishing up school.
I was working at the university library and Girl Scout Camp in the summer.
Kate (in Vermont) had moved out of our dorm room in a fit of self preservation. We wasted a year not speaking, mostly because of me.
I was in a very bad way for quite a long time.

5 Years Ago:

I was 26.
I was living in California.
Michelle had moved out and we had a new boy roommate.
I took my parents to Disney World. My little sister joined us and it was the 2nd time I had seen my niece.
I was working at the dot com for a bunch of bitches (including the gay man) who caused me to eat tums like candy and cry on my drive home from work on a regular basis.

3 Years Ago:

I was 28.
My older sister died of leukemia. It was the first time anyone I was close to had died. (To this day she's still the only person I've been close to that has died.)
I moved to Seattle.
I spent far too long unemployed.
I drank far more than I should've.
I missed my high school reunion because I was moving.
I had my first ever one night stand. (Yeah, yeah I know... Not a big fan though, and not likely something I want to do again.)

1 Year Ago:

I turned 30. (Sigh)
I cut off all my hair. (yay!)
I got a tattoo. (yay! yay!)
My favorite ferret died.
A boy and I stopped seeing each other.
I volunteered, a lot!
I took my Brownies camping.
I had been at my job almost a year. A new job that I actually like.
I started hanging out with Matty regularly.
And the best part... Michelle came to visit! YAY! YAY!

Today:

I am 31. (beats the alternative I suppose).
I still volunteer a lot.
I went to visit Michelle!
I started doing my Sunday Adventures.
I am going to Hawai'i in less than 2 weeks.
I've been helping someone move.
I still have 1 ferret, she doesn't know she isn't the fave, although I guess now by default she is. :)
I still have the strength and health to get up every morning.
There have been far more light days than dark days.

Ten Years of Michelle

I wanted to do this thing too that Cat and Joanne did, but I didn't want to push Joanne's down since this is her blog and I didn't want to post it at The Peevery since that isn't really the place for it. Anyway...

10 years ago
I was 20.
I found my first gray hair on the night of my 20th birthday party, a surprise party that Joanne arranged.
I was having fun in college, thousands of miles away from home.
I worked as an RA in the dorms.
I realized what it means to be a late bloomer.
I wasn't yet slutty.

5 years ago
I was 25.
I had just moved out of the house where I lived with Joanne and my friend Missy from high school.
I was working as a writer at a dot com start-up.
I was thinner than I had been since the eighth grade.
I was dating my future husband.
I was no longer slutty.

3 years ago
I was 27.
I was was about to get married and was house hunting.
I was working as a producer at my second dot com and didn't know I would be reorganized into a different position by the time I returned from my honeymoon.
I was working on my first novel.
My grandma died.
I was so stressed about everything that my hair was falling out.

1 year ago
I was 29.
I'd just had Lasik surgery to correct my vision.
I started working as a producer at my third dot com.
I had abandoned both my first and second novels.
I was applying to film school to be a screenwriter.
My husband and I sold our condo and bought a new house.
We got a new dog; a girl dog. Then we had one of each.
I was unconcered about my fertility issues and started looking more seriously at adoption.
I wasn't yet worried about turning 30 but soon would be.
I had about ten gray hairs that I kept a diligent watch on, plucking them as soon as they appeared.

Today
I am leaving my third dot com at the end of the week, either to return to my second dot com or to move on to my fourth, but I am not sure yet which it will be.
I didn't get into film school.
My husband and I make a lot of money but we have a lot of debt.
I wish we didn't have any dogs.
I am the fattest I have ever been.
I just cut myself some bangs two days ago and they turned out really cute.
My teeth are getting straighter.
I am going to Hawaii in two weeks.
I decided to wait until I am 35 to have kids.
I recently discovered a gray hair in my eyebrow, but it is in the unibrow portion and gets waxed away every two weeks.

two thoughts...

1 - Matty P is not allowed to have a date on a Monday night ever again. When he does, I sit at home and watch 7th Heaven. No one should watch 7th Heaven. It may be the worst show ever. So I sit at home and watch 7th Heaven and get annoyed because the people are all the dumbest people ever and how can they have an entire storyline around the 1 cast member who was lucky enough and smart enough to escape and stay escaped? (Of course, I actually got to watch Everwood which I haven't watched in like a month and the whole epi made me cry because I'm a sap and Rose is dying. And Bright is hot.)

2 - How is it when I call helpdesk I get annoying unhelpful woman. When boss calls helpdesk she gets work crush? Obviously a sign. :) Of course since he can't be workcrush anymore because of Big Queen, I'm having to move on anyway. MP is better at moving on than I am.

3 - Maybe that's my summer project. Moving on from workcrush and finding a new crush. Sigh. That's such a pain in my ass. Researching convents may be easier. :D

Letter Carrier Food Drive

On Saturday I volunteered for the letter carrier food drive. This was my 3rd year doing it. I was down at the main post office with one other worker from Food Lifeline. Basically we took the food from the cars and postal trucks and put them into these huge totes. Each tote can hold 600 lbs. We filled 4, so using 3rd grade math that's 2400 lbs of food we lugged. My back is feeling it today. : But it'll get over it. I was thinking that this is my favorite thing to volunteer for. But really, it isn't. I don't think I have a favorite volunteer event that I do. I just keep doing them if I liked them. If I don't, well I've learned my lesson and don't volunteer for them again. For example, Seattle International Children's Festival, I did not like volunteering for them so I never went back. There really didn't seem to be a need for me there, they were disorganized about volunteers and it was just a waste of my time.

edited: Here's the link for the national association of letter carriers that has their info on the food drive. It is a nationwide thing, but I don't know if more rural areas don't participate or not.

Uh-oh spent all my vacay money. :)

Ok not really, but I did shop today. I have survived the traumatizing experience of buying a bathing suit, and trying on multiple bathing suits. Of course the trauma of wearing it in public has yet to come. I have succumbed to the tankini, I'm afraid to admit. I liked the versatility that I could get the little shorts and regular bathing suits don't come in that way. I did that thing where you move all sorts of ways to make sure nothing rides and my fear of it riding up every time I raised my arms and exposing tummy and it didn't move so, that's a good thing I guess. I also picked up 2 new shirts and 2 new pairs of cropped pants.

After shopping, I got back to town in time to meet up with MP for a movie. He wanted to see Eating Out at the Harvard Exit Theater. The first scene was shocking, and not really in a good way. The movie went along and was funny at parts. The female character, Gwen (Fruit Fly - I hate the other phrase), was too over the top, I thought, but she was funny in some parts. The gist of the story is gay man1 and straight man roommates meet gay man2 and straight woman at a party. Straight man wants straight woman but she only dates gay men. He pretends to be gay and goes on date with gay man2. Gay man1 lusts after gay man2. Gay man1 is jealous. They have a big dinner party with 'hilarious' results. And of course, it all works out in the end. Part way through, I started feeling really badly for gay man2. Yeah he was supposed to be this hot/asshole character, but he was being played by straight man. And really straight girl, wasn't that likeable. She had some serious issues... and I can't imagine why straight man wanted her. She was not hot, unless you're into the Calista Flockhart look. All in all, funny at parts, weird use of slang that made my head hurt. Matty was unhappy with the dialogue which now that I'm thinking about it further, I can understand. It was a bit forced. But it did make me laugh and sometimes that's all I need. :)

Before that movie started, we were 'treated' to a short film. I believe it was called Mating Call. It was bad. Horrifyingly awful. Worse... the people in the audience laughed. It was like a Saturday Night Live skit that wouldn't end. A woman screams, then you hear in the distance a returning scream. This goes back and forth as she looks for the screamer, periodically stopping to scream again. Seriously, this kind of crap is why in general I don't like independent films.

Well that's cheerful...

I had a dream last night that I was dreaming and in my dream I woke up because I was being electrocuted. I could feel it. The electricity running through my body. I could smell the burning. I could feel my body involuntarily twitch. I could hear the crackling. It was probably one of the most vivid dreams I've had in a long time. And I forced myself awake and I just laid there trying to feel normal and trying to convince myself it didn't happen because it seriously freaked me out.

Dream: To dream that you are dreaming, signifies your emotional state. You are excessively worried and fearful about a situation or circumstance that you are going through.

Electrocution: To dream of an electrocution, signifies that the current course of your actions will lead to disaster, even death.


In a completely unrelated note, I didn't know the Backstreet Boys were a) still together and b) put out a new album. They're on VH1's top 20 this morning.

Spiderman...spiderman

Have you ever watched the old cartoon Spiderman? Old school, none of this newfangled shit. There was a character who was part human and part green lizard thing. One of his arms would grow and be green lizard thing. There's this guy I see around the hill who reminds me of the green lizard arm scientist. Why, because he is tattooed all the way down across his hand in what appears to be mostly green scales, although there are other pics. But just the one arm.

Super Sweet 16

Holy crap. There's this show on MTV that I've heard about but never watched. There's nothing on on a Saturday morning, so I checked this show out. It is completely horrifying. It is girls and their families planning her sweet 16. Of course, this isn't your average, run of the mill sweet 16 party. Oh no. This is spoiled princess makes you want to vomit sweet 16 party. The episode I watched the girl went to Paris for the dress for her party. She wanted this dress that was cut to the belly button. Her mother vetoed the dress and she threw a big fit. She went to Santa Barbara against her mother's wishes and her mother cut off her credit card. She didn't get her car on her birthday so she threw a crying scene in the restaurant. All summed up, her parents spent over 200,000 on her birthday party and the new car. Including college, I don't think my parents have spent over 200,000 on my whole life! The grossest part... they kept saying that she deserved all this. She deserved it?! What in the hell did she do? She was just born into privilege. I changed the channel before the next episode started because it was too gross.

A new dream for the AM.

This morning I dreamt that I was with my sister and we were being kept in this place and not allowed to leave. So prisoners essentially. Something happens and we are able to escape, and I'm pushing a stroller with the cutest little Asian girl and we are supposed to protect her. As we're running through rooms, one room goes completely dark and we just manage to squeak through these doors and out into the sunlight where we wait for the bus. While we're standing there waiting for the bus we know we're still being chased and a guy bumps into my sister. She had been searching through her wallet looking for money to ride the bus. She finds 6.00 but also finds a receipt that says that we embezzled money. (yes printed on the receipt) So I take the receipt to burn it and we go off running again since they've identified us. We end up on this huge long path and my sister is on roller blades and I'm still pushing the stroller. We're trying to slog through woodchips on this path. Finally we get to a place and I send my sister off with the stroller and go a different direction. And the path is just so long. Eventually I get to a mountain to climb. The rope is already there. I climb part of it and get to a cliff landing to rest and find out I have to go up the rest of the way. At the top of the cliff the rope is being held by a stone cobra statue. And I put my hand on the cobra statue to help me pull myself up and that's when I wake up. Hmm...

What does Dreammoods.com say?

Kidnapped: To dream that you are being kidnapped, denotes feelings of being trapped and restricted. Someone or some situation may be diverting your concentration and your attention away from your goals.

Escape: To dream that you escape from jail or some place of confinement, signifies your need to escape from a restrictive situation or attitude. On the other hand, it may mean that you are taking an escapist attitude and are refusing to face up to problems that are not going away

Dark Room: To see a dark, eerie or confining room, denotes that that you feel trapped or repressed in a situation.

Sunshine: To dream of sunshine, indicates that you are experiencing some sort of emotional or situational breakthrough. You are headed on the right track.

Baby Carriage: To dream of a baby carriage, denotes that you will soon be pleasantly surprised by a good friend.

Baby: To see a baby in your dream, signifies innocence, warmth and new beginnings. Babies may symbolize something in your own inner nature which is pure, vulnerable, and/or uncorrupted.

Path: To see a blocked or windy path, denotes that you need to give serious attention to the direction you are heading in your personal and/or business life. You also need to take time out to consider and rethink the consequences before acting on your choices.

Receipt: To see a receipt in your dream, indicates that you are accepting or acknowledging some aspect of yourself. It is a reflection of your openness and genuineness. What is the receipt for? Alternatively, it suggests guaranteed success and better times ahead.

Climb: To dream that you are climbing up something (ladder, rope, etc.), signifies that you are trying to or you have overcome a great struggle. It also suggests that your goals are finally within reach. Climbing also means that you have risen to a level of prominence within the social or economic sphere.

Cliff: To dream that you are standing at the edge of a cliff, denotes that you have arrived to an increased level of understanding, new awareness, and a fresh point of view. You may have reached a critical point in your life and may fear losing control.

Cobra: To see a cobra in your dream, represents creation, and creative energies. Some situation or relationship has you hypnotized.

So if I interpret this correctly, it seems like things may be looking up. :) Goodness I hope so!

Dammit!

I've spoken before of how I worked transcribing interviews for Inlaws & Outlaws, a documentary made here in Seattle about marriage and all that entails. I've been anxious to see it. Well, they're screening it at the Seattle International Film Festival. The 2 times I could see it... May 30th when I'll really be down at the Folklife Festival volunteering or May 31st when I'll be in Hawaii. Eh, C'est la vie.

One is right... one is not so right.

So Michelle & Matt both gave me differing advice on what to do about workcrush post Cinco de Mayo show. Michelle felt I should wait until I see him again and then talk to him. Matt, take the bull by the horns and email him. Yesterday I succumed to MP's pressure and emailed workcrush. It was a nice breezy email I think. Nothing really to be taken from it. "Hey workcrush, I saw your show on Thursday. You guys are really good. Next time you're playing locally let me know" something to that effect. Now this isn't too traumatizing. Until you combine with big queen who works with workcrush. I've known big queen since I moved here I think. I worked with big queen when I temped for IT (before they were outsourced and workcrush started working for them). BQ and I went to lunch together today. Workcrush mentions to BQ that I saw the show. BQ invites workcrush to lunch. Workcrush declines because he doesn't like the fac caf. BQ says that I'll be so disappointed because 'I have the hots for him.' Sigh. Now with BQ it is always hard to tell if he's serious or not... But in any event... sigh. I'm hoping workcrush is oblivious, although I'm never that lucky. Hmmm... where to find a new one. :) Maybe wild fling in Hawaii. Yay Hawaii! So, the moral of the story... 2 actually. Michelle is always right and some gay men probably cannot be trusted. (Although men who do not identify themselves using such labels as gay or bi or straight may still be trusted, the jury's still out on that.) :D

It's official!

Michelle & I ARE going to Hawaii! I just booked my plane ticket. I have no seat on the plane, but I will call in the morning and see if I can get one assigned to me. I am so excited and a bit anxious and excited!

The kids and I had a pretty good meeting tonight. We made our dunk bags. For those of you who are not schooled on a dunkbag, we will use them to wash our dishes in. I had the kids sew them themselves. Most of them got pretty into it, 1 - 2 not so much eh but that's life. :)

Vacation all I've ever wanted...

Vacation have to get away! Vacation meant to be spent... well with Michelle. It appears she and I will be spending about a week in Hawaii! Hawaii! Hawaii! Hawaii! I can't believe I'm excited about going to Hawaii. Of all places, I've never really wanted to visit there. But now, faced with the possibility, I'm all excited. If the plans fall into place the way they should, we are going the week of Memorial Day. YAY! Vacay! Sun and sand and warm swimming in the ocean. I don't think I've swum in warm ocean since hmm... either Japan when I was 12 or Florida sometime around the same time frame actually. Oh damn, I have to buy a bathing suit. :( But Hawaii! Warm beaches! Volcanoes! Pineapples growing on the ground!

TV & I'm a freak...

Sometimes when I'm cooking hamburger, I have to fight the urge to just eat some raw. I used to when I was a kid. And I know that steak tartare is essentially raw hamburger so it isn't like I'll die or anything.

Also, tonight was a GREAT TV night. I've cut back a lot on 'must see TV' (although not 100%, c'mon I'm a TV child. :) I have only 3 shows that I now enjoy regularly and would tape if I weren't going to be at home (and as shameful as it is to admit, I will plan my social activities around that.) The season finale of Veronica Mars was amazing! My favorite team on the Amazing Race also won. Ahh good tv. :)

A quote...

From beloved Dr. Seuss.

You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.

A discovery!

I like red peppers. I do not like green peppers. Matthew swears that they are the same. I swear otherwise. Ok I checked online and red peppers are riper version of the green pepper. So while they are the same plant, that 10 days of extra ripeness helps sweeten them. Michelle agrees with me about the taste of green peppers so I can't be totally off base. :)

Tomorrow marks the first day of the conjoining of my biggest fear with my biggest love. Taco Tuesday at the Lesbian bar. Matty has decided he will call me every 5 minutes until I succumb to the pressure and go into the lesbian bar. I have just remembered that I bought hamburger meat and parmesean cheese to make spaghetti for dinner tomorrow night so taco Tuesday at the lesbian bar may be out. (at least this week. I don't want a repeat of last week when I bought hamburger to make spaghetti and ended up forgetting about it in the fridge for a week.) I wish Washington would get off its ass and pass the damn law about smoking indoors. Seriously, the state scores high on that health survey that gets done every year, how can this still be legal?! I say that because I'm coughing and sitting here thinking about how much my shirt stinks. STINKS I SAY! Another little known tid-bit, MP and I DID go into the lesbian bar today. We hung out and played backgammon and cards. I survived. It wasn't awful. And I MAY even be willing to go back in there again... especially if it involves tacos. But sssshhhh, don't tell Matty!

Lotion

I found a lotion in the back of my medicine cabinet that I forgot I owned. I also forgot why I put it back there. I think I used to not like it, but now I really do. Is it weird that I'm thinking of just sitting here and sniffing my arm all day because I like the smell so much. :) (It is eucalyptus and mint by the way)

Eerily accurate

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free.

In love, you feel the most alive when your lover is creative and never lets you feel bored.

You'd like to your lover to think you are stylish and alluring.

You would be forced to break up with someone who was emotional, moody, and difficult to please.

Your ideal relationship is lasting. You want a relationship that looks to the future... one you can grow with.

Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment.

You think of marriage as something that will confine you. You are afraid of marriage.

In this moment, you think of love as something you thirst for. You'll do anything for love, but you won't fall for it easily.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

Wow, usually I find these things crap, but honestly... strangely accurate. Except for the stylish and alluring thing. I don't know what that's about. :)

Camp helper

I am so glad I went! I didn't end up helping with the Daisy troop at all, but I did work with the 4 special needs Brownies. My head is killing me. I have just woken up from a 2 hour nap. :) I'm now watching probably one of my favorite movies and a movie I consider to be terribly underrated October Sky. I first saw it when I was teaching and we did a big field trip to the movie theater with the classes. You know, know I'm a sap for those underdog uplifting movies, but this one is also about a NASA engineer and when I was little I always wanted to be an astronaut. ANYWAY...

I headed out to Carnation at 8:00 this morning. I stopped at the McDonald's up by my house. Here's what I learned about McDonald's on First Hill at 8:00 AM... It is full of wackos. I don't suspect McDonald's employees are paid enough to put up with the loonies that were in there. The drive out to camp was quick and painless. Completely unlike last year's drive to Camp Robbinswold. It only took 40 minutes which was nice. Just long enough to get into CD 1 of Pearl Jam's greatest hits CD. Got there, parked, found the lodge. Up a big fucking hill. Really, Indiana just beckons. Helped set up tables and went to flag ceremony (down the big fucking hill. Then back up the big fucking hill to the lodge). Met the girls I was going to be working with. So freaking cute. We sat and made edible fires. Then foam picture frames. We then worked on paper knives. We were going to do knife safety, but that was not really in the cards. Had a baked potato for lunch and did some singing. They laughed at the Sharp-toothed buzzards song and liked my version of Old McDonald. Then went canoing. Lucky us, down the big fucking hill, then back up to get our gear and head home. I was lucky enough to get to go into a canoe with 2 of the girls (twins) and their co-leader. It's amazing how quickly the canoing skills come back. My arms may not forgive me tomorrow though. :) It was such a good time. The girls were fun. One of the twins became my buddy and wanted me to hold her hand when we walked and help her with her lunch. Her sister was frightened of me, but what can you do? I rented a car to go, the amount I had to pay for the insurance portion was twice the rate I was paying for the damn car. Eh, not the best fiscal idea, but a good journey for me. I'm really glad I went...




The enterance to Camp River Ranch. The little white 'snow' are those little daisies that when you're a kid you can play the 'momma had a baby and her head popped off' game. At least that's what we did. :)



The fireplace in the main lodge. It made me think back to camp in Arizona. We would sign the staff cabin with our initials or name or pithy saying. I sometimes wonder if it is still there. The oars on the back wall were done by various groups of camp staff. The camp in Alaska, wasn't owned by Girl Scouts so there was never any permanent history like that there.



Canoes! It has been years since I canoed, but it was so fun. It all came back to me quickly. The girls really enjoyed it. Although it would've been much easier to canoe without their 'help.' :)



I just loved all the greens in the forest at the camp. The green was so vibrant and just amazing.




These ferns grew in circles. They started out flat but naturally circled themselves around. I wonder why they grow that way.



Notice the 2 braids. Michelle, Matthew, Volodiya (and probably many others) are not fond of the 2 braid look. I LOVE the 2 braid look! Too bad for them I say. :) One of the little girls was fascinated with them and during singing before lunch she kept wanting to touch one.



It took me 3 tries to take a picture of this damn building. I didn't realize that the words on the sign were very reflective so the flash kept going off and causing the sign to glow. I had to move over and get a different angle to make it work.



You know how I love little secret spots. This little bench was surrounded by trees and bushes. I thought it would be so nice to sit in there and read or write or draw.



The Tolton River, which obviously is where River Ranch got its name. You could tell the water level is way down.



This farm is just before the entrance to River Ranch. I took a picture of this just because it reminded me so much of Indiana actually or maybe Kentucky. There were horses in the pastures. Big shock since the farm is for horse riding.

And that's all she wrote folks! Have a good Sunday.

Just lovely...

So in the latest installment of what people searched to find my life... (and purposefully misspelled as to not have more of these results...) neked foorteen to sixtteen year olds! We are not amused.

PERVS! For the record, there are NO PICTURES OF PEOPLE WITHOUT CLOTHING ON HERE!!!

Alarm clock

Usually I have a great internal alarm clock. I can't remember the last time I have actually had to rely on my real alarm clock to wake me up. Usually I'm lying there awake when it goes off and that just lets me know to get out of bed. This morning, it woke me up. It woke me from a dead sleep. It scared the crap out of me. And for a brief moment I thought it was like 10:30 and had a mini panic attack at the thought of being that late for work without calling. I must go to bed early tonight to mentally prepare for camp tomorrow.

I'll take the big one!

Here's a tip, guys. The phrase 'I'll take the big one' is guarandamnteed to not make me want to be taken by you. Yes, the virgins I hung out with tonight are tiny. They're both Asian and short and little and we were walking down the street on our way to the car when someone shouted that at me. The virgins were walking arm in arm because they were cold and we were kind of in a hurry. I think the guys in the car thought they were together, although why they would think that... plenty of women walk like that. Boys are sometimes dumb.

We went to the show and it was so good! There were 2 bands on before workcrush's. Neither band was as good as his. He also sings! Who knew? And honestly, watching him play his drum made him like 10 times sexier than he normally is. Sigh. It was not crowded at the venue. I chickened out and didn't talk to him there either. But now, the next time I see him I can say that I saw him and the band and they were great and I didn't know he was going to be playing that night. I feel a little bad that we left before their set was done. But it was 12:40, I was starting to death cough because of the smoke and one of the girls had to head for home. She lives in Bellevue. For the record, blue jeans... boobie augmenting bra and black deep v-neck shirt. Hair all loose and properly mussed. Makeup applied. Dragonfly necklace from Michelle dangling and pointing right to very nice cleavage. ;)

And, Michelle, hmm... Hawaii in June? Damn that sounds excrutiatingly tempting. Let me think on it and consult with the bank account. I still have some left from the random extra money I got in March.

I want a break...

I don't know exactly from what. I don't have a husband or kids who demand my time. My job is relatively mindless and doesn't tax me too much. I get bored when I'm left to my own devices too long so while at this moment a few days off of really absolutely nothing to do sounds fabu, I'd go nuts after the first few hours. I don't like wearing bathing suits in public so a beachy place is kind of out. Maybe a cabin in the woods with about 15 books I haven't read and a chef named Jean-Luc who will cook anything I want. And a sunny spot on a comfy hammock for naps. Ok, maybe I just want a nap.

In other thoughts, today is Cinco de Mayo. Once upon a time I mentioned how workcrush's band will be playing tonight. A few of my gal pals (the virgins yes) and I are going out tonight to check this out. Slutty top and jeans here I come! :)

I RULE! (And other stuff)

Turning into my father:
Every once in a while I figure out that I'm basically turning into one of my parents. Today it is my father... :) When I was a little girl, he would get home from work and change into his after work clothes. Sometimes, he would be tired so he would lay down on the bed in his t-shirt and boxers and not sleep, necessarily, but just rest. Today I was so tired after work I ended up lying in my bed just resting, not sleeping. It was so nice... but apparently I'm also SOOO old. :(

I will never eat hotdogs again!:
For lunch today, I got hotdogs from the student center. Grr... Less than an hour later poor tummy is rumbly. There's little worse than having to run to the restroom several times in your work afternoon. :(

Foot Lotion:
I spent many hours on my feet today. They were very unhappy after work, but I have this great foot lotion. It stinks but makes my feet feel so much better! :)

And finally I RULE!:
Today was our employee benefit fair. An event I planned. It went awesome! The vendors were appreciative of getting lunch and how nicely everything was set up. The employees were appreciative of the vendors and all the work I put into it. Even my biggest boss came up and said I did a great job. That's very nice. :)

Gayest Mexican Restaurant EVER!

MP & I did our usual Monday evening adventure. He's had to cancel future Sunday adventures because his Saturdays suck so much ass there's only Sunday to recover. Yeah, if I worked the crazyass jobs he does, I'd probably think the same thing. But I digress...

We headed for coffee at Coffee Online. (I think that's its name.) I've never been to what I would call a real internet cafe. I've been in a lot that were equipped with wi-fi so there're a bunch of laptop users, but this was my first experience with a shop full of computers all set up and ready to go. We sat and played 2 games of cards, which he beat me both times. I don't think that gin is really a skill. I think that since they're his cards, he's got them jinxed or something. (Which is of course much more logical than him having skill at gin or rummy or whatever it's called.) :) He won't play with my cards. He gives no reason, but I suspect that it's due to the fact that they are Crayola coloring cards. He has no sense of adventure. :)

We ate dinner at the 'gayest Mexican restaurant ever.' I believe its name is Galeria. I don't know exactly how to describe the restaurant, or what about it specifically is gay... but really... it was the gayest Mexican restaurant ever. Hanging from the ceiling are gauzy panels of fabric that are gathered to create a curtained effect. The chairs are more like thrones. Then of course, the owner walks up and confirms the whole ambiance. The part that makes me sad... they make the best enchiladas I've ever had. So much better than mine. So amazing. Why sad, you may wonder. Because as we were finishing, we hear a bark. Hmm... MP and I ponder. As we're walking out we see little dog. I believe it was a min-pin. (miniature Pinscher). It has a frou-frou little collar on and as we're leaving MP comments that the dog just sent the restaurant over into excessively gay land. We can no longer go there. Isn't that just like a man... introduce me to something excellent and then take it away without any warning or a chance to stock up on the good stuff. :)

After that MP decided to rent a video. I've got not too much else going on so I tag along. This video store made me want to cry. It took me a good 15 minutes to figure out the organization. In normal places, we have Dramas, Comedies, Action whatever. Here... not so much. There's a section of Dramas and a section of comedies but there seems to be no rhyme or reason or logic. I continue to study the organization while MP studies the gay films. We both have determined that the only gay films made apparently are porn. They may have titles and storylines pretending not to be porn, but they're porn. They're the equivalent of bodice rippers in the straight woman's world - except with more cock. Who knew that was possible? So I'm studying the organization of the movies when it finally dawns on me how they're organized. By star. By movie star or by director in some cases. Now, in an abstract way, I can see how this is kind of helpful. I'm sure there are plenty of people who are looking for 'that film, you know the famous one that starred... one of the Baldwin Brothers, you know not the fat one...' So with that vague descriptor, one may actually be able to find that film in this video store. (except not every star has his/her own little section. Matt Damon, for example, is not important enough to have his own little section, but Matt Dillon is...) I have no idea how they would sort for ensemble movies, like Steel Magnolias. Also in what I found to be a weird twist... They had some movies by director so over on Brian De Palma's shelf, I found Mission Impossible. But on Tom Cruise's shelf, I found MI2. Seriously, the whole place made my head want to explode.

That is if my potential stroke doesn't kill me first. I've mentioned in The Peevery how my left eyelid has been twitching for weeks. I am at the point where I want to yank it off my eye, but that might be anti-social. While sitting with MP, not doing anything, just sitting on the stool, I got suddenly light headed. It was weird. I also was smelling tacos. We (with our combined medical brilliance) determined I was obviously about to have a stroke. He took out the cell phone just in case. :) Also, for future reference, I do not like Italian Sodas with cream in them or with cherry flavor. Maybe I do like the cream because I think I had cream in the grape one I had recently. Crikey.

Purple..

Hmm. It is interesting to me to see the pics I post at work rather than on my home computer. Strangely enough, in real life, I am not purple. :) Since, for some reason, the pics aren't actually showing up on MY view of my blog, I had no idea I was purple. Until Michelle pointed it out. This afternoon. Hmm... I think because I keep the brightness on the laptop turned WAY down (as in almost to the edge of dark) it skews my perception of the colors. Unfortunately I also deleted the original pic after I fiddled with it. I almost never empty my recycle bin, though, so it is probably there and I will have to adjust the brightness on the computer and then readjust the pic and repost.

Camp Long

Is Great! I think my favorite thing about Seattle are all these little secluded parks and areas that totally make you forget you're in the city. (Ok technically Camp Long is in the suburbs, but you know what I mean.) As I was walking around, (all alone, I might add, MP flaked) it was just so amazing to me how quiet it was. The smells that surrounded me reminded me of different times and different places. The cabins are cute and there are several trails for us to explore. There's also a large field where I can run them around until they drop from tiredness. :) On to the photos!


As I got off the bus, this was the view from a park before Camp Long. I had to walk up a ginormous hill to actually get to Camp Long. I swear I'm never complaining again about the flatness of places like Indiana. I never thought I'd say this, but sometimes I miss it. ;)


Camp Long was originally a Boy Scout Camp. You drive down this little driveway to get there. I had a pic of a fence with razor wire around the top, but it didn't flash when it should've... so the pic didn't come out. But the razor wire is there I guess as a reminder that we really still are in the city.


This is one of the cute little cabins we will be staying in. I didn't get a pic of the inside, not wanting to interrupt anyone if they were actually there. My Brownie moms will be glad to see the windows and doors on the cabins. :)


This is a trail I headed out on. I wanted to see what the hiking was like. It wasn't a hard hike, but there's not a lot of variety in the foliage. Perhaps by June, different things will be growing, but one thing I did like, it was so quiet. I could only hear the birds (ok and the occassional plane).



Our intrepid explorer. Something about the picture makes it seem like I'm in front of one of those fake backdrops like you'd see at the mall. I think it is the lighting on the plants. Note the headphones around my neck... Edited... Ok so now the foliage is psychotic green, but I am no longer purple. :)


This cute little bridge is right by the cabins we will be staying in. I think we'll use it for our bridging ceremony.


How could I say that I was alone... Michelle came with me. She really enjoyed her hike in the tall grasses.


On the trail, was this stone... hmm what word... thing? I think it would be a waterfall if there if there was water.


There's a rock climbing wall at the camp. I think we have some pretty strict rules about using it, but I may do some research. I think the girls would enjoy it. Although what do I know about rock climbing...


But Michelle is a rock climbing expert! She enjoyed a nice climb to the top of the climbing wall.


I love these little daisies. He loves me... he loves me not... he loves me... he loves me not... :)



Before we left Michelley and I made sure to head to the restrooms. Flush toilets and showers. Luxury is good.

Oh what a beautiful morning...

Oh what a beautiful day. I've got a beautiful feeling, everything's going my way! :)

The sun is shining. There is nary a cloud in the sky! This bodes well for Matthew P's and my adventure to Camp Long to check out what the place has to offer. That is where the Brownies and I will be 'camping.' How can it be REAL camping since we're not even leaving the city? But we will be outside, and sleeping in cabins and there are hiking trails there so it should be fun. If it hadn't been sunny, we would've gone to see Fever Pitch, so I imagine Matthew P is glad for the sun. :)

I was swept with a wave of nostalgia today. I had received an email from Delphi Forums (which I had signed up for many years ago) about updates to my high school's forum. Kind of funny since I'm pretty sure this was the first time I've gotten such an email from them. I prowled around and found that my best friend from high school and my biggest crush from high school have both gotten married in 04. Sigh. Sometimes I think I'm going to be the last spinster old lady. Moving on...

I lounged around in bed this morning since I did laundry yesterday. It was so nice, but could've been even more nice... if I had a good book. I've read everything I own at least twice and am in search of new titles. The book on the guy who went out to the wilderness to build a cabin in Alaska, turned out really good. I enjoyed it thoroughly, although I would've enjoyed a bit more introspection on his part. You know, did he get lonely there or whatnot. But since it was written in the 70's this was long before the sensitive man thing. Anyway, I'm in search of new titles. Any of y'all have any recommendations?