So sleepy

I hung out with Michelle's daughter yesterday while she and her husband had to go to work. Kids are tiring. I was dozing off on the sofa at 9:00. I also was dozing off on the floor while she played with shape sorters around me. Should have taken a nap when she did instead of playing Wii boom blox. :) But it was fun and we had a good time (I think). She didn't cry except when I accidentally turned on tickle me elmo. She's afraid of that. With good reason I think. I see all those kids on the commercials just loving that thing, I can't imagine why. They're kind of scary. Also because of all the mechanics to make it do its thing, you can't really cuddle with it. They have big heavy feet and weird feeling joints. Give me a simple stuffed elmo any day I say. (Or melmo as she says).

One weird thing about Michelle's house... she doesn't have a clock in most of the rooms. At home I have a minimum of one clock per room (except the bathroom because, well that's just weird). Here there isn't one in the family room, the tv room, the bedroom I'm sleeping in. I had to go get my cell phone so I could know what time it was. I'm sure there's actually reasons for some of them... the room I'm sleeping in is about to become Kenna's big girl room so when it gets changed she may put a clock in it (although I don't actually think there's one in her current room either). Maybe I'm just obsessed with time. :) Actually at one point yesterday, I was almost positive it was at least noon and I checked the time and almost cried because it was only like 9:30. That would be a big red flag that I'm not meant to be a stay at home mom. :)

Otherwise the weather is beautiful. Kenna and I went outside twice yesterday and I was totally too warm in my thin sweater. There's no snow on the ground (although when we went to Palmdale to return the lesbian blouses I did see some very small patches of very dirty brown snow along the freeway). And so far a good time is being had. What a nice way to spend Christmas break.

Goals for the New Year

I'm in CA. Yay! Where it is warm. Double yay! Hanging out with a baby, and Michelle and her husband. Triple yay!

I took back most of the tops from my mom and got $77 in Dillards store credit. Luckily they allow you to use it online. Unluckily I think their sizes either run small or accurate because the shirts I tried on were uncomfortably tight in places they shouldn't be. Or maybe that was the style and they were supposed to be tight. I don't know. We had to drive out into the middle of nowhere to go and return stuff.

Anyway, goals for the new year...

1 - No more credit card use starting in February. (It has to be February because from paycheck to paycheck is 6 weeks in January because of the length of January and because we got paid before Christmas).

2 - Take my damn pills every day so my hand stops looking like I have the pox. Since I'm not as careful as I should be with my dietary restrictions I still sometimes get some exposure to gluten and that causes me to break out periodically. I take a daily pill that takes care of that but can't remember to take it every day anymore. Suddenly I have started taking them maybe once a week and I take like 4 at a time. But usually I only remember to take them because my right hand has started to break out. Hence my hand looks like I have the pox.

3 - Finish cleaning my apartment and keep it that way. I'll give it a try. It doesn't usually work out. :)

My mother thinks I'm a lesbian

That's the only explanation I can come up with for the shirts and dress she bought me for Christmas. Not only am I a lesbian, but I'm a 45 year old or older lesbian. AND she bought them at Dillards. We don't even have a Dillards here in Seattle. Guess what we're doing Michelle when I come and visit... (Do you have Dillards in LA?)

In other news, Leavenworth is gorgeous. I'll post pictures when I get around to getting them off the camera. The bus ride was okay and fairly uneventful. Vancouver was a brief trip surrounded by interminable car rides. We spun out on the freeway coming home and went to a hotel to spend the night and get off the freeway. We went to a hotel in Burlington, a Fairfield I think. It was really nice and definitely worth the bucks we spent. In contrast, I'm not 100% certain the hotel we stayed at in Leavenworth was worth it.

Today we got back from Leavenworth (after deciding to spend an extra night) and went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory. We also went to the movies - Seven Pounds. I did not really enjoy it honestly.

Hopefully I will be on a plane on the 26th to CA. (I say hopefully only because due to weather many of our flights have been fucked and there is a slim possibility I may get stranded.)

Let it Snow

The snow has been coming down off and on since Thursday. It is so beautiful. I really love it. My sister is enthralled with it. We went out for manicures and coffee and dinner and it was really coming down. It was really beautiful.

We're off to Vancouver BC tomorrow. I'm excited to go. Tomorrow we're going to Leavenworth via Greyhound. We'll spend the night there. It should be beautiful. I'm pretty excited by that too.

Wednesday we're going to Stephen's for Christmas eve dinner and we're going shopping. And then she goes home on Thursday. Hopefully we'll get the Christmas presents before Christmas and so I won't have to send Mandy's on to Florida.

Again my mother insisted she send them a way that requires my signature. What part of I'm not home during the day to sign for packages is confusing to her?? I thought they were going to redeliver yesterday but they didn't. They may on Monday. I don't know. So peeved by that.

Agog

I got an email today that never in a million years would I have expected. It was an apology from someone from a long time ago. I never posted about the whole incident except for this one which doesn't really tell you anything at all. It is really interesting, though, because the topic came up a couple months ago when I was having lunch with Stephen. He asked me if there was any way I would speak to this person again and I said I didn't know. One of my own failings is that I hold a grudge. I'm well aware I do it and obviously don't care THAT much about it since I still do it. I don't know if this person was apologizing as a means to try to be friends again or because the person is a 12 stepper or because the moon is in retrograde or because the person really just wanted to apologize and then that's it. So I don't know what will happen now, but I guess we'll see won't we.

Sometimes I need a man

Ok so I admit that what I'm about to say is totally not feminist or independent at all but sometimes I would really like a man in my life. Today's reason... it would be nice to have a male to dispose of dead pets. I hadn't seen Tess since some time on Saturday. This has happened before, but I got a bit worried. My biggest fear with regards to Tess was to find her dead in the closet... You know where this is going right? While cleaning my room tonight I figured I had to go looking for her. Sigh. I found her. She was all folded up in an old blanket. I'm taking her to the vet's tomorrow to let them dispose of her body. I'm sad but not as sad as I was when Minka and Baxter died. I think I'd be more sad if I hadn't already been anticipating this for several months now. The biggest sign she was probably dead... there hadn't been poop in my bed since Friday night.

Also it is completely unenvironmental and uncharitable of me, but I threw the blanket she died in in the trash. The blanket was already pretty foul. It had been my sister's and I don't know the last time it had been washed. It sat in the back of my closet for the past 6 years.

Crap

I'm out of time and my apartment is nowhere near neat. I'm not even shooting for neat at this point just less not neat. Sigh. I've just got too much procrastination going on. Plus this week... every evening is busy. I hate that. Now it is 9 pm and all I want to do is go to bed. Is it wrong that I'm considering calling in sick tomorrow? Or maybe Wednesday. :) Blargh I can't call in sick tomorrow I have too much to take in to work. Sigh.

Yum

QFC has redeemed itself (well sort of, if they didn't have what I wanted when I wanted it does the fact they had it the next day make up for it? Not really) but they had chicken which is good. (Unrelated totally, one thing I don't get about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is was the character born an adult? That seems physically difficult for his mother or was he born a baby but then aged rapidly to start aging backwords. Ultimately I don't care that much because I won't bother seeing it. It seems to weird to me.) Back on subject... So I went to QFC tonight to get chicken (still no chips in the bbq flavor I want though) and I cruised the Asian aisle thinking what I was going to do with the chicken and I decided to make Thai red curry. I've never done that before actually so I wasn't sure how it was going to work out. Mostly it was good. It could have used a bit more of the red curry paste though because it was a tiny bit bland. But it wasn't gross and that's usually enough for me. :) Next I have to bake brownies for our work party and I'm going to bake a chocolate chip quick bread for breakfast this week. Yay!

Grocery Store Fail

So I went to my local QFC today to buy chicken for dinner and some chips. They were out of chicken breasts and the type of chips I wanted. How is that possible? It's a grocery store. My only option for chicken was the really fancy (and expensive) free range chicken. They didn't have any boneless skinless anyway. They only had like livers and legs and wings. When I asked the guy at the counter he said they were still recovering from the holiday. What recovering from the holiday? It's chicken and the holiday was a week and a half ago. Seriously. If they weren't the only place I could go to I would go somewhere else. So I got take out because I was so befuddled by the lack of necessities at the grocery store I didn't know what else to do. I was just kind of walking up and down the grocery store aisle like an idiot.

Unrelated I feel like I'm clenching my jaw/teeth too much. I wonder why I do that.

Unrelated to that, I have to make an appt for my annual exam. They have been calling and sending letters and all that because it has been over 2 years. Well the PA I used to see left the practice which is fine I didn't especially like her, but they want me to see my PCP for the exam. It is completely irrational I know but I really don't want her to do it. I need a separate 3rd party checking all that out, not somebody I see for all the other stuff in my life. I know, neurotic and irrational. Add to the list of neuroses, I think I have to have a lady lady parts doctor, I don't think I want a guy poking around. And she has to be old. :) Hmm... I wonder if Group Health can accommodate all that.

I accomplished 1 thing today.

I had a huge list of things to do and yet one thing prevented me from doing them and took me until 6:56 to accomplish. That one thing... a clog in my sink. Two days ago it filled with water and did not drain. I tried draino. I tried a 2nd bottle of draino. Nothing. Yesterday I bought a plunger. I plunged. I poured gross sink water into a bucket and plunged some more. I sustained a chemical burn on my middle finger because I had to hold the plunger in place in the water which was full of draino that hadn't done its job. This morning I got up and plunged some more. I'd take a break between plunging because the draino that was still in the plugged sink would suds up and then I couldn't see to plunge anymore. And finally at 2:30 I gave up and went to the store. Fuck the non-toxic way of doing it, I was going for the hardcore stuff. I have to say that during this time I was getting more and more frustrated with the sink I discovered three other frustrators. 1 - I went into the bedroom to change my socks and discovered that Tess had pooped on my bed AGAIN. This is becoming a thing with her. She's done it 4 times in the past two weeks. I don't own enough sheets for this to become a regular occasion. That pissed me off. 2 - There's a hole in the middle of my fitted sheet. I don't know where it came from but that is one more bottom sheet that is getting dumped in the trash. 3 - I missed a call from Stephen. I'm not really pissed about that because I rarely answer my cell at home BUT the reason I missed it is because one of my scouts changed my ringtone. Not only did she change my ringtone (that I could handle), but she recorded her random notes over the one I had painstakingly put in place several years ago. (My phone is so old it still has the composer feature and I programmed into it the Hedwig's theme from Harry Potter.) I've been using that ringtone for YEARS. That was like the final straw.

So I walked to get tacos for late lunch and bought some CLR and then also foaming pipe snake. One of those was going to work goddammit. I used the CLR power plumber and although I probably used all 15 applications in this one drain it cleared the drain. FINALLY. Now it's time to cook dinner and contemplating changing the sheets yet again. I'm so over that. Of course since I took the water I was scooping out of the sink and dumped it into the tub my tub is probably now clogged. Sigh.

Also I love the Pogues. I was just watching PS I love you and they have several Pogue songs. They're awesome.

My feet are cold

They are cold because I have all sorts of windows open. I have all sorts of windows open because apparently I tried to burn down my kitchen. Luckily I failed. :) My eyes are still watering a bit though. My living room was hazy for quite awhile and now I'm feeling a teeny tiny bit wheezy.

I've got a lot of charity shopping to do in the next couple of weeks. Stephen and Ben and I are going to buy presents for a couple kids off one of the giving trees at the mall. My department is working with other departments and we've adopted a family. Since I'm arranging it, I've assigned my department the mom. Buying for the kids is generally easier than for the adult I think. I still have to buy for Michelle and her husband and her mom and one more present for my dad. I have to wrap all the presents and get them together for shipping. Oh crap and I have to exchange one of the ones I bought for my niece (she has both a birthday and Christmas around the same time so I have to buy both).

I am getting excited about the break. Well not the part where my sister visits (only because I'm not done cleaning and not the part where she visits. I am excited for her to visit but my genuine lazy nature is really fighting my desire not to reveal my true messy nature - heh like she doesn't know... :) ) She wants to go to Vancouver and to Leavenworth. That should be fun I think. I also have to get off my ass and buy my plane ticket for CA. Each day I procrastinate I'm guaranteeing the price is going up. Sigh. Actually, I once read on Farecast.com that the best time to buy a ticket is about this time of night on a Wednesday and they are totally right. I just found a nice cheap ticket for Burbank although Michelle might hate me since the return trip leaves at 8:00 AM. But when I was looking earlier this week, it was going to be about $350 for the ticket. Now I'm paying $250. Yay. Ticket purchased. So on my list to do before 12/21:

1 - Clean the apartment. Seriously.
2 - Purchase presents for Michelle, husband of Michelle and charity
3 - Arrange for Tess & Rigby to stay at the vet tech's for the week I'm gone.
4 - Clean the apartment. Did I mention that?
5 - Haircut on Saturday the 13th
6 - Charity shop with Stephen & Ben

Thoughts on a long and totally wasted weekend

SO my sister visits in like 20 days. I need to clean my apartment. I apparently am incapable of actually doing this. Sigh.

Lyday and I went to Thanksgiving dinner at Black Angus. We did not eat turkey but had steak instead. Yum yum. We did have the worst waitress ever possible. The people in the booths around us came got served so much quicker than we did and not all of them were doing the Thanksgiving special. Lyday's friend paid which was very nice. We went and saw Four Christmases after. It was pretty funny. I enjoyed it.

Yesterday Lyday and I hit the sales. We were out at 4:45 in the morning. I finished everyone's shopping except Michelle, Kenna and Bryan and my parents. My parents are difficult. My mom actually provided a list this year which is refreshing. She rarely does. My father's included one thing - slippers. Crikey. I did get a few things for me. I picked up this scrap book that I've been coveting for a long time. I had a 50% off coupon for Joann's fabrics. Now I actually have to do the project. Sigh. :)

After a nap and a shower, Stephen and I went to get him a tattoo. I liked his artist. I may let her do my next one. I haven't figured out what or where it will be though. Although I still want to get one in Ireland so maybe that'll be my next one. Commemorate turning 35 with a tattoo. :)

Tomorrow I have to get up at the ass crack of dawn and bundle up and go to volunteer for The Seattle Marathon. I did that a few years ago and didn't really enjoy doing it but I got an email that they needed like 200 volunteers or next year they wouldn't get to do it and I felt sad for them. I do enjoy watching the marathoners, but the organizers never have enough people to do breaks for people or to end our shifts at reasonable times. I think this year I will bring with me a book, perhaps my nintendo, my chair from the basement and definitely enough snacks.

Brownie Fail!

Well I just got notification that I'm losing two more of my brownies. That means I'm down to two girls. You can't have a troop with only 2 girls. That just doesn't work so I'm trying to figure out what to do with those two. I've contacted my person at GS to see what she says. I'm a little sad but at the same time not so sad. It has been exhausting running two troops. And although I liked the activities the little girls had to do, they just wore me out. Plus, can you imagine the money I'll save...

Two thousand two hundred thirty seven posts...

You could sing that in your head like that Rent song Seasons of Love. Two thousand two hundred thirty seven poooosts. Two thousand two hundred moments so dear... two thousand two hundred thirty seven poooosts... that's how you measure ... measure 5 years.

Yes people, today is the 5 year blogiversary of my life. Isn't that exciting? And while I've been doing Peeves of Yore over at the Peevery for awile now I'm not doing a Joanne of Yore. I'm pretty sure there are a few things I would rather not remember but I will provide a few links to posts I love. :)

Here's my first ever post. Wherein I realized it was 113 days until I turned 30. Now... 113 days until I turn 35. Should I be freaking out? (That does mean it is 113 days until my birthday... mark your calendars.) (Although I could be celebrating it in Ireland. I haven't figured that out yet.) (Also I don't really love this post, but it is the first one ever so that's kind of cool). I used to drink a lot then, and I'm a little horrified by my early posts.

Five years ago, I also gave up my beloved car. Sigh. Also notable, I had, albiet for a brief time, a guy to be seeing. That was kind of nice. I met his parents which was a first for me. It is better to not have relationships go that long I think. :)

My most favorite post ever came three years ago in 2005. I'll just let you read it and revel in its total awesomeness. I've never tried another April Fool's Joke because none could ever touch this one. It is the comments that make it. :)

In rereading old posts, I spent many months (years?) pining over a crush that didn't pan out. Dang.

Some of the old posts make me sad. Sigh. some don't. Yay. But whatever. Hopefully I'll do this another 5 years. Or maybe not. :)

More Music I love

I had a gift card to Barnes & Noble burning a hole in my pocket so after dinner on Sat, I went with Lyday. I made good work of that $50.00 card.

I picked up 2 Pogues CDs. I love Shane McGowan's kind of scratchy throat singing style. I started listening to them in college because I had a crush on a guy in one of my classes who loved them. I started listening to them so we had something in common. Little did I know I'd like them. :)

I also picked up some books. Yay books! I bought the book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It is a YA read and really good. I saw a preview for the movie when I went to see Happy Go Lucky (I think). I looked it up on IMDB and discovered that it does end the way the book does which makes me happy. I hate it when movies change books significantly and I think changing the ending could be construed as a significant change.

I also picked up In The Woods. We'll see how that goes. I'm only a short way in.

Sunday I volunteered at the Winter Pineapple Classic. I'm totally volunteering for that again next year. It was fun. (Although I grew hoarse cheering on the racers). I spent a few minutes before the race chatting with a totally my type guy... who volunteers. How awesome... that is until he said he was volunteering with his girl friend. Such is the story of my life. :)

Wistful

This morning I was having a great dream. I dreamt that I had met, fallen in love with and was engaged to a guy. I think I was at least somewhat aware that I was dreaming but I was enjoying it a lot. It made me a little sad when I woke up this morning. Although one weird thing about the dream... he owned a lizard he walked on a leash.

ODing on Blue October

Remember a week or two ago I mentioned how much I think I love Blue October and was going to acquire more tunes by them? Oh sure you do... think back... :) Well I did! I was out with Stephen like two weeks ago and I picked up their double CD Foiled For the Last Time. Since I bought it all the way through Election day I've been listening to it as I fall asleep at night and as I get up in the AM. I had to foresake Adam Corolla in the morning because every commercial break had stupid election ads and it would just make me mad and I would turn off the radio anyway. I'm developing a pretty hardcore set of songs that I LOVE by them that I can listen to on repeat for days and be happy... on that list: You Make Me Smile (c'mon how awesome is that for a song title in general.), Sound of Pulling Heaven Down and She's My Ride Home. All in all good CDs I'm going to have to acquire more.

Totally unrelated sometimes I hate people. In general. None specifically. Ok well one specifically. Ok well I don't HATE him but he massively irritates me. It's a work person not a non work person so don't get paranoid Stephen. :)

Happy Go Lucky - A review

I went and saw Happy Go Lucky instead of election results last night. I initially thought I'd be the only one in the theater, but about 10 people ultimately showed up. It is usually hard for me to tell if I liked an indie film or international film. They don't pack that punch that I think American films do... Not punch exactly... Ok I think popular American movies (which I love so I don't consider what I'm about to say slamming them at all and yes I'm generalizing about a type of American movie, and I'm generalizing about the type I watch so maybe it would be easier to say the movies I watch are kind of designed for the ADD in us.) are kind of designed for the ADD in us. And by that I mean that things happen. There's a distinct arc. I know one of the reasons I generally don't like Indie films (besides the weird lack of affectation that I think I frequently see in them) is because they usually feel to me like we're just wandering through a story with no real place to go and then it is done and you're sitting there like what the hell just happened. Oh maybe I mean subtlty. There's a lack of subtlty in mainstream popular American films of the variety that I watch. Christ that's a lot of disclaimer isn't it...

Anyway, I liked Happy Go Lucky. I liked that British film makers don't use such uberhot stars the way we do (although her love interest, Tim, was pretty yummy). I liked Poppy's infernal cheerfulness, but also that we got to see her heart. She wasn't one sided or naive. (I especially hate the types of movies that show the eternally happy person as naive as though only bitter cynics have any kind of head on their shoulders). I relate to Poppy. She is making a conscious choice to be happy and let things go. I can appreciate that. Even though I sometimes fail at it, I try to be as happy as I possibly can. The reviewers talk a lot about character study and all the onion peeling of the movie, I just say I liked it and it was well worth the 10 bucks I spent to see it. (Although I will concede that at one point it did get a bit too wandery for me and I did start to wonder how long the movie was) One thing I did think was that I really wanted to find a trampoline class to take. I don't think we have those here.

My Current Fear (and the only political post I'll do this year (I think))

So while I believe Obama is the better candidate for president based on a variety of things, I don't think he's quite the messiah that the rest of the Democrats seem to think. In fact, I have a very real fear that he is going to get into office and do his 4 years but since he is only human and our government is not a dictatorship, he's not going to have as much power as they think he will. As a result of this, he is not going to end up being our great hope and in 4 years a disgusted country will vote a Republican back into office. That's my current fear. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

In a wholly only sort of related thought, I would like to start an initiative to ban attack ads from playing on TV and radio. I'm going to have to study Tim Eyeman (I know that's wrong I don't feel like looking it up) and figure out how to do this. I'm sure it will be unconstitutional (that never stops Tim Eyeman), but somehow I bet I could get it passed easily.

Massively disappointing

So this place Pizza Fusion is opening up near my work. They offer Gluten-Free pizza. Since I emailed them with a question, I got invited to their free preview for Saturday night. I was so excited. We had a seating time so we showed up within the 1/2 hour we were supposed to. I was starving. I hadn't had much to eat most of the day so I was completely ready to gorge myself on GF pizza. As I go and check in, I get told it was an hour wait. Are you fucking kidding me? An hour?! The worst part is that the young lady didn't seem too apologetic about that fact. That was the whole purpose of having a seating time... to avoid this. We declined and were getting ready to head back out when another person, who seemed to have more power than reservation chick, offered me a free pizza and wrote it on a menu. Now I just hope it gets honored when I go in. I was really disappointed since I had been looking forward to it for about a week. We ended up at IHOP because I couldn't think of anywhere else to go and was just hungry. Sigh.

On the not disappointing front, Lyday and her friend S and I went to PYOP. I still love PYOP and I think I am actually getting better at it. I painted a cute bowl with a snowflake inside and just little white dots on the outside. I hope it turns out well.

All Done

I've spent the last week recording my every movement for a research project. It was kind of weird. Apparently it takes me only 20 minutes to walk to work. If I could ever leave on time, I could be a force to be reckoned with. Also apparently I spend a minimum of 11 hours sitting a week day. (7.5 at work and then 3ish at home). That's a little depressing to think about. Of course if I think that on Saturday and Sunday I spent a minimum of 9 hours on my feet it all balances out right? But it was an interesting exercise in my day and how I get from point a to point b. It totally pointed out my tendency for busluck because at most bus stops I waited no more than 4 minutes for the bus. Plus, the nice part, I get a $50 gift card to Barnes & Noble for participating. Yay! :)

Two stories of my dumbness

So I've been looking for this book for my coworker for two days now. I was positive it was sitting on my bed just under the other books sitting on my bed so I tore my bed apart looking for it. No dice. I tore the rest of my bedroom apart looking for it. No dice. I had resigned myself to spending the weekend prowling under the bed and in the dark corners and was sitting on my sofa. Less than 2 feet away is a chair with an old printer on it and two books and my laptop carrier. You know what one of those two books is right? Yup. The book.

The 2nd story even worse... I have an almost pathelogical need to not do dishes. I loathe them so I've hit upon a brilliant idea. I'll use ziploc baggies when mixing simple mixes rather than a mixing bowl. Then I don't have a bowl to wash! Yay! So last night I was mixing up a cake mix in my big ziploc baggie. I had added everything and then I opened it just a bit to let the air out to make it easier to mix (I've done this before.). I didn't realize that the other end of the zip opened as well so I just zipped the part I opened and started to mix again and blup... chocolate cake all down the front of my pants and on the floor and on my leg. There was, however, still enough to make my cupcakes so that's all that matters, right? :)

All must be forgiven

Tess sleeps with me a lot lately. It helps that it is getting cold so she likes the warmth of my bed but this morning I noticed her sleeping on my feet. So cute! Obviously I'm forgiven for giving her poison (or medicine whichever).

Costumes

I spent the weekend at the Pacific Science Center volunteering. I love it there, I really do. Plus I get free tix when I volunteer so I can go again! Yay! It was their Halloween event and so the families were encouraged to dress up. Here's what fascinated me... the kids' costumes. I remember a time, quite a long time ago actually, where we wore those plastic pieces of crap that usually ripped and didn't offer a lot in ability to bend ones' knees or elbows. And yeah yeah, that was a long time ago and things change, but the kids' costumes have gotten so elaborate and.. I'm sure.. expensive. It just amazes me how much parents will shell out for an outfit their kid will wear maybe 4 times tops. I think I'm probably being pretty generous with that 4. There's school (if the school allows it, but not all do), trick or treating (or whatever their activity of choice is) and maybe a party or two. According to target.com they can run full price anywhere between 17 and 30 plus dollars. Kmart has about the same prices and Walmart is maybe 5 dollars cheaper. Were they that expensive when we were kids? Does it reflect on more disposable income than when I was a kid? I don't know... Maybe it is newer materials available. It just amazed me to see families of three and four little kids who shelled out at least 20 - 30 bucks per costume (not even counting accoutrements because I know those Disney costumes are the dress and you buy the shoes and tiara and whatever else separate).

The other thing that fascinated me... the parents who dressed up. There was one woman there rocking a skin tight harlequin suit and full make up. I kind of admired her, although I sure as hell couldn't wear a skin tight harlequin suit. :) Ever.

This year I volunteered both days from 9 - 6. There were also about 11 other volunteers... all from the local high school who knew each other. It was slightly weird. Me and 11 sophmores. They were nice kids and several of them did it last year so I remembered them. It was a good time as a whole.

Poor Tesster

So for the past week I've been forcing this medicine down Tess's throat twice a day. I grab her and pry open her jaws and shove the syringe part way into her mouth. It is kind of brutal. I discovered yesterday she actually likes the flavor of the medicine and if I wasn't such a freak, she'll just lick it straight out of the syringe. It has made our med giving times much easier but I do feel a teeny tiny bit badly about how I was doing it before.

Just download the whole thing

I need to just download Blue October's whole CD. I've downloaded three songs off their Foiled CD and every time I hear something I hadn't heard before by them I love it too.

Also, the other day I was in the car and heard this song and I was thinking the artist sounded familiar but (despite their promise to always announce the artist and song) when the song ended and the next one ended, the dj didn't say who the artist was. Luckily I went to the End's website and they had this little thing where I could search for the time I heard the song and when I saw the list of music during that hour I knew who it was without even hearing a sample of the song. It was the Foo Fighters. I do love them. Not more than Pearl Jam, but a lot. And, unlike Pearl Jam, I have seen them live.

Howling at the moon

I am watching SNL. I think the Palin cameo would have been better if they had managed to keep it a secret. But I do appreciate that she seems to have a sense of humor about herself. Really, what can you do? I think when you enter that level of politics you probably have a thick skin. I thought Mark Wahlberg's piece was funny, though. Holy crap, is Amy Poehler like 15 months pregnant? Also Weekend Update with her was pretty funny too.

There has been a dog howling outside my apartment for the past several hours. It's so hard to tell, though where noise is coming from in the city, though, since it all echos around the buildings. Could be really far away or could be in the scary park behind my apartment. Either way I'm not going to check, but it is quite annoying.

Every year I think about going to the Nutcracker done by the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Every year I don't because I think I don't want to spend the money. Maybe this year I'll change my mind. Probably not. :)

I hate negative campaign ads. They are almost enough to make me either not vote or vote for the other candidate. Most likely not vote at all since both sides do it. The part that I think bugs me the most, I've noticed that there are a lot fewer "I approve this ad" spots so half these negative ads aren't even necessarily sanctioned by the candidate they are supporting. It kind of makes me wonder if they've been 'approved' by the candidates anyway. Or else if the candidate could ask the sponsors not to show them. I wish just one candidate would not stoop to negative ads and attacking the opponent in the debates. Maybe it could revolutionize the whole process. I couldn't care less about what your opponent has failed to do or what terrible things s/he may or may not have done (and let's be honest 9 times out of 10 of the claims the attack ads make are exaggerated). I want to know what the candidate is going to do.

I think there's an indy movie about to be released I want to see. I know that's shocking since in general I hate indy films, but this one looks like something I can get behind. It is called Happy Go Lucky. It starts next week at the Harvard Exit Theater. Yay.

To Cover or Not To Cover

That is the question. My dress for the big work fancypants gala is low enough in the back to expose my dragonfly. Last year it wasn't as big a concern because I had longer hair that did some semblence of hiding it. (Not completely but it was better than what it will be with the New! Short! Hair!) So do I a - buy a different dress (I don't want to. I LOVE my dress. And a quick perusal of Nordstroms.com shows me that even if it comes up higher in the front, the backs still plunge.) b - buy a different wrap/shrug that I can wear and cover it. c - Not worry about it. I'm leaning towards C.

TV On the Bubble

I watch a lot of TV. I admit it. I don't have a whole lot else to do in the evenings so that's what I do. This season, though, totally disappointing. I have started three or four new shows, to drop them all basically after the 2nd or 3rd episode. (90210, Sons of Anarchy and the Mentalist in case you're interested) (Well and in my defense, I only watched 90210 for the nostalgia aspect and they had Kelly and Brenda back together, but no. Just no.) There's nothing I like on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. After this week, I'm down to only one 30 minute show on Wednesdays. Mondays are still good but I'm on the fence about Heroes so that show could drop at any time. Thursdays are still sort of good but I'm on the fence about Ugly Betty too. Really I don't think there's anything I wouldn't mind not watching and catching online the next day or in reruns at some point in the future. That's a little sad to me. :)

Fuddy Duddy

I went to see Dark Side of The Rainbow with Stephen and his friend last night at the Pacific Science Center. Dark Side of the Rainbow was a laser show with Pink Floyd music set to The Wizard of Oz. Here's what I've learned after attending this show.

1 - I don't like Pink Floyd at all.
2 - I don't get this synchronizing thing. I think MAYBE there were three spots that matched up with the movie, but that seems tenuous at best.
3 - About 1/2 way through I got cold... COLD and by the "encore" I was shivering a little bit.
4 - I found the whole thing kind of boring and maybe if I was a stoner I would've found it more entertaining.
5 - It has been a REALLY long time since I saw Wizard of Oz. I didn't recognize almost any of the beginning of the movie. But it hasn't encouraged me to see the movie either. :)
6 - I think Toto was a Norwich Terrier and if I believed in owning pure bred dogs, I would totally get one because I think they are insanely cute.

New Hair!

So for perspective, here's my hair a few weeks ago.

And here's my hair today! I cut off a lot of it obviously. I went to the Gene Juarez Acadamy and I definitely think I'll go back to Charli. I like what she did. I did freak her out, though, I could tell. :)

Here's how short it is in the back. It feels so weird. I haven't had my hair this short in like 22 years.

Date with destiny

Isn't that dramatic?? :) It just means I'm going to the hair cutting place tomorrow after Tess's vet appointment.

I'm a tiny bit worried about Tess's visit. I have noticed when petting her that she feels much thinner than she used to. You know how when you have an OLD pet, they start getting that weird thinness happening. I think (although could be wrong) Tess is starting to get that thinness.

My sister is coming to visit during Christmas. She wants to go to Vancouver. She has to go back on like Christmas or the day after... maybe Christmas since I think she said she has to go to work on the 26th. I might actually have to wait to open my presents until Christmas Day. That's going to be hard work for me. :)

Ideas?

I think it is time I obtain a new Halloween costume. I'm volunteering again this year at the Pacific Science Center so it has to be a G-Rated costume. I'm just at a loss. I was thinking of obtaining a simple blue dress and making a white apron, buying an Alice band (thick black headband), tossing on my brown Mary Janes and going as Alice in Wonderland. Or else making a simple blue jumper and wearing a white blouse under it and going as Dorothy. But I just don't know what I want to be. Looking at patterns and/or costumes online isn't really helping me either. If I didn't insist on chopping off all my hair all the time I could've had the braids to do Pippi Longstocking. :) (I did that once when I taught school in Fairbanks. My hair was down to my ass at that point and so the braids went out farther than my shoulders. I felt a little bad as I saw a young lady also with Pippi braids who weren't nearly as long. She looked a little crestfallen when she saw mine.) I was never really that good at this as a kid which is why I've always kind of hated Halloween.

Weigh In

I'm chopping off all my hair. I just can't take it anymore. All I do is tie it up. I have rather fine hair, but there are a ton and a half of them. So what do you think of these? Three other things to keep in mind: 1 - I hate my hair in my eyes. 2 - I don't want to look like a lesbian and 3 - I am willing to use product what not in my hair but not have a whole hair routine. One final thought... I have a round face. Please feel free to post your own links to something better. I never know. I'm such a waffler.

This one is cute. Looks simple. Hair in eyes is a downer, but may not be too bad. Or maybe can be adapted with the shorter bang.

I like this one too, but would it make me look old??

This is essentially a bob which may not work for me since it looks like it might hit on the fat part of my face.

I kind of like this, but maybe not. It may be longer than I want.

Well and there's always this option. (Kidding, I swear but it is featured on the page I got these styles from and I laugh a little bit every time I see it. Could not be more lesbionic if it tried).

Groceries

Draino
TP
Chicken
Soda
Ice Cream

So sad the shopping list of the single chick.

I can't peeve!

I have two peeves and yet I can't login to typepad to post them, hence here they are:

1 - I hate those damn videos that suck you in and then have something pop out or jump up and scream. I hate hate hate them.

2 - I forgot the other one. Sigh.

All the world's a stage

And Tess wants to perform on it. I just bought a new bookshelf at Ikea and set it up. I haven't yet put anything on the bottom shelf yet but Tess has already decided it is her home. She keeps climbing up on it and rolling around. It's pretty darn funny.

Friday Lyday and I went to see Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist. I thought the movie was funny but my big issue with the movie was that all these kids are high school kids and none of them had any difficulty getting into the various bars and clubs in NYC they were going to. I know kids have fake IDs and what not, but a - these kids look pretty young (Although thanks to IMDB I now most of them actually are over 21.) so I can't believe ALL the bouncers would buy that and b - well, I forgot my b point but there was one. So that was the downer I found for the movie. Plus it just seemed like too much. I know that high school kids are different when I was in high school, but would it have made it so difficult to make them a tiny bit older...19 and 20 maybe?

Irrational Desire

So I'm going to the big fancy gala again this year. I'm wearing the same dress I wore last year because a - I love it and b - I love it and c - it isn't like I'm so rememberable that people will realize I wore it last year so whateva. I was looking online for a black wristlet so that this year I don't have to ask Stephen to hold my cell phone etc in his pocket. (Well and I discovered the word wristlet this year too.) And so I google 'black wristlet' and of course ebay comes up and I start scrolling through them. I've fallen in love with a Coach wristlet. Now, I'm rarely a brand whore, but I covet it. And yet, somehow I can't get over my innate unwillingness to spend so much money on something like a little purse. So I keep bidding in hopes I'll finally be the winner. But I've got my limit so we'll see.

Isn't it cute??

Do you want to know the worst part? The very worst part? Even if I could find something similar in non-Coach I don't think I would want it because it isn't Coach. What's wrong with me??

Southwest Convert & Old People

This is sad to say to my poor baby sister but unless I'm flying free, I'm not flying her airlines. I'm not flying anyone's airlines except Southwest. (OK that's a sweeping generalization. There may be times when I have to fly a different airlines simply because Southwest doesn't fly there, but mostly I'm only flying Southwest). And I'm only flying Southwest because they currently don't charge bag fees. I may change my mind. They may start doing it (and then what?? I have to travel by train??) but seriously bag fees can add up to 100 dollars to a ticket. That's outrageous!

I've been obsessed lately with my index finger on my right hand. The nail is starting to go flat. It is so weird. It was never like that before. A quick google search says I may be lacking in vitamins. I'll have to start up with the multi-vitamin again. Sigh.

I went to this refresher training for my volunteering at the Paramount last night. I was mostly dreading it because I figured it would be one of those "This is what we're seeing everyone doing wrong" type of refreshers. (Clearly certain aspects of my personality will not succumb to my hopeful philosophy of believing in the best). Refreshingly it wasn't. Mostly they were telling us about changes at the Paramount and rah rah we're necessary. That's fine. I was one of the three youngest people in the group of over 25. And we were youngest by at a minimum of 20 years. Here's where I realize I don't really like old people though. In college (and I'm sure Michelle could back me up) old people (heh, when I was 22 old people were like 35 - 40) going back to school never seemed to go back for a physics degree or a mechanical engineering degree. They go into the social sciences fields and that's where I learned to hate adult learners. They always had stories to share that maybe related to something but usually they were just annoying and took away from class time where we needed to learn something and not just anecdotal evidence about how the special education system in the district sucks. I share this because old people are like adult learners. They share stories that don't matter and seem to ask questions that have nothing to do with what's being discussed. Or if they do, it is just the same stuff over and over. Yes sometimes the paid staff are short with the volunteers. Whatever. Get over it. The guy just said he's working with them on that so we don't need to keep rehashing that point. Amusingly enough, there was an old lady in front of me who clearly does not suffer fools. She kept making comments to herself wishing everyone would just stop asking stupid questions so we could just get done with this. I kind of dug her.

Not responsible

I've been working for weeks on these proposals to our executive team about our open enrollment. We have several recommendations that should be good for the employees. So help me god if they decide to make no changes at all I will not be responsible for my actions.

Isn't that always the way

I was totally late for volunteering at Phantom of the Opera last night. I thought, for some reason, the call time was 5:30 not 5:00. Tonight we have a refresher training for ushers. In 5 years I've never been late, but the day before the meeting bam! Tardy.

Also my bank officially failed on the same day I activated my new debit card. Coincidence? Yeah probably. :)

Fail.

So I should've vetted my Thanksgiving plan more thoroughly before I got excited. The Pearrygin Lake State Park isn't open in the winter. That means we'll be headed somewhere else. There is another one Cama Beach State Park that has cabins and they are open in the winter. They do not, however, have stove burners inside so we would have to cook outdoors. Not an insurmountable problem. But the sad part is that they are not close to Winthrop so no Christmas Extravaganza! :(

My bank failed yesterday. Yesterday I felt bad for me because this means my checking account will probably change. Luckily I don't have credit cards or a mortgage through them because that will definitely change. Today I feel bad for the employees. I wonder if it is easier or harder to go to work today... the uncertainty is gone but has probably been replaced with a different uncertainty. That was the hardest thing about working at homestore for me... when we started to hit the skids I hated how uncertain everything was. I also hated, since I worked in HR, knowing before others who was getting laid off and who wasn't. Especially since I knew these people, you know.

Final fail... this morning I was walking to work wearing a greenish sweater. I was reading my book while walking and realized I had worn this sweater already this week. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, but there was a spot of taco sauce on my sweater. I turned around and walked home. Sigh. I did think it was amusing, though that while I was walking and reading another woman was walking up my street while reading. A kindred spirit so to speak. :)

Potential plan

I did some research and discovered some pretty nice cabins available through the state parks. It seems like it could be fun to go to Pearrygin Lake and then to Winthrop for their holiday extravaganza thing. I'll keep you posted but I think we've found a winner. (It even snows there!!!)

What to do... What to do...

Since Michelle is going to Florida this Thanksgiving, I'm not going to CA for my traditional Thanksgiving at Michelles and mad shopping spree on Friday morning. This leaves me with a 4 day weekend to fill with something that may or may not entertain me. I could probably con Lyday into doing the shopping thing with me... although now that I think about it maybe not. I don't remember that I know her stance on that kind of thing. I do know her stance on being up at 5:00 AM and that is not in this lifetime. I could rent a car for the day or check out the flexcar for the AM and go by myself. That's not so fun though. I mean a whole part of the adventure of black friday is getting up and having one person get in the lines ahead while the other goes and picks stuff up. Plus who would I go to lunch with when I was totally and completely done shopping and then spend the afternoon doing arts and crafts with?

Another option would be go visit the fam. Last Thanksgiving wasn't too terrible. We survived it without incident which is an improvement over the last time I visited them. I didn't want to kill anyone. But Black Friday was not the same kind of fun (even though they tried... they did pick up paint by number kits) but somehow Pep Boys isn't the same as Mervyns. I wonder if I could convince my family to stay in a hotel Thursday night so we could shop in Tucson on Friday morning... Probably not. :)

I have also considered going away for the weekend. I think it might be neat to go to a state or national park and rent a yurt or cabin (both are heated) for the long weekend. I would want to go to one that is near someplace I haven't been before so I could go do little day trips to see things nearby.

I don't know and since my default on that is to do nothing, I'll probably do nothing and spend 4 days sitting on my couch until I grow moss. :)

Do the Puyallup

On Sunday Lyday and I went to the fair. I do love the fair although I must admit that I love the Ventura County Fair even more. Although I don't remember a lot of animals at the VC fair and I do love those too. One thing they do that I think is fun is they have a table setting contest. It is so weird as a concept yet so cool.

I always like to go see the animals. Lyday is not as fond of them as I am. My older sister had clydsdales. They are really cool horses and HUGE. They're gentle giants, though, and rather mellow as far as horses go.

Lyday as we head upside down on a ride. I think it was a green and purple kind of ride that flips you upside down. It kind of seems like the pirate ship ride but then it continues. It was fun. Lyday LOVES the rides so we went on way more than I usually do. I have a weird thing about the rides. If I'm flipping head over feet I won't get sick usually. If I'm spinning around and around I'm going to get sick. So we went on a lot of rides. I tried to take my camera on the rides as much as I could (although I didn't even try on the zipper because you're in a cage.).

Here is as we go upside down. Pretty fun, eh?

We went on this ride. At each end, there is a space for 4 people. The ride is fast and according to the sign it prevents you from getting sick. The weirdest part for me was not so much the centrifugal force but how close it felt like we were getting to the ground. I would've loved to bring my camera on this one but the operator said we couldn't even bring our cell phones (like in our pockets not that we would talk on them) because they would break due to the force. I don't know if that's right.

Oh this is from the other ride (apparently I didn't load these pictures in the proper order). The camera is technically right side up, I am not. :)

You can see the long ride from the ferris wheel. We talked about the boing boing ride that is between the two long poles but two things stopped us... 1 - cost. It is 50 bucks to ride! 2 - Joanne isn't down with the cables. If something is made with steel I feel better but the cable freaked me out a bit. 3 - the bounce up was fine but there seemed to be no control over how you swing around. I was not down with that thought.

This is from the big shot. You know it is one of those tall rides that shoot you up into the sky. It is fun.

And that's all the photos. I ate a lot of junk food which is always nice. :) We spent about 4 to 5 hours at the fair and I was so exhausted by the time I got home. Clearly a sign I'm old that I can't handle a few hours at the fair.

Something I do like

I do love Panic at the Disco's I Write Sins not Tragedies. The song cracks me up but my very favorite line is at the beginning. He's singing about what a beautiful wedding it is and it sounds all nice and then he says "What a shame the poor groom's bride is a whore." Cracks me up every time.

Never Listen to Morons

That is a rule I should live by but sometimes I forget.

I'll get to that. First I poured beer on Friday night for the Fremont Oktoberfest. The money raised benefits the Fremont Chamber of Commerce. Mostly I like pouring beer at these events. I get to flirt and just have a good time. And Friday was mostly like that. The only downer was that I was assigned to a truck that had taps and so we would pour the beer into pitchers and then pour the beer to the people from the pitchers. That seemed to take a lot more time and slow down the process. It was probably easier for the brewery liasons though since they didn't have to frequently mess with the kegs to make them pour correctly. (Which can happen if the CO2 gets off or if there's not enough ice in either the box or in the tub with the keg or if the keg is empty). At the end of the night, I was getting ready to pour out a pitcher and there was one guy trying to get me to give him what was left in the bottom. I couldn't since it was past the time and his cry of despair was heartwrenching. Poor guy. (Luckily it didn't rain on Friday night.)

Saturday I attended a 1st time homebuyer class. WA has programs but they require a certificate and you have to have attended a seminar in the past 2 years. My last one lapsed. I found my previous seminar a lot more helpful than this one, but this one was okay. The guys presenting it were much more personable and funny so it balanced out in a weird way.

In the evening I volunteered for the Light The Night walk with the Leukemia & Lymphoma society. I was to work with another person as a sweeper. Basically we followed behind the whole group walking around Greenlake (or is it Green Lake?) (I think it is Greenlake) and pick up litter and directional signs and the like. Here's where I should know never to listen to morons. The guy I was paired up with and I start out around the lake. At the very beginning of the walk is a huge line of signs memorializing various people. E, the guy, looks at the signs and says we should pick those up. I say, no, B the event organizer said there were no signs to get. We go back and forth on this for a few minutes before I finally give in because he's done this before and I haven't. Also, I'm lazy and didn't want to walk all the way back to where B was to ask her so my own lazyness also bites me in the ass. I totally ignore the logic that says come back for these signs after the walk. So we pick up signs. There are like 50 of them and they are stuck into the ground and have pictures taped on them. They look like the rough picture below.... roughly.

So frequently the poster wouldn't cover the bottom rung thing so I could grab that and so most of the signs I carried I carried by the bottom piece but some had that taped over so I couldn't so I carried those signs under my arm. This works pretty well... for a while. And we set off. Part way down our walk I realize this idea isn't working that well because when I see litter I can't stop to pick it up on account of the ridiculous number of signs I'm carrying plus a lantern because it is dark. So we leave it. Also someone has attached a balloon to one of the signs and so as I carry the signs the balloon keeps banging me in the head, but it is all tangled so there's not much I can do about it. And so then we walk. And we walk. And we walk. And every once in a while we stop because E's signs get messed up and he drops a bunch but so far my method is working very nicely. So we get maybe 2/3rds of the way around the 2.8 mile trail and my hands are killing me. They are completely numb because of the angle I've been holding them etc. So we take a pit stop at the boat place. (This map shows Green Lake Park. We started at the upper right of the map where there is a swimmer and a sign for a swimming pool. The boat place is the lower left hand corner. We are walking the inner trail.) E goes to the restroom and I just rest my hands and arms. We eventually begin walking again and now my hands have had it. Even though they felt better about 15 steps in, my hands go numb again. I keep switching hands. I eventually accidentally pop the balloon attached to the sign. I am miserable. And I keep switching how I'm holding the signs so that at one point I end up with one tangled in my hair and another set tangled in my ipod cord. I think we get to about the next little pink picture on the map and I just drop all the signs. I've had it. E keeps swearing we are almost there and I could leave the signs and he could come back for them but I can't do that... so I'm getting ready to pick them up when an attractive Mexican man stops and offers to help. I'm so grateful I could almost cry. He took probably 3/4ths of my signs and we start walking again. He was out walking because he has troubles... he lost his job, his girlfriend broke up with him and his family was pressuring him to go back to Mexico to take care of his mom. We chatted the rest of the way with him holding the bulk of my signs until we reached the end. We take the signs where they need to go and he leaves back into the night. I see B, the event organizer, over by the finish line and I ask her... we didn't have to pick those up did we. No, no we did not. This, my friends, is why you should never listen to a moron!

Male Artist Trifecta

There are three male singers I really don't like. For some reason, though, 99% of the time I can only remember two of them. I was thrilled when I finally remembered the third. They are: Jack Johnson, John Mayer and James Blunt. There's not a lot of logic why I don't like them, but I really think their music is kind of whiny.

True Seattelite

It's official, I've become a real Seattleite. How did I do this, you might wonder? It was nothing like becoming a TRUE Alaskan which involved peeing in the Yukon River (how did we even hear that? I wish I could remember) which I have also done, that's for sure. No, today I exhibited the classic "Seattle Freeze." Someone said to me "We should do lunch sometime" and I responded with the vague yet terribly Seattle, "Yes, we should." No further plans were made. No dates confirmed or discussed. I am now a Seattleite. Sigh.

That's a lot of Jesus stuff

You know, for an atheist, I don't tend to get too hung up on the details about being one. I don't care that our money says "In God We Trust" or that in the Pledge of Allegiance it says "One nation, under God," blah blah blah. I don't care if kids want to say a little prayer to themselves in school or if the school wants to have a moment of silence where kids can do that. It doesn't hurt me in any way shape or form to have these things out there. I was a little surprised, though, to go through one of my scout's school fundraiser forms and see quite a bit of religious materials. I'm ordering some heart shaped silicone cupcake thingies. I will not be ordering the prayer hands paperweight or the angel charm stretch bracelet. If I had a garden I would totally order some Queen of the Night tulips because those are my favorite. (They're almost black and totally cool!)

The Phantom of The Opera something or other...

The Phantom of the Opera is playing at The Paramount. I've never seen it before today. I was a volunteer usher at the matinee today. While the costumes are beautiful and the sets are gorgeous, I found the play to be kind of boring. I'm sure a large part of that is because I really couldn't understand the songs that well. I have three more shifts to do with the show. It could be worse I'm sure. It could be Oklahoma!. :) I thought the chandelier falling scene was supposed to be some big dramatic thing. It took so long for the chandelier to do its fall it wasn't dramatic at all. Could've been a stage glitch I suppose, but it definitely didn't strike me as exciting or anything.

Kind of Child-like

Unrelated to this post but I kind of wonder if I would get car sick if I tried to watch a video on a long car trip. Unlikely I'll ever find out since usually I'm either driving the car for the long car trip or I'm with people who actually expect me to interact with them during the long car trip. What's that about??!!

So today I went for my bi-annual (does bi-annual mean twice a year or every two years? And if I have to ponder this wouldn't it have been shorter just for me to say my every other year eye exam? Is there a better way to say this??) Anyway... today I went for my bi-annual eye exam. I only go every two years because I can only get new frames every two years so why bother going in the off year? I ordered new glasses. I am not a fun, funky glasses wearer. I am more a thin metal frames similar shape/color every time. I tried on a few fun, funky glasses and I just felt like it made it REALLY obvious I was wearing glasses. I didn't like that. I also tried on a pair of frameless glasses. I don't like that look. I read an article that Sara(h?) Palin is bringing that look back. I still do not like it. I also tried on a couple pairs without the bottom frame. I also do not like that look. Anyway... I'm now having buyer's remorse. I almost called them and said Oh No Never Mind Take It Back!! I think it was because my eyes were totally dilated. How can I know what I'm picking out then??!! (I'm sure it will be fine but I really really love my current glasses and I'm hesitant to change things like that. But the paint is chipping on them and they are two years old) I also find that I ask a lot of questions of the optometrist. I like to know what he is doing and what the various tests tell him. I also like to know how I compare with other people.

I spent the whole afternoon hanging out with Lyday at the hospital. She had outpatient surgery and needed someone to be her 'escort'. I think this is how hospitals have cut back on the over night visits... they just hand you off to friends and family! So while there I asked a lot of questions. I like to know what things are happening and why things are the way they are. We got there at like 1:30. I've never been back into that part of a hospital. It was interesting, however I'm such a hmm... what's the word.. not prude exactly (well that too) but I like my privacy and so this would've driven me nuts! We got to hear all about the guy in the next space's reason for surgery... warts in his rectum. And the guy two cubes away too. Then in the pre-op place the young woman who was having breathing difficulties and they were discussing with her the possibility of an over night stay with this logic "Well it will be the same price if you leave tonight or stay until tomorrow." How crazy. And even while I was in the waiting area... the doctor came out and I heard about this Russian family's female family member who had ovarian cancer. Good news, they got all the cancer and it hadn't spread anywhere else. It all just seemed so not private to me. Also also also... Naked old man ass. I made the mistake of looking up and there it was hobbling to the bathroom. Seriously I can't be admitted to the hospital ever. However Lyday's surgery went well and she was even feeling well enough afterward to go for dinner so that's good.

Such a dad thing to do (although I probably would too)

I peeved over at the Peevery about dropping my breakfast and it totally reminded me of something funny. I was with Stephen and Ben at this fancy ice cream place in the U district. (I think it is the U District, I'm not really sure where the lines are drawn... maybe it is actually Greenwood or Greenlake... how have I lived here 6 years and I still don't get that??) (According to their own website it is Wallingford.) There was a dad and two daughters sitting at a little table near us. The little girl did the thing that if I was her age would've totally made me cry... she took a big lick of her cone and proceeded to knock the scoop onto the floor. The dad bent over and picked it up. He took some napkins out of the dispenser and wiped it off and then plopped it back on her cone. He kind of mashed it in to make sure it didn't happen again and she resumed consumption. I don't blame the dad. I totally would've done the same thing. :)

Eating

I'm sick of thinking about food. I'm sick of thinking about what I want to eat. I'm sick of eating. This is why I'm broke at the end of each month... I eat out because I don't want to cook. I wish I lived in like the Jetson's time and I could have the food I want just appear magically. OR if I were a witch like Ron Weasley's mum (what was her name... Mrs. Weasley... I can't remember) and I could use magic to cook and clear up. So the question is... what are you having for dinner?

Jam Packed!

At the ass crack of dawn (or 8:30) on Saturday I went to get my hair cut. Three hours later I left with shorter hair and touched up roots. :) Yay! I like the cut. I originally was going to go and just get a trim but Saturday morning I randomly decided to have them take a lot more off. The stylist took off 6 inches. Yay.

Randomly, I'm watching an old episode of Law & Order SVU and two embryos of a woman were implanted into two different women. One girl died in a car accident and the mom (crazy with grief and positive her kid was still alive) had her daughter's picture aged by an artist. She saw a kid in the park who looked like the aged picture and attempted to kidnap her. So my confusion is why would the two kids look exactly alike? They wouldn't be twins because they were separate eggs. (Of course this is a TV show I'm trying to puzzle through. Sad that is.) (Also, Queens is on the beach?) (Although this episode does have Abigail Breslin and I like her) (Also, Lea Thompson plays crazy very well, but I'm sad that she is relegated to playing roles in Law & Order SVU)

Anyway... sometime this past week Lyday and I were driving around and we went past the zoo. We decided to go today. It was a perfect day for the zoo. The weather was just right and the sun was shining. I took pictures. Eventually I'll post them (maybe). I saw the flamingos which apparently are a big deal (although their enclosure seems a bit small to me but I don't really know too much about flamingos. Maybe they only travel in small areas). We went into the butterfly and blooms exhibit. That's one of my favorites because I just love all the butterflies! We did not go into the bug exhibit. Although in this one exhibit we were looking at snakes and lizards and other cool things when I came across an exhibit of hissing roaches. Those freak me the fuck out. I think it is because when I was little I was visiting my grandfather and he lived in a trailer on the farm. This married couple and their like 5 I think kids had a trailer next to my pappy's. I think the adults worked on the farm and I remember staying the night over there. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and there were roaches everywhere. It scared me so badly I didn't go pee and instead lay back down in the bedroom and stayed awake for much of the night. And on that note, I'm going to bed. Night y'all!

TV

Also, I have decided I'm excited about Sons of Anarchy on FX that is premiering tonight. I may have a beef with Comcast (really what is the 'price adjustment' I'll be receiving next month??), but I'll never be able to rid myself completely of cable. I just love it too much.

Random

I know it is just me, but I'm vaguely fascinated by the fact that the arrow on the compass that is next to my phone changes direction when I pick up my phone. Phone in the cradle the red arrow is pointed at 20 degrees. Phone out of the cradle and the arrow points at 315 degrees. Probably some magnet in the phone. I coulda been a physicist. :)

I am a petty petty person

I admit this. My employer told me earlier this year that I could no longer hold my scout meetings in my building the way I had for the past 3 years. Note how they waited until my boss, who had conferred with the lead counsel at the time and gotten permission, was gone. I've since decided that if they can't support my endeavors I can't support the ones I used to. I know it is petty. I really do. But I was really mad and felt it really (notice the number of uses of really here... because I'm REALLY fired up) said something to me. So they've been requesting volunteers for this one thing that I've volunteered for the past 5 years a number of times. I'm not doing it. (Also I'm not doing it because all the activities are like invasive plant removal and trail maintenance and I hate those so that's another good reason.) (Plus I'm still wearing the boot anytime I have to be walking up hill or doing a lot of it so I would be booted doing it.) (Look at all the justification and the parentheticals!) :)

Videos!

It is entirely possible that I broke the law in recording this and I fully admit that these are done on my teeny tiny pink camera while I was being jostled by a large crowd of people so I apologize that they aren't that great. I do like the one that has the crowd surfer going by me. Hee.


Stone Temple Pilots Plush from Joanne on Vimeo.


Stone Temple Pilots Interstate Love Song from Joanne on Vimeo.

Photos from Bumbershoot!

Here are the photos I took at Bumbershoot. Aren't y'all envious? :)

This is the lead singer of The Blakes. I don't know anything else about this band except that I liked them.

Here's a shot of the singer and guitarist (bassist?? I don't know the difference). I converted the photo to black and white. I like that effect.

I think this is the lead singer again.

This is all I saw of The Whigs. I was sitting on the grass during the show because my feet hurt and I knew that I would be standing for Stone Temple Pilots and Jakob Dylan. I originally had a staunch group of sitters around me, but eventually I was the sole sitter surrounded by legs.

Look it is me! Yay.

Jakob Dylan. We were far from the stage. Stephen's friends were sitting there waiting for the show to start for 3 hours. That's kind of crazy to both of us but if you really like the artist then that's good I suppose.

Another shot of Jakob Dylan. I ended up shooting through the sound board guy's tent thing.

Stone Temple Pilots. Yay! This is during their opening number.

The guitarist.

Scott Weiland. I still believe guys shouldn't wear skinny jeans.

Again.

And again. Note the foot of the crowd surfer. I totally laughed when I saw that appear.

The band came out at the end and bowed.

Too old for this

Yesterday I went with Stephen to Bumbershoot. It was the first time I actually attended to see shows - including the mainstage. We got there around 1 and went in and got our tickets for the mainstage that night. Stone Temple Pilots was playing. I rather like them. We stood in line to try to go to see Janeane Garofalo but missed out on that. I let Stephen dictate which shows we were going to watch since I didn't really have any preference. We saw The Blakes, who I liked, the Whigs, who were okay, Jakob Dylan and Stone Temple Pilots. It was really exhausting. I was on my feet for a long time.

Stephen likes to be towards the front for the shows so during STP we were near the front. For future reference, I'm totally going to sit in the seats. :) It was getting painful to be on my feet so much and that was much of my focus. STP started late - about 20 min or so. And we were jammed. Gray sweatshirt guy in front of me kept inching me back. Hearing impaired woman behind me kept inching me forward. It was quite an adventure. When the music finally started it became a little more chaotic. There was a lot of moving around and I ended up getting shoved a variety of ways. That part was unpleasant. Eventually the crowd got equilibrium and although I was smashed I didn't get tossed around again. There was a fat chick behind me who was jumping up and down. Since she was pressed up against my back that was uncomfortable for me. There was a point where I was so squished I thought I could probably pick up my feet and just hang there.

A mosh pit opened up about 3 - 4 people away from us and that was something I hadn't seen before. I am glad the people on the edge really seemed to like where they were because I would not have liked it if the pit had gotten closer. After awhile I was just enjoying the music and that was awesome. There were a bunch of crowd surfers who, if they got to the front of the crowd, got pulled out by security. I kind of liked watching the beefy security guys hauling these kids over the barrier. There was a group of boys who decided to crowd surf backwards. The back crowd was not so adept at holding them up and they kept falling through. One actually fell on me sort of kind of sliding down my body taking my glasses with him as he went. Luckily I grabbed them before they fell totally off or else it would be a long two weeks until I get new ones.

Don't ask the question if you're not sure you want the answer

So, remember the post a few days ago (ok last week I admit it) where I mentioned my sister and the cancer and all that? I asked my mom which type of Leukemia she had had. She had CML (Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia). If you read the wikipedia entry you see that had she gotten the disease four years later, she most likely would have lived. Gleevec was approved in 2001. She was diagnosed in February of 1997. (And died in 02).

My older niece is in college now. She started this week I think. I don't know if she got a lot of money from the school or if satan is paying her way, but he promised to pay my nephew's way too this year and apparently that fell through. My pop doesn't know if it is due to satan or due to my nephew. Chris is a bit of a stubborn stubborn boy. He apparently has a weird refusal to fill out a FAFSA to see if he could get other aid. He's an orphan who earns some ridiculous minimum wage working for Target... he should be getting grants up the ass. Silly boy.

Old Age

I'm always fascinated when I hear a certain famous person is some age beyond 70. My dad turned 71 this year and I swear he must be the oldest 71 year old in the history of people. So when I realize that Barbara Bush is in her 80s or John McCain is 70 something I'm kind of amazed about how different their lives are. Besides the obvious, but more how they're getting out there and doing stuff regularly and not really slowed down as much as my dad is. You would think this would encourage me to lead a healthier lifestyle. So far it hasn't. :)

Surreal

So this may not be weird to most people but it was kind of weird to me... I went to a volunteer appreciation event Saturday. It was for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. They held it at Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center. I've never been to the Fred Hutch Center and actually didn't realize it was where it is. So here's why this was weird to me... my sister received her bone marrow transplant there. And that's all I could really think as I walked the halls... my sister had been here for a time. They almost killed her here (not on accident... on purpose. When you get a transplant they have to basically kill you and then bring you back.) The facility is beautiful. But as I walked down to the location the event was being held, I still couldn't help but think about the fact that it is a cancer hospital. And that was a bit depressing honestly.

They also did a presentation about leukemia and lymphoma and it was a bit sad I suppose in that there have been so many advances in treatment that my sister was maybe 1 - 2 years short of getting the benefit of. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the cancer that killed her, but the graft vs host disease. (although I could be wrong, it wouldn't be the first time since despite our Catholicness we are very WASPy in my family what with the not talking about things and all). So if she could've avoided the transplant, maybe she wouldn't have died you know?

So I'm sitting in this event which I went to because I really feel I need to get out and meet more people. Plus you know the dream... the hottie who volunteers right? :) And I'm sitting by my self because most people came with their spouses or with their friends (before you say anything Stephen I didn't invite you for two reasons... 1 - the invite said immediate family only please and you are not immediate family and 2 - how can I meet hottie who volunteers when I'm sitting with you??) and two of the women who work for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society sat with me. Which was nice because the people on one side of me were talking a lot about their own diagnoses and their treatments and the evil little part of me thought, dude, you people are old, why did you survive it? Well, actually the guy sitting catty corner across from me actually was currently in the throes of chemo so technically he hasn't survived it yet. But I digress. So it was nice that these other two ladies sat with me. But of course they asked about why I volunteered and the one offered the relative truism that most people who volunteer for them do so because they have been touched by it. So I said my sister had had it and they asked how she was and I said she died. And I will admit I'm usually rather blunt about the whole thing. I'm not one to say passed away or whatever. She died. Which of course slightly embarrassed the woman and I forget what all she asked but she probably got way more information about the whole thing than she needed. Oh yes because she asked about having kids etc. So all in all it was a mixed bag of experience. Although I did sit and watch the whole Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory movie they showed. I love that movie. Although I'm about 98% certain I dozed off during the part where (ooh actually that just went to 100% as I try to think about this) Violet goes all the way to the Wonka Wash. Hee.