probably just acid reflux disease.
Whew.
He even shoveled my snow this morning for me.
I love my dad.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
How rude!
I didn't work on Friday. I have been drifting in and out of consciousness all weekend. I managed to clean out one closet Saturday afternoon, which I'm pretty proud of.
At 2 am this morning, my mom called me to tell me she took my dad to the hospital. He went to work at 11 and came home dizzy and with chest pains. He was already driving home when he called my mom to tell her, she could have killed him for driving in that condition. But, that's my dad. Stubborn to a fault.
I had trouble falling back asleep, at 6 am she picked me up and I went to her house with her. I tucked her into bed and took care of the dogs. I went back home for a few hours, slept a bit and then went back to her house at 10. She went back to the hospital, armed with clean clothes and a disc man and CDs for my dad to listen to. Friday afternoon I got a copy of Pink Floyd, Live at Pompeii that friend of mine burned for me. I had forgotten to tell my dad about it Saturday night when I saw him, so it was a nice surprise for him in the hospital. Of course, since I'm still so sick with this cold, I can't go to the hospital to see him.
I stayed at my mom's house because she had bought a new stove (our Thanksgiving turkey took way too long to cook this year, her oven has been on the fritz for a while) and someone needed to be there to let them in. It started snowing kind of heavily and when the delivery guys came, they tracked snow in everywhere, so I had a bit of mopping up to do. I also cleared the snow on the sidewalk and half of the driveway. Around 3, my mom returned home to get a little bit more sleep. I came back home and shoveled my own sidewalk. The snow is so light and powdery (because it is SO cold right now, the air is super dry) that I used a push broom to clear off my sidewalks despite there being a good inch of snow on the ground or more.
I was really annoyed by some neighbors of mine who used their snow blower on their property, their next door neighbors property, the house next to mine but turned around and didn't finish my property. I was already out there and about half done, but hello! I could use some help here! Nevermind that the house on the other side of me is empty so I shoveled the snow there too.
How rude!
I have got to get motivated to do something, I just can't help but fall asleep randomly all weekend. I may or may not go to work tomorrow. It might be a relief to have something to focus on besides the current drama. My dad is going to be ok. Early test results show he's not had a heart attack, there is no blockage at all in his heart (his father died of a heart attack along with most of his family on that side so this is good news). But it still sucks not knowing what is wrong with him. And my mom is doing ok as well, she always does well in a crisis, thank god. I don't know what I would have done if I had to prop her up or whatever. I'm so out of it, I feel like I'm just going through the motions.
At 2 am this morning, my mom called me to tell me she took my dad to the hospital. He went to work at 11 and came home dizzy and with chest pains. He was already driving home when he called my mom to tell her, she could have killed him for driving in that condition. But, that's my dad. Stubborn to a fault.
I had trouble falling back asleep, at 6 am she picked me up and I went to her house with her. I tucked her into bed and took care of the dogs. I went back home for a few hours, slept a bit and then went back to her house at 10. She went back to the hospital, armed with clean clothes and a disc man and CDs for my dad to listen to. Friday afternoon I got a copy of Pink Floyd, Live at Pompeii that friend of mine burned for me. I had forgotten to tell my dad about it Saturday night when I saw him, so it was a nice surprise for him in the hospital. Of course, since I'm still so sick with this cold, I can't go to the hospital to see him.
I stayed at my mom's house because she had bought a new stove (our Thanksgiving turkey took way too long to cook this year, her oven has been on the fritz for a while) and someone needed to be there to let them in. It started snowing kind of heavily and when the delivery guys came, they tracked snow in everywhere, so I had a bit of mopping up to do. I also cleared the snow on the sidewalk and half of the driveway. Around 3, my mom returned home to get a little bit more sleep. I came back home and shoveled my own sidewalk. The snow is so light and powdery (because it is SO cold right now, the air is super dry) that I used a push broom to clear off my sidewalks despite there being a good inch of snow on the ground or more.
I was really annoyed by some neighbors of mine who used their snow blower on their property, their next door neighbors property, the house next to mine but turned around and didn't finish my property. I was already out there and about half done, but hello! I could use some help here! Nevermind that the house on the other side of me is empty so I shoveled the snow there too.
How rude!
I have got to get motivated to do something, I just can't help but fall asleep randomly all weekend. I may or may not go to work tomorrow. It might be a relief to have something to focus on besides the current drama. My dad is going to be ok. Early test results show he's not had a heart attack, there is no blockage at all in his heart (his father died of a heart attack along with most of his family on that side so this is good news). But it still sucks not knowing what is wrong with him. And my mom is doing ok as well, she always does well in a crisis, thank god. I don't know what I would have done if I had to prop her up or whatever. I'm so out of it, I feel like I'm just going through the motions.
Friday, December 5, 2008
*cough*
In the past 24 hours, I have gone from having a slight throat tickle to full-on craptastic cold from hell. I also have scaly-looking hands, windburn on my face and chapped lips. I am going through lotion like it's going out of style and IT'S NEVER ENOUGH.
I hate winter in Minnesota. The air is so insanely dry. My hair looks like crap, there's so much static electricity that I'm afraid to touch anything.
I'm going to bed now. I may or may not work tomorrow. There's pros and cons to going into work. We'll see how I feel in seven hours.
I hate winter in Minnesota. The air is so insanely dry. My hair looks like crap, there's so much static electricity that I'm afraid to touch anything.
I'm going to bed now. I may or may not work tomorrow. There's pros and cons to going into work. We'll see how I feel in seven hours.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
lights! camera! inaction!
For about a month and a half now, one of my neighbors across the street has left a super bright flood light on all night. The light is on the front of the house and its exact positioning means that it shines RIGHT in my eyes when I'm sitting in my chair in my living room to watch television. How annoying. In the past week, every few hours or so the light is turned off and then turned back on a few minutes later. The people that live there are pretty nice, a couple in their early 60s. I like to speculate that the wife thinks her husband is nuts for leaving this light on all night and so she turns it off and then he walks by and notices it off and turns it back on. When it's on and shinging at me, I'm sorely tempted to throw a rock at it to break it. Of course I'd never do that, but it's tempting. It's like a spotlight when you're on stage, that thing. The guy probably special ordered it.
Down the block, out of the view of my front window but I can see from my bedroom window, the lone decorated house on the block has its lights on every night. I love looking at Christmas lights, especially when the ground is covered in snow (not a ton yet, we're supposed to get more tonight). Last night, I think they forgot to turn off the lights and they burned until after 2 am (when I went to sleep). It was kind of nice to lay in bed in the dark and see the lights through my window.
I'm not going to have time to put up a tree this year. Between baking, the CD swap, my physical therapy and feeding my internet addiction, I just can't find the time. I'm kind of sad that I'm not doing it, but maybe next year I'll have a full-size tree. It's hard to believe Christmas is already so close. I still feel like Labor Day should be a long way off.
Work has picked up lately, which is awesome. It leaves less time for chatting between calls, but on the other hand it confirms my belief that the company just hired a butt load of people in the event of a strike and not, as the doomsayers were wont to say, a sign that customers were leaving the company in droves. Things will slow down again closer to Christmas, but that is NORMAL, which is comforting.
Down the block, out of the view of my front window but I can see from my bedroom window, the lone decorated house on the block has its lights on every night. I love looking at Christmas lights, especially when the ground is covered in snow (not a ton yet, we're supposed to get more tonight). Last night, I think they forgot to turn off the lights and they burned until after 2 am (when I went to sleep). It was kind of nice to lay in bed in the dark and see the lights through my window.
I'm not going to have time to put up a tree this year. Between baking, the CD swap, my physical therapy and feeding my internet addiction, I just can't find the time. I'm kind of sad that I'm not doing it, but maybe next year I'll have a full-size tree. It's hard to believe Christmas is already so close. I still feel like Labor Day should be a long way off.
Work has picked up lately, which is awesome. It leaves less time for chatting between calls, but on the other hand it confirms my belief that the company just hired a butt load of people in the event of a strike and not, as the doomsayers were wont to say, a sign that customers were leaving the company in droves. Things will slow down again closer to Christmas, but that is NORMAL, which is comforting.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
let's do some more touchin' up
I've blogged a few times (ok, that's an understatement) about my mom. Alas, dear reader, this is going to be another post about the lady who gave birth to me.
To say my mother had an unhappy childhood is putting it mildly. She was one of seven children of a drunk and a psycho. She cut off a lot of contact with her family when she started her own family with my dad, but still maintains some contact with them. As the child of a psycho and a drunk, she is not as bad as she could be. She loves her children and honestly believes that her motives are always pure when it comes to her relationships with her children.
We are not a family who shows affection very much. This makes me feel a huge disconnect between myself and my brothers and my parents. There is no casual touching of any form, no hugging or kissing. Everyone has their own personal space and GOD FORBID we ever invade it. My mother was not in a family of demonstrative affection either (in fact just the opposite as there was massive child abuse on both the part of her father and mother towards her and her siblings). And though she talks about how she wishes there had been more love in her childhood, that touching is important for showing people you care for how you feel, she is unable to express her love for her children through touch.
I'm not saying I want the woman to feel me up, I'm just saying that actual YEARS pass between any form of affection between us.
YEARS.
The other night, my mom was showing me a glass door that she had repaired for me on these built-in bookcases in my living room. She had promised me to get it fixed when I first moved into the house (they are original to the house - 1913) but never had gotten around to it. My Christmas present this year is the repair of these two glass doors. One is done already and my dad installed it while I was at work. I was looking at it, it's really nice, and I was saying all the right things: thank you, this is awesome, I so appreciate it blah blah blah.
Impulsively, I hugged my mom. The repair of these doors is more important to her than it is to me, and I wanted her to see that I really did appreciate it so I hugged her. She didn't push me away or anything, but she responded as a normal person would if a random stranger hugged them. Polite detachment.
And she wonders why I feel as if I can't stand to be with her for more than ten minutes at a time.
She gave birth to me. She is supposed to love me unconditionally. Yet the idea of touching me repulses her. How else am I supposed to feel?
Contrast that with the Gomez forum members I met two months ago in Chicago. With only a few exceptions, I was given bear hugs by these people who didn't know me from Adam and hadn't even seen a picture of me. Granted, there was a bit of intoxication and that tends to make people less inhibited, but still I felt more love from those people in those few short hours than I have felt from my own mother in quite a long time.
And now, of course, I feel guilty for resenting her. After all, she does a lot for me without being asked. I wouldn't be able to even have this house if it weren't for her and my dad and the support they give me. And I know she loves me. She is just incapable of showing it.
The worst part is that I can't explain this to her. I've tried. Without fail, she brushes off my feelings as ridiculous fantasies.
I have begged her to let go. She is controlling in every aspect of my life, when I try to exert independence, she turns on the guilt and I am helpless.
I cannot win ever.
I don't think I'll ever be free of her until she is dead. And that is sad to contemplate because despite it all, I love her.
If ever I am lucky enough to have children of my own, I don't know that I won't be just like her. I don't like it usually when people get too close, but for those I care about I wish I could break through that invisible barrier and be more affectionate. I always feel like I'm intruding on people's space, that they don't want me there if I get too close.
If you notice in the picture of me and Ben Ottewell, I am not touching him, I am not even leaning towards him. The girl who got a picture with him right before me put her arm over his shoulder and got in really close. There's other pictures floating around of me and the other members of Gomez at the after party, I didn't offer to shake hands or anything with them. I faintly remember tapping Tom on the shoulder to get his attention and the lovely (sarcasm) picture of he and I speaking (me telling him how amazing the show was), the expression on his face of disgust, well, that picture personifies my greatest fear when it comes to strangers meeting me for the first time. Thank you, Tom, for acting just like most people. Lots of people told me that of all the members of the band you would be the coolest no matter what I look like and while you were not the worst, your reaction to me was caught on film and not just in my memory.
Olly, though, Olly was cool. Olly seemed willing to talk to me all night. He wasn't ashamed to sit right down next to me like I was the most fascinating person in the world. And even more so, several people who I before that night knew only by screen names, they made that night the best night of my life. They grinned when they saw me, grabbed me up in their arms and hugged me as if it had been months seen we had seen each other and not just our first time meeting.
I still love Gomez, the experience of meeting them in person both increased and tainted my love for them. Now they are more real to me, less god-like. If all of them had acted like Tom and Ian, if the forum members had reacted to me as if I was some annoying freak I'm sure that I would have sworn off the band forever. Lucky for me, the experience was mostly positive and I'm looking forward to the next tour, hopefully meeting the ones I've met again and meeting others for the first time. In certain moods, I feel a little bit bitter when I hear Tom or Ian sing, but all I have to do is remember Olly and all the bad vibes from two-fifths of the band is erased.
That's some pretty powerful stuff, that whole being nice to people.
To say my mother had an unhappy childhood is putting it mildly. She was one of seven children of a drunk and a psycho. She cut off a lot of contact with her family when she started her own family with my dad, but still maintains some contact with them. As the child of a psycho and a drunk, she is not as bad as she could be. She loves her children and honestly believes that her motives are always pure when it comes to her relationships with her children.
We are not a family who shows affection very much. This makes me feel a huge disconnect between myself and my brothers and my parents. There is no casual touching of any form, no hugging or kissing. Everyone has their own personal space and GOD FORBID we ever invade it. My mother was not in a family of demonstrative affection either (in fact just the opposite as there was massive child abuse on both the part of her father and mother towards her and her siblings). And though she talks about how she wishes there had been more love in her childhood, that touching is important for showing people you care for how you feel, she is unable to express her love for her children through touch.
I'm not saying I want the woman to feel me up, I'm just saying that actual YEARS pass between any form of affection between us.
YEARS.
The other night, my mom was showing me a glass door that she had repaired for me on these built-in bookcases in my living room. She had promised me to get it fixed when I first moved into the house (they are original to the house - 1913) but never had gotten around to it. My Christmas present this year is the repair of these two glass doors. One is done already and my dad installed it while I was at work. I was looking at it, it's really nice, and I was saying all the right things: thank you, this is awesome, I so appreciate it blah blah blah.
Impulsively, I hugged my mom. The repair of these doors is more important to her than it is to me, and I wanted her to see that I really did appreciate it so I hugged her. She didn't push me away or anything, but she responded as a normal person would if a random stranger hugged them. Polite detachment.
And she wonders why I feel as if I can't stand to be with her for more than ten minutes at a time.
She gave birth to me. She is supposed to love me unconditionally. Yet the idea of touching me repulses her. How else am I supposed to feel?
Contrast that with the Gomez forum members I met two months ago in Chicago. With only a few exceptions, I was given bear hugs by these people who didn't know me from Adam and hadn't even seen a picture of me. Granted, there was a bit of intoxication and that tends to make people less inhibited, but still I felt more love from those people in those few short hours than I have felt from my own mother in quite a long time.
And now, of course, I feel guilty for resenting her. After all, she does a lot for me without being asked. I wouldn't be able to even have this house if it weren't for her and my dad and the support they give me. And I know she loves me. She is just incapable of showing it.
The worst part is that I can't explain this to her. I've tried. Without fail, she brushes off my feelings as ridiculous fantasies.
I have begged her to let go. She is controlling in every aspect of my life, when I try to exert independence, she turns on the guilt and I am helpless.
I cannot win ever.
I don't think I'll ever be free of her until she is dead. And that is sad to contemplate because despite it all, I love her.
If ever I am lucky enough to have children of my own, I don't know that I won't be just like her. I don't like it usually when people get too close, but for those I care about I wish I could break through that invisible barrier and be more affectionate. I always feel like I'm intruding on people's space, that they don't want me there if I get too close.
If you notice in the picture of me and Ben Ottewell, I am not touching him, I am not even leaning towards him. The girl who got a picture with him right before me put her arm over his shoulder and got in really close. There's other pictures floating around of me and the other members of Gomez at the after party, I didn't offer to shake hands or anything with them. I faintly remember tapping Tom on the shoulder to get his attention and the lovely (sarcasm) picture of he and I speaking (me telling him how amazing the show was), the expression on his face of disgust, well, that picture personifies my greatest fear when it comes to strangers meeting me for the first time. Thank you, Tom, for acting just like most people. Lots of people told me that of all the members of the band you would be the coolest no matter what I look like and while you were not the worst, your reaction to me was caught on film and not just in my memory.
Olly, though, Olly was cool. Olly seemed willing to talk to me all night. He wasn't ashamed to sit right down next to me like I was the most fascinating person in the world. And even more so, several people who I before that night knew only by screen names, they made that night the best night of my life. They grinned when they saw me, grabbed me up in their arms and hugged me as if it had been months seen we had seen each other and not just our first time meeting.
I still love Gomez, the experience of meeting them in person both increased and tainted my love for them. Now they are more real to me, less god-like. If all of them had acted like Tom and Ian, if the forum members had reacted to me as if I was some annoying freak I'm sure that I would have sworn off the band forever. Lucky for me, the experience was mostly positive and I'm looking forward to the next tour, hopefully meeting the ones I've met again and meeting others for the first time. In certain moods, I feel a little bit bitter when I hear Tom or Ian sing, but all I have to do is remember Olly and all the bad vibes from two-fifths of the band is erased.
That's some pretty powerful stuff, that whole being nice to people.
Monday, November 17, 2008
weekend update (with neither seth NOR amy)
Saturday morning I went with my mom to a big sale at an appliance store. She had been complaining for months that her washing machine was on its last legs. My dad was OK with her getting a new one, but my mom cannot seem to make a decision on anything on her own. We looked at a lot of different washer/dryer sets and I convinced her to buy one she really seemed to like that was easily $1000 less than it would have been if she had just bought it last week somewhere else. After about an hour of walking around looking at washers in this huge warehouse, she was exhausted and had me fill out the financing form for her. Then, we had to go stand in line to actually pay for it and schedule delivery.
We finally left the place two hours after we got there. It was not an unpleasant experience but there were two significant things: the first is that I managed to walk all over this huge warehouse for two hours and was neither tired nor had any back pain whatsoever. The second is that I got flashes of what it is going to be like taking care of my mom in her old age. She's only 57 and she is getting more and more reliant on me to do things for her. Most of the time I don't mind, but I can just imagine that 10 years from now she will be a constant drain on my time.
Today, I slept really really late. I fell asleep around 1:00 am on the couch and woke up at 8:30 to go use the bathroom. I laid back down in bed and woke up again at 12:30. I barely got anything done today, which is annoying because with the shopping yesterday and hanging out with my niece the rest of the day, I didn't get much done at all yesterday either.
If I ever get to the point where I have to care for my mother, I am so hiring a cleaning lady. And getting a dishwasher.
In just another week or so my post-work 90 minutes of physical therapy shit (and 90 minutes each weekend day too) will be blissfully over. Really, it's more like two to two and a half hours worth of crap that is annoying and means seemingly endless hours spent with my mom. I love the woman dearly but when she's already spending so much time at my house to assist me with the therapy, I don't think it's too much to ask that I not spend an hour a day on the phone with her on the weekends. She gets so offended when I'm like "yeah, uh huh, hm" on the phone with her and then finally cut in with "Can we talk about this in an hour when you're coming over? I have shit to do."
I recently discovered the blog Unclutterer through a friend on the Gomez board. It's a nice, short daily blog with tips to get organized. As I am perpetually unorganized, this blog is right up my alley. I will be listing it on my links at right tomorrow as I am lazy and need to get to bed. They mentioned on there that there's a current deal for 20 percent off any purchase at thecontainerstore.com which is awesome (with a code you can get from Oprah's website). I went to the site just to see what they have and found you can buy clothes hangers by the case. Yeah, I have no money, but I've been living in this house for three years and have about 30 hangers total. I ordered two cases. They end up being about $0.30 per hanger with the discount and the shipping is pretty reasonable. I am finally going to be able to hang up my clothes!
For Christmas, we are buying my niece and nephew new bedding for their bedrooms. They each picked out a set they liked out of the J C Penney catalog and I ordered it online for them. I was looking around on the site and found a nice artificial Christmas tree that I liked, it was a slim tree (the type I need for where I can put a tree), full sized and only costs $90. I very nearly bought it, but I held off because I am going to use that $90 towards a new computer. I have finally accepted that the desktop computer that I have (that was a piece of crap three years ago when I got it from my parents) has nearly hit its breaking point. I don't dare load another song from iTunes on it lest it explode and delete everything. I've been shopping around online for a cheap desktop with enough memory to run Vista (my laptop runs Vista and I like it well enough but it does not have enough memory to run Vista as it should be run). I don't have the money to join the Apple fan club as much as I would like to. My sister-in-law's sister is a retired military computer person who built a computer for my brother's family a few years ago. I asked my sis-in-law to ask her sister how much it would cost to build me one. And how soon it could be done because I have a CD swap to coordinate.
OK, enough randomness. I am going to go attempt to sleep now.
We finally left the place two hours after we got there. It was not an unpleasant experience but there were two significant things: the first is that I managed to walk all over this huge warehouse for two hours and was neither tired nor had any back pain whatsoever. The second is that I got flashes of what it is going to be like taking care of my mom in her old age. She's only 57 and she is getting more and more reliant on me to do things for her. Most of the time I don't mind, but I can just imagine that 10 years from now she will be a constant drain on my time.
Today, I slept really really late. I fell asleep around 1:00 am on the couch and woke up at 8:30 to go use the bathroom. I laid back down in bed and woke up again at 12:30. I barely got anything done today, which is annoying because with the shopping yesterday and hanging out with my niece the rest of the day, I didn't get much done at all yesterday either.
If I ever get to the point where I have to care for my mother, I am so hiring a cleaning lady. And getting a dishwasher.
In just another week or so my post-work 90 minutes of physical therapy shit (and 90 minutes each weekend day too) will be blissfully over. Really, it's more like two to two and a half hours worth of crap that is annoying and means seemingly endless hours spent with my mom. I love the woman dearly but when she's already spending so much time at my house to assist me with the therapy, I don't think it's too much to ask that I not spend an hour a day on the phone with her on the weekends. She gets so offended when I'm like "yeah, uh huh, hm" on the phone with her and then finally cut in with "Can we talk about this in an hour when you're coming over? I have shit to do."
I recently discovered the blog Unclutterer through a friend on the Gomez board. It's a nice, short daily blog with tips to get organized. As I am perpetually unorganized, this blog is right up my alley. I will be listing it on my links at right tomorrow as I am lazy and need to get to bed. They mentioned on there that there's a current deal for 20 percent off any purchase at thecontainerstore.com which is awesome (with a code you can get from Oprah's website). I went to the site just to see what they have and found you can buy clothes hangers by the case. Yeah, I have no money, but I've been living in this house for three years and have about 30 hangers total. I ordered two cases. They end up being about $0.30 per hanger with the discount and the shipping is pretty reasonable. I am finally going to be able to hang up my clothes!
For Christmas, we are buying my niece and nephew new bedding for their bedrooms. They each picked out a set they liked out of the J C Penney catalog and I ordered it online for them. I was looking around on the site and found a nice artificial Christmas tree that I liked, it was a slim tree (the type I need for where I can put a tree), full sized and only costs $90. I very nearly bought it, but I held off because I am going to use that $90 towards a new computer. I have finally accepted that the desktop computer that I have (that was a piece of crap three years ago when I got it from my parents) has nearly hit its breaking point. I don't dare load another song from iTunes on it lest it explode and delete everything. I've been shopping around online for a cheap desktop with enough memory to run Vista (my laptop runs Vista and I like it well enough but it does not have enough memory to run Vista as it should be run). I don't have the money to join the Apple fan club as much as I would like to. My sister-in-law's sister is a retired military computer person who built a computer for my brother's family a few years ago. I asked my sis-in-law to ask her sister how much it would cost to build me one. And how soon it could be done because I have a CD swap to coordinate.
OK, enough randomness. I am going to go attempt to sleep now.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
always late to the party
Can you believe that I, a total political junkie, never watched a single episode of The West Wing when it was on? In my defense, I was a senior in college when it started and therefore did not have any time to watch an hour-long drama every week. A colleague at work recommended I see it a few weeks ago and I was all "Yeah, yeah, I'll add it to my Netflix queue." Then it turns out that the Bravo network started the series over again, two episodes a day, starting this past Monday. He told me about it Monday afternoon and so I set up my DVR to tape it the next day.
Well, now I'm hooked.
Damnit.
I suppose this will replace the three hour baseball games that were my obsession throughout the summer. The downside is that unlike in the summer, there are actual television shows currently airing that I want to watch.
I watch too much television, I know that. Compared to three years ago, however, I watch a lot less. I used to tape so much that I would be sometimes weeks behind on shows. I own two DVRs because there are three shows on television on Thursday night that I want to watch that all air at the exact same time: Grey's Anatomy, CSI and The Office. I could cut CSI from that, but considering I've already cut the other two CSI shows, I just don't think I can get through the week without my fix of the macabre. (In my defense regarding the two DVRs: the promo at the time was free standard DVR. I have a high-def TV and so I had to purchase the high-Def DVR anyway, so why not take the standard DVR and hook it up to my old TV in another room?)
Last night, my mom was over and I had nothing to watch except old West Wing episodes (watching them this afternoon while doing laundry) so we put it on the Food Network. Every show was about Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is great, but I'm not that huge a fan in general. Now, of course, I'm craving the meal like mad after watching all that food porn.
At work, someone tried to organize at a team-level a Thanksgiving-themed food day. I led the resistance because I'm just fine with one Thanksgiving meal per year and I didn't feel like having a huge, calorie-laden meal less than a week before I'm already planning to have one. I wasn't alone, but I was the most vocal. The biggest objectors came from people who have to, because of divorce or marriage, attend more than one meal. As if they really want a third meal in that case. The guy pushing for it is a real control-freak and was absolutely not open to anyone else's ideas.
Then, the company announces that they are getting each team a turkey and two pumpkin pies so now the entire office is having a Thanksgiving-themed food day.
I cannot win.
I'm bringing mashed potatoes.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
this isn't about yelling, this isn't about politics, it's about the human heart
I agree with this man's statement 100%. I know that most of you who look at this blog have probably already seen this, but for those of you who have not, please watch this. Open your mind.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Blogging = free therapy
I've been blogging for pretty close to a year now, in various forms. I started on My Space, then branched out to this blog spot and a private journal on live journal. My private journal is more for myself to write about things that I'm feeling that would mortify me to be discovered by people I know in real life. This blog I view more as a place to post interesting links and/or stuff that's going on in my life that is not private. I never thought I would ever even join one social network, let alone two or that I would ever find any sort of psychological release in writing about my (extremely boring) life.
The Internet is amazing. It has so much possibility. If I need to know the name of an actor I see on television, I can just go to www.imdb.com and find him. If I need to know where to find a fresh free-range turkey for my family's Thanksgiving, I can just go to www.google.com and find a place to buy one. I faintly remember a time before the Internet, when information available to me at a moment's notice was only stored in my brain. I can't imagine what the world would be like without all of this information available at the touch of a few buttons. And how quaint will people think we were 100 years from now. Maybe Obama's election has gotten me hopeful about the future.
The bad thing about all this electronic communication is that interaction with others is somewhat more remote and easily open to misinterpretation. Last night, my mom and I had practically a knock-down drag-out fight over my misinterpretation of a joke that she e-mailed me at work yesterday. She couldn't understand why I didn't just know she was being jokey in the statement and I had trouble explaining to my mom about netiquette. (off-topic: I find it hilarious that the spell check in Firefox recognizes "netiquette" but not Obama but Blogspot's spell check does recognize Obama - yay progress!) On Tuesday, I made what I thought was a witty comment on a picture on Facebook and I ended up offending the person. Today on Facebook, a friend commented that I needed to change my profile pic from the "Vote for Change" Obama/Biden image, that I should go back to my old profile pic (the same one here) which is me and Ben Ottewell. Another friend commented that she'd rather look at Obama. My first response to that was Well, fuck YOU if you don't want to look at me but I took a deep breath, counted to ten and realized that she probably meant that she likes looking at Obama. He's pretty good looking, for a president. ;)
A good friend of mine currently does not have reliable Internet access and she and I have started talking on the phone a few hours a week to keep in touch. And it's NICE. She and I have chatted for hours before online and I felt like we were pretty good friends but lately with chatting on the phone with her, I feel even closer to her. It's amazing what hearing some one's voice versus reading words on a screen does for human relationships.
So, as much as I am an Internet addict, I guess I've come to the realization that it is not a complete replacement for getting out there and interacting with people. I've had the song Ask by the Smiths (find it on YouTube, it's an excellent song - again with the instant gratification!) stuck in my head while typing this, specifically the line: "Shyness is nice but shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life you'd like to".
It's true. And it has a beat you could dance to. :)
The Internet is amazing. It has so much possibility. If I need to know the name of an actor I see on television, I can just go to www.imdb.com and find him. If I need to know where to find a fresh free-range turkey for my family's Thanksgiving, I can just go to www.google.com and find a place to buy one. I faintly remember a time before the Internet, when information available to me at a moment's notice was only stored in my brain. I can't imagine what the world would be like without all of this information available at the touch of a few buttons. And how quaint will people think we were 100 years from now. Maybe Obama's election has gotten me hopeful about the future.
The bad thing about all this electronic communication is that interaction with others is somewhat more remote and easily open to misinterpretation. Last night, my mom and I had practically a knock-down drag-out fight over my misinterpretation of a joke that she e-mailed me at work yesterday. She couldn't understand why I didn't just know she was being jokey in the statement and I had trouble explaining to my mom about netiquette. (off-topic: I find it hilarious that the spell check in Firefox recognizes "netiquette" but not Obama but Blogspot's spell check does recognize Obama - yay progress!) On Tuesday, I made what I thought was a witty comment on a picture on Facebook and I ended up offending the person. Today on Facebook, a friend commented that I needed to change my profile pic from the "Vote for Change" Obama/Biden image, that I should go back to my old profile pic (the same one here) which is me and Ben Ottewell. Another friend commented that she'd rather look at Obama. My first response to that was Well, fuck YOU if you don't want to look at me but I took a deep breath, counted to ten and realized that she probably meant that she likes looking at Obama. He's pretty good looking, for a president. ;)
A good friend of mine currently does not have reliable Internet access and she and I have started talking on the phone a few hours a week to keep in touch. And it's NICE. She and I have chatted for hours before online and I felt like we were pretty good friends but lately with chatting on the phone with her, I feel even closer to her. It's amazing what hearing some one's voice versus reading words on a screen does for human relationships.
So, as much as I am an Internet addict, I guess I've come to the realization that it is not a complete replacement for getting out there and interacting with people. I've had the song Ask by the Smiths (find it on YouTube, it's an excellent song - again with the instant gratification!) stuck in my head while typing this, specifically the line: "Shyness is nice but shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life you'd like to".
It's true. And it has a beat you could dance to. :)
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
catching up
So much to write about, so little writing. It's late, I've been awake since 5 am yesterday so I'm making this brief. I just got done pouring my heart/guts out on my other (private) blog and I'm just mentally exhausted at this point.
Halloween: went to Target Friday afternoon, bought some more candy and supplies for the upcoming CD swap I'm coordinating on the Gomez forum. I haven't finalized my playlist yet. I imagine I will be doing it last minute. I am making everyone come up with a title for their disc and I can't even think of one myself. Hypocrite, thy name is Centrechick. Halloween night I had more kids than last year, which was awesome. At first I thought I was going to end up with a ton of leftover candy (which I did not need to have in my house) but fortunately had so many kids that I ran out of candy after 3 hours.
Two things that bugged me: smelled alcohol on the breath of a boy no older than 12 who was trick or treating with other kids who are probably too big to be trick or treating anyway. I felt really sorry for him, what a life he will have if he's already a lush at 12! Secondly, I turned off my porch light at 9 when I ran out of candy and a woman with a tiny child, maybe 15 months, knocked on my door anyway 10 minutes later. I was OUT OF CANDY. That is what the no light on means! And really, your kid is barely a year old, he is too young to eat candy, you are trick or treating for yourself and you ought to be ashamed!
I bought a new alarm clock at Target. It's one of those you don't have to set, which is nice. The alarm is different, though. Instead of a loud, annoying buzzer sound, it's a beeping that gradually gets louder. I've had more than one dream about semis backing up over the past few days.
Another weird dream: I dreamt my mom took a job as a personal assistant to Ben Ottewell of Gomez and she refused to tell me where he was at, no matter how much I pleaded with her.
I got up at 5 am this morning to be sure to be on time to vote. I arrived at my polling place around 6:45 and was pleased to see a line already forming. There were about 30-35 people in front of me, so I waited about 20 minutes before I could vote. By the time I left around 7:15, the line was ten times as long and went up the block. I drove past the polling place tonight after work just to see and there was activity but no line. Duly noted for the 2012 election, I can just vote after work. The polling location is a neighborhood rec center that is essentially a room about 20 by 15 feet. There is one door and no windows. It's kind of a dreary place, to be honest. But the crowd in line seemed genuinely excited to be there and happy to see others in line. Several people had commented that in past elections that there was no one in line when they went to vote.
I am beyond thrilled that Obama won. This is history. I am in awe of his ability to inspire hope in the darkest of hearts. In his acceptance speech toinght he reiterated the theme of "we are not red states and blue states, we are the United States" and I hope that all of us, Obama supporters and those who voted for McCain take that sentiment to heart. United we stand, divided we fail.
Halloween: went to Target Friday afternoon, bought some more candy and supplies for the upcoming CD swap I'm coordinating on the Gomez forum. I haven't finalized my playlist yet. I imagine I will be doing it last minute. I am making everyone come up with a title for their disc and I can't even think of one myself. Hypocrite, thy name is Centrechick. Halloween night I had more kids than last year, which was awesome. At first I thought I was going to end up with a ton of leftover candy (which I did not need to have in my house) but fortunately had so many kids that I ran out of candy after 3 hours.
Two things that bugged me: smelled alcohol on the breath of a boy no older than 12 who was trick or treating with other kids who are probably too big to be trick or treating anyway. I felt really sorry for him, what a life he will have if he's already a lush at 12! Secondly, I turned off my porch light at 9 when I ran out of candy and a woman with a tiny child, maybe 15 months, knocked on my door anyway 10 minutes later. I was OUT OF CANDY. That is what the no light on means! And really, your kid is barely a year old, he is too young to eat candy, you are trick or treating for yourself and you ought to be ashamed!
I bought a new alarm clock at Target. It's one of those you don't have to set, which is nice. The alarm is different, though. Instead of a loud, annoying buzzer sound, it's a beeping that gradually gets louder. I've had more than one dream about semis backing up over the past few days.
Another weird dream: I dreamt my mom took a job as a personal assistant to Ben Ottewell of Gomez and she refused to tell me where he was at, no matter how much I pleaded with her.
I got up at 5 am this morning to be sure to be on time to vote. I arrived at my polling place around 6:45 and was pleased to see a line already forming. There were about 30-35 people in front of me, so I waited about 20 minutes before I could vote. By the time I left around 7:15, the line was ten times as long and went up the block. I drove past the polling place tonight after work just to see and there was activity but no line. Duly noted for the 2012 election, I can just vote after work. The polling location is a neighborhood rec center that is essentially a room about 20 by 15 feet. There is one door and no windows. It's kind of a dreary place, to be honest. But the crowd in line seemed genuinely excited to be there and happy to see others in line. Several people had commented that in past elections that there was no one in line when they went to vote.
I am beyond thrilled that Obama won. This is history. I am in awe of his ability to inspire hope in the darkest of hearts. In his acceptance speech toinght he reiterated the theme of "we are not red states and blue states, we are the United States" and I hope that all of us, Obama supporters and those who voted for McCain take that sentiment to heart. United we stand, divided we fail.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
come down and get straight, it's in our eyes it's how we operate
MTV recently launched mtvmusic.com which (SHOCK) is a place to show actual MUSIC VIDEOS. (I KNOW! What a concept!)
So, of course I had to take a look and I watched some oldies but goodies. Alas, they only have one Gomez video (so far).
I love that the director of the Gomez video is listed as Tom Gray. I know he filmed it and all, but it's just cute.
A few others I watched (I really need to get to bed eventually):
which was directed by Michel Gondry and, though I can't express it adequately in words, makes me appreciate the beauty of choreography and the human form dancing. I don't know how to say it, I just love how every layer of the music is represented by a different group of dancers in the video. There are no amazing special effects, the costumes are laughable at best, but the whole video is just mesmerizing.
And, Fatboy Slim "Weapon of Choice" which is just awesome:
So, of course I had to take a look and I watched some oldies but goodies. Alas, they only have one Gomez video (so far).
I love that the director of the Gomez video is listed as Tom Gray. I know he filmed it and all, but it's just cute.
A few others I watched (I really need to get to bed eventually):
which was directed by Michel Gondry and, though I can't express it adequately in words, makes me appreciate the beauty of choreography and the human form dancing. I don't know how to say it, I just love how every layer of the music is represented by a different group of dancers in the video. There are no amazing special effects, the costumes are laughable at best, but the whole video is just mesmerizing.
And, Fatboy Slim "Weapon of Choice" which is just awesome:
why yes, we CAN
This past weekend I went through a ton of junk mail paperwork (I'm not nearly done with it all yet) and I came across SO MANY anti-Obama ads that have come to me in the mail. I'm looking at all these ads and they're talking about how terrible life would be under an Obama presidency: universal health care, gay marriage, abortion rights, gun control, pro-union, socialism, spreading the wealth....
and I can't help but think....
this is supposed to convince me NOT to vote for him?
I think their message is just not hitting their target audience.
Several people I know have already voted. I plan to vote the old fashioned way at the polls on Tuesday morning. I have no idea if I will have a line to vote and how long that line will be if I do have to stand in it. One girl (who often comments on my blogs here) said she got a little teary-eyed when she voted and I have to say that today, even though I haven't cast my ballot yet, I get a little teary-eyed when I think about how amazing a candidate Barack Obama is. I watched his infomercial tonight and I was reminded again of the power of his message of hope and confidence in the fundamental goodness of all Americans.
A year from now I may be completely disillusioned and disappointed in Obama. I may hate that I ever voted for him. I hope this will not be the case, or, at least if I am unhappy in his presidency that I don't regret latching onto this beacon of hope that so many of his supporters seem to be caught up in. I think his message of hope is exactly what this country needs. He doesn't speak about hope in and of itself. He also has already made it pretty clear that his government is not going to just give handouts, that there will need to be sacrifice on the part of all Americans to pull us out of this mess we find ourselves in.
I am not so blind to the Obama cult of personality (for lack of a better term) that I can't find some fault in his infomercial. In talking about the environment, he commented that he supports clean coal initiatives, offshore oil drilling and tapping into the natural gas reserves. I think this is a bad idea. I would need to hear more about it to form a complete opinion, but I think focusing on energy efficiency and calling on Americans to innovate to find new energy sources - making THAT the goal of his administration a la JFK and the Space Race - is a better long-term solution to our environmental problems than continuing to use the same fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) that got us into this environmental mess.
Also, I find this blog, "Yes We Can (hold babies)" to be both adorable, optimistic, and somewhat disturbing.
and I can't help but think....
this is supposed to convince me NOT to vote for him?
I think their message is just not hitting their target audience.
Several people I know have already voted. I plan to vote the old fashioned way at the polls on Tuesday morning. I have no idea if I will have a line to vote and how long that line will be if I do have to stand in it. One girl (who often comments on my blogs here) said she got a little teary-eyed when she voted and I have to say that today, even though I haven't cast my ballot yet, I get a little teary-eyed when I think about how amazing a candidate Barack Obama is. I watched his infomercial tonight and I was reminded again of the power of his message of hope and confidence in the fundamental goodness of all Americans.
A year from now I may be completely disillusioned and disappointed in Obama. I may hate that I ever voted for him. I hope this will not be the case, or, at least if I am unhappy in his presidency that I don't regret latching onto this beacon of hope that so many of his supporters seem to be caught up in. I think his message of hope is exactly what this country needs. He doesn't speak about hope in and of itself. He also has already made it pretty clear that his government is not going to just give handouts, that there will need to be sacrifice on the part of all Americans to pull us out of this mess we find ourselves in.
I am not so blind to the Obama cult of personality (for lack of a better term) that I can't find some fault in his infomercial. In talking about the environment, he commented that he supports clean coal initiatives, offshore oil drilling and tapping into the natural gas reserves. I think this is a bad idea. I would need to hear more about it to form a complete opinion, but I think focusing on energy efficiency and calling on Americans to innovate to find new energy sources - making THAT the goal of his administration a la JFK and the Space Race - is a better long-term solution to our environmental problems than continuing to use the same fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) that got us into this environmental mess.
Also, I find this blog, "Yes We Can (hold babies)" to be both adorable, optimistic, and somewhat disturbing.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
electoral map
Go here and play around with the electoral map and see how the election can be changed if a state goes red or blue. I found this site through Fark.com, which had linked to foxnews.com which listed Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa as swing states, which is complete bullshit.
In talking about the election last week at work, several people expressed certainty that Obama will win. Call me a worry-wart or just someone who does not trust the "Grand" Old Party, but I'll believe it when I see McCain giving his concession speech.
In talking about the election last week at work, several people expressed certainty that Obama will win. Call me a worry-wart or just someone who does not trust the "Grand" Old Party, but I'll believe it when I see McCain giving his concession speech.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
bored and blogging
I am so unbelievably bored right now. I got to work early this morning because my dad is working downtown to set up the New Kids on the Block concert here tonight, so he used our parking pass and therefore dropped my mom and me off 30 minutes early. In that thirty minutes I managed to read the entire newspaper. Then on my first break, I re-decorated my cubicle at work. Now I'm halfway through my lunch break and I have NOTHING to do. I think I'm more annoyed because my physical therapy appointment was cancelled this morning because my therapist is out sick than because I have nothing to do. When you have a plan for the day and it doesn't go as planned, it's annoying. Plus, we're busy enough at work that conversation is pretty useless but not busy enough that there is no time waiting between the calls. So there is virtually no socializing at work the past few days and it makes the day last SO long. It makes me feel kind of lonely and unloved. It's hopefully temporary, this feeling. Maybe I'm just hormonal.
When I was 13, I wanted nothing more than to go to a New Kids on the Block concert. Now they are here on their reunion tour and you'd have to pay me a pretty penny to voluntarily attend. I'm so broke right now that I can't say you couldn't pay me to attend. There's not much I wouldn't do for money right now. But I refuse to let someone move in with me. I ran into the flake yesterday at work and she hinted around again about the possibility of moving in with me. She's expecting to be served eviction papers this week. Yeah. Obviously this is someone who can't handle money. WHY would I let you move in with me and disrupt my life? Occasional rent payments are not worth the hassle. I'd rather lose my house living in it alone than lose it living with such a fucking flake.
So I'm sitting at one of the company sanctioned computers writing this blog and a woman comes up and takes about 25 packets of Crystal Light out of the cupboard. That stuff is intended for the entire fucking office and she pretty much took 90 percent of the entire supply. Apparently Crystal Light = gold around here. How fucking selfish can you be? Seriously. Like you can't take two packets to drink today and come back tomorrow? How about giving everyone else a chance to drink it. And if it's that important to you to have the stash available for the pending World War III, why don't you just take your ass to the store and BUY some for yourself.
Not that I really wanted any Crystal Light. But still. Selfish much?
Oh goody. Time to go back to work. Yay.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Tampa Bay Rays go to the World Series!
OK....so....yeah. They won.They kicked Boston's ass all season long.
The better team is going to the World Series.
Yeah I said it.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
you gotta move
Last fall, over on myspace, I got a random band friend request from a band called The Panderers. I checked out their page and fell head over heels for their song "Come On". I bought their self-released EP and still listen to it frequently. Lo and behold, the song I love is now in a commercial for a new video game. Check it out.
http://www.myspace.com/thepanderers
Saturday, October 18, 2008
purify the saints alive we're all deprived be careful what you're saying
Ping One Down - Gomez
Thursday night's HISTORIC Red Sox comeback was amazing to behold. I have to admit that I had lost some faith in my boys. They were down seven to nothing. The TBS commentators (who suck in comparison to the NESN commentators Jerry and Don) were pretty well sure of a Tampa Bay victory. I found myself falling asleep during the fifth inning, rousing only whenever there was a commercial. I woke up when Daisuke was pulled from the game to be replaced by Hidekei Okajima. I missed the entirety of his time on the mound. Woke up again to find Papelbon pitching in the seventh, which was like the world turning upside down to me, I was sure I was dreaming. In disgust, I texted Amber to see if she was watching this travesty. If she hadn't texted me back, I probably would have just gone to bed. I had to get up early the next day for work, I hadn't slept much during the week and I could barely keep my eyes open.
Then, the game turned around and by the eighth inning I was yelling my head off in joy, fully awake. We were tied going into the ninth inning. Bottom of the ninth, two on, two out, JD Drew up to the plate. Full count. I was literally on the edge of my seat praying for a hit. If I had been at Fenway, I would have been out of my mind with insanity, it was so intense.
That was a game you could tell your grandkids about.
Now, we just have to win two more. Whether or not the Red Sox go to the World Series again will be decided by the end of this weekend.
As much as I will enjoy the next two games (there MUST be two games), I also wish I was in California this weekend. Ian Ball of Gomez is doing two concerts in the San Francisco area along with Buddy and a bunch of people I know from the forum will be there. Now I've seen (and talked to!) Ian in person, I wish I could go see Buddy as well. His albums are just amazing. I'm so jealous of those who get to see Ian twice in little over two weeks!
I have no idea how I got through the first 31 years of my life NOT seeing Gomez live. Or even the year plus from when I rediscovered them. Now that I've had a little taste, I want more and more. How the hell am I going to be able to wait until next spring when the new album comes out? And how the hell am I going to resist the urge to travel to see them in every city they play in when they go on tour? I find myself flashing back to the concert every time I hear a song they played, remembering those exquisite hours, seeing the crowd dancing and clapping along, letting the music wash over me, becoming completely uninhibited and communing with the crowd who were all feeling that amazing experience. I have to fight the urge to dance when I'm at work and one of their particularly "dancy" songs comes on (like Ping One Down, which they played at the Vic). People at work already laugh at me for bopping my head and halfway chair dancing when I put my headphones on and get lost in a good song. If they only knew how much I have to restrain myself from making a complete fool of myself when the spirit moves me.
I am no poet, but I feel poetic musings when I remember that night. I can't believe it was only two weeks ago. It feels like a lifetime. I can't hardly remember my life pre-Gomez, and post-Gomez and pre-Gomez live is kind of fuzzy in comparison. It makes me admire the other Gomez fanatics that much more for their PATIENCE between albums and shows. I can't imagine surviving YEARS without them, I am barely making it two weeks later!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
the agony of defeat
The past two ALCS games have been brutal and horrible to witness. What the hell happened to my team? Not only have they lost, but they have lost BADLY. The score was 13-4 last night and by the sixth inning I was practically pulling my hair out in frustration!
I really wasn't expecting them to make it this far, but on the other hand, this has been a train wreck.
On the other hand, they came back last year against the Cleveland Indians who were ahead 3 games in the series and went on to win the World Series.
Anyway, I'm glad for a night off from baseball tonight.
I really wasn't expecting them to make it this far, but on the other hand, this has been a train wreck.
On the other hand, they came back last year against the Cleveland Indians who were ahead 3 games in the series and went on to win the World Series.
Anyway, I'm glad for a night off from baseball tonight.
Monday, October 13, 2008
musings
I bit the bullet and checked my mortgage payment for November 1 and thank the stars above it did not go up! It did not go down either, but staying where it is at is about all I could hope for considering how terrible the economy is currently.
I've begun a series of physical therapy appointments for the next month, two days a week. It means I have to use up some of my vacation time because the earliest apointment I can get is 8 am and it lasts between 60-90 minutes each session. After work, I have an additional 90 minutes of therapy-related stuff to do so for the next month or so, I am going to have much less internet time.
Maybe it will be good for me, but I doubt it.
Right now the Red Sox and Rays are tied 1-1 in the American League Championship Series. Game 3 is tomorrow at 3:30 so I will miss it as I will be stuck at work until 6. Lucky for me, it will probably be terribly slow (again) at work so I will be able to watch it on espn.com. The game last night lasted over five hours and I was so exhausted by the end of it, I didn't care who won as long as SOMEONE ended it. I suppose I signed up for this stuff when I became a rabid fan, but sometimes I wish I had never gotten into baseball. Then a few days pass without a baseball game and I'm suddenly combing the internet for baseball news.
Lately a bunch of people from high school have been finding and friending me on facebook. I kind of wish I hadn't opened that can of worms. I can't bring myself to reject these people when they friend me, but I really don't want anything to do with any of them. High school has so few happy memories for me, I'd like to just pretend it never happened.
A whole lot of my life is full of pretty unhappy memories and I can't pretend none of it ever happened either. I suppose life would be awfully dull if only good things ever happened, but I wouldn't mind a nice string of good things over the next few months. Starting with winning the lottery.
I've begun a series of physical therapy appointments for the next month, two days a week. It means I have to use up some of my vacation time because the earliest apointment I can get is 8 am and it lasts between 60-90 minutes each session. After work, I have an additional 90 minutes of therapy-related stuff to do so for the next month or so, I am going to have much less internet time.
Maybe it will be good for me, but I doubt it.
Right now the Red Sox and Rays are tied 1-1 in the American League Championship Series. Game 3 is tomorrow at 3:30 so I will miss it as I will be stuck at work until 6. Lucky for me, it will probably be terribly slow (again) at work so I will be able to watch it on espn.com. The game last night lasted over five hours and I was so exhausted by the end of it, I didn't care who won as long as SOMEONE ended it. I suppose I signed up for this stuff when I became a rabid fan, but sometimes I wish I had never gotten into baseball. Then a few days pass without a baseball game and I'm suddenly combing the internet for baseball news.
Lately a bunch of people from high school have been finding and friending me on facebook. I kind of wish I hadn't opened that can of worms. I can't bring myself to reject these people when they friend me, but I really don't want anything to do with any of them. High school has so few happy memories for me, I'd like to just pretend it never happened.
A whole lot of my life is full of pretty unhappy memories and I can't pretend none of it ever happened either. I suppose life would be awfully dull if only good things ever happened, but I wouldn't mind a nice string of good things over the next few months. Starting with winning the lottery.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
procrastination and insomnia are my two biggest vices
I was up until after 4 am last night checking for updates about the new contract at work. See, here's the deal, the first agreement DID NOT PASS. Oh, it passed just fine here in Minnesota, but in other states, they rejected it. Also, we had extremely low percentage of members who voted. Those who didn't vote just assumed it would pass. I have a feeling that this time, there will be a higher percentage of voters just because who the fuck wants to picket in November?
The deal that didn't pass was a good deal, but the main issue that was not addressed in the previous new contract was the deal breaker for a lot of those who voted. That issue has to do with the company previously blocking union input on work expectations (quotas). I understand that for any business to be profitable they have to have expectations regarding how much work you do, but it is getting a bit ridiculous around here. Not so much in my department but in others. In my department, however, they recently announced that the minimum requirement for the amount collected on average per hour is being raised by $45. Yes, in this tough economic time, we are now expected to collect MORE money than we were when times were relatively better (I hesitate to use "good" there because, frankly, since we've been in Iraq, I don't think the times have been good AT ALL). I have no idea if this will fly now with the new contract or not. The new minimum is an amount that I can usually make if I don't take too much time off in a given month, but the principle of the matter is pretty shitty. In the past few months, my totals have been going down for two reasons - the first is the fewer people are paying. When presented with the option of rent or phone, most people pick rent. There is no doubt in my mind that the media is NOT reporting on how crappy this economy is. We are headed for some serious problems if something doesn't change soon. Second, I goof off too much at work with the people around me. I need to work on that, it will be better for my job performance and my psyche if I could just ignore certain people around me. Typing is easier than doing, however.
I bought my house just about three years ago. This means that my 3 year ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) is up this month. I shudder to think of what my mortgage payment might be come November 1. I could probably go online and check, but I'm scared. If the payment gets too high and/or the company refuses to refinance I will have no choice but to just let my lovely house go. On the plus side, my credit card debt would probably be cut in half as I could use all the mortgage money to pay a bunch of bills.
I slept late this morning and now I've been goofing off on the computer for over an hour. I haven't properly cleaned my house or done laundry since the weekend before Chicago so I am overdue.
Plus, I have a baseball game to watch. The Red Sox are in the ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays. I love my team, but I'm not fully convinced yet that we're going to the World Series. A guy at work who has been oddly psychic all season regarding the Red Sox thinks they will go. So far we're up one game. In the National League, it's the Phillies versus the Dodgers, the Phillies up by two games. As a bitter, former Manny Ramirez fan, I will be happy to see him not even get a chance to go to the World Series. Same psychic guy, though, thinks the Dodgers are going to pull through. By the way, I love baseball. Truly.
Oh, and I also MET GOMEZ a little over a week ago!!!!!!!
The deal that didn't pass was a good deal, but the main issue that was not addressed in the previous new contract was the deal breaker for a lot of those who voted. That issue has to do with the company previously blocking union input on work expectations (quotas). I understand that for any business to be profitable they have to have expectations regarding how much work you do, but it is getting a bit ridiculous around here. Not so much in my department but in others. In my department, however, they recently announced that the minimum requirement for the amount collected on average per hour is being raised by $45. Yes, in this tough economic time, we are now expected to collect MORE money than we were when times were relatively better (I hesitate to use "good" there because, frankly, since we've been in Iraq, I don't think the times have been good AT ALL). I have no idea if this will fly now with the new contract or not. The new minimum is an amount that I can usually make if I don't take too much time off in a given month, but the principle of the matter is pretty shitty. In the past few months, my totals have been going down for two reasons - the first is the fewer people are paying. When presented with the option of rent or phone, most people pick rent. There is no doubt in my mind that the media is NOT reporting on how crappy this economy is. We are headed for some serious problems if something doesn't change soon. Second, I goof off too much at work with the people around me. I need to work on that, it will be better for my job performance and my psyche if I could just ignore certain people around me. Typing is easier than doing, however.
I bought my house just about three years ago. This means that my 3 year ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) is up this month. I shudder to think of what my mortgage payment might be come November 1. I could probably go online and check, but I'm scared. If the payment gets too high and/or the company refuses to refinance I will have no choice but to just let my lovely house go. On the plus side, my credit card debt would probably be cut in half as I could use all the mortgage money to pay a bunch of bills.
I slept late this morning and now I've been goofing off on the computer for over an hour. I haven't properly cleaned my house or done laundry since the weekend before Chicago so I am overdue.
Plus, I have a baseball game to watch. The Red Sox are in the ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays. I love my team, but I'm not fully convinced yet that we're going to the World Series. A guy at work who has been oddly psychic all season regarding the Red Sox thinks they will go. So far we're up one game. In the National League, it's the Phillies versus the Dodgers, the Phillies up by two games. As a bitter, former Manny Ramirez fan, I will be happy to see him not even get a chance to go to the World Series. Same psychic guy, though, thinks the Dodgers are going to pull through. By the way, I love baseball. Truly.
Oh, and I also MET GOMEZ a little over a week ago!!!!!!!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
because I really should be sleeping
Your result for Tarot Card Guide Test...
YOUR GUIDE IS THE PRIESTESS
“Come closer so that I may know thee.”
The Priestess is a teacher. She is quiet and reserved and is usually shrouded in the light of the moon. Shrouded in night, she tends to know things about you that you have never shared, or have been willing to admit to yourself. She can see right through you. Although she is a teacher, and knows many things, she won’t tell you everything. She tells you only that which you need to know for the next leg of your journey.
If the High Priestess is your guide, then this is a time of solitary investigation and the passing on of secret knowledge. You might find yourself spending time in old libraries, reading through dusty documents and letters, or studying old religious texts. Things kept secret will be revealed to you. Likewise, these secrets might come to you psychically by way of visions or powerful instincts. Insights may be found in crystal balls, tea leaves, dreams or conversations with spirits.
The High Priestess is the card of knowledge. She is instinctual, and supernatural. She follows her intuition and is surprisingly accurate in her observations. She possesses a secret knowledge which she may choose to impart to you, or withhold for your own protection.
TAKE MY TEST:OTHER WHAT COLOR ARE YOU? THE COLOR TEST.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
had a friend, she once told me you got love, you ain't lonely
"Friends" - Led Zeppelin
Last night I was up insanely late and I was chatting on facebook with a friend of mine from college. I gave her some details about the Gomez concert and the after party. I'm still gushing a bit about talking to Olly, and upon hearing of his approaching me and chatting alone for 15-20 minutes, she commented to me that I was "so going to marry him!" She had misunderstood and thought that his approaching me was similar to a guy approaching a girl in a bar. Of course, Olly is married and this was purely a hero/fan conversation and I have no designs on him in that way anyway (even if I had a chance, I'm not the type who would actually go after a married man). When I explained that to her, she understood better, but I was thinking how awesome it is to have a friend who, despite knowing how completely unattractive I am to 99 percent of the population out there, still thinks it's possible that the drummer of a rock band that I worship would take one look at me and have the urge to hit on me. Gotta love loyal friends.
Now if only I could have that kind of faith in myself.
hello my name is
When I met Ian (I'm not nearly done talking about Gomez yet), I introduced him with my real name and he looked at my name tag that had my Gomez Forum User ID on it and asked me what it said (that's the pic at right, even sober it's a bit tough to read - not my writing, btw). He commented that "all of you have such STRANGE names" on the forum. He also mentioned that when he [Ian] was given his nametag, Ben wrote "douchebag" on it. At the time, I thought it was a cute story and didn't think any more of it.
When I got back to my hotel room, I took of my clothes to take a shower and I peeled off my Centrechick nametag and stuck it a piece of paper. I took off my pants and found another sticker on the bottom of the pants leg. Here it is:
How cool is that? I wonder what happened to the other half?
When I got back to my hotel room, I took of my clothes to take a shower and I peeled off my Centrechick nametag and stuck it a piece of paper. I took off my pants and found another sticker on the bottom of the pants leg. Here it is:
How cool is that? I wonder what happened to the other half?
Sunday, October 5, 2008
more chicago stuff
Some other non-Gomez related stuff from my trip that I want to remember:
When I got to the station, I had only about five minutes to spare before they started boarding the sleeping car passengers. The announcer lady at the station reminded me a bit of Lorelei Gilmore, very perky and quite a fast talker. She announced that they wanted to start by boarding large parties first saying, "so if you are a party of four or more, please come forward." An adorable little boy yelled out, "Mommy, I'm four! Let's go!" It was so cute. Everyone laughed.
So, they announce my car as loading and I head out to the train, I had to walk to the third to last car on the train. When I got there, I found out that my roomette was on the second level of the train. So I had to somehow squeeze myself up a very narrow staircase to get to my area. I was afraid at first that I would not be able to, which would have been terribly embarrassing. Luckily, I managed just fine. I got settled into my seat. And waited. The train left the station about 40 minutes later than scheduled.
The ride itself was wonderful. Beautiful scenery and I could get a cell signal most of the time, so I haunted my facebook page and gmail account with my phone. I had brought a book, but couldn't concentrate on it. I had my iPod with me and listened to each of Gomez's studio albums in order. (I know, I'm a Virgo, I can't help my OCD tendencies) I was extremely nervous about the concert, meeting all the people from the Gomez forum, not knowing what their reaction to me would be.
I had reseved a regular seat in coach for the return trip, but i liked the roomette so much that halfway to Chicago, I called Amtrak and upgraded my ticket for the return trip. Fortunately, I got a lower level one for the return. It was an extra $100 but definitely worth it as the seats are nice and wide and you get a door you can shut for privacy, which I definitely needed on the return trip.
We arrived in Chicago about an hour late. I was communicating with Kelly (my hotel-mate) via texting and she was arriving about the same time. In a way, I guess it was good that my train was late because I would have been sitting at the hotel for an hour waiting for her as we had to check in together. My cab driver to the hotel was from Russia and he talked to me quite a bit about the sports fans in Chicago and how crazy he thinks they are. He drove under the city a lot, so I didn't get to see much of Chicago on the way to the hotel.
The hotel was beautiful. Posh is a good word for it. Kelly and I headed out to find something to eat before the show. We ended up at the Cheesecake Factory. I got a sandwich that was larger than my head and managed to eat less than a quarter of it. I did get a drink at the restaurant, which calmed my nerves a LOT. We went back to the hotel so I could put the rest of the sandwich in the fridge in my room, then we got a cab to the theatre. The trip to the Vic was really cool, we ended up driving right past Lake Michigan, the sun was setting and the whole city looked beautiful.
After the afterparty, Kelly and I shared a cab with another person from the forum back to the hotel. I went into my hotel room and just absorbed everything from the concert and party. I took a shower and turned on the television. I actually watched most of a replay of the VP debates. I was exhausted, my feet were killing me, but I was too happy to sleep. Eventually, I turned off the television and willed myself to sleep. I had set the alarm for 8 am so I could get some breakfast in the morning. That didn't work out as I turned off the alarm and was woken by my cell phone around 9:30. I spent the morning reliving the concert while I packed up my stuff. Checkout time was noon and I got a cab to the train station.
The ride back to the train station was done overground so I saw a million beautiful buildings. Chicago is really a lovely city, and now I wish I had decided to stay an extra day. When I got to the station, I had to stand in line for nearly an hour to do the ticket upgrade. I was behind a girl in line who had to call every single member of her family and tell them about her time in Chicago and her travel plans from Chicago. I think she made about ten phone calls while I was in line behind her. It was annoying to hear the same story over and over again.
I didn't have much time to spare after I got my new ticket. I sat in the lounge for a bit, then got on the train again. I had to go even further back on the train this time, it was quite a hike! But I managed it without losing my breath or even having to stop and rest, which was quite amazing to me. Maybe it was the adrenaline from the anticipation of the concert, but I found myself extremely energized the whole time I was going to and returning from Chicago.
I spent the return trip talking to a few friends about my concert experience. If I had been stuck in coach with all those people around me to hear, I don't know what I would have done. It was so nice to have a private room to myself so I could get everything off my chest about all that I had experienced before, during, and after the show.
I was not expecting such niceness from the people I met up with. Don't get me wrong, I knew they were nice people, but I had prepared myself for polite friendliness once they saw me in the flesh. Instead, I was given bear hugs by almost everyone there! After we left the bar, I remember standing out on the sidewalk talking to a lady named Karen about how awesome it was to meet up with forum members because there was this instant understanding between us about this band. (yeah, I know I said non-Gomez related, sorry) I used the phrase "kindred spirits" to describe it. We come from different backgrounds, different life experiences, but we don't even have to explain ourselves to each other when it comes to our feelings for this band. Even though I had never met any of these people before, and had only spoken to one of them on the phone before going to Chicago, it was like I was meeting old friends because they understood me and I understood them without explanation. I don't know if fellow fans of other bands feel the same, but what we Gomez fans have is something very special.
I definitely want to do this again!
When I got to the station, I had only about five minutes to spare before they started boarding the sleeping car passengers. The announcer lady at the station reminded me a bit of Lorelei Gilmore, very perky and quite a fast talker. She announced that they wanted to start by boarding large parties first saying, "so if you are a party of four or more, please come forward." An adorable little boy yelled out, "Mommy, I'm four! Let's go!" It was so cute. Everyone laughed.
So, they announce my car as loading and I head out to the train, I had to walk to the third to last car on the train. When I got there, I found out that my roomette was on the second level of the train. So I had to somehow squeeze myself up a very narrow staircase to get to my area. I was afraid at first that I would not be able to, which would have been terribly embarrassing. Luckily, I managed just fine. I got settled into my seat. And waited. The train left the station about 40 minutes later than scheduled.
The ride itself was wonderful. Beautiful scenery and I could get a cell signal most of the time, so I haunted my facebook page and gmail account with my phone. I had brought a book, but couldn't concentrate on it. I had my iPod with me and listened to each of Gomez's studio albums in order. (I know, I'm a Virgo, I can't help my OCD tendencies) I was extremely nervous about the concert, meeting all the people from the Gomez forum, not knowing what their reaction to me would be.
I had reseved a regular seat in coach for the return trip, but i liked the roomette so much that halfway to Chicago, I called Amtrak and upgraded my ticket for the return trip. Fortunately, I got a lower level one for the return. It was an extra $100 but definitely worth it as the seats are nice and wide and you get a door you can shut for privacy, which I definitely needed on the return trip.
We arrived in Chicago about an hour late. I was communicating with Kelly (my hotel-mate) via texting and she was arriving about the same time. In a way, I guess it was good that my train was late because I would have been sitting at the hotel for an hour waiting for her as we had to check in together. My cab driver to the hotel was from Russia and he talked to me quite a bit about the sports fans in Chicago and how crazy he thinks they are. He drove under the city a lot, so I didn't get to see much of Chicago on the way to the hotel.
The hotel was beautiful. Posh is a good word for it. Kelly and I headed out to find something to eat before the show. We ended up at the Cheesecake Factory. I got a sandwich that was larger than my head and managed to eat less than a quarter of it. I did get a drink at the restaurant, which calmed my nerves a LOT. We went back to the hotel so I could put the rest of the sandwich in the fridge in my room, then we got a cab to the theatre. The trip to the Vic was really cool, we ended up driving right past Lake Michigan, the sun was setting and the whole city looked beautiful.
After the afterparty, Kelly and I shared a cab with another person from the forum back to the hotel. I went into my hotel room and just absorbed everything from the concert and party. I took a shower and turned on the television. I actually watched most of a replay of the VP debates. I was exhausted, my feet were killing me, but I was too happy to sleep. Eventually, I turned off the television and willed myself to sleep. I had set the alarm for 8 am so I could get some breakfast in the morning. That didn't work out as I turned off the alarm and was woken by my cell phone around 9:30. I spent the morning reliving the concert while I packed up my stuff. Checkout time was noon and I got a cab to the train station.
The ride back to the train station was done overground so I saw a million beautiful buildings. Chicago is really a lovely city, and now I wish I had decided to stay an extra day. When I got to the station, I had to stand in line for nearly an hour to do the ticket upgrade. I was behind a girl in line who had to call every single member of her family and tell them about her time in Chicago and her travel plans from Chicago. I think she made about ten phone calls while I was in line behind her. It was annoying to hear the same story over and over again.
I didn't have much time to spare after I got my new ticket. I sat in the lounge for a bit, then got on the train again. I had to go even further back on the train this time, it was quite a hike! But I managed it without losing my breath or even having to stop and rest, which was quite amazing to me. Maybe it was the adrenaline from the anticipation of the concert, but I found myself extremely energized the whole time I was going to and returning from Chicago.
I spent the return trip talking to a few friends about my concert experience. If I had been stuck in coach with all those people around me to hear, I don't know what I would have done. It was so nice to have a private room to myself so I could get everything off my chest about all that I had experienced before, during, and after the show.
I was not expecting such niceness from the people I met up with. Don't get me wrong, I knew they were nice people, but I had prepared myself for polite friendliness once they saw me in the flesh. Instead, I was given bear hugs by almost everyone there! After we left the bar, I remember standing out on the sidewalk talking to a lady named Karen about how awesome it was to meet up with forum members because there was this instant understanding between us about this band. (yeah, I know I said non-Gomez related, sorry) I used the phrase "kindred spirits" to describe it. We come from different backgrounds, different life experiences, but we don't even have to explain ourselves to each other when it comes to our feelings for this band. Even though I had never met any of these people before, and had only spoken to one of them on the phone before going to Chicago, it was like I was meeting old friends because they understood me and I understood them without explanation. I don't know if fellow fans of other bands feel the same, but what we Gomez fans have is something very special.
I definitely want to do this again!
Friday, October 3, 2008
To see Gomez live is to love them....
I had planned to post something before I went to Chicago, but I just ran out of time. Between the Red Sox making the post season and getting ready to go (along with trying to calm a gazillion nerves), I just couldn't take the time to blog.
I just got home about 45 minutes ago, and I still feel like I was in a dream. If that's the case, I'd like to never wake up, thankyouverymuch. Many other die-hard Gomez fans have said that they didn't really become a die-hard fan until they saw the band live and I can totally understand that now.
At first, I was right up front for the show, however, I started to feel faint and like I was going to pass out. I didn't want to leave because Gomez hadn't come on yet. I also didn't want to have to be picked up off the floor, so I pushed through a ton of people to get out of the pit in front of the stage and I went to the bar and got some ice water. I found a place to sit down that happened to have a perfect view of the stage and I sipped the water until I felt better. I thought about going back to the pit, but I didn't want to piss off a bunch of people by pushing my way back through them all.
The first set of the show was the entirety of their first album, Bring it On, in order. They started with the song "Get Miles" which is an amazing song to start any show. I've listened to dozens of Gomez live shows and I think it is their best song to start a show. The crowd wasn't feeling it the way the Gomez board members were, but it was really good. A waitress came by and asked me if I wanted a drink. I ordered a kamikaze. She brought me something else, but I was too thirsty to notice (it was absolut citron and soda). She came back with the actual kamikaze which I didn't have to pay for. By this point, the second song was on, Whippin Piccadilly and the crowd got more into it. People were dancing and had loosened up.
By the time Here Comes the Breeze came up (song number 6), the crowd was completely in sync with the band and they played that song for at least 10 minutes. It was amazing, and the best live version I had ever heard of that song (which is saying a lot because before yesterday it was my favorite of their songs I had heard in live recordings). I was completely blown away. I didn't think the song would ever end, and I didn't want it to. I was on my feet, loosened up by the alcohol and dancing. The song was perfect.
I could go through, song by song, suffice it to say that they played for a long time and it was brilliant. The encore/second set was two new songs and several songs from other albums. I was on my feet dancing for every song I knew. The new tracks are growing on me, but they are not quite as danceable as the ones I know by heart. I said to several people that I knew I could die now that I had seen them play. It was the best night of my life, watching them play.
After the concert, an afterparty was set up by a Chicago native/Gomez fan at a bar about a block from the theatre where the concert was held. I was so overwhelmed with emotion from the concert that I didn't have a lot to say to people, I just kept repeating over and over that it was amazing. I couldn't talk. I was still processing everything.
THEN, the band showed up at the party.
OMG.
I had known it was a possibility, but I didn't completely believe that it would actually happen. Instantly, I became the shyest person on the planet. I was slightly terrified that I would make a complete ass of myself so I thought it would be best to not say anything at all. I was sitting in a corner, by myself, just watching everyone. All of a sudden, the drummer, Olly, was walking towards me. He leans down and says, "So, I understand this was your first show" and he proceeds to sit down right next to me and talk to me for a good 15-20 minutes.
Me.
Alone.
What was the most awesome part of it was that it wasn't like he was just looking for someone to talk to him about how awesome he is (of course I told him that anyway) but he seemed to be genuinely interested in talking to ME. We talked some about the new album, the album producer, touring in the states. It was a wonderful conversation and I'm pretty sure I didn't make an ass of myself. He was extremely kind.
Newly emboldened, I got up after some other people came over to talk to Olly and I approached the rest of the band. Of course they hear it all the time, but I felt the need to tell them all how awesome the show was to me. Blackie, in particular, was very patient with me and let me go on a bit about how amazing his playing is. That guy really is the backbone of the band. Absolutely essential but little thought of. The bass player is always under-appreciated, in my opinion.
I got a picture with Ben that someone else took and will be sending to me soon. I didn't get any other pictures of the band because my camera on my cell phone is shitty and I also didn't want to ask them to pose for pictures. I'm glad I got the picture with Ben, though, so I can prove to the people at work that I actually did meet the band. I doubt they will believe me that I talked to Olly, but there were witnesses at the bar. I will never forget his kindness (and the kindness of the guy who told him it was my first Gomez show) and that's all that counts.
I just got home about 45 minutes ago, and I still feel like I was in a dream. If that's the case, I'd like to never wake up, thankyouverymuch. Many other die-hard Gomez fans have said that they didn't really become a die-hard fan until they saw the band live and I can totally understand that now.
At first, I was right up front for the show, however, I started to feel faint and like I was going to pass out. I didn't want to leave because Gomez hadn't come on yet. I also didn't want to have to be picked up off the floor, so I pushed through a ton of people to get out of the pit in front of the stage and I went to the bar and got some ice water. I found a place to sit down that happened to have a perfect view of the stage and I sipped the water until I felt better. I thought about going back to the pit, but I didn't want to piss off a bunch of people by pushing my way back through them all.
The first set of the show was the entirety of their first album, Bring it On, in order. They started with the song "Get Miles" which is an amazing song to start any show. I've listened to dozens of Gomez live shows and I think it is their best song to start a show. The crowd wasn't feeling it the way the Gomez board members were, but it was really good. A waitress came by and asked me if I wanted a drink. I ordered a kamikaze. She brought me something else, but I was too thirsty to notice (it was absolut citron and soda). She came back with the actual kamikaze which I didn't have to pay for. By this point, the second song was on, Whippin Piccadilly and the crowd got more into it. People were dancing and had loosened up.
By the time Here Comes the Breeze came up (song number 6), the crowd was completely in sync with the band and they played that song for at least 10 minutes. It was amazing, and the best live version I had ever heard of that song (which is saying a lot because before yesterday it was my favorite of their songs I had heard in live recordings). I was completely blown away. I didn't think the song would ever end, and I didn't want it to. I was on my feet, loosened up by the alcohol and dancing. The song was perfect.
I could go through, song by song, suffice it to say that they played for a long time and it was brilliant. The encore/second set was two new songs and several songs from other albums. I was on my feet dancing for every song I knew. The new tracks are growing on me, but they are not quite as danceable as the ones I know by heart. I said to several people that I knew I could die now that I had seen them play. It was the best night of my life, watching them play.
After the concert, an afterparty was set up by a Chicago native/Gomez fan at a bar about a block from the theatre where the concert was held. I was so overwhelmed with emotion from the concert that I didn't have a lot to say to people, I just kept repeating over and over that it was amazing. I couldn't talk. I was still processing everything.
THEN, the band showed up at the party.
OMG.
I had known it was a possibility, but I didn't completely believe that it would actually happen. Instantly, I became the shyest person on the planet. I was slightly terrified that I would make a complete ass of myself so I thought it would be best to not say anything at all. I was sitting in a corner, by myself, just watching everyone. All of a sudden, the drummer, Olly, was walking towards me. He leans down and says, "So, I understand this was your first show" and he proceeds to sit down right next to me and talk to me for a good 15-20 minutes.
Me.
Alone.
What was the most awesome part of it was that it wasn't like he was just looking for someone to talk to him about how awesome he is (of course I told him that anyway) but he seemed to be genuinely interested in talking to ME. We talked some about the new album, the album producer, touring in the states. It was a wonderful conversation and I'm pretty sure I didn't make an ass of myself. He was extremely kind.
Newly emboldened, I got up after some other people came over to talk to Olly and I approached the rest of the band. Of course they hear it all the time, but I felt the need to tell them all how awesome the show was to me. Blackie, in particular, was very patient with me and let me go on a bit about how amazing his playing is. That guy really is the backbone of the band. Absolutely essential but little thought of. The bass player is always under-appreciated, in my opinion.
I got a picture with Ben that someone else took and will be sending to me soon. I didn't get any other pictures of the band because my camera on my cell phone is shitty and I also didn't want to ask them to pose for pictures. I'm glad I got the picture with Ben, though, so I can prove to the people at work that I actually did meet the band. I doubt they will believe me that I talked to Olly, but there were witnesses at the bar. I will never forget his kindness (and the kindness of the guy who told him it was my first Gomez show) and that's all that counts.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
is it just me...
or does this picture seem like a view into a parallel universe? Sarah Palin is meeting Henry Kissinger for Pete's sake, she's supposed to be gaining executive experience and she's hamming it up for the cameras like she's on a field trip.This is someone we could elect to the White House? Really?
victory!
So, the Boston Red Sox are going to the playoffs. For awhile there I really wasn't sure it was going to happen. Depending on their performance the rest of this week (and the Tampa Bay Rays), they will either win the AL East and play either the White Sox or the Twins first OR they will get the Wild Card slot and play the Angels.
I would prefer that they get the division not only for bragging rights, but because of insane baseball blackout rules means that if they play Anaheim, the game will likely be blacked out for me because of the Twins/White Sox and Rays game.
I love baseball, but sometimes I really hate it too.
It is kind of sad to realize that for the first time in 15 years the Yankees are not going to be playing in the post season. What an amazing club they are and I look forward to renewing the rivalry next year.
i'll sleep when i'm dead
So, my favorite blog posted a list of 75 books every woman should read. I'm proud to say I've read a few of them. There's a lot here that I would like to read and I plan to finish this list (someday). Those in bold are ones I have already read. Several of these I have seen the movie, does that count? (The bookworm in me knows it does not)
- The Lottery (and Other Stories), Shirley Jackson
- To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
- The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton
- White Teeth, Zadie Smith
- The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende
- Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion
- Excellent Women, Barbara Pym
- The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
- Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys
- The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri
- Beloved, Toni Morrison
- Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
- Like Life, Lorrie Moore
- Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
- The Delta of Venus, Anais Nin
- A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley
- A Good Man Is Hard To Find (and Other Stories), Flannery O'Connor
- The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx
- You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down, Alice Walker
- Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
- To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
- Fear of Flying, Erica Jong
- Earthly Paradise, Colette
- Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
- Property, Valerie Martin
- Middlemarch, George Eliot
- Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid
- The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir
- Runaway, Alice Munro
- The Heart is A Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers
- The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston
- Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
- You Must Remember This, Joyce Carol Oates
- Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
- Bad Behavior, Mary Gaitskill
- The Liars' Club, Mary Karr
- I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
- A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Betty Smith
- And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie
- Bastard out of Carolina, Dorothy Allison
- The Secret History, Donna Tartt
- The Little Disturbances of Man, Grace Paley
- The Portable Dorothy Parker, Dorothy Parker
- The Group, Mary McCarthy
- Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
- The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing
- The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank
- Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
- Against Interpretation, Susan Sontag
- In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez
- The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck
- Fun Home, Alison Bechdel
- Three Junes, Julia Glass
- A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft
- Sophie's Choice, William Styron
- Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann
- Love in a Cold Climate, Nancy Mitford
- Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
- The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuin
- The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
- The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
- The Face of War, Martha Gellhorn
- My Antonia, Willa Cather
- Love In The Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- The Harsh Voice, Rebecca West
- Spending, Mary Gordon
- The Lover, Marguerite Duras
- The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
- Tell Me a Riddle, Tillie Olsen
- Nightwood, Djuna Barnes
- Three Lives, Gertrude Stein
- Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
- I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith
- Possession, A.S. Byatt
Sunday, September 21, 2008
raise your hopeful voice, you have a choice
I got the movie Once in the mail today from Netflix and I watched it earlier tonight. I had heard from a few people that it is a really good movie, and I bought the soundtrack after hearing the song "Falling Slowly" on the Oscars this year. I had put the soundtrack on rotation on my iPod, but had never really paid much attention to the other songs except "Falling Slowly." At first, the jumpy camera work bothered me, but as I acclimated myself to it, I found myself completely sucked into the simple story. The original clip I was going to embed here revealed a bit from the end of the movie, and for those of you who read this who have not seen the movie, I don't want to ruin the ending. You must see this movie! I found myself bursting into tears at the end, which I did not expect. I can't wait to discover more of Glen Hansard's songs. I'm also going to watch this a few more times tomorrow. I wonder if I'll be able to listen to this song again without crying. (I'm tearing up now listening to it again!)
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
you take the good and bad and make the best of it
"Buildings and Mountains" - The Republic Tigers (free song on iTunes this week)
Last year I was out of work for nearly two months (on two separate instances) due to a flare-up of an inflamed disc in my back. I still have issues with my back, but I don't require vicodin to deal with it anymore. Grimacing a lot and moving slower than your average person seem to suit me just fine. There is no "cure" for an inflamed disc. If anything, I mostly need to just lose weight, and that should ease the pressure on my spine. I'm working on it, but it's slow going.
When I was out of work, doped up, I watched a lot of daytime television: The View, Regis and Kelly, Dr. Phil, Oprah...I was quite the daytime TV junkie. Dr. Phil's show, in particular, held a curious fascination for me. It was like Jerry Springer without the audience participation or foul language. I can't blame the drugs since I find myself still drawn to his show on the rare occasion that I am home during the week. Today, I took the day off and, of course, I watched Dr. Phil. He was pimping his new book and talking to these young women who had their parents get a divorce unexpectedly after 20-some odd years of marriage. His whole point (of what I watched) was that sometimes your heart gets broken, and you will be in shock, and you will be frightened by sudden changes in your life, and no matter how much you think your life is perfect, bad things will happen to you. That was his "help" to these women. It was just inane. A random stranger on the street could have told these people this. And there are thousands who will spend good money on a book filled with these "observations." GOD HELP US.
I procrastinated buying my train tickets for Chicago. Unfortunately, all the seats on the trip down there are already sold out. FABULOUS. Luckily, I could get a sleeping car. It's costing me an extra $225, but at least I'll have a "room" all to myself on the way down. This is reminding me of my trip to and from Barcelona when I was in Europe 10 years ago, except in reverse. Cheap seats on the way down, expensive sleeping car on the way back for that trip. I don't dare tell my parents because they will go balistic on me for not booking my tickets 3 weeks ago. I have no idea why I put it off, I just never got around to it. It turns out my friend Kristy can't make it up to Chicago on the weekend, so I'm just going to come home Friday afternoon. I'm really looking forward to it. It's going to be great!
A friend of mine wrote a blog on her Myspace page that she was feeling rejected because she realized someone had deleted her from their friends list. After reading that, I logged into my
Facebook account and realized that someone there had deleted me. A girl I went to high school with who I couldn't remember from Adam, but when she saw my name on a mutual classmate's friend list, she decided to friend me. I added her to my list after I asked her who the heck she was (I threw my high school yearbooks away 3 years ago when I moved out of my parent's house). Now she's deleted me. I wonder why. I'm half tempted to delete all the people from high school anyway as I never talk with any of them through facebook anyway. I've sent a few messages and gotten virtually no response. Why the hell even friend me in that case? Social networking sites are so stupid, yet so addictive.
I can't even write about John McCain and Sarah Palin. I can't believe the numbers of people who think that either one of them would make a good leader. Another thing about having the day off means that I had time to catch up on a lot that I don't have time to read normally. There's just so much out there, every day there's more and more reason to fear another four years of Republicans in the White House, I just can't even put it into words.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
flirge
Watching SNL, heard the term "FLIRGE" from Amy Poehler playing Hillary Clinton and I thought it was so funny, I just had to share: First Lady I'd Rather Get Elected. Even though I am a total Obama supporter, and have been from the beginning, I thought the term was pretty cute.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
you're here, there's nothing i fear
I stayed up really late last night, watching Craig Ferguson because one of my favorite British comics, Russell Brand, was on his show. The CBS affiliate here repeats Oprah after Craig Ferguson, and I was about to go to bed when I saw/heard HER. She is amazing and made me actually kind of like the song "My Heart Will Go On" again. It's odd because my favorite blog, Jezebel, happened to have a feature on the little girl with amazing voice on Oprah today. I hardly ever watch Oprah, and Jezebel very rarely mentions her, but the fact that they mention her the day after I happen to watch it is kind of neat. Listen to her sing and tell me you don't get chills, even if you can't stand the song!
I'm currently watching hour 500 of the Red Sox/Rays game. It's the fourteenth inning and the Rays just scored 3 runs to break the tie. We still have a chance to win, but it may finally be over in the next 20 minutes, which is a relief. Nearly 5 hours for a baseball game is insanity.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
it's not a slow dance, this modern romance
"Into the Dark" - Ben Lee
I have no words to describe my disgust with Sarah Palin as the McCain's choice for VP. I am so disappointed in McCain's complete reversal from the Republican "maverick" that he was eight years ago to the cowed, party-line man he has turned into, all in pursuit of the Presidency. How any human being can condone torture just boggles my mind, but especially someone who endured it for nearly six years, how does he sleep at night?
Last night I broke down and finally shut my windows. It was so nice to not have to run the air conditioner throughout most of August, but last night it just got too cold to even have two windows in my dining room open. I had trouble getting to sleep because I was so cold, I was hunting up extra layers to put on to retain some of my body heat. This morning, I woke up to 40 degree temperatures. I did not want to get out of bed. This weather this year has been insane. A little more than three months ago, on the day after Memorial Day, it was 37 when I woke up. Today it was 40. Where the hell did summer go? On the other hand, this should make my gas and electricity bills a lot more tolerable (at least for a little while). If the temperatures remain above 40, I won't have to turn on the furnace yet. And I am all about saving the money this year.
In anticipation of my trip to Chicago, I listened to Bring it On straight through for the first time in several months on Thursday night. It was kind of weird to listen to. I'm so used to live extended versions of many of those songs that the original album songs seemed almost foreign to me. I was listening to it in the car. I drove my dad downtown Thursday night as he was working at the convention to tear down the stage after McCain's speech. There were so many barriers and blocked off streets, it took me nearly half the album to get out of downtown. Every usual route I use to get out of downtown was blocked. I also saw hundreds of police officers in riot gear walking around the streets. It was surreal. I think the show of force at the convention was way over the top. I find it interesting how willing people are, in the last eight years, to give up so many personal freedoms in the name of "Homeland Security." Just the word "Homeland" irks me. It reminds me of Nazi Germany and the "Fatherland."
On a pleasanter note, I got my ticket in the mail yesterday, now I need to just purchase my train tickets and I'll be set for the Gomez concert!
As an experiment, I watched a little football over the weekend. The guys at work are all huge football fans (in addition to baseball), and I agreed to give it a try (in exchange for one guy listening to some Gomez music). Monday night was the season opener for the Vikings and the Packers (rivals a la the Red Sox and Yankees). After the Red Sox game, I tuned into the football game. It was very tough figuring out what the hell was going on. At least with baseball, I had once (many many moons ago) played the game so I had a general idea of most of the rules. With football, the extent of my knowledge is limited to how many points a touchdown and field goal are worth. You can imagine the confusion watching Monday Night Football was for me, a total newbie. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It's something I could see myself getting into (but not nearly like baseball). The advantage that football has over baseball is just that there's fewer games so it takes up less of your time, relatively. I've watched all but about five Red Sox games this year, and while I enjoy them immensely, it does take up a lot of time. Thank god I'm not into more than one team!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Seid umschlungen, Millionen!
I watched a movie this morning that I had taped yesterday on Showtime. It's called "Copying Beethoven" and stars Ed Harris as Beethoven and Diane Kruger as his copyist Anna Holtz. The scene I embedded above is part of the performance of the 9th symphony and it was one of the most moving scenes on film I have seen in awhile. I got CHILLS watching this. To explain the scene a bit: Anna is in the orchestra conducting for Beethoven because he cannot hear. It is amazing, the entire scene, and I highly recommend you see the whole movie, if given a chance. Ed Harris is electrifying as Beethoven.
Where the chorus comes in and sings the "Ode to Joy" part of the symphony reminded me of how thrilling it was to be part of a choir. When I was in high school, I sang in choir (soprano) and I remember that feeling when voices come together singing some multi-part harmony. There are no words to describe that joy you get being part of a large group singing a song together, the chills that go up your spine as the voices crescendo together. I miss that feeling.
The original plan this week was that I would watch the dogs for two days and I would have the rest of the week to myself. It didn't work that way. I ended up having the dogs every day this week except today. This means that I didn't get a damn thing done. The dogs aren't often at my house, so every time I turned around, they were marking their territory all over my house. This is annoying and smelly. It also means my closets remain unorganized. Maybe I'll get this done during time off I'm taking around Christmas.
Tomorrow is my birthday, I'm turning 31. I'm not doing anything special. Just going to work, coming home, watching the Red Sox game. If I'm lucky, I'll have a good day at work: nice customers who just want to pay their bills and get off the phone. Not much more I can ask for, I guess. I didn't have much of a "birthday party" with my family. Only saw my parents. My older brother spent the day with his family, my younger brother didn't even come upstairs while I was over at my parent's house tonight. My mom made an apple pie. I'm not one for huge celebrations, but it would have been nice to have a small get-together with my immediate family. Oh well. Story of my life, I guess.
I'm watching the show True Blood which premiered on HBO tonight. The southern accents are complete crap, but the show looks kind of interesting.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
live from beautiful downtown st. paul
ok, not really, I've been home for a while now....
Today was like a dream day - utterly bizarre and surreal. My alarm went off at 6 am. I was having a really odd dream when it went off and I dreamt the numbers were a strange Japanese symbol instead of the normal numerals. Instead of just hitting snooze, I turned off my alarm.
An hour later, my phone rang. It was my mom calling to tell me she was on her way over to pick me up to take me downtown. So I basically ran around like a chicken with my head cut off to get ready for work. I had intended to watch some of the news this morning before going to work. I didn't watch any of the RNC Monday night and I had no idea even what had happened locally in regards to the convention.
I ended up downtown around 7:25. I wasn't scheduled to start until 8:30. There were lots of my fellow employees downtown, but not a protester or Republican in sight. It seemed like a normal Tuesday except for the streets around the building I work in being closed off, the fencing along all of the streets and the cops on ever corner. I read the newspaper while I waited to start work. It's amazing to me that the protests are happening here. It just doesn't seem like the sort of thing that Minnesotans would do. I don't like hearing about people taunting and attacking police officers, breaking windows and slashing car tires. I just can't imagine how people can justify ruining other people's property. I mean, I am very much anti-war and want the troops to come home, I just don't think breaking a department store's window or throwing a urine bomb at a cop is the best solution to this problem.
Work was alternately insanely busy or terribly slow. I had mandatory overtime so I was stuck at work until 7. But fortunately, the traffic problems were pretty much non-existent so I was home by 7:40, even after being picked up at 7:20, which was nice. The evening's massive riot happened starting at 6 pm and was completely cleared up by the time I got off work.
A friend of mine called and said she had seen on the news where they had pepper sprayed some people who were just walking down the street, and a few journalists covering the protests have been arrested as well. I suppose it wouldn't be an RNC without some illegal arrests.
The Daily Show is broadcasting from St. Paul, which is awesome. It's the best part of the convention being here, imho. I wish I could have gotten tickets. I wonder if they know that the building across the street from where they're broadcasting from is now owned by the Church of Scientology.
Today was like a dream day - utterly bizarre and surreal. My alarm went off at 6 am. I was having a really odd dream when it went off and I dreamt the numbers were a strange Japanese symbol instead of the normal numerals. Instead of just hitting snooze, I turned off my alarm.
An hour later, my phone rang. It was my mom calling to tell me she was on her way over to pick me up to take me downtown. So I basically ran around like a chicken with my head cut off to get ready for work. I had intended to watch some of the news this morning before going to work. I didn't watch any of the RNC Monday night and I had no idea even what had happened locally in regards to the convention.
I ended up downtown around 7:25. I wasn't scheduled to start until 8:30. There were lots of my fellow employees downtown, but not a protester or Republican in sight. It seemed like a normal Tuesday except for the streets around the building I work in being closed off, the fencing along all of the streets and the cops on ever corner. I read the newspaper while I waited to start work. It's amazing to me that the protests are happening here. It just doesn't seem like the sort of thing that Minnesotans would do. I don't like hearing about people taunting and attacking police officers, breaking windows and slashing car tires. I just can't imagine how people can justify ruining other people's property. I mean, I am very much anti-war and want the troops to come home, I just don't think breaking a department store's window or throwing a urine bomb at a cop is the best solution to this problem.
Work was alternately insanely busy or terribly slow. I had mandatory overtime so I was stuck at work until 7. But fortunately, the traffic problems were pretty much non-existent so I was home by 7:40, even after being picked up at 7:20, which was nice. The evening's massive riot happened starting at 6 pm and was completely cleared up by the time I got off work.
A friend of mine called and said she had seen on the news where they had pepper sprayed some people who were just walking down the street, and a few journalists covering the protests have been arrested as well. I suppose it wouldn't be an RNC without some illegal arrests.
The Daily Show is broadcasting from St. Paul, which is awesome. It's the best part of the convention being here, imho. I wish I could have gotten tickets. I wonder if they know that the building across the street from where they're broadcasting from is now owned by the Church of Scientology.
Monday, September 1, 2008
i should at least TRY to go to bed early, but i never do
It's been a few days since I've posted, but I haven't had much to say. I've been a bit self-occupied of late. That and vegetating in front of the TV have been my past times this entire weekend. Thankfully, I have tomorrow off so maybe I'll get something done.
My older brother took a job working as an usher at the Republican Convention and according to him and my sister-in-law traffic downtown is already just horrendous to deal with, and the convention doesn't officially start until tomorrow. Great. I only have to work one day next week (Tuesday) but I am not looking forward to that. Because it is a day after a holiday, we have overtime scheduled but due to the traffic issues, I will be leaving my home about an hour ahead of when I normally would be. I have a feeling that the Republicans will be still hungover and so traffic will not be an issue whatsoever in the morning. This will mean that I will be at work probably more than an hour ahead of time - probably 7:30 or earlier and I don't have to start until 8:30. Leaving work, however, will probably be a completely different situation. I work until 7, but I doubt I'll be out of downtown until 7:30 or 8 at the earliest. So, this means that I will be away from home a minimum of 13 hours on Tuesday. CHRIST.
Why the hell couldn't they have held the convention in Minneapolis? Or why couldn't my company have just shut down for the week? This is ridiculous.
Thankfully, Bush and Cheney won't be in town at all. It's bad enough to be surrounded by Republicans, I don't really feel like knowing evil incarnate is staying at the hotel right next to my workplace. Makes me wish I had some Obama gear to wear. On the other hand, I don't know how understanding work would be if I got arrested on my way into work. I might just get arrested anyway, no matter what I'm wearing. You know, for breathing or something. They've already raided meeting places for several groups who have made plans to protest the convention.
I just finished the third of four books in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. No, they're not great literature, but they are pretty good pop fiction. Once I really get into one of the books, it's hard to put down. I'm borrowing the books from a girl I work with, but I'm going to have to wait a bit for the fourth book as she's promised them to a few people before me first. An interesting bit of trivia: the author specifically thanks Gomez for their music at the end of the third book for helping to inspire her writing.
The next book on my list of books to tackle is Vanity Fair. I've seen the movie with Reece Witherspoon, so I faintly remember what happens in the story. Of course, the 700+ page book is going to go into more detail than the 2 1/2-hour movie. I almost always prefer the book to the movie, I've just always been that way.
My mom has the entire week off of work and she is planning to paint her living and dining room. This is good news for me because she's so occupied with her stuff that I'm being left alone. The downside to this is that I'm less motivated to do ANYTHING. My grand plan for this week (after Tuesday) is that I'm going to clean out all of my closets and get rid of 75% of the crap I've been holding onto for no good reason.
Wish me luck. :)
My older brother took a job working as an usher at the Republican Convention and according to him and my sister-in-law traffic downtown is already just horrendous to deal with, and the convention doesn't officially start until tomorrow. Great. I only have to work one day next week (Tuesday) but I am not looking forward to that. Because it is a day after a holiday, we have overtime scheduled but due to the traffic issues, I will be leaving my home about an hour ahead of when I normally would be. I have a feeling that the Republicans will be still hungover and so traffic will not be an issue whatsoever in the morning. This will mean that I will be at work probably more than an hour ahead of time - probably 7:30 or earlier and I don't have to start until 8:30. Leaving work, however, will probably be a completely different situation. I work until 7, but I doubt I'll be out of downtown until 7:30 or 8 at the earliest. So, this means that I will be away from home a minimum of 13 hours on Tuesday. CHRIST.
Why the hell couldn't they have held the convention in Minneapolis? Or why couldn't my company have just shut down for the week? This is ridiculous.
Thankfully, Bush and Cheney won't be in town at all. It's bad enough to be surrounded by Republicans, I don't really feel like knowing evil incarnate is staying at the hotel right next to my workplace. Makes me wish I had some Obama gear to wear. On the other hand, I don't know how understanding work would be if I got arrested on my way into work. I might just get arrested anyway, no matter what I'm wearing. You know, for breathing or something. They've already raided meeting places for several groups who have made plans to protest the convention.
I just finished the third of four books in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. No, they're not great literature, but they are pretty good pop fiction. Once I really get into one of the books, it's hard to put down. I'm borrowing the books from a girl I work with, but I'm going to have to wait a bit for the fourth book as she's promised them to a few people before me first. An interesting bit of trivia: the author specifically thanks Gomez for their music at the end of the third book for helping to inspire her writing.
The next book on my list of books to tackle is Vanity Fair. I've seen the movie with Reece Witherspoon, so I faintly remember what happens in the story. Of course, the 700+ page book is going to go into more detail than the 2 1/2-hour movie. I almost always prefer the book to the movie, I've just always been that way.
My mom has the entire week off of work and she is planning to paint her living and dining room. This is good news for me because she's so occupied with her stuff that I'm being left alone. The downside to this is that I'm less motivated to do ANYTHING. My grand plan for this week (after Tuesday) is that I'm going to clean out all of my closets and get rid of 75% of the crap I've been holding onto for no good reason.
Wish me luck. :)
Thursday, August 28, 2008
timeline - a myspace survey
15 years ago today: August 28, 1993
1) How old were you? 15
2) Where did you go to school? Harrison County High School
3) Where did you work? didn't yet
4) Where did you live? Cynthiana, Kentucky
5) Where did you hang out? home, school, wal-mart, the movie theater
6) Did you wear contacts? no
7) Who was your best friend(s)? kristy and krystal
8) How many tattoos did you have? none
9) How many piercings did you have? none
10) Did you drive a car? no
11) Had you been to a real party? if a real party is one with alcohol, then no
12) Had you had your heart broken? no
13) Were you Single/Taken/Married/Divorce? single
14) Any Kids? no
***10 years ago today: Aug 28, 1998
1) How old were you? 20
2) Where did you go to school? Centre College
3) Where did you work? Harrison Memorial Hospital
4) Where did you live? same house as when I was 15
5) Did you wear glasses? yes
6) Where did you hang out? during school year on campus, wal-mart, over summer just worked and slept
7) Who was your best friend(s)? kristy
8) How many tattoos did you have? zero
9) How many piercings? none
10) What car did you drive? a dodge dynasty
11) Had your heart broken? yes, twice
12) Were you Single/Taken? single
13) Any Kids? no
*****5 Years Ago: Aug 28, 2003
1) How old were you? 25
2) What did you do? worked at the phone company
3) Where did you live? Maplewood, MN with my parents
4) Did you wear glasses? yes
5) Who were your closest friends? kristy, Terena, Janie
6) Did you talk to your old friends? not as much as I should have
7) How many piercings did you have? none
8) How many tattoos? none
9) What kind of car did you have? pontiac bonneville (parent's car)
10) Had your heart broken? nothing since the first two mentioned above
11) Single/taken/married/divorced? single
12) Any Children? no
*****Today: Aug 28, 2008
1) How old are you? 30
2) What do you do? work at the phone company
3) Where do you live? my own house in St. Paul
4) Do you wear glasses? yes
5) Who are your closest friends? Kristy, Terena, Amber, Lisa, Ryn, Lizzie, Janie
6) Do you talk to your old friends? more than I have in the past
7) How many piercings do you have? none
8) How many tattoos? none
9) What kind of car do you have? same as before
10) Has your heart been broken? not recently
11) Single/taken/married/divorced? single
12) Any Children? no
1) How old were you? 15
2) Where did you go to school? Harrison County High School
3) Where did you work? didn't yet
4) Where did you live? Cynthiana, Kentucky
5) Where did you hang out? home, school, wal-mart, the movie theater
6) Did you wear contacts? no
7) Who was your best friend(s)? kristy and krystal
8) How many tattoos did you have? none
9) How many piercings did you have? none
10) Did you drive a car? no
11) Had you been to a real party? if a real party is one with alcohol, then no
12) Had you had your heart broken? no
13) Were you Single/Taken/Married/Divorce? single
14) Any Kids? no
***10 years ago today: Aug 28, 1998
1) How old were you? 20
2) Where did you go to school? Centre College
3) Where did you work? Harrison Memorial Hospital
4) Where did you live? same house as when I was 15
5) Did you wear glasses? yes
6) Where did you hang out? during school year on campus, wal-mart, over summer just worked and slept
7) Who was your best friend(s)? kristy
8) How many tattoos did you have? zero
9) How many piercings? none
10) What car did you drive? a dodge dynasty
11) Had your heart broken? yes, twice
12) Were you Single/Taken? single
13) Any Kids? no
*****5 Years Ago: Aug 28, 2003
1) How old were you? 25
2) What did you do? worked at the phone company
3) Where did you live? Maplewood, MN with my parents
4) Did you wear glasses? yes
5) Who were your closest friends? kristy, Terena, Janie
6) Did you talk to your old friends? not as much as I should have
7) How many piercings did you have? none
8) How many tattoos? none
9) What kind of car did you have? pontiac bonneville (parent's car)
10) Had your heart broken? nothing since the first two mentioned above
11) Single/taken/married/divorced? single
12) Any Children? no
*****Today: Aug 28, 2008
1) How old are you? 30
2) What do you do? work at the phone company
3) Where do you live? my own house in St. Paul
4) Do you wear glasses? yes
5) Who are your closest friends? Kristy, Terena, Amber, Lisa, Ryn, Lizzie, Janie
6) Do you talk to your old friends? more than I have in the past
7) How many piercings do you have? none
8) How many tattoos? none
9) What kind of car do you have? same as before
10) Has your heart been broken? not recently
11) Single/taken/married/divorced? single
12) Any Children? no
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
get miles away
It's official. I am going to Chicago to see Gomez play October 2. I have purchased my ticket through Ticketmaster and publicly acknowledged my intention to go so unless I am dead or severely maimed in the next 30 odd days, I will be in the audience at the Vic Theater to see the most amazing band EVER play their first album in its entirety. There's quite a number of people from the Gomez forum who are all going to be there, and there's still a month before the show. I hope others will decide to come as well. I'm looking forward to meeting many of these people with whom I have spent countless hours over the past year.
Tonight I just realized that this likely means Gomez will open the show with the song "Get Miles" (the first track off of the album "Bring It On") which will be AMAZING. I know I will completely lose my shit when that song starts.
I'm feeling pretty excited about it, especially since I might meet up in Chicago with my best friend Kristy on Friday, the day after the show. We're going to talk details this weekend and it will be so nice to see her. We haven't seen each other in over three years. If she can't come, then maybe some friends from Centre will be convinced to come instead. If neither scenario works out, I'll probably come home Friday afternoon. If someone comes to meet me in Chicago, then I'll come home Saturday and have Sunday to recover. I have no idea how I will be able to get through the week leading up to the concert. I will be so freaked out the sooner the date of the trip comes! But in a good way.
I have to comment on the past two Red Sox games....they have been playing the Yankees and there's one more game to the series. The games have been very exciting, with some amazing plays from both teams. I think the umpires behind home plate have been a bit off on some of their calls (which show up on the replays they show on tv). I don't know if this is necessarily a bias, but the calls have mostly been off in favor of Boston. Despite being a die-hard Boston fan, I don't want my team to win on a technicality. I prefer the wins (and losses) to be fair and square.
I'm looking forward to the use of instant replay starting tomorrow. I wonder how it will change baseball. Tomorrow's game is a day game, which annoys me because I have to work. If I'm lucky and it's slow at work, I can probably follow the game online, much to the chagrin of the guys at work. I wish, for their sake, that I could get as excited about the Twins, but it's just NOT the same for me. I don't dislike the Twins, I don't want them to lose or anything. I just have no real desire to learn the names, study the stats, etc of the Twins players like I do the Red Sox players. Maybe as I immerse myself more into professional baseball (I've even watched SportsCenter last week once!), I'll get to know the other teams and their players more. Maybe I'll even watch two other teams play a game.
You never know, it could happen.
There's an amazing rain storm coming through the Twin Cities right now. Thunder and lightening crashing all around, rain pouring down. Perfect weather to stay in bed. I should probably get there now, seeing as how I don't get to stay in bed tomorrow morning.
I can't believe I'm going to be in the same ROOM (albeit a very large room) as Gomez in a little over a month!!!!!!!!
Tonight I just realized that this likely means Gomez will open the show with the song "Get Miles" (the first track off of the album "Bring It On") which will be AMAZING. I know I will completely lose my shit when that song starts.
I'm feeling pretty excited about it, especially since I might meet up in Chicago with my best friend Kristy on Friday, the day after the show. We're going to talk details this weekend and it will be so nice to see her. We haven't seen each other in over three years. If she can't come, then maybe some friends from Centre will be convinced to come instead. If neither scenario works out, I'll probably come home Friday afternoon. If someone comes to meet me in Chicago, then I'll come home Saturday and have Sunday to recover. I have no idea how I will be able to get through the week leading up to the concert. I will be so freaked out the sooner the date of the trip comes! But in a good way.
I have to comment on the past two Red Sox games....they have been playing the Yankees and there's one more game to the series. The games have been very exciting, with some amazing plays from both teams. I think the umpires behind home plate have been a bit off on some of their calls (which show up on the replays they show on tv). I don't know if this is necessarily a bias, but the calls have mostly been off in favor of Boston. Despite being a die-hard Boston fan, I don't want my team to win on a technicality. I prefer the wins (and losses) to be fair and square.
I'm looking forward to the use of instant replay starting tomorrow. I wonder how it will change baseball. Tomorrow's game is a day game, which annoys me because I have to work. If I'm lucky and it's slow at work, I can probably follow the game online, much to the chagrin of the guys at work. I wish, for their sake, that I could get as excited about the Twins, but it's just NOT the same for me. I don't dislike the Twins, I don't want them to lose or anything. I just have no real desire to learn the names, study the stats, etc of the Twins players like I do the Red Sox players. Maybe as I immerse myself more into professional baseball (I've even watched SportsCenter last week once!), I'll get to know the other teams and their players more. Maybe I'll even watch two other teams play a game.
You never know, it could happen.
There's an amazing rain storm coming through the Twin Cities right now. Thunder and lightening crashing all around, rain pouring down. Perfect weather to stay in bed. I should probably get there now, seeing as how I don't get to stay in bed tomorrow morning.
I can't believe I'm going to be in the same ROOM (albeit a very large room) as Gomez in a little over a month!!!!!!!!
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