Friday, May 29

New Shoes!

Yesterday I ran for 40 mnutes on the treadmill and quickly discovered I was in desperate need for a new pair of running shoes. I had been wearing the pair I bought right after the marathon so they were worn and they were also a cheaper pair to begin with so the support was terrible. When I got home last night I had two blisters on the underside of both of my feet that are about the size of a half dollar. Luckily they didn't rip but I did have fun sticking a pin in to drain them. I swear the water shot a good 3 feet in the air. Impressive, no?

In any case today at lunch I did something I thought I would never do. I bought a pink pair of running shoes:
Now in general I do not like the color pink. I own a few pink things but I mostly avoid the color. I have always been annoyed that shoe manufacturers think that all women want to wear pink shoes and now I have given them money to support this theory *sigh*. They were a higher quality shoe though, had great support and were 30 bucks off so I decided to get over my snobbishness and just accept that I am a girl and sometimes girls wear pink. They are Asics afterall and nothing beats an Asic when it comes to running shoes. That is the one and only style of shoe I will always choose comfort and function over asthetics. Everything else needs to be cute, bottom line:)

Thursday, May 28

Just when I thought the desire to run in me was dead and gone, I have started feeling the itch to run again. My desire to run follows a predictable pattern of training for a race and being really into running, to continuing to run for a short time after the race, to falling off the wagon and not running for a long period of time, to wanting to run again and training for another race. Except for the past few days I haven't run in months, happily. I just wanted nothing to do with it, plus my foot had been hurting me.

Out of nowhere two days ago I suddenly wanted to jump on the treadmill like old times and although I didn't run for a long period of time, I felt good and my foot didn't hurt after. This was promising so I am going to run a little more for cardio and back off the weights just a bit. I don't want to get any more muscular and could probably stand to take it down a notch anyway.

The Trail of Two Cities is on November 8th and I wouldn't neccesarily have to run a full but knowing me if I run at all it will be a full. It would be kind of cool to run this every year starting with its inagural year and it would be a good way to break up the monotony of working out by dedicating my summers and falls to running and weight training the rest of the year. Besides I am still a little bitterly disappointed in myself for my performance last year and it would be hard to just let that go without a fight.

I haven't signed up yet but I can feel it coming...

House Update

After a long arduous wait, I got word yesterday that the seller agreed to my compromise and I indeed did buy a house. This pushes escrow back about 2 weeks because the house needs to be tented for termites and the seller needs to do the agreed upon repair work in the bathroom still. I am currently trying to fanangle with my landlord to get 2 extra weeks in my apartment but if that doesn't work I will have to be out Sunday. Two weeks at my parents house is much more manageable than an indefinite period of time. Besides it's not like it would be tough to lounge around the pool all day:)

I still don't think I will truly believe that I am a homeowner until I get those keys in my hand. There is still a chance of something going wrong in the next 2 weeks, albeit a slight chance, but I won't be completely at ease until that happens. I am starting to let myself get excited again though:)

If a dog can do squats, so can you!


His form isnt bad and he is definitely on cue. I am impressed.

Wednesday, May 27

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting...

Although I was promised a response by last Thursday, then Friday, then this morning, I am still waiting to hear what they decide to do about the house. I have found out more about the situation, the two daughters of the elderly woman who was living there are both on board with the compromise I proposed in which we would split the difference of the appraisal, however the mother is still holding off in making a decision.

I don't know if she is just being stubborn or sentimental or what exactly is holding her up but she is what is preventing this from going forward right now. Even if they get her to agree to the compromise though, they still need to tent the house for termites and replace damaged tile in the bathroom and finalize the paperwork before I can move in. I am going to call my landlord to see if there was any way possible for me to stay for 2 additional weeks so I don't have to move twice, but I don't know if that will work out.

I have accepted that I may have to walk away from the house and although I would be disappointed it wouldn't be the end of the world, just possibly my social life for awhile. Two tears in a bucket, mother fuck it:)

Tuesday, May 26

I have been trying very hard lately to be positive, but this weekend was a little rough for me. Still having not heard anything about the sitution with the house I attempted to take the advice of my parents to just not worry about it, but when your place is in disaray with boxes and crap everywhere and you have the fear or moving in with your parents looming over your head, it is damn near impossible not to worry about it. It is just frustrating to just have to sit and wait for a decision that can decide whether I am going to be moving into a house or moving in with my parents for an indefinite amount of time. I am fortunate to have parents that are supportive and I can rely on when I get into jams like this though but working and living with my parents will not work long for any of us. So I am still waiting and still hopeful.

In other news, one point of distraction has been this cold that does not want to die. I feel fine but can't seem to shake the symptoms. The good news though is that I think I have discovered the newest diet breakthrough thanks to being sick. I haven't been able to taste food in a good 5 days and when I can't taste I really don't have a great desire to eat. Everything tastes the same and it all tastes like nothing so cravings virtually vanish. I had yummy, delicious pizza and fried appetizers in front of me on Saturday and I couldn't care less. So I need to invent a pill that blocks your taste buds from working, hire a token fat celebrity who used to be thin to give testimonials and in no time at all I will be rolling in the dough. I think I would have it work so that the pill diminished taste for a 12 hour period that way if you had a special event or wanted to just taste food on the weekends, you had that option. Obesity problem solved and I am rich and don't have to move in with my parents. Things are looking up!

Thursday, May 21

I am not in a very good mood. I have a terrible cough that makes me sound like a dying seal and I get into these coughing fits where I start dry heaving from coughing so hard. Due to all of the coughing my throat feels like someone took a meat grinder to it and swallowing is painful.

Last night I tried to sleep and despite the 3 sleeping pills I took I couldnt go 15 minutes without coughing so I set myself up on the couch to watch Golden Girls and hopefully doze off and when I had just gotten to sleep at around 3 am, my neighbors come home drunk and see the light to the tv in my living room and think I am up and presumably drunk too and start banging on the door and yelling my name from the stairs. I was not in the mood to socialize so I ignored it and didn't get back to sleep until about 4.

So I didn't go to work this morning until 10:30 and the only reason I am here at all is because we have a really big bid today so they need me here. I have no problem being here, I didnt want to sit on the couch any longer, but I feel like I am infecting everyone and everyone seems to think so too. Thats one of the tough things about working in a small business, sometimes there is just no one to take your place so you just have to be there.

I have also not heard back from my realtor about the appraisal problem which means the sellers havent decided anything yet. This does not sit well with me. I would think if they were wanting to just sell the house and get it done, they would have come back with something by now. The delay makes me think they are weighing their options, which makes me nervous. Escrow closes in 7 days and in those 7 days I can get either really good news or really bad news and the only thing I can do is hope for the best.

This hasn't been my favorite week thus far. Good thing the weekend is coming up. Bad things never happen on weekends:)

Tuesday, May 19

My Crash Course in Real Estate

I just found out that the appraisal on my house came in $11,000 lower than our agreed upon sale price. I wasn't quite sure what that meant but my initial thought that it meant I would get to pay less was off the mark.

My understanding is the bank will only loan me the amount the house is appraised for so I have to make up the difference in cash or negotiate with the seller to meet them in the middle so I would only have to make up half that amount or whatever amount we decide on. We could also try to get the appraiser to bump up his appraisal and since he didn't use the comps my real estate agent gave him, it is possible to get him to bump up his appraisal at least a little.

Either way I have to wait and see what the seller wants to do. They could also negotiate with the other buyer if they are still around and still interested and see what they can get from them. That's not likely to happen since we are just 9 days away from the close of escrow, but if it does I am screwed and have no where to live and have to move in with mom and dad. I am terrified of that outcome so hopefully that doesn't come to pass. It could also work out for the best and I will have a lower mortage payment, but I will still have to put in more cash up front and increase my down payment with help from my parents.

I really want this house and I will be upset if something happens and I don't get it or have to walk away. I will probably be more upset that I will be homeless though, that would be REALLY horrible. I guess things were just going too smoothly so I should have expected something like this. Now I just have to wait and see what the Owner wants to do and for me, the waiting is always the worst part. I like to know one way or the other so I can decide what I have to do to move on. I probably won't hear back for the next 48-72 hours though, so I will probably be a little on edge for a few days.
Once again a favorite movie of mine from childhood just doesn't deliver when I am an adult. This time it is the Disney movie "The Fox and The Hound". It came out when I was 1, and I distinctly remember watching it when I was a child and thinking it was super great. What wasn't to love? There was a baby fox (Todd) and a baby hound (Cooper) who against all odds become best friends, forever.

They went their separate ways for awhile, Cooper learns to hunt and Todd moves to the forest and gets a girlfriend and then their naturally adversarial relationship rears its ugly head. Coopers master starts hunting Todd and his foxy lady friend, sets really nasty traps, smokes them out of their home and starts chasing them through the forest with Cooper tracking them. The turning point was when a bear shows up and starts fighting Cooper and even though this would be the perfect opportunity for Cooper to escape, he goes back to help out his friend, awww. Then later on when they have Cooper cornered and with shot gun drawn, Cooper returns the favor and stands in front of Todd so his master won't shoot him, double awww.

The moral of the story, you shouldn't try to kill your best friend err friendship conquers all err hunting animals is bad? They leave it open so you can apply your own moral.

After talking about this movie Saturday night with Mike, I found it on On Demand the next day so I had it on while I packed and was soon quite bored. The cute part is in the beginning when they are little tykes because their voices are just so damn adorable. Don't believe me? Watch this:


It may not have lived up to my childhood expectations but the nostalgia was nice.

Monday, May 18

Guess what fell out of my purse while I was getting coffee this morning:

Yup, it fell right out of my purse and onto the counter and I didn't see it until I was getting my change so it sat on the counter a good 30 seconds in plain sight of all of the other customers before I noticed it and shoved it back into my purse. I contemplated offering an explanation of how they were handing them out at a wine tasting but felt I would be disbelieved anyway so in my pre-coffee state of sleepy delerium I thought I would be funny and said to the line of people, "safety first!" while I sort of waved it in my hand.

I thought I would at least get a chuckle or smirk out of someone but I got nothing but dissaproving looks and blank stares so I got out of there as quickly as I possibly could. Damn judgemental people without a sense of humor!

Good times.

Thursday, May 14

Cute Baby


I posted a scary picture of Reagan earlier in the week so I thought I would post a pic of her in all her adorablness as well.

Tuesday, May 12

I haven't been sleeping well lately. I will crash out really hard for a few hours and then wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble going back to sleep. Allergies are part of the problem because I can't breathe very well at night and wake up with a stuffed up nose and dry throat, but I think stress must have something to do with it too. I have a lot going on and a lot on my mind and typically for me I can't seem to stop myself from thinking about it.

I have absolutely no feelings of regret whatsoever when it comes to buying my house (it still feels weird to say I bought a house) but I also want to get in there and get some things done and I feel like I am in a holding pattern. I really look forward to having people over and I want things to look just so before that happens so I have A LOT of work to do. I have been watching a lot of HGTV to get myself ready;)

I also had a hard time sleeping last night because I suffered a red ant attack that left me very itchy. I had gone out to my truck last night to get something and as I am leaning into it I notice some stinging in my foot that I just ignored at first but then it was all over my feet and I look down and I have red ants crawling all over me. So I do the red ant dance and smack them off of me, in my pj's nonetheless, and then step on a sticker that causes me to say "god fucking damnit" fairly loudly and unbeknownst to me there was a small child walking by with her parents. Oops. It really hurt though! Anyway my feet were very itchy last night and I couldn't sleep.

Finally all this restless sleeping caused me to have my recurring stress dream. Although the circumstances are always a little different each time I have it, the part that remains constant is I am enrolled in a math class that I forget about until halfway through the semester or if I am really stressed out I forget about it until the final. When I remember I am taking this class I get really agitated because I am bad at math in the first place (you know, being a woman and all) and I know I won't be able to catch up and I will fail the class and usually I can't even remember where the class is. I am getting stressed out just thinking about it right now. I know, nerd alert, because failing a class would be the end of the world but for some reason it feels tantamount to a death sentence in my dream. I am always enormously relieved when I wake up.

So that’s what’s going on with me. I had been posting a lot of pictures lately so I wanted to change it up.

Monday, May 11

As if I didn't like Tracy Anderson enough when she spouts off about how women should never lift more than 3 pound weights, she is back at it again expounding upon the extensive knowledge she has about fitness, this time going after runners because running “gives you an ugly and muscular butt and thighs" as well a slew of other ridiculous claims that directly contradict proven science.

First she makes this statement:

“They go to the gym one day, and running another – you’re never going to get results that way”.
Really? So changing up your routine is bad? Running and lifting on different days will not produce results but I will be a fatty if I run and lift? Ok, then what does?

"Work on your butt and abs for 30 minutes a day and you’ll see the difference – but you have to be committed and you have to apply it"
Oooh so I should do the same thing over and over and I will keep improving my appearance. So that whole training thing I read about where fat is lost throughout the body in a pattern dependent upon genetics, sex (hormones), and age is wrong? Even though overall body fat must be reduced to lose fat in any particular area and sit-ups, crunches, leg-hip raises, leg raises, hip adduction, hip abduction, etc. will only exercise the muscles under the fat, it will still work right?

So high reps, low weights (if any) will give me a perfect body. I like it, I don't have to pick up things that weigh more than a 3 hole punch and I am going to look just like Gwyeneth Paltrow! I will just ignore the research that shows that less fat is burned when light weight is used with high repetitions and that increased muscle mass will allow you to burn significantly more calories. Oh and I will also ignore the fact that women typically don't gain size from strength training, because compared to men, women have 10 to 30 times less of the hormones that cause muscle hypertrophy. Silly science, this is much more exciting.

All hail the miracle worker that is Tracy Anderson though because she can actually make extra skin disappear too! She says this about one of her clients who had weight loss surgery (but offers no pictures):

“She had drapes and drapes of skin hanging everywhere and she could hardly walk.
I got her skin back onto her muscles with a very slow program based around nine exercises a day and in eight months she was dancing.”
She got her skin back into her muscles? WTF does that even mean??

And just in case you didn't know, the world looks at Americans as having ideal bodies:
“people in America told me I wouldn’t be able to get people in the UK to work-out – yet everyone wants the American body now.”
Where exactly is she hanging out in America to come to that conclusion?

But then she attacks runners and that really annoyed me.
“Running’s horrible for your joints. It gives you an ugly and muscular butt and thighs like a man"


Quick, get off the treadmill before you look like Arnold!

Not only is she wrong about running giving you manly thighs and a manly ass, she is being quite antiquated in her view of what is appealing in a woman physically. To some people women who have muscle is not such a horrible thing.

In her own words about what a woman should look like:
“You don’t have to be super-skinny to be sexy. You don’t have to be muscular and defined. You can be curvy – but you don’t want cellulite, you don’t want to be dumpy. There’s curvy and there’s sloppy".
God forbid a woman have a little cellulite, even though it is hereditary and effects women of all shapes, sizes and fitness levels and is typically impossible to get rid of in its entirety as long as you aren’t muscular! Oh wait, she makes excess skin disappear so she can probably do the same for cellulite.
Finally tell me Tracy, can I look like Madonna if I do what you say?

“Every woman absolutely can look like Madonna”

Here is the bottom line. This woman gets paid a lot of money to be a moron and because she trains celebrities people think she knows what she is talking about when she clearly does not thus perpetuating myths about exercise and fitness. To tell a woman that she can look like Madonna (absolutely!) is complete bullshit. She has a lot more advantages than other individuals but even if you take a woman who has the same luxuries that are afforded to Madonna and do the same exact workout, people have these pesky genetic differences that significantly shape the way their body looks. I will never look like Gwyeneth Paltrow because she has a stick thin body type and I do not. No amount of dancing or leg lifts will make me look like her, just like she could never get an ass that sticks out as much as mine does, it is not physically possible because of genetics.

Even though she constantly sites the extensive research she has done, she has never been formally educated or has done any real academic research of any kind. I would looove to hear an actual scientist in this field debate the merits of her program with her but you never will because she will be made a fool and besides she only needs celebrities to back her up to be successful. Certainly being on Oprah's show didn't hurt. Overall, Tracy is full of misinformation and contradictions that are quite appalling.

But if think the Tracy Anderson method is the dream that she tries to convince people of, you wouldn’t mind slapping down a few bucks to go to her gym that exclusively uses her methods. With an initiation fee of $787.50 for six months or $1,500 for a year and monthly membership fees of $900 a month, she clearly has her clients best interests in mind.

[Source of quotes]

Creepy Baby Picture

Annie and Reagan came over last weekend to take a peak at my house and I snapped this pic of Reagan and it came out a little bit creepy:

Watch out for faceless babies crawling out of my fireplace and attacking you though, just in case.

Weekend Wrap Up

I have to say it was a pretty good weekend for me. On Saturday I went on a canoe trip down the San Joaquin River that turned about to be a lot of fun. I went with my parents and two other couples that are friends of the family and one of their sons. We started at Lost Lake and canoed for about 5 hours until we got to just before Woodward Park.

The highlight of the trip was definitely my parents capsizing within the first 10 minutes of us being in the canoes. The water was really cold too (45 degrees) which was an added bonus. The second best part was when my mom tried to get me with a water gun from the shore and ended up falling and completely soaking herself yet again. And then one of the other old folks also took a tumble in after teasing my parents mercilessly for falling in. I managed to stay above water and kept all the teasing to myself until after I got out of the canoe because I didn't want to experience any retribution karmic or otherwise.

It was a beautiful trip though, the weather was great and the river was really gorgeous. I really wasn't aware that anything like that existed so closely to the city. Besides the splashing of capsized canoers and the bickering of old married couples, it was really peaceful and something I would do again in a heartbeat.

Other than that since we celebrated Mother's Day Saturday, yesterday was spent doing more packing. I had the best of intentions to pack a little something every night but suprise suprise, that hasn't exactly happened. Just like in school when I would start the 15 page research paper the weekend before it was due even though I planned on writing a page every week. Oh well, it will get done, I work best under pressure anyway.

And just a reminder, pretty please try to keep Saturday, May 30th open to help me move. There will be beer. Lots and lots of ice cold beer.

"This is what a retarded chicken looks like"


I mentioned this blog this weekend, Look At This Fucking Hipster, and it is probably my new favorite site next to Fuck You Penguin (btw, Fuck You Penguin has a book coming out, which would be great next to toilets for those of you who don't know when you are ready to poop and like to sit there for 20 minutes waiting). Anyway you send in photos of hipsters, but the captions are the best part so if you look at the pics be sure to read the captions as well.

I could definitely see some of our own hipsters around Tower showing up on this site mostly because I will be sending pictures of them in.

Thursday, May 7

Mother's Day is Sunday and if you don't have any ideas of what to get your mom, you might want to try one of these cakes brought to you by Cake Wrecks:

"So rich. So thick. And still just as sweet!"


Want to win some money that doesn't involve dead babies (and if you don't know what I am talking about you probably don't want to ask)? If you are interested in winning 500 bucks AND a years supply of Mrs. Butterworths, then try to guess Mrs. Butterworths first name! This is a real contest. They want you to come up with a name and then provide them with a reason why that is the best name. I think if we put our collective creative minds together we may come up with a winner or at least something a lot funnier than the winner. I wonder how much a years supply of Mrs. Butterworth's is anyway?

BTW Mrs. Butterworth's slogan is the title of this post.

Not cool, but really funny. Had someone left me a note like that either time someone hit my truck I would have been slightly less angry.

FAIL Blog

Wednesday, May 6

You Know You Work in an Old Office When...


This is the big joke of the day that has the entire office rolling around in hysterics. It reads: Caution 60 Year Old Senior Moment.

Jealous of my job?? Yeah, didn't think so.

I Got My First Paying Client!

Well sort of. It was more of a gift but it was still for providing strength training advice and routines so I am counting it. There is a girl at the gym who approached me a few months ago and asked if I used a particular strength training program and asked what exactly I did. I told her that I make up my own routines but I get the lifts/exercises from a variety of different sources and told her to give me her email address and I would send her some links. Since I change my routine every month I ended up sending her all of those as well as the ab programs I do. I was super flattered that she would even ask me for advice in the first place.

A week or so ago I saw her in the locker room and we started chatting and she said she had a friend that was asking her what she was doing because she had lost some weight, put on muscle and was looking super fantastic. She told her that a girl at her gym had been sending her strength training routines. I guess her friend is using diet pills right now and only does cardio but she seemed intrigued by the idea of lifting weights because of the results she was seeing.


Anyway yesterday she comes up to me and hands me a $25 Target gift card for helping her and sending her all of my stuff, how nice is that?? It is a bit of a boost to me that I sorta know what I am doing and it makes me really happy to know I helped introduce a woman to strength training and that she is clearly benefiting from it. She is doing all of the work and her motivation and consistency is what is providing her results though and she deserves all of the credit for that. But it still feels good to look over and see someone doing the strength routine that I made up.

I will do my best to change the minds of women one at a time that they should be lifting weights!

Tuesday, May 5

The Backless Shirt Project

I don't know if anyone else has ever embarked on their own backless shirt mission but let me tell you, not fun. Ever since I got my tattoo last year I have been looking for top and/or dresses that are backless and for a full year I have found nothing. The problem is they are entirely too slutty or just not very cute not to mention that there aren't many of them out there in the first place.
For example, this little ditty from Urban Outfitters that manages to be both slutty and ugly:

I don't see how your ass crack isn't showing the entire time. Can you even wear panties with this?

Then there is this top from some store called Hot Flash that has a misleading name since it does not appear to cater to women going through menopause but seems to target the girls that go to Bobby Salazars on a Saturday night:

I found this in ebay and I am not sure if it is supposed to be a dress or a top but either way my ass is not fitting into this:


But today I found a decent backless top that I hope will work:

The front of this top is just a simple scoop neck but the issue is that the shirt is white and looks fairly see through which means I need to wear a bra with it unless I plan on entering a wet tshirt contest. So whats a girl to do? Buy this somewhat scary looking backless bra:

I am not entirely sure how it is supposed to stay attached to you but I am having visions of it popping off at inoppertune times, like in public, like at Landmark.

Hopefully when they arrive it will all work out and everything will fit. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

NBC is previewing some of its fall line up and a new show featuring Joel Mchale of The Soup fame is on it. Now I have a major crush on Joel McHale so naturally I was intrigued by a new show featuring him, but after watching this preview I have mixed feelings.
It is about a lawyer who goes back to community college to get a legitimate degree and all the hijinx that ensues while he chases after the hot chick, makes friends with a study group and betters himself. I am interested enough to watch at least the first episode, but I happy Joel McHale is keeping The Soup gig, because he is perfection in that role.

Monday, May 4

FOR RENT

If you or anyone that you know is looking for a cute apartment with lots of charm, is in a great location - walking distance from numerous shops resturants and bars, my apartment is officially on the market. It is two bedrooms, 1 bath, small kitchen and laundry area (you provide your own machinces) and a small office with very cool neighbors. My landlord will be making some minor rennovations but will ask between $600-$700 for it.
Please spread the word around, he is being very kind to not penalize me for getting out of my lease early and therefore I would like to find someone to rent it out before I leave. It will be available to rent probably around the beginning of June to mid June.
Let me know!

This is Why I Don't Like Yoga People



I find that in general, I do not get yoga people. Now there are people who do yoga and there are yoga people. You know the ones I am talking about who walk around with sanctimonious smiles and pretend that they’re on their way to some sort of spiritual superiority that a non yoga person will ever find. Oooh I can do a backbend with a confused dog on my stomach. WTF? This is just ridiculous and obviously by look on the dogs face, he agrees. Naturally this type of yoga has a cutsey name too, Doga.

On second thought maybe the problem I have with this is a problem with dog people. I guess Doga is where over the top dog people and yoga people meet to annoy the crap out of me.

I Love Lamp

I got new lamps!

I bought two of these at Home Goods for more than 50% off (one has a crack on the base)and I think they are fantastic. I am going to put them on either side of my bed and I think they will really pop wih the gray walls.
I have now almost completely mentally decorated my house and knowing what you are going to do is half the battle. The other half will occur with me, 30 gallons of paint and a roller brush. That is when the real fun will begin.

Even Walks Can Be Interesting When People Yell At You

Yesterday I started feeling antsy and needed to get out of the apartment. I wanted to get in a little physical activity but it was my day off from the gym and I didn't want to work out hard anyway so I decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood. Walking always destresses me and helps me to clear my mind when I have a lot on my plate and sitting in an apartment with boxes everywhere and thinking about all that I have to do, I was starting to feel a little anxious. So off I went with my ipod on in my own little world until I got to about Wishon and one of those little side streets near Fresno City.

I looked ahead and saw a somewhat disheveled man standing near the bus stop on my side of the street. Now normally if I feel at all uneasy I will cross the street to avoid people, but I figured this guy was just waiting for the bus. Unfortunately my inside voice should have been paying closer attention because my instinct was definitely wrong about this guy. I blame the Bob Marley that I was listening to at the time lulling me into a false sense of security. If I had been listening to Disturbed or something I would have totally seen this coming.

As soon as he spotted me he started walking towards me. I turned down my ipod so I could hear him if he said something, which of course he did. With a scowl on his face he demanded "where is Cedar and Belmont". Here is the thing with me, I do not like people who are impolite and typically react negatively to that. You are asking me for help, there is no need to be a dick and not ask simply say "excuse me do you know where cedar and Belmont is?". Obviously he has bigger issues though and being polite was not a priority but instead of ignoring him or being a dick back I opted to ignore the rudeness and try to help. Unfortunately I am incredibly bad with street names. I know how to go places mostly because of landmarks and if I am telling someone how to get somewhere instead of saying turn left at Maple I will say turn left at the 3rd street, there will be a Carls Jr on your right and a Walgreens on your left. I am a visual person.

In any case I knew where Cedar was but was initially a little fuzzy on the direction of Belmont. Finally I said well Cedar is this way and Belmont is that way so Cedar and Belmont would be that direction and I pointed South East. I am not sure what exactly he was looking for but this was apparently not an acceptable answer because he squinted his eyes at me and very harshly goes "oh you don't know, stupid woman". Oh no he di'nt!

He then yells the same question at that woman across the street walking her dog, apparently she was not a stupid woman, that title belonged to me. She turns and looks at him and then turns around and keeps walking. I try to keep walking past him and tell him "sorry but that is as specific as I can be". Part of me wanted to say more but this was a troubled man and my sympathetic side kicked in so I didn't. Ok that and I totally didn't want him to stab me in the back with his shank.

He wasn't quite ready to let it go though and then blamed me for all of his problems because I voted for McCain. Yeah, I am not kidding he said that. I know what you are thinking, there are so many things wrong with that statement, where do you even start? But I didnt-and he didnt-huh?? I was baffled but I figured having any kind of logical discussion was not going to happen so maybe if I just walked away he would stay where he was and leave me alone.

This pretty much worked and he did not follow me but keot yelling insults while I walked away and a few moments later some teenage boys in a car drove by and honked at me while one of them cat called out the window and upon hearing and seeing this he yelled at them "Don't honk at her! She is dumb and doesn't know where Cedar and Belmont is!". Ahh yes, these are the days of my life.

Friday, May 1

I love this weather. Warm but cloudy and possibly rainy. It reminds me of Texas and Indiana and it is a rare treat to have here.

That is all, carry on!