Quick Weekend Recap

The big wedding extravaganza in Pasadena this weekend as my very good friend Melissa married her fiance Dan. I am usually not a big wedding person but I had a really good time at this one, I pretty much only drank champagne for 3 days though so maybe that had something to do with it. In any case Melissa looked stunning, the ceremony was in a beautiful garden setting and everyone had fun. Here are some pictures (by the way I uploaded them in reverse order and didnt feel like changing it so it starts with the bouquet toss):

Bouquet toss that I missed because I went upstairs to get my purse at the wrong time. Kendall looks aggressive but she lost out to the girl in the blue dress.



Kendall and her mom, my mom and I at the reception. Our moms were the second and third people on the dance floor (they apparantly enjoyed cocktail hour).



The happy couple Melissa and Dan right after getting married.



You cant see the setting very well but it was in a really pretty garden with lots of flowers. This is Kendall and I And Melissas sister in law.



Kendall and I posing in our dresses at the hotel.



After the rehersal dinner we hung out in the lobby at the hotel (more drinking).



Melissa and I at the rehersal dinner.

I dont have any good or juicy stories to share, but apparantly there was some drama with my exboyfriend, his girlfriend and I that I wasnt aware of until my friend Allison took an elevator ride up with a couple who were talking about the drama with Chris's ex girlfriend. I thought everything was fine though so who knows.

All in all it was a good weekend and the wedding season has now officially begun, oh yeah.

Really?

Fashion above all else is subjective. We all have our own ideas of what looks good and what we find to be attractive, but every once in awhile I will come across something that baffles me. Steve Madden is one of my favorite shoe designers. I have several pairs of his shoes and frequent the website to see new the new styles that come out. Ok, actually I am on their mailing list and I saw an email from the company with the subject "Cutting Edge Peep Toes". I love me a peep toe so I was looking forward to seeing the new "cutting edge" styles and was disappointed to say the least to find these:






What the hell is that? It looks like the freakish offspring of roller blades and legos. Cutting Edge, really? Who wears these and what do you wear them with?

The description for the last pair reads like this: Get ready to cause a fashion stir with every step you take in these super chic booties. Wear them with a sweet summer dress or a pair of super skinny jeans for a fierce fashion statement.

A sweet summer dress? I don't get it. Steve Madden, these need some work.

My Better is Better

Nike premiered this new commercial for their SPARQ (speed, agility, reaction & quickness) training line during the NCAA basketball tournament. The first time I saw it I was at the gym so I couldn't hear the song, but even without it I love this commercial. The song by the way is "List of Demands" by Saul Williams in case you were wondering.
Nike has always had pretty strong and memorable marketing campaigns. They have done a lot of campaigns with professional athletes but it is the commercials where they focus more on normal people as athletes that I like the best and I feel are most effective. It is a lot easier to relate to the weekend warrior than it is the professional athlete who gets paid millions of dollars to stay in good shape. This ad makes me want to go work out so I can fulfill all of my amateur athletic potentional (seriously, I really do, I am lame). The other commercial I like right now is the mother riding her road bike and her family is following her as she rides. I actually am not sure what the commercial is for (the car maybe??) but I like that they use a woman and a mother as the athlete and role model of the commercial. Bravo.

Weekend Recap & Jaywalking

It was the first really warm weekend and I took advantage of that by going to the Grizzlies game on Friday and playing some golf with Nick and Potter yesterday afternoon. Ed posted a nice recap of the Grizzlies game on his blog so I will not repeat any of that except to say "Hey remember when Kobe Bryant jacked your nachos?". Priceless.

I hadn't swung a golf club since last fall which was painfully obvious yesterday at Hanks Swanks (whatever that place is called). The first tee off involved about 8 or 9 whiffs before I shanked it off to the right. The only real golf highlight for me was one drive that hit the flag and using Nicks Cobra that made an oh so pretty sound when you hit it. It was a good time and I definitely think we should do that more often. The night concluded with Nick and Adam both falling asleep on my couch watching MXC (awww). It was a busy weekend and everyone was a bit tuckered.

We also discussed the origins of the "jaywalking" this weekend and I did a little research and came up with this explanation:

"The complete Oxford English Dictionary traces the word jaywalker back to 1917 and labels it 'originally US'. There is a cross-reference to the word jay, which has a number of slang senses. The relevant one is 'a stupid or dull person, a simpleton. Also (as adjective) dull, unsophisticated; inferior, poor'. This is labelled 'US colloquial', and there is evidence of use from 1900. So persons who stupidly ignored traffic regulations were given (in Boston, it seems) this compact name.

So now we know, and knowing is half the battle.

Blah, Blah, Blah

A Couple of things:

1. I should get my replacement phone today, however since they werent able to tell me if it would be one or two days (meaning Friday or Saturday) I had them deliver it to my apartment and not at work in case it came on Saturday. Naturally fedex tracking says it should arrive today before 3 which means I will not be there to sign for it and I doubt they will leave it without a signature. Therefore I probably wont get it until tomorrow. In the meantime you can get ahold of me using my old work phone. Let me know if you need that number. Also, my SIM card was damaged so I am going to need to get everyones numbers, again.

2. I will be buying a new ipod today. Thats a nice chunk of money I did not need to be spending.

3. Anyone else see the weather report for the weekend? We are making our way up to the 90s, woo hoo!

4. The remnants of the cold/flu/whatever the hell it was that kicked my ass all week is still lingering annoyingly. My nose is drying out so it feels like when you jump in a pool and forget to plug your nose and the water goes up it, all of the time. Everything tastes funky, I couldnt even enjoy peanut m&Ms because they didnt taste right. I haven't had a full nights sleep since Monday night and it is starting to make me crabby. Ok I will stop moaning now.

Porn: It's Not Just For The Sighted Anymore!

Have you ever felt bad that the blind population can't enjoy watching porn like everyone else? Yeah, neither did I, nor was it something that crossed my mind until I heard about Porn For the Blind. Yes indeed you can hear narrated porn clips, not just audio files of porn but someone describing what is going on (in a very monotone voice). Even better is that these are not professionals narrating but the website actually requests people record their own narrations to post on the website. You too could do something good for the blind community and narrate a porn clip for them to enjoy.
Seriously though if porn doesnt offend your senstivie nature, take a listen it is hilarious.

When Zombies Attack

Having a little more energy today I cleaned and did some laundry and got my bridesmaid dress altered and after all of that I needed a nap. I flipped the tv on and put on Dawn of the Dead which I had never seen before (for those who dont know or dont remember its the quintessencial zombie movie).
I really like scary movies and dont get freaked out or have nightmeres but I think the drugs may have been in overdrive because I had a horrible dream, not quite as disturbing as Adam having bored sex with me while Ed watched and blogged about it though.

I dreamt I was walking to Landmark and stopped at the cigar shop across the street to buy congratulations cigars because Brian knocked up some girl and was going to be a dad (I know, that alone makes it a blog worthy dream). While I was in there this zombie guy came in and everyone ran in the back so I followed and the guy in front of me slammed and locked the door so I was stuck in the store with the zombie guy. I was looking around frantically for a way out and when I found an open door I went through it and I was in roller town, except everyone skating was a zombie (it was very Michael Jackson Thrillerish).

I tried to blend in and act dead but they eventually figured it out and when I went through another exit it opened into Landmark and I ran in but it was empty and when I looked outside, all of the dice riff raff were outside playing dice and I tried to get outside but it was locked. I started pounding on the window and the riff raff looked up and Ed asked me to get bar snacks. I am yelling at them that I am being chased by zombies and to open the door but Ed insisted I get bar snacks before he let me out and everyone laughed. Thats about the time I woke up.

Odd to say the least but thanks for the help guys. I will haunt you all if you ever let me die of a zombie attack because I didnt have bar snacks, believe that.

Back Among The Living

After having my ass kicked by the worst cold I have had in awhile, I think I am finally on the road to recovery. I havent eaten much in the past three days nor have been sleeping more than an hour or two at a time but my symptoms are definitely subsiding so now I just need to get a good nights sleep and eat so I can get some energy and I should be back to normal.

I still do not have a working phone though. I couldnt bring myself to drive all of the way to work so I could use a phone to call about getting my phone replaced. I usually skip on insurance and extras like that when I purchase things but thank god I got insurance on my phone. I will have a replacement by Saturday at the earliest so dont forget about me when you are going out this weekend! I want to go too so someone send me an email or stop by and let me know whats going on pretty please. I cant stand to be cooped up in this apartment much longer. I will also need to replace my ipod which is pissing me off. Moral of the story, dont put water bottles in your purse.

Bad Run of Luck

So yesterday and today havent been so great. Yesterday a water bottle spilled in my purse and soaked both my phone and my ipod. Both are now permanately out of commission. Also my grandma went to the hospital yesterday because she was having chest pain. As of last night there was no news, but it sounds like it could have been a heart attack.

So today I woke up with a really bad cough and didnt go into work. I went to get my phone replaced and they told me that since I have insurance I had to call and have them mail it to me, which will take two days. Well I didnt realize it until I got home but I cant call because my phone doesnt work. So I am at home without a phone, I dont know whats going on with my grandma and I am working on hacking up a lung.

Anyway if anyone needs to get ahold of me, online is going to be the only option for a few days at least.

Final Game

The Jayhawks will be taking on Memphis tonight at 7:21 PM for the finals of the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament. Adam has offered up his place to watch the game so I will leave it ho him to set the time of when he wants people over. Also
do we want to order pizza or something or just eat on our own beforehand and bring drinks and snacks?
Also I need everyones 10 dollars so I can pay our winner Annie so if you havent already paid (or made a partial payment) please do that soon.

UPDATE: I forgot the game was in San Antonio so it is actually a 6:20 start time.

Mmmm Blissful Sleep

So I know that I missed a good time last night and some great bands but I was just entirely too tired. I had looked forward to going to sleep the whole day and I even skipped the gym because I was too tired, and thats some serious business for me.

It is my own stupid fault though, I stopped taking my iron supplements because I just got lazy and it caught up to me with a vengence this week. I just do not get enough iron in my diet so I need to get used to the fact that if I continue to exercise as hard as I do, then I need to always take my supplements. So I started popping them again and had red meat two nights in a row for dinner and got a lot of really good uninterupted sleep last night and woke up feeling great, better than I have in a long time. So sorry I missed out, but I really needed to stay home.

Only one more day to the bachellorette party extravaganza! I have to say I am pretty proud of the way Kendall and I have pulled this together. Every detail is planned out including labels I made for the water bottles and a going out mix that Kendall put together that we are going to send home with every girl. If I had enough patience to deal with Bridezillas and/or snotty women I could see myself planning parties like this for a living, it is a lot of fun and I like being creative. Lets be honest though, keeping my mouth shut when some crazy, demanding, hard to please person is yelling at me for not having the right shade of purple would probably be too big of a challenge for me.

Ok thats it. Party on.

Ha!

I just thought about Adam walking around in high heels and socks at Landmark last night. Then I thought about the random group of guys walking around in dresses looking for money because they lost some bet that they said had to do with the March Madness Brackets but I have my suspicions. And now I am thinking about the ever so painfully hilarious ass slapping session at the end of the night. Good times in Tower as always:)

Ed, where are the pictures?

Tattoo Update

When I got back to my truck after the gym yesterday I had a voicemail from Monica. She said that she had been sick and just got back to work last week so she hadnt even started it yet but was planning to in the next few days and she would give me a call when it was done. Although I still think she should have contacted me earlier and I have had to wait entirely too long already, I was satisfied that she at least let me know what was going on (thats all I really wanted in the first place).

I am going to give her another chance because I do think she will do a good job and I liked the initial very rough sketch that she did do...I am starting to get excited again:)

My Brother in Law is One Lucky Bastard

My brother in law Chris is a big fan of the HD tv show Three Sheets (see clip above)hosted by Zane Lamprey. If you havent seen this show, I guarantee you will like it and probably even love it. It is a drinking shows where the host Zane travels around the world and gets drunk, but he is really truly a funny guy. Kendall introduced me to the show awhile ago and I have been a fan ever since.
So Chris is on the email listserv for the show that tells him when a new show will be coming on and whatnot and he got an email awhile back about a contest they were holding. He figured what the hell and entered it. On Monday he got a call saying he was a finalist and last night he found out that he won. His prize, a 3 day all expense paid trip to New York to be in Zane Lampreys Pub Crawl. You can buy tickets to this event for $1,800 but they only allow 50 people to sign up.
If you want to look at the website with the info go here. If you don't have time or interest in looking at it, I will briefly summarize. You stay with this group of people for 3 days and everyday you go on a pub crawl to different bars and pubs that are represntative of their countries of origin and drink and eat with the host of the show. Since Chris won, everything for him and my sister will be paid for - this includes the food an alcohol at all locations. They have games and prizes throughout the weekend too. It hasn't been determined whether or not they will make an entire tv show out of this, but more than likely they will at least show some of it in an upcoming show.
So congrats to them. Lucky bastards indeed.

Quickie

Do you find laughing at people trying to master the english language funny? Of course you do! I found a website (Engrish.com) can be simply defined as the humorous English mistakes that appear in Japanese advertising and product design. It is good stuff.
You can also buy products with some of the slogans they have found. My favorite t-shirts include:

"Got to Hell!! Damn Human!"
"I am the national treasue and I hate noise"
"Don't worry, be sex"
"Elvis is dead, Sinatra is dead and me, I also not so good"
"What kind of word is this? Its kind of crap!"

Please to enjoy!

I Don't Mean To Bitch But....

Ok I am seriously getting perturbed by Monica now. I called yesterday and she wasn't there but was coming it at 4, so I asked if I could leave a message so she could call me so I wouldnt have to take a chance that she would be in the middle of a tattoo if I called back. I was very pleasant when I called and gave the receptionist my name and number and the tattoo I was getting and asked that Monica please give me a call to let me know what the current status with my drawing was. She never called me back. Tomorrow it will have been 3 weeks since she told me she would have it done and I have left her two messages that she hasnt returned.

Artist or not it is unprofessional and inconsiderate to ignore your client. I gave her my $50 deposit that I have a reciept for and she will be getting a lot more of my money when she actually does the tattoo but that apparantly doesnt mean much. I am to the point where I would rather go to someone else who will gee I dont know, communicate with me and let me know whats going on. I dont feel like she cares very much about me or the tattoo that I am getting and it makes me a little uncomfortable. If I had gone with just about anyone else, I would have a peacock on my back by now. It doesn't look like I would get my $50 deposit back because they have a non refundable deposit clause, but at least I could be comfortable with the person who is going to be permanately inking my skin. I am giving her a few more days and then I am done.

In other news the bachelorette party planning is going well. There is even a possibility that we might be taking a trip into Tower Saturday night. So if you see a big yellow stretch limo taxi with 13 drunk girls getting out of it, be afraid, be very afraid.

Someone Has a Case of the Mondays (Hint: Her name starts with a "K")

I woke up with bad alleries today. The sneezing, the stuffy nose, itchy eyes, the cloudy head, all the classic symptoms are present and accounted for. It could be worse but I dont like to take allergy pills because they always make me sleepy and/or makes my nose uncomfortably dry and boogerific. It can be a tough call but right now I am going the non-medicated route.

I also realized today that I am one of those people who needs caffeine in the morning or I am grumpy. I am not sure when the change from "coffee drinks are a nice occasional morning treat" to "I think it is in everyones best interest not to talk to me until I have had caffeine in some form or another" officially occured but I fear I have gone to the dark side. The dark side of coffee deliciousness where energy is plentiful and people are a lot less annoying. Does this mean I am an adult or an addict?

Basketball Update

Here are the latest and greatest in rankings:

Annie - 40
Ed - 38
McNally - 37
Kasey - 35
Katie - 33
Kendall - 33
Mike - 32
Nick - 31

Games continue today. And here are our winning picks per Eds request:

Nick: Kansas over Tennesse, Xavier over Kansas, Kansas over Xavier
Mike: UCLA over Memphis, Georgetown over UNC, UCLA over Georgetown
Kendall: UNC over Kansas, Stanford over UCLA, Stanford over UNC
Katie: UCLA over Stanford, UNC over Kansas, UCLA over UNC
Kasey: UNC over Kansas, UCLA over Texas, UCLA over Kansas
McNally: UNC over Kansas, UCLA over Texas, UCLA over Kansas
Ed: UCLA over Stanford, UNC over Kansas, UCLA over UNC
Annie: UNC over Georgetown, UCLA over Texas, UCLA over UNC

Belly, Bachelorettes and Basketball

I haven't updated or even looked to see who won the 3rd round of games yesterday because I had a mild case of food poisoning yesterday (shrimp tacos) and the toilet was my friend for awhile. At least I wont have to do any sit ups for a few days after the workout my stomach got.
Then there was bachelorette party madness after finding out the bride thinks that I do not care about planning it and that I am not happy enough for her that she is getting married because apparantly I am bitter that I am single. I can't even begin to tell you how much that pissed me off. I have already put in a ton of work in planning this party for her that she doesn't know about because she shouldnt be involved in it at all. She needs to trust Kendall and I, show up and have fun. The party is going to be awesome and she just needs to chill the fuck out.
I know she is really stressed because of the wedding and her job right now so I tried not to be too offended by her crazy talk and everything did get worked out but wow that was really offensive. She needs to be less crazy and I need to be more super excited about everything having to do with the wedding and that should make everyone satisfied.
So I will get to some March Madness updates and Ed's request later today. Right now I am kind of backed up at work and dealing with bridezillas.

LeBron James-Gisele Bundchen-Vogue-cover

Recently (I believe it was the April issue), LeBron James and Gisele Bundchen were the cover models for Vogue magazine. I remember when this cover came out because it was somewhat groundbreaking since it was only the third cover to feature a man, the other two men featured being Richard Gere and George Clooney. I remember thinking to myself that it was pretty cool that a black man was on the cover (considering this magazine has more of a white readership and I would venture to say mostly women) and also that he was an athlete, not an actor or a model. The issue of the magazine was a "Shape Issue" with "Secrets of the Best Bodies: LeBron & Giselle and The Worlds Top Models and Star Athletes" being the cover story. I didnt think much of it until people started getting pissed that it was racist.

So I took another look and apparantly the problem is that LeBron is remniscent of King Kong while Giselle plays Fay Wray, the damsel in distress. That would have never crossed my mind, but having that pointed out, I can see the similarities. But to me it shows a strong, powerful, perhaps dangerous black man with a dainty, beautiful smiling happy women. She really doesnt look like she is in much distress to me and the guy is a professional athlete, it would make sense that he has an intense persona, plus he is actually dribbling a basketball in the shot.

What people have been complaining about though is that is racist. I didn't see any complaints that it is sexist because a woman is being "possessed" by a man, even though it is racist for the same exact reason, which I found interesting. I think that to most people it shows a two rich and recognizable celebrities with good bodies. I think it would have been more effective and better for women if they had reversed this and showed the body of a female athlete with the male model but its a high fashion womens magazine, female athletes arent the ideal.

A black journalist wrote an article that made a good point that the people who get mad that this portrayal of negative stereotypes are also the same people who laugh at Tyler Perry's portrayal of " a single mama with three baby daddies, her loud-mouthed, weed-smoking, gun-toting Latino best girlfriend, a deadbeat daddy, a drunk sister and a deceased father who was a pimp-turned-preacher" in his recent movie. I suppose it is all dependent on the source. The comedy is written and produced by a black man while almost certainly the photographer and editors of Vogue are white.

I really don't have a main point with all of this, I just find the discussion intriguing and would be interested in hearing what other people think.

My Sponsorship Kit Came!

A month or so ago I posted about how I signed up with Women to Women International to provide financial and emotional support to a disadvantaged woman and yesterday I got my welcome kit with a picture and description of the woman I was matched with. Just to recap how this program works, women sign up for it and it lasts a year in length. During that time they go through this program to get life and job skills so they can be self sufficient and provide for themselves and their families. I provide monthly financial support and write her letters to encourage her and get to know her.

The woman I was matched with is Remzija Muhic from Bosnia. She is 51 years old, widowed and has 2 children. She is unenployed because she cannot find work due to her age. They send a picture with her information and her face reflects the difficult life that she has had. She looks tired and sad, her face is heavily lined for her age her expression blank. She only completed primary school and has lost family members from war and violence. They also provide you with information on Bosnia so I can understand the country where she lives and the problems she encounters. One fact that stood out to me is that 40% of the population is unemployed.

The next step is for me to write her a letter to introduce myself and hopefully get some kind of conversation going. I sat down and tried to start writing this letter but I am struggling with what to say. What do I say to a 51 year old mother who lives in poverty and cant support herself when I am 27, living comfortably, complaining about such petty things as people getting more time off of work than I do? I dont want to sound condescending, I feel very fortunate to grow up the way I did and she never had that opportunity. The only reason I have what I have is because I happened to be born in the right place. It really puts things into proper perspective. I have the opportunities to do whatever I want to do when so many people do not and I should take advantage of that and do not let anything like laziness or procrastination hold me back.

I am very glad I decided to do this. I am excited to forge a relationship with Remzija and I hope that this program can help her improve her life.

Ok, I Have Calmed Down Now

My moods can change like the weather in Texas and just a few hours later I am in a better mood. I took care of a few problems that I have been putting off which helped. Kendall and I are hosting our friend Melissa's Bachelorete party and we were going to have it at my cabin, however it has 4 feet of frozen snow around it and digging it out would be too difficult so we had to change the party to down here instead. I was afraid that she would be dissapointed but she took the news well. I tried to get it to take place down in Tower (multiple bars within walkin distance you know) but Kendall wasnt having any of that, she thinks I am a Tower Rat, which I probably am with good reason. With the group of girls going, they probably wouldn't appreciate Tower anyway (some of them are awfully prissy) so it worked out for the best.

I also get to get out of the office and go on a job walk in Reedley so I am not stuck behind my computer, which is always good news.

So thats it. I am not nearly as bitter and miserable as my last post sounded, just thought I would let you know in case anyone cared, which isnt likely but oh well.

Bad Mood

I am not in a good mood today. I got 8 hours of sleep last night yet I am still tired. Everyone at work is irritating me even though they aren't doing anything to irritate me. My computer is acting up, I tried to scan for viruses and it came up that it had expired, but for some reason it didnt warn me that I was about to expire. So I re-newed and I am scanning now but it will literally take the whole day and of course using a computer that is scanning for viruses is almost unbearable since it is so slow. My gmail and my work email are not working which are my most important addresses, but I can email through yahoo and hotmail.

I am really starting to despise my job and I am thinking about making a big change but that also scares me so I am stressed out about that as well. And it is quite possible that I am pmsing. I am not sure if thats the cause or just an addition to my bad mood but I am quite a peach today.

I probably should have just stayed in bed, but I am the only one around here who cant just take time off when I feel like it. My mom comes in whenever she feels like it, Susan takes Fridays off when she has people coming in town over the weekend and Tennesse took 4 mornings off last week (he didnt get to the office until 2 and then proceeded to give me a crap load of work when my day ends at 4 so I had to work overtime) to watch his son play golf in a tournament. When I ran my marathon last year I couldnt even get the next day off even though I was traveling from LA after having run 26.2 miles the day before. And people think that working for your family is all benefits and perks.

Sorry about the vent but I needed that.

Weekend Recap - Bachelorette Hell

Let me just start at by saying I really dislike bachelorette parties, at least the typical bachelorette party. I just dont get it. For some reason it revolves around the penis, which is weird to me because it is supposed to be about women coming together to celebrate their friends upcoming nuptials so why is the penis the center of attention? There are penis straws, penis wind up toys, penis waterguns (I won one of these), penis lipstick (I also won this), penis necklaces, penis drinking cups, penis cakes, pin the penis on the guy, make a penis out of chewing gum, penis water bottles,penis balloons, penis ring toss...penis, penis penis.

Then there are the games. The ones we played this weekend were who could peel a banana and put a condom on it the fastest. This is the game that I won, my parents would be proud. Then we had to write down or most naughty sexual experience and our most embarassing sexual experience and then someone read them aloud and we had to guess whose they were. It was lame and I felt like I was in high scool (except in high school I wouldnt have anything to write down really). Then we played a sexual word scramble that I won and we had to think of something sexual for every letter of the alphabet. Apparantly everything has to be associated with sex and the peni which is funny because lets be honest you are getting married and the sex is going to decline. They should have parties like this when someone loses their virginity so the girl can learn a few things plus you would be younger and the maturity level of the party would be more appropriate.

We didnt go out while we were up there, but the going out bar hopping parties can be just as annoying. You can see them coming a mile away, a group of drunk and loud girls, one of which is wearing a veil (most likely with a penis or 2 or 16 hanging from it). Her herem of girls will tell everyone that they see that their friend is getting married and try to get drinks and shots paid for them all night. Then there are the checklists that say you have to find a guy to do this and that and get them all checked off by the end of the night. I went the one where she had to get a pair of guys underwear, and she did.

I am not a big going out girl in the first place nor am I much of a girly girl, both of which seems to be what bachelorette parties are all about. This is why I love Landmark so much. I much prefer just sitting and hanging out having a drink with friends (dice playing always a bonus) as opposed to going out to some packed club where talking isnt even an option and everyone is just looking to hook up anyway. This however wasn't a problem with the party this weekend. All the girls but 3 were asleep by 10 (10!!!) and the girl I drove up with got sick so I had to convince her for 2 hours to just let me take her home so she can sleep in her own bed since we were leaving first thing in the morning anyway. My efforts did get me home in time to join Ed, Brian and Abigail at Million Elephant for last call and a much needed drink.

Lucky for me, I get to host a bachelorette party for Melissa in two weeks so I get to do all of this all over again. All penises(peni?) will be outlawed should I get married and have a bachelorette party and we will do somethin fun like go white water rafting or rock climbing or sky diving or something thats actually fun!

Anyway, anyone want a penis water gun?

Tattoo Update

Well there is none. Monica said she would be calling me the middle of last week so I could come in and look at her drawing but I have yet to hear from her. I called Friday afternoon and left a message just in case they had my phone number down wrong and I still havent heard anything. Hmmph.

Bracket Update and Final Four Pics

Here are the current standings:

Annie 38
Ed 34
Brian 34
katie 32
Kasey 31
Kendall 31
Mike 30
Nick 29

Here are everyones Final Four picks that Ed requested:

Annie: North Carolina, Texas, UCLA, Georgetown
Ed: UCLA, Stanford, Kansas, North Carolina
Brian: North Carolina, Kansas, UCLA, Texas
Katie: UCLA, Stanford, Kansas North Carolina
Kasey: North Carolina, Kansas, UCLA, Texas
Kendall: Stanford, UCLA, Kansas, North Carolina
Mike: North Carolina, Georgetown, Memphis, UCLA
Nick: Tennesse, Stanford, Xavier, Kansas

We still need to decide on where we can watch the final game. The game is on Monday April 7th. I am more than willing to have people over, but I do have the small tv that everyone complains about and I am not planning any tv purchases anytime soon (particularly since I wont be winning that 80 bucks). Suggestions?

Underdogs & Updates

There were a lot of upsets in todays play that was great to see (I love me an underdog) unfortunately for most of us, it hurt our points. Points have spread out some but the money is still up for grabs. Here are the current standings:

Annie 26
Brian 24
Ed 23
Mike 23
Katie 22
Kasey 21
Kendall 20
Nick 18

Oh Upsets...Shesh

So far today has been a bit more exciting. Two games have gone into overtime, and both winning teams were the underdog. Western Kentucky took out Drake, Mike was the the only one to call that game right. San Diego came out strong and ended up beating UConn in an exciting OT ending. I wasn't able to watch it because I am at work but Nick gave me the play by play on the phone so I felt like I was there. Also Katie was the only one to call that game correctly.

Some more games to come shortly. I will be heading off to the gym soon so hopefully they will have basketball on the tv's in the weight room because yesterday they had on ice skating. Yeah, fucking ice skating. I quickly fixed that but was suprised that no one else had yet. The room had at least 15 jocks/guys in it and as soon as I changed it, they all beelined over to it and stood there mesmorized. They were either too dumb or too lazy, probably a little of both.

Current Standings

It was a good day of basketball and the competition is heating up. Highlights include Duke barely squeaking by Belmont, which would have been a exciting upset. Xavier also struggled but ended up pulling off the win. I think the only upsets were USC losing to Kansas (we all got that wrong) and Texas A&M beating BYU. A low light for one of the teams was Kent States lackluster performance that resulted in an embarassing score of 10 at half time.

Now to the good stuff current standings are as follows:

Brian 14
Ed 14
Annie 13
Katie 13
Mike 12
Nick 12
Kendall 12
Kasey 12

As you can see everyone is very close at this point. Games continue tomorrow, I am all basketballed out for tonight.

More March Madness & The SPCA

Thanks to everyone for getting your brackets to me. Currently we have a total of 7 people playing and I should get an 8th this morning, so the pot should be 80 bucks. I will update wins and losses each day there are games so we always know where we stand (and we can taunt those who aren't doing well. Also, if you didn't keep a copy of your bracket and would like me to scan it and email it to you, let me know. This is my favorite day of the tournament because it's when all the upsets happen and it looks like the first game starts at 12:20 ET with Xavier taking on Georgia. Good luck everyone!

In unrelated news last night I went to volunteer orientation at the Central California SPCA. I want to run my next marathon as a fundraiser but I didn't want to do Team in Training which raises money for lukemia research because they already get a lot of people running and raising money for them. so I started to look at local organizations. I also wanted to start volunteering somewhere and helping animals sounded like a good idea.

The orientation was really long because the woman just wouldn't stop talking and consistently went off on tangents. Someone asked something about why ferrets were illeal in California and she went off for 10 minutes even though it had nothing to do with the SPCA. Anyway they have a lot of various jobs that they need done like cleaning the cages, walking the dogs, greeting and helping people who come looking to adopt or find their lost pets, education, special events, taking pictures of the dogs and so on and so forth. I am not sure yet what I will be doing but probably a little of everything. They are also really flexible with their volunteers, you basically just show up whenever you want to and do something. I plan on going in every weekend to help out.

They took us on a tour of the facility and it was definitely hard to see all of the cats and dogs in cages that were sometimes dirty and marred with feces and urine. Some of the dogs growled at you, some were very friendly, and some seemed sad and depressed. It will not be easy knowing that some of these animals will be euthanized but I figure if I can't stop that from happening, then maybe I can help either prevent it by educating the public or just make the dog a little bit happier and more comfortable for a short time. What is also is going to be hard is not being able to take one home with me! They had some beautiful big dogs there that I would have loved to take with me but alas, I have no yard, someday though. I even thought some of the cats were cute and I could take home with me and I generally don't care very much for them.

Anyway they need a lot of help and a lot of money at the SPCA so hopefully I will be able provide a little of both. Fresno is way behind in spaying and nuetering their anmials which is one reason for such an abundance of homeless animals and seeing as you can get that done for free there as well as get free obedience training, there is no reason for it.

Thats all folks.

Thaank You Jay! (Alcohol and March Madness)

So Jay sent a link on Ed's blog to Modern Drunkard magazine online. It's a fantastic time waster. My favorite article is The 86 Rules of Boozing. Some of the highlights include:

71. It's acceptable, traditional in fact, to disappear during a night of hard drinking. You will appear mysterious and your friends will understand. If they even notice. (For you Nick)
55. If you think you might be slurring a little, then you are slurring a lot. If you think you are slurring a lot, then you are not speaking English. (For you Ed)

You really need to read them all if you havent though, you will laugh outloud and since it is Wednesday, I figure a little reading on alcohol is appropriate.

Speaking of tonight, those of you who are going to be a part of the March Madness pool, i need your filled out brackets by tonight. I can collect the money whenever you have it. I know of at least 7 people who are definitely in and possibly an 8th and 9th so the winner gets at least 60 bucks. C'mon Adam, last chance...you were pretty good at picking winners last night, live a little!

Well, At Least You Aren't This Guy...

So St. Paddys may have been a bit lackluster for some of us but even if you stayed home you fared much better than this guy:

One of last night's more unusual arrests happened near a police substation. A man wearing only his underwear was found passed out behind the wheel, after apparently hitting several parked cars. He was taken into custody near 4th street and bulldog lane.

Not everyone experiences the luck of the Irish on St. Paddys day.

Source

Hmmph

The past few weeks I began to notice that I can't seem to get the water in my shower very hot. I used to have the the shower knob halfway between hot and cold and it would be plenty hot. Now I have the knob turned all of the way to hot, it takes about 5 minutes to get it tolerable enough to be able to step in and it doesn't get any warmer the entire time I am in there. Taking a shower while you are shivering and have goosebumps the whole time is just miserable. Of course my landlord was out of town this weekend so he is supposed to come by today to take a look at it. I just hope this isn't a problem that takes awhile to fix or else I will have to start taking showers at the gym or something. You are reminded of how fantastic it is to take a hot shower when you cant take them anymore.

March Madness, Colorado

Two quickies:

1) I booked my ticket to Colorado and I got on the same flights both coming and going so I will be tagging along with you all. Is there room for me to crash in someones hotel room for Wednesday and Thursday night? Also what about the rental car? Of course, I would be pitching in my share of both the hotel room and the rental car as long as you can make the room.

2) Its that time again,the Men's NCAA basketball tournament has been seeded and the first round starts on March 20th. Anyone interested in starting a pool? I think we put in 5 or 10 bucks last time so we could do that again or just make it friendly if no one has any balls err is willing to put a few bucks on the line. Here is a link to a bracket, let me know.

Happy Birthday Sissy Poo!

Tomorrow is my sister Kristen's 30th birthday so I wanted to post a little something about her for those of you haven't been lucky enough not to know her:

When I was a baby, Kristen used to wake up me up in my crib in the morning. She would crawl in (both of us wearing matching pink footsie pajamas) and start my morning off with a hug. I don't have a clear memory of this but I have seen pictures of it, both of us smiling sleepily in my crib, and it is what I have been told. Kristen was my very first friend and remains my best friend to this day.

One of our favorite things to do when we were kids was put on a stuffed animal parade. We would line up all of our stuffed animals down the hall and strut around goofily as we imagined our stuffed animals prancing behind us. I always looked up to my sister but at the same time I never felt that she thought she was better than me or that I was an annoying little sister, I always felt accepted by her.

Growing up we had a lot of fun together and as we became teenagers we had our moments of fighting which usually involved me "borrowing" an article of clothing (I used to think her Stussy shirt and poncho were sooo fucking cool) without telling you, but overall we got along pretty well for sisters. I remember riding to school with her in the morning and we would listen to "Mother" by Danzig and till this day everytime I hear that song I think of her. There was a lot of the Dumb and Dumber and Dangerous Minds Soundtrack on those drives as well.

When she went away to college was when we probably drifted apart the furtherst. I did however manage to ruin her 21st birthday (notoriously) as I took about 10 shots of scnhapps in about an hour and then spent the rest of the night throwing up in every corner of her apartment (while apologizing profously at least). Instead of getting mad at me though, she took care of me and didnt even yell at me the next day when I was extremely hungover.

Living with her in Austin was also a great time and we got to get even closer. I was fortunate to be able to see her relationship begin and grow with her husband Chris and I got to approve of him before anyone else even met him. Seeing how head over heels in love she was during that time made me incredibly happy because if anyone deserved to find the love of their life, it was her. She had been taken for granted by stupid idiotic guys for long enough!

Kristen has always been a strong, opinionated person but she also has a huge heart. She is the type of friend and sister that would do anything for you if you needed it. I cant even begin to tell you how many times I have called her to bitch about my parents or about work or that fucktard who cut me off. Whatever it is, she is always there to listen to me. She doesn't just hold your hand though, she is also the first person to tell you like it is and kick you in your butt if you are spending too much time feeling sorry for yourself. Sometimes we clash but overall I always respect her honest opinions.

Now that she is turning 30 and the chaotic 20s are behind her I look forward to seeing how her life grows and changes. I look forward to seeing Kristen as a mother and maybe someday as an aunt because she will be great at both. I love her very much and if anyone is reading this I hope they get a better understanding of how fantastic my big sister is and maybe someday if you are lucky you will get to meet her:)

To The Person That Hit My Truck...

I would like to say thank you to the person who hit my truck, left a big dent and took off without leaving a note or taking responsibility for it. I don't know when or where it happened but your lack of integrity and respect for other people make you quite an upstanding member of this community. Keep up the good work, fucktard.

For Adam

Adam and I have had lengthy conversations about the amount of time one spends on the toilet, and I found an article that takes this to the extreme. A 35 year old woman in Kansas sat on her boyfriends toilet for 2 years. Perhaps there is a positive correlation with the amount of time one sits on a toilet and how crazy one is...

And since we are on the subject how about a heated/water spraying portable toilet.

This was you can stay warm and poop anywhere you want to. Priceless.

I Stole Adams Thunder

"I can see up your nose"

Tattoo Appointment Update

Yesterday I met with Monica at Tower Tattoos. It was a brief meeting, but it went well.
When I first got there I started flipping through her portfolio and I came across a familiar sight, a picture of Adams tattoo, prominently displayed.
Then when Monica came out I showed her my sketch and told her where I wanted to get it and she started to sketch some of her thoughts. The first thing she did was flip it so the peacock was facing in and not out, which went with the curve of my waist much better. Other than that she took my pictures I had for reference and told me she would have a drawing for me by the middle of next week. The picture she liked the best was the picture of the stained glass I posted last week which was also my favorite so it seems we are on the same page. After I approve of her work I wll make an appointment to get it done so I m looking at 2 weeks at the earliest before I get any ink done.
Monica seemed very cool but where is she from? I detected an accent but couldnt place it...

Sunday, Busy Sunday

My 6.1 mile race in Tower was yesterday at 8 am and it went really well. I was pretty cold and stiff when I began so I started out a little slow. Eventually I picked it up and ran a negative split which I dont think I have ever done before so that made me happy and finished averaging aout a 7:50 mile. For it being my first race in a long time I thought it went well and the race was well organized so I am sure I will do it again next year.

I need to look into running more shorter races like this one because it got me into racing mode again and it felt good to be competeitive. One of my mental running strategies is to pick people off to pass along my way. It helps me stay focused and it makes me push myself harder. It also just feels good to pass certain people, especially the boys and even more especially the boys that passed me earlier in the race (thats where negative splits come in handy) and damn that feels good. I do think I might have strained something in my right calf though, but it is just a minor annoyance.

I also had breakfast yesterday with Annie and watched some of the bike races, which was fun. I wish there were more events like that in Tower. Then I met up with my mom later and went for a walk around Woodward and had dinner. At the end of the day I was very tired and crashed out. I have been needing a lot more sleep lately and last week I went to bed early everyday but Wednesday. I felt a lot better during the day and I was able to workout harder so I think I need to keep that up. It is hard to think that I am missing out on something fun thats going onthough, but at the same time I have to keep my health in mind, which I need to do a better job of.

So that was my Sunday. Overall it was a good weekend.

Made My First Appointment!

I just set up a consultation appointment with Monica for my peacock tattoo. I will be going on Tuesday March 11th @ 6 to get this process started. I am very excited, I am not going to lie:)

I'm Bored At Work Today...

You have to watch a minute or so of this clip before it gets to the good part but the what I wanted to share was a runner who falls down pretty hard and gets up and wins the race, it's a great finish:



And this just made me laugh, a streaker getting flattened in Australia on a cricket field:

Quickies

Here are some quickies:

- Found this article about a British man going to try to beat the world record for the oldest marathoner. He is 101 and plans on celebrating with a pint of beer and a cigarette. Love it.

- I got Season 1 of Dexter yesterday and if you havent seen this show it is fantastic. The main character is a mild mannered forensic investigator who kills murders. The cast is great, Michael C. Hall is brilliant. I dont know of any other actor who can make a serial killer so likeable. Anyway if anyone wants to borrow it when I am done watching let me know.

- I just accidently sent a picture of a tattoo to an architect instead of the document I was supposed to send because I had left it in the scanner and didn't realize it. Gold Star of stupidity for me.

- Speaking of tattoos, its Tower Tattoos on Van Ness and Olive that Monica works at correct?

This Morning...

This morning when I walked outside my apartment to go to work I found a dirty men's t-shirt on my door step, Which I thought that was odd. I didnt want to touch it because it was filthy so I kicked it to the side and hopefully my neighbor has something to do with it and will take care of it, I kind of expect to see it when I get home this evening though.

Then I checked my mailbox on my way to my truck and when I closed it I put my hand in wet, dewy bird poop, ick. That stuff dries fast too because when I got to my truck mere feet away, it was already dry and I couldnt get it off. So I had to wipe my fingers on the dew of my truck to get it wet enough to wipe off on a scrap of napkin. I washed my hands when I went to work but they still feel dirty.

Then when I was almost at work I was at a stop light and looked over and there was a young asian man at the bus stop with his guiter (no case) dressed in an Elvis-like sequined (yes, sequined) jump suit and quite the coif of hair. He wasnt playing his guiter, but he had it strapped on.

Strange start to my morning. I dont know what it means but when find random soiled clothing, put my hand in bird poop and see an asian elvis before 7 am, but I dont feel like I am going to be having a normal day.

Odds and Ends

Yesterday I went to Centerpoint Gym so I could try it out before I switched from my current gym. Some pros were that it is closer to my apartment, the hours are much better, there is a lot more equipment and amenities, and it is cheaper. On the con side I anticipate I will probably have to wait for equipment more frequently. Pretty much that is the only con, the gym is busier, so it was a pretty easy decision to make. Now I just have to break up with my personal trainer at my old gym.

This weekend I have the 6.1 mile run in Tower and also the 6th Annual Central Valley Bike Classic will be in Tower which is always fun to watch. Don't forget to spring forward your clocks and hour, as the time changes on Sunday as well (I really better remember this!).

I have signed up for volunteer orientation at the Central California SPCA on the 19th of this month. They have a lot of jobs for volunteers to do so I am hoping to work out a schedule where I go out there once a week and help out. I am going to fall in love with all of the dogs there though so it is probably a good thing I dont have a house with a yard because I would want to take them all home with me. Some of the duties they need help with are walking and socializing the animals, cleaning up cages, greeting the public, helping with special events, etc. so I am sure will find something I like. I would like to take the pictures and write the little blurbs they have on Petfinder because I am always dissapointed when they dont give any information and it seems like the animals from the SPCA rarely have any written info.

I am also considering doing some kind of fundraising for my fall marathon. Team in Training is a popular way to do that but I frankly find them somewhat annoying. Dont get me wrong, they do a great job of raising money for luekemia research but any race I have been in they are easy to spot because they are wearing the purple jersey and they are always super excited and super happy. Also their main goal is just to raise the money and they dont care as much about the race, which is fine, but I want to focus on running well too. I could always set my own thing up and raise money for a local charity on my own though, maybe the SPCA.

So thats whats new with me!

Peacock Tattoo Revisted

After writing off the Peacock tattoo because my mind wasn't creative enough to make it work, I have re-visted this idea with helpful feedback from all of you. First, here is some general information on the peacock:

The peacock originated from India. The term "peacock" is commonly used to refer to birds of both sexes. Technically, only males are peacocks. Females are peahens, and together, they are called peafowl. The male is what you think of when you think peacock because they have the long tail like feathers that display behind them. Females are more brown in color and do not have a long train. The large train is used in mating rituals and courtship displays. It can be arched into a magnificent fan that reaches across the bird's back and touches the ground on either side. Females are believed to choose their mates according to the size, color, and quality of these outrageous feather trains.

There is a lot of variety with peacock symbolism but in India where the peacock originated it symbolizes love, passion, luck, protection, and prosperity. In Christianity the Peacock flesh was believed to be incorruptible. This, together with its eyes symbolizing the all-seeing Church, elevated the Peacock to sacred emblem status, representing resurrection, immortality, and the pure soul. The peacock is also known as a symbol of beauty, dignity & pride. In Buddhism the peacock eye represents wisdom. Peacocks are said to have the ability of eating poisonous plants without being affected by them. Because of that, they are synonimous with the great bodhisattvas. A bodhisattva is able to take delusions as the path toward liberation and transform the poisonous mind of ignorance, desire and hatred [moha, raga, dvesa] into the thought of enlightenment or bodhicitta, which opens colourfully like the peacocks' tail. Particularly peacocks symbolise the transmutting of desire into the path of liberation.

Ok thats a lot of info you probably didnt need but I did the research so I might as well be thorough. Back to the tattoo now and the design. I picture it a lot like this stained glass window:


I like the positioning of the peacocks body and the head position as well. Instead of the peacocks tail/train out and displayed behind him, I like it down because I think that shape would look better on my body. If you look back at the first tattoo of the cherry blossoms, that is close to the placement I like. So the body of the peacock would be on the side of my back with the tail/train going down and wrapping around the hip a little. Here is a pic of a peacock tattoo whose style I liked because it is realistic looking, I dont want anything cartoonish/unrealistic:



You will also notice flowers and branches in both of those pics and I would like to incorporate the cherry blossoms similarly.

This wont be a small itty bitty tattoo either, I would expect it to take up a good amount of space and probably which is why it is taking me so long to figure out what exactly I want. Feedback is always welcome and also requested so please let me know what you think!

A New Tattoo? - It was only a matter of time

Adam, Ed, & Nick have all gotten new ink in the past few months and I have grown increasingly jealous of the lovely works of art they have added to their bodies. It is true that once you get one tattoo, you want to get more and seeing as I got my first tattoo almost 10 years ago, I am well overdue.

I have been considering the next tattoo I should get probably since the day after I got my first one. I have been all over the board but nothing really hit me as being as significant as I want it to be. Here are my criteria:

Beautiful, colorful, feminine, symbolic and somewhere on my back or hip, basically somewhere on the torso.

I considered a peacock for awhile as I think they are absolutely beautiful and as far as the symbolism peacocks are a symbol of openness and acceptance. In Christianity the peacock is a symbol of immortality and in Buddhism they represent wisdom. I can stand behind the symbolism but it wasnt something that really resonated with me and I also had a hard time figuring out where to put it that wouldnt look odd. I realized if I have to try this hard that it just isnt meant to be.

So I moved on to floral tattoos. I looked up a bunch of flowers and their meanings and was having trouble finding a flower I liked that also had a meaning I liked (a lot of them had to do with purity and I thought uhh yeah not so much). So I then started thinking of cherry blossoms, which can be a somewhat popular tattoo but it is beautiful and colorful which fits part of my criteria. I did more research and found the symbolism behind them and I absolutely loved it:

Chinese Cherry Blossom
For the Chinese the cherry blossom is a very significant symbol of power. Typically it represent a feminine beauty and sexuality and often holds an idea of power or feminine dominance. Within the language of herbs and herbal lore of the Chinese the cherry blossom is often the symbol of love.

Japanese Cherry Blossom

For the Japanese the cherry blossom holds very different meaning. The cherry blossom is a very delicate flower that blooms for a very short time. For the Japanese this represents the transience of life. This concept ties in very deeply with the fundamental teachings of Buddhism that state all life is suffering and transitory. The Japanese have long held strong to the Buddhist belief of the transitory nature of life and it is very noble to not get too attached to a particular outcome or not become emotional because it will all pass in time.

Whats really cool is I have had a fortune tapped in my wallet for years that says "Accept something you cannot change and you will feel better" which is one of my favorite quotes that I frequently go to when I need to feel better about things and get a new perspective. And that quote goes along very well with the japanese symbolism of the cherry blossom.

So I am narrowing it down, however I am still thinking about placement and the important details. I want them to be realistic and not at all cartoonish. I need to think about size though and thickness of the branches and all of that artsy stuff I am not great at but I guess thats what the job of the tatto artist is.

I attached some pics of tattoos and cherry blossoms for reference. I like the placement of the one on the girls side better than the one that goes all the way up the back but I dont like the background as much.

Ok so thoughts?

Wedding Woes

This year I have 5 weddings to go to. Yes love is in the air and it is sucking all of the money out of my wallet. Now I am excited and feel honored to be a part of these celebrations, but one wedding in particular is starting to become a thorn in my side and a drain to my bank account and I am not sure how to address or deal with this. Here is the scenario:

I am a bridesmaid in this wedding and have been good friends with this person for years. She really is a good friend and I love her dearly. She however has a much different approach to money than I do which hasnt been a problem until now. Being a bridesmaid I obviously had to buy a dress. This was relatively inexpensive at 150 dollars and with shoes the total comes out to a little over 215 dollars (incidently none of this I will ever even think about wearing again, ever). Then we are getting our hair and make up done, which is around 100 dollars. On top of that the hotel we are staying in is going to cost a total of 175 for 2 nights for my share of the room (not bad actually because it is a very nice hotel). I am not calculating the food while we are there or the gas to get there but you can assume that will total to over a hundred dollars all together.

I am throwing and hosting a weekend bachelorette party for her at my cabin and as of right now I am not sure how much this will cost. I wont provide all of the meals but I will provide the booze and decorations and games and prizes and melissa wont pay anything the whole weekend. Thats probably another 200 bucks easily including whatever gift I get her. They are also having an engagement party and I found out that she is expecting to receive gifts. Oh and then there is the wedding where she is also expecting gifts. Adding this all up, I am estimating that it could cost me $1,000 which is a lot of money to me.

This brings me to the spending money differently part. She has always been a spender and is ok with going into debt to have the lifestyle she wants because she is now a pharmacist and can start paying everything off.

There is really nothing I can do about most of those expenses but suck it up, but it is the multiple gift thing that is bothering me. That and I was also told that I couldnt bring a date unless it was someone that I was somewhat serious with because she doesnt want to pay for an extra plate for someone that is just there for fun. I can understand this to a point (I dont have anyone I would want to bring anyway but thats not the point!), but not when she is going all out on this wedding and isnt on much of a budget (they hired a filmaker to make a video spoof thing that they are going to play at the wedding).

All in all this frustrates me because I cant talk to her about it because I am afraid she will get defensive and upset with me. I brought up an issue with the dress (very nicely too I might add) previously and she was not happy about it (a dress by the way that Kendall found an exact replica of at Goodwill for 15 dollars).

I cant think of a way to ask if I am expected to bring a gift to all of these events or if it is even my place to. She is a very good friend and I dont want to upset her or annoy her with my complaining but for the love, thats a lot of money and I am not rolling in the dough over here.

Rock me hard place *sigh*

Bored, Sleep Deprived

Today is a really slow day at work. Both project managers are gone to meetings and I have already finished the work they gave me before I left so I have been looking at websites and trying to keep myself entertained. So far, entertained I am not.

I am also really really tired because I have gone to sleep at 1 or later every day this week and it is starting to catch up to me. Usually with a little caffeine I can push my way through it but I am really dragging today. I have also been a little bit light headed, which started last night and that is probably due to a lack of sleep too. I am looking forward to an early bedtime tonight.

My brain isn't working well enough to post something interesting, this is the best its going to get.

Adventures in Job Shadowing

My dad is a member of Rotary and as such commits a certain amount of time with community service projects that they have going on. Today, we are havin a student from Sunnyside High School coming to job shadow for the day. I get to go pick them up and most likely have an awkward drive back (I like to let other people do the talking but I think this person will probably be a little quiet) and then they will sit with me for about an hour as I go through and tell and show them what I do.

I hope that I have enough work at one time to take up a solid hour without boring them to death. It cant be fun to watch someone entering data, updating logs and sending correspondance for any length of time, and exactly how realistic should I be? Do I show them the blogs and websites I frequent while I work? These are students from disadvantaged backgrounds whose parents likely work as manual laborers so it is cool that they get to see what an office enviornment is like so should I pretend that my job is awesome and I love every second of it? Ha, not likely I will be able to paint that rosy a picture.

Also, being somewhat down again about my job situation I am probably not the most encouraging person to be talking about jobs at the moment. I am afraid I might say something like, "Dream big kid, but realize that nothing will probably work out the way you think it will and in 10 years you will still be trying to figure out your life and 10 years after that as well so, but you should totally go for your dream if you have one" and thus I scar them for life. I probably wouldnt say kid though, it just felt appropriate in that context.

I am sure it will all be fine and an hour of my day isn't that long. I will update and how it goes later this morning.

Spring is So Close, I Can Smell it

I actually left my apartment without a jacket or coat this morning. I was a little apprehensive that I would be freezing since I am also wearing a skirt but there was no shock of cold air as I walked out the door. Lovely.

Sitting at my desk, the front door is open and the smell of freshly cut grass is drifting in and creating oodles of happiness. It makes me wonder if they make a candle with the fresh cut grass scent. I would definitely rank that very high up on my list of favorite smells and if they could capture the smell well, I would buy it and me thinks other people would as well.

I have also noticed that it is getting lighter earlier in the morning, it is no longer pitch black when I wake up but the sky is a mauvy/gray, and the sun is staying out later too. Longer days make me happier and also more productive. Cold weather and dark days depress me, but I always am an overall happier person in the warmer months. I am also even more excited about my online shopping spree that should arrive this week since I purchased all warm weather clothes, woo hoo!

I could write an enormous list of why I love warm weather but I will leave it to those items I mentioned above. The giddyness should come through clearly enough:)

Update: In fact they do make candles with a fresh cut grass scent. Everything Smells.Com is the name of the website and they have some other very odd scents like Avacado (do avacados even smell??), Olive oil (ditto previous comment), Cannibus (um, sort of odd usually you are trying to mask that smell) and a lot of other normal scents.

"I have dual citizenship with the United States and Florida"

This is a link (thank you Adam) to my favorite SNL skit with Christopher Walken and Tim Meadows as the Census Taker.

"There's me, my wife, my plants and some candy bars..."
"A real passport would not have a picture of a sexy nurse on it"

There are so many great lines in this skit and Christopher Walken is by far my favorite host. Take a moment and have a laugh.

New Book, Weee!

Just ordered a new (used) book from Amazon that I am excited about. Its called "Eat this, not that!" and although I typically try not to buy books that have an exclamation mark in the title, it was right up my ally. It talks about what foods to substitute in restaraunts and at grocery stores and when my appetite comes back (lunch was bad but my snack later went well) it will be a useful interesting read. I try to substitute food rather than eat only a little anyway so I will be excited to get it.

This post is rushed and somewhat incomplete because I am trying to get out of the office now....

My Stomach Is Not So Good

Since last Wednesday my stomach has been upset and I havent had much of an appetite. I have a constant queasiness that gets worse and subsides and even though my stomach will be growling because it is hungry, I can only eat enough to make the growling go away before I cant stomach anymore food. Even my favorite foods havent been appealing. When I have had the stomach flu before it usually is one or two days of violent sickness and then I am fine, but this lingering queasiness is different and it doesnt seem to want to go away. I dont like not being able to enjoy food, it is such a simple pleasure you dont realize you have until you cant eat.

Anyone know of anything that is supposed to cure an upset stomach besides pepto?

And no, I am not pregnant. I am entirely sure of that so no one needs to throw that one out there (I know what you are thinking).

From The Mind Of Kasey

Being a woman that lives alone, I sometimes contemplate my safety and what I would do if someone were to break into my apartment and/or attack me. It probably doesn't help that I am a Law & Order fanatic and will typically watch at least one episode of it a day, usually Special Victims Unit.

I have only felt unsafe in my apartment once when at 3 am my bag of golf clubs fell over in my closet in the other bedroom and scared the crap out of me. I had no idea what was going on, I just knew a very loud noise came from somewhere in my apartment. I froze for a minute or so and when I didnt hear anything else I got up to investigate thinking to myself "this is always how women get attacked in the movies, when they go to investigate". I couldnt just lay in bed and wait to find out if someone was in the apartment though so I got up to get it over with.

I turned on lights and went to every room and found nothing out of place or anything broken and everything was secure so I went back to bed. It drove me crazy for a few days until I found the bag had fallen over when I got something out of the closet. While wandering around the apartment though I thought about where I would hide or go if someone had been in there and didnt have a good answer. Today I may have just found my answer.

While doing laundry I glanced down at the dryer and thought I just may be able to fit in there and I doubt anyone would look for someone in a dryer. So I had to see if I actually would fit so I wringled around and with just a little twisting and contorting I fit, quite snuggly and rather uncomfortably. I wasnt brave/stupid enough to close the door all the way because I was afraid it would get stuck or something and I would get a Darwin Award for dying in a dryer and no one would have any idea what I was doing in the dryer in the first place and I wouldnt want to hear what people may come up with to explain that.

So hopefully I will never have to test my theory out, but at least I have a plan.

And that my friends is just a snipit of the thoughts that can occupy my mind.

Bush Gettin Down With His Bad Self!

Please to enjoy!


Bush dances in Africa

For sara

I've named them Adam & Mike.

A Total Eclipse of the Moon

If you were not aware, there will be a total lunar eclipse tonight. Thats right the moon is going to disappear like magic right before our eyes!(or just hide behind the shadow of the earth for about 50 minutes) 10 - 10:50 pm Eastern Time is the best time to see it, however if it is cloudy obviously we wont be able to. The next lunar exclipse isn't until December of 2010 so hopefully it will all work out and the clouds will part.

Oogy, The Half Faced Dog

WARNING: ANIMAL ABUSE STORY AHEAD

I saw this segment on Oprah at the gym last week and it was one of those horrifying stories of animal abuse with a very happy ending. When Oogy was a puppy he was tied to a stake and used as bait for pit bulls in a dogfighting ring. He had been thrown in a cage and left to die, and the police raided the facility and he was rescued. When he was first treated the dog suffered severe damage and basically had the side of his face ripped off, his jaw was crushed, and his skull was damaged. Obviously you can still see the aftermaths of those injuries.

He was adopted while still recovering and has been well taken care of ever since. Whats amazing is that despite his horrific beginning he is an extremely loving dog and not at all violent. It is suprising what animals can recover from. One after effect however is that he can't be put in a cage because it reminds him of when he was bait and it terrifies him so his owner drove him 15 hours in a car to be on Oprah so they wouldnt have to crate him on a plane.

The whole thing gets me angry about pit bull fighting all over again. How could anyone tie a puppy to a stake and watch it get torn apart and not do something? I just can't grasp that anyone can have that kind of ambivalence to such pain and suffering.

(By the way, at work my spell check on my blog doesn't work so if you see glaring spelling errors I am just too lazy to re-read my posts very carefully or I dont know how to spell something)

Whats New With Me

Honesty, not much. It has been an uneventful day and weekend really. Pleasant, just nothing terribly exciting. So I went through the news to see if there was anything interesting.

You have Fidel retiring, but no one seems like that is going to change much of anything so, historic yes but interesting no. You have Clinton/Obama going head to head again in Wisconisn and Hawaii, but no real news from that yet. There was however Clinton's claim that Obama plagerized a portion of a speech which is just petty and lame considering you can find evidence of her doing the same thing. And Britney once again showed her cooter. Now if I could only remember if it was if you see Britneys Cooter if it is 6 more weeks of winter or if spring will come early...

In good news, I get to leave work a half an hour early to get my hair did.


That is all.

Mmmm Ass Cake is Fun To Eat

I came across this picture of Nelly's birthday ass cake and I just found it funny that one would have an ass cake made for them, and also put sparklers in it. Plus a butt load (heh) of ass eating jokes came to mind yada yada. I believe it is Sara's birthday that is coming up, perhaps she too would like an ass cake. Who wants to be the ass model?

The Weekend

My parents are in Texas this weekend and being the only daughter in Fresno, I will be baby sitting the dogs. This is such a pain in the ass because they expect me to spend the night there, not just check on the dogs to make sure they are ok, feed them and go back to my own place like most normal people would do.

There are of course some benefits to staying out there, like getting to use an up-to-date kitchen to cook and the use of the 50 inch HD tv and free food, which I appreciate and plan on taking advantage of, however it is very lonely. I feel isolated and I have to drive at least 10-15 minutes to get to any store or restaraunt, as opposed to walking out my apartment for 3 minutes. It also makes going out at night a lot more inconvenient. I have to drive a half an hour there and back, plus trying to pack for a weekend where I dont know what will be going on is impossible so I have to go back to my place to change before I go out.

But it is what it is. I would like to say that it will be a relaxing weekend where I stay at home and dont go out or stay up late, which may be the responsible thing to do but I know myself and just like I knew there probably wasnt a good chance of me going out last night, I know I will get really bored and be dying to get out of there.

What a boring post. Oh well.

The V-Day Incident

I had one of those wonderful moments of putting my foot in my mouth, thanks in part to technology and my stupidity today. I email my sister usually a few times a day and today my mom got flowers from my dad while he was gone. The reaction that you would think one would have to receiving flowers would be happy suprise. Well thats not how my mom reacted and so I shot an email out to my sister explaining to her what happened (see below)

Dude mom is starting to piss me off. She got flowers today from Dad and even though I told her that he ordered them to be delivered on Wednesday and they emailed him and said they couldnt ship them until today, she is bitching that he should have sent them next week so she could enjoy them. And it wasnt like aww, thats sweet too bad I wont be able to enjoy them for long it was like "why did he send them today when he knows we are leaving?". I was like yeah, I hate it when someone is thoughtful and sends me flowers, that always ruins my day. Hello mom, its the thought and he thought about this last week and did it all himself and wrote you a little poem, appreciate that. She did something similar on her birthday when dad bought all of this stuff to make this cake he found for her and she threw a fit and was like I dont want cake, you shouldnt have done this blah blah. I felt so bad for dad and when he left the room I was like mom I know this isnt what you wanted but tell him thank you for thinking of it.
Ok now she is acting a little more appreciative about them. You better perk up you negative nelly!

At the same time I was sending this off, I was also forwarding a Valentine Greeting to my mom and Susan (lady at work). I told them to open their mail and turns out I somehow mixed things up and sent the email message above to my mom and Susan and not the Valentine greeting. Um, oops.

Well luckily my mom wasn't mad at all but actually found it pretty funny. She replied to it "Like Mother like daughter. Guess I deserved this". My sister my mom and I have similar personalities and we always tell it like it is to one another so it wouldnt be something I would tell her to her face had we not been at work. Big whoopsie though, yikes.

Alright, Lets Just Get This Over With

So I approached this Valentines Day as I do all Valentines Days, basically as a non event. My approach evolved from a long time loathing of the holiday I developed by being perpetually single but over the years I eased up on the loathing and embraced indifference. Good for everyone else to have someone to spend time with and love, everyone should have that. Yes it can be a bit of rub in the face when everyone around you is getting flowers or is talking about their plans for the evening but I hate to think that someone elses happiness is contributing to my unhappiness, so I just smile and try to avoid the question of whether or not I have any plans so as to not have to see the look of pity when I say I have none (you all know the look I am talking about).

I am ok with not having plans but the more people keep bringing it up and the more I see reminders of the holiday everywhere I go, the more I realize it is unavoidable to not think about your love life on February 14th. I might as well just get it over with. So here it goes:

I am single for numerous reasons. Some reasons have to do with the difficulty in meeting (quality) people, some reasons have to do with my own behavior and the tough exterior I put on to protect myself from being vulnerable, some have to do with finding someone I have a connection with and most importantly I can trust, and some have to do with being selective of who I do go out with, etc etc. Whatever the reasons, love has been elusive to me.

So what is a girl to do? Sit around and bitch about it to anyone who will listen? No, no, no, I definitely do not want to be the bitter/angry girl, thats pathetic. Besides I have always perferred a more proactive approach but since there is definitely an element of luck involved with meeting people, I feel there is only so much I can do. But I can keep my chin up, my eyes open and enjoy the time I do have being single. Lets be honest, there is a lot of wonderful freedom that comes with being single and as great as relationships can be, they all have problems. Just today a co-worker was complaining to me about his wife and the problems they are having. I think thats the most important thing I have learned over the years, that naive belief that love is a fairy tale, has been replaced with the knowledge that relationships can be incredibly rewarding but not always incredibly easy.

I keep a lot inside so it can feel good to get some of it off my chest. I am mostly happy but I get sad sometimes and thats ok. Kahil Gibran once said "The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain." When I am feeling down, that quote makes me feel better. Right now I am doing just fine though:) When you have a sister and a mom who remind you that you are in fact loved and appreciated, it is hard to feel sorry for yourself for long!

So to everyone out there who has someone to spend time with today, enjoy it and love and appreciate that person in your life. And if you are single enjoy your freedom and don't worry too much about the future. Your future wife/husband is out there somewhere probably wondering where you are too.

I have been memmed by Sara (I knew it was only a matter of time)

sara has sent a meme to Write a story in 6 words.

Legend has it that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. His response? “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

"Everyone has a story. Can you tell yours in six words?"

So, here I go:

(Grrr being concise is hard)


Cognitive dissonance is becoming a problem


I think it is an accurate representation of where my mind is at these days, my current story.

This part is always hard, who to tag. Usually I get memmed close to last and then everyone is taken. I am also too lazy to look on everyones blog to see if they have done one yet. So Heather (even though she rarely blogs maybe she will ne inspired), Becky and Jay (if they havent been tagged).

Smells

While I was on the treadmill yesterday I was running between two ladies and one of them had really really strong perfume on, which is horrible anyway but even more so when you are breathing heavy and all you can breathe in is heavy perfume. As I was contemplating whether I would rather run next to someone who has very heavy perfume or cologne on or one that smells, the lady on the other side farted. Turns out both smells are pretty bad but the fart grossed me out more.