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It's sooo hoooottttttt. Why is it so hottttt......

Water World tomorrow. Yay, Water world.

I can't believe it. Last year, both Katherine Hepburn and Strom Thurmond were on my Death Watch list. And now here they are, 6 months later. Mocking me.

Ok ok, here's my damn birthday analysis thingie ma bob.


Of unusual beauty
...oh, yes, that's me. Get out of the way, I'm on my way to a swimsuit edition cover shoot
does not want to impress
...That's true, everyone who knows me knows I really could care less what anyone thinks
well-developed sense of justice
...hmm, not so much.
vivacious
interested
a born diplomat
...diplomacy is the art of repeating "nice doggy" while reaching for a baseball bat.
but irritate and sensitive in company
...oh, that's so true. Other than my family or close friends, I really hate having company
often due to a lack of self-confidence
...um no. I have too much confidence, if anything. I have prefected the art of "act as if".
acts sometimes superior
...sometimes?
feels not understood
...frequently
loves only once
has difficulties in finding a partner.
...It took a while, but was worth the wait.

I was up 3 times last night, for about 45 minutes each time. Something did not agree with my stomach..and I paid dearly for it, all night long.

I feel better today, but my stomach still feels a little "tender" if ya know what I mean.

I have a roast in the oven, and the kitchen is CLEAN so there! muwahaha.

I still need to put gas in Katie's car before she comes home tomorrow. It has been sooo nice having a vehicle at my disposal this week. I did take it in to have the brakes checked, and the guy said she needs a new master cylinder, which costs almost as much as the car did. Dunno what we're gonna do about that business yet. Maybe find a gear head to put in a used one or something. Such nonsense, these vehicles. Bleh.

Tomorrow is book buying and the closing on Mark's condo. Tuesday night is Amanda's bridal shower at church, which I am attending with trepidation. I haven't seen or talked to any of these women since we were "unmembershipped" at the church. But I just want to go and have fun, and celebrate Amanda's happiness. Next weekend is her family shower at the park. Whee.

I did find out too that Dan is not going to attend Amanda's wedding. What a pouting baby. He owes her an apology for some past crap, and yet he thinks she is the one that should make the first move. Be an adult, for gosh sakes and just let it go. Lord knows she has.

Anyway, I guess that's it.

Hey, don't look at me. You guys aren't posting for shit.

The auto auction was a total kick. I highly recommend attending one, even if it's just for fun. The frenzy was contagious and the auctioneers were funny. We had a really fun time. I think we're going back again next week. Whee!

We tried to yard sale afterwards, but it was too damn hot. We came home and I took Daniel to Conifer, and that was about it. It cooled off nicely tonight, that's the best thing about Colorado. Nice cool evenings after a scorching day.

Im off to bed to read..

Lots of "taking care of business" going on, which is nice. Monday is the closing on Mark's condo -finally!-. Katie also comes back on Monday, which is great. She's called several times, mostly to whisper into the phone.."oh my god mom, I am so fucking bored. We are pulling our hair out one by one just to have something to do..please help me."

Also been taking care of other niggly business here and there. Stuff we've been meaning to do forever, but just couldnt get around to it. Just bothersome - gotta go here, do that, turn this in, pay for that, go here, go there - type stuff. Hate that stuff.

And after 11 days of trying, we finally have to concede that Daniel's waterbed cannot be patched. Mark's tried every damn thing and then some. The hole is just too big. So tomorrow evening we're gonna drain it, and take it apart and get him a regular bed. He's just too careless to have such a thing. Fixing this damn thing has caused more headaches, sharp words and stress than anything else lately...and it's just not worth it.

Tomorrow is ultra crazy day. We have tumbling in the am, then we are going to see the tail end of an auto auction, to see what they're like. (We're going again next weekend to check it out from start to finish). Then we are hitting a couple of neighborhood yard sales (one is 40 families!) then we have to be in Conifer by 4 to drop Daniel off. Gah! Then tomorrow night, the bed.

I talked to my mom, 4 days post dead-person-cornea-transplant. She's miserable. She cant see, and it hurts a lot, feels like sand in there..she says. It's the stitches, which likely won't come out for a few weeks. I've been reading some online journals of other cornea transplant folks, and it's a long slow healing..but usually worth it.

I'm headed for the bath...finishing up "The Hot Zone" (I highly recommend) in a cool tub. Yummy.

Everything just kinda blows right now.

We had a big discussion this morning, again the one about "how things are, and how they should be." Which usually turns into "it's all your fault." with fingers pointing in all directions. There's just so much shit to be shoveled right now, and we're knee deep without waders.

All we need right now to make things perfect is:
A free car
A bag of money
Someone to clean the kitchen
A new waterbed mattress
A few people to be wiped off the face of the earth
Sleep

That'll do.

One more thing, we finally have a half.com "shop" so you can see all our books without waiting for an excel spreadsheet to download. You can brose the left hand column for specific kinds of books. Go buy something.

Ugh. I feel like the summer is just getting underway, and then I get stuff in the mail about school registration. It's only like 5 weeks away! And the first day of school is...get this..47 days from today, on August 13. That's only 7 weeks away. 7 more Mondays. yikes! That's too soon! Then right after school starts it'll be Labor Day, then Halloween, kids birthdays, (10/3, 10/13, 11/16) then Thanksgiving then Christmas! I'm not ready!

It'll be an interesting year. Katie could be skating by with 1 english class and 1 elective, but she's taking a full load of honors and Advanced Prep chemistry, physics, spanish IV, and calculus. She's really hoping that she gets a good scholarship offer for Pharmacy school. Go, Katie.

And Daniel...well, let's just hope he makes it through the year again. 9th grade was a vast improvement over other years, but there is much progress to be made.

I'm excited for Emma to start kindergarten, although 47 days away just seems so soon! But at last someone else will hear the "why" questions all day long. I could never be a kindergarten teacher. This particular kindergarten program is 2 full days and one half day per week. I think she's gonna love it.

I've got a rip roaring headache...so I'm over and out.

4 hours of bookbuying today. 10 bags. Really packed to the hilt bags. Im pooped. We had fast food for dinner and the kitchen is a disaster.

I've been looking for the "Twin Peaks" series on VHS for some months, and had them on my half.com and amazon wish list for a long time. I had it set where I would get an email if anyone listed a tape for under $5. (There are 5 episodes on a tape). Usually they go for about $12 apiece. Well, last week I finally got an email and picked up the first 5 episodes for a good price. 5 tapes to go.

So weirdness of all weirdness, I received the tape in the mail on Monday. Monday afternoon while we were book buying at Salvation Army I found the next 4 tapes for $1 apiece. Wow!! Soo weird that it happened right on the day when I got one in the mail. And I have been keeping an eye on them for months. Sofa King! Cool! (Say it outloud).

So now our new date movie is going to be episodes of Twin Peaks. We did Band of Brothers, Coupling and a whole host of movies. I love squishing together on the couch to watch fun stuff.

Not much else to write. Just busy, busy.

Not for the faint of heart. Test Your Personality in 3 simple questions. Make sure your speakers are on...but not too loud.

A busy day of book buying and assorted errands. We were gone from lunchtime till dinnertime. Funny how I tell time by when it's time to eat. lol

Only 13 bags of books, small by comparison to some weeks. We're forced to be a little more choosy since we don't have the wagon to load books in anymore. Mark's car can hold a few, but not too many. The 13 bags was in two trips to two different stores. I also had to go to 2 banks, and the grocery store. I have more errands tomorrow and a couple of things to get in the mail. I have Katie's car for the week, which is wonderful..! I feel so mobile!

I secured the pavilion for Amanda's bridal shower today and tomorrow the invites will go in the mail. Everything for the wedding seems to be coming along swimmingly.

Katie called from Whee, Dundee and said it was as close to horrible as horrible gets. They are spending a grand amount of time at an elderly aunt and uncle's house who "have a lot of knick knacks, and no A/C." I was also informed.. "Mom, they had ground beef subs for dinner, and marinated cucumbers.." At least they have a nice hotel room and a pool to play in. The weather there is supposed to be scorching this week.

Dy and Emma will go home tomorrow, then Mark will have to go get Emma again on Friday so she can attend tumbling on Saturday. I feel like I'm in the middle of a Berenstain Bears book sometimes.."Too Much Toddler". I guess it's just been far too long since my kids were squealing and squirming day in and day out.

Daniel has been taking a weight lifting class at the Rec Center, and he really likes it so far. They meet twice and week and so far the only complaint I've heard is that "the coach is a girl". heh.

My mom finally had her eye surgery today, I think this was the day she had the corneal implants. I asked her if they were from cadavers, but she said she didn't know and doesn't want to know. I told her she'd probably be seeing memories of someone else's life from now on. HA! She was not amused.

My dad is on an Alaskan cruise to celebrate his 70th birthday. Alaska. brr..

Daniel's waterbed (which is actually Mark's waterbed) has a gigantic hole in it. He spilled superglue on it while we were in Atlanta, and when he pulled on the sheets that were glued to the bed, it pulled off this giant piece of the mattress, about 2 inches square. That's a huge hole for a waterbed. Mark has spent a lot of time patching it, and it is still not holding water completely. He slept on it last night, it appeared to be ok, but now it is dribbling again. Another repair job will be in the works tomorrow.

Calgon, slit my wrists.

Katie just left for all parts Dundee. Whee, Dundee. She'll be back next Monday, I hope it's not too much of a drag, neigher her or Charlie are looking forward to it all that much.

We had a big family lunch today, Me, Mark, Emma, Daniel, Katie, Cindi, my mom, Amanda and Justin. That was fun, though rather hectic, as usual. I don't know why our family outings always seem so frenzied.

Dy is staying for the weekend to do Expedia business, and her and I went to the movies to see Bruce Almighty early tonight. Prtty good, I liked it a lot. Strange that I can host my boyfriend's ex-wife (almost) for the weekend and also enjoy her company while doing so. Stranger still is that she is comfortable here. I like it. I wish all ex's and currents could do it...it's really better for everyone.

I think I'm tired now.

We had tumbling this morning, groan...we're forever grumbling about getting up early (8:30am - that's early to us!) on Saturday morning for tumbling...but it's so good for Emma..so we grin through our coffee-to-go and are always glad we went.

One thing that really gets on my nerves is people who bring younger or older kids along with them, and the kids inevitably end up in the class, farting around. First off, they're participating in a class they didn't pay for, and second of all, it means the coach spends time helping these kids, taking time away from the kids in the class. It's really starting to irritate me. Sometimes it's only one or two kids, but today there were 4 kids in class who weren't really supposed to be in there. Gah.

I'm so sleepy, but I have tons to do. Dy is coming for a couple of days, so she can take care of expedia business. I don't know why I feel like I need to clean for people. They probably don't even notice, and really don't care. I know when I go to someone's house I never notice that it's clean or not clean, unless it's, you know... really not clean.

I need to get to the bank, and wash my hair, and..and..and..

But my back is sunburned from Water World, so wearing a bra is uncomfortable - and all I really want to do is lay on the bed and read so it doesn't hurt. But I laid on the bed yesterday afternoon with the intention of just reading for a few minutes, and ended up taking a 4 hour nap...so it's probably not a good idea.

Friday, June 20, 2003

Friday Five

1. Is your hair naturally curly, wavy, or straight? Long or short?
It's stick straight. I used to perm it all the time, but now Katie won't let me. It's a little longer than shoulder length.

2. How has your hair changed over your lifetime?
Um. It hasn't all that much. I tend to wear my hair the same way that I always have.

3. How do your normally wear your hair?
I put loose curls in it if we're going out somewhere besides the thrift store. Otherwise it's up in a half ponytail.

4. If you could change your hair this minute, what would it look like?
Longer, wavy and layered.

5. Ever had a hair disaster? What happened?
No, I don't think I have. I guess I've been lucky.

I realized something last night, that was really wacky.

Right after Dan and I broke up, I started talking to a guy from my knife site that I frequent. We would IM each other, emailed, we even talked on the phone. It got a little serious, as serious as a long distance online only relationship can be..which isn't much..but still. Anyway, we spoke everyday, and there were plans to meet, yada yada yada.

Anyway, I realized that I met him at the Blade show, and didn't connect who he was. He was overtly friendly, even taking me away from my "group" for a while to meet his friends. I liked him a lot, but was definitely operating under the "I just met you" guise, keeping the conversation cursory but friendly. He seemed to know a couple of things about me that not very many people know, which I thought only mildly odd at the time.

Then last night while reading some postings at my knife place in cyberspace, I realized who he was. I was embarassed that I treated him so flippantly, and then thought maybe since Mark was there and all, that that behavior was approriate anyway. But it was a really weird feeling to realize who he was all of the sudden. I suppose it's a good thing I didn't realize it at the time, I think I would have felt really awkward.

********
I saw this over at Max's and I hope he doesn't mind if I quote his post, and post the link. It's truly amazing, you have to watch this video.

"There's a new Honda commercial in the UK. The film uses no computer graphics or digital tricks. Everything you see really happened, in real time, exactly as you see it.

The film took 606 takes. On the first 605 takes, something, usually very minor, didn't work. They would then have to set the whole thing up again. Despite being only two minutes long, the film cost $6 million and took three months to complete.

The film is fast becoming the most downloaded advertisement in Internet history.

There are six and only six hand-made Accords in the world. To the horror of Honda engineers, the filmmakers disassembled two of them to make the film. Everything you see in the film (aside from the walls, floor, ramp, and complete Honda Accord) are parts from those two cars.

The voiceover is Garrison Keillor.

When the ad was shown to Honda executives, they liked it and commented on how amazing computer graphics have gotten. They fell off their chairs when they found out it was for real."

Check it out:
Honda Ad

Just came across a couple of pitcures from Kt and Charlie's trip to San Fran in March. I love these:








They're going to Dundee, IL on Monday for a week, for a family reunion of Charlie's. Whee, Dundee.

This was pretty fun, seen first at Jennifer's.

Your Brain Usage Profile

Auditory : 56%
Visual : 43%
Left : 65%
Right : 35%

Danelle, you are mildly left-hemisphere dominant while showing a slight preference for auditory processing. This overall combination seems to indicate a well-working blend of logic and judgment and organization, with sufficient intuition, perception and creativity to balance that dominance.
I agree, although it's vague, so...

You will at times experience conflict between how you feel and what you think which will generally be resolved in favor of what you think. You will find yourself interested in the practical applications of whatever material you have learned or whatever situation you face and will retain the ability to refine whatever knowledge you possess or aspects of whatever position you are in.
Not true, my feelings almost always guide me.

By and large, you will orient yourself toward intellectual activities and structure. Though not rigid, you will schedule yourself, plan, and focus on routine and continuity of operations, rather than on changes and disruptions.
Very true. I'm an organizer by nature, and I hate surprises.

When changes or disruptions occur, you are likely to consider first how to ensure that such disruptions have the same balance is reflected in your sensory preference. You will tend to be reflective and measured in your interaction style. For the most part, you will be considered objective without being cold and goal-oriented while retaining the capacity to listen to others.
Also very true. People love to talk to me.

Preferentially you learn by listening and maintaining significant internal dialogues with yourself. Nevertheless, you have sufficient visualization capabilities to benefit from using graphs, charts, doodles, or even body movement to enhance your comprehension and memory.
I'm 100% a visual learner. Internal dialogue means I suppose I frequently talk to myself. Ok, I'll give ya that.

To the extent that you are even implicitly aware of your hemispheric dominance and sensory style, you will feel most comfortable in those arenas which emphasize verbal skills and logic. Teaching, law, and science are those that stand out among the professions, along with technical sales and management.
Verbal skills are definitely my forte. Science...no.

Well, that was fun.

We watched The Amazing Race finally, after missing it for the past two weeks. It was great..man I love that show.

Water World tomorrow. I know I said we weren't getting passes, but...well, we've worked it out. 'Nuff said.

I'm a slug today. I just laid on the couch and watched "Changing Lanes" and then "Holes" one right after the other. Now I feel groggy and useless.

I didn't go up to the pool because Emma's tummy was hurting, and Daniel wasn't interested in going. I'll do a lot of things by myself, but public swimming isn't one of them. I was bummed, I really wanted to get out in the sun and water. This is turning out to be not the summer I'd hoped it would be.

Amanda's wedding is 30 days away. She seems relatively calm about it, and everything is falling into place...so far. She wants to see the dress I'm wearing (with veto power) so we're going to go to lunch on Sunday, that'll be fun.

Katie and Charlie are out and about together today, then going to a concert tonight. She's home so infrequently now, I really miss her sometimes. I'm glad she has her car and some freedom now. She makes enough money to have a little fun and that's good. She has a good life, and she deserves it.

Well, that's my little mid-afternoon update. I suppose you can all get back to your damn Oprah watching now.

Well the cars are gone, gone, gone. I feel a great sense of closure, but did come in the house and had one more crying jag about it. I can do that if I want.

It was surreal to watch the only two cars I've ever owned be dragged away by a tow truck and a big burly old man named Pete. Getting the Hyundai up on the flatbed was horrific. There were no tires left, just melted rubber so he had to just drag it down the driveway, the front bumper scraping the concrete the whole time. Emma was out there with me, initially very excited to see everything..but about halfway through she declared that this was "freaking her out" and went inside.

Pete asked for the keys to the Corsica, he said so he could unlock the wheel and "ease it down the driveway". I went inside for a second and came out to see him inside the car, rolling up the median. I cringed, knowing I had forgotten to tell him it had no brakes. Zoinks.

But he got them both hooked up at the same time, and down the street they went. I now have $110 in my pocket, the total worth of two cars. I don't need to tell you I shelled out a lot more than that for them. Sigh.

Every morning, I get up thinking of things I want to do that day, and then remembering I have to get a ride everywhere. Bleh. I had planned on getting a Water World pass this summer and going and hanging out with Daniel, Katie and Cindi there but now it seems pointless, considering I don't have a way to get there. Ah well...

Today after cleaning up the driveway, thought "I think I'll take Emma swimming at North Jeffco"...and then wondering if I should ask Mark yet again for a ride. He's been incredibly patient, and always has the attitude of "wherever you need to go, I will take you" but I still have to work around whatever else he's got going on. I know, I should stop complaining. But I probably won't anytime soon.

I have so much I should be doing. Laundry, tidying, listing books, putting things up on ebay, yada yada yada. But I just don't wanna. Not today.

I have been bookless for almost 2 weeks now. We don't normally find the types of books I like, but still I go look through the shelves. And look, and look, and look.

I've just stooped so low as to order a book from my own wish list. Paaa-thetic.

Ok, well let's see. I guess I could post a little bit about the trip. It was uneventful for the most part, fun but as I said, emotional.

We got in around dinnertime Thursday night, and settled in to do pretty much nothing. We went to the grocery store because we had a kitchenette suite. We got coffee, ice cream, chips and dip, you know..essentials. We also found a thrift store (the first of many) while we were searching for a grocery store. By the time we got back to the room we realized that we'd missed The amazing Race. Bummmmmerr....

Friday we went to the show, and it was great. Saw tons of folks I knew from online, some I'd never met before and some I'd met last year. It was so cool. I bought Daniel a knife - a really cool Russian Assassin knife - that he loved, of course. I also got Cindi a little somthin somthin. Maybe she'll be quiet now! ha!

Friday afternoon we took a long nap, which was great. It was raining and the drapes made our room ultra dark, which both made for a great snooze. We kept waiting for an opportunity to go to the pool, but it never got sunny enough while we were at the room.

Friday night we met a bunch of folks at the "Pit" which is actually a circular seating area in the lobby of the Waverly hotel.





It was a ton of fun, and we got home hella late.

Saturday Mark was feeling a little under the weather in the morning, so he decided to stay in the hotel and sleep in a bit. I went to the show alone and had a great time. A buddy of mine, Ren, needed a ride from his hotel to the show, so I picked him up and when I got to his hotel, he had another guy with him that I knew really well from our online site but had never met. An infectious diseases doctor, he was. Very cute...and we got along famously.

I spent the morning at the show, then went to lunch with some of the guys, then back to the room. Mark was feeling better so I brought him some food and we lazed around a bit and then went to more thrift stores. We found a big illustrated Horses book for Emma, and I found an Eddie Bauer gortex raincoat for $6. Whee!

Saturday night was the best, we hooked up with a load of other folks and went to dinner. We had the absolute worst service ever performed by a so-called waiter. We had to ask and re-ask for everything. This guy could not have cared less about us. And let me tell you, these gentlemen I was with are not stingy tippers. I've seen them drop quite a lot of money for food and tips when the service is decent. Well, I don't want to tell you what we left this guy, but it wasn't pretty. I spoke to the manager on our way out, and they waiter happened to walk up while I was talking to him. I said to him, "No offense, but you really blew a good tip with us". I was polite, but he got the message. Then, we left to go back to the pit and Mark realized he left his cell phone at the lousy restaurant! gah! I made him go in and get it. Luckily, it was still there.

Saturday night is a little foggy, but suffice to say it was really, really fun. I spent a lot of time talking to the good doctor, and also met a couple of other new guys that I'd talked to online. Funny how you get opinions of people online and then meet them. A few that I met were ultra foxy, let me tell ya. And some people are very outrageous and gregarious online, but then we meet them and they were quite meek and inhibited. Weird.

We got in late late Saturday night, well officially Sunday morning. At around 6 am Sunday morning I woke up and did not feel good at all. I threw up a couple of times and then things started brewing on the other end. It was so fortuitous that I had thought to bring a little bit of every medicine in the house. So I had something for my stomach, and some immodium too. God bless Immodium.

We met some folks for breakfast on Sunday morning, and then had intended to go back to the show for a while. But after breakfast I was still having to high step it to the bathroom pretty frequently, so we begged off. Another reason is that I really really suck at goodbyes. I know that sounds trivial, but you just have no idea. I consider Ren one of my best friends from our little group, and when I had to say goodbye to him at breakfast I was inconsolable. Even now I am tearing up just thinking about it.

We get very close in our little place in cyberspace, and we know each other better than some people know us in real life.

So when I thought about going to the show to see everyone for the last time, maybe for a year, maybe forever, I just couldn't do it. I wanted to remember everyone the way things were Saturday night, when the mood was "See ya tomorrow". In some ways I regretted it later, and in some ways I was glad I didn't go.

So instead, Mark and I tooled around on Sunday and went to Underground Atlanta. That was a lot of fun. lots of little shops and pubs under the street, and people dancing and being nutty above the street. I bought lots of little trinkets for people there, and found some really good cotton candy. I'm such a fiend!

Monday we had to turn the car in early, even though our flight didn't leave until 10pm, because of the time we'd rented it. So we drove around a bit, thrift stores, parks, taking pictures, etc and then went to the airport to turn in the car. From there we took the subway to the Peachtree Center which turned out to be almost as much fun as Underground Atlanta. We found a pool hall, and a brewery that had great beer. The only downer about Monday was that since we were walking or outside all day (no car) we were sweating buckets in the humidity. By the time we'd headed back to the airport late that night, our clothes looked like we had taken them out of the washer and worn them wet. Seriously.

There was a huge lightning storm in Atlanta right as we were to take off, so we had to sit in the plane and do nothing for an hour till it stopped. Even when we took off it was really bumpy and I got so freaked at one point that I was crying. sheesh. I was surprised that my claustrophobia stayed in check, even though we were sitting in the plane for so long and not moving.

So..that's about it I suppose. The trip in a nutshell. Go see my page of pictures if you haven't already. Nutty stuff.

In other news...

The cars are being towed away tomorrow. I was really worried about how much it was going to cost me, but it turns out they are paying me $110. Whatta deal. Our local news did a story on the fire on Sunday's 5pm newscast, but they had told me it would be Saturday, so no one taped it, and no one saw it that I know of. I don't expect anything to become of it at this point. I just want to get the cars the hell out of here, and chalk this one up to "damn, that shit sucked."

Goodness, Im so out of the blogging habit. And now I need to play around with this new post box and see if there's anything new and whizzy.

Today was catch up day. Lots of books and emails to attend to, plus Mark had to drive to get Emma. She has been a non-stop question machine, re the car fire. (And no, nothing is happening there. and probably wont. Bleh.)

I did get a page made up of the pictures from the Blade Show. Most of it won't mean anything to y'all cause you don't know these people, but there are some other pictures that are really funny. Take a look.

More tomorrow, I promise.

Oh wow, new post box.

We're still here in Atlanta, leaving tonight at 10pm Atlanta time. Has been a fun trip, but emotional. It's hard to see these guys for just a few hours and then have to say goodbye so soon. I'm no good at goodbyes.

We're at the public library checking on orders and stuff, getting ready to go hit some thrit stores and then turn the car in, and ride the subway MARTA thingie into downtown to waste some time before we have to catch the plane.

Hope everyone has had a good weekend and I'll have a full report at 11. Or so.

For Cindi, the Oracle of Starbucks. Astrology is lame and Myers-Briggs is for losers. The omniscient Oracle of Starbucks can tell you everything about your personality by what you drink at Starbucks.
~seen at The Presurfer, of course.

I only have ever had one thing at Starbucks, which is a Grande Vanilla Latte. I haven't been to Starbucks all that much because I think it's a rip-off. And while I love love love coffee, I don't like flavored coffee. So, I never know what else to order. A few weeks ago when meeting up with Dan for the Daniel drop, he brought me a cup of some really weirdly named coffee, and it was good but I have no idea what it was.
So here ya go.

The all-knowing Oracle of Starbucks Behold the Oracle's wisdom:
Personality type: Lame

You're a simple person with modest tastes and a reasonable lifestyle. In other words, you're boring.
(mm sometimes..sometimes not)
Going to Starbucks makes you feel sophisticated; you'd like to be snooty and order an espresso but aren't sure if you're ready for that level of excitement. (No, rather Starbucks makes me feel like I am paying way too much for a cup of coffee.)

People laugh at you because you use fake curse words like "friggin'" and "oh, crumb!"
(umm, no.)
Everyone who thinks America's Funniest Home Videos is a great show drinks Grande Vanilla Latte.
(Ok, that one is true))

Also drinks: V8
Can also be found: On the couch at home

I'm just so not Starbucks.

Well, it's getting close. 12 more hours and we leave for the airport. I wish I was happier about it.

I'm sitting here with my hair up, dye job in process. Well, not a dye job exactly just the same old Loreal 8GB that I always use. Cover the gray, brighten things up a bit. After I rinse it I'm gonna soak in the tub and then paint my toenails. Are you on the edge of your seat yet?

I've run out of room in my suitcase and hinted to Mark that sharing is a good thing. I don't need much room in his bag, just a smidge. He reminded me that we're only going for the weekend, and I reminded him in turn that it's Thursday morning through Monday night, a little more than a weekend, thankyouverymuch. Plus! I have to make room for more than several knives. So there.

We have definite plans for much of the time, which I suppose is good. I do want to spend some time just lazing by the hotel pool or lollygagging around a mall, but generally our time is already scheduled with others.

I plan on taking oodles of pictures, and will probably be updating here too. Although we've trained Katie pretty well on the books, we'll want to monitor sales and whatnot from Atlanta a little bit. There's a library 3 minutes away from our hotel, and last year our hotel had a pc in the lobby, which was nice.

That's it for now. Maybe one more shout before we go. Otherwise, you all behave.

I hate being dependent on others to get things done. I have to ask for rides, work around what people are doing and it just sucks. I can't pick up and just go to the thrift store, or to browse around WalMart and buy abolutely nothing, or even go to 7-11 for 5 minutes and get more of that Incredible Hulk cotton candy I am so hooked on. As a matter of fact, that's the last place we'd been Saturday night before My Hyundai from hell decide to burst into fucking flames. I had a craving for cotton candy and Mark was so sweet and came with me to 7-11 to get some. Then satan incarnate invaded my electrical system.

I'm just sayin'.

So today, Katie took me to Kmart and then the grocery store. I felt really bad cause she had an opportunity to go to Water World with Cindi, but had already told me she'd run errands. blah. Now I'm criying, dammit. Blah!

Enough.

So I'm trying to pack, and launder things, and decide what to take and what not to. Mark thought we could share a suitcase! ha! Insane man!

And why the hell do we stress about what to wear on the plane? Who gives a rats ass. You wait in line, sit in chairs, sit on the plane, wait in another line, sit in your rental car and then collapse in a hotel room. Not exactly a dress-up day.

I just feel depressed. I should be excited and a-twitter with anticipation. But I'm just depressed.

20 CLUES A WOMAN SHOULD "CALL IT A NIGHT"

1. I have absolutely no idea where my purse is.
2. I believe that dancing with my arms overhead and wiggling my butt while yelling WOO-HOO is truly the sexiest dance move around.
3. I've suddenly decided I want to kick someone's ass and honestly believe I could do it too.
4. In my last trip to "pee" I realize I now look more like Tammy Faye Baker than the goddess I was just four hours ago.
5. I drop my 3:00 a.m. burrito on the floor (which I'm eating even though I'm not the least bit hungry), pick it up and carry on eating it.
6. I start crying and telling everyone I see that I love them sooo much.
7. There are less than three hours before I have to get up.
8. I've found a deeper/spiritual side to the geek sitting next to me.
9. The man I'm flirting with used to be my 5th grade teacher.
10 .The urge to take off articles of clothing, stand on a table and sing or dance becomes strangely overwhelming.
11. My eyes just don't seem to want to stay open on their own so I keep them half closed and think it looks exotically sexy.
12. I've suddenly taken up smoking and become really good at it.
13. I yell at the bartender, who (I think)cheated me by giving me just lemonade, but that's just because I can no longer taste the gin.
14. I think I'm in bed, but my pillow feels strangely like the kitchen floor.
15 .I begin every conversation with a booming, "DON'T take this the WRONG WAY but..."
16. I fail to notice that the toilet lid's down when I sit on it.
17. My hugs begin to resemble wrestling take-down moves.
18. I'm tired so I just sit on the floor (wherever I happen to be standing) and take a quick nap.
19. I begin leaving the buttons open on my button fly pants to cut down on the time I'm in the bathroom away from my drink.
20. I take my shoes off because I believe they're the reason I'm having problems walking straight.

It's really weird, but the whole fire thing..I think back to how it all went down and it's like it didn't really happen. I look at the pictures that I took of the firemen - which were right after the fire was out - and I barely remember it. I know when Mark and the cops were screaming for me to get out of the house, I was completely out of it. I knew the entire car was in flames and yet I was getting in the cupboard to get a bowl to put water in! A bowl!!

It's like from the moment that I opened that car door and saw the flames, everything was twilight zone. When I was up the street with the rest of the neighbors, I was sitting with my head on my knees shaking really bad, and listening to the sounds of everything happening, but I just was not processing it. The "booms" of the glass breaking and tires popping were deafening, but I just wasn't registering what it was. It all seems so surreal. God, it was so fucking scary. You have no idea how incredibly fucking scary this incident was.

I don't know if it's a body reaction thing or what, but I just was not registering that this was really happening. It's like you're going through the motions, but thinking "this really isn't happening".

And when I go outside and walk by the cars, it's really sad. I've cried about it so much, and I just can't stop.

It's extremely creepy to look at the car. It's a scary sight to behold. Just when I think I'm feeling better about it, I break down again. Like now.

And the uncertainty about what will happen with all of this is numbing. I have to mentally acquiesce that I will never be compensated in any way and will just have to suck up and save to buy another car. Good God, how am I going to do that? So for now I have to sit and wait to be carted around, trying to arrange errands while others are going to be out and about.

I can't wait till this is all over and the cars are gone, and the memories fade a bit.

Well blogger is back up, but my blog isn't. wtf. Grr.

I made a page of all the horrible car fire pictures. Bleh.

On a lighter note, please be aware:

You can put cigarette lighters in your carry-on baggage, but not your checked baggage.
You may only bring cattle prods in your checked baggage.
~however~
You may put toy-transformer robots in either checked or carry on baggage.

Just fyi.

The last time we drove the car was last night, about 11:15p.

At 10 this morning a neighbor came banging on the door saying there was smoke coming from my car. I went out there, and it looked like it was overheating.

I opened the back passenger door and saw that the inside was in flames (small flames at that time) and black smoke came billowing out. I freaked and slammed the car door shut. Somehow, during this, the inside of the door touched my arm and I got a nasty burn there. As soon as I shut the car door, there was a loud "whoosh" and in a matter of about 2 seconds the entire car was completely engulfed. My opening the door caused the flareup.

The investigators said it probably sparked last night after we drove it, and smoldered for the next 11 hours.

After I opened the door and the fire flared, the whole car was on fire and flames were going up about 6 feet above the top of the car. Right after that the trees caught fire, and flames were HIGH in the air. We had two 40' evergreens there and they were completely on fire. The heat and the sound was amazing.

The fire department finally got there, it seemed to take forever although everyone else said they were there very fast. I was in shock, catatonic almost. I was on the phone to 911 after the trees went up and then I heard cops everywhere evacuating the neighborhood. Mark was yelling that I was in the house and came and we ran out and up the street.

There were 5 fire trucks, too many cop cars to count, and 2 ambulances. They evacuated almost every house on the street, and gathered everyone up the street about 10 houses. I was sitting on someone's lawn with my head on my knees, shaking and freaking out. I kept hearing these loud "BOOM" noises. The fireman thought the car was going to blow. My car in front of the Elantra caught fire, and the two other cars on the side of my car are severly damaged. (The neighbors)

The boom noises were the windows bursting and the tires blowing up. It sounded like shotgun blasts.

Here's one more picture, of the whole inside from the back. And yes, that is Daniel's bike...which just happened to be in the back.







It's been a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.

A really shitty thing has happened to us today, and we've now got some serious shit to deal with. A picture is worth a thousand words.













This is my car. Faulty electrical wiring, the fire investigators said. They also said 2 more minutes, and the house would have caught. Look at the trees:






There's not much more to say.

It occured to me, at this ridiculous time of 3:48am that television shows provide very witty blog titles.

Full House
Grounded For Life
King of the Hill
The Weakest Link
Law and Order
Growing Pains
Real World
etc...

I picked my blog name for obvious reasons. At the time this blog was started, my life truly was a mess. It's actually painful for me to go back and read some parts. The summer of 2001 was particularly bad. Actually most of 2001 was angst-ridden and depressing. I was hurting a lot. It's amazing how things can turn around.

I've considered shanging my blog name, but just haven't. I think I'm too attached to it now.

So I was wondering how you came up with your blog title or domain name? Did you just slap it down or did you agonize over it?

You are
Ice Cream

You're madly in love, cheerful, and carefree. Life couldn't get any better than this!

Which Sarah McLachlan Song Are You?

Courtesy, Jennifer

Oh, so sorry. How do knives get packed for the plane?

Well, most of my knives are small folders, meaning the blade folds into the handle, rather than being a "fixed blade", like a hunting knife. So I have lots of these nifty little cases for holding them. Most of them fit in there snugly:






And then zip up nicely:






I do have a few that do not fit into these small cases. Those I usually just wrap up in a scarf or something similar, and then tote them in a seperate zip-up makeup type case. Those are my balisongs (twirling-type knives - one shown closed and one shown open), my automatics -knives that pop open when you push a button-, (an Italian stiletto and a Boker) and my one fixed blade knife. Next to the fixed blade knife is a Kydex sheath to store it in.
The blades are not black, knives do not photograph well:





Now isn't that so damn exciting?
No, I know it isn't. But y'all asked. lol

Stayed at the hospital late, my dad was asleep when I got there around 6, but then my step-brother Jerry accidentally doused him with about a gallon of ice water, and he was pretty much awake after that. The surgery went well, they think they got all of the cancer, plus they found a goiter (visions of Seinfeld) buried deep in his neck too, and removed that. My dad was jovial and quite talkative, flirting with the nurses even. Typical.

He had a lot of visitors in and out, mostly funeral business folks, talking a lot of "shop". There was a shooting very close to here recently, a boy who had just graduated High School and had a bright future, including a full scholarship to a Jesuit College and a prominent internship. Well, he was having a pool party while his parents were out of town and 3 thugs crashed it. The boy finally got them to leave and I guess he was standing in the driveway making sure they were really leaving. As they drove away, they fired three shots, and one hit this boy right in the chest. So my dad's funeral home did the funeral today and a lot of folks had that on their mind. They said they could have filled three more churches with the throngs of folks that showed up, and that they ran out of everything from seats to prayer cards. A senseless and stupid act by evil and thoughtless people.

We went to see Finding Nemo, and it was very cute. I laughed, I cried. Emma was enraptured.

I have to get up early and take my mom for her PHYSICAL (Cindi!!) tomorrow, so I am hitting the hay early.

Oh, and we are having rental car issues re: Atlanta. I.dont.need.this.

It feels like it's been a long day already. I think just cause I tried to get out and about and do a bunch of stuff while still feeling so ill, and now I am paying for it.

We all laid on the couch and watched The Majestic, not too bad..not too good. Tomorrow we are heading out to see Finding Nemo..at the theater no less. Emma is ultra excited.

We've got her in the habit of putting herself to bed, and it's going very well. She gets her teeth brushed and tucked in with a story as usual, but then is allowed to read quietly in her room for a few minutes on her own and decide herself when she's done. After a few minutes whe gets up and turns out the light and goes to bed. Very big-girl grown up! She's become so good in the morning about getting up on her own, and getting a snack for breakfast, and watching a show or two before she comes to wake us up. She has her own low drawer in the kitchen full of things she can manage herself. It's so nice to have that extra time in the morning before bounding out of bed with ferocious anticipation of the day! (Riight).

Tomorrow my dad goes in to have his thyroid removed. I talked to him for a little while tonight, asking him if he was fondling and playing with his thyroid for the last time. He said that Katie had mailed him a little handmade card, and that he was really touched by that. Katie's so sweet about stuff like that. Very thoughtful, and making sure cards, etc get there on time. Cindi's always really good about that, we always laugh when the card from Cindi comes exactly on someone's birthday. And it always does. Never a day before or after, alwasy right on the day. I think that's very cool.

I'm off to list books. Gotta clear some of these dishes away first. I have no idea how all these dishes end up on my desk. Damn dirty desk gypsies.

How to pack the knives...Derb asks.

Actually that's been a topic of discussion for some days now. Some folks are shipping them on to their hotels to be placed in the safe ahead of their arrival. It's not against the rules to ship knives in carry on baggage, but a lot of folks are afraid that since every bag is searched, some are likely to come up missing. I'm a little worried about that too, but I haven't made a decision yet on what to do. I'm inclined to take my chances and just put them in my bag and hope for the best. I guess that's saying I trust the baggage handlers a little more than the Ramada employees. Hell, I don't know. I haven't decided.

I did go get them all sharpened today tho, that was fun. I guess it's one of those "you don't know how bad it was till it's better" type of things. They are again Spydie sharp, and I'm glad I got that out of the way. I also went to Walmart and got a little of this and a little of that to take. You know - new shampoo, new mascara, rolaids, tiny lotion, all the critical stuff.

I have a raging headache and I need to go to the bank. My throat is no longer sore but I have a nagging cough that is making my head hurt worse. Or maybe that's what's giving me the headache to begin with. Ah, hell.

T-09.

Actually 206 hours from now, we will be sweating in the Atlanta humidity, and back-slapping, hugging and shaking hands with online friends that I talk to daily, but that we haven't seen in person since last year at this time.

Last year I felt the humidity the moment we stepped into the plane tunnel thingie (technical term) that you walk in from the plane to the airport. I swear I thought I heard a swooshing sound as the thick air hit my body. But then we got in our air conditioned car and went to our air conditioned hotel room, and spent the weekend in an air conditioned convention center and an air conditioned bar. Actually, there was too many of us for the bar, and we spilled into the Convention Center/Hotel lobby. I heard I had a really good time.

I have many books to put away before then, and we also need to "train" Katie to do what we're doing while we're gone. It shouldn't be that difficult but there's a lot of "if this, then that" stuff that you just don't think about.

I also need to:

Get Sun. Either pay to get sun, or get actual sun. I am pale. Ghastly.
Get my knives sharpened. I can't show off these great knives in this condition. The horra.
Go see my dad in the hospital on Thursday.
Take my mom to the Eye Doctor for surgery on Friday. Then take her to lunch for her birthday. 70 years old. Cripes.
People's Fair on Saturday
Library book sale on Sunday

Gah! Can you buy a clone on ebay?

I got my wedding invitation from Amanda today. I almost started crying. It made it seem really real. I can't believe she's getting married. I just hope she's happy and that it lasts. Is that too much?

Well, this is exciting.

I found a bag of doll house furniture for $8 at ARC last week, and tossed it up on ebay for auction. I am stunned at what it sold for. Go see.

Damn, Im good at this shit.

Bleh. Still sick. My throat is so sore, my glands are swollen and I have a juicy cough. Whee!

We went book buying and got a lot of good stuff, 7 bags today. probably around 225 books or so. More to list...Gah.

Am heading for the couch to watch A Simple Plan, one of my favorite movies. I watch it every time it's on. Man, what a mess that simple plan turned into.

My divorce was final 3 years ago today. Yes, you can say Happy Birthday if you want, cause I definitely felt reborn.

Just don't say it too loud, cause I'm sick. I have achies, my throat hurts, my ear hurts, I have a hacking dry cough, I have some sort of weird stomach cramps going on and for some God forsaken reason my right heel hurts so bad I have to walk on tippie toes on that foot.

I'm going to try to take a shower and a dayquil (not necessarily in that order) and see if I feel good enough to go with Mark to Northglenn for books. Don't hold your breath.

Today's weirdness:
Mark and I were having trouble falling asleep last night. We went to bed about 1:30 but were tossing and turning and still talking to each other till well after 2-2:30. Then at about 2:50 as we were both juuuust starting to drift...

The doorbell rang.

Nobody rings your doorbell at 2:50 in the morning for any good reason. Maybe they've hit your car, killed your dog, or they are bleeding and need to use your phone. Or maybe someone is chasing them and they've managed to get away long enough to ring your doorbell. None of this is good.

No one ever rings your doorbell at 3 in the morning to give you a free tv or anything.

We were totally freaked out. We hurried and put bathrobes on and ran down there, it couldn't have been more than 20 seconds after it rang that we opened the door, but there was no one there. Mark walked out to the street and said there was no one around anywhere. My heart was pounding wildly, and I could not get over it. It was so weird. We laid awake for probably another 45 minutes or so, just talking about how damn weird that was. I'm still a little freaked out about it.

Ok, off to try to feel better. Wish me luck.

I just ate entirely too much watermelon. Really.

Today was pretty good, it continued to be lazy which was wonderful. It wasn't hot, which was even better. Got a lot of Atlanta plans ironed out, and found out that I'm getting a certain somthin somthin from a very talented and respected ( and just a little sexy) custom knife maker. Im so suscited! I get seriously star struck. It's like going to a concert of ALL your favorite bands and getting to hang out backstage with them all weekend.

Time for a little chillin before bed. Book buying tomorrow, yipee.

Six Feet Under season finale tonight. Wah.

By the way, the Amazing Race on Thursday was greeeat! Im so stoked for this season. And Phil is as stoic as ever. Hee.

My online life these days is filled with plans for Atlanta. It's not easy coordinating 200 people, did you know that? "Where are we going, what are we doing, who's coming here, who's going there. What time are we meeting there, do you have my cell number? Giive me yours. We're staying at the Ramada, you're at the Clarion? Got it. Friday is this, Saturday is that. No, I don't want to go there with them, they're weird, let's go here instead and not tell them. I'll meet you guys at that other place on Sunday." Sheesh.

I still have to re-color my hair before we go and I'd like to get some sun, too. Packing is no problem, I only have one pair of shorts anyway. Mark never gets on me for bringing too many clothes, but for bringing too many shoes. Gah. Doesn't he knows that shoes take an outfit from daytime to nightime? Lordy. And toiletries. I need a lot of toiletries.

I fixed the toilet, thanks to my handy dandy new Auger from Kmart. Just snaked that puppy down in there and whoosh. We have flushage again. I'm only a little bummed that I won't be able to see Allie, and figure out if she's had another operation yet.

Last but not least, Laura and Denny have prompted me to pursue my "I have no health insurance but I need attending to" problem..with great results. I've found an outlet through my old doc where I can get the meds I need for free, without going through any gub'ment agency at all. It's a program managed by Bristol Myers, the company that makes the meds I need. I'm so happy! So L&D thanks for putting a toe up my ass about this. The you know what is going right back to you know where. So there.

25 minutes until SFU. Time to go get situ-magated.

Well it appears the freezer is working fine, we moved all the frozen stuff back over to it last night and it's all still frozen.

Mark spent a good deal of time on the dryer last night and seems to have diagnosed the problem as a "thermal coupling". (yea, heh...I've done a bit of thermal coupling in my time..hee). Anyway, he ordered the part online and it should be here in a couple of days. He also rigged the dryer somehow so it will run without this coupling, but we have to keep it on low heat and only run it for a few minutes at a time. Thrilling I know.

So now my toilet isn't working in the upstairs bathroom here. It's just not flushing. I don't know it it's clogged or what. I'm dreading what comes next. The call to the grannies (landlords). And then...the visit. The visit from Allie, the guess-what-stage-of-my-sex-change-I'm-in-now repairperson. Truth be told, I'd rather have Allie here than the grannies. I'm going to have a look at the toilet myself and see if there's anything obvious going on. Bleh.

As Cindi has already reported, they say my dad has thyroid cancer. He goes into the hospital on Thursday to have it removed. As my step-mom put it, "If you have to have cancer, this is the best kind to have". Yea, whatever. I'm still worried sick. Channel your prayers and goddess chantings this way on Thursday, k?

There's some new jelly bellies on the blogroll, check them out, they're good. And yes, some are gone. That's just the way it goes. Some just weren't posting much anymore. One was a snotty bitch. One unblogrolled me. And Matt, it's the font, baby. I just can't do it. Let me know if you change it, I'll come back.

This is hilarious. The English to 12-year-old AOL-er translator.

I put in "Hey, what's going on! I haven't seen you in a while. do you want to go to the movies?"

And it returned with: "HEY WUT GONG ON!11!1! WTF LOL I HAEVNT SEN U IN A WHIEL!!1! OMG WTF LOL DO U WANT 2 GO 2 TEH MOVEIS?!??!! OMG WTF LOL"

How frighteningly accurate. But I find that most AOL users in general are this dense..not just the 12 year olds.

"I like paying $22 a month for internet service." (yes, people are really paying this for dial-up. I know. It's insane)
"I love porno email spam."
"Especially when it's sent to my kids"
"I love waiting while AOL "updates" my account for 10 minutes while I try to sign off." (In reality, they are implanting pop-ups and scanning your history. Why? More spam!)
"I love being able to access only 30% of the internet."
"Yes, I love my AOL".

I know I'm a smartass. I just hate AOL soo much.

Is my page only half-loading for you...? It is for me. Let me know. Gah.