Celebrate Good Times

A new year has begun. And yes, I realize I'm a little behind. It's technically the third of January right now, but I haven't gone to bed yet so it's still the second.

To ring in the new year I threw a masquerade party with my friend Arrakis at my boyfriend's house. I was a little disappointed with how it turned out, but everyone there had fun so I guess it was a smashing success.

The problem I had with it was maybe a little petty. The plan was for it to be a smaller party with only people we liked there. Boyfriend's sister was allowed to have a few of her friends because, well, she lives there too. The problem was that her friends kind of took over the whole thing. And her close friends are lovely (if a little dumb when intoxicated) but in large quantities her friends and her friends' friends are obnoxious ass holes.

I guess I should have not been so anal about how things went. Overall, it was a good party and everyone had a lot of fun. The year started out well and I was with people I really am quite fond of. Best of all, I was with Boyfriend.... one of these days I might name him in this little bloggy thing.

January first was spent sleeping in, finding an open restaurant (for lunch with friends) and cleaning.

Happy 2007 everyone!

This year I think I'm going to grow up. Today I sold my soul to American Express so I can start paying off my credit cards. That may seem a little counter intuitive at first but you must understand that I actually transferred all my balances and got a card with 0% APR for the next year. In theory, that's plenty of time to pay everything off. Next on my list is to find a full time job so I am making enough money to buy my soul back.

But for now, I'm going to sleep. It's early but I'm tired. The last several weeks have been way to crazy. I'm looking forward to relaxing a little.

Humbug

I am so over Christmas. It just hasn't been very special the last few years. Last year and the year before, I thought it had more to do with working at a Toy Store than anything else, but this year it has been... blah. I mean, it was by no means horrible. My family (what little of it there is) is here and it's nice to see them. And all the food and swag is nice. But it's just not exciting anymore. It's more stressful than anything else. And any spare moment I have has been generally spent being nostalgic for the days when Christmas was (forgive me for being cliché) magic.

And presents really have nothing to do with it. Really, neither does Santa (knowing that the jolley fat man doesn't exist. Or if he does, it's just as "an embodiment of the Chrismas spirit"). I remember years when, several day before Chrismas, I would sleep in the living room just so I could look at the lights until I fell asleep. I remember when I could hardly wait to start playing chrismas music and when it was finally close enough to the holiday, I would sing carols all day. Little things like that have been totally lost.

Maybe it will all come back when I have kids (far, far in the future). Live vicariously through the rugrats?

I've eaten way too much junk in the last few days. Time to hit the gym. Or maybe I'll just resolve to loose weight next year.

Favorite present: Boyfriend gave me Mono. It's the kissing disease, isn't it romantic?

I spent all day today shopping. Looks like I'm doing the same thing tomorrow. Today I got fun stuff that I wanted. Tomorrow I'm returning gifts and getting stuff for New Year's Eve.

Sunday (last day of 2006!) is going to be awesome! And after Sunday, things will be more awesome because I will finally be able to relax. Oh! Wait! No! I have to get Boyfriend a birthday present! Maybe I should get that done this week. Do all STUFF at once so I will have nothing to do but relax starting January 1. That would be smart.

Of course, it's just not going to happen. I can't relax next year. I have to find a full time job. And probably sign up for a class or two. But that's a whole different blog. Now I've just noticed that it's one in the morning. I need to go to bed- I have a lot of schlepping around to do tomorrow.

Silly Kitty

Whatever she may think, Gally is not helping.

Solstices

Hooray for the days getting longer!

I want to go sledding.

Holidaze

I think I may have used that title before. It fits though, every single year. And tis the season for things to fly by so fast that you have to unfocus your eyes and maintain a general state of catatonia in order to survive it.

If only it worked that way! No, quite on the contrary, it's impossible to sit still for more than a minute this time of year. What with shopping, parties, decorating, wrapping, traveling, cookings, cleaning, spreading cheer etc etc etc. I miss the time when Christmas was a nice holiday.

On the upside, there is this fun little animation that I found. I think it's funny. Yes, I'm a bit of a cynic get over it. Besides that little toon, the holiday season has brought about a little bit of everyting for me.

I just finished my Christmas shopping today. I would have done it sometime last week but I spent the last few days in New York (North Tonawanda to be exact) with my ninety-year-old-grandmother. I basically went out to fetch her. She flew back with me. Still coming out to Salt Lake for Christmas... crazy. She didn't want to fly alone so I went out for a few days and flew back with her.

Tonight I went to a dinner party. Tomorrow I'm making a cake for my family's big Christm... oh wait, we're calling it a Solstice Party now... anyway it happens on Friday. Saturday I'm hopefully going to spend some time with my boyfriend and then Sunday is Christmas eve and you know the rest. I'm also throwing together a masquerade party for New Years Eve. This means that things will not slow down for me again until next year.

Woo Fun.

OMG a quiz

curiouser and curiouser

Things this week just keep getting stranger.

Today at work, I swear time stopped for a few seconds while I stared at a pile of menus.

This afternoon, my phone teleported magically across the room. I didn't see it, of course, but somehow, without my knowledge, it moved from where I was sitting to the other side of the room.

Talking to Boyfriend this evening, I had an overwhelming feeling of deja vu that lasted several minutes.

Creepy.

Footz

Today at work I kept forgetting which shoes I was wearing. I kept thinking that I was wearing my shoes with the kitten heel and the buckle but infact I was wearing my pink and black shoes with the 4" heel. You would think that I would notice that I was wearing a heel three times higher than I kept thinking that I was. It was weird.

Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm so full I'm not sure I will ever eat again. What a cliche thing to say, but I really am stuffed. Of course I will be eating this weekend. Mmmmm turkey sandwiches.

I'm going camping over the weekend with my dad in Capital Reef. I'm excited. Will report back later.

Tomorrow I feel like I can stop complaining so much about the Christmas music that has been on the radio all month. And the Christmas crap that is pouring out of all the stores. And the Christmas lights/trees/decorations that people already have up. Fighting the super early retail x-mas season is futile. I figure a good compromise is to complain about it until Thanksgiving and then give up and let the holiday spirit take over. The problem with starting Christmas right after halloween is that by the time December 25 rolls around, I'm all holiday-ed out. Oh well.

Midtasticness

I feel like I should post something about the election that happened on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I don't really have much to say. Here in grand old Utah, voting is almost completely pointless. Utah would elect republicans even if they all started shaving their heads, painting themselves red, tatooing pentagrams on their chests and sacraficing virgins. Well, maybe not. But the elephants would have to get pretty damn close to that point for them to lose Utah. So I threw my vote away two days ago by voting straight democrat. I even voted for Matheson who is our mascot "democrat" even though I probably shouldn't have because I don't really agree with most of his schtick. My dad was hoping that Matheson would win by less than he hoped to because his constiuents voted for the green party. Wishful thinking.

The good news is that Rummy is gone. Yay.

All Hallows Eve

Happy Halloween!!!!

Some people have way too much time on their hands

But THIS is pretty freeeking neat.

Time Goes Marching On

It's midterm. My how time flies. It's also almost Halloween. I love Halloween. I'm going as Laura Croft (I Know, not very original but I don't care so much) this year. And I'm cutting my hair off Nov 1. I'm excited.

Oops, Missed.

I just discovered that the last week in September was Vasculitis Awareness Week. This used to be Wegener's Granulomatosis Awareness Week before the Wegener's Granulomatosis Association changed to the Vasculitis Foundation and thereby became slightly less cool as far as I am concerned. This is nothing against Vasculitis, but I liked it better when it was just my little disease instead of something that is just part of it.

The point, though, is that I missed the awareness week once again. Every year since I was diagnosed (4 years ago!... wow I didn't realise it had been that long) I've found out about the week just after it happens. I guess there's nothing to stop me from making people aware now, and that's kinda why I'm blogging about it, but it's not as neat when it's not a mass effort.

Still, letting people know about Wegener's Granulomatosis is important becaues it's been a major thing in my life. I posted about it back in march and things now (concerning my illness anyway) are about the same. My WG is still in remission (YAY! ... knock on wood) and I'm doing great, health wise. I can't believe that I've been living with it for four years.

I was actually really lucky- relatively anyway. I was diagnosed before any permenant organ damage could happen and I had a fairly easy treatment. Granted, the treatment wasn't really all that easy, but I didn't have any horrid side effects from any of the medication. Even the weight I gained from the prednisone was pretty minor compared to what some people go through with that lovely little drug.

Of course, there are always problems. I mean, at 17 it was not an easy thing to deal with. And now that I'm healthy again, it's hard for me to motivate myself to do the things I need to do. For example, I really need to make an appointment with my doctor - just for a check up. The thing is, it's hard to convince myself that I really need to see him. I feel fine. No symptoms. I very much don't want to spend 2 hours in the doctor's office, get poked with a needle, and pee in a cup just to get told that I'm doing fine.

I need to do it anyway.

What is Wrong with People??

Some people can get away with not wearing a bra. It's almost kind of sexy if one has small perky breasts. However, if you, like this lady who came through the aviary today, have breasts that sag BELOW your belly-button FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS MAMMERY wear a feaking bra!!! And I am not exagerating on this. Yes, I am prone to exageration, but I'm just not doing it now. Her boobs were seriously BELOW her waist. Not pretty. Some people should not be allowed out of the house!

Muse and Blackholes

This is my favorite song this week. I also like the creepy 80s-ness of the video. Enjoy.

P.S. it is called Supermassive Black Hole and it is by Muse.

I'm a Star!

So instead of really concentrating on reading this one book, I've been distracted for the last hour by this celebrity face match up thingy. The way it works is you upload a photo and their magic facial recognition whatever matches you up to celebrity faces. They suggest doing it with several photos to see who pops up the most.

I did it five times. The only celebrity I look like twice is

Reese Witherspoon

which isn't too bad. According to this photo I look 80% like her.

Some other interesting results were:
Princess Di
Penelope Cruz
Alicia Silverstone
John Denver
Britney Spears
Katie Holmes
Catherine Zeta Jones


I'm not sure I necessarily agree with any of them. In fact, I'd prefer to associate myself with Britney Spears as little as possible. The good news is that I only look 55% like her. I apparently look more like Jessica Simpson (78% according to one photo). Thank god it wasn't a personality match up.

The Meat Factory

School has started again.

I like my classes.

My French class is in a classroom with no AC. This is bad

My Astrophysics prof never blinks. This is weird

I'm also taking an English class and an anthropology class.

End Report

Vacations in Western New York

Everyone else has gone of really neat vacations this summer. I'm in New York now. Now, calm down, I'm not in New York City. I'm in North Tonawanda, home of the carousel. Here, it's kinda boring. And we're staying at my grandmother's house. She doesn't believe in technology. I've discovered that I have become completely addicted to my online wastes of time. Sad isn't it. Right now I'm sitting in starbucks, sipping an iced chai, and catching up on my online things. I'm such a hipster! Go me!

We're going to a play in Canada this afternoon. It should be fun. And tomorrow we're going down to a cottage on Lake Canandagua (that's so not how you spell that, but I'm never going to actually get it right). So maybe It's really not as boring as I thought. It just takes more of an effort to find things to do here. I imagine western New York is just as exciting as Salt Lake (cuz home is a laugh a minute), I just don't know where to go yet. Hey it only took me 20 years to figure in out in SLC. I'm sure I'll manage to have fun the rest of the week. I'm looking forward to being home though.

(highlight to read)

This is just going to be silly questioning/rantage. Yes, I know most of this blog is nothing more than a bunch of silliness, but I still thought you deserved a warning. And, as you might have noticed, I have written in an impossible to read without highlighting color. You see, not all my threats are empty. Moving on to my useless wondering:

Why is it that we always have to label the relationships we have with people. I really think that it might be a quasi subconcious thing sometimes. Pay attention though. Suppose Person A is talking to Person C about Person B (this only happens if C doesn't know B). Person A will always refer to Person B by their relationship. For example:

Person C: Wow, I really like deep fried pickles!
Person A: That's funny because my friend, Person B, hates cheese.

For another example:

Person C: Gee-Wiz, juggling knives while putting on lipstick and petting a cute, cuddly kitten sure is a hard thing to do.
Person A: It wouldn't be if you had mad skills like Napoleon Dynamite. Person B, my coworker, didn't see that movie.

Why can we not talk about people we know without the little clause indicating their relationship with us? Even if it's just "this guy I know," which doesn't really clarify anything and could be just left as whatever the guy's name is. I think it should be Guy, just for confusions sake.

Those of you who know me probably know exactly why I'm lashing out against labels today. You all know that I don't do well with one in particular. And if you really want to avoid using that one, it gets to be very difficult when you are talking to people about whoever you are kinda-sorta-dating-but-not-seriously-and-certainly-not-seriously-enough-that-you-want-to-call-him-your-boyfriend-but -definately-serious-enough-that-you-can't-really-just-call-him-your-friend. This is all just a hypothetical example, of course. And for those of you who may or may not know better, goody for you.

Girls Rock Your Boys

I've been on a total 80s hair band trip all week. I had "Cum On Feel the Noise" (Quiet Riot, if you don't know) stuck in my head all day. It started to get annoying. Now I'm Listening to Lita Ford. Does that really count as a hair band? It was on a CD called "80s Hair Metal" (or something like that) that I almost bought earlier this week.

My quest this week is to find a kicky hat-box. It may last more than just this week because I'm not sure I have time to really look for one. I'm not so into shopping these days and those are an odd item.

I think next time I post I will do so in a color that you can only read it you highlight it. That would be fun. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. I think all this heat is going to my head.

Existential thoughts?

Earlier today I was walking down the street when I happened upon a man. He wanted me to tell anyone who might read this that anything thing I say about him is completely fabricated. Including any information about me meeting him and him wanting me to tell anyone anything. This man was standing under a sad looking tree and wearing a bowler hat. He may or may not have been waiting for Godot.

Summer Daze

It's Fucking HOT!!!

Good News

I just took a nifty test that told me that I probably do not have adult ADD.

Gee that's a relief, cuz I was really worried.

You know, cuz..... Hey look, Shiney.

Click on the link to take it yourself!

It's FUN!!!

The Link

On a Chopstick Wrapper:

Welcome to Chinese Restaurant.
Please try your Nice Chinese Food With Chopsticks
the traditional and typical of Chinese glorious history.
and cultural



I just love bad translations.

I have been slacking.

Yesterday when I got off work, I hung around the bird zoo for a while and fed the Lories. It was the first time I had done so and it was super fun.

My baby brodder is home from college. Already the basement stinks. I don't see much of him, but he makes my life harder because now I have to share my car. The good news is that I also have to share the price of gas. And since he's working way out in Sandy, he's driving a lot more than I am so he's going to be buying a lot more gas than me.

I'm re-reading the Thursday Next series. They're all clever little book-nerd sort of books. Easy reads but not crap literature. I think I shall now get back to it. Thursday's currently struggling to remember her husband, Landon Parke-Lain, who has recently been killed at the age of two. It's important for Thursday to remember him because she's carrying his child. Besides this, she has to rescue the unpublished book that she's living in from being recycled and teach two generic characters how to have personality.

Birfday

they say it's your birthday
na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na
it's my birthday too ya
na-na-na-na-na-na-na
they say it's your birthday
na-na-na-na-na-na-na
we're gonna have a good time
na-na-na-na-na-na-na
i'm glad it's your birthday
na-na-na-na-na-na-na
happy birthday to you

yes we're going to a party party
yes we're going to a party party
yes we're going to a party party

i would like you to dance
birthday
take a cha-cha-cha-chance
birthday
i would like you to dance
birthday
DDDAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!



i would like you to dance
birthday
take a cha-cha-cha-chance
birthday
i would like you to dance
birthday
woooo dance



na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na
they say it's your birthday
na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na
it's my birthday too ya
na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na
they say it's your birthday
na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na
we're gonna have a good time
na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na
i'm glad it's your birthday
na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na
happy birthday to you



That's right kids! I was born 22 years ago TODAY

Efil

I'm not sure where this came from, but it's got a very good point:

The unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time and what do you get at the end of it? a death. What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all baskwards. You should die first, you know, start out dead - get it out of the way.
You wake up in an old age home feeling better every day. You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect you pension, then, when you start work, you get a gold watch on your first day. You work 40 years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You drink alcohol, you party, you're generally promiscuous (hey, you've only got a few years left, what's the big deal?) and you get ready for high school.
You go to primary school, you become a kid, you play you have no responsibilities, you become a baby, then you spend your last nine months floating peacefully with luxuries like central heating, spa, room service on tap, larger quaters every day, and then you finish off as an orgasm.

I've seen so freakin many movies this week! Well, I guess it was in the last two weeks. I saw:

Thank you For Smoking
Slither
Lucky Number Sleven
The Notorious Bettie Page
Kinky Boots

They are all really quite good. Well, Lucky Number Sleven is maybe not so good, but Josh Hartnett is very pretty and I was more than happy to stare at him for a couple hours. The rest of them are awesome and I recommend everyone sees them.

Rice and Beans and Cheese

Camping was fun.

AFI's new song (Miss Murder) is really cool.

Have I mentioned that I'm working now at the Tracy Aviary (Bird Zoo)?

I turn 22 in less than a month. I'm thinking a 40's or Rockabilly themed party. Should be a bitchin' good time.

Todd (my cynical ex-boyfriend) is getting married this month. I'm going to be bitter until it's over, then I'm over it. He's so changed that he's not worth the energy it takes to think of him. I'm allowed to be bitter for a little while. After all, he was my first love (or whatever).

Spring is here, spring is here, life is skittles and life is beer.

That's all.

Cheese Fries

You know what the best part of school is? When it's over! Yesterday was the last day of classes for me (yay) and all I have for finals is a paper that's not due until Wednesday. YAY.

I got a new mp3 player. It's pretty. I decided to be a "non-conformist" and not get another i-pod. So I am now the owner of a Toshiba 40G gigabeat. The player itself if nice. The software sucks. I've spent way too much time on the computer getting my music synched. I gave up on what I have on the computer already and am now ripping my CDs. That part's easy, but time consuming. I have a lot of CDs.

Tomorrow, I'm going camping*. I'm excited, I could definately use a few days away from people and buildings. The plan is to go to Grand Staircase. I love southern Utah, it's pretty, and this weekend the weather is supposed to be more or less perfect.

*the camping has been cancelled earlier this week and then given the green flag agian because my dad hurt his back. he's doing much better today and yesterday so, as long as he doesn't kill it again, we're going.

Childhood lost

The Fandago Puppets are really very clever. They take paper bag puppetry to a whole new level. If only they were not so annoying. I can't help but think that the joy of making puppets is never going to be untainted by thoughts of crappy pre-movie advertisement. I made paper bag puppets when I was little. It was fun, they were cute and creative. The whole concept now makes me a little nauseous.

Rave Review

I'm in the middle of a really neat book:


The author and her husband, Paul, go for a year without buying anything that's not necissary. This means no going out to eat, no movies, no new clothes, no kleenex (they just use toilet paper), no processed foods (except for bread). All that kind of stuff. It's fascinating. I don't think I could do it, it's hard enough for Judith and Paul - and they started out living fairly simply. Anyway, I completely recomond this book to anyone who feels like reading something. It's funny, smart and unusual.

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head

Holly Freaking Crap what a yucky day it is!!! In the time it took me to get from my class to the bus stop I become completely soaked to the bone. I had an umbrella but it was REALLY windy so it was raining sideways and blowing said umbrella inside out. Of course I had to wait 15 min for the bus (not a bad wait when it's not POURING FREEZING COLD RAIN sideways). I swear when I got home there was not one inch of me that was not soaking wet. And I couldn't feel any extremities. Thank God for long, hot showers.

DietPepsiCoke

BabyRuth candy bars are yummy. And notoriously very turd like. Consider the movie Caddy Shack. Now you are almost certainly thinking to yourself "man that was so funny when the baby ruth bar was in the pool and everybody thought it was doodie and they ran around screaming and then they had to clean the whole pool and then bill murray finds the candy bar and he eats it and that's totally gross because everyone thought it doodie and because it was in a pool for a long time and that's bound to make a candy bar less delicious than in it's natural state." (eveyone thinks in run-on sentences, you just don't notice it)
I'm here to assure you that stuff like that only happens in movies. If you actually look at a baby ruth, you'll notice that it really doesn't look much like poo at all. And, if you're still not convinced that throwing a baby ruth into the pool will NOT cause uber chaos, consider this: Poo does gross things in water, like break apart, chocolate doesn't. That is all.
















BANANAS!!!!!!!

Inspirationed

I was inspired by this website and my new camera phone to take the following pictures. I'm amazed that Leo sat there and let me pile stuff on him. He doesn't seem concerned at all.

Literary Leo

Leo checkin' out some killa tunes yo

Gnirps

Spring is here! Spring is here! Life is skittles and Life is beer!

Today is the vernal equinox. That means, astrologically anyway, that today spring starts. Someday I think the weather and the the sun/earth tiltage should get together and coordinate their watches. Salt lake is covered with a nice white blanket of snow. It's very lovey and very WINTER! I simply long for some green and some flowers. I love flowers, don't you? Course you do.

Bad News

Yesterday the guy who was the anethesiologist for my back surgery died. It's quite tragic. He was nice, I liked him.

The Story

Truly Random

Despite the title of this little blog thingy, most of what I put here is not really very random. The center of the Universe is, of course, true. Now though I'm desperately putting off studying for a French test (un examen de Francais) I have tomorrow. The internet has failed to produce anything fantastically interesting to help me in my procrastination. I'm not feeling creative enough to Google random words and see what I find. So I've turned to this blog, which I have somewhat neglected lately. Yes, I know I've posted some things, but not nearly as often as when I started. To all my devoted fans (are there 3 of you now?), you'll get over it. Tying back to the begining of this paragraph, I'm just typing whatever pops into my head. Truly random thoughts from me, the center of the universe.

Remember Mrs Lake? Only if you know who she is... East High, English teacher. One day she told my class that we should try to find one paradox every day. I think it was her (or is 'she' the proper pronoun here?) who mentioned that. I could have made it up. Anyway, I haven't. But I did stumble on quite a few today. Well, not so much stumbled; they were thrown at my head in the form of a lecture on Taoism (a philosophy that does not make any sense to me so far). The easiest is the simple form of "the liar's paradox" (or something like that):

This sentence is false

Try to wrap your mind around that one. If you Dare (insert evil laughter here). My favorite paradox that was not mentioned in relation to Taoism is probably "The Barber of Seville." I'm sure there are several versions but this is how I remember it:

The Barber of Seville shaves everyone who doesn't shave himself.

So, when he shaves himself he doesn't. But if he doesn't shave himself, he does. Very tricky that barber guy. I bet he was named Mick. Why Mick? Why not?

The Doc is In

I've decided that I like the TV show House. I started watching it when USA started showing it on Friday nights. I don't watch it religiously because, like most people my age, I usually go out on Fridays. I rather like the series though - it entertains me. Did you know that Dr House is played by the guy who was Percy in the Black Adder series. I think that's funny, but it's a total side note. I watched House tonight and was kinda excited when one of the requisite (at least) 3 diagnoses was Wegener's Granulomatosis (AKA WG).

I was diagnosed with WG (as most anyone reading this already knows, maybe) my Sr year of high school. Wegener's is one of those auto-imune gems that no one has ever heard of. For a super cool text book explaination of what it's all about This site or This one are pretty decent.

As of right now, my Wegener's has been in full remission (read: I've been completely off medication) for around two years. Go me! Yes that is something major to celebrate! I'm very freakin' proud of myself there, and from this distance I can look back and see the whole thing a little more calmly than ever before.

It took a long-ass time to get over this thing. I gave up a lot, but I honestly gained a lot too. It's amazing how much you can learn when you face your own mortality at 17. I had to postpone college to finish treatment. That was probably one of the most traumatic things for me, and I fought my doctor on the issue for a long time. But it was pretty apparent that I wasn't well enough to go and it's hard to switch hospitals/states in the middle of chemo-therapy. That's right, I went through chemo. And I was on Prednisone- the worst drug EVER!! It made me gain 50 lbs in 2 months. I hated that. I hated running my hand through my hair and coming away with a handful of it. I hated being stuck at home. I hated not having the energy to do everything I was used to doing. I hated the whole two years I was undergoing treatment. Two years is a LONG time to be sick.

About a year and a half ago I had a little bit of a breakdown. I left Fort Lewis College about a month into the semester and came home because I thought I might, maybe be having a relapse and it freaked me out. Turns out it was just a cold. I went to a shrink when I came back (this was a really serious breakdown) and worked though a lot of mental issues I had involving WG. There was a lot of anxiety about a relapse and also a little Post Traumatic Stress. The chances of a relapse are pretty high. Especiall since I was diagnosed so young, I have a lot of life during which it could happen. Hopefully I've worked through my issues enough that I can deal with it if/when it happens. Hopefully I'll never have to. That's a pretty big hope.

Communicative

I got a new phone today of the cellular variety. I'm quite excited about it. It's a Samsung SCH a950, cuz I'm sure that means a lot to everyone who might read this. It's red and it has a camera thingy and a video thingy and all sorts of other fun crap. I didn't get a Razr (everyone has a razr these days, don't they?) because those are much too trendy for my taste. And they seem like they would break if I had it in my back pocket and then sat down. And it's slightly less free than the one I got. Yes, I didn't pay for my phone. And it's not a cheap little phone either. I've been playing with it all day, it's fantastic!

Toooooozday

Yesterday kinda sucked, and it didn't even have anything to do with it being Valentines day. I had a French test first thing- never fun, ever, not even once. Whenever we have a test in that class, we have to turn in our homework for the two chapters the test is on. I ran out the door yesterday morning and left said homework on my desk. So after the test I had to take the bus home, grab my homework and then take the bus right back to school just barely in time to drop the homework in my prof's box and book it to my next class. What a waste of time! Time that I was planning on using to write a paper that was due today. The rest of my classes weren't bad, although writing was boring. Last night then I went to see a French movie avec ma mere, and that was pretty fun. I was up until one am writing that paper though. Yes, I could have skipped the movie, but I really didn't want to.

Concerning Valentines day, I kinda ignored it this year. It's a stupid holiday anyway, and (for once) I'm not just saying that because I'm single. Last year, I was a little bitter. You can go read my rant if you like, everything I posted pretty much stands. I would just like to reiterate that there is NOTHING romantic about a day set aside for romance. Romance (which is overrated in itself, but that's a whole other blog) should be spontaneous, not forced. I'm really glad I didn't have to do anything cute and sappy for anyone this year. What a pain in the ass the whole thing is!

Passing as Thought

I'm considering becoming vegitarian. Not really because I think it's the moral thing to do.... I suppose it is, but if I take that stance I'd really have to go all the way and become Vegan. I'm just not willing to give up dairy products, I'm sorry. But the stuff that goes into meat these days is kinda gross and scary. I wouldn't mind if I could afford to get organic meat all the time, but that stuff is expensive and sometimes hard to find. So vegitarian seems to be the way to go. That way I avoid the yucky meat. If cheese weren't my favorite food, I'd probably go for Vegan and avoid all the yuckiness that some say is in milk too.

Pain in the....

throat. I have strep. I don't like it. It hurts to swallow, speak, open my mouth. And the medicine I have to take is yucky. Why do they give gigantic horse pills to me when my throat is swollen and red and unhappy. Of course, in theory, said pills should make the pain go away. In the mean time, I'm bored and can't talk.

In Protest

There is something about text messaging that is starting to bother me. That's not true, it's been bothering me for a while. It's the total lack of human to human interaction. Yes, I know, there is obviously someone on the other end of the phone reading/sending the message, but it's so bloody impersonal.

A lot of people like that. "Texting" (p.s. that's an icky word which adds to the tally in the negative collumn) allows a person to delay their response a bit, make sure what they reply is well phrased, witty and not something that will leave them with a foot sort of taste in their mouth. In other words, it makes it really easy to cheat.

Of course, in today's world of technology, there's not much opportunity to practice actually having a conversation. Perhaps text messaging is just our way of compensating for our lack of ability to express ourselves in real time.

In any case, there's something to be said about actually talking to people. Granted, I'd much rather talk to someone in person than on the phone, but I'd rather hear a voice than see an abreviated, impersonal message. That being said, I'm protesting the texted world! I'm just not going to do it. Perhaps I'll have a message to reply with when I get a message, but there will be no more conversations! I refuse to turn in to one of those people who only communicate via text, and hopefully some of those people will learn how to speak again.... They will have to if they want to talk to me. So, if you want to contact me, call. If I don't answer, leave a message and I'll call you back. We must fight the universal isolation we all seem to be drifting toward.

Huzzah for Learnin'

School has started again. Right now, I'm trying my best to be enthused. So far it's working, but who knows for how long. I have an interesting class load though. This is it (because I know you're all just DYING to know what I'm taking):

World Religion In this class we're going to look at the 5 "most important" religions of the world. Hinuism, Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Islam. The focus is going to be on what the believers of these beliefs actually believe. Not on what they do.

Writing 2010 This is a basic "writing in college" class that I swear I took at Fort Lewis but the writing department doesn't believe me. Oh well, the teacher seems neat and it will be a good review (cuz I totally completely forgot how to write).

Begining French Part Deux I think this is pretty self-explanatory

Ballroom Dance Slacker class #1

Swing Dance Slacker class #2



It's great, isn't it. I have no classes on Friday, but on Thursdays I go from 9:40 to 3:20 straight through with no breaks whatsoever. I haven't quite figured out how I will eat lunch tomorrow, but I suppose I'll manage. I have a feeling that food is overrated anyway.

Adventures in Kamas

Yesterday I went adventuring. It wasn't meant to be adventurous so much as just snow-shoeing up in the Uinta Mts, but it didn't work out that way.

Snow-shoeing, some might say, is an adventure in and of itself. This may be true, especially when you're going with Jacob and he tries to knock snow on your head every time you pass under a tree. Really though, it's just snow-shoeing. It was a lot of fun. Not the best conditions - a little cloudy and a bit windy and the snow was deep fresh powder. Would have been perfect for skiing.

When we got back to the car the adventure really began. Someone (me) accidentally left the lights on so the car wouldn't start. Of course we were up in the mountains so there was no cell phone reception. So we had to depend on the kindness of strangers. We flagged down the next truck that went by. The guy didn't have cables (to jump the car) but he offered to give us a ride into town where we could call someone at least. So we rode back to Kamas with this really nice family that just moved to Francis from CA to get away from everything, well, Californian.

The Cali family dropped us off at a gas station and I called Dad. He said that we should ask at the gas station if they had a truck or something they could send up to jump the car. If they didn't have something, he (Dad) would come up but in that case we would be stranded in Kamas for about 2 hrs.

As a side note, those who don't know, Kamas is more or less a three block town. This is actually a recent development, I can remember when it was a one block town. It now has two stop lights. When I was little, it only had one stop sign. Anyway, despite it's tripling in size in the last 13 yrs or so, it's not a very entertaining town. They have an antique store and two restaraunts.... maybe a cafe somewhere. Not a lot to do if you're stranded there.

Because the gas station clerk didn't look very nice and the station itself didn't look like it would have anything to do with tow trucks, Jacob and I decided we might to better to ask at the Auto-parts store accross the street. They didn't have anything but a random guy standing in line offered to go get his truck and take us up if we would just wait 10 minutes. So we rode back up to the car with this guy who drives a logging truck (or something) and has lived in Kamas his entire life. The car started no problem with help from his truck's battery.

So that was my adventure. The people up in Kamas sure are nice.

Happy 2006

It is officially next year! Yay! Last night I went to a couple of parties, got a little drunk and had a general good time. Today I've done more or less nothing. I feel I have gotten the year off to a good start.

We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes

I walked to work today. It's a nice walk, only about 20 min so it's not going to kill me to walk there, work on my feet for a few hours and then walk back. Unless, like today, it's raining when I leave. Ok, so the rain didn't kill me. It really wasn't all that bad. I had a coat - a pea coat that will probably still be wet tomorrow. My hair was soaked, but I was mostly dry. Still, it was Raining! May I remind you people that it IS December. Right after Chrismas shouldn't it be snowing? Especially in Utah where our license plates say "greatest snow on earth." I'm starting to not believe our darling prez when he says global warming doesn't exist.... Cuz I totally believe everything he says....

In other new, Christmas was good. Now it's over. Work is boring again. Actually, that's a lie. I worked today and it wasn't too terribly not busy. We had a lot of returns. I feel stuffed, at too much, but that's what holidays are for. Now it's time to relax for a few months. Yay.

I have a date on Tuesday.

My cynical-ex-boyfriend, Todd is getting married. He doesn't seem to have time to talk to me anymore. I'm a little unhappy with him. I don't care if he wants to marry the little blonde, BYU co-ed, but I don't like him ignoring me. I'm right now giving him the benefit of the doubt and saying that he's probably been too busy witht he holidays and being engaged and he'll talk to me when things slow down. We'll see. I wonder if he reads this. If you do, Todd, call me or e-mail me or something!

Jacob is back from his mission

Brad is getting married it two weeks

I'm not entirely sure I've mentioned either of those two here before. Oh well

This has been an update on my life. Truly random thoughts from me, the center of the universe. Do you realize I've been doing this blog thingy for almost a year now. Isn't that neat. Yes, yes it is. You (all my readers fictitious or otherwise) are totally impressed with my coolness!!!

Yippee Skippee

I just finished my last final! YAY! Now all I have to stress about are my grades, which will be posted sometime between now and next semester. I already know my French grade (B+, not bad) but all the rest are still to come. I think I will not worry about them. After all, at this point there's nothing I can do about it.

I feel really good right now. Finals are done, I don't have to buy anything more for christmas presents, I don't have to work until 3 so I can go back to bed. Life is good.

PAUSE

It's getting to be that time of year. I know that the radio started playing Christmas music as soon as halloween was over (WTF is up with that anyway?) and most stores had their red and greed decorations up around the same time. I've been wrapping presents in paper covered in santas and snowmen for a few weeks now too. But I refuse to aknowlege Christamas anytime before Thanksgiving. Now I'm down to my last Turkey Sandwich and there's only one piece of pie left over, I can say it's begining to feel a lot like Christmas. But it's still freakin' early!

It's also nearing the end of the term. This means, burnout, finals and cramming in everything that has been put off till the last minute. The last minute is NOW! Last week I went to three Jazz concerts for my Jazz class. I've had all semester to do this, I had to have it done by Wed. I went to the first one the Sunday prior. So school has gotten crazy. The Toystore has started Holiday hours so I'm workin until 9:30 now instead of 7:30 and I also have a shift on Sunday. Shoppers are getting more needy too. Everyone needs stuff wrapped, they want certain items that we might be out of and they want them NOW. The store is making something like $3,000 a day. Life is hectic. And I have to shop for presents to give people. Thanks to Amazon.com I'm mostly done with that. I just have a couple more people to buy for and I think I'll probably do that at work.

The point of this blog (in as much as it has a point at all) is to say that my life has gone insane. And Christmas is still a month away. It's only going to get worse and then in January it's going to come to a screeching halt. That is, until classes start again.

Story Part Deux

One sunny day, Joanna's neighbor came over to borrow a cup of sugar. Joanna's neighbor was a beetle named Gweneth. As Gweneth was leaving she said to Joanna: "Have you met the new neighbor across the street?" Joanna shook her head. Gweneth said: "His name is Marvin, apparently he's a monkey. I don't know what a monkey thinks he's doing here living among the slimy and crawly, but then again, beetles don't really talk do they? So I guess anything can happen here." Joanna nodded to Gweneth quickly shut the door. A feeling of dread cept over her and she started to shake. Every worm knows that where there are monkeys there can only be bananas. Joanna was going to have to face her most terrifying fear!

Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion to our story. Same worm place, same worm channel.

All Hallows Eve

I love halloween. This year I dressed up as Jem. Very few people seem to know who Jem is. Jem! was a cartoon in the 80's about Jem and the Holograms (her rock band). Jem herself wore a lot of pink and had magic earings. Anyway, my costume kicked. That is all.

Jem! is truly outrageous

Die Villian Die

This is just a random rant of mine. X96 has a segment on their morning show once a week during which they list things that they (and listeners who bother e-mailling them) think "must go." Things that just bug the crap out of them. Really it's just an excuse to complain about things that nobody really wants to do anyting about. So, because I can and because I feel like ranting, Here is my own personal list of Things That Must Go

1. Blanket Text Messages. I have a friend (he shall remain unnamed here) who send a message to everyone in his phone whenever he gets bored. It's stupid. The message is always the same "what's up" and it's annoying. I wouldn't mind if he actually wanted to know what was up, but he never does. It's uber lame.

2. Speaking of text messages, Forwarded Text Messages. It's spam for the phone! All those annoying "pass this on or your foot will unluckily rot off" e-mail type forwards have made their way into the cell phone realm. As if the e-mails weren't annoying enough.

3. People Who Advertise in My Comments Space. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look at the comments for the entry right before this. I didn't manage to delete the crap about private road construction before someone commented. I have deleted other messages left as comments on other postings. If you're going to advertise on my blog (that few people read) you should at least pay me for it.

That's actually all I can think of to complain about right now. I guess I'm more content with the world than I thought. Notice how they're all technological? I should become amish and then my life would be perfect, right?

ZzZzZzZzZzZz

I'm in the union building right now and there's a girl sleeping on a couch near me. She's snoring REALLY loudly. I just thought I would share that because if someone else were here we'd probably be laughing about it.

Arches

What an awesome weekend. I went down to Arches National Park with my parents and some of their friends/coworkers. We had the group site at the campground so all 14 persons there had a nice place to pitch their tent. Arches is a lovely place, really - not my favorite park, but lovely. The geography is gorgeous, breathtaking, majestic. Really, if it wasn't so touristy and ... I almost want to say trendy, but that's more just the aura of Moab in which the park basks.

So what we did: After my class on Friday we drove down so we got to the campground around 4:00. After we set up the tent and unpacked some stuff my parents went on a little hike that started somewhere in the campground and went around to a bunch of arches. I heard it was really pretty. I decided to stay around camp and climb some rocks. There was one chimney in particular that I was determined to get up. It was probably too narrow for a sane person, but you know me. My first attempt I got maybe a quarter of the way up and got stuck. The second time I was successful, but it was not easy. This little crack in the rock was maybe a foot wide. That's not much when you're trying to squeeze more than just a skeleton through it. About half way up I rested and held myself in place just by flexing my glutes. In a situaton like that, it's not much good trying to use your legs, because you can't bend them so they're useless, so I basically pulled myself up with my arms. When I couldn't go up anymore I decided that I would go down the other side. It started out wider and therefore easier, but then it went more narrow that my way up. I ended up "walking" my way down above the crack (where it was a bit wider). By walking I mean I had my feet on one rock face and my back on another so I would step with my feet and then push up with my shoulders and upper arms so my back could catch up with my feet. By the time I got back on normal ground, I had worked every muscle in my body- I know because they were all sore the next day.

Yesterday seven of us decided it was a good idea to get up at 5:30 and hike to Delicate Arch for sunset. It was actually quite fun, but you're not going to see me awake that early again for a very long time. After returning to camp and breakfasting, my parents and I decided to hike down Courthouse Wash. Good idea if you want to get away from people (we didn't see a single other hiker the entire way) and are up for an adventure. Bad idea if you want an actual trail (who hikes on trails anyway?) or if you have a problem with quicksand and fighting your way through thick groves of willow and tamarisk. It was not too bad for the first 3/4 of the way, but then it got impossible. We were pushing through thick vegitation and going around in circles. By the end of it we were tired and frustrated. I didn't NOT enjoy it, but I wouldn't exactly say it was fun. Definately an adventure and certainly interesting. The wash itself is very pretty in an atypical way. You don't have the majestic canyon wall hovering several hundred feet over your head (typical Arches scenery). The wash is much more open. It's full of trees and, in a few spots, there were really beautiful waterfalls and neat little swimming holes.

Last night, after we recovered from our adventure, the whole lot of us (14 that is) had dinner at the Moab Brewery. Good beer, good food, good company. Of course beer+hiking all day+ getting up at 5:30 = exhaustion. I was asleep by 11:30 and I have never slept so well on a camping trip.

This morning we packed up, putzed around the windows area of the park and then drove home. One of the best parts of camping is getting home and taking a shower. Those are the best showers ever- after being sweaty and dusty and dirty for days it's so nice to get really clean.

I'll post some pics after they're uploaded from the cameras.

Homecoming

This week is homecoming week at the U. Nobody knew about it. I read all about it in the Cronicle (the campus paper) yesterday and that was the first time I've heard of it. According to the article, in the past homecoming was a week that really brought current students and alumni together for on campus events and the U suddenly became less of a commuter campus. This year, poor planning has left many students totally ignorant of the events, half of which (including homecoming dance) are off campus. There are no banners around campus. I think I remember seeing a flyer on a bulletin board covered in flyers. The only reason I know that it's homecoming week is because I read the article in the Cronicle about how much is being overlooked this year. I myself am not going to any events. The only thing I'd be remotely interested in is the homecoming dance on Friday. It's being held at Trolley Square, $10 a head. I'm going camping instead. Darn. I'm thinking it's probably ok though, because not many people are likely to go so I shouldn't miss much.

That's all for now. I'll have the next installment of Joanna the Worm as soon as I am bored enough.

Story:

Once upon a time in a kingdom far far away there lived a very pretty worm named Joanna. Joanna was like any other worm in most ways. She crawled through dirt and ate whatever it is that worms eat. The thing that made Joanna unique was that she had an abnormal dislike of bananas. She could not bring herself to go withing several miles of a banana, or a banana peel or banana bread or banana muffins or dancing bananas or singing bananas or banana phones or banana bunches or anna banana (her third cousin four times removed on her mother's side). Even the mere utterence of the word "banana" made her dry heave in as much as worms can dry heave. Fortunately for Joanna, her kingdom was very cold so there weren't a lot of bananas about. Once in a while someone would throw a banana peel in a compost heap nearby causing much pain for Joanna, but that didn't happen often.

To Be Continued.....

Big Ass Show

Every year X96 a "local independent" radio station puts on a Big Ass Show. It's kind of like the Warped Tour only much smaller and usually more emo. It was today, I went, it was awesome. We didn't stay for all the bands- we left before Story of the Year, Our Lady Peace and The Used- but the ones we were there for rocked.

First one we saw was Morning Wood. It was the only chick (lead) band there. After that we sawKasibain, they were ok. Arrakis got bopped in the nose by some nasty little fat goth moshers. Then we sat at the edge of the crowd for Hawthorn Heights (not a big fan of them).

Then we saw 30 Seconds to Mars that was wicked good. Jared Leto is so freakin' hot. The music was good, the energy was good, the crowd was good. They were the best band we saw today. After them we got some food. The plan was then to see Rise Against, but they were missing two band mates and were doing an all acoustic performance. I love Rise Against, I saw them last time they came here, but they're much better plugged in. They sucked with just the two acoutic guitars, so we walked off. Next was The Bravery. They rocked.

After them, we were all very tired and felt like our arms were going to fall off. Funny how that happens at a concert. You get close enough to the stage and you either use all you muscles keeping people from collapsing your rib cage or you are unable to put your arms down. Good times.

Poetry Gods

If anyone reading this does not know who Billy Collins is, you should. Unless you have no reason to. He is, in my humble opinion, the greatest poet alive. He served two terms as the national poet lauriet and is simply brilliant. I met him on Saturday (yay!)

Billy Collins was at the main library on Saturday for a reading. I was so excited when I heard about it. Of course I went down. His reading changed much of the general feeling of a lot of his poetry. He has a brilliant sense of humor and it comes through much stronger when he reads his poes rather than when one just sees them on the page. It was, in a word, awesome.

After the reading he signed books. Of course, I had him sign mine. As often happens at these things, he chatted with me a bit when I got up to the table. I was so incredibly star struck. Isn't that odd? How much of a nerd am I that I get so giddy about meeting an old, bald, poet. I was seriously experiencing the kind of mania that normal girls would get if they met Brad Pitt or Jonny Depp or their favorite boy band (gag me with a spatula). Needless to say, it was super exciting and I'm still a little euphoric about it.

WTF mate!!

Last night I spent $40 on gas. Forty Fucking Dollars!!! What the hell is up with that? I'm never driving again. Or at least not often. I actually have only been driving a few times a week lately. I take the bus to school and usually walk to work (I can take the bus there too if I want). Gas prices are rediculous though, it's unbelievable.

Back in the System

It was back to school for me Wednesday. I'm taking a whole bunch of general ed classes. By a whole bunch, I mean four. I'm taking Begining French, American Civilizations, Absurd Theater and Survey of Jazz. All of them are pretty neat except American Civ has the potential to be extrememly boring. It's a basic history class that more or less everyone has to take. History is not my strongest subject, but sometimes I find it interesting. The Professor explained that we would be focusing on politics and economics. Not excited.

Working on my French homework last night I discovered that speaking it makes my head ache. It's like trying to speak out of my frontal lobe. I may be doing something wrong but that's the only way I can make myself say things correctly. I'm excited to be learning French though, it's something I've kinda wanted to do for a while.

In other news, I worked all day today. The owner's 9 yr old daughter came in with a bunch of her friends about an hour and a half before we closed. She tried to fire Derek, the assistant manager. She failed miserably, it was a little funny. She is an absolute demon though. Don't like her one little bit.

Blood will Get Blood

Our monkey president decided to grace the great state of Utah with his presence today. Being the patriot that I am, I went down town to protest with (as the radio tells me) about 3,000 others. That's a pretty good turn out considering I live in one of the reddest states in the union. So all those people were locked in a "free speach zone" bedecked in their old hippie attire, carrying signs, listening to speaches or harrassing drivers. Our wonderful SLC mayor showed up as well and spoke a very moving speach. I'm glad I voted for him.

I was glad to see so many people out to fight against the war and they lies of the current administration. I was also struck by the futility of it all. the "free speach zones" set aside for such protests are far away from anywhere they would really do any good. Mr Bush didn't even drive by Pioneer Park. That really scares me, actually. In theory the whole right to free speach should apply everywhere in the USA, right? But isolating people with "radically liberal" opinions seems to me to be blotting out that whole part of the constitution. Yes there were three thousand people there, but the president, the person who was the cause of the whole demonstration, could easily be totally oblivious.

We only stayed for about an hour and a half. When we were walking back to the car, we happened to see G.W. himself (and his enourage) drive past. There were a few people with signs returning to their vehicles, like us, and others who simply gave the tinted windows of the limo dirty looks or obscene gestures. As it past us, we saw the president waving happily as a trained monkey. He is so totally oblivious.

One final bit of politics. For anyone who still reads this and would like to be just a little political, there is an anti-war rally on Sept 24. There are marches and rallies being held all over the country. In dear old Salt Lake people are meeting at 11am at Pioneer Park and marching to the county building. I'm thinking I'm going to go.

Quick

Life is getting crazy. It's fun!

Moving On

After days of theapy, I've recovered from the sidewalk sale. Actually all it took was a nice 14 hours of sleep and I was fine. Now I have time to get everything in order for school. Granted, I've been accepted since, like, February, I've had lots of time to get things done. Unfortunately for me, I love to procrastinate. So I registered for classes yesterday. (School starts in three weeks to give you an idea of the time line). My schedule isn't as bad as it should be for registering so late. I'm taking American Civilizations (blah), Survey of Jazz (should be interesting), Absurd Theater (why not?), Begining French and maybe Writing 2010 - I have to talk to the writing dept and see if I cant wave it cuz I basically took it at the Fort.
So that's what's new with me.

The Toy Store Is Eating My Soul

.... or at least my weekend. This weekend is Foothill Village's anual summer sidewalk sale. This means that everyone at the toystore is working from 9 am to 8 pm, much of the time outside in the rudy hot sun. It's yucky. Today it rained- that was fun. We had to scramble to put tarps over all the merchandise so that it wouldn't get wet. The good news is that the temperature dropped a bit. Anyway, I'm tired. I hate toys. I hate sidewalk sales. I'm going to bed. At least tomorrow is the last day of torture.

One of those Weekends

I had fun. On Friday, my friend Allessa turned 22 and naturally we all celebrated with a fancy dress party. In other words, we got all dressed up and then got smashed. I got myself a brilliant dress for the occasion. I, unfortunately, don't have a pic of the whole thing so my readers will have to use their imaginations. You can see in the pic the nice polka-dotted sleeves (they actually started out long, but I cut them off), of the same material there is a ruffle along the bottom and a big freakin' bow. (that sentence was a little awkward) It's awsome.

Saturday I had a party myself. A pool party. I bought a 6' wide kiddie pool at Smith's just so I had an excuse. It was a good time.

Life is good.

I still have a boyfriend. I like him a lot. I am still fighting the commitment phobia though. If I ignore it, will it go away?

Fancy Dress Coctail Party Friday. (Allessa, Arrakis and Me)

Half Blood Prince

Yes, I have been caught up in the Harry Potter madness since day one. Before that actually - I read the first three books before they came out (advanced reading copies for the library at which my mother works). Anyway, I spent the weekend sick at home so I took the opportunity to read the latest in the HP instalment.

I rather liked it. It didn't follow the typical Harry Potter formula (Harry goes to school, Voldermort attacks in one form or another, Harry wins, everyone is happy). It had much more focus on he-who-must-not-be-named's history and was perhaps not as exciting. All the characters are more mature and I think the way it reads is also. There were a few cringable moments though. Like the last conversation between Harry and Ginny I had flashbacks to Spiderman.

I have to say that the person who dies at the end.... I heard the rumors that a faculty member was going to croak, but I never though it would be this one! Wow, that was gutsy. I'm not going to give away who it was, but WOW that was something. And the way it happened, that was kinda surprising because...... well, I can't really explain it without giving it away. Maybe after people have had more of a chance to read it I'll do a second part to this post.

This Rocks. I think I should do it.

http://www.qwantz.com/posterchild/

I'm Melting, Melting

It's hotter than Hades here in SLC! It was officially 103 yesterday, 100 the day before. Mon it was officially only 91 but according to the thermometer on our back patio (in the shade) it was 98 at 7:00 at night. Today it was at least 100 again. My car has no AC. I don't like this. It's too hot to walk anywhere (your shoes will melt and all the hair will combust) and it's too hot to drive anywhere (unless you are blessed with a cooling system in your automobile). Unfortunately, I haven't been able to just veg in the basement. You know, things to do, people to see.

Been a Bit

I'm afraid it's been a while since I updated this thing. To my devoted public, I apologise and I hope you will get over it someday. I've been a bit busy though really.
Somehow I managed to, more or less accidentally, find myself a boyfriend of sorts. He's not my typical type (gorgeous but arrogant and very cynical, whereas he is nice and sweet and not fantastically good looking. He's not ugly by any means, but.... he's got a great personallity) and I'm not entirely sure how crazy I am about him. I do like him quite a lot, don't get me wrong, it's just very different for me. He may be too nice, but that may not be that terrible. Anyway, the course of action I am currently taking is to just sort of play it by ear until I figure out what's going on and what I want. Also, I'm totally unused to the not-single mentality. Oh well.
In other news, I've had a musical last couple of days. Thursday I went to the first in the Gallivan Center's Twilight Concert Series. Free music good. Playing was a band called Cracker. They started out not too bad but got progressively more honky-tonk as they kept playing. Last night I went to club Ego's (dive) and saw my cynical-ex-boyfriend, Todd, play with his band. Todd is a fantastic drummer. The band could be better. It's the last opportunity I'll have to see him play as he's moving to NM in a month or so. It's also the first opportunity I've had to see him play as he's played 21-and-older venues and, as any regular readers I might have know, I have not been 21 very long. Tonight I'm likely going to Salt Lake City Jazz Festival ditto for tomorrow night. Tomorrow Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is playing - I'm quite a fan.
Anywho, that's good enough of an update for now. Ciao!

I Wanna Be a Part of It, New York New York!

What a week it has been. I've been (as many are aware) in New York City. Everything was fabulous but I have to admit that I am glad to be home and have a second to breathe.

So last Thursday my mother and I took an 11:30 pm flight to JFK which meant by the time we got into the city it was 8 am. We imediately crashed and slept until about 11 then we unpacked and got lunch. We stayed at Linda's (a friend of my mom) apartment (nice not to have a hotel). After Lunch we decided to walk down to the New York Public Library which took several hours as the library is on 43 st and we started around 102. We met Linda for dinner and then the three of us saw Spamalot. Holy Crusades Batman! That was a good show. Tim Curry and David Hyde Pierce, how could it be bad? Bloody fantastic.

Saturday then we spent a few hours at the MOMA. Not nearly enough time. There's so much to see that we didn't have time to really fully appreciate most of the art there. As it was we quickly saw everything on floors 4 & 5 (really good stuff - Dali, Van Gough, Picasso, Pollock) and about half of floor 3. So we totally missed floors 1,2 and 6, though 1 is mostly entrance and gift shop. Saturday night we went to The Blue Note (a rather famous Jazz club) and saw Terrence Blachard. We went to the earlier show and walked around Greenwich (pronouced gren-itch) a little. One of the big differences between NYC and SLC (there are several) is that there, the sex shops display thier dildos right in the front window, whereas here they keep them in a back room behind a curtain or heavy door and you really have to look for it.

Sunday we went upstate to Linda's house that she has up there. She actually lives at the house (she usually rents her apt, we were luck she didn't have any tennents when we were there) and commutes 2 hours to work in the city. The country was lovely. At dinner, we had fried cheesecake for dessert. It was certainly different.

Monday we went shopping in Soho and China Town. We window shopped a bit on Park Avenue too.

Tuesday my brother, Luke, his friends Julie, Jessie and Collin, and Collin's mom, Ramona, arrived. We met them at Battery Park and we all did the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The kids were all exhausted as they also came on the red-eye. After lunch we did a bit of shopping at south seaport and then the kids wanted to go to China Town and Mom and I decided to go back to the apt. On the way to catch the bus, we passed Ground Zero. It looks just like a construction sight- sort of a big hole in the ground. The kids weren't impresses. Last time I was in New York (way back when I was 13) we went to the towers. I remember standing inbetween the two towers and looking up- they just kept going. Linda actually used to work in Tower 2 so we had gone up to her office on the 44th floor. It was impressive how something so huge and solid could have totally disappeared so quickly and it was just more real actually being there. That night Mom and I saw Sweet Charity. Christina Applegate (played Charity) was really quite spectacular. She's not the strongest singer or the most impressive dancer, but she has HUGE presence.

Wednesday the whole lot of us went to the Metropolitin Museum of Art. They had a special retrospective of Max Ernst which was fascinating. Also there was a Chanel exhibit that was kinda fun. That afternoon we saw Wicked (v.v. good. Not much like the book but very excellent anyway). That night we saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with John Lithgow (v.v. funny). After the last show we all walked over to Lindy's for their "world famous cheesecake" which wasn't all that fantastic.

Thursday I stayed at the apt in the morning while everyone else went to the Museum of Natural History. I met them there at 1:30 for lunch. The kids seemed to like it much better than the Met, but I wasn't too impressed. It's got some interesting stuff but it's just a bunch of stuffed animals, dinosaur bones and rocks. Much of which you can see anywere though perhaps not on such a big scale. Connected to the museum is the planetarium and I did enjoy that. They have a neat Big Bang thing -they put you in a dark room, explain the BB and then make a lot of noise and flash some lights. When you exit the room you go down a spiraling ramp that has on it a timeline of the formation of the universe. I found it very interesting. Thursday night we ate at The Bubba Gump Shrimp Comany. Then we saw The Lion King. It was fascinating, really, the way they did it with the puppets was really different and plain brilliant. The show's been almost always sold out since it opened in 1998 (I think that's the right year). After the show we got Ice Cream.

Friday Morning we packed. At Noon we all went on a guided tour of NBC studios. From there we walked up 5th Ave and popped into to Tiffany's. We had Lunch around 3 at the Carnegie Deli. It was the most expensive meal we had while we were there (I think). The sandwiches are huge so we ordered one sandwich and one dessert for every two people. The cheesecakes there were MUCH better than at Lindy's and the portions are HUGE. After Lunch we went to FAO Schwartz. We left that night- 9:00 flight. I got home last night at 2 am.

It was a really lovely trip. I love New York, I really do.

Cinema

I saw two movies this week. Probably the same two as everyone else. Tuesday night I went to Mr and Mrs Smith. I have to say I liked it quite a lot. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are both very hot and they had nice chemistry. It was a funny movie with lots of explosions and shooting. It was brilliant. Last night I saw Batman Begins. Also very good, though there were a few more plot holes. If YoU hAvE nOt SeEn It, YoU mAy WaNt To StOp ReAdInG. Like they forgot to give the antidote to the scarecrow's poison that was making half of Gotham crazy insane. And how did the Bat manage to call swarms of bats to him? Yes, he had a sonar thingy in his boot, but come on! That so wouldn't work and he's still afraid of bats thoughout the movie so making a dramatic getaway with them flocking around his head should have been traumatic beyond all reason. The Scarecrow was awesome, I have to say. And the (sequel alert!) Joker bit at the end was exciting. Kinda like when, at the end of X2, you saw Peonix in the water. Christian Bale was brilliant as Bruce and Michale Cane IS Alfred. Good show. Plus it had more character development than you expect from a big summer movie.

Gay Day

Yesterday was Pride Day in Salt Lake. I woke up early to go to the parade down town and then to the festival with my friend, Arrakis, and her friend,Kris, his boyfriend, Chris, and their friends, Eric and Brian. It was a lot of fun. The festival is great for people watching- guys in dresses and stillettos, girls with mullets and a few of those people that you just can't be sure what gender they are. The protesters were fantastic too. There were the expected guys protesting homosexuality on the whole (Homo Sex is Sin! God Will Judge You), and people protesting the protesters. My favorite were the two signs protesting shrimp (website: www.godhatesshrimp.com).

May The Force Be with You

So, at work (I bet you all miss hearing about the toystore) we have these little Joe Bender things (little magnetic posable people guys). We have four or five just floating around the front counter, generally on either of the two steel posts that seem to help hold the ceiling up. One day I was working and had nothing particularly to do so I made two little light sabers (from ribbon, tape and stickers. I'm very crafty) for the two benders that were findable at the time. The red bender with the pigtails got a blue light saber and the blue guy got a red saber. It made sense at the time. Over the next week, their positions changed as an epic battle was fought on the pole. On that Saturday, another bender (this one blue AND green) showed up and Lucy asked me how I made the light sabers. So I gave a demonstration and made a purple light saber. So then we had a random Jedi, Samuel L Jackson (Mace Windu!! Insists Clint) and a random Bad Guy. Sometime last week, someone (pretty sure it was Clint) made a cloak for the bad guy. Now we have a random Jedi, Samuel L Jackson (Mace Windu!!! It bugs Clint to call him by the actor not the character) and Darth Sidious. It's kinda neat, but sad that we a) took the time to do all that and b) are so amused by it. Oh well, that's what we get.

Celebratory

Ah, the morning (wait, it's 12:30 pm) after my birthday. Last night Todd (wonderful kid, really, love him to death) took me out to a bar and bought me a few drinks. I enjoyed them all. Many thanks to Todd too because I think he dropped at least $30 last night. Then Alex, Cheng and Cris came and bought me some more drinks. I can remember everything I drank (good sign). I find the names of some of these things very amusing. This is what I had (in order even): Adios Mother Fucker (AMF), Kamikazi, Sex on the Beach, Southern Comfort shot, Pink Taco, Elephant Hill (Heffevisen), Mai Tai. There's a nifty little web site where you can check what's in those (except for the Pink Taco which may be a Greenstreet original). www.barnonedrinks.com Well, Horray for being 21. Cheers, mate.