Out and Back

Sacrificing sleep

I am a busy girl.  Lately, when I haven't been on the road for work, I've been working at home and barely finding any time for myself to cram into the 24 hours I'm allotted each day.  I've started sacrificing sleep, much to my husband's annoyance (he positively hates it when I come to bed after he's already settled in for the night.)  No matter how quiet I try to be, I always seem to wake him up.  At least when I'm on the road I can stay up late and go to bed without bothering anyone.

My whole sleep/wake cycle has skewed forward about three or four hours.  Instead of going to bed at 10 or 11, I'm lucky to be in by 1 or 2.  I'm trying to wean myself off of this wacky schedule, but it's hard.  I've always been a bit of a night owl, but, oddly enough, the time of day I love the most is really, really early morning.  As in, you'd still call it nighttime if you didn't know what time it was.  I especially love the hours between 3 and 6 a.m. when, if I'm up, I can literally watch daybreak.

I remember one Saturday night/Sunday morning, back in my single days, when I got a typical middle-of-the-night phone call from this guy I slept with a lot in college, sort of fell in love with, and who still occasionally crosses my mind at weird, inopportune moments.  We hadn't talked in a while so we were on the phone for at least two hours that night/morning/whatever, and when we finally hung up I was so wide awake I didn't even want to think about going back to bed.  So I got dressed, went to this divey diner near my place for eggs, hashbrowns, toast, and nasty coffee, and then took a long drive.  It was still pitch black outside when I left and the stars were out, but by the time I got home it was daylight.  The best part of the drive was witnessing the moment-by-moment transition from night to morning as I made my way down the rural two-lane highway.

I love it when the sun is rising but you can still see stars.

No wonder I'm all messed up

I sat down to type this post and noticed that my coffee mug from this morning was still half full.  That means I only drank one and a half cups of coffee this morning, rather than my usual two (sometimes three.)  I guess that explains why I've been feeling a little off today, doesn't it?

Having grown up in Seattle, I often joke with people that I was born with a Starbucks cup in my hand.  I've mentioned before that I actually prefer Tully's or Seattle's Best Coffee over Starbucks. ("Henry's Blend" from SBC is sublime if you ask me.)  More than anything, though, I love the delicious taste of a cup of coffee brewed from beans I roasted myself the night before.  The roasting chamber on the FreshRoast quit a couple of years ago, and the fact that we live in a tiny apartment now sort of precludes getting a bigger roaster (I still dream of an Alpenrost or a Hot Top) and somehow I don't think the landlady would love me roasting on the patio... the smoke is noxious.  Outdoor roasting is also a bad idea because the ambient temperature can affect how well the roaster heats up and, in turn, affect the consistency of your roast.

The search for excellent coffee continues...

Here's a thought...

Regular readers know I was in Los Angeles last week for a few days.  I freakin' loved it, but I wasn't sure why.  It's smoggy, the traffic is wretched, and there are more overpriced eateries and fake boobs than you can shake a stick at.  Why would I love such a place?

Then it hit me.

Los Angeles is the Coney Island of the west.  Hear me out for a second before you start insisting that I'm wrong, that that title rightfully belongs to Las Vegas.

First of all, there is no place like Coney Island so I do recognize the faint sacrilege in even comparing L.A. to it.  All the same, though, here's my reasoning:

* Both are a bit sketchy in places.  I swear there are sections of Sunset that are interchangeable with Stillwell.

* Both are filled with people of all stripes, from all walks of life... some of whom are freakier than others.

* Both are near the ocean.

* Both are full of interesting sights, sounds, smells, and architecture.

* Hardly any shade to be found in either place on a sunny day.

* Both places have served as filming locations for movies, TV, and music videos. (OK, so maybe L.A. has a slight edge here.)

* L.A. may not have a bunch of amusement rides, but try cruising down Mulholland as fast as your car can safely go on a road that curvy and see how it compares to a spin on the Cyclone.  Also, L.A. has its own knockoff of the Wonder Wheel.

* Q Train?  101 at rush hour?  Same difference.

* Nathan's?  In-N-Out Burger?  Yeah.  (C.I. still wins in this category, though, because there's nothing in L.A. that even comes close to Totonno's.)

* Lola Staar would fit right in on Melrose Avenue, I think.

Maybe my argument is a little weak, but the only place on the west coast I've ever been that makes me feel like I'm not really that far away from my beloved Coney is Los Angeles.  Both places are infused with that same sense of popular history, and both places make you feel like there's nowhere else on earth quite like where you are right now.

(And unfortunately, perhaps Coney will soon be catching up to L.A. on the overpriced condominium front, as well.) *sigh*

Remind me never to schedule a return trip on the Friday of a holiday weekend out of LAX

I'm tired, kids.  It's been an enjoyable yet somewhat emotional half-week here in the City of Angels.  When I booked my travel for this trip it didn't even occur to me that flying home on the Friday night of a holiday weekend (even on a redeye) might be kind of sucky.  My plane doesn't leave until nearly 11 p.m. PST, so I am sitting here trying not to think about the suckage until I absolutely have to.  Last time, I actually tried to sleep on the plane.  I think this time I'll just stay awake.  I can sleep when I'm dead, right?

Come to think of it, I might be dead after this flight. Did I mention the only seat I could get was in the frigging middle? (AAAAARRRGGH!)

Remember this post?  I'm the mayor of bitch city, baby! (See the comments below that post if you have no idea what I'm talking about.)

Of all the times to be trapped in a place where smoking is not permitted.  @#$%&**!!!!!!

Tuesday coffee klatsch

Just a quick post this morning as I prepare to head for the airport and my flight to Los Angeles. I'm looking forward to going, since this is my first trip since April 30 (work's been a bit light, plus I took some days off.)

One thing I plan to do if I have the time is scoot down to Santa Monica to see the start of Route 66 (or the end, depending which direction one is traveling, I suppose.) I tend to think of the California end as the end because of the line in the song that goes "if you ever plan to motor west"... anyway, if I am able to slog my way through the LA traffic, I'll head down there and take some pictures.

Serendipitously, I read an interesting news item yesterday about the unfortunate condition of some of the historic motels along Route 66. The way I feel about Route 66 is similar to the way I feel about Coney Island, doo-wop, and Googie: all are of great historical significance when it comes to American social, architectural, and aesthetic history, and all also happen to be significantly endangered. It bums me out, to say the least.

In other news, I have been processing a number of interesting dreams lately. Had a doozy over the weekend in which I dreamt I was attending a wedding and staying at an old, grand hotel (a little ritzier than the doo-wop motels of the Wildwoods.)  My husband and family were all in attendance as well, but I couldn't tell you who was getting married or even what the ceremony was like because I don't remember that part of the dream. What I do recall was that I had a secret and I was expending all of my energy in the dream trying to keep it hidden. I don't remember what the secret was, either, but it was something no one else could know or my life would have been ruined. Needless to say, I woke up feeling rather odd.

I need silicone, STAT!

I'm going to L.A. in a couple of weeks -- woo hoo!  Somebody hook me up with some silicone!!

Avoidance...

Instead of writing something substantive, I spent time today making a new banner for this blog, changing up the color scheme, and adding buttons and other widgets.  The new banner is a picture I took in August of a new mural at Coney Island.  The nutsy face that you see about dead center is a representation of Tillie, the mascot of Steeplechase Park (he was named after Steeplechase's founder, George C. Tilyou.)  A different Tillie can be found in Asbury Park, NJ.  The Asbury Park Tillie is more friendly-looking, so I guess the Steeplechase Tillie is his evil twin or something.  (To be accurate, the Steeplechase Tillie came first, so I guess he's really Asbury Tillie's evil older brother.)  Read more about the Tillies here.

When I got my new laptop back in September, I needed to give it a name for networking purposes.  My husband and I take naming our computers seriously... in the past we've had Candy Darling and Pussy Galore. (Don't ask.)  After much consideration, I decided to name my laptop... Tillie.  Of course.  Oh yeah, and our wireless network is named Dreamland.

Sniff!

I'm off to Florida today for a few days -- looking forward to a shorter trip this time with no redeye flights!

Here in the south, we've been having one of the worst allergy seasons on record.  My poor husband has been in much worse shape than me (I suppose that's proof that those weekly and then bi-weekly allergy shots I was getting have done me some good.)  He got himself a prescription for Zyrtec, though, and has been feeling somewhat better the past few days.  Yesterday, I took the roller skate to the car wash to rinse off all that nasty yellow pollen, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's coated again within a few days.

What we really need around here is a good rainstorm, but so far Mother Nature has just been teasing us with overcast skies and a few sprinkles... maybe this week will bring some improvement.

More postings to follow from the road this week....

Overhaul

I know I've been away from the blog for a bit -- I started training for my new job on January 16 and I officially "went live" today.  Posting may still be irregular for a bit as I get settled into my new schedule, but things should even out fairly soon.

At the moment, I'm working on getting my home office set up.  I ordered a new desk and hutch-y thing from IKEA last night and am trying to figure out how to arrange everything so that I will have a nice, functional, tranquil workspace.  I'm going to have to purge a lot of stuff -- my desk area now is ridiculously cluttered, full of things that I don't use very often but keep around in the event that I "might" need them someday.  I'm notorious for my pack-rat tendencies.....

A week for surprises

Here's my horoscope for today, courtesy of Kajama (one of my favorite sources for horoscopes):

Personal relationships will take a little more effort than usual today, for others' actions won't match their words. If you ponder the motives behind someone's bad mood, you'll know what to do to comfort them. The full Moon in Gemini will illuminate the landscape and some new concepts for you to consider. Your tarot card is the Magician, so watch for a number of surprises to come your way this week.

Surprises, huh?  Well, I hope they will be pleasant ones.

I don't really believe in astrology, but I like reading my horoscope... it gives me something to reflect on.  I treat my horoscope more like a "thought for the day" as opposed to a predictor of how my day is going to go.  And anyway, if my horoscope actually predicted my day, it would go something like this:

You'll spend the morning doing laundry, and then be overcome by an attack of boredom mid-afternoon.  Hit the mall.

I am not making this up

I was driving home last night from downtown Clemson, when I happened to pass an elderly g.o.b. (that's "good ol' boy" for those of you who live above the Mason-Dixon line) retrieving his mail from his mailbox by the shoulder of the road.  I noticed his plaid shirt and suspenders, his worn ball cap, and regulation g.o.b. beer gut, and then I noticed something interesting: in his hand, he was holding a Starbucks cup.

I laughed the rest of the way home.

(And yes, we have a Starbucks here.  It's inside the Bi-Lo on Route 93.)

Friday brain dump

For your Friday-morning goofing-off pleasure.... because, hey, I'm unemployed.  Have to do something to keep myself busy while waiting for job interviews.

* My favorite coffee mug (click to see it bigger):

I drink out of it every morning, unless its in the dishwasher, then I usually drink out of my "Jonesy Lives!" mug that I got from savecarnivale.org.  (I also have a "We got pie!" refrigerator magnet.  Rock on, Stumpy.)

* My husband casually mentioned yesterday that one of his professors grew up with Edwin McCain, who happens to be one of my favorite singers.  I asked, "Can your professor introduce me?"  My husband asked why.  I replied, "So I can marry him!"  (I was only kidding.  I think Edwin is married.  Come to think of it, so am I.  Duh.)

* I am newly obsessed with Diner Dash, a game that came on my new laptop.  It is so damn cool, but totally infuriating.  Basically, it's every waitress' worst nightmare.  You have to serve as many customers as you can before closing time, and the levels get increasingly difficult as you go.  I am completely addicted to it.  You can check out a free online version of it here.  (Sign-up required, but that's it.)

* When we were living in Pennsylvania, KYW 1060 AM helped me fall asleep every night.  Of course, I can't pick it up down here, but I can download their morning news podcast, which is nice.  I get the KYW podcast along with a few other podcasts (the NPR Shuffle, Slate Magazine's daily podcast, the BBC NewsPod, etc.) and I've got plenty of evening listening material to help me turn my brain off and get some sleep.

So where's MY PhD?

I've been in South Carolina a little over a week now, and I've already proofed two papers for my husband.  I see a pattern developing here.  I have a feeling that I will be his number one editor on the big dissertation.  It's a good thing I don't charge for my services.  I've learned a lot about landscape architecture theory in the past week, that's for sure.

Fortunately, he's a decent writer, but sometimes his sentences get convoluted.  That's where I come in.  I try to decipher what he's trying to say, and then I trim down the sentence to express the idea more economically.  I have crossed out more words and phrases in his papers than I can count.  Sometimes less really is more.

My own writing is less exciting at the moment.  I find myself running out of words, running out of steam at the most inopportune times.  Perhaps my expectations are skewed, though.  Maybe just a few lines of prose and dialogue for a few minutes in the evenings is enough.  If I work the muscle, it will get stronger.

Right?

Quiet ramblings

I can't believe how quiet it is around here.  I've gone from living on a busy one-way street in downtown Allentown (where the sirens, stereos, squealing brakes, and whooshing of passing cars punctuated my waking moments) to a quiet apartment complex with mature trees, squirrels, and lots of green space.  The cats love it.  They sit all day in front of the sliding glass door that leads out to our patio, watching the squirrels, birds, and other cats and dogs that live in our little community.  That sliding glass door is their big screen TV... no commercials, and no need to ever change the channel.

In other news, my new Dell Inspiron E1505 notebook is scheduled to ship tomorrow, so I can finally be the itinerant writer I always wanted to be.  I can take my work wherever I go, not to mention my tunes, my favorite games (Sims 2 and Roller Coaster Tycoon for those who were wondering), and my internet access.  I just got a new iPod nano, too, which I am loving.  I have been throwing song after song onto it and the damn thing just will not fill up!  It's like having a credit card with no limit.

F#$%ing annoying

My obnoxious neighbor from around the corner is hanging out and drinking wine with my next-door neighbor and I can hear his obnoxious laughter wafting up to the second floor of my house (through closed windows, I might add.)  If you ask me, my next-door neighbor treats him awfully nice considering he once sued her and her husband.  Come to think of it, maybe she treats him nice because of that.  As far as I'm concerned, he's just a pain in the butt.  He is one of the things I won't miss about this house or this neighborhood.  Jerk.

(I feel slightly guilty that we didn't put anything about the "obnoxiously anal-retentive guy who lives around the corner" in our seller's disclosure when we put our house on the market.  The poor guy who is buying our house is in for an unpleasant surprise.)

On the other hand, maybe I'm just in an extra snarky mood tonight.  Maybe O.A-R.G.W.L.A.T.C. isn't really that bad.

(Not!)

The stuff some people hunt for on the internet

I haven't done this in a while, so I thought I would take a peek at my visitor stats and see what people who find my blog via search engines are looking for.  Prepare to be disturbed and vaguely amused.

"crushed beatles in yoplait yogurt" -- I love how they spelled "beatles" like the band, not the insect.  Maxwell's silver hammer, indeed.

"bargain wallpaper" -- this one's an obvious one, since I posted last year about this super-cheap wallpaper I bought.  I never had a chance to put it up in my dining room, though.  Too bad this searcher didn't leave me a message because I would have hooked him or her up with my wallpaper.  It's at the Salvation Army now.

"self tests to measure sexism" -- yowza.  I should totally invent one of these.  Hmmmm.... are you a male chauvinist pig?  Turn to page 31 to find out!

"Johnny Depp visiting Hershey, PA" -- I wish!  Willy Wonka comes to Chocolate Town, USA.  That'd be cute.

"missing cats stoli and gatsby" -- I think I have a lot in common with this person.  Who are you?  I need to meet you!

"val kilmer wife beating" -- not touching this one.  nope.  I have heard interesting things about Val over the years, like he's impossible to work with, has an overinflated ego, etc., etc., but I've never heard anything about him being violent toward women.  He better not be.... he is slated to be my third or fourth husband, after all.

"fear of vomiting on a roller coaster" -- again, one that sort of makes sense.  I wonder if there are emetophobes who really only fear barfing on roller coasters?  What about barfing on the Tilt-a-Whirl?  If you ask me, that's the bigger mess.

Packing-challenged, and my stupid car

I have decided that I am packing-challenged.  Tonight, I went to the U-Haul store to buy another dish-pak and some bubble wrap, then I hit Dunkin Donuts for a Coffee Coolata (ironic, since I had been listening to Denis Leary's Coffee Rant off of his Lock-N-Load album, in which he actually mentions the Coolata by name, followed by a resounding "FUCK, NO!")

Wow, that was a sentence.  Or something.

After that, I went to the grocery store to get a few things, and then I went home with every intention of packing some stuff for the big move-ola.  Here is what I accomplished:

* managed to put my passport, credit cards, checkbook, and a couple of bills that will come due after all of our stuff leaves into a small plastic box for safekeeping and to generally have it all in one convenient container.

* packed one box full of CDs.  Hard to believe, but one box is about all you need for our CDs.  The majority of them are in those CD binder things, there are very few in jewel cases.  The rest of my music is all on my computer. 

* cuddled with Tisbe.

* watched a little bit of Walk the Line on DVD.

* brushed my teeth.

* typed this blog entry.

Right now I am listening to the club mix of Freemasons' Love on My Mind on my iPod and thinking about how much I am going to miss KTU, the marvelous New York City dance station (home to Vic Latino and, until recently, Goumba Johnny.)  Hubby and I discovered KTU on our way home from Rhode Island two Thanksgivings ago.  We picked it up in Connecticut and enjoyed its hypnotic beats all the way from the Tappan Zee bridge to somewhere outside Phillipsburg, NJ, where we lost the signal.

Also, I am convinced that my car has ESP.  It knows when there is an important road trip coming up (in this case, the aforementioned move) and chooses that particular timeframe to have a problem.  When I headed out for lunch today, I noticed that the fan now only blows on high.  With the kind of temperatures we've been having lately, that's fine, but it's kind of annoying to have either cold air full blast or bupkes.  It became pretty clear after a few seconds of messing around with it that the problem is a bad switch and nothing more, but the stupid dealership will probably have to order a new one which could take forever.  When I called my guy at the dealership to tell him what the problem was, he insisted on "getting it in for a diagnostic" which is mechanic-speak for, "we're going to inconvenience you by holding your car hostage for an entire day while we dick around and charge you and arm and a leg to tell you what you already knew, then we're going to make you bring the car back three weeks later when we finally get the part in so that we can install it and charge you even more."

Damn.  I am just full of sentences tonight.

My husband confirmed my suspicions about the bad switch when he got home this evening, so I'm going to have him call the mechanic tomorrow and tell him what's going on and what we need.  We'll see if he gets told the car needs a "diagnostic."  Sheesh.

Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?

This post is all style and no substance.  Posting continues to be light because I am in the process of packing up my house and working my butt off at the office trying to tie up all the loose ends.  A few observations for your reading pleasure, however:

* Mel Gibson: WTF?

* I have been watching the World Series of Pop Culture on VH1 a fair bit over these past few weeks.  I have reached the conclusion that I would kick all kinds of butt in this competition.  I read Entertainment Weekly's semi-regular pop-culture quiz and usually know all or nearly all of the answers.  While watching the tournament on VH1, I regularly know answers that the contestants don't know.  For instance, last night, one of the contestants was asked for the name of the Depeche Mode album that included the songs Enjoy the Silence and Personal Jesus.  He didn't know.  How could he not know that?  I kept groaning, "Come on, man!  It's Violator!"

* It's hot again here.  I've moved my office to a new location (same building, different floor - a result of department-wide reshuffling) and my new area is directly across from an air conditioner that another woman who works on my floor insists upon keeping cranked all the way up.  On Monday, my fingers got so cold that I couldn't type, and I keep a hoodie by my desk to put on when I can no longer take the cold.  When I head out of the building for lunch, I bask in the heat that I would otherwise find obscene.  Can you say "condensation"?  I swear, you could stash a case of warm beer under my desk and it would be icy cold by the end of the work day.  Hmmm.... that's not a bad idea.

* Just found out that the Black Eyed Peas are coming to the Allentown Fair at the end of this month.  The concert is the night before settlement on our house.  Hubby will already be in SC so I'm thinking of taking myself to hang out for an evening with Will, Fergie, Taboo, and Apl.  Pass the peas!  (Oh yeah, and the Pussycat Dolls are opening.  Hence the title of this post.)

That's all I got, kids.  I was going to say something snarky about Bobby Abreu getting traded to the Yankees but I'm too hot and tired.  I think I will go stretch out somewhere like my cats.

Oh, I am such a slacker

I haven't posted anything in nearly 3 weeks.  All of my readers have the right to mock me and call me slacker.  I do have some valid excuses, though:

1.  I traveled to Seattle over the Memorial Day weekend and stayed for a week, visiting my family and attending a work-related conference in Vancouver, BC for three days.

2.  Since returning from said trip, I have been busy at work trying to dig out from under the backlog that acumulated while I was away.

3.  Some major changes are afoot in my personal life, which I will blog about in more detail later, as things become more concrete.

Other than that, all I can say is I hate air travel these days... as I wrote in an email to a friend: introvert + coach class + mild claustrophobia = psycho bitch from hell.

One other thing -- I experienced a breakthrough with my therapist this week.  We figured out the ideal prescription for me: to write.  She thinks I stumbled when I decided not to go into the Masters in writing program at the University of San Francisco back in 2000.  I'm inclined to agree, and while it isn't feasible for me to return to school for more formal training in writing at this juncture, it is more than feasible for me to start writing more productively again.  My shrink was extremely blunt with me: she told me if I didn't want to end up on a dozen different medications for depression later in life that I'd better resuscitate the writer within.  I responded by saying depression runs in my family.  She replied, "I rest my case."

So, I'll be making an attempt to write more, though my increased productivity may not appear on the blog right away.  I feel very strongly that I need to do more than just blog at this point.

More later...

Really Random Thoughts

I've been slacking off on the blog a bit lately, I know.  Here are some interesting tidbits about what I have been up to while not blogging.

* I started watching The Sopranos on DVD the week before my birthday.  It's a good show -- I was surprised by how much I related to it.  (I guess mobsters have issues just like the rest of us.)  I'm very fond of the women in Tony's life -- particularly his wife, Carmela, and his therapist, Dr. Melfi.  The opening credits are cool, too.... very familiar scenery given that I am located just a hop, skip, and a jump from NJ.

* Went to an arts festival this past Saturday down the road in Quakertown, PA.  One of the musical performers was Peter Mulvey, a personal favorite of mine.

* Got my nails done on Sunday.  Chose OPI's Pompeii Purple.  As many colors nail salons typically have to choose from, I always seem to grab Pompeii Purple.  One of these days I'm going to have to buy a bottle.

* A friend of mine got her Masters degree over the weekend, and she was chosen to be the graduation speaker.  In her remarks she said that it is everyone's duty to question each other and to question authority (I'm paraphrasing.)  It made me admire her even more.

* I've been listening to a lot of interesting music lately... a sampling from my Ipod:
            Always There - Incognito (David Morales Remix)
           Meet Virginia - Train
            Over My Head (Cable Car) - The Fray
            Black and Blue - Edwin McCain
            Pink Cashmere - Prince
            Faster Kill Pussycat - Paul Oakenfold feat. Brittany Murphy
            You're The One - Lou Rawls

And so ends my blathering blog post.....

Thought for the day

You can shove the umbrella up my ass, just don't open it!!!!!!

(A perfect retort when someone is giving you a hard time.  I have a friend whose mom used to say this to people who were getting on her nerves.)

The obligatory "how was your weekend" post

Ever notice how on Monday morning, your co-workers and friends are always asking, "Hey, how was your weekend?"  Like they actually care how your weekend was....  I'm also always stymied by the way people ask, "Hey, how are you doing?" and we all usually respond, "Oh, just fine, thanks," even if we are having the world's crappiest day, our dog just died, or we've been diagnosed with a terminal disease and/or mental illness.  I don't get it.  (I realize that that's not always the case... there are a few people in my life to whom I would answer honestly the "how's it going?" question, but they are few and far between, and we're so close that I don't have to wait for them to ask how I'm doing... I can just start venting.)

What a week

This week has been interesting, to say the least.  Part of me is wondering if this entire week has just been one big protracted April Fool's joke... at any rate, I'm waiting for the punchline this morning.

The one nice thing is that spring appears to have arrived in my neck of the woods, finally.  The sun has been out and the temperatures have been mild, and even though today is overcast with a chance of rain, the forecast is still calling for a high of 66.  I'll take it.

And baseball season starts tomorrow... I have tickets to Wednesday's Phillies game vs. the St. Louis Cardinals, and I'm going with my friend Jen, who is my #1 baseball buddy.  (Bigbie is out for two weeks with a stress fracture to his left heel, so no "fantasy baseball" for me this week, but that's OK.)

Here are some "foolish" songs for this Saturday April Fool's Day:

Everybody Plays The Fool -  The Main Ingredient
Why Do Fools Fall In Love? - Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers
Foolish Beat - Debbie Gibson (well, if you didn't know my generation... you do now!)
Kissing A Fool - George Michael
Foolish Games - Jewel

Note to self

Just keep moving toward the light.

It's going to be OK.

Monday Music Mambo

I'm a regular participant in the BlogDrive Insanity Wednesday Mind Hump, but I haven't done the Monday Music Mambo as often.  In honor of the spring-like weather that seems to FINALLY be working its way into my corner of the world, I'm going to participate in this week's Mambo, which has a springy theme.

Hello mamboers!  Spring is finally here, but it doesn't really feel like it yet.  I'll make this week's mambo fairly simple.  All you have to do is give me some songs, artists, or albums that remind you of or use the following words:

Birds - The Carpenters "Close to You" (why do birds suddenly appear....?)
Flowers - Skylark "Wildflower"
Sun - Sheryl Crow "Soak Up The Sun"
Rain - Neil Sedaka "Laughter In the Rain"
Party (in honor of spring break) - Eminem "Shake That"
Change - John Waite "Change"

I hate shopping

That's not really true.  I love shopping when I'm just browsing and not looking for something specific.  That was not the case this weekend, unfortunately.  I spent most of the weekend shopping for something to wear to my brother's wedding in April, and it was definitely a hunt.  I even went to the King of Prussia Mall on Saturday -- it's the second largest mall in the country (the Mall of America in Minneapolis is the first, if you're wondering.  I've been there too, but not this weekend!)

Saturday's trip to KoP was a bust, but I did get a new Dior lipstick at Sephora.  On Sunday, I decided to try a different tactic, and I went up to the Crossings outlet mall in Tannersville.  I stumbled into the Dress Barn and found a spring dress sale in progress... score! I found something great for the wedding, something really cool for the rehearsal dinner, and a bonus outfit that I can wear to work.  Then I hit the Nine West outlet next door and got two pairs of shoes.  Done and done, as they say.

Thursday morning

Just a couple of random musings on a Thursday morning....

* I rented Boogie Nights this weekend.  (I'd seen it before but felt like watching it again.)  The opening sequence in the nightclub -- nearly four minutes in length, filmed as one continuous shot -- is a work of art.  You meet all the major characters and feel like you're right there with them.  The Emotions' Best of My Love plays in the background and it's as though you're transported to the San Fernando Valley in the late '70s.  I never tire of watching that sequence... it makes me want to step through my TV screen and join Buck and Reed on the dance floor, or head over to Jack and Amber's booth and have a drink and a smoke with them.

* I had an interesting cinematic dream last night in which I was editing together a montage of my favorite romantic moments from movies and TV.  In addition to the big "We'll always have Paris" scene from Casablanca and Marlon Brando screaming "STELLAAAAA!" in A Streetcar Named Desire, I had "You had me at hello" from Jerry Maguire and Big's "Carrie, you're the one" speech from the final episode of Sex and the City.  I think "I wish I knew how to quit you" from Brokeback Mountain crept in there as well.  I woke up thinking about love in all its permutations.  An interesting way to begin the day, because it isn't often that I think that deeply before having my coffee.

Stupid girl

You know those Yoplait commercials where the two girls compare the experience of eating Yoplait yogurt with different things?  They say stuff like, "This [yogurt] is good... first kiss good... foot massage good... nuclear disarmament good...." (OK, so that last one was mine.)

Well, the other night I did something supremely stupid, idiotic, what have you, and I've been thinking of the act in question in terms of those freakin' Yoplait commercials:

"That was stupid."

"Sex on the first date stupid."

"Beer and Benadryl stupid."

"Drunk-dialing an ex stupid."

"Changing lanes without checking your blindspot stupid."

"Standing up on a roller coaster stupid."

"Darwin Award winner stupid."

*sigh*

It is a boring Tuesday evening.  Tuesdays and Fridays are garbage collection nights in our part of the world, and I am trying to find something to do that will allow me to put off going downstairs to scoop out the cat litter boxes for a little while longer.  Isn't my life exciting?

I've been in a fog since I got back from my trip to Seattle on Saturday night.  The three hour time difference plus "falling back" for the end of Daylight Savings Time has left me in a surreal state.  My thoughts feel slower and everything seems to take longer to sink in. Oof.  I've had a couple of moments the last couple of days when I've literally forgotten where I am.  It's unsettling.  Maybe it's just the effect of having returned to my hometown, but I've gotten that "you can't go home again" feeling in spades over the past week.  Seattle, as much affection as I have for it, has changed a great deal and no longer feels as much like home as it used to, and Allentown felt strangely foreign upon my return, too. 

I guess I'm homeless for the time being.

More brief randomness

I am, as they say, busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.

A few highlights from my life of late:

* I am meeting with yet ANOTHER newspaper reporter tomorrow (this will be my third in about as many weeks) to talk about our local historic district's annual house tour.  I am co-chairing the tour and my house is also one of the stops, so hopefully all this publicity will pay off and LOTS of people will buy tickets and show up!  (Dirty little secret:  I worship Martha Stewart and Desperate Housewives' Bree Van de Kamp -- so this house tour thing is a little slice of heaven for me.)

* Watched another totally phat new episode of House, M.D. tonight.  Love, love, love that show.

* Managed to lose a pound and a half this week.  (Must've been all the dancing at my friend's wedding on Saturday.)

* Got a little unexpected reprieve on a work deadline today -- woo hoo!

* Today was payday and my raise kicked in.  (Jeanne does happy dance.)

* Am discovering that I have an obsessive gum chewing habit.  My jaw hurts.  Must stop this.

OK, this is turning out to be one of those blog posts I hate and vowed I would never post.

Too late -- I just posted it!

Quickie

This is a quickie post.  Went to Connecticut yesterday for a wedding, ate cake, danced to "YMCA" at the reception, and managed to stay sober.  (Weddings are more fun that way -- I much prefer to watch drunk wedding guests make asses of themselves than be the drunk wedding guest making an ass of myself.)

Oh yeah... did the Electric Slide, too.  All those years of practicing in my room when I was 13 finally amounted to something.

Have a great week!

Bloat

Ugh, I ate like a horse today.  Tomorrow I am going to be hauling ass around the house, though, painting trim, picking up, sweeping, and generally busting my hump, so I don't feel too guilty.  I'm sure I'll work it off tomorrow.

Plus, Madonna's entire catalog is on iTunes now so I crammed a bunch of her songs into my Shuffle.  I am ready to get on down.  I can feel my body getting smaller... I notice it at the weirdest times, like when I put my hands on my hips or sidle down our narrow basement stairs.  As my body begins to take up less space, I find myself worrying a little bit about disappearing.  I know I won't, really, but as I feel myself shrinking, feel myself growing lighter, I worry about just vanishing....  Silly thoughts cross my mind, like: will I fall out the next time I ride Steel Force?

Confidential to God: Please don't let me turn into one of those skinny bitches I hate.

Flowers in the sky yelling

We have been having quite the thunderstorm this evening.  Hubby and I headed out to Rita's earlier for a frozen custard and made it home just in time for the rain to start to pour.  I've been sitting in the office playing around with Quicken and listening to the thunder cracking overhead.

The title of this post refers to the way I described thunder when I was two years old.  We were at Disney World (travelling in a motor-home) and I saw fireworks for the first time.  I called them "flowers in the sky."  At some other point during the trip, there was a terrific thunderstorm with lots of lightning, and I remarked, "flowers in the sky... YELLING."

In other news, I turned my Lava Lamp on for the first time in quite awhile today.  (It sits on my desk next to the computer.)  At one point, Tisbe came and hopped into my lap while I was working, and I was pleased that she wanted to cuddle with me.  Then I realized the reason she was being so good and still was because my lap provided a much better vantage point from which to gaze at the Lava Lamp... she was completely mesmerized by it.

I feel so used....

Packing

It is 9 p.m. and I am typing this post instead of getting my shit together for our trip tomorrow.  I always pack in a whirlwind of clothes, toiletries, and undies, so I figure I've got a good hour before I really have to start paying attention.  I did get out the Aerobed, some sheets, and pillows to take (my brother has a guest room but no guest bed) so I'm ahead of the game.

I was at Target tonight (god I love that place) and I saw they had one of those Saturday Night Live Best Of... DVDs.  This one was "The Best of Christopher Walken" who in my opinion is one of the best recurring hosts of that show.  From his showstopping opening songs to "The Continental" to "more Cowbell!" I just love him.  So I had to buy it.  It was only $7.99.  A small price to pay for some of Christopher Walken's sick and bizarre hilarity.

I should also mention that I now have a picture of McGruff the Crime Dog on my office door.  I returned from a meeting to find it taped there.  I also learned that one of our surveillance cameras captured images of my would-be purse snatcher wandering around the day he tried to take my purse.  Our head of security brought them for me to look at and I identified the guy in about half a second.  So at least they know what he looks like now, so if he shows up again we can all tackle him.

All in all, a good day.

Off to VA tomorrow.  My brother's driving directions, incidentally, reminded me of a line delivered by Brad Pitt's stoner character in the movie True Romance:  "You just drive, and then you drive a little farther... and then.... uh... keep drivin'!" 

The best part?  That character's name is.... Floyd.

Lazily listing

I am a confirmed list-maker.  My desk at work is loaded with little notes to myself scrawled on post-its, to-do lists, computer-generated lists, you name it.  Lists are a big part of my life, from the playlist on my iPod Shuffle to the list of books I need to find time to read.  It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that I'm also a big fan of David Letterman's nightly top-ten lists.  (I can never stay up late enough to watch them, but I do look them up online from time to time.)

One listing exercise that is a direct result of the advent of the internet are those fun "get to know you" questionnaires that clutter up our inboxes.  My co-workers are insatiably fond of them, in particular.  So as a nod to my office mates and my own predilection for list-making, below is one such questionnaire that I have filled out to give you, the reader, a deeper glimpse into who I am.  If any of the questions particularly excite you, feel free to email me with your answers to them and I'll post the more interesting ones in a future entry.

1. What time is it? 3:57 p.m.

2. Name or name you go by: Jeanne (rhymes with "bean.")

3. Nickname: I used to be called Jeannie, now I don't really have many nicknames.  My office-mate calls me "Queen Jeanne."

4. Your birthday: May 14.

5. Pets: Two cats, Tisbe and Dorabella. (They are mother and daughter.)

6. Hair color: Dark blonde/light brown (when I'm not coloring it.)

7. Piercings: Ears (three left, two right.)

8. Eye Color: Brown

9. Height: 5'6"

10. Hometown: Seattle (OK, Bellevue), Washington

11. Town you live in: Allentown, Pennsylvania (fire up the Billy Joel!)

12. Favorite Food: Italian, Vietnamese, Mexican

13. If you could travel anywhere in the world where would it be and why?? I would love to take a long road trip all over the U.S. and explore a bunch of little towns that no one's heard of. Driving the still-extant portions of Route 66 would be kind of cool, too.

14. Do you have a husband/wife or boyfriend/girlfriend? Yes, a husband.

15. Have you ever been in a car accident? Yes.

16. Favorite day of the week: Thursday

17. Favorite restaurant: Probably LoBaido's here in Allentown.  My favorite restaurant in Seattle was a place called Labuznik but it has been closed for a few years now.

18. Favorite flower: Daisies

19. Favorite sport to watch: Baseball

20. Favorite sport: Baseball

21. Favorite ice cream: Hershey's "Play-Doh" Ice Cream, or Ben & Jerry's "Chubby Hubby"

22. Favorite movie: Casablanca

23. Favorite fast food restaurant: Subway or Quiznos

24. What is your favorite color/colors: Blue, purple

25. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Neiman Marcus (in the shoe and handbag departments!)

26. What do you do when you are bored? Play computer games, straighten up around the house, watch a DVD.

27. Most annoying thing people do? Don't get me started....!

28. Most admirable trait in others? Selflessness, and bangin' fashion sense.

29. Bedtime? 10 pm-ish

30. What is your favorite TV show/shows? House, American Idol, Desperate Housewives, Sex and the City, Law & Order, Carnivale

31. Who are your favorite actors/actresses? Val Kilmer, Adrien Brody, Robert Sean Leonard, Joaquin Phoenix, John Cusack, Scarlett Johansson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Chloe Sevigny, Lili Taylor, Drew Barrymore.

32. What is your favorite band or singer? Band: Rolling Stones; Singer: Peter Mulvey

33. What is your favorite song? I have way too many favorite songs, but if I had to choose one, it would be "Beast of Burden" by the Stones.

34. Any regrets in life? Not yet.

35. Last movie you saw in a theater: "The Jacket"

36. Last movie you watched at home: Just watched the original "Star Wars" trilogy over the weekend.

37. Favorite Board Game: Monopoly, Scrabble, Apples to Apples.

38. Favorite Magazine: Mother Jones & Entertainment Weekly

39. Favorite Scents: My kitty cats after they've had their baths.  (All baby powder fresh!)

40. Favorite word: It's probably a four-letter one.

41. Favorite phrase: "Not so much." (Used in response to a question, for example: "Do you want to eat at XYZ Restaurant?"  "Eh, not so much.")

42. What is the first thing you think of when you go to sleep? Probably everything I have to do the next day.

43. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up? Usually that I need to use the bathroom.

44. If you could have any car what would it be? A 1959 El Camino.

45. Do you speed? Yes.

46. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? Does my husband count?

47. If you could go see any star who would it be? Probably Kyan from "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." I so want to be his hag.

48. If you could SLEEP with any star, who would it be? Val Kilmer

49. What was your first car? Honda Accord

50. Favorite drink: Non alcoholic: Diet Coke; Alcoholic: Cosmopolitan

51. Favorite place to relax: On my sofa

52. What is your favorite pie? Pumpkin

53. What makes you smile the most? When my husband gets home from work, or watching the cats chase each other around the house.

54. Who is your role-model? My mom