Tomorrow

Super long trip starts. Days off start. I hang out on a bus. There will be pizza for lunch. I might actually get around to running--stupid overtime.

I can't wait to see peoples. Also I had an epiphany about people (and by people, I mean one particular person in specific) who call me in the middle of the night. I am a stand in/suroggate/easier then for real because I am far away. This totally works for me. I am ok with this just being fluff and fun that may have a little pay off at a wedding, later (but without virgins, please) because I don't think it should turn into anything more--not in the least because I can't actually imagine how that would ever work out.

So, this was cryptic. On purpose. People at the Ken and Mandy wedding should feel free to ask questions in person if you actually care about the drivel that is my life. Everyone else, you might have to remain curious (although you are totally welcome to remain indifferent).

How I met myself

or, how I discovered I am Barney from How I Met Your Mother. Well, kind of. I bought season 1 on DVD, and it is in fact "Legen--wait for it--Dary!" We have been watching a lot of it in the basement (that's what I am now calling my pad, the basement--its wehere we live), and we feel we are each one of the people. Renee is Ted--painfully so at times (see the episode called "The Duel"). Janna and her boyfriend Shane are totally Marshall and Lily, and I am Barney. Random, strange, probably overly caffeinated. I am not sure who is Robyn, but it might be my friend Anna Schlegel.

I am getting kind of really excited that I am going to see lots of my peoples this weekend. Also there will be a wedding (where I will be avoiding virgins and anyone who might be related to me somehow distantly by marriage--sorry Robyn and Sally). Plus next week there is Wicked.

Also, I almost made myself really, really sick this evening by forgetting to really eat all day. Whoops. Food made me feel better.

Insanity has taken over my brain

Well, only kind of. Its possible this particular insanity can be directly traced to boredom with a nice dash of no sex in a pretty long time. I am just repeatedly drawn to making the same mistakes over and over (by the way still no sex, don't get your panties in a bunch). Which may well explain why I think/assume I may never get married. It may well be a very valid self defense--against myself. My self defense must defend me from myself because chances are, I am going to be the one doing the damage.

I am very sleepy now. I will go to bed and hopefully I will sleep through the night without getting phone calls from people in other time zones who find it amusing to wake me up.

Trip

So five states in one day was an excellent trip. There was much hanging out and talking, lots and lots of sleeping in the backseat of the car. I slept in a room with a tarantula and didn't scream, but I did scream when a bug was on my face on the river. I also fell into the river (for the second year in a row--money is now on me to fall in every year). I drank homemade peach wine. I watched Pirates 3. I mocked my roommates and was mocked in return. I fit in well with Renees family because I am mean at playing old family marble games (theirs' is 'Wahoo' and I grew up with a similar version called aggravation). Ummmm. . . and that is really all. Well the short version of all. Oh, and a bulldog adopted me but there were no baby goats.

Auuugh

For the next week and a half, sleep is my enemy. Well, maybe not my enemy, but I sure will be keeping my distance. In less than six hours, I leave for Pennsylvania (so the blogging will be light). That will be a four day trip. Two days fun, two days driving (maybe some time with baby goats, lots of time in a canoe with beer).

I may not get to sleep between now and then, but I have the whole back seat to myself for the trip (the one tiny bit of good news in Anna not being able to go). So, that starts the lack. The end of the sleepless week and a half is a whirlwind 36 hour trip to St. Louis that includes a wedding. Will I have to be all dressed up and fancy for it? I bet I will. Sigh.

Yeah. Awesome. Now I have more laundry to do, and I have to watch the second pirates movie, so that I understand the third one tomorrow night.

Fine.

I will talk to you all later when I return.

For Jim

It isn't that I didn't like the final Heroes. There were parts that I liked (Claire jumping out the window, Hiro in Japan, some of the emotional connections of the better actors--really HRG), but I was so disappointed in most of it. They had built me up for so much, and they didn't really deliver very much of what I wanted.

The battle was cool, but I wanted it to be Peter v. Sylar (which it really wasn't because everyone else joined in). I wanted Claire to be much braver then she turned out to be (not that her fear wasn't a totally organic choice for the character, but I wanted her to be more, to find the more that is in herself). I was really mostly pissed off that Nathan gets after the fact Hero points because at the last possible second he stopped being a total dick. He was always an ass, and then he gets to save the world. That just sucks. He shouldn't get to save the world, to get the credit for saving the world and to die a hero. He doesn't deserve that redemption.

Plus there was some really horrendous dialogue (you know its bad when HRG can't even deliver it well). I cannot handle when Milo Ventimiglia acts angry or strong by talking with gruff scratchy voice for NO REASON, and there was a lot of that.

I just wanted something more then what I got, so it was a huge anti-climax. I loved, loved, loved the second to last episode. There was bouncing in my chair and screaming during that episode. The finale there was some laughing and not a whole lot more.

Broken Internet

At our house. It works for a little bit, and then it says it cannot detect a dsl line out or something. Stupid comcast is working on the lines. It makes me very angry because I can't stay up to date with my podcasts which I listen to at work.

I did however get exuberantly greeted in Spanish by a bunch of cute young kids in a front yard near my work. I was walking past them on my way to the bus that takes me to Pier One, and they got very excited and waved and waved and shouted "Hola!" It was cute.

Also, I ate grilled octopus. That means it looked like octopus and I chewed on a tentacle. Looking at it freaked me out, but eating it was not too bad. Actually it was quite good, but when I got a part of the squishy body, I couldn't really take it. The squishy parts were not okay.

Yesterday night I was in the mood to post a long speculative blog on the events of the past weekend in my little sweet college town (the one in Idaho) and on all sorts of other topics, but the internet didn't work, so instead you get this--typed very quickly--from work.

Moscow Sniper

This was going to be a shiny happy post about how much fun the general convivial drunkeness that was Sara and Jon's wedding shower--a highlight was the hot dog eating contest (not what you think) and the soon-to-be-wed game (frequently interrupted by Sara to clarify what Jon's answers should really be). It was fantastic and fun, and I am still picking up after it this morning, but there is a pall cast.

Last night a sniper fired shots at the Latah County Courthouse from the Presbyterian Church where he barricaded himself inside and then shot himself. The Presbyterian church is across the street from my old apartment in Moscow where I lived for 18 months. Literally across the street. Not kitty corner (that was the courthouse), but across the street. My old block was barricaded with people asked to stay in their house. This was last night, as I was on the phone with an old friend from Moscow (who used to live right around the corner from me--he has since moved).

Most of the students have left, so it is just the townies, but I cannot imagine how people in Moscow must feel right now. Sally, I hope you and Dave were both safe and sound in your corner of the town. So, my thoughts are with Moscow and all of its inhabitants.

Perhaps I brought it on myself.

The receptionist did not come to work today (this is like her third or fourth missed day for not really any good reason as far as anyone can tell since she started near then end of March). Also, she missed last Wednesday. Plus she probably won't be there tomorrow. This leads to the inevitable conclusion that she may quit soon--you know, assuming she is not released from her position.

This just sucks. Because I did her job today and mine. I got there at 8:30, I didn't take a lunch, and I left at 6:20--working straight through the whole time. Good news, I will get some pretty sick overtime until we get a new receptionist. Bad news, this is exhausting. Fortunately, the reception job is not terribly taxing. However combined with my job, it is a lot of stuff to wade through everyday. It was especially bad because I stayed until I got everything done that I needed to do today. I had too since I don't know when or if she was coming back, and if I left stuff up in the air, I would've just been screwing myself. So, so, SO not fun. And more tomorrow.

This is what I get for shrugging to Renee that I have just the right amount of stuff to do. Well, not anymore. Tonight she stayed and helped me. I was grateful for her help. I needed it.

Just a day

A very rainy afternoon that I walked out into and got soaked. There is a new pair of jeans being laundered as we speak though--that is nice. I can wear them tomorrow while it rains.

We are watching "Children of Men" and my roomate Renee is pissed because of how it deviates from the book. I think it is pretty good. But I never started the book.

I feel like there was a half formed blog entry in my brain just a short while ago, but now it is gone.

And I am mad at amazon.com because I ordered "How I Met Your Mother" Season 1 on DVD on Sunday, and it hasn't even shipped yet which is total crap. Just total and complete crap.

Can half a glass of cab-sauv make you forget things? Maybe that is what happened.

Sometimes I wonder how much I allow my readership to dictate what I put in my blogs. Do I leave things out because I fear it will upset anyone who I know reads this? Do I scale particular topics and postings in such a manner as to ensure (or at least encourage) comments? Because somehow no comments makes it seem like whatever you wrote maybe didn't really exist (if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?). So, do I try to write comment friendly entries? I don't always comment on the blogs that I read, but I am sad when the blogger goes away for a while.

Podcasts are my new favorite thing. NPR ones especially. The latest episode of This American Life (which is actually a rerun from a year or so ago) is kind of amazingly brilliant. It is called 81 words, and you should all go to itunes right now and download it.

Okay, so I haven't run yet

I just got sucked into the computer last night. Then tonight I ran errands after work (and finally bought my first pair of new jeans in almost two years) and then it was the season finale of How I Met Your Mother and then Heroes and then darkness and wind.

Tomorrow? I think. Also, my mom got a kitten for mother's day and I am totally jealous. Plus, that is a totally underhanded gift for my sister to give. All I sent was a card. Kittens don't go so well airmail. His name is X, and he is orange and stripey, and I have decided he will sleep with me when I am home to visit.

I had musings earlier about how you can't expect other people to make you happy, at best you can share happiness with them and maybe be made fleetingly happy by them but true happiness is something you find within yourself or create for yourself, but then I got busy and never typed it in. That was the cliffs notes.

Also, v. good Heroes. Cannot wait for the battle (which better not suck)! Also, it makes me happy that I only realized Nathan Petrelli's wife was named Heidi after she miraculously started walking (I know, I know Heidi is the story the crippled girl was Clara, but it was close enough, plus his daughter is named Claire, so a wife named Clara would be too weird for TV).

I met a scale yesterday

Yeah, I stepped on one for the first time in a long time, and the results were alarming. I guess I think of myself as a person who is above all those petty little beauty thoughts, but that turned out not to be true. My actual weight is more then I thought it would be (coughingly, shockingly more--not explained by extra muscle mass more, crazy more). So, the running ids definitely going to return, and I plan to be very serious about it. If I were brave like Sally I would maybe go for the dieting and exercising naked thing, but I am not brave like Sally. Anyway, before it gets to dark, I am going to pull on my shoes and go for a quick run.

Illness in the house

Renee is sick. She is a little naseous and has chills and hot flashes and can feel faint. It kind of freaked me out. I made her drink water and take a nap after dragging her all over town this morning. Hopefully, she isn't too bad sick--the nap is still happening.

We went shopping for a new dress for me. So I brought home two movies ("Il Postino" and "The Way We Were") and no dresses. I tried some on at H&M, but nothing fit right or they didn't have it in the size that would fit me, so it looks like I have no idea what I will wear to the wedding in a couple of weeks. More shopping I guess.

Tonight I will be hanging out watching movies with the UI peeps. It should be fun.

I feel like my entries here have been kind of boring crap lately, but that is because I don't feel like I can really talk about what I want right here. It sucks.

My space makes me feel bad

Not always, mostly it makes me feel happy--like when my friend from grad school becomes enamored of a song by a friend of mine from undergrad that is the song on my page--but then someone random from your far past asks to be your friend. That isn't always bad either, sometimes it is someone you are thrilled to hear from again. Today however, it was a really weird girl from high school. She has two kids (and a new last name, so I am guessing she also has a husband). I can't even remember her real last name though--the one I knew her by--I can only think of her as weird Sonja.

I declined her friendship. I feel a little guilty, but I have actually thought about some random bored weekend going through and ditching people who are just randomly on there. I haven't yet but I probably will, and she would totally get nixed then, so why not nix her now?

And this is all I have time to write because my pretty nerd is on TV.

For Lauren

That picture is for Lauren. That is Jim True-Frost who I think is kind of brilliant and was also really nice to a drunk silly fan girl this weekend (PS I think we kind of look adorable).

Cotillion

It was fun, so very fun. There was fake salsa dancing, and being fools on the dance floor, and being fools in the photo booth (we wore all the props at once, it was awesome). I saw Meredith's dad, and the cast of Betrayal, and lots of Anne Frank types, and Prez from "The Wire." He talked to me a little bit and we took a photo together (which will be posted here next week), and he put his arm around me. It was awesome. I was kind of nerdy.

Oh yeah, and then there were at least 3 long islands and the inevitable vomiting, and yeah. Turpin was very nice and got me home and took care of me and put me to sleep. And then there was more vomiting in the morning and the afternoon, and I only got back on solid food about a half hour ago. Yeah, I am a winner. I am also on vacation from alcohol and I never want to see another long island iced tea ever again.

Soooooo tired

Looks like collapsing like a rag doll is happening sooner rather then later.

Also, black ace dress is the winner--unless tomorrow I buy a new dress that fits fantastic, so that is unlikely.

Busy, busy

With the Chris Plummer in town and working full time, my days have been chock full this week and will stay so well into next week--at which point I may just collapse like a rag doll. Yesterday I worked and then went over the Idaho house where many of us gathered to hug Chris Plummer, celebrate Johnny B's love life, and rehash my sexual history (because apparently that is everyone's favorite subject).

On an unrelated side note I need to put new batteries in my camera (or at least in my purse so I have them for my camera).

Today I worked all day, and then went to the art institute on free night downtown, ate some Jimmy John's, and went to our favorite theater to see "Fracture" which was way better then I thought it would be.

Tomorrow I have cinco de mayo festivities at work as well as more stuff with friends (possibly dinner and a play and possibly drinking/bar hopping). Then the zoo and navy pier sometime this weekend as well as the cotillion (to which I will most likely wear the lace dress Sally voted for as well as black pumps (not the ones she liked but ones almost like them except peep toe (and a little bit platform so the arch of the heel isn't quite so high and better for dancing). Sometime after that--imminent exhaustion.

Cotillion

I am going to one, courtesy of my friend Brian Turpin. He invited me to join him as his guest to the Steppenwolf Cotillion--which they throw in tandem to their annual gala. Apparently it is like prom for the staff members--which means a prom full of theatre people with an open bar. Also, sometimes the celebrities at the gala (happening right next door) sometimes wander over to this party because it is more fun (not being as formal and not having the mayor and really rich donors at it). My hope is for pretty cop or Danny from CSI NY or anyone from the Wire to come over (or Gary Sinise or Malkovich or Meredith's dad or Laurie Metcalf or Joan Allen), but I realize that I may be reaching a little high.

Anyway, I still think it will be a blast, even if Turpin has me on strict instructions not to cock block (where is the fun in that?--but seriously, I can be an excellent wingman). I have no idea what I should wear. Possible dress of my roomies, total fall back little black dress (that will need new undergarments to really work), the black lace over nude fabric dress I wore in Chris Plummer's Troilus and Cressida scene (the one where I wore actual clothing), or the blue and yellow dress I wore to banquet at UI the first year. Anyone who recalls ever seeing any of these outfits can feel free to chime in. Since I haven't tried on roomie dress, I am leaning to black lace dress (totally classic and kind of sexy) or little black dress (because it is foolproof). I would wear blue and yellow dress, but I very much fear that it is dated (which would be no surprise since it was fabulous and edgy four or five years ago).

Then there is shoe and hair dilemma. Both black dresses will be fine since I have killer black peep toe pumps to go with them (although they are way sexier then the word pumps would imply). Other dresses, who knows? I think I will wear my hair down and curly because it is pretty foolproof that way, but if it rebels against curling in a nice way, I may just straighten it and go with my sexy straight-hair look (yeah, take that hair, yes I am threatening you). Also the Anna Shlegs will be of help I am sure since she is coming over to do my make-up before the event.

This is so very much like prom it is frightening, but I had weeks to prepare for prom and less then one to prepare for this. Really, it isn't that big of a deal. With curly hair and black dress I will look good no matter what (take that modesty), but I haven't had a reason to get all dressed up and fancy for a long time, and I want to look good (in case Carmine Giavonazzo is there and takes one look at me and falls madly in love with me--and yes I do realize how preposterous and a little bit sad that makes me seem, whatever, I love Danny even if I do not approve of what is happening between him and Montana). Umm, so that is all.

Don't worry, I will take lots of pictures, and I hope to share them all with you.