After Vacation is totally lame

I don't want to go to work. I just want to curl up and sleep. Although my lack of allergy meds in a huge allergy time of the season may have some influence on these feelings. Trying a new allergy medicine though, we shall see how it goes.

Back in town

Although, my usefulness of day off work curtailed by rain. I am not going to drag a suitcase and wander around Chicago in the rain, at least not until I have seen all the episodes of MI:5 that are on the DVD with me here in Sam's apartment.

Reunion was mostly fun. Some of my relatives get really worked up for no reason. My sister is an early draftee of my generation to that grouping. Also children get very tall very quickly. I made it to the second round of the horseshoe tournament--with a ringer--and I played a lot of volleyball. I am now very sore, but volleyball was great fun. My cousin Brandon is a pinch older than I am and his uncle Mark and I played volleyball far away from the overexcited people and with the teenagers who thought we were all very cool.

I did get to see a bunch of my Missouri family who had flown in from out of town which was awesome! My grandmother gave me cab money and made me promise not to take the train from the airport, my mother not to be outdone also gave me cabfare, so I was totally set. Now I am back in Chicago, not working today since I came in so late last night.

Boyfriends worry

So, since I will be flying in so late on Sunday, I will miss the last orange line train.  My boyfriend's response, "Good!" because he doesn't trust the train that late at night.  He NEVER takes it at night.  ihave taken it at night several times.  It has been fine, but he worries, so I will be cabbing it on Monday.  You know assuming this giant thunderstorm does not derail my plans tonight.

Going to California

I have a family reunion this weekend, and because my family all loves eachother and enjoy the company of themselves, I am totally excited about it. Tomorrow night I leave work, catch the train to the airport, and get on a plane. Then I have Friday with morning of Sacramento zoo, afternoon reunion, Saturday all day reunion, Sunday morning church and then reunion until I get back on a plane Sunday evening.

Then I land here probably just late enough to miss the last orange line train into the city because God likes to screw with me. This means a cab ride, either to Sam's or to my house. I guess it just depends. Anyway, I may not be super blogger until Monday when I am taking the day off work to sleep and catch up with sleep.

The Inapprpriate post: Begging Homeless People and Shoes

I encountered a few pet peeves this morning on my way to work.  One of them is inappropriately hostile beggars (they may have homes or be homeless I guess I really do not know).  Here in Chicago, the street people who ask for money are kind of hostile and forward.  They will heckle you as you walk past them, call you names if you don't give them money or the food you are carrying, and they yell at you to give them the money in the first place.  Now I know things are rough for a lot of people, but I am not one of those people who is rolling in the dough.  I am trying to get myself fiscally responsible, but it is a project for me as yet.  If I lost my job, it could be really bad really fast.  So I get that desperate times call for desperate measures, but I don't get how they think yelling at people is a good strategy to get those same people to give them money.  Also, on the same front, shaming them with yelling when they don't pay out seems not the best strategy to get them to pay you or any other street person.  Now, the street performers don't seem to do this.  It seems only to be the purview of the more homeless looking beggars.  But I just don't like it.  I don't like getting screamed at on the street because (as happened this morning) I did not buy a scary homeless person breakfast.  I didn't buy myself breakfast either.  I had it at work, as I have been lately because I have been broke since the middle of last week to payday on Friday which means I eat what is already at my house and I eat food at Sam's house and with Sam, and I usually take his leftovers for lunch.  In fact, if it weren't for him my situation would be way more dire this week, doable, but would involve ramen as my primary meal and cereal from the breakfast stores at work for both lunch and breakfast.  But anyway, not buying anyone breakfast at all not me, not homeless crazy person, and please do not yell at me about it.  Not cool.  Just not cool.

 

I also encountered inappropriate shoes.  Now, I encounter them everyday on office people who are obviously wearing non-office shoes with their office clothes on the way to work because they want to save their feet on the walking portion of their day or because summer in Chicago is freaking hot and sandals may just need to happen.  That is totally fine.  That is not the choice to go with their outfit, that is the choice to get through high powered blocks worth of fast walking and not all heels meet those specifications and not all outfits should have flats as an alternative, so fine wear the tennies or the flip flops to get to work and pull the sassy slingbacks out of your bag or your bottom desk drawer or wherever, and rock the whole look in the office and out at lunch and maybe even after work at dinner or drinks, that's totally cool with me.  All that I ask, is that when you put together a whole fancy outfit consider please your shoes.  Even with a non-fancy outfit consider the shoes.  Just think about things like your pant length (or skirt length) and think about the colors and the whole look as you consider what shoes to wear.  Not just any shoe will do, it can wreck the whole look or make the whole look.  I am not a person who advocates always match the bag to the shoes and always wear heels or anything like that.  I can and do get behind the funky and the dramatic, but even then it needs to work and not look merely like you were stuck playing dress up in a costume box and just threw any old thing on.  Bright silver Mary Janes cannot go with everything.  I know this because I have some.  They are really light and therefore almost have to be treated as white shoes and they are inherently dressy because the sparkle.  That doesn't mean you can't pair them with something casual, that just means you must make sure that the look can handle a little upgrade.  So, chiquita banana outside the Hilton on Delaware wife beater tank, and ripstop cargo pants (even in nice pretty white) is maybe not ready for slightly heeled silver mary jane's.  Maybe not quite what you are going for there.

Weekend!

Boy did I ever have one!  Friday night Chris and I went to see one of the NEA 4 perform a performance art/theatre piece about the state of being gay, gay marriage, and immigration right for the partners of gay Americans.  That makes it sound boring, but really it was not at all boring and totally awesome!  It was so great, and I am glad Chris and I went. 

 

Saturday, I went apartment hunting (yeah found several apartments that would NOT be OK and starting to lean towards moving way North for a year (to save money) and because I have to be up there near the Ville a few times a week anyway.  Still hunting.  Then I hung out with Chris all afternoon before meeting Sam and his parents for dinner (Sam's birthday dinner--early for the parents).  At like 9pm, Sam and I headed out to a birthday party thrown by my old boss which was great fun and involved seeing lots of bosses new and old pretty drunk.  It was awesome, but Sam and I are old, so we went home and were in bed after only two hours.

 

Sunday, Sam made spaghetti for lunch, and then I went to the spa at the 4 Seasons.  First of all, that hotel is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO nice.  I mean, wow.  I kind of felt like it was so nice someone was going to shoo me out for not following a dress code or not being frou-frou enough to be there.  Like they were going to figure out I was some sort of proletariet intruder.  But, I was led into the spa and had my own locker and fluffy robe and slippers.  I used the sauna which was not much fun, so I tried the steam room (which was fun) because they said you should do that before your massage.  I also used the big fancy medical scale which confirmed that I have in fact gained quite a bit of weight, so much weight in fact that I am either tied for or actually am the heaviest I have ever been ever in my life.  I have decided that stops now.  So, snacking done.  Excercise,let's do it.  I am going to make Sam let me use his excercise room when it is cold because turning 30 next summer I am not being this.  My goal for that is 15 pounds to lose which will put me down into perfectly fine territory and not even the skinniest that I have ever been, still a bit of weight from that.

 

Anyway, then there was the massage which was awesome.  I want one everyday.  Actually one in the morning and one before bed.  Can that be arranged?  I need a winning lotto ticket.  These were great.  Then there was the facial.  I think I have a new face.  Although I was scared the aethetician would tsk at me, she actually approved of my skin care regimine and just thought I should exfoliate more regularly.  No extractions in the facial, just mist and a masque and a new face.  Then there was more relaxation room, where I had strawberries and ginger tea and curled up with a magazine in between treatments.  Then I had the most delightful woman do my mani and pedi.  She was great.  Funny and interesting with great stories.  Her name was Chang and she is from the Phillipines, and I want to go back just to hang out with her.  Then I went back to the bathroom/locker room and took a shower and headed back to Sam's.  Four hours after I had started, I headed back.  It was great.  Best birthday present EVER!

 

Then that night, well after I woke him up from his cat nap on the couch--he told me too, I wasn't to let him sleep too long--Sam made me Thai food, a green curry chicken and noodles.  It was marevlous.  And I have leftovers like crazy for the week for lunch.  And I have only a four day week this week and next week because I will be off to California!

 

 

 

 

My thoughts on stuff

The people you meet when you are in a liquor store at 8am is kind of interesting.  Several of them seem to be homeless junkies/alcoholics.  There is the lady who buys lots and lots of lotto tickets, and the handful of office alcoholics who are buying something small and covert to doctor up their coffee.  Sometimes the homeless man will sing, songs with no real lyrics just a series of sounds, they tend to be sort of blues inspired.  Sometimes they are mournful and other times they get kind of peppy.  It seems to depend on the weather.

 

Now, why, you may ask, would I know what the heck is happening in a liquor store at 8 am?  Valid question.  It turns out the liqour store on the main floor of my work building has the cheapest ice cold pop around.  At 7-11 it is $1.07 for a can of pop and like $1.75 (after tax) for a 20 oz.  Even the fountain pop is a lot.  The CVS and the Walgreens don't have better prices (or only slightly better prices) for the 20oz and no single can options, and their drinks are only coolish, not ice cold.  At McDonald's you can get a large drink for $1 + tax which is nice, but way, way, way more soda than I should allow myself to drink, and the lines are always epic!  However, at the liqour store a can of ice cold diet coke is 63 cents!  Awesome.  I feel like I have been transported to my childhood with prices like that.  Plus it is exactly the summer caffeination that I look for to start my morning.  So yeah, I hit the liquor store at 8am.

So much stuff

It seems like I am getting lots of sad news from friends lately.  I have had several friends going through particularly rough experiences of several different varieties lately.  Normally (or maybe just earlier) I would've written about these here in the blog, but none of this stuff is my story and in fact it only affects me because I don't like to see people I love having to have hard times.  I didn't really think it is or was my place to talk about it, but it also has been a rather large thing in my life lately, so I am going to write about it very obliquely like this.  I just love them and think about them a lot and want to do anything I can to help them, if there is anything else I can do besides love them.  And that is the end of what I speak about that.

 

This also got me to reflecting about the big changes in my life over the last year.  I have a whole new day job.  I no longer have a night job (the night job that has been a part of my life since I moved to Chicago).  I am in a play that has essentially an open (if weird) sort of run with writers who write for me.  I have a kitteh.  I have about 15 to 20 more pounds of me (things I am working to remedy).  I have free time and sleep.  And most importantly, I have Sam who is just wonderful, and I am so, so SOOOOOOO lucky to know him much less have in my life in the way that he is.  Altough, if last summer you told me that this would happen I would'v laughed in your face.  Because at this time last summer I was totally consumed with phone boyfriend, and I was pretty convinced he was going to move to Chicago as soon as his being a cop in Oregon thing fell through.  It turns out, that I am now really, really glad he never moved here--something that would've stunned me at this time last year.

 

Big year passed, big year coming up.

Long day

Lots of work, lots of stuff, lots of late talk with Chris. I think I am going to see if Renee wants to extend our stay here as roommates. It is probably my best option, and I think we will be better this year.

Also my cat wants me to smack him. He is just barely touching me with his wet nose, and it tickles, and I am really sure that he knows it bugs me.

Plus, nest news ever! Sam is feeling better, so much better. He feels relaxed and happier than he has in months. He is remembering what it feels like to relax. I am so relieved.

Hopeslessly un-smooth--or would that make me rough?

Actually my BF is pretty un-smooth too. His parents were in town last night because his mom is spending this next week at the International Calligraphy Convention in the burbs (probably not its real name) and his dad is spending it on Sam's couch. His dad is also going to get some fancy academic research done in the University of Chicago library. But last night we all went to dinner. I think Sam's medicine was giving him nasty side effects, so he really just wanted to go home and lie down, so when dinner actually got over, he was very relieved.

As we loaded up into his parents' car, he very quickly burst out with the suggestion that he was very tired and would fall asleep right after he takes his last pill for the day so we better just take Heather home, right now. This kind of made my head turn because I was thinking well sure ditch me because I am stupid enough to let your parents know that I basically spend 5 nights a week at your house. Anyway, I had them take me home because it was late-ish and rainy and why not get a ride.

Once I got home Sam sent me an IM saying, "I knew my parents were going to stay late at my apartment cooking for my mom's thing so it wouldn't work for you to stay here." At which point I said oh good because I kind of thought the way he went about it was mean and a little rude. So smooth my bf, so smooth. . .

News Event of the Morning

My cat Steve McQueen, although a little bit evil, is also very, very smart.  He has figured out how to pee in the toilet.  That is right.  He has potty trained himself, I guess from modeling our behaviors.  Either that or he thinks we drink from there and is trying to poison us.

 

I would not in hell have believed it was true, if I had not seen it myself this morning.  I went to go use the bathroom, like you do when you wake up, and there was my cat, sitting on the toilet looking cranky and morning grumpy like a person.  Also giving me a look, like, "I don't watch you when you do this?"  Although that is a lie, both our cats totally watch.  You go to the bathroom, and they burst in to curl around your feet or sit on the sink and stare at you--which apparently was some sort of teaching session.  Totally weird.  Kind of awesome.

Olympic Fever

I am starting to catch it.  In less than a month I will be setting up camp in front of Sam's tv, with my laptop open to the wide world of internet coverage.  It should be awesome, but in the run up something has caught my mind.

 

Is there any possible way that Dara Torres isn't using some performance enhancing drugs?  I feel like she has to be.  I even feel her belated diagnosis with asthma was a way to get to take drugs that enhance lung capacity.  It just defies reason and nature that after 5 years being retired and having a baby that she would come back in a few short years and swim way the heck faster at 40 than she did half a lifetime ago at 20.  I am not saying people at 40 can't be athletic, can't be competitive because I absolutely think they can.  They have, lots of them!  I am saying the miraculous improvement that she has shown seems too miraculous to be unaided.  It just smells sketchy, totally sketchy.

 

 

Not an ulcer

Sam doesn't have one, which is good.  He however may have some sort of anxiety condition that is making his stomach feel awful and screwing with his blood pressure which probably isn't wonderful to start.  So, he and his doctor (a new one who he likes because she talks to him) are pursuing some options that should make him less irrationally nervous.  Although, all of his explaining this to me, made me very, very anxious.  Maybe I am inheriting it?

Things make me irrationally nervous sometimes

Usually not the big things.  I am strangely adept at just ignoring or fabricating an elaborate explanation as to why that guy never called or why something I really, really want to work out really, really isn't.  Once (actually in the pages of this blog a few years ago), I managed to convince myself that just because my boyfriend was sleeping on the couch, avoiding me, and ignoring my phone calls didn't mean something was wrong with our relationship clearly it was far more obvious that he "liked" the couch, was really busy that week even if it was exactly the same as all other weeks, and well, his phone clearly was spontaneously getting bad reception, etc.  Big things no problem.  I studied at the Donna Kinion school of if I don't want it to exist it just won't.  She has denied the existence of my tatoo after seeing and touching it (eventually we got her over that, she might even like it now).

 

Small things can make me just crazy.  These small things I usually make up.  Like on random event will balloon in size in my mind until it is the hugest most enormous harbinger of impending doom.  Clearly most of the world's woes are caused by my forgetting to brush my teeth in the morning or misfiling a file or because I said something flippant that may have been much more hurtful than funny.  Today, I have been slowly torturing myself.  Well not all day, just this afternoon.  Later there will be snuggling with the boy.  That will make things better.

 

Adorable

I wanted to include a story of how adorable my boyfriend can be. He has been sick all weekend because he made some poor choices last week (poor choice = lots of alcohol, clubs, cubs games, etc. in the name of entertaining clients/vendors so he had to do it) and he really needs to go back to his doctor for a check up on the maybe ulcer. Also I don't think the meds the doc put him on last time are exactly what he needs. They do okay at making him feel better sometimes, and that seems like not enough for prescription medicine since he felt better sometimes anyway by accident. Anyway so sick all weekend and really screwed up his sleep cycle (3am at Weiner Circle with clients probably did not help), so he was falling asleep on the couch tonight at 8:30. At which point, I made him get off the couch and go to sleep in his bed, and he started to argue with me in the same manner as a sleepy toddler would if in the same situation. He could not go to bed without seeing the end of the show (which was Extreme Makeover Home Edition, so clearly if he didn't see the end, how would he survive), but fortunately TIVO saved him.

But the look on his face, so tired and so sort of vaguely embarrassed to be so tired at that moment. And then so relieved that I was Tivo'ing it so that he could go to bed. He is adorable.

Fighting is not so much fun

Over the last two weeks Sam and I have argued or fought several times (well really with us a fight is most other people's arguments which would shock people who knew me back when my temper was legendary). It has sometimes been very sucky, especially if it involved crying (which it only did one time). However, in the end (and I actually think we have reached the end of this stint of arguing in a big serious sort of way), I think it accomplished quite a bit of good. Like we were at a point in our relationship where something needed to help us get closer or things might have stalled or stagnated, and all this arguing was it. Really I think it was a manifestation of unspoken wants and needs that the other was to psychically know (because clearly that is always a good choice) just working themselves out into the open, and this was how they wanted to roll.

So, we are all happy and had big make-ups and resolutions and learned a lot about each other and really hadn't fought that badly or big-ly in the first place. It just was not my favorite time and I would prefer to not ever have a repeat of that.

Weekend of Fun

Tonight dueling piano bar with coworkers, boyfriend, and friends.  Should be a grand old time.  Or actually even more fun than that sounds because that sounds not so much fun.  Tomorrow after a quick shopping errand, there is the Dolly Parton Film Festival which may just end up being Chris, Anna, and I watching Dolly Parton movies on their couch (and probably Renee too).  That's right Steel Magnolias, 9 to 5, Straight Talk, and Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.  Oh yeah.  I need to bring a themed snack, but I am still not sure what that will be. . .

 

Then sewing project to be completed on Sunday.  I bought an eyelet maker plier.  Which essentially just clicks eyelets (baby grommets) onto fabric.  I am totally stoked to get to use it on the project.

My boyfriend has been having a rough time of it at work

I am not sure why either because either a) he doesn't really go into it or b) when he does go into it there is a certain amount of text speak I do not understand and could not even repeat, so I just nod and say, "I am sorry baby," in a sweet and loving voice.

 

His company has sort of ballooned up the last couple of years, and he went from being the guy in his division (as in the only one) to the guy in charge of his division by way of here have a helper and hey you should hire another to where he is now.  But he doesn't do well at delegating.  He is far more likely to just solve a problem when confronted with it rather then take the time to pass it along to the person who ought to be doing it, as long as it is a pretty easy fix.  Although since he made up half the stuff they do at his work it is much easier for him to see the fixes than anyone else, so almost everything is something he does.  Now, he has been given the go ahead to hire a new person or two (and I think he did just hire someone), but he hates training people and he doesn't like looking for people because it never seems to go his way.  So he tends not to do it in advance of the need, he will only get to it when the need is so great his ability to function as a human being is getting strained. 

 

That is where he is about now.  Plus because his department is backlogged, the people who need there work tend to get hysterical at them.  Although I guess some of them avoid doing things in advance as is the prescribed way of going about things.  Anyway somehow there is a system where crankiness tends to get rewarded which encourages people to be cranky if not to him than to his underlings which he hears about.  On the other hand apparently his underlings aren't ones to take crankiness lying down, so then he hears about that too.

 

Oh yeah, and did I mention that he is kind of maybe getting an ulcer?  Well maybe not.  It may be something else, but it is likely that his health problem of late has been worsened by stress if not entirely caused by it.  Poor guy.

 

Although, several people have been hired at his job to a) do some of the work he does and b) play enforcer to some of his decisions, so once those types get all trained up and functioning I predict at least a period of more happy times with him.

 

I hope.  He deserves it.

You say you want a resolution?

I have been thinking lately that I may try to make amends with my roomie.  At some point this winter we were at quite a dismal point.  She was unhappy, I was happy, somehow this became very bad for me and very bad for the cats, especially Steve McQueen.  At which point I just spent more time at works and more free time with Sam.  I just couldn't participate in her sadness and I couldn't participate in her taking it out on me.  Eventually, she stopped taking it out on the cats (mostly).  Lately, she seems in a much better place and our house is usually cleaner and usually does not smell of trash and cat litter like it used to, so I am hoping she is coming out of the very sad tunnel that she had been in.

 

So I think I should try to pick back up the thread of our friendship.  Which as I write this makes me sound like such an arrogant fairweather friend--which I have been accused of being before, so there you go.  But I think I may have been able to be more supportive if I had not also been her roomie during the dark times.  There are only so many nice thoughts you can think about someone who leaves bags of garbage in front of your bedroom door (true it is very near the garbage can, but six bags of garbage in essentially a single person home? including used cat litter?!).  There is only so much you can feel for their sad time when it makes your house smell so bad your gag reflex kicks in upon entering and has not managed to do any dishes for over a month, except for a spoon or fork at a time as she needs them to feed herself.  But that seems mostly passed now. 

 

I want to bring some fun into her life.  I want my friend back, and I think she does too.  So I might try to broach the subject tonight as I am home and working on a big sewing project.  Maybe.  We shall see.  I will certainly at the very least be fri

I Cheezburgered My Cat

moar funny pictures


moar funny pictures

Belated Birthday Surprise

My mother asked to talk to Sam when she called me a week and a few days ago to wish me happy birthday (she had to do it early because she was going to be flying to Orlando that day and didn't know if she would catch me). Sam would not tell me what she said to him AT ALL. It was infuriating.

Well, today I discovered what it was they spoke of. My mother told him that he should make some chocolate éclairs for my birthday (because they are my favorites). Today, he did make me them. And he kept it from me until I accidentally discovered them chilling in the refrigerator.

Yeah, sweetest boyfriend ever!

So I took a blogging break

Because it turns out I still managed to stay busy even though I work one less job. There were nights out with friends and drinking, and drinking, and I am not sure I remember everything that happened, but that may be because of the drinking.

I spent Independence Day with a group of a about 12 people, more than half of whom are citizens of nations other than our own (China and India), some 1st generation Americans, and like 3 of us with long time American families, so there were some Chinese dumplings to supplement the kabobs on the grill. But it was a very nice time

Then Sam coerced some people to go to Howl at the Moon with him, and he had such an excellent time that he was suckered into buying not only two rounds of shots (one jello, one test tube), but also a rose for me. Which I found hilarious and adorable. Because the rose chick makes the rounds after everyone is pretty wasted and suckers drunk guys to by a single rose for drunk girls--a single rose that costs an arm and a leg for a sad, sad, sad specimen of a rose. Sam usually fends these types off pretty deftly, but last night, the rose chick was too much for him, and he bought me a rose.

Speaking of Sam, earlier in the week we kind of a had a pretty big fight (well for us , for other people it might have just been a mild disagreement, but Sam doesn't argue or fight as a general rule, so for us a big fight) which I suppose is what comes of him being way more drunk than I was and not catching on that the joke he was making was not a joke I found remotely funny until it was a little too late. But we are fine now. Although, that may perhaps explain the rose too.

Right now he is in the kitchen making fajitas, guacamole (he puts a hard boiled egg in his) that might be too spicy to eat, and some sort of strawberry truffle thing he saw on tv yesterday. And he insisted that he needed no help. I love these days. So I am making sure his couch does not make an escape from his house, and I think I will watch some Netflix on demand, I think I feel like some documentaries. . .

I hope everyone had a very nice 4th of July!

No more brother

I actually only had him for about 24 hours. He came, he slept, he saw wrigley field, the zoo, and my play, and then he was gone. He had a difficult trip back that included getting towed from somewhere to billings where my dad came and picked him up and towed him back to Pasco. He really needs a job if anyone knows of anything.

Today is my birthday, as of yesterday evening I have been in Milwaukee, WI for summerfest, a very large concert full of concerts. I saw a bit of the old 97s and a bit of rusted root, and later tonight we shall go see some Dashboard Confessional or Blondie or maybe both. Plus there has been staying in hotels. The Hilton here is very nice. I head back tomorrow. Amtrack is kind of nice.

That is really all I know today.

Getting a brother

Mine is moving here, tomorrow. Possibly for the rest of the summer. It depends on if we can jobify him or not. His summer "internship" which I called a totally ridiculous scam (because if you have to go to a series of workshops where the internship sells you on you taking it instead of having lots of people fighting to get the available internship slots that is a red flag that something might be wrong).

So he is leaving it as of today, and driving from Virginia to Chicago tomorrow, and hopefully we will find him some sort of job or internship for the summer. And he will live with me for a month and a half, and we shall call it good.

so close

I am so close to so much. . .my birthday, my last day of P1 and first day of peace of mind in a long time, a trip to Milwaukee for SummerFest, visits from family and friends (Hi Sally!), trips back home, mini vacation from the play.  But, still not there, and I really, really, reallyreallyreally want it now!!!!!  Not that I am impatient or something.  Ok I am impatient so what.  I am creanky and I need a nap.  Deal.

Job Update

They don't know what went wrong except that somehow we didn't get put on the bill when we asked because the other people never turned their power off.  And somehow that got all glitched up.  We will have to pay the whole shebang, but we may have some time and it should not cost too terribly much (our house mostly runs on gas--or all the expensive stuff does).  It looks like we could get power back by the end of this week and we should get it back by early next week at the latest.  Although, the worst case scenario is getting it back July 2nd or 3rd.  Because that won't totally suck.  That is however the longest it will take.  So everyone cross their fingers and pray to the god of electricity.

The continuing saga of how god might actually hate me or alternately titled, "They call me Mrs. Job!" *

Seriously?  I mean really!

 

So last night after watching the Tony's on Tivo after work.  I realized that I needed to rush back to work part the second to activate the alarm which I had forgotten about when I left.  Please no spoilers on where I did this, I am probably in enough trouble.  The bad news is that I was not around the corner.  I was at Sam's--see post where we don't have electricity because god hates me--so I had to grab a cab there and back in the middle of the night. 

 

Last week I contemplated spending a day with my head under the covers in response to all of this.  It may actually HAVE to happen.  Next Saturday I actually have off, so I am going to pencil that in.  At some point Sam has to have dinner with his neighbors, so I will even be alone for part of it.  Yeah, that's right I am doing it at his house.  He has air conditioning which will make the covers part possible.  He also has cable which will make the being a lump part more enjoyable and there will be the possibilty of sex since he will be there a bed will be there.  Of course, if he nixes this part of the plan it will be in my room.  Assuming we have power then.  HA!

 

I just want things to be not terrible in my life.  And I do not think that is too much to ask.  I was just about to type something that was tempting or really taunting fate, and I am going to refrain from that.

 

I am going to go back to hoping I can get everything accomplished that I wanted today.  Le sigh people, le sigh.

 

 

*Name this movie reference if you dare, in the comments.  Yeah, I turned a post on my misery into a pop quiz.  I am trying to generate enjoyment anywhere I can get it.

SO ANGRY

My electricity has been turned off for not paying electric bills I never received after registering for my move on the electric company's website.  And I cannot do jack shit about it until 9am tomorrow.  Oh by the way this all from my move LAST OCTOBER!!!!!  But I have proof of all of this, so they sure better fucking fix it tomorrow morning.

Update

Day a bit better with the news that in a few weeks. . . I get a Sally!!!!!!

 

**I was going to write something here implying that our weather would be warm for sure and non-winter like BUT I didn't want to jinx you**

God May Actually Hate Me

For a variety of reasons.  I am kind of on the verge of a nervous breakdown/collapse something.  I suspect it may have to do with being over tired and exhausted since sometime last September and it turns out the adrenaline of the initial euphoria of meeting Sam may be wearing off and forcing me to deal with the realities of how hard I have made my life for myself.  Not that that should indicate I am anything other than totally happy with Sam.  He is wonderful and calm and a calming presence in my life and I adore him.  Everything else may actually be trying to kill me.

 

I was a total ass all during the process for the last episode of the Ville and I couldn't stop myself from being one.  Well at first I didn't really notice, and then I noticed but could not seem to correct what I was doing.  I apparently caused Chris and Anna to worry for my sanity and health mentally since being crazy.  There was yelling at Sam a few weeks ago, and some crying at rehearsal this weekend.  All of this was pretty awful.  Good news is that there is actual sustained light at the end of this tunnel for the first time in so long I don't even know.  The bad news is, I really hope I can hold the tenuous grip on my shit for long enough to make it to a nice long weekend of almost nothing.  In July I will have a 3-day weekend.  Like really.  I mean I have a bit of rehearsal, but mostly nothing.

 

Today, the almost last straw happened to me at work.  I kind of thought I was going to lose it because I made a toner cartridge full of cyan toner explode ALL over me.  I mean all over me.  I had to wipe it off my legs, it probably ruined clothes, it is embedded in my necklace and on my sandals (although those two things were mostly salvaged), but it most severly damaged my dignity.  God bless our lawyer for being so nice to me when he discovered me flecked with toner.  Instead of joshing me (and he seems like the kind of guy who would), he said all the right oh no, oh poor you, oh that's awful, can I help you things that people should say.  I cleaned up the mess.  I still felt like maybe just leaving to go home and cry would be the best choice for the day, but instead I went to Filene's Basement (a discount store a la TJ Maxx and Marshall's) and bought a $20 dress to change into--I actually wore it out of the store, after chatting with the sales girl about why I needed to wear it out of the store.  I got some ice cream at Baskin Robins, and I came back for the rest of the day.  However, I would prefer that this day had just not existed.

 

Later tonight I want to snuggle up against Sam and just sleep this whole day off into oblivion, like it never happened.  Sam is very good at snuggling.

Musings from a work day

Boy that was a really pretentious subject.

 

First, I need to say that of course the day I decide to wear a sweater to defend against the airconditioning at work is the day it A) gets really freaking hot in Chicago for literally the first time this ENTIRE year and B) the air conditioning breaks.  And, idiot that I am it is not a cardigan.  It is a v-neck cotton sweater.  Long sleeved!  So, yeah.  I am warm.

 

Two, a good forty-five minutes of my day was spent rearranging the labels on the mail cubbies, so that everyone has one and that they are now back in alphabetical order.  Seriously, that was my job today.  Tomorrow I will get paid to eat a burrito.  Not joking.  That is lunch for the Friday meeting.

 

Third, although I do not understand most of the technical nerdery that goes on at my work daily, I do know how to work a fax machine.  This might make me unique in this office.  I can also handle things like googling customer service numbers and mastering the label maker.  Again, particular skills I seem to be the only one who can handle, and I did not even go to MIT like some of my coworkers.  I know this is astounding.

 

Fourth, last night I had one single margarita--not even a giant sized one, and it must have been made with rotgut tequila because it single handedly gave me a bit of a hangover headache this morning.

 

Fifth, new in my education of grown-upness (and I completely have Sam to thank for this) is that ordering food from a steak house is very complicated.  Our third date was at a steak house as was Valentine's day and then we ate at Craftsteak when we were in NYC.  And I am very unfamiliar (or was, now getting it down) with the order your meat, order your sides, order your salad all separate like.  It makes things very complicated.  I also never know quite what to do.  Because that can add up.  The first time I had no idea what was happening and erred on the side of eating an entire dinner consisting only of meat, which was, admittedly, weird.  The second time, our server was much better at his job because he knew to try and get as much food on our plates as possible, and he explained things very well.  Plus it was like not a regular date, it was VALENTINE'S date, so I figured Sam planned a little bit to drop some dough.  The third time was Craftsteak, and we knew it was going to be kind of a wallet blow out, but it was also probably going to be the best meal either of us had had in a couple of years.  So we had salads and sides and meat and dessert and a bottle of wine and a glass of cava with dessert.  We did it for real.  Also, thank god I had learned about steak houses before that or I would have felt like even more of an idiot than I already did.  Turns out I am not used to the FINE dining experience and certainly not the NYC version of it.  The FINE dining restaurants Sam and I favor here tend to be more eclectic and independent and younger and hipper.  So they have people in jeans serving you and less with the ties and long white aprons.

 

Sixth, I think that is all I have for right now.  Back to the grind.

Resigned

Today I did that. At P1. I gave them my notice. My four week notice. Yeah, so okay that is a little more then you do, BUT we are in the middle of a remodel and it would be a really crappy thing to only give them two weeks notice because if I give them four they will have two whole people trained to do my job (well share my job). Anyway, I actually did quit. That is HUGE for me. I will probably go back for Christmas though (but my play will be done then, so really I will be filling a void). Things I am looking forward to: MOVIES!!!!!!! FREE TIME!!!!!! SEEING MY FRIENDS AGAIN!!!!!! MORE BLOGGING!!!!!! KITTEHS!!!!!!!

Yeah, this will rule. I am excited, even if there was some choking up going on as I told my manager.

OK. That is all. Although I guess that is kind of a lot.

Back from California

I had fun in the sun with my family. It was great to see my brother and sister and mom and dad and grandma and grandpa and aunt and uncle and like ninety cousins and a bunch of other relatives--even a few from the Greek side. But it was a very quick trip--on the plus side my four hour flight back to Chicago was so empty everyone got their own rows, which is how I like to fly for four hours.

The park dedication was lovely and I got to release a butterfly at it (it is a bug and butterfly themed park), and I played on a bunch of the toys. Even climbed to the top of the rope structure (while my mom yelled at me to hold on to my brothers hand because clearly I was unable to climb a structure meant for children without help, also climbing a rope ladder is easier when holding on to something other than the rope ladder).

Now I face a week of tech rehearsals and runs for my next episode which I admit to being less than ready for. Plus too much working. Turns out a different manager is doing the schedule for my other job and he didn't know I only work 12 hours a week. So that would explain the 16 hour weeks lately. However, we had a little chat, so that might be fixed soon.

I love my Kitty!!!

Steve is lovey!

Also, I got a haircut today. Yesterday, I decided to duck into the salon down the strip mall from the P1 I work at and get an appointment for today if possible. It was my first salon appointment in almost 3 years (as well as the first professional cut in as long). She did a great job. She really listened to what I want--she had naturally curly hair and got it. She kind of styled it like I am Shirley Temple, but it is not too terrible and the way she formed my curls will wash out and my hair will curl its on way next time. It is a great length and a great shape, and I am actually going to try and maintain and create a rapport with my stylist. Pictures to follow.

Probably.

PS Jim I still have not mailed your copy of my CD back to you. I know, I totally suck.

Here is what I did last weekend

I went sailing. These are pictures (including a really quite not so flattering one) of me taken by Sam from his cell phone and emailed to me. Sailing was awesome. I loved it, and I will do it lots more if allowed please. They let me steer, and at first it was terrifying but later it was just cool!!!!!!!

Le Sigh

I have felt like fail a lot at the new job. Like no matter what I cannot seem to swing it all. Although it is not really as bad as that all sounds or seems. Mostly that is true because as a receptionist/girl friday/executive assistant I need to have an important skill set that includes really knowing what my boss would like, being able to read his scrawl/handwriting, and knowing more about what the heck happens at my new workplace. However, not been there long enough to really have the hang of those things. Getting better though, better all the time.

Tired, tired, tired

I just am. And I have two jobs I like now. That didn't used to be the truth, and the first job pays me pretty well (which is awesome--yea new job), so it is making losing the other job really tempting. So tempting that I doubt the second job will last the summer. It will probably last paying off the credit card incurred by it.

The hard thing is, I will miss it. I just can't do it anymore. I am tired most of the time. I don't have real weekends, I don't have time to go to the movies, and I am just constantly slammed. I would keep working if they could work it so I just only ever work Thursday nights, but that is a preposterous thing to ask them. Plus I will never get more available to them, only less. They need someone who can be there all the time. The trouble is that they have a bit of a quandry in my position--they should only have me.

But really, I need to not have all this to do, and for the first time I can afford it, plus I no longer have to have it as a refuge from my terrible job. And when my play slows down I will go work there for the holidays. It is a good plan, and I think it is what is going to have to happen. The good news is that I will have weekends again. Weekends that may have room for bus trips to MO and for actual Chicago fun like I haven't had since I was flat ass broke.

So, the pain has minimized

It has. I go to the chiropractor for muscle shocking and spine cracking still. In fact it looks as if I will be going at least for a while and they may have just mailed my stimulus check to Dr. Kauf my vaguely celebrity-infomercially chiropractioner. It feels tons better, so it is kind of worth it.

I am really tired, so that is all we get right now.

OH THE PAIN

I hurt my neck somehow, and I cannot handle how much it hurts me right now. If I move just barely the wrong way, there is a shot of pain up the back right side of my neck. This is so not cool. Finding a chiropractor right now. Not at work.

Poor Sam seemed very befuddled at what to do with a Heather lying on his floor kind of moaning limply with the pain. It was awful.

busy day

Somedays, I think I wish that I did not do a thousand tiny things in one day because it makes me feel as if I accomplished nothing.  When in reality I accomplished a lot, but when it is all mostly smallish an bordering on triviality it seems like less stuff.

 

I did however accomplish getting a little sun at lunch sitting on a bench by Crown Fountain shooting the shit with Bushie.  It was very nice.  I have not caught up with that guy too much, but we are neighbors here at work (he literally works a block and a pinch away from me).  It was warm and lovely and almost too hot!  Who knew we had this in us here in Chicago.  A month ago it was still the dead of winter!

Busy Busy Busy

Work has gotten full.  In a good way.  It was starting to get thin in an I can't take this sort of way.  And now I am projected.  I have three or our of them of vaying levels of complex all happening.  They are all kind of going or floating there ready to get gotten.  It is good.  Tomorrow I am going to my first streetfest of the Chicago "summer" down here the Looptopia.  It should be awesome.  Free cabarets.  It will be great.  I cannot wait.

Hey lookee--or more listenee

Ummm, so I love U2, but this is a beautiful cover of one of their songs. Pride (in the name of love) as done by John Legend with the help of some of the speeches of MLK

Kitty, kitty Snip Snip

Steve McQueen, my cat, gets his boy parts altered tomorrow. He will no longer be capable of making little kitties. He has spent a portion of this evening since I have been home meowing at one of our pieces of wall art as if it might talk back. Yeah, he is a strange one. But apparently our wall art may be to ceiling cat what the virgin Mary is to God. Or something?

Long day of rehearsal. For some reason, this episodes process has been just off, in all sorts of ways. And in so many ways that it isn't even one thing or person's fault. It is however almost done, so next week there will be show.

Bus adventures

Last night on the bus, someone tried to steal my purse. I was sitting in a seat near the back door and it was on the chair next to me (and I was touching it/holding it with the hand that was not right next to it as that hand was holding cell phone to ear) and a guy tried to grab it as he went out the back door. But he was foiled by me pulling on it and by the fact that it weighs like 15 pounds (no joke). But yeah, that happened.

More Working

I am tired, and I just don't have it in me to be working hard today.  It has been much more hardly working.  And I have Pier 1 tonight and tomorrow!  Although tomorrow at day job I need to actually accomplish most of if not actually all of my to do list.  Which is totally doable as it is not that long. 

 

Le sigh.  I am just sort of drab today.  I feel like soggy toast.  I don't feel sick or anything just like I need a vacation or a really long nap.  I did however get flowers this morning as a belated administrative professionals day gift.  That perked up the morning.  They are still perched on the edge of my desk.  Red lilies and orange and yellow tulips and yellow snapdragons and some purple and pink filler and ferns.  Very nice.

 

That is all I have today--although I hear some of the participants of the music swap have gotten my gift, so I hope they like it.  I have had time to listen to exactly 1/2 of all of the cd's I have received from the music swap.  Margaret's has been in the CD player.  Although actually I have listened to like 2 and 1/2 of the cds that Chrissy sent me way back a month or so ago.

 

I am kind of not at my house ever.  In part because 2 jobs and a play keep you out for like 13, 14 and 15 hour days at least three and sometimes 4 or 5 days a week, so that means not so much downtime there.  But on top of that I am trying to see the bf as much as possible, so I stay at his house a lot (for example I have seen my roommate at our house last over a week ago--granted an actual trip out of town is in that time but whatever and for second example my luggage from said trip was at his house until Wednesday evening when we had returned on Sunday).  It happens.  But this means I am rarely near my cd player or my computer.  Maybe this weekend I will put them on the ipod?  That would help because I am very often sitting on public transportation with headphones in.  Ahhh, life.

 

It is the stage where I start to ponder whether the consequences of moving in with my boyfriend are greater or less than the consequences of living out of a back pack and other bags?  Not that I have in any way broached the subject of actual cohabitation with the bf.  I just ponder it now, when I did not used to.

Email blogged

Posting via an email.  Mostly because it looks less shady at work.  Smart enough not to use work email though.

 

I brought back virtual I <3 NY t-shirts for all of you.  They are virtually one size fits all, just fyi.  I ate delicious delicious delicious food at Craft Steak and Mesa Grill (Top Chef's top judge and iron chef's Bobby Flay's respective restaurants).  We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.  We brunched outdoors in Brooklyn.  We got lost because I am a dork and confused 10st with 10 ave (but in my defense it would've been an awesome find on 10th st had I been correct).  I accidentally found the jazz club without trying.  There were multiple bouts of drunkenness during one I made Sam fess up some info he had previously been very closed mouthed about.  Don't worry Sam I share none of it here.  It was an excellent, excellent trip, and I saw no less than 6 people (other than myself) of Tri-Cities origin.  It was like I was on a freaking mission to find them.  They were Santino, Dave Howard, Cam Milton, his girlfriend Diana, Dave Herigstad, and Lauren.  Holy crap that is excessive.

 

I was at one point documenting all the times on the trip Sam was working on his laptop, but then that game stopped amusing me.  Also I am terrible about taking pictures on trips because I just don't think about it.  I am too busy experiencing to remember to photograph.

 

It was wonderful, idyllic, fantastic--even when we spent way to long at Newark Airport on the way home (woo hoo delays, I mean no).

 

(PS from the old comments, yes he is a great boy, and yes he keeps doing terribly wonderfully nice things but I am not going to discourage him from that Alan, sheesh!)

NYC! What is it about you?

SO the NYC trip was fantastic. Tons and tons of fun. We ate marvelous food (Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill beats Tom Collicchio's CraftSteak--although both fantastic, oh my God how I love bernaise). We saw some good jazz, and we saw Sunday in the Park with George. Which has in its cast an old, old friend of mine. Who I was thrilled to see and who was also thrilled to see me!!! One Santino Fontana plays a few small roles as well as understudying George himself.

However, all that fun not withstnading, we are still in the airport in Newark an hour late, and still not boarded. ooooh, boarding soon. More later!!!

Countdown to NYC

So, off I go to NYC on Friday. I am excited. I am not sure exactly what I would like to do while there; Sam and I are going to discuss this tonight over dinner--his meatloaf made with cornbread and peppers, also I would imagine it will include wine and probably cheese and crackers.

I think my boyfriend is wonderful--which is good because if I didn't I would imagine he would be a poor choice for a boyfriend for me--but every time I try and tell him that he is wonderful he gets all embarassed because I don't think he thinks he does anything above and beyond what just normal people would do. He thinks trips to NYC and all sorts of spoiling me are just nice boyfriendly things to do, that just every boyfriend would do that. The most wonderful thing about him is that he truly believes this is normal. That he isn't doing anything extra or above and beyond. That generosity of spirit is where he starts from is what makes him so very extraordinary not just as a boyfriend but as a human being.

I Think I Am Gonna' Like it Here

That's what I think of the new job so far. It seems like it will be fun. The people seem great, and most of them are around my age. New friends live there. I think. I hope. That is all.

Moms have come and Moms have gone

They are on their way back to the Pacific Northwest. They were here and they had fun, and they met Sam and LOVED him and he seemed to like them as well. So there you go.

This afternoon I must head back to the old job for a few hours of question answering. Ugh, but only there for a bit.

Here is a snapshot of what we did. Monday we went to my play and had food at Charlie's first. It was very good, and Sam had my moms all to himself for a few hours almost immediately after meeting them. Tuesday we went to Greektown for lunch and ate at the Parthenon. Then we wandered around downtown and then up Michigan Avenue--ending in American Girl Place. It started pouring rain as we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art where we stayed for maybe a half of an hour. Then we grabbed a taxi to "de cero" a modern day taqueria for fancy tacos, good guac, and awesome margaritas of unusual variety. The mom's loved it all. We walked like 11 miles that day. It wasn't over yet. We were going to go to Howl at the Moon, but it was closed for a private event, so instead we went to the Signature Lounge of the John Hancock Building and then back to the apartment in the pouring, pouring rain. I was exhausted and went right to sleep, but I think they stayed awake giggling a while.

Wednesday was much lower key. We hung out at my house in the morning and bought tickets to Jersey boys for the Matinee. Then we wandered around my neighborhood a bit stopping for lunch at Chipotle where they had never eaten but thought was fantastic. Shopped a bit, and we grabbed a train downtown just in time to be seated before the show started. Our seats were a little bit obstructed view but still good. The show was pretty good--light on plot but big on good music and spectacle. The light design was totally awesome!!! The moms loved it! Then we caught a bus slowly up to my neighborhood and another one close to the restaurant and then wandered through cute houses to my favorite Italian restaurant Rose Angelis which they also loved and where we ate until we were so full we could only waddle home, and then we stayed home for a bit. It was great.

And now they are gone and tomorrow I start my new job.

Things left to do

My boss called me this morning and told me I did not have to go into work today. That is good because I must get shower curtain liner, some flowers and kitty litter in the next 2 hours and ten minutes.

I had to clean up pie mess that was strewn all over my kitchen, so I am really glad I worked so hard to get the kitchen spotless on Saturday. I also have some laundry to put away and some trash to take out. Actually not in too much of a hurry right now. It is kind of nice to have some slight peace. Very, very nice really. Show opens tonight! Mom arrives! All sort of excitement.

WOW

My 500th post was the post before this one!

So . . . unrelated. My mother will be here in about 18 hours. There is a visible fur coat of grime on the blades of the ceiling fan in my living room, my sink is full of dishes, there is still stuff kind of all over my room, and my cat who smelled nicely yesterday now smells smelly. Oh well. Mom is in town for a few days, so I will be offline most likely--being with her and not ever at home or at work. She is bringing two friends, and they will be seeing this:




I hope they like it, and all of you can feel free to come as well!

tired

But...I did get my bills paid.

I did not work out.

I did snuggle with kittehs instead.

I did not snuggle with boy.

I will hopefully get off computer and go to bed very very soon. Because I need sleep.

I need sleep because the play I am in is killing me! Totally killing me. However next episode it is much, much easier on me. I am back to being comic relief in just a few scenes instead of having to have feelings and emotions and actually freaking work and not just say crazy shit. Next episode my first line is "Fuck my balls!" And I might get to host some amazing extravaganza of some kind. It might be totally awesome. Just saying.

I went home and bathed my pussy

That was not a euphemism. I gave Steve Alphabet McQueen a bath tonight. He was not impressed. He may in fact hate my guts forever, but he freaking stank. It had to happen. He might get another before my mom gets here to make sure he doesn't stink. I managed to escape scratch free too! I wore long rubber gloves and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. It was actually quite a work out. So, I am kind of ok that I never got to do the NYC Ballet workout today. Maybe tomorrow morning, when I wake up early. As if that ever happens!

SO TIRED

Stupid late rehearsals, stupid, stupid, stupid.

Ah well, at least tomorrow night I get some quality time with the boy and some yummy tacos at de cero.

That's all I got tonight.

Stumbling upon Kennewick Man

Or more accurately a fellow tri-citian and his mom. At my Pier 1 today. The three of us were kind of overjoyed to meet up because we could not quite believe we were there. Virtually no one I run into here is from Washington and 99% of those that are have lived in the Seattle area and have little to no idea where my hometown is. Literally it could be on Mars for all they know.

But I still get excited about the prospects of someone who might be from near home. So when my coworker Liz told me there was a guy and his mom in the store from Washington, I went and talked to them. His mom got so excited she hugged me. She will be heading back home and telling everyone she found a fellow tri-citian. She was adorable. I didn't actually know them, but we knew a lot of the same people, and we talked about home for a bit. It was great. But here is the best part. Some of you know the story of my ex-boyfriend who broke up with me because he found Jesus while stoned and drunk in a strip club in Boise (the ex was stoned and drunk, not Jesus, in case you were wondering). He went into full on charismatic Evangelical mode on me, and that did not so much work out. Well, this guy I met "Derrick" knew him in high school. They had been football buddies and whatnot. Derrick had run into him at the airport in Pasco this past Christmas. The ex (usually known as Jesus boy) was going to grad school in Virginia Beach for theatre, but he had not left his Jesus roots oh no. Jesus boy had grown his hair long as well as grown a beard in order to play Jesus in religious theatricals. Oh yes, not lying. I kind of think this is the most awesome thing I have ever heard. I had to call my sister and tell her about it. Her response, "He didn't break up with you for Jesus, he wanted to be Jesus!" Too true.

Slacking off on the Blogorama

I have just been barely still for the last week, except for briefly on Sunday when I slept on Sam's couch totally unexpectedly. The nap just smacked me on the head and knocked me out. Other than that I have had a good deal of fun and busy busy time.

I also ended up in jeans and layered tshirts and a ponytail at a fancy local lounge. Not bar, not club, FANCY place. It had no sign, just a door you were supposed to know was the club unless you were lame (like me). I had planned a night of cheap mexican food and storefront theatre and dressed accordingly (Em's play was good, very proud of her!), and then we went to the fancy place to meet people. The only other girl in our group was in a cocktail dress. The boys were in suits and ties, I felt ridiculous. It was ridiculous, and then I started making fun of the ridiculous people and Sam and I ended up in our usual piano bar--much better.

I also got new glasses today. They are super cute. Hope to try and stay updated over the next little bit of time.

Job Update

So, I was offered a position. There will be a 90 day trial period, and after that I go from sort of a very basic hourly wage to a for real salary assuming all the goals I am set are met and things are going along swimmingly.

Anyway, I am way excited, and I just need to put in my notice at Sharprint and I will have a little break from work when my mother comes to town, and then new job happens.

So there we go!

I imagine I will stay with Pier 1 until I get past the trial period, and then I will re-evaluate which may mean seek to only work one job. But the nice thing about that is that I will be able to give them a goodly amount of notice that I am leaving.

Friends Rule

First I would like to thank any and all of you for good thoughts sent my direction. I think it went well. You know as well as any interview you have had seems to have gone if you felt good about it but there was no immediate offer.

Second I would like to thank Robin who is plugging away at making me special convertible mittens or, as I understand it, something that functions a lot like that.

Third and most overwhelmingly, I would like to thank Chrissy who I suggested make me a mix cd, and came back with 10! I got ten mixed cd's from her in the mail with titles like "My Favorites (right now)" to "Indie Pop 2" (oh yes there was a 1 also), and "Country and Blues" and "Big Band and Swing" and what they all seem to have in common is a large dose of AWESOME! I am very excited to put them on and listen to them at work. It will be great. Thank you Chrissy! This is so cool.

In other news, the theatre department secretary of my grad school passed on yesterday. She was wonderful and gave really good hugs and succumbed to her second battle with cancer, and she will be missed. So will her hugs.

In other, other news, I am getting new glasses. They aren't here yet and this seems an inappropriate follow-up.

In yet more news, it seems my mother and her two friends all plan to stay at my apartment for two and a half days. With my roommate. And me. And the two cats. And the one bathroom. Yeah. That will be awesome.

Also, my roommate bagged all the trash up this weekend, and she still hasn't taken it out yet. There are like four bags of trash in my kitchen, and it is gross, and the grossness has almost made me take them out. In fact, it most likely will make me take them out tomorrow morning, but she stole all my towels, filled my apartment with trash, and somehow I am painted as the bad roommate in our little saga. Because well I have a boyfriend and several nights a week I stay with him. I am such a jerk.

Job Interview Tomorrow

Everyone please think happy thoughts for me at 5:30pm Central Daylight Time tomorrow. I have the interview with the potential hopeful new job. Unless I completely lose my shit it should go well.

After the crap day work was today, I need a job that is better and not awful. I labeled it reason #189 why I don't want to work at my current job anymore--the culture of backstabbing and spying and faction mentality where you have to be working against somebody else or you ain't working. It was bad, there were blow ups. I honestly can't spend a summer working there. I need to get out and the sooner the better.

Stupid Rama Chicken

So, after rehearsal today the lovely ladies Katie C. and Anna S. went to the Noodle Zone with me for dinner. I ordered a cucumber salad and Rama chicken planning to eat the salad and nibble at my entree while having the rest of it wrapped up for lunch tomorrow. This was a genius plan. UNTIL IT LEAKED ALL OVER THE INSIDE OF MY PURSE BECAUSE THEY APPARENTLY DON"T KNOW HOW TO WRAP SHIT UP.

Yeah, so I have a purse full of peanut sauce. Awesome, great, fantastic. Not really. Fortunately it was not my fabulous purse that has a little broken piece of hardware, so it has been retired for a month or so until it gets fixed (not because it takes that long to fix but because it takes that long for me to get it to the fixer). So, not purse is going with me to work tomorrow. It looks like I may be taking an adventure bag shopping tomorrow. Good thing I live near a Marshall's and a TJ Maxx. Target.com tonight to see if they have anything cute. Stupid, stupid peanut sauce.

Also my kitties are smelly and it seems to be because they like to roll around in their litter box the second after they use it. And I mean roll around! So they smell like their poo all the time.

In other news, my mother is coming to visit me and to see the opening show of the second season of the Ville. So she will see me curse like a sailor, ogle a female stripper, and make out with a girl! That ought to be fun. Also it will be like three and a half continuous days together, that should also be fun. This is happening in three weeks which is in no way long enough for me to get my house clean enough or my waist thin enough for her to say only nice things about it and me. Also, I feel she will have bad things to say about smelly cats. Did I mention she might be staying AT my house? Yeah, well there is that.

Although on the bright side, she might be bringing two of her friends (Barb Davis and Lynn Davis--no relation, she used to be Lynn Olberding) which means they will split a hotel. That might be less fun for Sam because he would meet all of them at once. I may not have told him that yet. Good thing he has a big work meeting and will read this in like two days at the earliest which means I have plenty of time to tell him.

Yeah, so moms. Yup.

More Hints for the Ones Left Unguessed--UPDATED

Okay, here is what is left with three hints for each of them, the original plus two more! And now one more quote with names.

8) You're not a loser because you're having sex. But if you weren't having sex, we could definitely debate the issue.

The dance is tomorrow. She's a cheerleader, you've seen Star Wars 27 times. You do the math.

You know what would be cool? To find a girl in a bottle, like "I Dream of Jeanie". I'd like to make out with her on that little couch.

Lindsay, here's an idea - how 'bout you break up our band so you can go make out with Nick? Oh, wait, you already did that. Freaks and Geeks--Jim


9) If I said I was madly in love with you, you'd know I was lying.

With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.

In spite of you and me and the whole silly world going to pieces around us, I love you. Because we're alike. Bad lots, both of us. Selfish and shrewd. But able to look things in the eyes as we call them by their right names. Gone With the Wind--Robyn


13) I want something EMBARRASSING! Something sexual! Little boys, midgets, that sort of thing! Cows! I don't give a goddamn!

The people of this nation can stomach quite a bit. But the one thing they can't stomach is the image of a vice president with a mouthful of cock.

You know what this is? It's a shark steak sandwich.

Napoleon once said when asked to explain the lack of great statesmen in the world, that "to get power you need to display absolute pettiness; to exercise power, you need to show true greatness." Such pettiness and greatness are rarely found in one person... Laine Hanson has asked that I allow her to step aside. She asked me to do this because she wants my presidency to end on a note of triumph and not controversey. Understand, those of you who worked to bring Laine Hanson down, that she asked to have her name withdrawn from consideration, NOT because she isn't great, but because she isn't petty. Because those two forms of leadership traits could not live in her body or her soul. Greatness. It comes in many forms, sometimes it comes in the form of sacrifice - that's the loneliest form.

No one got this, but it is a great movie you should all watch "The Contender."



14) You think you're easy? Compared to what, the Hundred Years' War?

Do You think if I come back its going to be ok by magic? What's going to changed? What's going to be different? We'll both be wrong, we'll both loose.

You'll never find anyone as good for you as I am, to believe in you as much as I do or love you as much!

Your girl is lovely, Hubbell.

No one got this either and I bet Robyn is kicking herself, "The Way We Were."


*****************************************

I have tried not to put anything too, too terribly obvious, but the next step in hints will be quotes with names in them and then the really, really obvious ones.

Boredom--may not get back to this fast enough

From Chrissy and Robyn, with the knowledge that I am not very good at these sorts of things.


* Pick 15 of your favorite movies or TV shows
* Go to IMDB and find a quote from each movie or TV show
* Post them here for everyone to guess
* Strike it out when someone guesses correctly in the comments, and put in who
guessed it and the movie.
* No Googling, IMDB or otherwise searching online- just pure memory!



1) Sometimes meaningless gestures are all we have. Waking the Dead--Erin

2) Well, you're just pathetic, and you're gutless. You're a gutless wonder! Strictly Ballroom--Margaret

3) Victory is mine. Victory is mine. Great day in the morning people, victory is mine! The West Wing--Erin

4) I'm not a gay pirate! I have sex with my parrot all the time! OK, that came out wrong. The West Wing--Erin

5) "Who are you?" "I'm the guy who does his job. You must be the other guy." The Departed--Renee

6) I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky. To the flung spume and the blown spray. . .and the, I don't know, thing in my eye. Sports Night--Erin

7) Excuse me lady, but that upon which you sit is mine. It Happened One Night--Robyn

8) You're not a loser because you're having sex. But if you weren't having sex, we could definitely debate the issue.

9) If I said I was madly in love with you, you'd know I was lying.

10) Uh huh. Most women aren't angry, irrational psychos. We just want an ending to a relationship that... That is thoughtful and decent and honors what we had together. So my point, Billy, is this; There is a good way to break-up with someone, And it doesn't include a post-it. Sex and the City--Jamie

11) Shit, murder ain't no thing, but this here is some assassination shit!! The Wire--Tbert

12) How much worse can it get than finishing dinner, having him reach over, pull a hair out of my head and start flossing with it at the table? When Harry Met Sally--Robyn

13) I want something EMBARRASSING! Something sexual! Little boys, midgets, that sort of thing! Cows! I don't give a goddamn!

14) You think you're easy? Compared to what, the Hundred Years' War?

15) Don't these bitches know I'm way better than them? Project Runway--Anna

Night Alone

I have no work, no rehearsal, no boyfriend and no roommate tonight (note still have boyfriend and roommate just boyfriend is sick--that is his second job lately--and roommate is watching the Dropkick Murphy's with Chris P). I was going to get a mani pedi, but maybe not. It seems too cold to go out with only flip flops. I guess I could just repaint them myself and my fingers too. That would be a better choice.

So, in the interest of furthering my plan of writing a one-woman show, I need to start writing some stuff. Stuff that may or may not make it into the show, but you know at least stuff to pick through. I have a few pieces, but I definitely need more. My friends Anna and Brian are in a show that they are writing solo pieces for, and they are creating stuff by having assignments given them by their director--like write a piece inspired by a person or to go with a piece of music or write about the color red, etc.

As it stands now, I have no director--just me. I do have all of you. So. . . I am requesting that any of you interested (or even disinterested readers) leave possible assignments in the comments. I will try to write something for every single one of them (but I can't guarantee when), and once written, I will post what comes of it here on the blog--or maybe on an anonymous new formed blog which I will link to on this blog for those who want to read it. Anyway, please leave me some assignments or topics, they can be fairly specific or extremely vague. Ask me a question, whatever! I will try to post one a week starting next week.

Hangover

I didn't have one at 10am when I almost woke up, but then at noon I really did wake up and had a hangover. I think I am better now. It did however feel like a screw was being tightened in my head that was pulling my jaws closer together and clamping them down at the same time. So I am really glad that has stopped!

I should be updating or at least finding my old resume. Not so much right now. I am instead playing on blogger and imdb.com. I may have just gotten a better idea of what to do. . . .

Laters.

I think it is time to get new jobified

It is. The 9-5 job has been slowly sliding from fun, worry-free, and if it doesn't pay me that well at least it is easy and I can go to work looking like a just rolled out of bed to kind of just crappy. It isn't there yet, but the slide does seem to be inevitable, and I have decided not to wait it out. A resume or two will be set up and the hunt will be on for something, who knows maybe anything else. My hope is that this possible future new job is 9-5ish and M-F and pays me enough that I can stop working two jobs and just do one and be in a play. That's the dream.

This weekend will be the resume revamping, and if anyone knows anyone who could give me a sweet job in Chicago, pony up. Please. Ok, not really you don't have to, but I will gladly and gleefully accept leads on a better gig.

So, now that's decided I need to figure out what sort of new gig I am looking for. I really don't have a clue. So, there's that.


OOOOOOoooooooh, also looking forward to the weekend and spending some quality time with the boyfriend who has been sadly lacking in my life this week due to illness and the world seemingly wanting to thwart any attempts I make to quality time-ing with him. Also, let's talk about the fact that he went to dinner at a place I have been dying to eat at again for at least a month. He went there without me. Don't worry. I have already given him grief for that one.

Silent Treatment

I am getting it. Turns out I may have been getting it for several weeks and nigh on a month now, and I had no idea because if I don't see or speak to this person very much anyway, I am not going to notice a silent treatment.

I think it is supposed to hurt my feelings, but the silent treatment is not the best way to punish me. Turns out, if you give me more time to talk, I am not upset by that. It usually doesn't pain me, and in this case, I didn't even notice. Actually now that I have noticed, I find it more hilarious than anything else. Because although I was quite mean to him the last time we spoke--there was an argument, my feelings had been hurt because I felt I had been disrespected and me with hurt feelings=anger, often lots of it--I kind of felt that on the sliding scale between right and wrong I was more in the right than he was (objective judge that I so clearly am). I don't think that is how he sees it. According to my roommate, apparently he declared he is done with me. I no longer exist to him. This makes me howl with laughter! God, I am not a nice person, not at all--as evidenced by my response to his attempt to hurt me.


Oh, for any of you wondering, the person who is mad at me (and who knows maybe rightly so, but this is just too much ridiculous for me) and treating me to silence, well his name rhymes with Wyan Wurpin.

Boring movies

I feel like I have been watching the wrong movies on netflix lately. They have been boring me. However I don't think they are all as bad as they seem to me. I just am looking for mindless fluff and somehow have put deep serious important at the top of my queue. I should fix that I guess. However, I have been using my on demand to watch lots and lots of law and order CI because I heart me some D'Onofrio even when he is being ridiculous.

Ahhh, the boring movies are Interiors and Little Children.

Also the other night I decided something. I am going to write and perform some sort of one-woman show by the time I am 30. I have tossed this around a lot in the last few years since I moved to Chicago, but it is now a big thing that I am determined to do.

Tired making weekend

I flew in and out of Buffalo for a weekend, for Renee's brother's wedding. It was very fun and a lovely, lovely wedding. It was however a quick trip, and I didn't get tons of sleep so I am now exhausted.

Sam didn't get to come with me because he was sick. He still is a little sick. It is a bummer. Hopefully he will get better soon and it won't be a bummer anymore.

I feel a little better since I checked in on him this afternoon.

I have so much more that I think and would like to say about this, but I don't really know how to start or what I want to say. And. . . yeah. That's about all I got, and I can't find the freaking corkscrew! So the wine, sits on the coffee table taunting me.

They are stealing my team

Some rich, oil baron Oklahomans are trying to steal my Sonics. Well as they actually own them, they effectively have already stolen them. Now they are trying to wreck them so no one will care when they move them to Oklahoma City--because the Oklahoma City Sonics has such a great ring to it.

OK, now true I do not really care about sports, but the only time I ever cared so much for a team that I prayed for them--these guys were it. I loved Gary Payton, I loved Shawn Kemp, I was wiling to start a religion whose Deity was Nate MacMillan. And, no really, once upon a time those guys could play basketball and 2/3 of them seemed like actual gentleman and statesman and the other third was just youthfully brash. Now, well, that may not seem true, but back in my youth it was true. And they were good! They were great! In the early 90's they posted the best season record of any team ever!! And they did it by smashing the old record, smashing it! It was awesome. Of course a few seasons later their record was knocked off by a little team called the Chicago Bulls because it turns out they had a pretty good run in the 90's. Turns out.

BUT THEY ARE STEALING MY BABIES!!!!! I might not care about sports much anymore, but this is ridiculous. I disapprove. Sam is going to hear about this on our trip tomorrow. He is from Oklahoma. He might need to apologize for his whole state.

Oh yeah, I am going to Buffalo tomorrow for the weekend for a wedding. I will tell you all about it later. After the weekend.

Taxes

I totally owed money this year! That is kind of a bummer, but I guess it is ok too, since I wasn't counting on the money to do anything. Although this may mean I need to be serious about putting some $ away for plane trips this summer to Washington and California. Also I only owed a very little amount of money. I basically came very close to breaking even, which means I paid the government exactly what I owed. Which I guess is ok, but I kind of miss getting big fatty checks back. Oh well.

Oscars, etc.

I watched them last night on TIVO delay. They were kind of unremarkable--there were many, many lovely dresses, but not too much else remarkable. Yea for the Once kids! That was the happiest moment, and Tilda Swinton is much funnier than I would expect, but am I the only one who thinks she looked like she was wearing a graduation gown and it got blown off in the parking lot?

I had entirely forgotten that I live blogged those last year. That was very fun. Thank you Miss Amy for reminding me!

I bought a cashmere sweater and some make-up today. The cashmere sweater cost less than the two eyeshadows--mostly because it was obscenely on sale. It is a cardigan and it is royal purple, and I LOVE IT! Also the eyeshadows were kind of upscale cosmetics. They are however crease less, cream to powder, and AMAZING!

Sam is putting all of his electronic TV toys into the new cabinet he purchased to house new flat screen TV. He's adorable, also he is freaking funny. I think he is much funnier than he gets credit for.

Curled up in the recliner at Sam's house

My laptop all fired up blogging (and reading others blogs) with nothing at all to do today. Apparently I could've gotten tickets to the Oscar thing, but I didn't find that out until late, late last night, and well two things. One, I am going to a birthday party with Sam tonight and two, I would've needed to be more emotionally prepared for that after my two 60 hour weeks.

Instead, I may go rent movies for me and Sam. He is cooking stew right now because he likes to cook and does that on the weekends. He also has an actual record on the turntable, playing some lovely jazz piano. Last weekend he was actually playing the jazz piano when I was in the shower and I had a very difficult time deciding if it was a CD or him because (contrary to his self deprecation) he is very good.

It is beautiful and sunny out today, so I feel I ought to get out in it. I was going to blog more, but it might be time for errands!

I had clever things to say

In fact it always seems that way to me. As I sit on the bus, I ponder all sorts of interesting thoughts and ideas. This happens at work too, and then I get on the computer and it has all eluded me. Nothing is left in my sad little brain. Well nothing interesting anyway.

Tonight all that is left is a debate on whether or not it will be warm enough tomorrow to wear the sweater dress I bought last weekend with leggings and a shirt underneath? The leggings may not be warm enough--unless I wear them with boots and then I can wear the long socks I bought the week before that or I can wear jeans too and just take the jeans off at pier one when it is time to work there tomorrow night. If Chris ends up having a birthday party or I end up going someplace cool with Sam, I will be very fashionably dressed, so that would be good. Although I will for sure have to get up early enough to wash my hair tomorrow, and that is going to be rough.

Can I say I hate winter? I am done with it. If this were a regular February, it would have some sort of warming trend which may well mean just being warmer than the freaking teens!! And then I could wear the sweater dress. Grrrrr. . . . Also my cat keeps biting me really hard and then flopping away from me all indignant when I react negatively to the fact that he is fucking biting me really hard, hard enough to make me holler, as if how dare I disturb his gnawing of my flesh by making noise. Steve Alphabet McQueen Kinion, you may just be getting a little to big for your britches.

Gifts

So Valentine's Day happened for real, and Sam and I were not together for it because well I work a whole shit ton. I have decided to allow him to describe his hiding o my Valentine's Day balloon bouquet under his desk as "storing" because it turns out that brilliant plan did not discourage his coworkers from finding them, liberating them, prominently displaying them, and giving Sam much grief over the whole thing. It was wonderful.

This weekend we finished exchanging gifts, which I thought would be cards and some sort of trinket or something (like tickets to a concert here in Chicago or a show, something along those lines). He did give me a card, and inside the card he told me that he was taking me to New York City sometime this spring for dinner and a Broadway show and a night at a jazz club. This will take place April 18-20. There is a list of shows that I would like to see, and he will get to see two famous and great jazz musicians whom he has never seen before play at a club that he has never been too (Ron Carter and Jim Hall at the Blue Note). He is very excited. I am too! I am hoping to see either Spring Awakening or Sunday in the Park with George (but Spamalot, Young Frankenstein, and Legally Blonde are also contenders), and I might just maybe have to get tickets to a matinée on Saturday if possible too. It might just have to happen that I see two shows--although I might opt for the non-musical all-black Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for the other.

I have already called Lauren to tell her I am on my way there. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of the time in NYC, although two ish days is not a long time. BTW, this fabulous gift is why I decided that he can store my gifts under his desk whenever the heck he wants. Also, btw, how freaking lucky am I? I mean really? I have the best boyfriend ever.

Have a house guest in for the weekend. Tbert explored some neighborhoods, went to my company party, had late night nachos with my roommate because I was wasted, went for sushi but the place was closed so had Oaxacan instead, was subjected to a piano bar where now Sam's bartender knows my drinks too, froze to death in the awful wind, and hung around my house today because it was way too frigidly windy to want to leave and go about. That was his visit in a nutshell, and I feel I was not the best host, but. . . I don't know. I had a really long week and I don't really know his tastes well enough to tailor a good visit to them. I did however assume (probably correctly) that my greatest hits of big lame chains that we don't have back home would be a bad bet for him. I save that one for people from the Tri-Cities. They like all the touristy schlock: Bubba Gump's, the terrible parts of Michigan Ave and downtown. But they are also the people who can't like a restaurant if they've never heard of it. So, Teebs, I am sorry that I was a kind of lame host.

I think my arms want to break up with me

Because I made them carry home a 15 or so pound table in a box from work (all smashed flat in a little box). It hurt a lot. There was burning and an inability to work them for a few minutes after I finally got to set the tables down. Yeah, so that happened.

Then the kitteh's (and I am looking at you James Dean) tried to eat my sammich before I ate my sammich, and this did not sit well with me. However, I defended my sammich's honor.

Speaking of eating, Sam took me to Gibson's last night for dinner. It was outstanding. Their food is crazy amazing, and by food I mean meat because mostly that is what they cook. The ginormous "small" sirloin I had was exquisite! Best steak I ever, ever had. So yummy. I do though find it funny that they explain to me what medium meant--I know, I grew up on a farm I could show you on a real animal where my steak came from and I could do better with more cuts on a pig and I could even point out some cuts on a lamb, I get it. I mean turns out I am not just a pretty girl in a dress and high heels.

Which leads me to a dress and high heels and tights in the winter on Chicago streets. Yup, I walked slow, and yes I did feel ridiculous. But I looked pretty for the v-day dinner. I guess that was the important part, and I did strongly suggest we take a cab home from dinner.

Tomorrow is the valentine's day. Still don't know what Sam got me. That may not happen until the weekend because it turns out I won't get to see my fabulous new boyfriend on or very first valentine's day. Oh well!

Mac and Cheese

That is what I am eating right now. I have been kind of obsessed with it lately, but not the Kraft variety, the homemade style (or some sort of approximation). No one at my home ever made mac and cheese from scratch, so I have no mom recipe to compare it with, but I love it. What is there not to love about warm gooey cheese?

The one I am eating right now I baked in my oven--it is a tv dinner version that is tasty if unnaturally orange. I had one last Friday that could've been richer, and there is an excellent one up in Andersonville that I have been missing (it includes red peppers).

Tomorrow night Sam and I are going to celebrate Valentine's Day. We are going out to dinner, but I am not exactly sure where. I am going to wear my new dress (that I bought for $10 this weekend at Nordstrom's Rack). We have to celebrate early because I am working at Pier 1 on V-day and next weekend Chrissy's (well and mine now too) friend tbert is coming to town.

Sheets

There aren't any on my bed right now because I took them off to put them in the laundry pick up for this morning, and since I thought there was a big possibility I was going to end up in Sam's bed tonight (because I was going to go downtown and see Erin before she leaves tomorrow and Sam's bed is just a little north of downtown) I just didn't put any back on. But I am home tonight since Erin is not downtown, so after Pier 1 I was just going to go to bed. Now I have to put them on. Boooooo. I don't like that story.

So I was listening to an episode of the Savage Love podcast (audio version of his advice column that appears in alternative weeklys everywhere), and it made me think today. Mostly, it made me think about what a whiny pain in the ass I have been in my past. I mean, could I shut up about a couple of my past would-be/wish-it-could-be relationships? Obviously not. How were some of you still my friends through my whining and vacillating and endless hypothesizing? Why did no one literally smack me in the mouth? I so obviously needed it. Anyway, belated apology for all who lived through Clowngate and The tragedy of Luke parts 1 and/or 2, hell even all the way back to the Jesus Boy fallout (which was mostly pre-blog). Please, if I am ever that damn stupid again please tell me. I obviously knew that things were not going to go the way I wanted or that I was not going to step up, and so did everyone who had to listen to me. Thank you for being patient, kind, good friends, and I am sorry to have so abused my friendship privileges.

Voting

I voted. It made my whole day better. I like voting, even if it is for very small things like county commissioner or anything like that.

However the following was an editorial in my hometown newspaper (hat tip to Lauren J for posting it) that kind of makes my skin crawl. This is where I am from people, this was on the editorial page.

"Men presidents only

I think that having a woman president would be a bad idea for our country. Women are not meant to rule countries and be in charge. They are meant to make decisions but not confirm them.

Our president deals with some countries that don't respect or allow women in leadership positions. I wonder if the United States would have more terrorist attacks because we would be seen as weak with a woman leader. I agree that women can do many things, but leave the ruling of the countries to the men.

BRITTANY BAYLES, 13, Kennewick "


Seriously people?

Late Nights

I had them all weekend long. It started out when I went to bed at 5am on Saturday morning--after 11 hours of work even! Silly Erin Faulk visiting. Then on Saturday night, Sam and I went out to dinner at 11PM, and even though we went home and went to bed pretty quick, it was still past midnight, and then last night it was midnight before bed again, stupid superbowl.

I am whupped by it too! I am tired, tired, tired. But watching the movie "once" on the recommendation of Chrissy. It is really good so far.