Tucson, Sarizona

MV in Oct

2009-10-05T19:38:00.000-07:00

As this weekend was happening, I was thinking of all the things I could write about it. Let's see if I can remember any of them now. Maybe if I break it into sections...

Back story:

Mark and I had planned to go away this weekend. We had planned it for months. We got a great deal on Travelocity for something like $400 a person to Myrtle Beach, and since we haven't gone to the beach too much this summer, and I had never even been to Myrtle Beach, AND it's October, we decided to book it. A couple of months after that, I got emails/phone calls/smoke signals from Travelocity regarding my trip. So fine, I called back...only to find out that our airline has stopped going to Myrtle Beach altogether. We could either take a refund, or take a trip to Charleston...with a hotel in Myrtle Beach...I took the refund. Here's where I went wrong: instead of turning around and booking another trip to Myrtle Beach (for which the price had even dropped at this point), I didn't. I had all sorts of second thoughts, including "Why do I even want to go to Myrtle Beach?" "Can I go some place cheaper?" "Should I even be taking so much unpaid time off at my new job?" etc. etc. Around the same time that this all went down, we were planning on taking just a weekend and going out to MV w/ my Dad and fam, but then a HURRICANE decided it wanted to go to MV that weekend too. So we decided to scrap that plan, even though we had pre-purchased fast ferry tickets for us plus bikes (like $200), and they were non-refundable. I did learn that I could use said ferry tickets later in the season on a standby basis, though...Thus a new plan was formulated. We would use the ferry tickets for the already planned vaca weekend that didn't have a vaca to go with it...this weekend! Plus it would be cheaper, plus I could take less days off (1 less day...?). It seemed like a perfect plan. With the help of family, we had even scored a place to stay for fairly reasonable. So glad I plan ahead for everything!

Here's the problem: I plan too far ahead for everything. Turns out this time of year in MV, you don't have to plan ahead for ANYTHING. Ferries are not booked, hotels are desperate for your business, the world is your oyster...you get it. Also, fast ferry schedules are much more disappointing. Like, night-before-we-leave-we-find-out-we-can't-get-a-ferry-back-home kind of disappointing. As I am made painfully aware of the chill of the season and the unpredictability of the amount of moisture in the air, we decide to scrap the fast ferry tickets anyways. I find myself wishing I had reconsidered reconsidering Myrtle Beach. Too late now. Time now only for making the best of things. Guess we're off to Wood's Hole.

Friday:

All packed, and up at the crack of dawn (8:30 ha!) to catch the ferry at noon, we very quickly realize that we're not going to be catching the noon ferry. We go to Panera. This is the beginning of our terribly unrestrained eating frenzy (Disclaimer: not true...Big E the night before...and actually, I only had a bagel.) We decided to aim for the 2:30 instead. The drive up went smoothly, and we found the parking lot easily (for once). We even had a super friendly bus driver, who helped us get on the freight ferry expediently AND gave me a hug (she makes dog sweaters and her son and wife met online). I also learned how to hold luggage and ride a bike fairly safely. We got to the cottage and decided to head out to eat. We were hungry by this time. I was still hankerin' for mac and cheese (Big E fail...don't want to discuss it except to say what I've learned: If I see a sign that says "Philly Cheesesteaks!" I will no longer dismiss it so easily.) I was really after homemade mac and cheese, and I figured since it (apparently) was in the Mass building at the Big E and we were now IN Mass, my dream could somehow be realized. The Thai restaurant looked good, but, alas, no mac and cheese. Eureka! Mac and cheese special at Linda Jean's. I couldn't believe my luck! And I had been there for breakfast before, so I knew it was a good place. MISTAKE. Breakfast and dinner are 2 different animals, my friends. The mac and cheese vaguely reminded me of something they used to serve at Friendly's back in the day. Not homemade and not baked. More like velveeta cheese sauce. I should have known when the cheese fries Mark ordered came out...ok, fine. Mark, how's your chicken parm? Oh, bad. Hm. Stick to breakfast, Linda Jean. We then watched Away We Go, my fav, and You've Got Mail, also cute. Oh AND Back Door Donuts! We learned about this last time after days of smelling deliciousness outside our hotel every night. Fresh apple fritter before...Bed!

Saturday:

We awoke to the sound of...the rain? No. My dad calling. He LOVES to call in the morning. Loves it. But the rain did sound nice, only since we already knew it would be raining, so we were prepared for a lazy, relaxing day, which I kind of needed by the way. I ate another apple fritter (calm down, we share 1) for breakfast. We read some Sabbath school lessons about Abraham and Sarah, and the rain calmed down. We went out for a quick bike ride, but we didn't want to go to far because we never knew when the rain would start up again. We also needed to pick up some water because we were unsure of the potability of the faucet water. Turns out we had nothing to worry about after all, as the water ban had just been lifted the other day...well, we already paid for the Poland Spring, so might as well drink it...The rest of the day was a blur of reading Desire of Ages, napping, Scrabble and finishing my gross mac and cheese. Come nightfall, I woke up from my final nap and decided it was time to eat. I'd been thinking about that Thai restaurant, The Bangkok Cafe, ever since I unfortunately passed it up the day before. It was delicious! I had veggie and tofu soup and veggie and tofu noodles. It was exactly what I wanted it to taste like! Man I love veggies and tofu. The only bad thing was the fact that we had to sit in such close proximity to the other couples, couples who don't have "inside voices." Couple number 1 smelled bad...a mixture of cologne/aftershave and strong personal smell. Here's a sampling of their conversation: Lady: "something something someone...What a See You Next Tuesday!" Man: "You ain't kiddin'" Thank God they left fairly soon after we got there. Then another couple came. Louder, but more appropriate conversation. The man made some pun I forgot. The lady didn't respond. The man repeated his pun, adding that he thought it was cute. The lady started another conversation. After dinner, we walked around a bit and got ice cream. Too much ice cream. Always get a kiddie cone, even if it means you can only have one flavour. We went home and watched a bunch of Office episodes. Bed.

Sunday:

We woke up to a beautiful day! We ate breakfast from the bakery. We had a plan, too. We were going to ride bikes down toward Edgartown, and look into a geocache that Mark had researched the previous day (while I was napping, prolly). It was right near Farm Pond, which was on the bike trail on the way. Such a great sense of accomplishment, finding those things. We continued on toward Edgartown, with the intention of catching the Chappy Ferry. I love riding bikes with a plan. It makes me feel like I'm really getting myself somewhere...much more satisfying than a car. The cute little ferry was interesting as well. It took about 2 minutes to get across to Chappaquidick on a ferry that holds 3 cars, and as many people w/bikes as wanted to go that day (4). We had no idea what was on the small island, what it looked like, or what to do there, so we just started riding. We found this dirt road off to the left, and for whatever reason we took it, even though we had already passed a couple of other roads without a second glance. Turns out this road led right to the ocean, and by right, I mean, after about 2 miles. After a while though, you figure, you're in it this far, might as well see it through. I'm glad we did. It was so secluded and cool to see how the land wraps around a certain way. We got bit by mosquitoes. Mostly Mark though. Once we got back to the main road, we decided to ride further, seeing what else there was to see. Turns out nothing. There's nothing there that we saw. We took another dirt road back. Let me tell you, biking on dirt roads, especially when that dirt is, like, sand, is REALLY hard. I got a good workout, for sure. It felt good though because it was so nice out. At this point, I was happy we decided to go to MV in Oct. I'm always so happy riding my bike places in nice weather. I think with a good attitude, things can often work out well. (In order to avoid being a total cliche, as well as keep it realistic, I will qualify that with the word "sometimes.") I also bought some awesome, and super sale-price t-shirts for myself. Not because I'm selfish, but because I didn't pack enough of the right kind of clothes. I was anticipating colder weather, and I had limited space due to the fact that we brought our own sheets. (Yes, we got the house for a good deal, but I was NOT doing laundry while I was there for 4 days...turns out I was cleaning out the fridge and throwing away their trash for them though). We headed to Sharky's Cantina for a local-chain-type Mexi-feast, and to catch the Pats game. I wish people were quieter and the game was more of a blow-out (but a win's a win, I'm told), but the food was ridiculous. We got nachos, which you can never go wrong with at any sort of halfway decent restaurant, and they were delicious. Homemade salsa, sour cream, black beans...yum! Mark had a cheeseburger chimichanga, and I had a salad. I should have just stuck with the nachos. I was already so full, and the nachos were way better anyways. The salad was mostly lettuce...hm. We were almost too full to get home, remember we had to bike back...We were so tired, so we crashed on the couch and watched more Office. I thought we should go out to dessert. It was hard to find a place that had anything I wanted. Most seasonal restaurants were closed, and it was a Sunday night. The Oak Bluffs location of Sharky's Cantina was playing The Simpsons, so I thought it was a sign. Even though we had already given Sharky's a lot of our money that day, Mark reminded me that they had also given us a lot too. Fine. I kind of remembered some sort of cookie in a skillet dessert that sounded good. They turned off The Simpsons though. Grr. The dessert was SO GOOD though! Exactly what I wanted. Mark had a strawberry margarita that wasn't so great. Can't win 'em all, I guess. More Office, then bed.

Monday:

This morning we woke up to another gorgeous day, though a bit colder/windier. We had another plan (after another bakery run) to check out a second geocache at the East Chop Lighthouse, which we found! Yessss!! This one had gifts, too. I traded a MV ferry schedule for some OFF towelettes. We asked some older folks to take our picture. Why did we do that? I don't know. Man: "I don't know if you should ask me. My wife would be better with the camera. Well, I took a picture, but let's get her over here." Wife: "I don't know if I can get the whole lighthouse and you in it? How do you zoom in?" What? Don't zoom in. Just press the picture-taking-button. Ugh. We went back to single-person pictures after that. Next we rode to Vineyard Haven, got off our bikes, and walked around. We asked the ladies at the chamber of commerce where to eat, and they directed us to the Waterside Market. The turkey chili was good (I've made better), and the salad was another mostly-lettuce one. Better dressing though. Mark got a club sandwich, which he describes as "8 out of 10...it loses points 'cause it was, like, 10 dollars, but your pasta (with butter that I made when we got home) was 10 out of 10." I win! We rode back to Oak Bluffs, and got ice cream at Mad Martha's. I always forget that their ice cream is too soft for my liking, and I always get the wrong flavours. We spent some time on the benches in that park near the beach, watching dogs and owners play, and FREEZING in the wind. We took the 3:45 ferry home, and got back around 8 pm. Like I said, we had pasta. It was awesome.

Overall:

I hope I remembered everything, and I know I didn't. My advice to myself (and others): If you're going to MV in Oct, ALWAYS play by ear. Don't end up losing out on $200 worth of ferry tickets, turning your nose up at perfectly good, cheap off-season, hotels, and wishing you were somewhere warmer. Thank God for good weather. Overall, we had a great trip, and it probably was a bit cheaper than Myrtle Beach. I always have a good time out there, be it spending hours on the beach lifeguard chairs (which are no longer there, by the way) or spending hours biking everywhere. I'm really itching to experience places I've never been before, though, and so is Mark. He's "done with New England for a while." HA! You live here, Buddy!

Ok Fine...Christmas List

2008-12-10T18:15:00.000-08:00

I am Christmas shopping for people right now and finding it really hard to figure out what to get. People have asked me what I want for Christmas, and I have no idea (at the time), so I'm like, "Idon'tknow." I figured, if I have to suffer, so do they. However, as this is not in the Christmas spirit and all, I've decided to break down and make a list. Here's whatever I can figure out that I want at this moment:

YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN. - Old cartoon version. Good luck with that...

THE CLEAR WORD AUDIO, NEW TESTAMENT - Can be found at your local Adventist Book Center or online here.

Tights (opaque, normal colours like black, brown, grey), nylons, knee-highs (last two in nude) - size A (maybe B?)

Scrapbooking supplies

Gift cards for:

gas
oil change
supermarket
spa services
Old Navy
GAP
Kohl's
Walmart

That's all I can think of right now. Maybe I'll update if I think of something else...

ATT Available...Good or Bad?

2008-11-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

Well, the jury's still out on whether ATT is good or bad. We all know COX = BAD. It's better to go with the evil you're unsure of, am I right? It seems cheaper, so that's a plus, but who knows about hidden fees and introductory periods, etc. Here's the conversation I just had with a rep though...take it for what it is (may be paraphrased):

ATT Rudy: (long pause) Hi, my name is Rudy, thanks for calling ATT. How can I help you?
Me: Hi, I just ordered ATT service online, and I just had a couple of questions.
ATT Rudy: You have to do that online. I can't answer any questions for you.
Me: (Kind of deadpan) You can't answer any questions at all?
ATT Rudy: WELL, WHEN YOU ORDER ONLINE, I DON'T HAVE ANY OF YOUR ORDER INFORMATION, SO YOU HAVE TO CLICK ON THE "CONTACT" ICON...
Me: Wow, are you yelling at me??
ATT Rudy: Oh no, I'm sorry, I'm not. It must be my headset...sometimes it gets loud...
Me: Well, I just have some likely general questions that maybe you could answer.
ATT Rudy: Of course, if they're general questions I can probably answer them...

Well, eventually, I did get them answered, but not by Rude-y. Some lady answered them for me. She wasn't the nicest either, but at least Rudy apologized, like, 3 more times for "not" yelling at me.

Other thing: We can't get anything installed for a month. Hm. Maybe we'll keep the Cox until we actually move out.

ATT does offer the YES network, if you're into that sort of thing, which I'm not.

What's Going On...

2008-10-12T20:13:00.000-07:00

If you want more details about what's going on in my life, clearly this b-log is not the way to get them. You know, because I refuse to update it. You can visit Chasing Famy to listen to my weekly (and J. Ray's weekly) goings on. Also, here's a list:

Working tomorrow, Columbus Day. Don't worry though, I had Friday off instead, and I honoured Mr. Columbus in my own way...by picking apples. Plus, it's only a 1/2 day tomorrow.
Snake vet appt. in the afternoon. She's not sick. It's just a yearly check-up. She also has a major attitude problem lately. We're going to half-heartedly check on that, too.
Moving into Emily's new casa soon! Must clean there and organize here.
Working on several church projects including, "Bags of Love," Women's ministry projects, and Aural Rehab community outreach project.
Still being awesome.

Gas Mileage Experiment Results...

2008-06-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

Driving regularly: 26 mpg
Hypermiling: 31 mpg

That means I got 410 miles out of my tank before the gas light even came on! Woo hoo! I rock!

Hyper-Smiling...

2008-06-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

I have to thank my boyfriend for introducing me to hyper-miling. Of course, I'm not going to thank him in person. This post should be enough, even though he doesn't read my B-log. Hyper-miling, as far as I can figure it, is the philosophy of driving in such a way so as to reduce your gas usage. It involves many things, such as slow acceleration, keeping a constant gas pedal position, coasting to stop lights, and even turning your car off as you are stopped at a light. Some people get really into it, and I'm sure there's way more to it than that. What I've been trying to do, due to increased gas prices, is just keep an eye on my acceleration and use coasting as much as possible. I've also incorporated keeping a safe distance and driving the speed limit or under. I've only been doing this since yesterday, but I did fill up my gas tank today just to check my progress and guess what?!? No progress. Well, no progress gas-wise anyways. I rationalize that I've not been doing it for that long, and I'll give it a good week before I pronounce hyper-miling to be a fraud.

HOWEVER, due to my change in driving habits, an unexpected benefit was quickly realized. I am soooo much less stressed out while driving. Granted, I haven't been in a "AHHHH I'M LAAAATE!!!" situation yet, but it still feels nice to drive at a relaxed pace. Driving has been the single most stressful stressor in my life thus far. Immediately when I changed my frame of mind about driving, all due to gas mileage issues, I could feel a change in my attitude. Now when people fly by me, instead of envying them, I'm just like, "Think of all that gas they're burning..." I read something that said going 65 mph instead of 75 mph on the highway decreases gas consumption by 80%.* Of course, I can't remember where I read that or the exact figures, but you get the idea.

We'll see after I week of hyper-miling the effect it has on my gas tank as well as my life in general, but I'm optimistic. It's hard not to be after I just got in from driving around at lunch. Man, I love driving!

*I made up that percentage.

And I Thought It'd Be Another Boring Day...

2008-05-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

I spent the first half of the day in Springfield, then came up to NoHo for the afternoon today. I was in good spirits because I was able to stop and get gas before arriving at the office, ensuring my ability to make haste to the allergist after work. My good spirits were gradually drained during my boring afternoon. After I had researched prospective dates for my cousin, prospective cars for my vacation, and prospective (non-existent) jobs, I decided to kill time by going to the bathroom. Then, due to my extreme boredome and my extreme coldness up here in the NoHo office, I came up with the idea to go outside. The door to my office leads to the back of the building where there is a retaining wall and then the woods. Walking along the retaining wall, what should I come across but none other than a little snakey! It was a cute little yellow and black striped thing, and I would guess that it was about a year old...maybe a little younger. It stayed put long enough to get plenty of cute phone pictures, and it didn't try to musk or bite me. Awesome! I can't really upload phone pictures here at work (or ever, really), but here's what it looked like, except younger:

I think the most exciting part is the fact that I NEVER see wild snakes, NEVER. And by "NEVER," I mean, I don't think I've ever seen one. I could tell that it wasn't poisonous, however, by the shape of it's unintimidating little head. So cute! I did some research because it was a very easy pattern to describe, and there are so few snakes in Mass to choose from, and I found out it was an Eastern Ribbon Snake. That totally killed tons of time between seeing the snake, taking pictures of the snake, telling others about the snake, and writing about the snake. Now I only have about an hour or so left of work. Woo hoo!

Obliged to Update...

2008-05-21T10:22:00.000-07:00

I don't really have much to say right now, but I haven't updated in more than a month. Here are some new things/things on my mind today, in list form of course:

1. I got a new haircut. It rocks. Everyone loves it. Maybe I'll put pictures up some time.

2. My Aural Rehab class starts tonight. I have another one tomorrow. I'm kinda nervous and kinda excited, but really prepared I think. So it'll be good...

3. American Airlines will start charging for checked baggage. $15 for the first bag, $25 for the second bag, $100 for the third, and up from there. It's kinda crazy. The steward(esse)s are flipping out because people already bring too much stuff on the plane in carry-ons. I've run into this problem myself because I generally check my suitcase, and then I have to deal with all these losers that decided to bring their ridiculously huge "carry-ons" and shove them in the front bins. Now I always get a seat near the front of the plane so that I can get off the aircraft soonest. Recently though, these back-of-the-plane jerks have been stowing their luggage in my overhead bins as they make their way to the back of the bus. Then I have no where to put my stuff. I shouldn't have to put my stuff in the back. How does that make sense? It just holds EVERYONE up. I have to fight my way back up to my seat through the people getting on the plane after me; then I have to fight my way back into the plane when we land as people are trying to disembark. It's a nightmare. I may have to rethink my airplane seating plans. I'd really hate to have to do that. I'm seriously dreading flying if all the airlines decide to implement this policy. As if air travel wasn't full of Sarah-annoyances and inconveniences as it is.

My Trip to Charlotte: A Pictorial...

2008-04-15T10:54:00.001-07:00

So a couple weeks back, I visited the city of Charlotte, NC for the 20th Annual AAA Convention. I was sick, thanks to Mark, and it was raining the whole time. However, I was not going to let it ruin my first AAA in, like, 2 years! Anyways, here are some pics + commentary from the event:

Our hotel in Charlotte:

General Assembly at AAA: Erin playing in the DiscovEARy Zone:Me in the very same zone: More fun stuff in the DiscovEARy Zone:
Guess which zone this is in... Now the exhibitors, Ladies and Gentlemen: Phonak booth...yay Phonak rocks!: Phonak Naida mermaids:

Wii golfing @ Phonak: Evidence of my malaise. I don't feel good!!:

Well isn't she just the Wii golf pro...:Oticon booth:
Zebra and I at Oticon booth:Widex booth:

Resound booth:

Westone booth:Where I rocked out on Guitar Hearo (hahaha)(actually I didn't rock that hard because of the wireless guitars...boo):

Audioscan will eat your babies!!*:

I've got 20th Anniversary party at the National Whitewater Center in the rain Fever...woo!! No wait, that's just a regular fever: I swear that's just the wetsuit, NOT back fat:
Listening attentively to our safety instructions:
Just before embarking:
Rapids!!: After the rafting, still sick, but less feverish:
Looking down on the Oticon party:

Me at the Oticon party:

After the (Oticon) party, it's the after- (Phonak) party:

Erin and Marcella having a blast at Melanie's dinner party:

Yay Melanie! Yay Phonak: AAA 20th Anniversary Trivia Bowl:

We had the best team name; it almost won! Turns out it was too subtly intelligent for most people:

Close up at the Trivia Bowl:

Bye-bye convention center:

*Disclaimer: Audioscan does not eat babies.

The Great Weight Loss Goal

2008-03-04T10:42:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been 2 months, almost exactly, since the last post. Incredible. Anyways, my afternoon (which started around 11:15 am) has been so boring that I've read enough "Modern Love" installments in the NY Times to literally make me nauseous. I'm not nauseated because of all the "love" talk because the columns are so varied, and almost none (none that I've read anyways) are about sickeningly-sweet love-love, you know? Just staring at the screen for the past 2.5 hours, reading words, has made me somehow motion sick. Hopefully their are kno typo's in this 'cause I can't bare two look at teh screne anymroe. It may have actually been that coupled with the 200 calorie splurge of icing and sprinkle covered Panera brownie, but whatever. I'll have salad for dinner and no ice cream tonight, I guess.

Which brings me to the topic at hand: my weight loss goal. I've been trying to seriously lose some fat since the beginning of this year. It's not been working. I tried calorie counting. Somehow 1500 calories a day turned to 1700 because, well, I splashed around in the pool that day or some stupid thing. Needless to say, it did not work. I was maintaining all 135 lbs, which did not seem so bad, though. Then my pms week brought 3 extra lbs with it, along with the realization that if I didn't get serious, I'd be "dieting" for years. Screw that. Let's get this over with and back to eating-eating. I already know from experience that maintaining my weight is not so difficult. Let's just get down to a weight I'll be proud to maintain, shall we? For me, I guess that weight would be 125 lbs. However, realistically, I'll be happy with anything below 130, 129.5 included. So after the devastating +3 lbs week, I cut way back to ~1200 calories a day. I am not self-hating, though, so I do allow 1500 calories on days that I seriously exercise (i.e. group groove or group power classes at the gym). Sweating must be involved. Either way, I'm well below the 1800 calories it takes to maintain my weight. So a week of this torture (actually, it only felt torturous for the first 4 days or so) yielded a weight loss of 5.5 lbs!! This works!! I was elated, since ANY weight gain or even lack of weight loss after that week would have resulted in me resigning myself to my current body type (slightly too pudgy for my tastes). I now have the willpower to go on! AND at this rate, it should only take me a couple more months; then I can stop! For those of you reading carefully and keeping track, yes this means 200 calories less for dinner tonight because of that stupid making-me-sick brownie, but who cares? I'm losing tangible weight, and that's enough to make me keep doing it.

Here are some diet helps I've found for people like me who want to lose weight (Like me = food obsessors, the never-thirsty, and the exercise-HATING who have very weak wills):

1. Lots of tea. Lots. Flavored teas with no sugar needed (because none will be added).
2. Lettuce and salads. They afford the ability to eat mass quantities without maxing out your calorie budget.
3. Many "diet" foods are just as good if not better than "regular." Thus, there is no need for the "regular" version to even exist in your life. These include: Baked Cheetos, Breyer's Light Slow Churn Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, low sodium V8, Murray's Shortbread cookies.
4. Two things I have found to not be quite as good as "regular" but are totally adequate-tasting and worth the trade because of the calories involved: Light Bread (35 cal per slice vs. up to 110 cal per slice for regular) and Dannon Light and Fit Yogurt (60 cal per serving vs. up to 140 cal per serving for regular).
5. Weight Watchers SmartOnes frozen dinners are great for these reasons: when you are STARVING because you just got home from the gym and haven't eaten since lunch, they take 3 min. to make; they are 300 cal or less; they are totally filling enough to make up the bulk of your dinner (I always have to have something else, like grapes last night.)
6. Hide candy. If you're like me, you rarely think about candy unless it's right in front of your face, and then you think, "Hm, candy...why not?" That is not good enough to waste so many calories on so little. Just hide it.
7. Almost forgot...jeez...my-calorie-counter.com is a God-send. And now so many more features are included for free than used to be, like making your own calorie goals and adding up your calories for you.

Going to get some more tea. Tropic of Strawberry.

Lists...

2008-01-02T13:02:00.000-08:00

Mostly just so I don't forget:

2008 I resolve to:

1. Keep the Sabbath more conservatively.
2. Study the bible more diligently.
3. Exercise 3+ times per week.
4. Watch what I eat/keep food journal.
5. Have a regular bedtime.
6. Clean house biweekly.
7. Put money in savings account every paycheck.

Movies I want to see:

1. I Am Legend
2. Atonement
3. Juno
4. Love in the Time of Cholera
5. Sweeney Todd
6. National Treasure 2

Follow-Up Info Dump: Picture Dump

2007-12-18T07:20:00.001-08:00

My trip to WDW...in pictures!!

Ok, this is me, resting up for the big trip to commence the next morning. Note the super adorable flannel penguin pj's AND sheets.

This is airport me, portraying my love/hate relationship with air travel.

Here's airport Mark. He's so agreeable...much like regular Mark.

Yay!! Destination: FL coast. Wait, no, that's not the destination...

Actual destination: FL inland. Who would have thought? Our accomodations (aka Erin's pad):

Beginning of first WDW day. Yay for the Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow!

What?? Spaceship Earth is closed??? That's b^11$#!+, Mickey!!

Making recycled paper. I am SO into recycling!

Me, participating in yet another interactive attraction.

Lunch in Japan. Isn't she adorable? Told you.

Mark and I in Japan.

Mark and I in Italy.

Finally! Minnie and Mickey. No Donald though...booo...(actually I did see Donald, so the whole trip wasn't a bust, but we didn't get a picture of/with him...half a bust?)

Entryway to the world! You know, as seen with night setting on camera.

Marky in Norway. We did finally make it off that ride.

Me, with the penguins in England.

Right before I was punk'd.

WDW, Day 2: MGM.

MGM, near the Hollywood Brown Derby.

I heart the Tower of Terror! Everything about it is awesome!

Especially the inside, though we got no good pictures of it somehow...someone was not on top of that.

My 2nd favourite ride: The Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster.

FYI: That ship is not a full snack bar. They ONLY sell, like, hot pretzels. That's it.

Me at the Chinese Theater.

Mark IS Indiana Jones.

Understanding Perspective: San Francisco.

At the stunt show, in the stands. You can see the MGM water tower AND the Tower of Terror.

Spectacle of Dancing Lights, with me in front of it.

Spectacle of Dancing Lights before our camera died, rendering us unable to take videos of dancing lights.

That's all...camera ded.

WDW - This is gonna be a long one...

2007-12-11T07:23:00.000-08:00

Ok, so bored at work + recent vacation + guilt for ignoring B-Log = new post. This post will contain my recommendations for a 4-day vacation to Disney World. Side note: I am soooo cold right now.

Friday, Dec 7
We left for FL at about ridiculously-early-o-clock (i.e., like 6 or something, but I had to get up at llike 4). Mad ups to JRR for the lift to BDL. I slept and slept on the plane to Charlotte, which I recommend for anyone traveling on a plane...sleeping. It's the best, except for the neck cramps. What's the alternative though? Not sleeping? Nope. We ate in Charlotte at some sort of "stock car racing" cafe. Don't eat there. It's crappy. I got grits. They were watery, and the waitress was sucky. She was never around. Not good for an airport restaurant. I could have been in a hurry. I think either she was real lazy or had a crush on someone else that worked there and was in the back talking to them all morning. The other waitress there was good. She even brought me my food, despite not being my designated waitress.

After our second plane ride of the day, we arrived in Orlando about 1ish. I had a tenacious headache, unaltered by my measly dose of non-prescription pain killer. However, renting a car was surprisingly easy. The lack of line at the car rental facility should have tipped us off to the supremely-excellent timing we had scored for our trip to Disney (usually the most whiny-kid-filled place on earth, but not in early December...yesssss!!!). I asked at customer service when we had to have the car back, and they said at the same time we rented it, which was kind of a downer, since that was like 1:15, and our plane home didn't depart until, like, 5 on Mon. Later in the week I looked over the paperwork, though, and found that we had until 4:15. It must have been the travelocity trip package that arranged that little miracle. Yeah!! Sweet!!

We found E's pad (we stayed w/ her for the entirety) fairly easily with only a couple minor detours, but on the plus side, we did get to loop around the airport one more time...We hung out and talked audiology for a while, much to Mark's dismay, and she made us smoothies with her awesome $400 contraption that makes hot soups, cold smoothies, and diamond jewelry with the press of a button. She's like the spokesperson for that thing. It is awesome, and I totally would have bought it too, for like, $100. Maybe even $200, but not $400. I'll just use a regular blender and then heat my soup on the stove, thank you. Then I had to take a nap. My headache totally was getting the best of me. So I took a not-long-enough nap and woke up to go to dinner.

We went to Jiko's, an African restaurant of my choosing at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. We arrived early, so we got to look around the lodge for a bit. It was nice, but I don't really dig African decor, so I don't really want to stay there. There was a nice buffet-looking place, that I wish we would have eaten at in hindsight. I will elaborate following my review of Jiko's. Jiko's is a nice restaurant. Like, nice. You would have to dress up if you weren't on vacation at Disney. They had a dress code, but jeans were allowed, so I don't think that counts as dressing up. They bring you hot towels before dinner, and everything is expensive. We were super hungry, which didn't help keep the tab down. We ordered appetizers, even. By the time my food came, I was kinda full. Also, I hadn't eaten, like, all day, so my stomach freaked out when I did start to eat, which it does...which sucks. We didn't get out of there for under $100, seriously. That being said, the food was phenomenal. Everything tasted more perfect than I could have predicted. I had breads with dipping sauces, including lentil-spinach-cilantro dip, kalamata hummus, and some tomato thing. For dinner I had grains, veggies, and tofu. It had all the vegetables I would have wanted in a mix: spinach, broccoli, pea pods, rutabega (?), onion, etc. It also had edamame, barley, and lentils. Also, tofu, of course. The sauce was excellent, too. I think that's what made everything so awesome: the sauces. My conclusion is that although the food was awesome, it was too expensive for my budget. I wish we would have gone to the African buffet because I'm sure the food would have been totally good, and we would have saved $50 at least. My recommendation is to go to Jiko's if you want superb African food and money is no object.

We just went home and went to bed about 10:30, all the while worrying whether or not I was going to eat those $20 worth of leftovers over the course of this trip...

Saturday, Dec 8
Epcot day!! I was so excited because Epcot was my choice, as it is my favourite of all Disney parks. We woke up at, like, 7 something, took showers, and we were off to IHOP...probably the cheapest meal we had all trip, but it was still totally good. 1/2 order of Harvest Grain and Nut pancakes w/ butter pecan syrup and hash browns (w/out syrup of any kind)...yummmm....

We got to Epcot just after it opened. It was sparsely populated, and even though it did fill up slightly as the day went on, we never waited longer than an hour or so for a ride, and that only happened once. Everything else we kind of just walked right on. We saw Ellen and her energy dream, and I made recycled paper that I'm going to give to my mom.

E and AZ met us in the early afternoon, I wanna say, and alternately went to attractions/waited for us to go on attractions for a few hours. The only part we didn't get to see at all was the Sea part of Epcot. We did all the science stuff first because that part of the park opens/closes earlier than the countries. We headed over toward the countries when we got hungry.

After some confusion about which Japanese restaurant was which (not our fault, Disney changed names in some places, but not others), we chose the hibachi restaurant (still not sure of the name), which I had eaten at before with good experiences. Also, they had sushi, which I was happy about for Mark, since I had already chosen my restaurant (Jiko's) and wanted him to have something he wanted, too. This restaurant was also expensive, but not as bad. We paid as much for 4 of us as for 2 at the other restaurant, and we got appetizers here as well. The adorable Japanese chef entertained us, and that was the first time I've seen a female Japanese chef at a hibachi restaurant. She was great, though, and the food was great. I got mine first because I didn't want it to touch other people's meat, particularly the shrimp. Oh, I had edamame for an appetizer, which you can never go wrong with. Mmmmmm...edamame....I recommend this restaurant for people who either like or have never experienced Japanese hibachi-style dining. It's really not too expensive, unless you get the chicken/beef/shrimp combo plate, which none of us got, but others at our table did. Of course, it is more expensive than the same type of restaurant back home, though. You may just want to eat at a local one. You'll usually get salad and soup with your meal then, too, which is a plus. However, I did have asparagus in my vegetable medley, which I doubt you'd see at a regular place. As far as food goes, I had tiramisu in Italy and chocolate mousse in France, which were good.

Then we quickly toured more of the countries, and E and AZ took our picture in a bunch of them. I wanted to have a picture of us in each country, but due to a myriad of reasons, this goal was not accomplished. These reasons include, darkness/camera flash situation, E and AZ leaving, and camera battery dying. Plus we had to hurry because we had gotten a FastPass for the test track ride. Now, the FastPass is the best idea Disney's had since...I don't know when. Unlike stupid loser Six Flags (it's like, $75 there or something), the FastPass at Disney is free. You just go to the ride and swipe your ticket, and it gives you a pass to come back at a certain time. You can only do one FastPass at a time, I think, but still. It really helps with the line situation, which can get mighty frustrating during the busy seasons.

So we went back to the test track, which ended up being my favourite ride at Epcot. They take you through a number of tests they would do on a car, like you're the crash test dummy. The best was the acceleration part, but it is Disney, so it doesn't get that fast. Maybe, like, 65 mph. Then we finished up the countries. E and AZ had left by that time, so it was just the two of us. We did feel kind of rushed, picking and choosing which parts of the countries to see, and not seeing any of the movies. We went on the Mexico and the Norwegian rides though, and I had never been on those before. They were ok, but then we got stuck on the Norway ride. We were right towards the end of the ride, like, we could have gotten off the ride and walked to the exit, but they wouldn't let us. We sat there for about ten minutes, while the college kids in our boat who were trying to "Drink Around the World" shouted complaints/pleas to the ride attendants (including "Come on, I can WALK to the exit...please??" "We're never going to make our goal" and "This ride sucked anyways").

So we were trying to finish up our tour of the countries and get a good spot for the famous Epcot fireworks show when we stopped in England to take pictures in the classic phone booths. Then the phone inside the booth rang, so I picked it up. On the line was a guy who asked me if I had heard of the Year of a Million Dreams at Disney, or something like that, to which I replied, "No." He proceeded to explain to me, after commenting on my boyfriend's clothing and our activities (taking pictures in phone booths, that I had won a prize as a part of that program. I could claim my prize as soon as I ran down the street shouting "The British are coming" and walked back to the phone booth. Of course, it sounded like a hoax, but what if it wasn't? So I did it. No one even noticed on the street, so it was fine, and as you've probably already guessed, it was a hoax. At least the dude did call me back and let me know I was punk'd. I didn't get mad at him or anything; I just put on my best despondent voice, and I'm pretty sure he felt bad. I didn't care that I had done that and wasn't embarrassed, I was just sad not to get a prize. I guess I provided the comic relief for one college kid's Disney trip. See what drinking around the world does? Turns you into a bad person. Yeah, not a terrible person, but certainly a bad one.

After being yelled at twice to get off the wall in Canada, we watched IllumiNations, and it was awesome. They have the best fireworks at Disney (and Foxwoods, cause they're made by the same people), and they had this big globe in the center of the lake that they had projected pictures onto the land parts of the world as it rotated during the performance. It was cool. We went home exhausted and too full to eat our leftovers. Probably got to sleep about 11.

Sunday, Dec 9
Woke up at 7 something (maybe closer to 8) am to go to MGM, Mark's pick. I was super excited about this too because I hadn't been in ages, and they really didn't have much there last time I went. We ate at Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast, which may have actually been our cheapest meal, actually.

First we saw the Beauty and the Beast live show, which I had to explain to Mark because we missed the beginning and he's NEVER seen the movie. Then, I was so scared about the Tower of Terror, but Mark really wanted to go on it, and he really wanted me to go with him. I figured, what the heck. I'm not going to die on it or anything, so I might as well go. The ambiance of the hotel was perfect. They really do think of all the details at Disney...those Imagineers. And the ride wasn't what I had expected at all. They have a free-falling elevator type ride at Six Flags, and it's out in the open so you can see what the whole thing's about. It's about free falling in an elevator type thing. Not cool. That's what I thought this would be like. Mark kept reminding me it was Disney and couldn't be that bad. He was right. The details of the hotel really kept my mind off things before the drop, and they also showed you little things in the right, like, twilight zone people in the hotel and stuff. Then when the drop did come, it wasn't that bad. You did go up and down a lot, but it didn't feel out of control or anything. I think that ended up being my favourite ride of all. Then we got our FastPass for the Aerosmith rollercoaster...yesssss...FastPass rules!

We experienced a couple more attractions, like the Little Mermaid puppet show and the Indiana Jones show before E and AZ met up with us again. We went to eat at the '50's restaurant, but it was all booked, so we ate at the bar. That was ok because E and AZ weren't eating anyways, and we were super hungry. I wished we could have eaten in the actual restaurant though because there was a tv at each table, and the whole place was decorated like a '50's style house. They even had a '50's couple calling the waiting list people, like, "Smiths!! Time for lunch!!!" The couple walked around the restaurant gossiping to each other about townsfolk and stuff too. It was cute. I got a milkshake, and Mark got a root beer float so that I could experience both. Yay!! They were great. We also got food, it was pretty good. Not awesome, and I still wish I had gotten the turkey sandwich. I got a stuffed pepper. It was stuffed with plain rice though, and not the type of grains I thought.

AZ really likes the stunt show, and they've seen it a billion times, but it is cool, especially for boys, so we saw that. It let us out too late to get on the back lot tour, which I'm still kinda sad about, but we did get to see so much, so I'll be ok. We saw the Muppet 3D thing and some show about Walt Disney, and we also saw the Spectacle of Dancing Lights. That was cool. It was, like, a street made to look like NYC and all the buildings were covered in lights and fake snow was falling (suds). Then the lights shut off and began turning on/off to Christmas music. It was awesome, but we didn't get a picture/video of it because by then the camera had totally died.

E and AZ left, and Mark and I went to Fantasmic. That was awesome, too. It was, like, the Mickey sorcerer part of Fantasia, except with a different story line. They worked in fireworks, fountain shows, lasers, movies, and Disney characters into the mix. Again, no pictures/videos due to camera battery situation.

We noticed that, even though the park was "closed," rides still seemed to be going on. It was extra magic hours for those who stayed at WDW resorts. We tried to stay and go on more rides too, but you needed a bracelet, and they actually checked for them. D'oh.

So we decided to check out the Disney Boardwalk. It's a pretty cool place, and we saw a lot of the Disney resorts in the process, the most notable of which is the Yacht Club. The pools have sand in them to be like the beach, but it's not that dusty sand, so it doesn't make the water dirty. The only bad thing about staying in the Boardwalk area (Epcot-adjacent) is that the fireworks-exhaust gets blown your way every night. That might get annoying. We made it home even later and tireder than the previous night and went right to bed.

Monday, Dec 10
Woke up around 8:30 to go to the flea market (yeah, not my choice). I managed to eat most of my African leftovers, but they weren't as good 2 days old and 1/2 reheated. Plus, I didn't want to fill up because I had Sweet Tomatoes plans for that day. Me, Mark, and E went to the flea market, and it was lame, as are most flea markets. Then we toured some more of the Disney resorts via car and monorail. They were neat, but we were so tired. And my on-again-off-again headache was making another appearance.

So we decided to get lunch at Sweet Tomatoes, finally!! I think Mark wasn't super excited about it, even though my glowing praise could be heard throughout the land for days, but he was eventually won over as we sat down to eat. He thought it was a really great deal for all the food, and he really likes salads he makes himself. When you don't have to cut up all those ingredients, who doesn't??

Then we went back to E's, gathered our belongings, and we were on our way. Sadness in leaving E's was tapered by the fact that I will likely see her in a few months at AAA. We filled up the tank w/ $2.99 gas. Take that car rental lady who said it was 3.10 when trying to convince me to prepay for a full tank at 3.07 upon pick-up. Also, I didn't even use a whole tank, B-word. I can't believe they make you pay almost $8 a gallon if you don't fill it up. That's so gay. Whatever, I guess you can guarantee getting your cars back full of gas that way because who would really allow an $8 a gallon situation to occur. Well, maybe people who pay for valet when you can park your own car for free...maybe them. All in all, renting the car was super easy though, and returning it was even easier. We said goodbye to our little Chevy Cobalt, and we were on our way to the airport via Hertz bus. I thought Hertz was a fitting company to rent from given my profession (Hertz = cycles per second...ha!).

I slept and slept again on the plane. Then we got some food in Charlotte again. Burger King was a better experience than the cafe of Friday. I also got some amaretto gelato, which was good, but too rich for my everyday tastes, anyways. The plane ride home was ok. We got the emergency exit row, so more leg room, but not as comfortable armrest/seating situation. Then the best JRR in the world picked us up again, after the quickest baggage return experience I've had a BDL in a while. We went straight to bed.

Final Thoughts
I've been writing for, like, an hour and a half now, so this is going to have to come out as quickly and disjointedly as possible now. (Also, I'm not proofreading all this.) It was great to see E and AZ again. Probably spent way more on this trip than necessary. Travelocity deals are a great way to do things. Renting cars is way easy. Disney is super fun if you like everything themed, which I do. Pictures forthcoming, maybe. Stay tuned for upcoming trip summaries...(like, skiing in Jan).

Per Request...This is all I can think of, Heather...

2007-11-20T09:25:00.000-08:00

List of things I want, modified from last year's list, of course...for the purposes of Christmas shopping:

1. Nylons for work, in the form of peds, knee highs, and/or regular (size A?B?)

2. Goldwell Kerasilk conditioner

3. Gift cards, no particular order

a. Old Navy

b. Gap

c. iTunes

d. Shaw's/Stop&Shop

e. Petsmart/Petco

f. Victoria's Secret

g. Lane Bryant (for bras, I'm not fat)

h. spa treatments

i. DSW

j. Sketchers

k. Kohls

l. Macys

m. Ruby Tuesdays

4. Dvds, incomplete list I'm sure

a. Man in the Moon (w/ Reese, not Jim Carrey)

b. Cherish

c. A Christmas Story

d. Clueless

e. Cry Baby

f. Fried Green Tomatoes

g. The Good Girl

h. The Joy Luck Club

k. Office Space

i. Radio Days

5. Tupperware containers suitable for leaving geocaches.

6. 2008 wall calendar (Simpsons or Hello Kitty)

7. Clinique Moisture Surge (?) face lotion (pink in a jar)

8. Binders suitable for holding professional documents (like licensure stuff so I don't lose it).

9. Scissors (regular as well as tiny grooming scissors)

10. Folders for filing financial stuff

11. Books about vacation planning/places/vacation ideas

Password Problems...

2007-10-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

There are so many passwords to remember that I always try to make it easy on myself and use the same one or a variation of the same one for each. This does not make it easy on myself. Here's a typical situation, passwords have been changed to protect the innocent, of course:

Username: Sarizona
Password: stupidpassword

Site: I'm sorry, but that's wrong. Try again.

Username: Sarizona
Password: stupidpassword3

Site: I'm sorry, but that's wrong. Try again, Loser.

Username: Sarizona
Password: stupidpassword33

Site: You know what? You're locked out now. Yeah, locked out. Also, that's not even your username, Dumbass. Call this help number, which will connect you with someone you can't understand in India. 1-800-YOU-SUCK. Oh yeah, they're only open from 7 am - 7:15 am Alaska time. Try to figure out when THAT is. HAHAHAHAHA!!!11

I'm not writing them down, though. Someone might find them and use them against me.

Podcasteriffic...

2007-10-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

After spending an two hours making/listening to our podcast, I'm pretty much not going to say much more about it right now...except: here's where it can be found. I'll try, TRY, to put a link on my sidebar. No promises.

www.chasingfamy.blogspot.com

Things I've Done...And the Pictures to Prove It...

2007-10-05T15:34:00.001-07:00

Finally J. Ray came through with her picture-forking-over. I will refrain from too much description of the below activities, simply because I don't feel like it. But pictures say 1000s of words...right. I mean, right?

PLIMOTH - Summer 2006

JULIE'S WEDDING - Summer 2006

MEXICO - Summer 2007

BIG E - Fall 2007

NEW HAMPSHIRE - Fall 2007

Yes, J. Ray Ryan was with me everywhere, but I don't need a barrage of Take-Those-Pictures-Off-Your-BLog-Right-Nows, so I limited my postage. This was exhausting...

Got Gas?

2007-10-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

Um, no, we sure don't. Funny story...all of a sudden our showers go from scaldingly hot to frigid. Now we find this odd because, tried as we might during the hot, industrious, unpacking days to get a cold shower, it was discovered to be unpossible. I remembered back in the Windsor Ave. days that I had to turn the heat up to get more hot water, and I hoped in vain for this to be the case here as well. J. Ray did some more research and found our pilot light to be out. Ok, cool, we'll just re-light it, right? Not with no gas we won't. Oops, we forgot to buy gas, like, AT ALL. I guess we just used up whatever gas the previous domiciler had with our many, many boiling showers, and now we're gasless until 10/11. It's really a good thing we found this out before WINTER. We're not totally screwed...we've got a pool house w/ 2 showers, and there's always the gym, parents' houses, boyfriends' houses, etc. Hey speaking of screwed:

I don't know who reads this B-Log that doesn't read the one this picture was originally posted on, but whatever. Having this awesomeness (courtesy of J. Ray) plastered all over as much of the internets as possible can't be a bad thing. I mean, right?? Pretty soon, LOLsnakes will be the next big thing.

Also, more pics to come in the near/distant future.

Parental Supervision Required...

2007-09-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

I am obsessed with this song by State Radio, who have been described to me as a "jam band." Therefore, I am less than highly interested in them, BUT this song rocks. The lyrics are a bit "adult" a la Hey Mr...maybe not quite so bad. The song itself is awesome though, and I encourage everyone to seek it out on whatever music downloading service you prefer. Be warned though, there are 2 versions. Mine, which is fast and awesome and another, slower one, which seems to suck.

The Diner Song by State Radio

whoa a little love at caesar's
whoa you know i love to please her
whoa a little love at caesar's
goes so far

whoa a little love at caesar's
whoa whoa whoa you know i love to please her
whoa a little love at caesar's
goes so far

hope i get a little snack tonight
hope i get a little smack tonight
i'll be starving
standing in the broad day light
just waitin' on the comin' of the night
24-hour diner's almost closed
all i need's a cup of joe
cause she's so nice
she treats me like i tip her from my head to her toes b
brings me my water with her skirt so high
i catch a little glimpse in the silverware shine
i ain't a thief
cause that just ain't right
but i ain't go no money
and i intend to pay for my meal tonight

whoa a little love at caesar's
whoa you know i love to please her
whoa a little love at caesar's
goes so far

whoa a little love at caesar's
whoa whoa whoa you know i love to please her
whoa a little love at caesar's
goes so far

she's got a tattooed tongue
she loves to abuse
you can tell she's good by the language that she use
she says meet you in the bathroom at a quarter to two
you know what you must do
cause the flood gate's open
your hips are getting loose
you got a rocket in your pocket
cause you don't know what to do
so go, whoa she says i betcha that i can take all of your soul
you say put your money where your mouth is and let all be told

whoa a little love at caesar's
whoa you know i love to please her
whoa a little love at caesar's
goes so far

whoa a little love at caesar's
whoa whoa whoa you know i love to please her
whoa a little love at caesar's
goes so far

they got crayons on the placemats
refried beans
don't give me half-and-half
just whip up my cream
gimme some flapjacks
and slap on the butter
corned-beef-hash
my mind is in the gutter
heavy with the syrup
heavy with the grease
my foots in the stirrup
just do as you please

whoa a little love at caesar's
whoa you know i love to please her
whoa a little love at caesar's
goes so far

whoa a little love at caesar's
whoa whoa whoa you know i love to please her
whoa a little love at caesar's
goes so far

Peach Fest or Bust...

2007-08-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

Oh, what's that? Bust? Oh, ok.

The Peach Festival sucked. The whole <5 min we were there were awkward and foodless. I vaguely remember every year about this time, J. Ray is like "Blah blah blah Peach Festival blah..." And I'm like, "Hm." But this year she had just gotten back from Alaska and I hadn't seen/talked to her in like 10 days or so, and she was like, "Blah blah Peach Festival...want to go?" And I was like, "Hell yeah! I love that idea!!" So we parked in the shadiest part of a moderately scary parking lot and trekked our way up to the fire station. The chick from the news was invited to announce the raffle winners, and we spotted people with bowls of food. Then we made a bee-line to the place where the food was obviously coming from (the fire house itself), only to be callously ignored, except by that one lady who said "Mumble mumble that young girl over there..." So I searched the area for ANYONE young, and when we found her, she was, of course, of no help. We then learned (somehow, because no one directly talked to us really) that they were no longer selling whatever it was that looked like peach shortcake, but we could buy peaches in containers. Whatever. We didn't even know if we liked it. We weren't going to buy a whole buttload of it, even if we had all the $3 bills in the world. Plus, J. Ray had heard from VARIOUS sources that it was NAST. It was kind of maddening because it would have been so easy for them to just sell us a bowl of their peach crap as they were cleaning up. Clearly, we were not going to start a whole frenzy, as no one was there anymore...and no one was coming there anymore. I'm currently working under the theories that either a) the old ladies were jealous of our supreme hotness or b) all their old lady friends/family had already been there so they had no one else they cared to impress with their peachy (potential) grossness.

We went to Shady Glen. Take that, Peach B-words.

Ok this one's probably a lot easier...

2007-08-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

Take My Quiz on
QuizYourFriends.com

I stole this from Roxann's friend, Clarissa...

2007-08-15T11:37:00.001-07:00

And I'm not ashamed of that...

alright, so you're supposed to put your music player on shuffle and fill this survey out in order according to the songs you hear:

THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR LIFE:

Opening credits:
Sherrie Austin - Never Been Kissed

Waking up:
The Killers - Read My Mind

Average day:
Cedarmont Kids - Thy Word

First date:
Liz Phair - Why Can't I?

Falling in love:
Semisonic - California

Fight scene:
Eve 6 - On the Roof Again

Breaking up:
Merril Bainbridge - Miss You

Getting back together:
Journey - Any Way You Want It

Secret love:
Tracy Byrd - Drinkin' Bone

Life's okay:
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Scar Tissue

Mental breakdown:
Jane's Addiction - Jane Says

Driving:
Semisonic - Secret Smile

Learning a lesson:
Various Artists - Lord I Lift Your Name on High

Deep thought:
Mindy McCready - A Girl's Gotta Do (What a Girl's Gotta Do)

Flashback:
Eric Carmen - Make Me Lose Control

Partying:
Foo Fighters - Learn to Fly

Happy dance:
K's Choice - Not an Addict

Regretting:
The Fray - How to Save a Life

Long night alone:
Matchbox Twenty - All I Need

Death scene:
The Kinks - Lola

hahaha...Lola...

Important Stuff:

2007-08-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

I've made a new quiz for you all:

Take My Quiz on
QuizYourFriends.com

Life is Going Too Well for Blogging...

2007-08-01T13:08:00.000-07:00

So here's results of this quiz I took...but I had to copy and paste cause there was no, like, link-thingy or whatever. It was on tickle, and it's about what kind of sense of humour I have:

Sarah, your sense of humor is Banter Like a king of pinball, you've made an art of playing off of people because your sense of humor is all about banter. Like many great comedians before you, a roundtable of friends, or a roomful of targets, is the catalyst for what makes you laugh. It brings out the wit — and sometimes the nitwit — in everyone.

It's quantity, not quality that matters as you and your friends alternate outbursts like the riffs of a hit single. Here's the bottom line: You're a social creature. Other people's inside jokes even strike you as funny. You manage to gravitate toward people who can appreciate a tall tale and you've probably never hesitated to fire off a zinger — even in a roomful of strangers. So keep it up with your bantering methods. Laughter, after all, keeps the world going 'round.

Episode 2 in the Series...

2007-07-26T11:04:00.001-07:00

What I wish I was doing at work.

Artpad Rediscovered...

2007-07-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Melissa's awesomely funny drawing of her day at work, I made one that is somewhat less funny, but really good effort on my part. For all of you who wonder what I do at work (maybe this will be a series, if I have the patience because this isn't the only thing I do at work):

Me at Work

My Rattlesnake...

2007-07-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

Apparently, Guadalupe is going through an agressive phase. All last week she was very bitey. She was full of mousey-goodness, so I know she wasn't hungry. I really thought Melissa had molested her while I was gone. I think it was just hot, though. Either that, or Melissa molested her while I was gone. Whatever. Anyways, after she had digested her food, she became re-docilized and spent most of her energy cruising her tank looking for something to eat (been there). Last night I went to feed her though, and...wait until you hear this...she rattled at me! Yeah, rattled. Her tail. Really loud and fast. She was really hungry cause it's been about 11 days since her last meal (but 4 days since she digested her last meal), and she was scarfing down that mouse. She made some sort of weird noise, or rather, the mouse did as air was being pushed out of it by her snake muscles, so I looked over the top of the box. As I did this, she started rattling like mad!! She continued it through the remainder of her feeding. Then when she was done, she both rattled and struck out at me. What a B! I had to give her some time to cool off before I put her back in her home. It was crazy! My crazy Rattlecorn.

Flight of the Conchords

2007-07-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

Now this is an excellent show. Regrettably, I do not have HBO, but presumably I have friends that do and/or I can get it on DVD, which I WILL do asap. When it was first explained to me, I was like, so not interested. This turned out to be through no fault of the explainer. It's difficult to explain, as I subsequently found out when I tried, in vain, to explain it to my parents. You all are just going to have to get HBO or a friend with HBO or buy the DVDs or come over and watch my DVDs when I buy them. Also, you can watch them on the internets, but I don't like doing that. At least you should read the song lyrics though. That's key.

Out of Order...

2007-07-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

I updated on something I had saved, so it put it before my last post. I just don't want anyone to miss it seeing as it's "out of order" so to speak. I spent a lot of time and energy on it, so read it.

The New Rob Thomas...

2007-07-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

Very few songwriters have it all together. Carl Bell, of course, but also Rob Thomas. When you can write both lyrics and words and make them go together so well...that's perfection. I envy people like that because I can do neither...like at all. And we have a new contender...wait for it...THAT GUY FROM THE FRAY. Yeah, I don't know his name yet, but he plays the piano, which scores him some points automatically. I absolutely love the 2 songs I've heard from him, and we'll just have to see if he makes it. Anyways, here's the lyrics to a song you've all probably heard a million times, but I don't care. I'm obsessed with it right now.

How to Save a Life
by The Fray

Step one you say we need to talk
He walks you say sit down it's just a talk
He smiles politely back at you
You stare politely right on through
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left and you stay right
Between the lines of fear and blame
You begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

Let him know that you know best
Cause after all you do know best
Try to slip past his defense
Without granting innocence
Lay down a list of what is wrong
The things you've told him all along
And pray to God he hears you
And pray to God he hears you

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

As he begins to raise his voice
You lower yours and grant him one last choice
Drive until you lose the road
Or break with the ones you've followed
He will do one of two things
He will admit to everything
Or he'll say he's just not the same
And you'll begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
How to save a life
How to save a life

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
How to save a life

What Happens in Mexico...

2007-07-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

Involves a lot of tea, both hot and iced.

Well, I'll attempt a synopsis of our Cancun trip without being too disjointed or leaving too much out. I predict failure...but here goes.

Let's preface this (some more) by saying all the pics are on J. Ray's camera, so who knows when they'll be available for viewing.

The best thing about Cancun in my opinion is Xel-Ha. I could have spent every day there. I've linked it, so that you all can see what it is, and I won't have to explain anymore. Yesssss! Go me! J. Ray got her first taste of hammock life, and she's totally into it. I was totally into the unexpectedly awesome salad bar, though I have experienced those before...but not in Mexico (or the midwest, if you're keeping track).

Chichen Itza was also cool, and we stopped at a cenote on the way there. This was a natural spring well in a cave that we got to swim in. It was incredible and cold, which is what we're used to dealing with, seeing as we spend most of our swimming time in the Atlantic when we can help it. They also had this ledge that you could just from way up high, but we didn't do that cause why? Best case scenario features a bathing suit right up your butt if you go feet first or a likely painful belly flop if you attempt a dive from that height. We were perfectly happy just to swim around amongst the vines/roots hanging from the ceiling and the fishes (not hanging from the ceiling).

So anyways, Chichen Itza. I was so happy to find out that not only the Mayans lived there, but also the Aztecs, in relative harmony. I was happy about this because I remembered a lot about the Aztecs (and their crazy, blood thirsty ways) from LAMS, and I always thought they were more interesting. I mean, what did the Mayans give us? The integer zero? Accurate calendars? Big deal. It all pales in comparison to DeathBall. The coolest stuff about Chichen Itza included snakes and sound, seperately. There was all kinds of stuff about how they built the structures to echo certain ways and what not that I found fascinating, and snakes were represented everywhere every time I turned around. Even the big pyramid, my favourite, had this cool thing that it does during the equinox where the sun makes a snake shadow crawl down the building. Learning about DeathBall was relatively fun, too. They also had sacred cenote, but we didn't swim there because it was gross, there was no way out, and it was fully of dead, sacrificed virgins. They used to load them up with heavy dresses and jewelry and throw them in so they'd sink to the bottom. Oh, there was also this crazy Choc Mool guy that they used to put human hearts on. I have a really good idea for a necklace involving him, but I'm not going to say it cause I don't want it stolen.

We had many other adventures, involving our sexually promiscuous 12-year old waiter, stolen shorts, and hostile bed take-overs, but I want to be done now.

Look What I Found...

2007-06-25T20:49:00.001-07:00

Courtesy of AOL and Spinner:

Concert Etiquette

My Night Continues...

2007-06-22T21:38:00.000-07:00

So J.Ray left, and I was like, "Guess I'll make pudding so that I won't have to do it tomorrow, and wait for it to cool, blah blah blah." I go to the kitchen and flip out because...NO MILK! AND in the CT, no stores are open at this late hour. I was like, "Meliss, want to go to the gas station? They might have milk." She was like, "Ok." Then the gas station was all dark and closed. I just kept driving until the Wendy's sign came into view. "Wendy's is going 'healthy'!! I think they have milk!!" They did!! I was soooo proud of myself for setting a goal and accomplishing it no matter how many stores were closed. So I get home, and I'm tired, and I'm making the pudding...I was like, "Well, let's just look at the recipe and see what comes next for tomorrow." And would you believe that when I looked at that recipe I saw that it only called for the pudding mix and not the actual pudding!! That's right, my poor reading comprehension/unwillingness to fully read things strikes again! I had done all of this for no reason, and now I (and by "I," I mean "Melissa") am stuck stirring this pudding until it boils, like, 5 hours from now? For no reason?? No f-ing way. I was about to dump it down the drain in disgust, but Melissa was like, "Let's just finish." So I switched it to the microwavable way of making it. I guess I'll bring extra pudding to the party tomorrow, too...and stop and get more pudding mix...and read directions better from now on!!! Does this even make sense? I am so tired.

I Just Found Out About This!!!

2007-06-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

HAHAHA...LOLCATS!! Ok, I found so many good ones of these, and I was just going to post them, like, one a day or something, but I can't be trusted to post that regularly. So here's all of them (except the Hitler one I can't find...someone please find it for me!!!):

And if you can't understand any of that, I highly recommend this manual:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!11!

Curiosity: Satisfied

2007-06-16T16:05:00.000-07:00

I finally checked out that mini-river/crick near mi casa. Here is a collection of my thoughts as I was trip-trapping through the woods (where there was NO path):

1. I'm just like Pearl!
2. Ew.
3. How many spider webs is too many spider webs?
4. I bet any amount of money that I am COVERED in all things poison.
5. Not only will I see my first wild snake, I will most assuredly be bitten.
6. Someone could totally murder me out here.

I had to go back in and take a shower. Hopefully, I won't develop any major rashes.

That Little Brat...

2007-06-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

Lupe scared the H out of me to other night. It was Sunday, her feeding time, and I unthawed (ha) her mouse. I was super tired, and I actually forgot about it. I went to go to bed, and I was like, "Oh crumbs, the snakey-girl must eat." So I got everything in the shoe box ready and put her in it. She did her usual, nosing her mouse until she decided to start eating. I checked on her, and she had the head in her mouth and was doing fine as usual. So I started getting ready for bed. I looked over a couple times, and she seemed to be going really slow. Then the last time I looked over, she was crawling out of the shoe box. I thought she was finally done, but then I went over and the whole freakin' mouse is still in the box. I was like, "Excuse me, Miss! Where are you going??" She was NO LONGER INTERESTED in her food. What??!?!?! I started getting panicky but calmed myself down. She is going to shed soon, after all (not that that's ever mattered before). So I picked up the mouse with tweezers and wiggled it around. SHE DID NOT CARE! Then she started getting afraid of the mouse. She was even sneezing/hissing? at it. I was getting really worried. I thought, should I lock her in the shoe box with the mouse overnight? I decided it wasn't a dire emergency, and she could actually go much longer without eating. BUT I really wanted her to eat. The mouse seemed ok...same as all the others...not rancid or anything. I decided to put the shoe box in her home overnight. I went to bed, worried about her, but when I woke up the next morning, the mouse was gone. So she's not sick or anything, just being a little B-word.

The Elusive Currant...

2007-06-08T08:59:00.001-07:00

God does not want me to have currants. That is what I must deduce from the way my life is going, currant-wise. My first introduction to the currant was informal. I enjoyed it so much, yet I was unaware of the fruit's identity. I was in a foreign country, and, although my companions were excellent English speakers, no one could remember the English name of the berry. (Me: "Bing cherries?? Are you sure it's not bing cherries? I've never had those, but this seems like what it would taste like. I'm just gonna call them bing cherries...") It took about a year to track down its information. Then, once I knew its name, I was certain I'd be able to easily track down such a succulent and wonderfully tart berry. Well, I should have taken a hint from the fact that I had never before had one in my 19 years on this planet. Finally, I decided (some years later...bringing us to the present) to purchase a currant bush of my very own and raise it to adulthood at my parents' house. What a plan! I quickly ordered the coveted plant, and the waiting began. And the waiting continued. And many of the other plants I ordered arrived. So I called the vendor. Well, they were sorry that they hadn't sent out my plants, but they would get the grapes in the mail a.s.a.p. Unfortunately, the currants were out of stock. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!11!1 Curses! Now I am back to square one. Dear God, please allow me to have currants...

Even the Chimblinis Think It's Crumby!

2007-06-03T15:12:00.000-07:00

Super fun weekend!! Here goes the recap:

Friday: Finally returned that sweater at Old Navy. Enfield Old Navy suuuuuucks, by the way. I can't say that enough. They're always closing early and f-ing me in the a, first of all. Also, they're rude. So then I went to return the sweater, and no one was in line. The kid at the register was helping a customer, and the two little B-words were down at the end doing God-knows-what, WITH their little This-register's-available light beaming bright. So I stared and stared at them. Alas, to no avail. The kid get's done with his customer, so I go over there, but he doesn't know how to do an online return. So he hollers for the girl on the end and she's like, "giggle, giggle, I'm helping a CUSTOMER..." So finally she comes down, but why? Because she doesn't know what she's doing either. So then the kid's like, "Can you call so-and-so to the front?" And the B-word walks away and is like, "Can I help you?" to the next customer. In the end, I did get my sweater returned. The Old Navy kid was nice and as helpful as he could be, but everyone else was a loesr. Then I looked at Scions in the car lot, and they are so cute. I think I'm gonna hold off on that purchase for a while, though (more on this later). I also fed the snakey-girl.

Saturday: Church was good. I was going to visit Fran in the nursing home with Gramie, but we couldn't because she's in ICU in the hospital. I guess they were going to amputate her foot, but when they got her all set up for surgery, the doctor decided he didn't want to do it. I guess her foot started getting circulation in it again. I don't really know why she's in ICU, though. Unless it's because they did put her under and everything, and maybe she's having a hard time recovering from the anesthesia. Getting old sucks, that's all I gotta say. Increased surgical risks, possible losing extremeties? Bleh.

So I just brought Gramie home. I suddenly had a lot more time on my hands than I had planned for. So I called Emily to get her exact location. The sky was getting dark and stormy-looking, and I wanted to submerge myself in some sort of body of water before the electricity started coming out of the sky. I called and called Emily, but she REFUSED to pick up. Refused. That's all I'm going to say about that. Next I'm just going to jump to the part where I found the J. Ray at her work. So then we spent some time grading/reading Hawthorne (her grading and me reading Hawthorne). Side note: Hawthorne rocks! I would so be friends with him if we existed at the same time.

I was going to sleep over her house because we had such plans for Sunday, but I had phoned my mom, and she informed me that the whole house was empty for the night. We decided that sleeping there was a mas mejor idea, as it would be less stressful on a number of parties. Well, she had to go home yet, so I ordered Angellino's and picked it up on the way home.

We ate dinner and promptly spent the next, like, 4 freakin' hours immersed in New England dialect. SWHS had this book about American dialects, and Emily brought it over for me to help her decipher things. Anyways, it was SO FUN. Turns out, the NE dialect they're talking about is that which is spoken in Maine/New Hampshire, etc. It was so funny to read out loud! Most of it didn't apply to our speech, but some of it did. Particularly the glottal stop stuff (i.e. bu'in instead of button, Bri'in instead of Britain, etc) and dropping certain letters (i.e. amost instead of almost). Also, the monologs were awesome, ayuh! Finally, we watched some t.v., but SNL wasn't on, which was gay, so we just went to bed.

Sunday: The cat woke me up over and over and over and over and over again...from 4 am - 9:30 am, when I decided to get out of couch, but I digress. We had so many plans for the day. We were going to go hiking, buy shoes, look at and test drive cars, etc. But it was raining! And how! I thought to myself, "Rain hiking. No. Rain biking? No. Rain car shopping?? NO!" I ate some leftovers. Then we read some more of those awesome monologs. Man, that book really had a hold over us, that's for sure. BUT by the time I was done, it was no longer raining, and Dave had returned from his adult male sleepover (yeah, weird).

I was like, "Let's go biking!" And J. Ray was like, "Mehhehhhmhhmm...I...don't...know...about biking. Um, the last time I went, it was really bad. I don't think I'm good at biking anymore...etc etc...tons more stupid talk..." I was like, "Let's just try it. If you don't like it, we'll stop. Soapstone (which is the hiking mountain I was entertaining the idea of going to) is kind of a sucky hike because it's paved or there's trails, but they're slippery (cause of the soapstone)." So we went on an impressively-long bike ride around the Snip and back to my parents house in a Biiiiiig circle. There were a lot of hilly hills, too, so it was pretty difficult. We both had a lot of fun, though, and it was a nice sense of accomplishment.

We were wicked hot though, so we decided to go for a swim. I wore my "new" bathing suit, and it's AWESOME! Then we cleaned out the pool That took up most of the pool time. Then my mom came home, and we chatted w/ her for a while. Then......

We went shoe shopping. There are so many shoes at DSW; it's really fun to go there. I found the elusive brown shoes I had been looking for, so the goal was met, but it was a little discouraging 'cause there were, like, 3 other pairs I would have bought if any of them had fit right/felt comfortable. I didn't really need them though, but they were nice. Like I said, I was kinda bummed about that, but I accomplished the goal, so I should feel good. Raymour and Flanigan was next door, so...

Well, I had been thinking of getting a Tempurpedic-like mattress for a while, so I wanted to see what they had. We spent a good long while hanging out with this tool of a saleswoman and trying all the beds. She REALLY wanted to sell me a mattress, but I was not mentally prepared to drop that much money today, so no one was talking me into a sell. Besides, I still have some thinking to do. I pretty much decided to wait on the car though and get a new mattress instead. It's cheaper anyways (though not by freakin' much...geez). I want to try a Bob-o-Pedic before I make my decision. I love that bear on the commercial! If I decide to go back to Raymour and Flanigan, I don't know if I'll contact that same saleswoman, though she practically begged and pleaded me to, because she was real tooly.

So I pretty much just got home, checked on the Countess, and wrote this b-log before I didn't feel like it any more. This should hold you for a while...

Now This I Believe...

2007-05-25T12:17:00.001-07:00

You Are 50% Left Brained, 50% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning.
Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others.
If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic.
Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet.

The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility.
Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way.
If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art.
Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

Thoughtless Post...

2007-05-25T12:06:00.000-07:00

You Are Socks!

Cozy and warm... but easily lost.
You make a good puppet.

What Crappy Christmas Gift Are You?

Update, with lists

2007-05-08T06:34:00.000-07:00

Even though I still don't have my pictures from, like, a YEAR ago, I am still going to post because I need to make lists to remind myself things. So I'm going to Tucson to graduate (yesss!). I leave Wednesday. Here is a list of things to do before I leave. I'll try to keep it in relative order...

Work on final thesis changes.
Step aerobics at 5:45.
Meet with Melissa re: snake and keys.
Clean snake tank.
Clean apartment.
Pack.
Sleep.
Step aerobics at 9:15.
Pick up prescriptions.
Oil change.
Go to airport.

Then when I get to Tucson, here's a tentative list of things to do there:

Check in at hotel.
Go to Something Sweet.
Sleep.
Meet w/ BCW re: thesis.
Eat salad at Jewish diner place.
Pick up regalia.
Graduate.
Dinner with family.
Test Dad's hearing.
Hanging out with classmates?
Pick up supplies for hike at Seven Falls (apples, water, handisnacks?).
Sleep.
Hike to Seven Falls.
Eat at Sweet Tomatoes.
Get raspados.
Return keys to school.
Dinner with family at the Melting Pot.
Sleep.
Leave Tucson (tear...).

For now, I'll be at work playing yahoo games...? NoHo is soooo boring!

YAY!

2007-05-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

I passed my orals! Doctorate for me! Woo hoo! Also, here are some awesome picks! Of my snake. Eating her dinner.

What??

2007-03-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

I didn't post this one?? Crazy me...

Lots O' Snakey Pictures

2007-03-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

First of all, obviously the date on these pics is wrong. I will fix that, but these were just taken tonight.

1. Snakey enjoying her new(est) toy.
2. Snakey in her home before I changed her water.
3. Herself and her little tongue with my lamp.
4. Look how big!
5. Yawn...I guess I'm boring...?
6. My arm. Oh yeah, and the snake.
7. The cutest little face en todo el mundo.
8. Full body pic.
9. Cute face again.
10. Eating...sorry no flash; didn't want to disturb.

Quick Snake B-Log

2007-03-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

I'm still on semi-strike until I get those pictures, but listening to my long-lost Semi-Sonic songs put me in a good mood. Plus I wanted to share:

I HEART piles of baby snakes. They are so cute. I've been looking at pictures of them online, and then today I went to the pet store for some aspen and frozen mice, and they got a whole bunch of babies in this week. They were all in a pile, except the one that was out exploring intermittently. (That's the one I would buy if I were in the market for another snake right now, which I'm not...plus they all had red eyes...) Anyways, they were so cute, all in their little pile. Trying, in vain, to keep each other warm. Silly snakes, body heat is for mammals.

Also, Lupe loves her new toy I made for her. I cut some holes in a cardboard tube. At first, she was like, "Meh, I'm going to curl up in the corner per usual, screw you and your attempts at showing me love by going above and beyond once again." Then when I got out of the shower, she had decided that she loves her new toy (and, if I can extrapolate from that love, me as well?). She hasn't left it all day. Thanks, Godmother, for the idea!

Not Yet Off Strike

2007-03-13T07:29:00.000-07:00

However, I made a quiz and posted a bulletin about it on myspace, and no one has done my quiz. So here it is:

SARAH ROCKS! QUIZ

Also, blogger really pissed me off with sign in issues.

Also, my snake shed last night all by herself. I woke up to one long piece of snake skin in her home. Yay. Good snake.

Post Strike!!

2007-02-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a long time since I updated...and now it's gonna be even longer because: I'm going on a post strike until I receive the following items:

1. My (or a) Semisonic CD
2. Pictures from this summer off of peoples' digital cameras

I guess that's it. But those are important things. And whoever has those things knows who they are...

Superbowl XLI suuuucked...

2007-02-06T13:09:00.000-08:00

Well, football is over for a while now, and I was NOT impressed with its last showing. First of all, I didn't really care about the "Big Game" to begin with because the Pats weren't in it. I was like, "I guess I want the Bears to win because I'm still mad at the Baby Horses for beating the Patriots...AND ANYONE WHO DOESN'T FEEL THE SAME WAY IS NOT A TRUE PATS FAN IN MY BOOK!!!" So I basically watched the game because it would be my last chance to watch football for a while. And it really was a terrible game. The stupid Bears kept throwing the ball to the other team. I was like, "That's NOT your team, Losers!" But I guess they didn't hear me...or they didn't want it bad enough...or they suck at football. Whatever.

Hm, what else is new...I've been going to the gym fairly consistently over the past week. I think the big motivating factor on this one is the fact that I can't stand paying a monthly fee for something I'm not really using. That's what's gonna make me keep going, I think. I took a weight training-type class yesterday, and I surely did the squats and lunges correctly, if nothing else, cause my legs and arse are hurtin'. I'm gonna try Pilates tonight...all of the strength/balance training of yoga sans the spiritual undertones...yessss!

Then I'm gonna write my thesis...? Ha.

Hullo Again, Zeeba Neighba

2007-01-27T14:51:00.000-08:00

Music of Today...

2007-01-21T10:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, you've won me over. I just have to say...I LOVE this whole updated '80's sound. Of course. I love the whole original '80's sound, so... Anyways when I'm listening to it, it makes me feel like I'm in a movie and this is the sound track to whatever I'm doing at the moment. Yes, every song in the genre.

SNL has done it again...surprising me with music. Like I've said in the past, I do not watch SNL for the music. However, the Killers blew me away that time. (Not only is their music good, but that frontman sure has charisma.) So last night AFI was on, and I was like, "Yeah, whatever, let's mute it and watch 'Laser Cats 2' on youtube." And Emily was like, "No, it might be good." Me: "HA!" Her: "It might be good!" Me: scowl. And I have to admit, it wasn't 1/2 bad. BUT since it was live, it was WAY suckier than the album version, which ROCKS LIKE PHYSICS! I've downloaded it, and I will be listening to it on Mapples for my entire 1/2 hour drive. Repeat, Baby. Oh, by the way, the song's called "Love Like Winter."

Lazy Me...Continued...

2006-12-28T23:02:00.000-08:00

So I got nothing accomplished today again. Sigh. Well, I did shave my legs...that's kind of an accomplishment. Kind of.

Melissa came over to chill, and we were playing Scrabble, and I had Lupita out. So the snakey was crawling on my neck, and it tickled. Then she was crawling in my hair, and I was like, "Ok, well this is weird, but kinda cute." Then she freakin' bit my ear! I was like, "What the hell is pricking me on the ear??" And Meliss was like, "HAHAHAHA she's biting you!" It was lame. I yelled at her a little, but she didn't break the skin or even hurt me. She was just being a brat, I think. I hope this doesn't become a habit with her. It was kind of unreal. Crazy Snakey.

The good thing for today is that I discovered the "Show Tunes" channel on my digital cable. I'd say I'm totally into at least 75% of the songs they play. Woo hoo!!! Seeing as how there's nothing on (SQUIDBILLIES marathon? What??), I'm jamming to showtunes now. Well, actually, I'm going to bed now.

Bust It Is, I Guess...

2006-12-27T22:17:00.000-08:00

The the MV plans got terminated due to circumstances beyond our control. Boo. On the plus side, that leaves me way more time to work on my thesis. yay.

MV or Bust!...

2006-12-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas is over. True, it was way different than any other Christmas that I've had, but it wasn't altogether bad. My 1/2 day of work yesterday was a nice break in all this ridiculous time off I have, and I didn't waste any of today being productive thus far (though, that's about to change). The momentum is starting to pick up. I can feel it. J. Ray Ryan (sans refectory) and I have decided, on the spur of the moment, to go on a mini-break ("a mini-break means true love!!"...I love nerds...?). We're off to the Vineyard, in hopes that they're still renting bikes this time of year. We got a killer deal on our hotel room, located right in Edgartown. (Am I going comma crazy with this post because I feel like I am?, Maybe comma/ellipsis crazy,,,?)...hahaha.

Anyways, Rox is coming over tonight for a spaghetti/American Beauty/peanut butter cookies fest, which rox. HA. Aight, I gotsta call someone re: this bike renting thing, so I'm aboutsta peace. Peace!

Christmas...

2006-12-19T10:36:00.000-08:00

Christmas has always been my favourite holiday. I've always loved everything about it. The long break from school may have had a big part to play in my adoration of this particular season, but whatever. This year my Christmas spirit has been somewhat elusive, to say the least. I've looked high and low for it (you know, from my seat...what? I'm not gonna get UP and look for it. Geez.). Mostly, I'm just like, meh, but this has had disastrous consequences on the Christmas shopping area of my life. I really hadn't bought ANYTHING for ANYONE prior to last Saturday night, and even that was half-assed to the max. Hopefully, everything changes by tomorrow, my one and only (1/2) day of Christmas shopping left, really. It's a good thing I had all kinds of unexpected time to take off of work before the end of the year, or else ya'll would be screwed gift-wise. And by ya'll, I mean my parents, who don't read this B-Log anyways...

I had decided that I wouldn't post anything anymore unless I was in a good mood. I didn't want to burden anyone with my bleakness or negativity. BUT I AM BORED AS HELL. There are only so many yahoo games one can play in an 8 hour period, right? Tuesdays are always the worst! Booooooo...down with Tuesdays!

So since I don't have anything of import (or even not) to say, I suppose I will detail my weekly plans for anyone who has the mind to stalk me:

Tonight: Laundering...including my new flannel penguin sheets. (Note to self: call mom re: laundering; pay Melissa back for those sheets).

Tomorrow: Work at Baystate. Shopping and wrapping. (Note to self: buy dishwasher detergent and cotton balls!)

Thursday: Work at Baystate. Thesis? Hahahahaha...

Friday: Hearing aids at Mercy. Pizza w/ Emily. (Guitar hero? Holiday movie????)

And Another Thing...

2006-12-13T15:45:00.000-08:00

I really like the beeping of the scanners in the supermarket. Like, a lot. I like the frequency of the beep as well as the unpredictable nature of all the different scanners going at once. It makes me happy. It's really too bad I never worked in a grocery store.

Also, I am one of those people that is desperately in love with the Christmas Story movie. I'll watch it over and over, as many times as TBS wants to show it to me. Take that, Meliss.

So???

2006-12-11T18:55:00.000-08:00

I guess I'm tagged? Whatever that means...I think it means I'm supposed to think of 6 weird things about me. I'll try real hard, but I'm not that weird. By that I mean, I'm pretty tired and probably can't think of 6. I'll try:

1. I don't like to read narratives because for the next two weeks or so following the book, my brain narrates my whole life. On it's own. It cannot be controlled, even if scolded...loudly (you know, in my head).

2. I hate the taste of both coffee and liquor, but I LOVE tiramisu, in which the two main ingredients are coffee and liquor.

3. Even after almost 5 months, it still amazes me (almost daily) that I work in Massachusetts but live in Connecticut.

4. For someone who dislikes children so much, I sure spend a lot of time deciding what my future kids' names are going to be.

Well, I'll continue to think about it. Right now, I'm going to bed. Right after I play my diner game.

BODIES!!

2006-12-10T19:30:00.000-08:00

So I went to the Body Worlds exhibit at the Boston MoS. It was pretty awesome as expected. Really crowded though. And way less emphasis on the ear than I would have liked. But what can you do? Nothing, I guess.

I have to warn everyone out there about sour cream and onion bagels/pretzels/etc. I ALWAYS get screwed over by the aforementioned products. I'm always like, "Wow, I love sour cream and onions! I also love bagels/pretzels/etc. I can't wait to eat this item with sour cream and onions baked into it!" Ok, so here's the warning: sour cream and onions are NOT baked into there products. Flavouring is dusted on the top of the item, sour-cream-and-onion-potato-chips style. I mean, it's aight, but it's not as good as it could be had I invented the sour cream and onion bagel. So just...FYI.

So what else did I do today? Hm. Watched the Patriots suck at football. Paid my bills, mostly. Cleaned my apt, somewhat. Now I really I have to make my lunch for tomorrow because I really have no money to purchase lunch at work. Like, seriously though. Peace.

Oh Snow, How I Love Thee...Go Pats!!!

2006-12-05T06:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at work, Dawn was looking out the window longingly and sighed, "Oh, I wanted it to snow..." And I thought to myself, "Hm, well, I know it's December and all, but it really has been too unseasonably warm to expect snow...ok Dawn..." I guess this illustrates the difference between me and someone who actually watches the news/weather reports. Although we received no precipitation yesterday, I was greeted with the prettiest wintery scene as I made my way to my car. I was thinking, "Wow, and it's not even enough snow to make me have to clean off my car or worry about driving conditions." Well, I was half right. I guess the Department of Keeping-the-Roads-Safe-So-Sarah-Doesn't-Die-on-Her-Way-to-Work was as clueless as I was re: the weather forecast. While it was true that there was not enough snow on the roads to plow, it was super slippery and desperately in need of some kind of salt/sand mixture. I saw ZERO road sander/salters throughout my whole 45 min drive to NoHo this morning. (It's a damn good thing I didn't leave at the last possible second as always because the 1/2 hr I usually give myself would not have sufficed.) I had my fair share of "Geez, these brakes are more of a hinderance than a help" and "I thought this was a gentle curve!!" moments this morning, believe me. So I somehow made it to work safely and on time, but it didn't matter because the building had no power/phones. Well, I can't do my job without power, that's for sure. (Personal day?) The four of us office personnel stood around discussing the best plan of action, and Jamie and I decided we were going to get some breakfast. We were all going to reconvene at noon to reassess the situation. My stomach was thrilled (Stomach: "Me so hungy!"). Suddenly, the emergency lights went off. Well, we all know what that means. Actually, we didn't at first, but now I know that that means the power's back. Sigh. (Personal day???) Ugh. It's not that I mind working; I really like it, in fact. However, this office is so dead, and I fear it will be even worse with the weather conditions and all. Also, I took a peek at the doctor's schedule, and it's not even full. Half-full ENT schedule - nose/throat patients = 3 audios all day (if I'm lucky). Boo. Guess I'll continue to hone my boggle/scrabble/cribbage/etc skills today.

P.S. In my blinding hunger, I frantically scoured the land (read: office) for any signs of food. In my haste, I decided on broccoli and cheese cup-a-soup. Not recommended, FYI.

Knives Don't Have Your Back...

2006-12-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

HA

Anyways...

As you may or may not know, a few weeks ago (or whatever), Emily and I trekked ourselves down to the NYC...thigh-high, bottomless, and all. We saw the Christmas Show, which was awesome as always. I simply heart Rockettes. That's all there is to it, I guess. To get to my main point: shopping. I bought an awesome pair of boots from Sketchers and a sweater at Old Navy that I could have purchased right here in Enfield. However, the act of having an item in one's hot little hands is worth so much sometimes. Did I say that was my main point? My main, main point is that I FINALLY tried on the adorable Santa Skirt that Victoria's Secret has been pushing on me for a couple years now (they know me so well). I didn't want to buy it right then for a couple of reasons. 1) I wanted to online shop for a top that would go with it; 2) I didn't want to wait in another line for no good reason. So...the skirt came in!! Yessss....along with some other items that I plan to send back because they did not exceed my expectations, which is what they would have had to do in order for me to keep them. Ok here it is!!!! Yea!!:

Isn't it super cute?? Yeah. But I don't have a top for it, and also it totally is not suitable for public viewing without some OPAQUE tights. With tights, however, it may make a suitable Haloween costume. Whatever, I love it. I'm just going to wear it around the house by myself. Totally appropriate for vacuuming, I think.

I'm tired now, and I still have bills to pay. I "wasted" my whole day at the football game...GO PATS! HA.

This Is Lies, Dontchaknow...

2006-11-30T15:11:00.000-08:00

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The South
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Quick Update

2006-11-15T06:33:00.000-08:00

Things I got for my birthday that you can cross off your Sarah Christmas lists:

Scrubs
Rent
Pride and Prejudice

Of all the things I asked for, I think that's it. This is not to say I didn't get a number of other awesome gifts!

Ok back to work now...

Birthday List...

2006-11-09T06:53:00.000-08:00

I realise it may be unforgivably late, but here's a list of stuff I want...I just thought of it the other day:

1. Black socks for work
2. Nylons for work, in the form of peds, knee highs, and/or regular (size A?B?)
3. Blender
4. Cutting Board
5. Potato Peeler
6. Goldwell Kerasilk conditioner
7. Gift cards, no particular order
a. Old Navy
b. Gap
c. iTunes
d. Shaw's
e. Petsmart/Petco
f. Body Secrets
g. Victoria's Secret
h. Lane Bryant (for bras, I'm not fat)
8. Dvds, incomplete list I'm sure
a. Man in the Moon (w/ Reese, not Jim Carrey)
b. Cherish
c. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
d. Rent (because I love watching them perform the songs...I'm not being inconsistent, for those of you who read my Rent post)
e. Clueless
f. Cry Baby
g. Fried Green Tomatoes
h. The Good Girl
i. The Joy Luck Club
j. A League of Their Own
k. Office Space
l. Radio Days
m. Pride and Prejudice (the Colin Firth version)
n. Spanglish
o. Scrubs season 3

Ok that's all I can think of for now. Commence with the buying of gifts...hahaha...j/k...(not really though)...

My Snake and I Are So Alike...

2006-10-30T20:38:00.000-08:00

Lupe and I like the same things...we are so alike!!!:

1. We both like to curl up in a ball.
2. We both like small, enclosed spaces.
3. We both like to eat, big time.
4. We're both super cute.
5 We don't like to be told what to do.

Ok, that's all I can think of right now, but I feel like that's a lot. Am I right? That question was rhetorical...fyi...

Snake Mission Accomplished...

2006-10-17T18:27:00.000-07:00

The most perfect snakey was found this weekend at the New England Reptile Expo (or something like that). Her name is Guadalupe, and she is a yearling ghost corn snake. That means she's a year old. ha. Here are some pictures:

She's totally awesome!! I decided I should try to feed her today, so I defrosted one of the 50 frozen, dead baby mice I purchased at the expo:

from the guy with the best 3-D size chart we've ever seen:

From all the information I've read online, I thought feeding her would be a chore...but she chomped on that baby rat right away. She didn't even care if it had pieces of bedding stuck to it. I hope that's ok...hm...well she has a well-snakey visit scheduled with the local snake vet next Monday.

Meanwhile, I'm exhausted from my freakin' 2 hour commute home from work today. Stupid 91S. Want to hear about it? It's on the damn news on ABC...I just saw it on a commercial and it brought back painful memories. I have to lie down.

P.S. I had some keys made at the Home Depot, and they suck. Suck=non-functional. Why can't people make keys that work? If they can't, they shouldn't be in that line of work.

Tag Sales, Torrington, and Tomato Soup...

2006-10-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

Over the past few days (since I last posted), many things have come up in my life that I wanted to discuss on this B-Log. Unfortunately, I have since forgotten them. And so...I will attempt to rake them from the recesses of my mind...here's what I can remember:

I hate tag sales. Tag sales, yard sales, garage sales...whatever you want to call them. Seriously, everything about them. Mostly, though, I hate people who stop at tag sales, almost causing car accidents in the process. If you really want to go to the stupid thing, turn around at a safer place. Don't just slam on your breaks. How is that good for anybody? But also I hate the idea of buying others' nasty old things. You really don't know where these things have been. Why do you want to buy others' old crap? Don't you have enough of your own old crap at home? I know I do. I just don't understand why people go nuts for these things (i.e. my grandma, Emily, etc). Moving on...

I went to Torrington this weekend, which was pretty far away actually. I thought I had never been out to that area of the state before, but I was mistaken. I did go to Goshen for the fair one time. So it was pretty fun x's...I had some awesome noodles at an impromptu (for us) Tibetan festival, where I also saw a sand mandala...yeah, I know...another one (I saw one at UCONN once, too)...Also, toasted almond ice cream was scored...by me. Score!

Tonight I am dining on round egg and rice (including tomato soup)...J. Ray's favourite comfort food. Yum!

I really can't remember anything else. I think I was going to rant about something at work, but I can't remember at all. I guess cause work's going super swimmingly now that I'm selling a buttload of HAs. Yessssssss!!!11

New Favourite Song

2006-10-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

So the other night I was watching the particularly lackluster first SNL episode of the season...(FYI I am watching a rerun of SNL on E right now, and "Wake Up Wakefield" is on! Go me!...FYI J.Ray). Anyways, I was watching SNL last Saturday night and the musical guest was The Killers. Usually if it's a musical guest that I'm lukewarm about, I'm like, "Ok, time for food I don't need..." However, I listened and I'm sure glad I did. I took a liking to their first song, so I looked it up on iTunes and downloaded it. It is now my new favourite song. I'm going to pull a J. Ray and post the lyrics, even though I'm really in love with the melody mostly...

When You Were Young by The Killers

You sit there in your heartache
Waiting on some beautiful boy to
To save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now ... here he comes!

He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But he talks like a gentleman
Like you imagined when you were young

Can we climb this mountain
I don't know
Higher now than ever before
I know we can make it if we take it slow
Let's take it easy
Easy now, watch it go

We're burning down the highway skyline
On the back of a hurricane that started turning
When you were young
When you were young

And sometimes you close your eyes and see the place where you
used to live
When you were young

They say the devil's water, it ain't so sweet
You don't have to drink right now
But you can dip your feet
Every once in a little while

You sit there in your heartache
Waiting on some beautiful boy to
To save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now here he comes

He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But he talks like a gentleman
Like you imagined when you were young
(He talks like a gentlemen, like you imagined when)
When you were young

I said he doesn't look a thing like Jesus
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But more than you'll ever know

I can now forgive The Killers for that stupid Mr. gayBrightside song I hate.

My Belly Hurts...and other news...

2006-10-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

The contrast between the happiness I feel upon going to sleep on a (very) full stomach and waking up with that same full stomach is remarkable. This is something of which I am well aware at all times; however, it never does seem to stop me from doing it over and over and over. I know J. Ray can feel me on this one. I just had to take a nap though. I went through the day ridiculously tired. I thought I was going to fall asleep driving to work this morning. I'm not kidding, though. Really. I had to eat a nectarine toward the end of the voyage in order to avoid sleeping/dying. For real.

I had all this stuff I wanted to talk about re: work and stuff, but I can't remember it. All I can think about is how f-ing thirsty I am. Since I'm too lazy to get up and get myself some water, we're just going to power through this. Powering through...

Oh I remember what I was going to say...Old people should not drive, as a rule. Today I was in my parking lot, facing the road. This old lady pulled out of the parking garage, took a right, and promptly stopped her car in the middle of the road. She sat there for, like, a full 5 minutes while she adjusted her seat/mirrors, rolled up the back windows (and she had to look at them while she was doing it), rolled up the front windows, put her sunglasses on, and put her seatbelt on. At first, I was like, "Well, I'm glad I'm not stuck behind her on the road. And she should be glad nobody is coming." But then a car came and just went right around her without hesitation. Still, though, right in the road she had to do this? I don't understand what people are thinking sometimes. Like, "I'm old, so I can do whatever I want in the middle of the road..."...? Ugh. Ok, I'm done ranting.

I'm going to have water now.

I think I'm getting dumber/less funny/fatter/all around worse...?

2006-10-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

Sigh. I just went through and read all my old B-Logs from myspace because, well, who knows why...Anyways, the point is that I used to be way funnier. I try to tell myself that my B-Logs are lacking because I have nothing to write, but it may just be because I'm losing my wit. Please don't respond to this unless you are going to say something along the lines of "NO WAY, Sarah! That is not true. Not only are you smarter and funnier than ever, but also you are very beautiful and trim."

Moving on...I have an appointment with the asthma M.D. on Wednesday at lunch time. I am looking forward to that because I have never been to an allergy/asthma M.D. before, and I think I'm about due. I think anyone who knows me can vouch for that. Other plans for the week include Jueves Taco Noche con J. Ray Ryan. I also plan to organise my apt...hahahaha.... hahahaha...

I went apple picking this weekend...yet another reason why CT rocks harder than Tucson. Apples. Don't worry though, Tucson, you'll always have your dry heat, and with that comes the ability to de-stale food. Very little can top that.

Oh Shaw's, I'll never stray again...

2006-09-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

So I have been experimenting with new grocers since I moved to Enfield. By experimenting, I mean going to Big Y because it's the closest. I had virtually no previous experience with Big Y, and I was unimpressed, to say the least. But I thought, oh well, I guess they can't all be Safeway...sigh...or even Super Walmart...Anyways, my point is that I went to Shaw's today, and holy crap. It is even awesomer than I remembered. I mean, I only went to Shaw's in Vernon because it was the closest major supermarket to my house. I liked it, don't get me wrong, but I guess I just didn't realize how spoiled I was. First of all, the produce section is very well organized, much like Safeway. Most importantly, though, it had everything I wanted (minus the tiny cans of coke, but those aren't really for me). Check it: malt vinegar, baked cheetos, pasta fagioli, eggplant & parmesan pasta sauce on sale, low cal orange creme bars, red grape juice on sale, double chocolate low cal pudding, scallion hummus, and Thai kitchen noodles. Really though the vinegar and cheetos were enough to totally blow my mind. I also saw that they had turkey bologna, but I didn't need it at this time. On the other hand, freakin' gay Big Y sold me ice cream bars that had gone bad. Yeah, I didn't even know that could happen. Like, bad. Like, all sour like bad milk. WTF?

In other news, today was a very successful M.D. visit day. I went to Dr. Bevelacqua this morning for my wisdom teeth consultation, and even though I was 20 min late, they didn't even say anything about it. It wasn't my fault I was late though. I had to go all the way to West Hartford for the appointment, and the traffic was hellish. The doctor was nice though, and he explained to me that there is no possible way he could hurt my facial nerve, which is what I had been fearing all along. Apparently the dentist I saw in Tucson that implied I would be paralyzed for life was a hack. I don't remember his name, but if you're ever going to a dentist in Tucson, tell me and I'll let you know if it was him. I think I'd remember the name if I heard it. So the operation is scheduled for the day before Thanksgiving. I will have to miss out on my favourite meat of all time, but I won't have to take more than 1 day off of work for the whole wisdom teeth thing, which is cool. So I'll have, like, 5 days to recover.

Then I went to my new doctor, Dr. Adler in Enfield. At first, I thought it was going to suck because I couldn't find the office. It was ridiculously well hidden...no signs or even the address number on the building. To top it all off, the office was actually in the back of the building. I was seriously pissed by the time I got there, but I tried really hard to not be a B-word. I said something to the girl at the desk that it was really hard to find the place, and she was like "yeah, I know. They should put the number on the building." And I was like, "Yeah, there's not even a sign with the office name on it or anything." And she was like, "There is as soon as you walk in the building, but not outside." Yeah, how's that gonna help me when I'm driving down the road? It's not. Whatever. I was really impressed with Dr. Adler, though. She spent, like, an hour talking to me, which is just really unheard of in doctor-world. She took a full health history, like, big time, then she did my whole annual (ewww) and stuff. Then she referred me to an allergist and dermatologist per my request. So coming attractions: Oct 4 at my lunch hour - allergist, Oct 14: reptile show, Nov 17 in the morning - dermatologist, Nov 22 in the morning: wisdom teeth removal. Can't wait! Now I have to go write those in my planner, finish putting groceries away, and maybe put some more stuff away in my apt, which is STILL not completely in order by the way. I am such a lazy bum. That's the other thing, Dr. Adler told me to exercise. She's a good M.D., unlike other M.D.'s I've had/heard of that don't say anything about exercising, perhaps because they're overweight themselves...? Ok, bye.

The Big E...and other stuff..

2006-09-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I must say the Eastern States Exposition this year was fantastic. You have to go into it knowing what it is though. It's not going to blow your mind if you have super high expectations. Unless those expectations include soup in a bread bowl, awesome Vermont cheese, and apple cider because if they do, they will be totally fulfilled...as they were for me. I went twice. My last visit ended with me purchasing a gallon of (heavy) cider and some Old Vermonter extra sharp cheddar cheese. Now I can kind of enjoy the Big E daily...at least until those things are gone. And if they're gone before Oct 1, I may just go back and revisit those stands. Other food I ate at the Big E: pierogis, corn on the cob, kettle corn, strawberry shortcake, Maine baked potato, macaroon, Ben y Jerry's, and some samples of maple products (cotton candy included) and samples of (non-real) Italian ice. I think that about covers it.

Ok, what other stuff can I discuss...? Well, I have two M.D. appointments on Monday that I'm real excited about. First I will be having a consultation for the removal of my wisdom teeth (finally!!! woooooo hoo!), and then I will be seeing a new M.D. for my annual. I don't have to go to work all day. Maybe I can also get the final apt. organization stuff done, too. I don't want to get too ahead of myself here though because the appointments just may tire me right out.

I watched the Sarah Silverman stand-up movie the other day, and it was moderately funny. I totally agreed with her that butt sex is disgusting and unnatural, of course. The main thing I wanted to mention, though, is that she said something my friend Gene had already said to me. Remember when I talked about how Gene said that if a guy and a girl take a shower together, the girl is always going to end up with sparkling clean breasts? Well, she said that too, and it was almost exactly the same wording Gene used and everything. I'm concluding that she stole that from Gene. I will have to mention that to him when I talk to him again someday.

I have nothing else to talk about really, except maybe that I'm spending way too much time and money on iTunes. That has to stop at some point. Um, what else? Oh, J.Ray and Melissa should be at the knitting festival of love in Boston today. Hahaha...dorks...

New Pictures

2006-09-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

Here's some new pictures that were too large to upload onto myspace apparently (losers). I'm just gonna post them and get back to watching Dancing with the Stars, aight?

I wish J.Ray would send me some pictures...if only...

I guess you can call me Ma'am now...audible sigh...

2006-09-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

I'm totally an adult now. I'm on my lunch at work on hold with the bank, and I've put them on speaker phone until they decide to actually pick up. As I typing this now, it sounds kind of crazy, but whatever. Me in an office on hold with the bank on speakerphone totally makes me feel like a grown-up. Maybe cause my mom does stuff like that all the time. Anyways, I guess blogging (at work, ha) makes me feel slightly less grown up. So I take that back. Still, never call me "Ma'am."

So I have high speed internet now. woo hoo. And cable. And a phone, theoretically, though no physical phone, actually. My life is going really well, though. I thought my life was going good before...now I'm really hoping something doesn't strike me down. Like a car...or cancer (knock on various types of fake wood because I can never seem to find anything made of real wood...?). It really would be the perfect time for something bad to happen. Good thing my life isn't really one of those depressing movies I love so well. What? I just think sad things often have the capacity to be deeper in terms of content, theme, etc...ok?

I'll have to check again, but I think the weather's going to be real crappy this (long) weekend. I guess that kind of throws a crimp into my life (right, cancer? I mean, right??). I was originally going to hit up the beach as well as Seis Banderas this weekend, but we'll see how it goes. Actually, I know I'm not going to hit up the beach because J. Ray really only has enough free play time for, like, apple picking, and not New Hampshire (or the beach) like originally planned. But it's ok. We'll get there...eventually...Also, the Woodstock Fair is the weekend. So, there're a lot of potential balls up in the air as far as weekend plans.

OH! At work today, I was asked to make a form letter for jury duty. Like if people have too much hearing loss to do jury duty, they ask us for a letter to give to the jury duty police re: their hearing loss. I was asked to type it up 'cause I'm the best typist (and the smartest, prettiest girl) at work. My point is this: I made the best f-ing form letter imaginable. I put in pull down boxes and free form boxes and locked the form and everything. I should TEACH classes on how to do kick-ass forms. But I'm not going to. Well, I will for a small fee, I guess, should the demand arise. I'm not gonna say never, that's all I'm saying.

So my apt. rocks, but all the useless crap I insist on saving for no reason and now have no where to put unrocks. I guess I'll acquiesce to my mother's insatiable desire to drag me to Bob's Pit. I'll see what kind of desks/bookcases are available. It can't hurt, right? And if it's going to rain this weekend anyways, I might as well.

Also, I may house/dog sit for my dad. I wish Columbia wasn't so far from civilization. I guess that's it appeal, though (to others, not me).

I would post some pictures up here, afterall I have a ton, but they're all located on Emily's camera. Pictures from Plimoth Plantation and all kinds of stuff. She's being a real tool about getting them to me though. About as much of a tool as she's being about getting me that 2nd Nintendo controller, which is about as much of a tool as my mom was for losing the original 2nd Nintendo controller in the first place. Argh...

Update...

2006-08-18T07:02:00.000-07:00

I don't have high speed internet!!! I cannot post with dial-up! Stop bothering me, EVERYONE. I realize that I'm probably the coolest person you've all ever encountered, but just chill. If you want to send me money to facilitate the high speed internet acquiring, feel free. I don't want to hear any suggestions such as "Just write stuff in word and copy and paste into your blog! It's soooo easy!!!" That's not how I roll...I think WE ALL KNOW how I roll: Thigh high and bottomless...that's right...

Work is good. Life is good. New apt. this weekend. Also Snakes+Plane, to my dismay...audible sigh. Have to go; I'm at work.

Los Raspados Unidos...

2006-06-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

Raspados are Mexican snowcones. That's the definition I found online anyways. However, they're way better than snowcones in that they include real fruit. My favourite is strawberry coconut, and I will never stray. You can have them put ice cream in them, too, but I never do. Surprisingly, the best raspados in Tucson are found at the Tucson Mall, not at stand-alone raspados establishments. Weird, but that's just the way it is...some things will never change...

Another List...

2006-06-20T13:03:00.000-07:00

I just thought of some other things I would miss about Tucson:

raspados
the cowboy mural outside the abandoned meat packing plant
Marana walmart
free high speed internet and cable
the gas in AZ, which I swear lasts way longer than the gas in CT

Tucson...

2006-06-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

Things I will miss about Tucson, besides my friends (MOST of which aren't here anymore anyways...):

1. Following arrows on the stoplights. Genius.
2. Cheap movies, though I rarely indulged in them. BUT there are NO cheap movies in CT. boo to that.
3. The dryness that affords me the ability to keep open cereal boxes for months without worrying about staleness.
4. My 2 bedroom apt.
5. My seriously diminished allergies/asthma.

I must vaccuum now.

Are you kidding me??

2006-06-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

So I'm searching the t.v. guide channel to find something to watch this morning, and guess what's on TNT...yeah, Eulogy! Yeah, WTF? I had never even heard of this movie before I got it from Netflix, and now it's on freakin' t.v.?? Whatever, I'm still glad I got in on dvd so that cable-less Emily could watch it, too.

Did everyone call their father's for Father's Day? I did because I'm awesome like that.

P.S. Still waiting to hear how the J. Ray & Pal beach trip went...

Boob Pass...

2006-06-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

This is the best picture I could find online...it barely looks like boobs at all from this angle...ugh...But trust me, when you're driving up to it, it looks just like boobs. That's why we've dubbed it "Boob Pass."

Since I have less than a week left in Tucson, I figured I should soak up as much of the area as possible, hence the sunburn...So I thought I would go watch the sunset at Boob Pass today. Unfortunately, the damn sunset took too long, so I left. But I did sit there and take in as much desert as I could stand. Before I headed up there, I dropped off some clothes at the Salvation Army, and I mailed some bills. There went the last of my money...seriously, I'm F-ed in terms of my credit card bills, which I have yet to pay. Hm.

Recently I saw Eulogy, which is an outstanding movie. I recommend it. I even recommended it before I saw the whole thing. I started watching it on the plane on the way home to CT (on my portable dvd player...yessss!), and I had to stop it as soon as the little boy called his lesbian aunt and her girlfriend "vageniuses" so that I could finish watching it with Emily. I don't know how I found the movie on Netflix because I had never heard of it before. I think probably they recommended it to me based on my other likings. They actually did a good job this time. Normally, they recommend based on the weirdest stuff. Like, they're like "Oh, you like Family Guy?! You must like Bananas in Pajamas too 'cause they're both cartoons." Well, I guess that's a bad example because Bananas in Pajamas rocks, but you get the picture, probably.

Another movie that I wanted to discuss is The Devil Wears Prada. I've been seeing a lot of commercials for it on t.v., and before anyone decided that it looked like a good story, I just wanted to mention that it's not. J. Ray and I attempted to listen to it on cd on our 2nd (?) roadtrip, and we couldn't even finish it. The following dialogue (that I made up) paraphrases the book (and movie too, I'm assuming):

Boss: "Girl-who-works-for-me, do this thing for me now."
Girl: "Um, uh, hm, how do I do that thing? I'm stupid."
Boss: "Ugh."
Girl in narration: "My boss is such a bitch!!!"

After what seemed like an eternity of that, we stopped listening to it. I guess I don't know how it ends. Maybe the ending makes it better, though I can't imagine how. The other problem with the book in cd form is that Rachel Lee Cook's incessant droning reallllllly get's on one's nerves. She's not in the movie though, so...that's...something...

Back in the AZ...

2006-06-14T12:25:00.000-07:00

The trip to CT was eventful. The dream visit to Plimoth Plantation was realized, and pictures should be forthcoming...as soon as J.Ray gets "ye olde craptop" up and running apparently. Anyways, I just sunned myself for 2 hours, so I'm (hopefully) tan and definitely tired. BUT when I was home, Mom took me out to lunch to the Tolland Grille*, where the waitress was real dumb, but nice. Here is one conversation I overheard between her and another waitress:

Bad Moon Rising is playing in the restaurant.
Dumb Waitress, singing: "There's a bathroom on the right..."
Other Waitress: "hahaha..."
DW: "That's what I thought it was for the longest time...but it's really 'there's a back room on the right..."

HAHAHAHA...it was funny. Then the other waitress had to inevitably explain to her what it actually is, and she didn't even act embarassed about it or anything. Hahaha...whatever. Shower time.

*The name of the restaurant has been changed as I cannot remember the actual name of the restaurant.

Auditions!

2006-06-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

Are you witty and fun to be around? Are you in need of a best friend? If you had a best friend, would you both spontaneously call her AND return her phone calls? Would you always be available to help her through bestfriendmergenices? You're in luck! I have an opening for a new best friend! My old one sucks ass at the last couple of things, so she will likely need to be replaced shortly.

I had all kinds of other stuff to post about, including my new ipod/car setup, which rocks, and probably some other stuff. I'm too mad though.

New Phone

2006-05-31T17:14:00.000-07:00

Well, there are some pros and cons to me breaking my phone. I got a new phone with bluetooth (yay) and a camera (meh). I had to pay a $50 deductible, but I would have been a lot more if I didn't have the insurance. Plus, it would have been the same price if they had just replaced my other non-bluetooth phone. The bad part, though, is that apparently they can't retrieve phone number from a phone that was broken into 4 pieces. SO...anyone who wants me to have their phone number, email me at sarizona111@yahoo.com. No, you can't have my phone number.

Chick and Duck Pictures...Finally...

2006-05-31T00:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally got the pictures of the duck and the chick in the mail. A lot of them are blurry because it was a crappy disposable camera. Also, the duck is black and a lot of the background is black, so...but whatever. I'm not including any pictures with me in them as I look gross. Enjoy!

They were so cute. I miss them. I'm really sad about Erin leaving tomorrow, too. I'm going to miss her as well.

Oh, I broke my phone into 4 separate pieces just now by accident. Oops. Well, really the wall broke it. Guess I'm going to be incommunicado for tonight seeing as I just had my house phone disconnected a couple days ago. It gives me something to do tomorrow I guess...go to the Alltel store. I had some bitching to do to them anyways. Not to worry about the phone. I have the $5/mo. insurance on it. At least that'll pay off finally...

Memorial Day...

2006-05-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I kind of forgot yesterday when I made that list that today was Memorial Day. I didn't want to go out to stores that might be closed and risk getting shut down. So I did nothing of import...again. But I do plan to go to the grocer because I know they'll be open. I'm also going to try to motivate myself to get to school and compile some data. Boo. But I can't go there until I can be sure to not get a parking ticket. I still haven't paid that last one I got a month ago. Oops. I also plan to go to the gym. I haven't been for a while, and maybe they fixed the tvs. When Samantha was here visiting, she said she went to the gym. I asked her if the tvs were fixed, and she said she didn't notice. What? Yeah right. You didn't go to the gym at all, Liey Liarson. I'm also really excited to use Mapples at the gym because I never did that before. I'm sure it's better than using a cd player because that sucked big time. Maybe with the distractions of the tv and my ipod I can force myself to get some sort of workout. Ugh. I am 150% serious when I say I HATE to exercise. Everything about it. Before, during, and after. Maybe I'll get a job working for Dr. 90210 because all his employees get 1 free plastic surgery per year, I heard. I would get lipo EVERY YEAR. Then I would never have to exercise. That'd be awesome. Anyways, I can't go to the gym until I purchase agua. I can't go there with a cup of ice. I don't think that'll work too well. In other news, I'm jamming to "King of Wishful Thinking" by Go West. Yeah, that's right, I rule.

Dolphin's Cry...Because You're Having Sex and They're Not...

2006-05-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

That's my speculation anyways. The point of this post is my re-found obsession with "Dolphin's Cry" by Live. It's such an awesome song, and, like Emily, I don't even care if it is all about sex, which it totally is. Side note: I h8 dolphins...HAHAHA...stupid dolphins.

On a different subject, I've totally found the new way I am going to lose weight (besides exercising, which I swear I'm going to start doing tomorrow). This is more in the way of curbing my ridiculous eating. And I found it totally by accident, too. I ran out of water in my apartment(you know, besides gross Tucson tap water), and I was too lazy to go to the store for more. I was REALLY thirsty though, which is very uncharacteristic of me. I did have almost a full bag of store-bought ice in the freezer though. So I started eating it for water, and I found that while it quenches thirst, it also satisfies my need to constantly be eating. This has been working for two days now. Yeah, I know it seems totally obvious, but shut up. I'm happy about it. I really couldn't have predicted that it would have worked so well with me. I can even stand hunger pains as long as I can fool my mouth into thinking it's eating something real.

Los Simpsons wasn't on tonight because Fox really needed to show that ratings grabber, Fifteen and Pregnant. What??? That's like a Lifetime movie from back in the day. I mean, it's a good movie and stars Kirsten Dunst, but still. I can still turn on Lifetime and catch it, like, once a week. Lame. So I watched Gangs of New York on dvd, and I liked it actually. It was pretty violent, though. Never underestimate the gruesomeness of hand-to-axe combat. Then I watched the Discovery Channel presentation of the real gangs of New York that was included on the dvd. It was pretty rockin' as well.

I have a whole list of things to do tomorrow. I wrote them down, so that I would be encouraged to get off my lazy arse and actually do them. The list consists of buying a new battery for my camera, inquiring about a better way to hook up my ipod to my car radio, getting free underwear from VS (they are always sending me awesome coupons!), buying water AND more ice, exercising, sunning, attempting to get pictures from Anthony, and consolidating research data. I know, pretty full day, huh?

hahahaha

2006-05-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

Don't Be Offended; He Meant Colorforms

Thug #1: So they was like, "Yo, you fucked that bitch without a condom!" And I was like, "Naw." And they was like, "She pregnant, yo."
Thug #2: Aw, shit!
Thug #1: When I heard that, I was cryin'. Like, straight-up tears, I was cryin'.
Thug #2: Damn...
Thug #1: I can't even tell you what I did to get that bitch unpregnant. I'll say this much: it involved chloroform.
--6 train

Hahaha...I'm Russia!

2006-05-21T23:50:00.000-07:00

You're the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics!
You have nothing to lose but your chains, and since you had all these chains lying around when you lost them, you promptly put them on others. Nevertheless, you are very industrious, with a knack for coming through in the clutch when it looks like all is lost. Despite your hard work, many people think you no longer exist, or that you could break up at any moment. You're good in theory, but the practice needs work.
Take the Country Quizat the Blue Pyramid

The Zoo

2006-05-21T23:14:00.000-07:00

I went to Reid Park Zoo today, and it was pretty neat. The coolest thing was that the peacocks were allowed to just roam all over the park for some reason. They would all hop up on the railings and then hop down onto the sidewalks and go where ever. Crazy birds.

I took minimal pictures because my camera battery is dead. It won't even charge anymore. Guess I'll have to go get a new one. Erin took more pictures, so maybe I'll get some of those to post.

I tried to feed the giraffes, but they were too dumb to come over to where I was.

I thought these birds were cool.

I got both Erin and Az in a picture!! Woo! They hate to have their pictures taken. Go me.

Hullo, Zeeba Neighba

2006-05-21T02:17:00.000-07:00

What I've Been Doing Since School Ended...

2006-05-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

Warning: This post will ruin endings of crappy movies for you.

I've been totally F-ing up my sleep schedule, hardcore. Now I can't even fall asleep before, like, 5:30 am. It's totally lame. I should be on the way to getting it back on track, though, since I no longer have to beat THEME HOSPITAL. Why? Because I totally already did!!

Yessss!!! I am the best hospital administrator ever!!! So because I can't sleep at night, I watched two pretty crappy movies last night. One was a sequel of the other, so going into it I even knew it would be crappy.

Ok. These gigantic toolboxes meet on a train in Europe. She's French, returning to Paris after visiting her grandma, and he's American, returning to America after being dumped by his gf who's studying in Madrid. His flight out of Vienna is the next day, so after talking to this surprisingly hot girl on a train for a couple hours, he convinces her to delay her homecoming and get off the train with him in Vienna for the night. No, Losers, not to have sex (although they do), but to walk around Vienna for the night. Apparently he doesn't have enough money to get a hotel, so he just wants to explore the city all night. (Side note: he has enough money to buy beer and pay for palm readers and street poets, but whatever). Sounds like an ok premise though, right? Well, it is an OK premise. And ok dialog and ok scenery and ok events...whatever, it was just ok. I'm sorry but a movie has to be more than that to get more than 2 stars from me (unless there's dancing, cheerleading, or gymnastics involved). Anyways, they do all this stupid stuff in Vienna all night, and all I can think is how freakin' tired and pissed off I'd be not to sleep at all or shower. They decide that there's no way they could logically ever see eachother again, so there just going to have this one fabulous night together, no strings attached. Except, oops, they're eachother's soulmates. Bleh...So she tells him she doesn't want to sleep with him and be upset and wondering who he's with later when she's not around (understandable), but then she sleeps with him anyways (also understandable). At the end of the night, they decide that they do, in fact, want to see eachother again, but instead of exchanging contact info (AT ALL), they decide to meet back in Vienna in 6 months. Romantic, but impractical.

Here's why I mostly didn't like the movie. First of all, I'm very sensitive to colours in movies and how things are shot and stuff. Well, I guess the whole underlying concept of the direction in this movie was how the people just fade into the background. I didn't realize this at first, but then it as directly stated by the female lead when looking at a painting. Then I totally realized it because it was then totally obvious. It wasn't obvious at first to me because why? Because this is a pretty boring concept. Until the character pointed it out, I was like "what is wrong with this boring movie?" After she stated it, I was like "What? You just have to come out and say it like that? You suck at directing, Director!" The other thing that pissed me off was the ridiculous theme of spirituality. The characters talked about reincarnation then in a separate conversation talked about how she felt like an old woman and he felt like a 13-year old boy. Like we can't put those things together, Writer. Not-so-subtly trying to get your plug in for reincarnation, are you? Well, I'm not believing it, Lame-o. Anyways, there was a lot more than that too. All this talk about there being a God or not seemed like it was supposed to be profound, but it came off as two pseudo-intellectuals trying to be existentialists. And there's nothing more in life I hate than pseudo-intellectuals trying to be existentialists. And you know what? I don't think God likes it either. Maybe that was the point, but if so, that was a weak point. WEAK! Maybe if they had shown more (any) of the sex, the movie would have been better. I think that was done intentionally as well to make you wonder if they actually did it.

But the movie gets points for making me want to watch the sequel immediately to see if they do meet up in 6 months. (Side note: This may have been due to my inability to sleep at 3:30 am.)

So did they meet up again? Of course, there's a sequel, right? Did they meet up 6 months later? No, no they did not. Why? Inevitably because of a misunderstanding because they DID NOT EXCHANGE CONTACT INFO. Fags. Ok. Fast-forward to 9 years later. He wrote a book about the whole experience with her in Vienna, and, naturally, it was a best-seller. So he's on a book signing tour that just happens to end in Paris. She comes to his book signing at some crappy book store, and they take it to a coffee shop. Sorry, Paris. Cafe (accent mark somewhere...over the "e"?). Anyways, this movie was way worse than the first because it felt like I was stuck hanging out with two people who I really didn't want to be with. Know how it is when you're with these people who are just having the BORINGEST conversation about freakin' something lame? Well, this time it was all pseudo-intellectually about the environment. Ugh. Funny thing, though, she no longer believes in reincarnation. Ha. So this time, he only has until sunset, and then he has to go back to the US. You know, where his wife and kid are...yeah. Frenchy didn't meet him in Vienna because her grandma died, and she had to attend the funeral. He made it to Vienna and even put up all these posters with contact info on them (yeah, now he realizes the importance of contact info) just in case she was late or something. So guess what? His marriage is loveless. Aw. So sad. And her current relationship, athough good, doesn't measure up to what she thinks she might have had with him. They talk about how she lived in NYC for a while, and he did too at the same time. Blah blah blah. She wrote a song about him...he wrote a book about her. Blah blah blah. The movie ends with her saying, for the hundredth time, "You're going to miss your plane." And this time, instead of saying "No, I have time," he says, "I know." Ok, what about your kid that you've been raving about? Whatever. I didn't see how the movie could end any other way. The thing that mostly made this movie suck compared to the other one is that this time I didn't actually care what the hell happenned to these people. Maybe I was just getting tired at 5 am, though I doubt it because I couldn't sleep for, like, another hour.

In conclusion, watch these if you want to, but be prepared to feel like a third wheel through most of BOTH of them, but moreso in the second one.

I haven't been TOTALLY wasting my life this past week, though. I've been participating in research as well as getting some speech hours in. I just had to say that to make myself feel a little better. On to next week...

Fennec Foxes

2006-05-17T00:35:00.000-07:00

I was doing some research online for Brice because he's suddenly obsessed with having a pet fox. Apparently, he saw a fox today, and that started the whole thing. Of course, all websites stress how difficult owning a fox is, but I guess fennec foxes, or "Desert Foxes," are the only ones that make acceptable pets. They are REALLY cute.

Anyways, the point I am trying to get to is that some person who has a website online about her (I'm assuming it's a female, might not be) pet fennecs named one of them Rommel. You know, like the DESERT FOX. HAHAHAHAHA!!!11 Here's a picture of him:

Here's the website. HAHAHA...Rommel...

Overheard in NYC

2006-05-16T03:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, I will be putting Overheard in NYC on my links list because it's just so damn funny. Here's a sample of some particularly funny entries that made me decide to include it on my page:

Your Tax Dollars at Work
Dude #1: I hate these bathrooms 'cause everyone's showing off their dicks.
Dude #2: No, they got guys trying to look over to see.
--Port Authority

You're So Getting Dropped from the Friends List
Guy #1: All the hipsters in your neighborhood make me want to puke.
Guy #2: I wouldn't say that too loud, but yeah, I share your sentiment.
Guy #1: What are they going to do? Cough angrily at me?
--St. Marks Place

Girl #1: You shouldn't feel sorry for yourself. We are single and fabulous, explanation point.
Girl #2: ...Don't you mean "exclamation point"?
--Garden Cafe, Inwood

Guys, He was Speaking Literally
Pregnant Woman: Can I cut in front of you, it's an emergency?
Unpregnant Man: Yeah no problem, but you better name that shit after me.
--Famiglia, 8th & Broadway

Street Salesman: Come over, buy yourself a belt. If you got a big butt, buy two belts.
--Brooklyn Heights

Guy #1: Dude, that chick is hot.
Guy #2: Man, I think I got a role of duct tape somewhere with her name on it.
--23rd & West Side Highway

Old drunk Southern guy: Woo!
Young drunk Southern guy: Ha, ha, ha! Woo woo!
Old drunk Southern guy: Come on, it's one "woo"! Woo!
Young drunk Southern guy: Ha, ha, ha! Woo woo!
Old drunk Southern guy: Just one woo! Woo!
--6 train

Girl: I see someone decided to try their new onion deodorant today.
--F train

Sarah's Crazy Oil Change...

2006-05-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

At 2:30 pm I went to get my oil changed at my favourite car place, formerly Priority Auto and Tire (it's Arizona something or other now). Apparently, Jeff sold it to the other owner, so he's no longer there. Sad. I miss Jeff. Anyways, I was in a mega-hurry because I had been scheduled to go to school to do research at 3:30. I had told Dr. Lee about my oil change appointment at 2:30, but she scheduled me for that time anyways. So I guess I shouldn't have felt that bad, but I was really anxious. As always, because I'm always late. Whatever. Anyways, the hour I spent at the car place was the most entertaining hour I've spent anywhere...in a while, at least. These two guys, one skinny and bald and all dressed up and one fat and sweaty and dressed way down, were waiting for their vehicle. I think the Fat Guy owned some chauffeur business, and Skinny Guy worked for him as a driver. I was listening to Mapples, but Skinny Guy kept talking to me anyways. First he picked up a magazine with a picture of a lizard on it, and he asked me if I thought it was beautiful. Then Fat Guy said something I couldn't hear because I was LISTENING TO MAPPLES, and I said "yes" in response to the question I did hear. Then they started laughing. So...I took out an earphone, and apparently the question I had said yes to was whether or not the lizard looked like Skinny Guy. Oops. They stopped talking to me, so I put my earphone back in. Then Skinny Guy asked Front Desk Jerry for a fork...to eat his muffin. Yeah. He then proceded to eat the muffin with the fork and was commenting on how Fat Guy just had a quadruple bypass at 54 years old, so he couldn't have the muffin, which was a chocolate chip muffin. There were several other times that I had to take the earphone out because they were talking to me, but I can't remember in which order the conversations went. So here are just some of the things I learned about the two guys FROM the two guys:

1. Skinny Guy is like Felix from the ODD COUPLE, told to me by Fat Guy when the other one went outside.
2. Fat Guy is like Oscar from the ODD COUPLE, told to me by Skinny Guy when the other one went to the bathroom.
3. Skinny Guy lived in Hawaii, and there are no snakes there, but plenty of mongooses.
4. Skinny Guy was born in Connecticut, but he hasn't been there in 30 something years.
5. Skinny Guy can't get over his ex even though everyone tells him to but what do they know? They're not the ones that have to get over her. He'll get over her when he's good and ready.
6. Fat Guy sits by his pool with his "boom box" and beer in the middle of the day. Skinny Guy was very concerned that he did this during the hottest part of the day and not at 6 am, when it is cooler.
7. Fat Guy takes a lot of pills, told to me by Skinny Guy.
8. Fat Guy doesn't take that many pills, told to me by Fat Guy.
9. Fat Guy shouldn't sit in the non-air conditioned room because he just had heart surgery, said Skinny Guy.
10. Skinny Guy needs to go home and shine his shoes every time he gets a scuff. You'd think he's gay, but he's not gay. He LOVES women, said Fat Guy.

Yeah, that's just the tip of the iceberg, really. It was fun X's for me. Then Skinny Guy ran into some guy he knew, and they had a conversation about a mutual friend. Apparently Mutual Friend's girlfriend doesn't like Skinny Guy's acquaintance because you know how Mutual Friend picks girlfriends. Acquaintance said, "He doesn't date them if they don't have (slightly whispered) DD's..." At this point, I look uncomfortably to the side. They all apologize for being guys and take the time to swear to me that they are trying to be P.C. Whatever. I'm more concerned about DD women being discriminated against than I am about being exposed to guy talk in general. The only thing that I felt really bad about was the numberous comments Skinny Guy made about Fat Guy's health. Come on, Dude. We can all see that he's fat...why you gotta make him feel worse in front of strangers. I don't think that was Skinny Guy's intent, but still.

I was trying to rush through my checkout at the garage because I was already 20 min late for my research appt. I actually had to say, "I'm really, really late for something right now" while he was checking me out because Jerry kept dicking around instead of swiping my credit card. Then one of the mechanics from the garage came in and was bitching about how rude Skinny Guy (who was outside by now) was. I was like, "He's REALLY skinny. And he makes me laugh, so whatever." Then Mexican Mechanic, who I would totally do by the way, laughed. Aw. There's another mechanic there I would totally do, also. I love mechanics.

Pictures...

2006-05-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

Finally, my mom gave me the pictures from my graduation LAST May. Here are some good ones... The first one is me and Dr. Cone-Wesson, then me and Mom and Dave, and then me and Auntie Karin. They're too big to put on myspace, so deal. I had to. Then there's some other pictures...Samantha in the desert when she was visiting, Mary and her new bf, and Mary and I from last night. I don't know what my hair was doing...or my fat body. Whatever. Anyways, I just spent hours and hours with Emily (via phone) planning our road trip, which was fun, but I'm hungy. Hungy, Hungy Sarahs.

It's My Half Birthday!

2006-05-10T00:32:00.000-07:00

You can send me presents if you want. Anyways...

When I get back to New England, I am going to Plimoth Plantation asap. I've really learned in my 3 years of school/depression, I need to just get out and do stuff. It's just that there's nothing I really am motivated to see in Tucson. It's an aight place to live, but I can't just go to the beach or Plimoth Plantation any time I want, like I can in CT. I love anything themed as well as learning about history in fun ways. That makes Plimoth Plantation the perfect place for me. Check out their website for more info. Especially check out the cultural awareness page. HAHAHA.

I also am excited to be in New England when the Big E comes to town. I can't wait for everyone's favourite: the Avenue of States. I told Brice about it, and he asked about the Nebraska building. Silly Brice. Only the important states are included. The 5 New England states. AND NO, New York is NOT one of them.

CT Building!!!:

Surprise, Surprise...

2006-05-09T23:29:00.000-07:00

I have a random complaint. Why doesn't anybody know how to hand change back to a customer? Lately, they ALL do that thing where they precariously balance the coins on the totally unstable dollars. WTF?!? That's fine. I will take my change like that. Then I will stand in your line and count it. Next I will take my time and separate the coins from the non-coins, and I will put them away in their separate places. Take that, Cashier. What do other people do? Does anyone just take it, crumple it up, and stick it in their pocket? Because that's the only intention handing it to me like that could possible have.

Futurama Quotes...

2006-05-08T23:07:00.000-07:00

Futurama...

Brought To You By...

Bender Cracked Corn...

Blind Date...

Bender...

Bender Loves Fry...

Fire!

Bender Rocks!

Bender Cooks...

Bender!!!

The Zsa Zsa's

2006-05-06T02:19:00.000-07:00

I went to see Gene's band, the Zsa Zsas play tonight. It was totally awesome, as expected. Comedy is an even greater form of entertainment than music, for me. They did the totally rockin'est-out version of "My Heart Will Go On" ever. There were a whole bunch of us there, and other people (not me) took pictures. Hopefully, I will get those pictures soon and post them...provided I don't look like a fatty-boom-batty in them. I won't post them in that case. Also, Anthony took a video. I don't know how I can post that, but I can send it to Emily, and that's all that really matters, right? My lungs are PISSSSSSED though. Holy crapity. They've been slowly recovering from this random cold/flu thing I caught in CT, and I just set them back, like, a week with that smoky environment. They're like, "Cough all you want, we're not expectorating." A-holes. I didn't mean that lungs. I'm sorry. Don't get cancer on me, please.

Speaking of cancer, I went and saw Paola in the hospital today while she got chemo. Apparently, she had a number of visitors today. I brought her horchata though. On a side note, I hate horchata; it's gross. Anyways, I also went for a walk today. And I got some speech path. hours in. All of those things were listed in backwards order. Oops.

Quote of the Day:

Gene: "Any time a girl and a guy take a shower together, 100% of the time you can bet the girl's gonna come out of it with really, really, really clean breasts." Ain't that the truth?

Road Trip!!!!!11!1

2006-05-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, in slightly-premature preparation for my upcoming road trip, I am going to list the things I wouldn't mind seeing/doing along the way.

1. Caverns, Carlsbad or other
2. Schlitterbahn
3. My family in Houston
4. Fried green tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
5. Dollywood
6. Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, where each room comes with its own garage
7. Painted Desert/Petrified Forest
8. Pie Town...hahahah j/k, Pie Town sux! Not enough pies.
9. Any Southern Atlantic beach (Myrtle?)
10. Roanoke Island (oooooo...what happenned there?? who knows? big mystery...)
11. Outer Banks
12. Kitty Hawk
13. Roxann in VA
14. Ocean City (or Wildwood...somewhere with a boardwalk)
15. Atlantic City
16. Statue of Libery (can you believe I've never seen that shiite?)

Yeah, I think now that I've listed it all out like this, I'd like to take the Southern Pacific Route to the Atlantic Coast Route (that would be routes 10 and 6). I think this will take very little convincing of Emily on my part due to the sheer amount of coast (beaches!!!) involved. This will be the funnest trip EVER!! Thanks, roadtripusa.com!

Watch the Tram Car, Please!

Someone in the SPH building has crabs...

2006-05-04T18:36:00.000-07:00

Seriously, every time I go to the bathroom, there are bugs on the toilet. I switch to another toilet, but I have seen them on different ones. I am totally gonna get crabs from school. No doubt. If they're not crabs, they're ants. Whatever. Still gross.

Continuacion...

2006-05-03T14:47:00.000-07:00

As everyone knows, "State of Love and Trust" is so great because of its quotable lyrics. Many people may not realize how usable it is in everyday life, though. Here are some examples:

Person: "Sarah, what do you want for dinner tonight?"
Sarah: "And I listen for the voice inside my head. Nothing...I do this one myself. Spaghetti."

See? I'll bet you can think of your own pretty easily now that I've given you this great example.

Ahhhh eating and typing...I am getting beet juice EVERYWHERE!!