Monthly Archives: March 2005

Shout out

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This past week or so has been one with much anger and enmity. I’ve written much and deleted it on the advice of my friends. So, let’s not talk about what’s pissing me off, I have another place for that where i can say all that needs to be said and I’m the only one who can see it. Let’s talk about my friends who do what they can to keep me out of trouble, keep me amused and entertained and most importantly, listen to me when i need it.

Let’s me clear here…there is no order to this after Ethan, I want no calls and emails saying "but…but…but…"

Ethan gets to go first because while generally I am opposed to playing favorites, Ethan is my dearest and closest friend. We met quite by accident back in 2001 while using Email Roulette. After an entirely too fun, made up on the spot pseudo-sparring match we discovered much in common, we discovered many differences and we became instant friends. Over the years we’ve worked on projects together, we’ve confessed our sins and we’ve playing any number of word games for our own amusement. Ethan knows me better than almost anyone and he’s my go-to man for solid advice. He has no problem telling me to ‘get over’ something, or to tell me that it is in fact okay to be hurt and offended. he, like many of my friends, worries about my health and wants me to quit smoking (I have). He also comes to me for advice and most importantly, listens and follows my advice. He has the loveliest girlfriend, just a real sweetheart that I’m looking forward to seeing again in September, as well as two of the coolest cats and the best dog second only to mine.
When I need someone to hate my enemies for me, give me make up advice or be unfailingly loyal even if I am being unconscionably irrational I go talk to Alex. I met him sometime in 2001 or early 2002 as well. A dear friend as different from Ethan as night and day. Quite possibly one of the smartest people I know. Not just incredibly smart but incredibly well versed on current events, history, science and politics. I’m going to see him in 3 weeks, we’re going to take the trip to the Keys that we’ve been planning forever and ever, I can’t wait. I’ve had the joy of sharing my kitchen with him more than once and it was entirely rewarding. He loves to cook and we have a great time doing it. He will truly hate my enemies for me, even the slightest insults will raise his ire. he’s one of many who have listened to me whine and comforted me in the dark times. he is the one I go to when for a moment I need to hear "you are totally right" even if I secretly know i am not. I believe I met Alex when he responded to this. I know he had been talking to the other plinko girls at the time, but he and I had not started talking until he read that. I could be wrong. I usually am.
Mark smells of pea soup, is the master of the new music scene, and a total goof. I’ve only known mark a short time, a year and a half maybe, but we hit it off instantly. Another friend who listens to me and gives advice and comfort when I need them. he goes out of this way to make me feel welcomed and entertained when I go visit him, tolerating my obsession with hippos and sushi and ice cream. I talk to Mark everyday, sometimes twice a day and we jabber on about everything and nothing. The keen "Eff for Rent" picture on his site was taken by me!
Jason also answered the final exam when it came out and that’s how I met him. We goof, we talk, we write and we go long periods with no contact at all, but every time I’ve been out to DC we’ve fallen into conversation so easily and so comfortably that I never question that he’s my friend. He introduced me to dim sum and loves moon-bounce parties with russian models (or something like that). We keep talking about doing a project together but we’ve not had the time to get it together. Jason, let’s get it together and get a project started. Also, were you serious about NYC? let me know.
I do also have female friends! Michelle and her outspoken cousin Elena are the poster children for strong women. I love having them around, being able to talk to them, get advice, hash things out and just do the whole girl thing. They got my back when I need it and aren’t afraid of anything. At least I don’t think they are. Truly good and kind. I wish they could join us in the keys. I really really do!
Owen cuts my hair, goes to brunch, gossips, gets me inebriated, laughs, makes me feel strong and beautiful on those days that I am neither. he likes my cooking, but we still need to make the veal piccata dinner together (was it veal, baby?). He used to just be the guy in the salon that transformed my hair, now he’s so much more to me.
My sister might not TECHNICALLY fall under the friend category but there she is. After years of not talking to each other we found ourselves more grown up, more mature and more ready to be sisters rather than siblings. I was adopted as a teenager, she was only 3 months younger than I was, all the attention, the allowance, the time her parents spent was suddenly divided with another, but she was always gracious about it. She was generous and kind and now that we’re more grown up we can see each other as friends. We’ve had our differences, but the luck of the family forced us to remain close even when we probably would have drifted apart. I’m very veyr lucky to have her.
I would link to Alan’s site but he hasn’t updated in forever and when he did last update he was all cranky and shit. Alan, update your website and tell them all about how you taught me about baseball and how I helped you pick out fish and how you owe me pancakes and all that. Do it Alan.
Dáithí doesn’t have a website, so i can’t link to him. I can’t even properly describe him. We spent a week in Oregon a little over a year ago and I can tell you i have never laughed so hard for so long in my life. One of the most talented wordsmiths I know, it is always a joy to talk kto him. He’s one of the few people who gets me flustered to the point of being unable to speak. He also introduced me to Geoff with whom I have also spent hours talking, but, sigh, I never hear from Geoff anymore.
Oooh and one more female friend! Julie and I have known each other for a little while now but in the last couple of weeks have really gotten to know each other. We share a mutual discomfort and have spent a lot of time comparing notes and learning a lot and clearing a lot of things up. We’ve also just taken the time to get to know each other. She might be the girliest girl I know, sso it’ll be interesting to get that perspective on things. In her friendship, I have learned to not second guess myself so much, to trust my instincts to be correct and to be strong. These are good lessons to learn.
We can’t forget David, but I will keep what I say on him brief because I like keeping him to myself. We met at the end of October, i wasn’t looking for anything serious, just something fun. 10 days into it we had our first serious talk and we were off. He gives me perspective, he reminds me to stay grounded, he tolerates my crankiness but pulls me back in when I go too far. He’s generous and kind, goofy, smart and fun. He likes my dog and you gotta appreciate a guy who likes your dog.
Now I just KNOW that I have gone and forgotten you and I KNOW I will get another call saying, "what about me!". If I missed you, call me. Or something.

Happy 500th

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Here we are at the 500th post*
HUZZAH
Or something.
On Feb 19, 2001 just before 2pm I made my first and second completely pointless posts. Four years, 500 posts, an average of 125 posts a year. It doesn’t work out exactly as there was a lull in there where I barely posted for months at a time.
Let’s take a little trip down memory lane, shall we?
The infamous Toblerone post, the one that got me my first batch of fan mail from people I did not know. People enjoy Toblerone and they like to read about it too!
I used to write haiku all the time. I don’t so much anymore, I think everyone is okay with that.
Of course, anyone who’s been around since the beginning will remember the ant farm and all of it’s glory! Let’s relive the joy of the ants one more time…
aaaaw yeah
I was always this cranky
I wrote smaller posts more frequently. It was probably healthier that way instead of the less frequent big pushes of today. There were not, however, any more coherent (no…really).
Lengthier posts found me examining the mysteries of the world around me
Surprisingly, there have only ever been 2 "Very Special" Episodes
Episode 1(to be fixed)
Episode 2(also to be fixed)
There are plans for a 3rd episode, I just havent gotten around to it. It will most likely feature pictures from my phone or something equally fascinating.
Too many trips have been documented on here for me to list them all. Suffice to say, I wish I was better at travel blogging since I do travel a lot, but I do document as much as I can.
Oh, um…centipedes.
I think about the things you’re too sober to think about.
I posted a picture of a potato with an odd shape once. It felt like the visual highlight of my year! Until I posted this, or any of the various holiday pictures, dog pictures or upskirts.
In mid 2002 you start to really see a decline in my general happiness and in the number of posts. Nothing specific to link to, really, just more evidence in the “Hindsight is 20/20″game. I was not happy and it shows in little ways that I hadn’t noticed until Ethan pointed it out to me a few months ago.
I have loved and I have lost and I recovered.
After this point there is a definite upswing in the frequency of posting. The halfway point happened less than 1 1/2 years ago. The last year has been dense!
My posts about David were sparse in the beginning, partially because I didn’t want to jinx anything, partially because I like to hold things like this close and quiet to me in the beginning and partially because it wasn’t any of your damned business, anyway! Sometimes, though, I couldn’t resist.
And everything since has been so recent you can see it easily. It’s not exciting, but it’s mine. It’s not me, just one angle of me, for as much as I say, there’s much that I keep to myself.
Happy 500th post to me!
*The post count is off, with the shift from the old to the new a (very) few posts got deleted or combined and also I found a curious few post numbers with no posts, something odd in the db. We’ll keep this at 500.

I am never bored anywhere: being bored is an insult to oneself. ~Jules Renard

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Holy crap I’ve been bored at work lately! My boss is about 32 seconds away from having his second baby being born and after the initial crush to get all the projects finished so there were no loose ends while he was gone I’m left with not much to do beyond my regular stuff.
So I email and read people’s websites over and over (keep updating, i need new things to amuse me) and I’m researching all kinds of things.
I know about as much as I can about setting up aquariums, I relearned everything I learned before and learned a few new things. I know the ammonia ~ nitrite ~ nitrate cycle like the back of my hand.
The skin on the back of my hand is weird and dry because I am hugely dehydrated. I’m dehydrated to the point where my skin is rash-y. Too much coffee, too many cold pills, not enough water and the BC pill are conspiring against me…and by ‘conspiring against me’ i mean ‘being ingested by me with no regard to the consequences’.
The pill’s still maaking me overly cranky. Few more weeks of this with no consistent relief and I talk to the doctor about other methods. The coolest thing about the IUD is that they don’t know why it works! It just does! I think this might be a great, non-hormonal option for me. No, I’m not worried about long-term effects, it was just 1 IUD that was problematic and the stats were minimal. The other’s are just fine.
When I take my dog to the pet store he gets to the end of his leash and scrabbles about wanting very much to get somewhere but the leash and the polished floors prevent him from making any progress. He never stops trying, though, he just keeps excitedly running in place. There’s a metaphore here, i need to flesh it out a bit. I look at my dog and I know what it’s like to be…SOMETHING!
I’ve also been investigating and researching sociopathic behaviors and disorders. Fascinating stuff to read, but also disconcerting when you start to think about the people you know.
And then there’s Key West! I learned that it is illegal to honk the horn on your scooter in key west for your own amusement! You could get ticketed for it. It’s also illegal to stuff manatees in your pants, even if you are wearing giant clown pants. My plans for this vacation include: eating seafood at every meal, eating lime popsicles, sending coconut postcards, snorkeling and catching sea turtles and putting them in my pants (also illegal but smaller than manatees and possibly easier to hide), relaxing, taking 1.3 billion pictures, calling David regularly and being sad for missing him, having a panic attack on the 7 mile bridge, having an ice cream at sunset, and catching up with Alex.
Also, let’s all welcome Baby Gabby!! Alex is a proud new uncle and I can’t think of a luckier niece!
Completely unrelatedly (just so there’s no confusion), I once saw a manatee fart. It was in a tank at ‘The Living Seas’ at EPCOT. He was just happily rolling around in the water and he let one rip. I was proud to be part of that moment.
I just went to look at the EPCOT center website to make sure it was called "The Living Seas" (it is) and I was totally reminded of how much i love Disney World. i don’t care for Disney so much as a whole, don’t really like their movies (except Lilo and Stitch) or anything, but I totally dig the whole Disney World thang.
I’m so bored that I’m making SpongeBob hump the giant orange on my desk. How gay is that?
Also…I just read the term ‘mall-punk’ and i thought it was a strangely apt description for those trite, polished, calculatedly smooth punk types. You almost feel like there’s some mathematic equation to their tattoos or something with points for edginess, size and placement. To be clear, i’m not opposed to tattoos as such, tattoos are fun and someone is finally designing the t-rex tattoo of my dreams, it’s just some tattoos are more calculatedly hipster than others. Spend some time at a music festival sometime and count how many of the exact same shape you see. It’s mathematics I’m telling you.

A fish is a thing of honesty

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Going to the fish store (aquarium style, not brown butter and dill) is a little like fish porn for me. Alan’s setting up a new aquarium (i’d do the obligatory link to Alan’s site but since he never updates it anymore i don’t see the point. Hint hint hint.) so I got to crack out all my latent aquarium knowledge this weekend. I filled his head with boring information about compatability and ease of care. He didn’t listen to me when I told him about chloramine, but luckily the guy at the store told him too.
I also completely spaced about cycling the tank, but the fish store guy was up on that too.
Thing is, it got me totally excited about my aquarium and once I move I’m gonna set that damned monstosity up again. 55 gallon freshwater tank! Alan also mentioned that his brother might have other tanks so I might go look at those too.
I saw some new fish at the store and did some research. I fell in love with botia modesta, the orange fin loach. Very nice, very pretty, very active. Sadly, it does not get along well with other bottom dwellers and has been known to hunt smaller fish. I think I will stick to yo-yo’s and clowns which are both peaceful and they get along well together.
I’m definitely getting a pleco. I’m just trying to decide between the common pleco like i had before or one of the fancier varieties like zebras or sailfins. I seem to find myself more interested in the bottom dwelling fish more and more lately, they just have so much personality.
As for the upper strata there are zebra danios, raspboras and barbs to do the schooling and gouramis to showcase.
I’m also thinking about rainbows but they take a lot of work.
Once I get moved and resettled I’ll have a better idea if I have the time and energy for another aquarium set up. I’m trying to convince my boss to let me have a little fish tank in my office. I wonder if Ghengis would like the fish? I want everyone to appreciate that I have so far held myself in check, I’ve not posted the 1800 fabulous new photos of the handsome little guy.
In other news, the vigil is being held for the birth of my boss’ baby and for Alex’s niece to be born. So many babies being born all at once, how exciting.
Started planning the trip to the Keys, and by planning mostly I mean I am inundating Alex with "can we do this and this and this and this and can I have an ice cream and can I eat seafood at every meal and can i do this and this and this?". Also, I promised not to honk the horn on my rented scooter for my own amusement as that will get me a ticket and a fine! I also am hoping to climb to the highest point in the keys, 18 feet above sea level at Windley Key. 18 FEET people, can you believe it? Also, lime popsicles and coconut postcards and snorkeling!
and…sigh…
Yesterday there was a school shooting at a Minnesota high school. Looks like 10 were killed and 15 or more were wounded. My mom is a high school teacher and most days I don’t think about this kind of thing, but when I read about it I get worried. My mom’s a good person who works hard for these kids and has really put herself out there. I hope that the repayment for her hard work is a nice retirement check and not some senseless tragedy.
and and and…i still have the flu, i don’t really care for Robert Heinleins writing (but people warned me I wouldn’t), my dvd player died and my puppy and my boyfriend kick ass.
ramble ramble ramble
LA Chica Grande!
ps…ROLLER DERBY PICS!
Skatin’
Fightin’
Skatin’
More Skatin’
Ummm….

To my coworkers

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Various things that need to be said to my coworkers based on conversations I’ve had today.
1) I do not ask my boyfriend permission to see my friends. My boyfriend does not dictate who can or cannot be my friend. If I ever get to the point where my S/O starts dictating such things in my life I want to be shot in the head as there can be nowhere good to go from there. Also, I think you are a prick and a dumbass to suggest that I might need permission to visit my friends (or what to write on my website, how to dress, who to be friends with or what to name my pets).
2) Do not write in the fucking catalog. Are you retarded? I don’t need a catalog that the entire department uses marked up because you are too lazy to write down a 6 character alphanumeric string. When I ask “Are you retarded?” it’s not a rhetorical question.
3) Stop telling me about the underage girls you find hot. It’s creepy that some of them are younger than your own daughter. You are a creepy son of a bitch and if you never come to my desk to talk to me again it would be too soon.