A Decade Together

Aaron and I reached a decade today. Yep this dynamic, quirky and mostly harmonious couple has been together for ten years. I still can't believe it. It really doesn't feel like it's been anywhere near that long. As a matter of fact...

Story time*
It feels like it was just yesterday that I was watching my bank account dwindling rapidly after graduation and feeling the urgent need to find a job to hold me over till my real job turned up. It was early June and I went around to all the restaurants on City Island (Bronx) to see if anyone was still hiring poor college students for the summer. Fortunately, the restaurant I worked at during the previous summer had all the girls they needed and the good people at The Seashore hired me.

On my first day, I met a very nice, tall and lanky young man named Andrew. My immediate thought was, "cute. I wonder what he's like when he wakes up." He was so damn mellow that I thought he was just tired as all hell. During the training we passed by a few snapshots on a wall of the wait staff. One of them was of him and this young man who reminded me of a character right out of an anime. Both of them had a cigarette hanging off their lips, cup of coffee in one hand and flipping off the camera with the other. His exact words were, "yeah, this is me and this is my sidekick... I mean partner in crime, Aaron. He's off today, but you'll probably meet him tomorrow." The following day I went in for my second day of training during the dinner shift. I followed a guy named Jamie. He introduced me to the people working that night. When we got to the back room where everyone was preparing, Jamie introduced me to Aaron. Before he got to his name, I said, "Oh yeah, I know you. You're Aaron, right? You're Andrew's sidekick." Jamie just about fell over laughing. Aaron looked shocked and stuttered out, "What the fuck?... Fucking asshole!" and stormed off.

I avoided him for the rest of the night. I couldn't believe I goofed like that. I really didn't mean to say, "sidekick," I really meant to say, "partner in crime" but the damage was done and now this guy thought I as a tool. Andrew came in an laughed about it. But still, I avoided him. Slowly, over the next few shifts, we became better acquainted and eventually it got to the point where others in the restaurant began taking bets on who I'd end up with. I had no intention on ending up with anyone at all. At the start of the summer I had suffered one of the most ego-crushing breakups ever. The guy I had been seeing during my last semester in college told me he wanted to break up because he wanted to try his luck with someone else. A guy! Adding insult to injury, it was the guy I was chasing at the end of the fall semester, the guy he was supposed to fix me up with! Yeah, SO swore men off for a while. I was hell-bent on not even allowing myself to develop a crush. I even went around telling people I was seeing someone, just in case.

So over the next few days we got to hang out at work a lot. They would both have me laughing my butt off during work. Andrew was the first to get my number but I think it was because he wanted to have something to hold over Aaron. after the first day I realized that Andrew, nice as he was, was WAAAAAY the hell too mellow for me. I liked the edgier, quirkier and faster, Aaron; Even though I was so denying it because this was, after all, the summer of ME. Myself, and I. But I digress. One night I got an invite to hang out at this little hole in the wall called Fella's. It's the kind of bar where only locals hang out in and after they go home, the waiters from the whole strip flock to. We hung out and I finally admitted to myself that perhaps I fancied the strange, animated guy. ESPECIALLY since earlier that night he quoted a truly obscure movie that elevated him in my eyes. "I'm a Derek and Derek's don't run." I congratulate you if you know it, you rock! For those who don't know it, don't feel bad. It's a line from Peter Jackson's first film, "Bad Taste." At the time, only true B-Horror movie fans even knew who the hell Peter Jackson was and among those, only a small number of them knew THAT movie. Terrible as this flick is, it's one of my favorite movies ever.

So yes... the following night Aaron was working in the section next to mine and I found myself asking him to hang out after work. He hadn't planned on it, but I really wanted him to come out so I kept asking him. I tried to fool myself into thinking this was only because I thought he was a cool guy and not because I fancied him. Certainly not, we couldn't have that. He eventually agreed. Because we opened, we were let go earlier than the rest of our coworkers. While we waited, we chatted happily till this girl in a tube top and boobs that tested that material came by and challenged him to a round on the video golf game they had at the opposite side of the bar. To my complete surprise, I got pissed! And the longer the game lasted, the harder I began to squeeze the beer bottle in my hand. When he came back I pulled myself together and shook off the irrational anger. There's no way he could be interested in the walking STD incubator. So we resumed our chat and as we talked away, I couldn't help but let my eyes wander to the top of his open work shirt. Until then, I had never wanted to see a guy shirtless, but something made me want to reach across the small table and rip the damn thing open.

I changed the topic. Comedy, yes, comedy, that was a safe topic. I remarked on his knowledge of the funny horror movie he quoted. He said that he was equally shocked that I knew it and said his friend introduced him to Peter Jackson, some other stuff I didn't catch because of his damn shirt, and British comedy. HELLO! "NO WAY?! I love British Comedy!" He asked me my favorites. I rattled off some stuff and ventured into the lesser known titles in the States, to test him out. He knew most of them. I told him that I have been watching Brit comedy since I was little and was the reason I could do several Brit accents pretty well. He challenged me to prove it so I did. At this point I hadn't noticed it but we had been inching closer and closer to each other over the table. Half way through my example of a more posh accent, he stopped me and said, "I'm going to have to kiss you if you don't stop that." Good lord! That's when I noticed the dwindling space. I still don't know where I got the figurative balls from but I suppose it was meant to be. I kept up the accent and said, "Oh, really? Well sir, what if I were to kiss you instead?" He said, "bullshit. You wouldn't dare." I responded with, "Oh really? Wouldn't I?" and a kiss. Just a lingering peck. "I wouldn't dare?" Neither of us moved. Then he said I wouldn't dare do it again. I said, "now you're just being cheeky" and kissed him again. This time a bit more seriously. Nothing gross, but I ended it with a nibble on his bottom lip.

By this time I was screaming at myself in my head wondering what the hell I was doing. I excused myself and pretty much bolted to the bathroom. But rather than chastise myself, I let out a muted scream along with a happy dance followed by a fit of, “ohmyGodohmyGodohmyGodohmyGodohmyGodohmyGod.” That’s when tube top girl walked out of a bathroom stall and looked at me like I had three heads. I smiled and splashed water on my face. After gathering myself, I walked back and over to the tiny two-seater booth table. He asked me if I wanted to get out of there and go somewhere quieter, perhaps get a cup of coffee. And off we went to the Pelham Bay Diner.

What I hadn’t noticed was that during our chat and subsequent kisses that the rest of our coworkers had filed in and were seated at the booth directly behind me. No one noticed what happened. And when I was dancing like a goober in the bathroom, Aaron switched seats to talk to his buddy Andrew. Aaron told him I kissed him. After the, “really?!” high five and, “nice!” Aaron said, “yeah, but I really think she likes you.” Andrew replied with, “She kissed you? But you think she likes me? …You’re and asshole.” And that was that.

The running joke, to this day, is that after all this time; I’m really using Aaron to get to Andrew.

The following morning we went on our first date to the Met. About a week and several of dates later, on June 28th we became an official couple.

My Friend K

My friend K has had a rough couple of years. She has been from one bad relationship to some pretty turbulent ones and some that burned fast and ended very quickly. This last one was kind of sad. She was with him for over a year or so and she really thought this one was "it." Unfortunately, over the last few months she has come to the realization that this wasn't to be.

The first red flag was the mistrust. He just refused to trust her enough to be open and honest with her. Then she found some stuff that she had every right to question but he just clammed up and lashed out at her for being "nosy." Second red flag was the fact that most things had to be on his terms. There was very little giving and too much taking. No good. So luckily after a few weeks of thought and introspection mixed in with some crying, they called it quits.

She was disappointed, naturally, but bounced back quickly enough to get a place of her own with a shortened lease. I think she is planning on heading back East but needs some encouragement and obviously doesn't want to head back here sans job and place to live. The F*ed up thing is that the day she signed the lease HE had the balls to say that he thinks he made a mistake, admitted that he took her for granted then promised to change and give her everything she wants. She said, "NO."

I'm proud of her for this. I told her so and reminded her that it's not easy to give up on a dream and even harder to know when to walk away, especially when one is given a tempting promise like that. So yeah, my friend K is heading to her own place and is really considering ending her self-imposed exile out West, and heading back East. I reminded her that she has her entire support system back home and that we'd all be happy to help in any way possible. Sigh...

MTV's Playing Videos!

I haven't watched MTV in ages. I'm glad they're actually playing music videos. They've been playing Michael Jackson's videos all day long. I'm glad they're doing the right thing, considering he was one of the big driving forces that really launched the channel at the beginning.

As much as I adore the Jackson 5, those videos make me really sad.

Breakups

My friend who lives across the country just broke up with her boyfriend. I knew there were issues but she never let me know what was happening. Last night she sent me a text message with a single line reading "*Name* and I broke up."

I feel bad because I didn't hear the phone when her text came in so I didn't see it till this morning. I want to call her, but I have to prepare myself. Conversations like this are never easy and cause a good deal of emotional distress. Wish me luck.

Michael Jackson

When I heard the news about his death, I was at the supermarket. I overheard someone say, "I can't believe it, Michael Jackson is dead." My first reaction was, "Yeah, okay" and, "that's got to be someone else by the same name."

Sadly, when I got into the car, every station was playing a Michael song. I still can't believe that one of my favorite artists, ever is dead. Sure he had his issues. Big issues. Issues that some people just can't ever come back from. Yet he was trying. Let's face it, the dude was odd, but entertaining as all hell in his hay day and sadly, well after. Sadly, what's easy to forget when looking at all the odd stuff like Bubbles, the llamas, the rides in his home, the kooky paintings of himself as a royal, the Elephant Man's bones, that he was a human being who probably really did have a good heart.

Case in point, one of my all-time favorite songs, "Heal the World." Not everyone can write something so damn nice.


There's a place in
Your heart
And I know that it is love
And this place could
Be much
Brighter than tomorrow
And if you really try
You'll find there's no need
To cry
In this place you'll feel
There's no hurt or sorrow

There are ways
To get there
If you care enough
For the living
Make a little space
Make a better place...

Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough
For the living
Make a better place
For you and for me

If you want to know why
There's a love that
Cannot lie
Love is strong
It only cares for
Joyful giving
If we try
We shall see
In this bliss
We cannot feel
Fear or dread
We stop existing and
Start living

Then it feels that always
Loves enough for
Us growing
So make a better world
Make a better world...

Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough
For the living
Make a better place
For you and for me

And the dream we were
Conceived in
Will reveal a joyful face
And the world we
Once believed in
Will shine again in grace
Then why do we keep
Strangling life
Wound this earth
Crucify its soul
Though its plain to see
This world is heavenly
Be gods glow

We could fly so high
Let our spirits never die
In my heart
I feel you are all
My brothers
Create a world with
No fear
Together we cry
Happy tears
See the nations turn
Their swords
Into plowshares

We could really get there
If you cared enough
For the living
Make a little space
To make a better place...

Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough
For the living
Make a better place
For you and for me

Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough
For the living
Make a better place
For you and for me

Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough
For the living
Make a better place
For you and for me

There are people dying
If you care enough
For the living
Make a better place
For you and for me

There are people dying
If you care enough
For the living
Make a better place
For you and for me

You and for me.....



REST IN PEACE, MAN. REST IN PEACE.

Waiting For January

We're coming Eddie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!... Eventually.

hnb gyujmy njhjhmyui nyjhumki (Beating Head on Keyboard)

Every time I send out a resume I should just write, "Here, I offer you my time and professional life thus far, for you to piss on." 'Cause that's what it feels like every day when I respond to several posts and hear back little to nothing in return. Bastards.

I would say, I should try to change up my approach, but there isn't much more I can do other than stalk the hiring managers at different companies and that just doesn't sound like the kind of attention I want to draw to myself. I've changed and tweaked my resume several times and I am always changing it up to match every specific points for posts. I also make sure to customize my cover letters and I use some of the language in their posts, but still... sigh.

I swear this process is like beating yourself over the head repeatedly.

"Are you not entertained?!"

Tea With a Good Dose of Violence

I did something kinda messed up. Aaron restricted himself to one cigarette. But he was going to have it before his dentist appointment. His brother left it for him but I saw it first. I hid it. So he went around most of the day grumpy as all hell and a touch on the snippy side. It was another day of a lot of tea. We kind of snapped at each other a wee bit but pretty much kept our cool.

By the end of the night I felt bad about just how nutty he was getting. He said he really wished he had at least one cigarette. That's when I decided to tell him he could have one and told him where it was. He was annoyed for about three seconds then ran into Evan's room to smoke. At least he made it through the entire day. :)

I was so excited we got to watch the Ultimate Fighter finale tonight. There were some pretty good fights but the main event was a battle and a half. Holy cow! Diego Sanchez vs Clay Guida were bloody messes by the end but I have to say, these guys took a beating and a half. This is one of the biggest, "ooh!" moments of the fight.



I can't help it. There's something about watching these kind of fights that just appeals to me. Perhaps it's that I can relate to the moves and the different techniques used, or perhaps it's the occasional brutal knockout. I suppose after taking TKD for so many years, this kind of stuff just stays with you.

PMS and Nicotine Withdrawl

Yeah, Aaron and I make a wonderful pair this evening. Then again, Aaron's on the irritable side because some of his friends are acting like socially inept monkeys, but it's all good.

Yep in his moments of weakness Aaron picked up the cancer sticks and smoked for the last few days and is now weaning himself off of them. I was good I didn't say a word other than the initial sputterings of "jackass" and "what the hell were you thinking?!" So now he's short-tempered but his buddies... lord. There is one in particular who started a shit storm and is refusing to see why others are angry with him now. Aaron has been trying to explain it to him but that's just not working. I feel bad. Aaron is normally a voice of reason among his friends, but today I really thought he was going to reach through the phone and throttle someone.

So here I am PMS-ing badly and I am I'm trying to be understanding and offering him tea whenever I get myself a mugful (yeah, I've moved beyond the tea cups today). Still, it's hard to remain balanced when I swear my tea leaves are looking at me funny and no matter how low the volume on the TV happens to be, it's still waaay too loud. Aw hell, I wouldn't be surprised if I end up wandering the aisles of the 24 hour supermarket at 3 am, feeling all weepy. :)

*Explanation*
Every now and then, I go PMS crazy. It doesn't happen all the time, but every now and then, I get so emotionally fucked up that I take the smallest things and blow them up in my own head. On one occasion, Aaron said something completely innocuous but for some reason, I was convinced that there was some other meaning to his words and they weren't good. So by 3:00am-ish I was so worked up, I got up and told Aaron, who was sound asleep, that I was leaving because he didn't love me anymore. He was confused even once he got past his grogginess. But I was crying my eyes out. He couldn't think of anything to do so he did his best to get me to calm down and offered to get me something to munch on. This was prior to me moving in so there wasn't a scrap of food beyond old butter, freezer burned ice cream and a bottle of vodka in the fridge. Since I didn't want to be by myself he brought me over to the supermarket. We went up and down each aisle. He picked out random things he thought I may like to see if they would appease the crazy. He eventually did.

Yeah, he still wanted to marry me after that. :)

I'm Guest Blogging!

Allo everyone. I just wanted to let you know yours truly did a guest blog piece for The Audacity of an Optimistic Pessimist. It's a funny vacation story. Some of you have heard it before, but it's always good fun. Enjoy!

He Wants to F*** My Potatoes!

I completely forgot to put this in the last entry, but you know what, it kind of deserves an entry of its own.

I made Aaron breakfast this morning. I knew he was going to be out all day and not likely to be eating a whole heck of a lot, but drinking. I made him cheesy eggs (cheddar and pepper-jack), turkey bacon, toast and the potatoes I made him a few weeks ago (shredded and sauteed with onions and lots of pepper). I don't know what it is about these, but he LOOOOOOVES them. So much in fact that when he saw them on the plate all he kept saying, "I want to f**k these potatoes!" I almost spit my coffee out all over the kitchen. I'm glad I was smart enough to make a bit extra. He finished those first and looked kinda sad. I let him know there were more in the pan. I've never seen the man move faster in my life. And somewhere in between the, "Oh, ho-ho's" and the and several random exclamations of, "Yeeees!" he almost took off my head with the force from repeated kisses.

I took the ultra good mood to ask him something completely random. A blogging buddy E. Van Lowe has a photo contest going. It's got a zombie theme. WHile I know Aaron is usually a good sport about a lot of things, I wasn't sure how he would feel about doing somthing this silly. BUT since he was in such a good mood I figured, why not? HE AGREED! Now I have to figure out what to do. :)

Rain Delay

It has been raining all day long and unfortunately it's one of the days that Aaron and his buddies were supposed to go to the Yankee game. It got delayed for five and a half hours. Now they're nowhere near the stadium but they are having dinner and drinks somewhere. I can hear it already, at some point in the middle of the night, "I don't feel so well."

They stayed at the stadium for a few hours. Granted, they were smart enough to not stand or sit in the open, but it was still pretty darn chilly out. Go figure, I finally have my antibiotics and am just starting to feel better and he goes out and gets sick. And if he doesn't get sick this time around, he may tomorrow when they hit Citifield (or the new Shea they still refuse to use the new name). It's supposed to be pouring then too.

Ah well, at least I was smart enough to get a new thermometer. I had to buy a new one today. I got an old-school style (almost-non mercury) one because the batteries in my trusty electronic one died and didn't have the wherewithal to write down the battery size before going to the store.

But anyhoo... I have tea waiting and dinner is just about done. I made chicken pot pie. I had tons of chicken left over from the other day and I can't take soup any more.

Awww...

Aaron has been incredibly sweet to me lately. Even though he has been in a pretty sour mood lately. He's stressing about the whole not smoking thing. His friends are coming in tomorrow for the big guys get together and baseball games.

Yesterday I woke up and had no voice. I mean NONE. I was at a whisper until lat in the afternoon. When he got home he wished me a good morning and heard that I had no voice to reply with. He asked me if I wanted some tea. I nodded and he went over to heat up some water. He asked me if I wanted something to eat. All I could think of was my Mom's chicken and rice soup. After I drank my tea, he made me go back to bed and called my Mom. He ran some errands and brought back a big tub of the soup. :) Afterwards he insisted on cuddling (to hold me down) to make sure I actually got more sleep.

Today I had a bit more of a voice. It took gallons of tea and soup but it broke up the gunk. I went to the doctor's today and restocked my samples of allergy meds and got my script for an antibiotic for the sinus infection. Blech.

Now I just hope Aaron holds up when his buddies get here. I doubt he will. He'll probably smoke like a chimney while his friends are in and then have to go through the whole withdrawal process all over again. Hurrah. Lucky me. Ah well, at least my voice will be too weak for me to really lay into him over the cigarettes.

Blech.

I feel like poo. I apparently have either strep or a sinus infection. Again, blech. So what am I doing instead of resting? Cleaning and prepping stuff for dinner. There is something seriously wrong with me.

Either way, gallons of tea and Aaron are tons of help. The tea breaks up the congestion, Aaron who tired to convince me to stay in bed and not overexert myself (till he passed out himself) made me feel marginally better. It's okay though. I've been looking forward to making this dinner. I've been craving roasted chicken for a while now and so I decided to make it tonight. I'll be making roasted chicken and veggies with perhaps cous cous or stuffing-I'm still not sure which direction I wanna go.

Ah well, the vacuum and my steam mop await.

Dance Recital and Martial Arts

Today we went to a dance recital for Munchkin #2. She was in a tap routine and it was as cute as can be. Unfortunately she was in the second routine. We then sat there to watch the rest of the dances for all age groups up to high school-age kids.

I took dance lessons from when I was about 10 till college and seeing some of the older girls dance made me cringe. I began picking apart the routines and finding the weakest and strongest dancers. I couldn't help it. The dance troupes I was involved with always had professional choreographers who were actually pretty demanding. I felt kinda bad being the audience critic but I couldn't help it. Sitting there I kept hearing the voices of some of my old choreographers shrieking, seeing some of the glaring errors. "Two, three, four! Keep in time! Point ze toes! Pretty hands! Nonono... Vatch ze poztuuuure! You are dancers not cave veeemen."

Needless to say, I have a bad feeling that I'm going to end up being one of those parents that will make my poor kids practice things till perfection. God help any daughters of mine who go into dance or worse yet, track and field. I made it to states three times in high school. Once for pentathlon and twice for the 100 high hurdles. Granted, the best I ever placed was third for hurdles, but then again it was hard when I went up against a few gazelles, two of whom went on to compete in the Olympics. But I digress.

The crazy thing is, I don't think Aaron will end up being any more lenient. He was there telling me he's planning on training our daughters in MMA techniques so in case they are on a date and the guy gets too touchy and become temporarily deaf, they can pretty much get him in an arm bar, a rear choke, olmaplata or just knock him the hell out. He wants me to get ANY kids we have into Tae Kwon Do young so that way they have a base to build from. (I so need to go back and actually finish getting my black belt). He's also pretty adamant about making sure any boys we have know how to defend themselves and/or take a punch, should they need it. He's serious about this too. I can appreciate this. Lord help us all.

Books

When I really get into a book, I don't just read it, I devour the damn thing. Two days ago I picked up the ninth installment of the Sookie Stackhouse books. I was going to wait for paperback but I found a Barnes & Nobel gift card I had and it had some money on it so, off I went. I meant to take my sweet time and read the book slowly. HA!

I am now done with it and rereading the series. I am on book three. I stayed up pretty much the entire night. I didn't mean to, it just sort of happened. I kept saying, 'one more paragraph,' 'oh, one more page' followed by, 'well, I'm already half way through the chapter, I may as well finish this chapter' and lastly, 'I'll just take a peek at the next chapter.' This pattern continued all damn night till I passed out. When I woke up, I had giant blurry letters in front of my eyes a book imprint on my face. Got a cup of coffee and finished the book. I'll refrain from saying anything about the book for those of you reading, other than I love reading these books. I can't wait for Ms. Harris' next book.

Calling On My Inner Bob Villa

I'm so proud of myself. I not only fixed a wooden frame and got my horribly clogged drain clear using a snake and drano, I also installed a new toilet seat. Loves it. I would have asked Aaron to do this stuff, but he's in Atlantic City with a few buddies. Besides, I wanted to surprise him. Although, really it's not much of a surprise that I was able to take care of the fixes around the place. Having watched my Dad do all this stuff since I was really little, and being his little helper... well it kind of comes second nature. But still, I'm pretty proud of myself. :)

Now I just hope Aaron didn't end up losing his shirt in the casino. I'm not so worried about him in the poker room, it's just that his buddies have a tendency to spend way too much time in the casino and he kind of gets sucked into playing. That's where he usually gives away his poker tournament winnings. Sigh. Ah well.

TRUEBLOODTRUEBLOODTRUEBLOODTRUEBLOODTRUEBLOOD

Teehee... True Blood is coming back!!!!!

I ran across this tasty video dedicated to Eric. Don't get me wrong, I still think Bill is great (yes, I've read most of the books, still haven't picked up the newest). But Eric...



Enjoy!

I Love Stephen Colbert

In case you haven't seen it or don't watch the show, this is one reason why I love Stephen Colbert. Enjoy.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Stephen Strong: Army of Me - Basic Training
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Stephen Colbert in Iraq

And yet another reason:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Obama Orders Stephen's Haircut - Ray Odierno
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Stephen Colbert in Iraq

I Am So F***ing Giddy!!!!!!!!!!

My original literary hero is back on the big screen! The one and only Sherlock Holmes. And I couldn't be happier about the guy they have playing him; Mr. Robert Downey Jr. SQUEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



They gave him much more of an edge than Sir. Arthur Conan Dolye probably ever even thought possible when he was writing the stories. But, so far it looks like it works damn it. Again, squeeeeeee!

I am so excited! As if I needed another reason to look forward to Chirstmas.

Little Chatterbox

A friend sent this to me as an e-mail entitled "Are Women Born This Way?" It's pretty darn cute. BTW, you may want to lower your volume if it's on high.



She apparently had A LOT to say.

Reunions, Das Bier, Zombie Parades and Low Powered Vampires

This was quite honestly one of the longest weekends in a long time, but tons of fun.

The weekend started off nice and early. On Friday I went to our 20th year elementary school reunion. I know, who has those right? Well, we did and i am actually pretty damn happy they set it up. I got to meet up with several old friends and reconnect. After the reunion most of us hit a bar and hung out for quite a while. We drank and my old friend Louis (who I used to have a big crush on) got me dancing for a good portion of the night. I miss hitting the dance floor with a gay guy. They can move and there's no weirdness. Too bad I was sporting my "upper class hooker" (totally hooker shoes except they're pretty expensive) shoes. Ouch! On the upside, we now have a new accomplice for Rocky Horror Nights. Hot Patootie!

The following morning I went stupid. I'm not kidding. I was an all-out mental midget. Some of the stupidity highlights include: completely forgetting where I parked my car just a few hours prior to heading out; missing an connecting exit on a high way, twice; Then watching the last exit I needed zip by; Stopping at a gas station and forgetting to actually get gas (I wish I were kidding); Forgetting my makeup bag and the birthday card for 'Chele. Yeah... I wish I could say it was because I didn't sleep enough the night before, but that's not the case. I actually ended up sleeping through my alarm and was woken up much later in the morning by Aaron.

Once in Connecticut and several cups of coffee later, 'Chele and I got pedicures. I so needed it. My feet were still throbbing from the night before. Then headed to a nifty German restaurant called East Side for the beginning of the evening's festivities. 'Chele ordered a "round of hats." I, however, swear I heard her order a "round of ass," which made me wonder just how rowdy he place got. It's all good, however, there were no asses in sight, although there was a mighty big wiener (I swear I'm actually speaking of a hat) at the neighboring table that found its way over to ours. I sported my top hat, Liza-style ala "Cabaret." I consumed more beer than I can recall in a damn long time. They serve half liter mugs. I drank two. Yay Spaten. This was good practice though. I'm sure I'll be consuming many liters of beer when we hit Germany's Brauhouses and Biergartens in the fall.

So yes, after countless cheers of "Das Boot!" and "Ticki-tocki, ticki-tocki, hoi, hoi, hoi" (I'm used to "Zicke-Zacke, Zicke-Zacke, Hoi, Hoi, Hoi! Zicke-Zacke, Zicke-Zacke, Hoi, Hoi, Hoi!" "Prost!" or "Eins, Zwei, Drei G'Suffa") we hit Hartford to check out a band. It took a while to flee Hartford after the show, but somehow we managed and hit a diner and the table chat wound its way to Eddie Izzard's Low Powered Vampire. I didn't make it home till about 5 ish. As predicted, I was up till about 7ish. But all was not lost. I looked up something that caught my attention earlier in the evening. Our friend Vizma told us that she saw a Zombie parade the week prior in Boston. I was astonished. Not because there was a zombie parade, but because there was a zombie parade and I knew nothing of it! So yeah. Apparently, there are zombie parades at random times of the year around the country. I now want to know when NYC's will be. I so want to be there.

So yes, I eventually got some sleep but not before wanting fighting with my toaster. All I wanted was a damn piece of toast and what did I get? Charcoal. Once again Eddie Izzard preaches the truth.



So that's about the whole weekend. Now I need to get back to reading up on the ACLU's work. I have an interview with them tomorrow morning.

Holy S**t, This Is Funny!

Holy crap I almsot fell out of my chair laughing. I can't describe it, you're just going to have to watch.

In Pain But Pretty Proud

I never knew how well Toni Basil's "Mickey" works as running motivation. My iPod is chock full of goofy or uptempo songs specifically selected for me to listen to while running or working out. I usually just hit "shuffle songs" and go, but today the thing brought up quite the block of songs. "Mickey" started it off, followed by "Are you gonna be my girl?" Kittie's "Brackish," Justin Timberlake's "Bringing Sexy Back," Beyonce's "Single Ladies," "Paradise City," The Alien Ant Fsrm's version of "Smooth Criminal" and Dee-Lite's "Groove is in The Heart" (I think there may have been some Lady GaGa and Missy Elliott in there as well). Quite the nifty block. The problem is that these came up at the end of my run.

I was going to call it a day, but I ended up pushing myself for one more song, then another, then another... and so on. I wound up more than doubling my normal run. When I finally stopped my legs were giggly as all hell. It felt good but I was on a adrenaline high so I couldn't help myself. I did an insane number of crunches (400) and full Pilate's workout.

I'm really happy I just got a new bottle of Aleve.

More Weird Stuff :)

I just came across this little gem. It totally fits into my "what the--!?" obsession of all wacked out stories. I now think people or aliens are getting much better at f***ing with the rest of us. Either way, it's nifty to look at. It's a jellyfish crop circle found in the middle of a barley field in Oxfordshire, England. But why mess with the British so much? What did they ever do to the possible alien graffiti artists? I guess we'll never know.

Review of "Drag Me To Hell"

Aaron, myself, my brother-in-law and a friend just caught this flick. Now, I am a huge fan of B-Horrors. I mean HUGE! In college I actually exchanged several e-mails with Bruce Campbell and Peter Jackson. So today, I wasn't very upset when "Up" was sold out and we had to catch "Drag Me To Hell," Sam Rami's new flick, instead. I have been a Rami fan since I first saw "Army of Darkness" during high school. Then my friend Becca reintroduced me to the series when she urged me to purchase Evil Dead II in college. So yes, I had some pretty high hopes.

As far as a horror goes, yes, I suppose it does do the job. However, if you're a fan of the genre and the director, you will immediately recognize tricks, filming style, gross-outs and some of the scenes in the movie will be familiar. Rami even threw in a few seconds of a laughing inanimate household object. SADLY there is not single sign or sighting of Bruce Campbell. Ah well.

So in general, if you don't mind seeing a few "classic" gimmicks and familiar movie tricks, the movie itself is pretty darn entertaining. It has a few good jumps and some parts will give you the heebee-geebee's but I thought it was a touch predictable. I'd say if you're up for a horror, go for it. But keep in mind, if I don't sound completely enthusiastic, it's because I have very high standards for horrors and it takes a lot to actually take me off guard, but overall, pretty decent.

The More You Ignore Me...

Thanks to ITunes and a typo, I found myself at a list of songs with this old friend kind of song from a long time ago, Morrissey's "The More You Ignore Me." I used to spend hours listening to bands like Depeche Mode and The Smiths and obsess and pine away over my first ex boyfriend. It was all very teenage angsty and it lead to my venture into the Gothy side of life for a while. This was a particular favorite of mine. I bought the song because I don't have any Morrissey on CD, just cassette. Listening to the song now kind of makes me happy. Not like a, 'Ooh, I wanna pull out my black clothing and makeup' or anything, just kinda, you know, happy. I suppose it's because I know I've moved on for the better even though it reminds me of a lot of bad (and some good) memories. Funny That.


(He's still a hottie!)


The more you ignore me
The closer I get
Youre wasting your time
The more you ignore me
The closer I get
Youre wasting your time

I will be
In the bar
With my head
On the bar
I am now
A central part
Of your minds landscape
Whether you care
Or do not
Yeah, Ive made up your mind

The more you ignore me
The closer I get
Youre wasting your time
The more you ignore me
The closer I get
Youre wasting your time

Beware !
I bear more grudges
Than lonely high court judges
When you sleep
I will creep
Into your thoughts
Like a bad debt
That you cant pay
Take the easy way
And give in
Yeah, and let me in
Oh, let me in
Oh let me ...
Oh, let me in
Its war
Its war
Its war
Its war
Its war
War
War
War
War
Oh, let me in
Ah, the closer I get
Ah, youre asking for it
Ah, the closer I get
Ooh, the closer I ...

Good Lord, Where Did The Time Go?

Wow... I know I woke up late today, but good lord, the time flew by. I so meant to clean the place up and go grocery shopping today and I pretty much did nothing but watch old SNL Celebrity Jeopardy skits, scour the Internet for new New moon stuff and drink coffee.

It's now 5:45 and I'm debating whether or not I should actually venture out and go grocery shopping or keep my good parking spot. Is that horrible or what?

Granted, I really should at least hit the supermarket. I've no idea what I'm going to make for dinner and there is precious little to be found in the place. I meant to go before the weekend, but got caught up doing other stuff. Then again, I should make an attempt to clean the place. I was away for two days so the apartment is a wreck. I mean when I came home last night, it looked like someone turned the place upside down and shook it for good measure.

I hate indecisive days but as much as the remaining mess and the lack of food bother me. I just can't find the motivation to do anything or get a lock on what I want to do. Blech.

Oh I So Wish This Could Have Been....

Most of you know much Andy Samberg's songs make me laugh. This would have really had me rolling.

Oh yes, this too made me giggle.

MTV Shows

And just in case you're a Twihard and haven't seen it yet...




One final thing... I got word from the TwilightLexicon people that ET and Access Hollywood are supposed to be all about New Moon tonight.