Random Musings...
Friday, July 30, 2004
- WOW!! Where can I even begin with last night's show?? This'll do: Probably the best DMB concert I've ever been to. Yeah, I said it. Alpine has a hell of a lot to live up to for me.
I went home early yesterday and Bobby was already there. We watched a few songs on DVD to get into the mood, and then headed out on our drive down to Tampa. I introduced him to the new songs, played some old goodies, and just sang and got excited the whole drive down.
By the time we got to Tampa, the weather was very patchy. Parts of the sky were open and you could see the blue sky, and other parts had these terrible black clouds. As a consequence, there were periodic heavy downpours, followed by sun, followed by more torrential rain. Fortunately, it was clear from our walk from the car to our seats. About five minutes after we took our seats, the skies opened up, and everyone on the lawn started cheering and screaming.
Our seats were great, thanks to Christina! We were close enough to see everyone's faces pretty well and off to the side. The best seats I've had since '99. Everyone around us was really cool, too. No obnoxious drunk guys screaming for no reason, no people chatting on cell phones, no whining. Just dancing and cheers. There was even a little boy in the row ahead of us who was SO cute. He must have been 7 or so, and he had his little DMB t-shirt on. He knew the words to most of the songs, and he was standing up on his seat dancing and cheering with the rest of us. Awesome! I wish I had had such good taste at his age. I remember owning a record of Air Supply at his age.
Dave came out to introduce the opening act as he always does. Last night, it was Daniel Lanois, who wrote The Maker, my favorite song DMB covers. I was given a special treat, however, because Dave is such a huge Lanois fan that he decided to hangout on the side of the stage and enjoy his set too. I could see him very well from the shoulders up since our seats were to a side. He was there behind all the equipment, jamming to the music. It was amazing to watch Dave, not knowing he's being watched, and enjoying someone else's music in the same way I enjoy his music. I can't even describe the connection I felt, seeing him be touched by music like that. At the end, Lanois invited Dave up there, and as I had hoped, they sang The Maker together. Beautiful.
On to the show...
One Sweet World
This song is fun. I've gotten it as an opener before. I was hoping for a cool outro, but it was just OSW straightforward. Still, it's so cheery, I had a smile on my face.
Grey Street
I've heard this several times at this point, but it really got the crowd into it since a lot of them didn't seem to know OSW. It was fun to feel the energy from the audience, and heck, I love the song anyway!
Joy Ride
No WOO's! Every recent recording I've heard of this song had WOO's, but when it came time, I was the only idiot WOOing. Oh well. Did it anyway. This song pretty fun.
Don’t Drink the Water
YES!!! This is the one song I wanted Bobby to hear! I told him that usually it is played as an opener, so we were shocked when all of a sudden this song comes booming in. We looked at each other with shocked faces and then started jumping up and down like crazy. We did his silly gestures to each lyric and looked like total dorks, but it was a special moment for the two of us. Yeah, we "spread our wings," we warned each other very sternly NOT to "drink the water," we had "no room for both" just room for ourselves. HA HA!! AWESOME!! The highlight of the concert for me just because I had wanted to badly to see Bobby this excited. Afterwards he was jumping up and down in place out of sheer joy. I had built up quite a sweat at this point and was beginning to become aware of my own body odor.
#41
"HELL YEAH" I screamed when the first notes of this were played. TAKE THAT! #41. Classic DMB. Doesn't get much better than that. The cameras revealed that all along, Carter had been wearing a soccer jersey with the number 41 in the back. NICE! Everyday outro with it, which was fine.
When The World Ends
I've heard this song plenty. Solid song.
Song That Jane Likes
Dave comes up to the mic, "I've got a sister..." and before he could finish the rest, I let out an enormous scream. I LOVE this little song. Short and sweet and so very happy. Makes me want to skip around.
Hello Again
The standout new song. I have never seen an unknown song get such an audience reaction. No cheers initially, but by the end, the whole place was screaming and jumping up and down. It was explosive!! Dave was playing so hard he busting several guitar strings! Carter's drum solo was a knockout. This song is awesome.
Sugar Will
Sorry to say, this was a bit of a let down after the energy of Hello Again. It's the only new song I don't quite care for. The jam at the end is nice. Nice enough for me to sway to and not sit down like almost everyone else did.
So Much To Say --> Too Much
Awesome way to pick up the energy again! These songs are such a blast, especially when they're put together by ASTB. I hopped right along with Stefan on that awesome bass groove. Too Much was the best I'd ever heard, despite Dave's guitar strap breaking in the middle, causing him to miss a verse. It took a little bit to get back on track, but the end was pure power.
Where Are You Going?
Sat down for the first time of the night. It's not that I hate this song. It's that I don't need to see it, really. I sat there and sang along to myself. The highlight of it all really, was watching that little kid watch the song. It's obviously one of his favorites, especially the line about Superman. He was so cute. Very into it.
Rhyme & Reason
I've heard this song too much, I've determined. It's a fine song. Enough for me to stand back up again and all. It's just been done for me.
Crazy-Easy
I like this new song. It hasn't quite gelled in concert, I don't think, but I think it's going to be an amazing studio track. I can see it going places. The lyrics get changed up so much that I could only sing along with "Crazaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy"
Jimi Thing
Ok, I'm not one to swear gratuitously, and I'm not going to start now...THIS SONG WAS FUCKING AWESOME!!! It was totally sick, off the hook, and any other stupid phrase you want to use for it. HELL-FUCKIN'-YEAH!! Incredibly enough, this is the song I've heard the most in concert, and yet, it feels fresh every time I hear it. The main part of the song rocked as always, but I could feel it in the air that we were going to get a cool scat ala Central Park. Did we ever!! The scat lasted about as long as the other half of the song! Dave started off by having a little "argument" with himself, switching from one side of the mic to the other to make his nonsensical points. This was followed by some spectacular hip thrusts that made me feel oh so very dirty. Then, he started going on about coming home from a night of drunkness and maybe he should have some water, but he'll have it in the morning instead, until he realizes it's hot, so he figures he should use some ice. Really weird! He then takes the mic stand and starts stumbling around the stage with it as if he were drunk. (I've never seen Dave pick up a mic stand, by the way!) It was so funny!! Everyone was cracking up. He capped off the whole thing by giving a little scat intro for each of the band members to give a solo. He did these silly imitations of each of them playing their instruments. It was so funny, especially his imitation of Boyd with the violin. If DDTW hadn't been the sentimental favorite, this would have won for performance of the night. The band left the stage, and the audience was a madhouse. The rumbling got so loud that I had to check above my head to see if I would die if the place collapsed. Unfortunately, the answer was yes since the massive steel support beams went right over my head. Oh well. At least I would have died happy. Fortunately, the place withstood our pleasure well.
Crush
When Stefan started into a bass solo at the top of the encore, I figured we were going to get a one-song encore of All Along the Watchtower. When the familiar bass notes came around though, we were all thrilled to have Crush. It was great. Such a wonderful song live.
The Stone
I was thinking of all the possible songs that could possibly follow Crush to close out the night, and this was not one that crossed my mind ever. When Dave started playing the guitar notes, I froze and figured he was playing a cruel joke on me. But no!! That WAS what they were going to play! I got WAY too excited and started screaming and bouncing around. I just about ripped Bobby's shirt off when I turned to him and screaming "STOOOOONE!!!!!" I adore this song. Adore it, adore it, adore it. So beautiful.
And with that, it was over. What a show. I can feel good about saying it's my favorite DMB show I've ever seen (the D&F in Rochester is still a number one for me, musically speaking). As we were walking out, I heard my sentiments being echoed all around me. Everyone was going on and on about what an amazing show it was. And it truly was.
Unfortuantely, the powers that be decided to even out my emotions. Since this was only about the third show at this new venue (which was really nice, by the way) and the first sold out one, the parking lot was totally unorganized. People were trying to go in all opposite directions, resulting in some terrible bottlenecks. It took forever to just get out of the parking lot. Worst of any concert I've ever been to. Not only that, but when we FINALLY got heading in the right direction, it turns out that the ramps onto I-75 were closed!! We had to take this long detour around to finally get onto I-75. We got up to speed for about 30 seconds when we had to hit our brakes again. The three lanes narrowed into one. With all of the concert traffic that we had just had to deal with in the parking lot, you can imagine how lovely this hold-up was. Terrible. We didn't get home until 2:30am. I was so scared because I was WAY more tired than I should have been on that drive. I kept having to correct myself in the lane. Fortunately, after we got out a ways, we were the only car around. If there had been more traffic, I would have had to pull over, I think.
I was *this* close to calling in late this morning to I could have a few extra hours of sleep. I still wouldn't have traded it for the world. Shows like last night are why I've been to so many of these friggin' concerts. It's why I keep coming back. It's why I'm flying out to Wisconsin after having flown out to Rochester last year. Not every show is as good as the one I got last night, but it's this feeling that keeps me coming back. I love this band!
Posted at 8:38 AM
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Thursday, July 29, 2004
- I'm out!!!! Wish me a good time!!! WOOHOO!!!
Posted at 1:29 PM
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- Oh, and two random, disturbing things...
1. Having lived in Puerto Rico and in Florida for the vast majority of my life, I've grown quite accustomed to lizards. I like them, and even used to play around with them when I was a kid. Well, yesterday, for the first time ever in my life, I saw two lizards getting it on right next to the entrance of our house. I am so sure I had never seen that before. Then today, in between the parking lot and the office, once again, I see lizard-lovers. What's up with that?? I go 25 years never seeing it and then twice within 12 hours?
2. Every morning that I get the good parking lot, I see the guy in the science lab without his shirt. It's so gross. You know, if I just saw it occassionally, it'd be fine. Maybe he works out in the morning and then changes once he gets to work and sometimes the timing works out so that I catch him while he's changing. However, it is beyond coincidence that I see him bare-chested every single morning that I look into that window. Who walks around without a shirt in a science lab?? The guy is like 50 years old too! It's so bizarre. It really creeps me out because I'm thinking he's showing off or something. So weird.
Posted at 9:10 AM
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- I realized yesterday that Dave drove by my house. My house is just off of I-75. If you look really hard through the woods behind my neighborhood, you can see the cars zooming by. We're probably less than a quarter mile away. Since the last show was in Atlanta on Tuesday, and then they're doing Tampa today, that means he had to drive down I-75, which means he passed within a quarter mile of my home. Cool! He's at least in the same state as me right now! Woo!
I'm leaving work today at 2pm. I'm so excited! Bobby's going to be driving up from Orlando, and then the two of us will drive down to Tampa together. I'm so very, very excited! The only song I'm really, really hoping for is Don't Drink the Water for Bobby since it's his favorite. However, they just played it as the encore in the last show, so I don't know if they'll play it again. We'll see. I hope, I hope, I hope!! Other realistic songs I'd like to hear: Dancing Nancies, Granny, #41, and of course, THE MAKER! Here's hoping to a good show!
Posted at 8:23 AM
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Wednesday, July 28, 2004
- A few random things...
1. I decided to make my chili spicier today. Now my nose is running! I still like it, though.
2. I hate a group of people on a sidewalk that try to monopolize it. If they're walking toward me, they see my coming. Why do I have to be the one to get forced into the mud. Because I don't have buddies with me to back me up? If they're walking in front of me, why are they invariably slow walkers? And why when I try to pass them do they walk all wavy around the sidewalk so that I keep having to try several attempts to get around them?
3. How come some people allow themselves to be stereotypes? I can't imagine that they don't realize how totally "typical" everything they say and do is.
4. Ok, that's it for now. I was thinking a lot of things, like about lightning, concrete pouring, etc. on my walk to Wendy's, but it's not worth posting, and I want to eat my salad right now.
Posted at 1:13 PM
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- Much to my chagrin, I realized last night just how early I'm going to have to leave next Thursday. My flight leaves Jacksonville at 6am. That means I'm going to have to leave the house around 3:15am. WOW. I do NOT want to be dying of fatigue on this trip. I'm going to have to go to bed at 8pm or something on Wednesday.
Kim came over last night and dropped off the stuff she's lending me for the camping trip. I decided to go ahead and start the packing to make sure I was going to be able to bring it all. I have my large duffle bag nearly full at this point, and I haven't even gotten to the stuff I'd "normally" pack for a trip yet. I'm really hoping I don't have to bring a second bag. So far, I packed two foldout chairs, a pillow, a towel, some sheets, and a lantern/radio/fan thing. I believe the sleeping bag will have to be my carry-on. I will try to see how much I can play around with the packing so that I avoid bringing two things. I'm typically a light packer, so I have a lot of pride at stake in keeping all of this consolodated to one duffle bag!
Hot damn I'm excited!! Tomorrow I get to leave work early and see the show. I can't wait! Good bonding time for Bobby and I, DMB, you can't go wrong! I burned a CD of the new songs so we can get familiar with them before the show. Also, I'm very pumped that Daniel Lanois will be the opening act. He's the one who wrote The Maker, which Dave covers and frequently becomes one of those perma-repeat songs for days at time. So, I'm very hopeful that there will be some sort of appearance of the song. The song is so beautiful it makes me teary sometimes.
"...from across the great divide, in the distance I saw the light..."
Posted at 8:22 AM
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Tuesday, July 27, 2004
- Just started a little blog site for the upcoming trip to Alpine! Advice on info to put up there?
I'm WAY too excited!!
Posted at 2:15 PM
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- The camping weather forecast so far. Warm, but so far no rain predicted. Woohoo! Hopefully it doesn't change.
My friend Kim, as it turns out, has a ton of camping equipment, so I'll be borrowing some things from her so I don't have to buy anything. Perfect!
Can I please quit my job now? It's so beneath me, yet I still suck at it. I really am a terrible secretary. Why do I come day after day to subject myself to this mental Chinese water torture and why do they take me back day after day to deal with me? I just need to win the lotto, and we'll all be happy.
Posted at 8:38 AM
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Monday, July 26, 2004
- Oh! Two things that I forgot to mention...
One, I found out that Jonathan married that girl he dated right after me. He's a lawyer now in Atlanta working for a federal judge. Not bad!
Two, I had the absolute strangest dream last night!! I dreamt that Donald Trump and I had some sort of weird fling or something that happened pre-dream (Thank God, I don't want to experience that!!). However, he was married, and if he was proven to have cheated, his prenup would be void. So, he determined that he had to kill me so he wouldn't be out several billion dollars. I kept trying to play dead so cleverly, but it made no sense. Like a 25 year old girl would randomly collapse and die for no apparent reason and no one would check to verify that she was actually dead! Finally, he took me to a pool at Trump Tower and was very nice and sweet, apologizing for having to do this, and gently held my head below the water. I tried to fight it at first, but then I realized somehow that I could breathe underwater as easily as I could breathe air. So, I feigned a weak struggle that slowly tapered down until I went limp. He waited around for a little while, and I just floated there quietly. Finally, he left, and I quickly hopped out of the pool and headed out into the stores of the Tower. Suddenly, I spotted him coming back to the pool area, and I tried to blend in with the crowd and pretend I was just shopping. When I looked back again, I realized that he had indeed seen me. I ducked into a Victoria's Secret, hoping he would lose me in the crowd, but no, he walked right up to me and started talking about which bras I should be trying on. It was freaky! That's when my alarm went off. How friggin' weird is that??
Posted at 12:55 PM
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- I had a nice weekend. Friday night, we went out with Laura and Jason. They're the ones who just got married up in NC in May. We had a blast! We went to dinner and then on to bowling. The bowling itself was pretty fun. I came in last both games we played, but I don't care. The highlight, however, came when we heard some off-key howling from the bar. We returned our nifty shoes and headed over to the bar. Lo and behold, it was kareoke night at the bowling alley, and any image you can conjure up of what the experience was like I'm sure is true. It was truly awesome. Person after person went up there to humiliate themselves unwittingly. If someone actually sang in tune, we were genuinely impressed and gave them a round of applause for not insulting the song. More often than not, however, it was a parade of stereotype after stereotype. The guy with the boots and belt buckle who thought he was Garth Brooks, the huge, large-breasted black lady who thought she was Aretha Franklin, the tubby trailer girl in a mini skirt who thought she was Britney, it was just endless entertainment. Each person was more tone deaf than the next. Half of them were stiff as boards. My favorite was the guy in the cowboy hat whose hand never left his pocket, eyes never left the screen, and voice never waivered from a slightly less enthusiastic than neutral tone as he sang some real rousing country tunes. The other half attempted to make up with style what they lacked in talent. One woman resorted to adding in a "WOOP! WOOP!" whenever she could to engage the obliging audience as much as possible.
Neither Laura nor I drank more than one or two drinks throughout the night, but Andrew and Jason split four pitchers over the course of our stay at the bowling alley and each had about four beers before getting there. Needless to say, they were quite wasted. It was so much fun, though! I'd definitely do it again.
After seeing all of these people go up there and do this to themselves, it made me wonder why the hell I'm so embarrassed about my voice. I've never sang kareoke (with the exception of the pitifully unfunny rendition of Brady Bunch I did with Lane at Anika's birthday party back in high school in front of all her dad's doctor friends), and I don't think I'll ever get the guts to do it either. I was the one who had to hold back tears during rehearsals for one of my shows when I had to sing four lines of a song that wasn't even supposed to be good. I have a singingphobia. One of my goals is to actually go through with auditioning for a musical. I can't think of anything more terrifying that standing up in front of a group of people and singing.
Saturday, most of the day was spent nursing Andrew's predicted hangover. We were supposed to get a lot done, but that didn't quite happen. I baked some of his favorite chocolate toffee bars for a party I was going to that night at a friend's house. We kept half the batch, and took the other half over. It wasn't until an hour or two before the party, though, that Andrew determined he was well enough to go!
It was a pretty good time. This house was the ultimate bachelor pad. It had a pool table, foosball table, pingpong table, stolen road signs, and beer lamps. I was hoping to get Andrew back for his drunkeness by getting drunk myself, but it didn't quite happen for some reason. I guess I only had three drinks. Oh well. There was a lot of absynthe at the party (the legal kind), but I couldn't stand that strong licorice flavor. The stuff was strong, though, so a lot of people got pretty wasted. We decided to play poker, and I actually won for the first time! Woohoo! My best hand: 4 Aces!! Wow! I won a huge pot for that because two other people each had straights, so they each thought they were sure to win and kept throwing in money in the pot. I just sat back and watched with glee. Too bad we didn't play for real money!
Yesterday was our work day, picking up the house that has been sorely neglected. It seems like we're always so behind on housework. We've been gone so many weekends this summer. We finally got it an acceptable level of mesiness yesterday. I'm going to be doing some actual scrubbing and cleaning during the week to make it un-nasty, and then I can live with the rest until our next free weekend, which is August 14-15, I believe.
I just got some updated pictures of Robert, Jennifer and Michal's adorable little boy. He's so cute I could eat him up. (1,2,3)
Posted at 10:15 AM
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Friday, July 23, 2004
- I found the perfect thing for Andrew. I had found a great wooden knight a while back, but the auction expired while I was on vacation, so I didn't win it. This I found now I think is even better! His birthday is August 2, so time is really ticking away. Even if I won this, it may be a little late. Anyway, I wish it was appropriate to email all the bidders and tell them, "Hey! I really NEED to win this. Please stop bidding and let me take it. Thanks." Yeah, that would work. :(
UPDATE:
Some idiot "laurnat" felt he needed this thing more than I did and felt compelled to show off to me how much more money he had to spend on it. Asshole.
Posted at 3:54 PM
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- OK, it's super long, but whatever. Stole this from Erin who stole it from someone else. Some of the things are stupid, but a lot are cool.
Bold everything you've done. Then, at the end add five more things - three that you've done, two you wish you've done.
01. Buy everyone in the pub a drink.
02. Swim with wild dolphins. I've swam with dolphins, but I guess they weren't wild, so no.
03. Climb a mountain
04. Take a Ferrari for a test drive.
05. See the Pyramids at night.
06. Hold a tarantula.
07. Take a candlelit bath with someone.
08. Say 'I love you' and mean it.
09. Hug a tree
10. Do a striptease.
11. Do a bungee or parachute jump.
12. Visit Paris.
13. Watch a lightning storm at sea.
14. Clean behind the fridge.
15. Stay up all night long, and watch the sun rise
16. Ask the/a question you've always been too embarrassed to ask.
17. See the Northern Lights.
18. Go to a huge sports game - football, rugby, baseball, American football, etc.
19. Create your own masterpiece. Not sure what this means, but I've done several drawings I've been very proud of.
20. Grow and eat your own vegetables.
21. Touch an iceberg.
22. Have an office relationship.
23. Sleep under the stars.
24. Compromise.
25. Change a baby's nappy/diaper.
26. Take a trip in a hot air balloon.
27. Watch a meteor shower.
28. Get drunk on champagne.
29. Take a luxury holiday. Although they were all on someone else's dime.
30. Give more than you can afford to charity. Well, I don't know. It doesn't seem like I can't afford it, but I found out that I contribute more than most of the professors here who make four or five times what I make, so I guess they'd say it's more than I can afford.
31. Look up at the night sky through a telescope.
32. Have an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment. I don't know why my reaction to Andrew yelling at me is smiling and laughing. I'm not finding it funny, but that's what I do. Doesn't help dig me out of the hole much!
33. Have a food fight.
34. Bet on a winning horse.
35. Take a sick day when you're not ill. Umm...yeah! Hello?!
36. Get a pet.
37. Ask a stranger out.
38. Have a snowball fight.
39. Photocopy your bottom on the office photocopier.
40. Scream as loudly as you possibly can.
41. Hold a lamb.
42. Enact a favorite fantasy.
43. Take a midnight skinny dip. I've always wanted to, but never have.
44. Hear the words 'I love you'.
45. Fly on Concorde.
46. Take an ice cold bath.
47. Have a meaningful conversation with a beggar.
48. See a total eclipse.
49. Ride a roller coaster.
50. Hit a home run. If you count the Home Run Derby I decided to join in on last week on Lake Ontario. Andrew and John set up the rules. I have hardly ever swung a bat in my life. After many, many strikeouts, I finally did hit a home run! Doesn't exactly count, but I'm proud of it anyway. I impressed the boys! :)
51. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days. What is this supposed to mean? Maybe I have. How am I supposed to know?
52. Dance like a fool and not care who's looking. I need to do this to get myself dancing at all!
53. Adopt an accent for an entire day.
54. Visit the birthplace of you ancestors.
55. Have a grand romance with costumes and everything.
56. Made up a screen-name to stalk someone.
57. Gone shopping for no reason.
58. Actually feel happy about your life, even for just a moment.
59. Just be held.
60. Have an adventure where nothing goes as planned. Spring break '01 we were supposed to take a roadtrip from NC to Philadelphia to NYC to Boston and back. A huge snowstorm came through and Giuliani declared that NYC was shutting down! We ended up doing NC to Philly to Poughkeepsie, NY to Buffalo to Pittsburgh and back and staying with my future in-laws! Fun as hell, though.
61. Kissed someone you truly wanted to kiss.
62. Went clubbing and thought to yourself "I could out-dance them if I wanted to." Hells yeah!
63. Called your relatives by their relationship in another language. Considering my relatives all speak another language, this one was not hard to do!
64. Have two hard drives for your computer.
65. Cuddled.
66. Visited all 50 states.
67. Love your job. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!
68. Taken care of someone who was shit faced. Umm, yeah. Jennifer got so trashed junior year that she had to go to the emergency room and everything. I rode in the ambulance with her and stayed with her in the hospital to the next morning.
69. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
70. Have amazing friends.
71. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country.
72. Swim during a formal.
73. Stolen a sign.
74. Backpacked in Europe.
75. Taken a road-trip. Oh yes! College ruled! DC and DMB Roanoke freshman year, Charleston sophomore year, Northeast senior year, and a bunch of other little trips.
76. Rock climbing.
77. Nose piercing.
78. Midnight walk on the beach.
79. Sky diving.
80. Visit Ireland.
81. Saw what you wanted and did all it took to seize it.
82. Fell in love then fell harder and faster from heartbreak.
83. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had lunch/dinner with them.
84. Visit and/or tour Japan.
85. Bench press your own weight.
86. Stolen from your parents.
87. Alphabetized your records. I don't know how I manage to be so disorganized with my anal tendencies
89. Pretended to be a super hero. I wore a red cape to school once and wore it the entire day.
90. Sang karaoke.
91. Made someone cry for no good reason.
92. Lounged around in bed all day.
93. Posed nude in front of a room full of strangers.
94. Dressed sexy for no reason.
95. Got it on to "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye.
96. Kissed in the rain.
97. Played in the mud.
98. Played in the rain.
99. Gone to a drive-in theater.
100. Done something you should regret, but don't regret it...
101. Visited the Great Wall of China.
102. Fell in love with a job that has nothing to do with the degree you're pursuing.
103. Discovered that someone who's not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog.
104. Dropped Windows in favor of something better.
105. Started a business. I hope to!
106. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken.
107. Toured ancient sites around the Mediterranean.
108. Taken karate.
109. Sword fought for the honor of a woman. I did in a play once, actually!!
110. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight.
111. Got married.
112. Been in a movie
113. LARPed
114. Loved someone you shouldn't have.
115. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy.
116. Got divorced.
117. Had sex at the office.
118. Surprised yourself with a talent you didn't know you had.
119. Been to Macchu Picchu
120. Gone without food for 5 days.
121. Got a tattoo.
122. Lived outside the U.S.
123. Memorized a poem.
124. Successfully performed an inverted yoga pose.
125. Lived life deliberately. Huh?
126. Kissed a crush out of the blue.
127. Learned from my mistakes.
128. Made friends with the unlikeliest of people.
129. Told someone in no uncertain terms what you thought of them.
130. Got up one morning and decided to take a trip and then took it.
131. Made a promise and then carried through.
132. Designed a website.
133. Made a souffle.
134. Spoke at someone's funeral.
135. Been honest when it was not in your favor to do so.
136. Swanned around on a yacht.
137. Done the Rio Carnevale.
138. Got a diving licence.
139. Been to Tibet.
140. Been published.
141. Met someone famous.
142. Devised the Internet and e-mail protocols at work, and got them accepted as official company policy.
143. Had sex al fresco.
144. Done the Camino de Santiago, on foot or on horseback, all the way.
145. Won the lottery. I won $10 on a scatch-off ticket last week! :)
146. Shaved your head No, but I helped my roommate shave her head!
147. Rode a horse bare-back
148. Witnessed a birth
149. Gone to a convention Of what? Umm, yeah, I have been to one, I suppose
150. Hiked the Grand Canyon
151. Traveled overnight by train from Spain to France.
152. Given birth
153. Worked at Disney World.
154. Visited London.
155. Driven cross country.
156. Had sex while another couple had sex in the same room
157. Had a vasectomy
158. Appeared on an album
159. Played on stage with your musical hero
160. Celebrated Mardi Gras in New Orleans
161. Recorded in a studio
162. Lived alone
163. Lost 20 pounds in a year
164. Boxed
165. Ran for public office
166. Wore braces.
167. Played a saxophone.
168. Dumped a friend over a boyfriend/girlfriend.
169. Wrote a letter to Santa.
170. Learned to play piano.
171. Climbed the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty. Only to the observation deck.
172. Had an interracial relationship.
173. Played an instrument in an orchestra.
174. Run off to Hawaii
175. Give myself completely to a man & not lose myself.
176. Competed on a game show
177. Seen your future in someone else's eyes
178. Won a trophy
179. Made a career out of your hobby
180. Created something truly unique
Posted at 1:22 PM
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- I had an awesome workout yesterday. Well, actually, it was downright painful. I did an arms and abs workout that I used to do just fine all when I was on my regular routine months and months ago. Picking it back up for the first time today made me realize how long it's been! My abs were killing me! I was even doing that shaking and jerking around thing coming up for my sit ups and crunches toward the end! Afterward, however, I felt great. Revitalized! It's carried on even to today. I feel good. I need to keep this up. I forget how great it is. I'm only slightly sore when I expected I might be dying today. Feels good.
I still can't believe it's official that Anika is coming to Alpine. Woo! Too bad she missed the official Bong T-shirt ordering deadline. :)
I hope work doesn't kill my good mood today.
Posted at 9:09 AM
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Thursday, July 22, 2004
- Nancies is down still! I am resourceful enough to keep myself entertained for a day or so, but really, this is pushing it!
I'm just about ready to book Anika's plane ticket for her! Turns out she's doing the whole Wisconsin trip with us now! Woohoo!! Now I need to find her a lawn ticket for Night 2, and it will all be set! Now I'm extra, extra excited about this trip! DMB, travelling, Nancies, Lane, and Anika all combined. Doesn't get any better than that. As long as I master the camping thing, it's going to be heavenly.
Andrew's brother got a job yesterday! He's been looking since mid-May, so he's breathing a sigh of relief. He'll be working at one of those more advanced kind of daycares. He will actually be designing lesson plans and organized activities for the kids, rather than just babysitting like a lot of daycares. He loves kids, so he'll enjoy this job. His long term goal is to become a school psychologist like his dad. He is working for now to get out of debt and be able to afford to go to grad school for it. Unfortunately, he thought for a while about being a pharmacist, and got halfway through pharmacy school before he decided for good that he absolutely hated it. Money and time lost. Oh well. Hopefully he's getting on the right track now. Good thing is that the place is only two miles from his parents, so it's easy for him to keep living at home and save up the money quicker.
Today marks Day One of Andrew and I's (I've never known if that was right. I's? I know almost every other stinkin' grammar rule, but I've never been able to figure that out out. "Andrew's and my" maybe?) renewed commitment to working out. I hope we can work something out that we can stick to!
Posted at 8:47 AM
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Wednesday, July 21, 2004
- Oh my gosh. I found this funny, yet horribly depressing website. It lets you compare your salary to that of celebrities. DMB is actually on the list. If you could pretend that they worked 40 hour weeks, they'd be making $19,500 an hour!! Wow. That's, uh, many times more than I make an hour. It also lets you watch this little counter that let's you watch you and the celebrity earning money. DMB has already made $1000 just since I opened the website a few minutes ago. Wow.
Posted at 9:48 AM
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- YAY YAY YAY!! Looks like Anika is coming to Alpine now!! WOW! A Trinity high school reunion out in rural Wisconsin. Never imagined that one. Oh my gosh, this is going to be a blast!!
Now I need to figure out all these logistics. I'm sending out a million emails since Nancies had to be down today of course! I need an extra campsite! I need an extra tent! I need an extra lawn ticket for night one!
So exciting!! :D
Posted at 8:40 AM
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Tuesday, July 20, 2004
- Yesterday, I got the book I had ordered about starting your own home-based/online business. I'm going to read it in the hopes of receiving some inspiration and motivation (as well as useful info, obviously!) I go through cycles where I get all pumped up with the idea and then I get scared to death. I'm so afraid of failure. I'm afraid of investing money and time and not having it work out. I'm afraid of it not taking off after months of working 8-5 and then putting in three or four more hours afterward. I'm so skeptical of all my ideas. I'm skeptical that anyone is really going to buy anything I could make or use any services I could provide. Even if people do buy, would it be enough to live on? I hate that I'm full of these fears because they are so defeatist and I know I can never get anywhere if I'm afraid to try. However, knowing how many businesses fail, I know it's unrealistic to go in all gung-ho and not think that it could end badly.
Problem is, I'm not wanting this for extra cash or anything. I want it to replace what I'm doing now. I'd have to become very successful in order to make that kind of profit. I don't want extra work. I want it to be my work. I want it to be my work because I want flexible hours and time off. I want to know that I can drive down to Orlando at a moment's notice for an audition, knowing I can work on whatever needs to get done when I get back that night or the following day. I want to be able to take three day weekends from time to time. I want to not have to answer to anybody. I want to make decisions that seem appropriate. I don't want to do anyone else's work but my own. I want to get a check and feel like I earned it. I want to do something that is mine and not someone else's. Is this possible? Am I dreaming, or is it attainable? Do I have what it takes? I just don't know.
Posted at 1:38 PM
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- I have uploaded the pics from my vacation up in Lake Ontario. I took over 70 pictures, but I only uploaded the better ones. They can be found here. It was such a pretty place. Looking at this pictures sitting in this gray office makes me want to go back so badly. Thank goodness I have so many other things to look forward to in the next few weeks.
Last night I was horrified when I finally decided to look at the nutrition information on the box of some frozen wings we like to cook when I'm too lazy to cook. We apparently eat two serving sizes each and get over 60% of our daily allowance of fat from it. Ouch. Looks like we're going to have to start checking that kind of information out when we buy those things. Too bad, because they're so good. We'll still get them, I'm sure, but we won't have them nearly as often.
Fortunately, I don't have to worry to much about my weight. I weighed myself this morning and I still weigh what I weighed when I got married three years ago, so I'm obviously doing ok with weight maintenance. Andrew has gained a bit, however, so I need to be thinking about these kinds of things. Fortunately, he loses weight fairly easily. He just has to pick up the exercise routine a bit more and I need to stop feeding him so many wings! The strange thing, though, is that while my weight has remained constant, I have gone up in clothing size. I feel a bit larger, too. Not quite sure how that has happened. I guess it means I'm in worse shape than I used to be. I really should pick up the exercise more. I was so good about exercising several times a week last year, and I have only done it a handful of times at all this year. I don't know why it's so hard to get started on an exercise routine. It's such a pain at first, but once I got into it, I began craving the workouts. I really did feel great. I should pick it up again. I keep saying I should, and I don't.
Posted at 8:41 AM
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Monday, July 19, 2004
- My sandals just broke. I wear these stupid things all of the time. Argh!! Do I have to go shopping now for replacements?? Bleh. I have to walk around all day now with broken sandals.
Posted at 4:09 PM
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- I'm back! Oh my goodness, what an amazing vacation. So restful and peaceful. I'll have pictures up by tomorrow so you can see how beautiful this place was. Imagine a two-story house built in the late early 1900's on a secluded, wooded lot overlooking a lake so enormous it feels like an ocean. Then, imagine sitting just outside the back porch under blue skies and breezy 70-degree weather with a sketch pad on your lap and a glass of wine at your side. That was my week, my friends. So wonderful. It doesn't get much better than that. It just doesn't.
Also, I must add for those of you who know me well, I actually read a book. A whole book cover to cover. That's the first time I've EVER done it for a book that wasn't assigned for school. Hell, even counting the books that were assigned in school, it probably only makes it the second or third one in the past ten years. It was The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. I was entrhalled with the first half of the book. I LOVE her writing style. However, it kind of fell apart for me halfway through, but I kept reading in hopes it returning to the quality of the first half. It didn't quite. Oh well. I still really enjoyed it. I think I should check out her other books.
So I'm back, and it's painful. I forgot how messy the house was when we left it. Also, that smell that we had worked so hard to get rid of when we moved in was back from having the air conditioning off for the whole week. Weird smell. Also, yeah, work sucks. I'm so glad I have several more little trips in the works, or else I'd be thoroughly depressed. The bad thing about doing these things I enjoy so much is that it makes me more keenly aware of how much every other thing I do dissatisfies me. Oh well!
I have so much to post, but not much time to do it right now. I have a lot of catching up to do from being gone. I'm STILL not through all my email. Eek!
Posted at 10:30 AM
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Friday, July 09, 2004
- Alright, everyone. I'm off!! Hooray! I'll be a week without internet access or cable TV, and I couldn't be happier! Hope everyone has a fabulous week. I'll be back on Monday, July 19.
Posted at 11:54 AM
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- Melting Pot last night was heavenly. We had a coupon that got us a four course meal for $25 each. So, we took advantage and ordered the Surf & Turf. I haven't ordered lobster in ages! Yum!! We had the cheese fondue appetizer, salad, filet, lobster, vegetables, mushrooms, and the coup-de-gras, the chocolate fondue dessert. Mmm!! The only problem was that we stuffed every last bite in that we could. Even the waiter was impressed with us and gave us a "Good job!" looking at our empty plates. We paid for it when we got home, though. We were supposed to pack last night, but we could barely move. We were painfully full.
I didn't sleep so well last night, and I'm thinking it was probably from my digestive system having to work overtime. I guess I was tossing and turning because I remember Andrew asking me last night if I was ok, and I realized that all my sheets were off and I was sweating. Eww. I kept waing up for what seemed to be every hour after that until it was actually time to get up.
So, I'm leaving this afternoon for a 12 day vacation and I still haven't packed a single thing! I'm getting out of work a little after noon to get things ready. I can't wait! I'm so excited about this vacation!
Posted at 9:38 AM
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Thursday, July 08, 2004
- I have recently gotten into some old Billy Joel music after seeing Movin' Out on Broadway. We got his Greatest Hits 3-Cd set, and I love the first disc of his early stuff. Anyway, I got goosebumps listening to Piano Man today on the way to work. I sighed with the line:
...but there's someplace that he'd rather be.
He says 'Bill, I believe this is killing me,'
As the smile ran away from his face
'I know that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place.'
Yeah, yeah. Just caught my attention, as trite as it sounds. And I listened to the depressing stories of everyone else in the bar as I have a million times. Stories of people who are stuck in lives they are not satisfied with. I don't connect with the utter despair, the sense of being completely lost, but I sympathize and identify nonetheless and feel the song.
So I was thinking of all of these little vignettes in the song when a nice revelation occured to me. I felt bad for the bartender who wanted to be an actor, because I could tell he would never get out. I knew none of the other characters would find what they were seeking either. However, there was Billy Joel, singing about his being part of the scene.
They drink at the bar
And put bread in my jar
And say, 'Man, what are you doing here??"
So it's always been very clear that this song is very autobiographical. It's actually the very first hit Billy Joel ever had. It is the song that launched his career. So it's a song about despair, being stuck in a rut, and yet it hit me that HE made it. It suddenly became inspirational to me. Gave me chills. Interesting. It's a song sung by a man on the brink of discovery, just before he accomplished what he dreamed he would. Makes you think.
Posted at 3:04 PM
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- Well, I don't think I'll be able to bid on those premium Tampa tickets. Oh well.
Last night Lucky must have pulled something going down the stairs because all of a sudden he yelped and started crying. He hardly moved at all last night. He just stood frozen in a position as long as possible, whimpering the whole time. It was the most pathetic thing! I didn't know what to do! This went on all night. He has never just stood and cried about anything like that before. It was breaking my heart. It's just so stupid though. This kind of thing has happened before. After we had had him for a few months, he started stretching and he pulled something then too. We had to take him to the vet and he gave us some anti-inflammatory stuff or whatever. We have some leftover, so we're just giving it to him to see if he gets better. We're trying to avoid having to take him in because I swear, we have to take him to the vet like every other month. Come on! He's a mutt! He's not supposed to have allergies and joint problems. He's only three years old, too. What's it going to be like when he's old? We weren't bargaining on all of this when we adopted him for "free." He's lucky he's such a nice guy, because I'd get awfully sick of pouring away all my money on him.
So Andrew and I leave for vacation tomorrow. I can't wait. I have a lot to do before I leave, but it will be so nice to be gone for a whole week!
Tonight, Andrew and I are going to the Melting Pot. Mmmm! I've been looking forward to going there for so long. We went for our anniversary last year and we decided to go again. So good. Those desserts are to die for.
So, I've been a married woman for three years now. It's funny. It seems like my wedding was just last year, but it also feels like Andrew and I have been together half of my life!
Posted at 8:34 AM
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Wednesday, July 07, 2004
- A review from the DMB show in Boston last night!
It sucks that I have to put up with all this boredom on my anniversary. Remember when the world was supposed to stop for important days like this? Remember when you were a kid, even if you were stuck going to school on your birthday or something, everyone was supposed to make a big fuss about it? I hate that now you're supposed to pretend like it's nothing. Oh no, I don't care that it's my anniversary today. Of course I can sit through three and a half hours of boring training surrounded by idiots after hunting for a parking space in downtown. Of course Andrew has a big exam tomorrow that he has to study all night for. No, no, why should I care? It's just another day. In the adult world, no, I shouldn't really care. I mean, really, it is just another day on the calendar if you think about it. Things need to get done. But really, it would be so nice if everyone cared. If my boss came up to me at noon and said, "You know what? Why don't you skip the training and head on home to your husband and give him the surprise?" If Andrew's professor said, "Oh! I didn't realize I scheduled your exam for the day before your anniversary. How about you switch cases with someone else?" Of course, that would be ridiculous. I still wish it weren't, though. I should be given a free pass on my birthday, too. When I got on the plane on the way home this year on my birthday, they should have said, "Oh, Happy Birthday! We'll bump you up to first class." Remember when you were a kid and it was the biggest deal? Even if you were stuck at school, the teacher would announce it was your day and everyone would make a big fuss.
I'm so spoiled. I'm spoiled as hell. Last night I was sitting on the couch all depressed, thinking of things. Thinking about the future, what the hell I'm going to do. I kept feeling like someone is supposed to swoop in and say, "Oh no, Rosalie, you shouldn't have to worry about all this. Here, I'll give you what you want." I think part of me is amazed that more than two years of this nonsense has gone by and no one has come to fix it for me. It's not even so much that my parents did everything for me, because they didn't. The nice thing was that everything I hated had a beginning and an end, and it was all part of some progression. I hated my Accounting class in college. I struggled to make a C. It was hell to get up for it every morning. It was hell to show up to each test and keep flipping pages searcing desperately for a question I had a chance of knowing the answer to. I hated it. However, it started in August and I knew it would end in December. And I was done. The greatest prolonged suffering I had was the dreaded C on my transcript, which lowered my GPA. Besides that, it was a footnote in my life. I can always say I took the class, and that was that. The next semester I would sign up for something else. Here, there is no one pushing me along. There is no end in sight. A few more months does nothing toward any sort of goal. I just sit here earning my paycheck. I've never had to endure 28 straight months of the same thing 40 hours every week of anything. This is all brand new, and nothing is intervening to say, "This part is done, now, onto the next thing."
So what am I to do? If I really wanted to do something different, I guess I could, but the problem is I don't want to do just ANYTHING. That's the trap I fell into here, and unfortunately, a change of pace from year to year is no longer an acceptable way to climb up life. If I want to find that perfect, thing, though, I'm going to be stuck here another two years.
God, I always come back to this subject, but it's so frustrating to me. I've never had to just deal with something for this long. There was always something I could do, or all I had to do was just wait it out. I don't think I should wait out an entire four or five years of my life, though. Ugh.
So my dad talked to me some more about the starting-my-own-business idea. I'd have to go for something web-based, I think. Since I'm only going to be in Gainesville another two to three years, it's not worth the tremendous investment and risk. I came up with two ideas. One, is being a sort of art broker online, like an internet art gallery. The nice thing is, I wouldn't have to have any inventory. I would just offer my services to different artists. If they wanted $200 for a painting, I can charge $275 or something, and keep the $75. The artist has no risk, and I have no risk if I don't sell it. However, I don't know if I could ever get that kind of business up to the level of it being able to be my full-time job that earns me as much as I make now. The other idea is to market some of my own designs. The downside is that I would have to make a larger capital investment and keep an inventory of things. The advantage is that I could also sell my products to retailers, etc. I don't know, though. I'm so afraid of risk. Part of me can't see how I could possibly make the same amount of money as I make now doing these things. Who knows, though. I ordered a book yesterday about marketing and selling your arts/crafts. I'll see how feasible it all sounds. The nice thing is I can keep this job and start either of these projects part time until it seems like it's taking off enough for me to quit my job. The spoiled part of me wishes I had a quick fix. I don't know if I feel like cancelling all of my free time and having to take a longer hiatus from acting to see if this works out. Bleh. I don't know. Sometimes I realize this entire situation is my fault. I'm allowing myself to stay stagnant out of fear. But then again, how risky should I be when I have a mortgage and a husband in school? Ugh. When did life get so complicated? Why can't someone just discover me and stick me into a movie or something?
Posted at 11:04 AM
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- I found out the name of that phenomenon that I was describing yesterday of those smears of intense color sitting above the storm. It's called iridescence, and there is a whole beautiful gallery of images of it here. However, it seems that there are different looks to it. The ones I saw looked most like the top half of this picture. It was truly an amazing sight!
So today is our three year anniversary. Unfortunately, we can't celebrate today since Andrew has a big presentation/oral exam tomorrow. He is taking a forensic psychology class, and he is due to give a mock testimony in front of the class today. The professor will role play as the lawyer of the opposing side who tries to disprove his claims for or against the defendant. It's pretty cool, but it's got to be nerve-wracking since he has to do it in front of the entire class and he has no idea what the professor will ask. He just has to memorize the case so he knows everything about it. The whole forensic psychology thing is interesting anyway. Basically, he can testify as to the amount of brain damage someone may have, whether or not someone is competant to stand trial, whether someone can plead insanity, etc. Pretty cool. The nice thing is that he can do this kind of thing on the side to make extra money. His professor does it, and when you have to testify, the lawyer will pay you over $100 per hour! Nice!
So today, I'm going to do some badly needed gardening, some laundry, and pack for our trip. We leave Friday afternoon. I can't wait! A whole week off of work. How glorious!
I have a training session today from 1:30-5:00 all the way in downtown. So stupid. I'm going to have to go and find someplace to park down there. I hope they don't expect me to pay parking! Bleh.
Posted at 8:14 AM
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Tuesday, July 06, 2004
- Just because...here is a list of all the songs I've heard Dave/DMB play live and how many times:
#41 (3)
All Along the Watchtower (3)
American Tune
Angel (2)
Angel From Montgomery
Ants Marching (5)
Bartender (2)
Bathtub Gin
Butterfly
Crash Into Me (4)
Crush (4)
Cry Freedom (2)
Dancing Nancies (2)
Dodo
Don't Drink the Water (5)
Drive In, Drive Out
Everyday (4)
Fire
Fool in the Rain
Fool To Think (2)
Grace Is Gone (3)
Granny
Gravedigger (2)
Grey Blue Eyes
Grey Street (2)
I Did It (3)
If I Had It All (2)
Jimi Thing (7)
JTR (3)
Last Stop
Lie In Our Graves (2)
Long Black Veil
Lover Lay Down (2)
Loving Wings
Maker
Oh
Oh Sister
One Sweet World (5)
Pantala Naga Pampa(3)
Pig
Rapunzel (3)
Recently
Rhyme & Reason (6)
Satellite (4)
Say Goodbye (2)
Sleep To Dream Her
So Damn Lucky
So Much To Say (2)
So Right (2)
Solsbury Hill
Some Devil
Song That Jane Likes
Space Between (2)
Spanish Moon
Stay (3)
Stay Or Leave
Stone (2)
Sweet Up and Down
Tell Me Something Good
Thank You
Too High
Too Much (3)
Tripping Billies (3)
Trouble
True Reflections (3)
Two Step (5)
Typical Situation (2)
Up and Away
Up on Cripple Creek
Warehouse (2)
Waste
What Would You Say (2)
What You Are (4)
When the World Ends (5)
Where Are You Going (3)
The vast majority of the songs I haven't heard, I have no hope of EVER being played again. Heck, there's a handful that I've never even heard a recording of because they are so rare. However, notable songs missing from my live list that I have hopes for are...
Minarets
Seek Up
Best of What's Around
Halloween
Dreaming Tree
You Never Know
I know I'll get the five new songs (Crazy Easy, Joyride, Hello Again, Sugar Will, and Hmm) in one of the two concerts. If I ever get any of the above six, I will be ecstatic!! My holy grails of the DMB catalog.
Ok, I know no one cares about any of this, but whatever. I was curious.
Posted at 12:13 PM
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- Oh my God. I think I just screwed something up big time. I forgot to photocopy the tests for the class of 275 students, and it's today at 12:30. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! There's nothing I can do but sit here and watch the copier go at this point. Watch it and pray no errors occur. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!! Hurry up! 275 copies stapled front and back! Eek!! Hurry hurry! Faster faster! Shoot, I may be in big trouble.
Update: Looks like they'll be done just in the nick of time. I calculated the average time per copy, and it looks like they'll be done with ten minutes to spare. *Whew*
Another update: I did my part and got the test booklets to the TAs. The TAs, however, completely forgot to get scantrons. They are panicking now. Wow. I'm so glad it wasn't my screw-up!!
Posted at 11:35 AM
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- I had a great weekend. It was so hard to come back. I hadn't hung out with my family in a long time. Friday night, my mom had a lasagna ready for us, and then we all watched my dad's latest DVD, Timeline. I fell asleep as usual. Saturday, I went out with my Banana Republic giftcards and bought these pants, as predicted, as well as two other tanks. Afterward, he saw Spiderman 2, which I thought was not nearly as good as the first one. It had less of the action stuff and more story development, which I usually like, but a lot of the lines were really cheesy and comic strip-like, which I guess was the point. In any case, I now have a larger crush on Tobey Maguire. I'll add him to my "list," now comprised of Dave, Jude Law, Heath Ledger, Brad Pitt, and him. Random, I know.
Sunday, we headed down to Stuart to Uncle Ricky and Aunt Janet's house. My grandmother wasn't there as I had hoped, but there were a lot of family I hadn't seen in a long while, including my cousin Jennifer with with her little baby Robert. Oh my goodness is that ever a cute, cute baby! It's not just because he's related to me either. It was almost a surreal experience to see Jennifer, the girl I literally grew up with, with her own little baby that she brought into the world. She looked like a natural. I got the baby itch again, but I was also tremendously intimidated at the same time. I don't know how I'll ever feel completely ready for such a committment. I think it's just one of those things that I'll have to decide just to do some day. So, it was a day filled with food and babies, as one of my dad's cousin's also had a baby a few months before Jennifer. It was a really nice time. We left early enough in hopes of catching the fireworks show back in Winter Springs, but the weather had different plans. I'm thinking the celebration might have been cancelled. It was such a crazy storm. We were all witness to the strangest weather phenomena any of us have ever, ever witnessed with our own two eyes. First of all, we could see the storm up ahead as we were driving back. We were under clear skies, but all of a sudden, a tower of black clouds rose so very, very tall. The strangest thing, though, was that at the very top, there were these amazing colors sitting just above the thick clouds. They looked like smeared rainbows or oil slicks in the most brilliant of colors. It was an absolutely incredible sight. I tried searching all of the internet to see if I could find out what they were! If anyone knows what this is called, let me know! It was incredible. We got home, and the thunderstorm continued. Thunder shook the house, etc. We looked out the windows at one point, and everything was yellow. It's weird, but it happens every so often when a storm is waning in the evening. It was cool to see nonetheless. But then, the yellow eventually turned into red. Everything was red. It looked like Mars out there. We were so amazed by it that we went outside. Everything was red, like we were wearing red sunglasses. Every house, every inch of our bodies, everything had a red hue. We looked up over our house and there was a FULL rainbow that stretched across and touched the horizon on both sides. I had never seen a full rainbow before. Andrew, Bobby, and I just stood out there, marvelling at the sight of the full rainbow in red light when all of a sudden an enormous bolt of lightning crawled its way through the cloud right above our heads and spread across the sky, weaving a giant spiderweb that stretched as far as the eye could see, followed by a very loud, rumbling noise that vibrated in our chests. It was the most stunning thing any of us had ever seen. We all screamed at the sight and agreed we should probably run back inside. WOW!! It was incredible!! Never have any of us seen such sights, and all in the same day!!
Yesterday, I went back to the mall and spent all of my Ann Taylor Loft giftcards. It was so fun to spend money that was already spent for me! I found lots of great stuff. I almost have a new wardrobe I had so much money built up between Christmas and my birthday! Afterward, we went to see the Notebook. Oh, SO good. The ultimate tearjerker. It was awesome. Loved it. Had myself a good cry. It was a beautiful movie. It was a romantic movie, but it went beyond the typical boy meets girl and live happily ever after. It showed the end too, and how it isn't always glamorous. Oh man. I won't say anymore so as to not give it away, but it was refreshing to see a movie about love that stretches beyond two beautiful, young kids in love. So beautiful.
And now, I'm back. Bleh. I have a report due in a little while, but I've been writing about all this instead. Whatever. *sigh* This job isn't what my life should be about.
Posted at 8:47 AM
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Friday, July 02, 2004
- I'm bidding on eBay for this thing for Andrew's birthday. Some bitch keeps trying to one up me every so often. I hope I can get it. It looks perfect for Andrew! I've never done the eBay thing before, though. How do I find out if I win and what do I do? I'll ask my parents, I suppose. They buy everything off of there now, it seems.
Posted at 1:04 PM
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- R.I.P. Marlon Brando
He was such an amazingly talented actor. His work was literally part of my studies as an actress for his movies like Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront. He introduced a new style of acting to the screen. What he did was amazing. It is unfortunate he was his own undoing as well. It's so sad to read that article on his life, because, despite his fame, the acclaim he has received, etc., you get the sense that he could have been even greater.
Posted at 11:44 AM
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- I had this terrible dream last night that I was in Israel and there were all these shots being fired, bombs going off, rockets shooting across. It was so stressful. I felt like there was no where I could run. I ran down the street away from gunfire, only to have to turn around and run away from an explosion. I ducked into a bar, and all these people were packed in there and having a good time like nothing was going on, even though the place was shaking from all the explosions. I couldn't believe that they were that used to the violence.
We're heading to Orlando today after work. I'm so glad to be having a long weekend. I realized that I had no good 4th of July outfits, so I went to Old Navy to see what I could find. I always think I'm going to find a ton of things I love in that store, but I'm always disappointed. I don't know why. All of the time I see other people wearing the cutest things, and they tell me they bought it at Old Navy. Yet, when I go, I can't find hardly anything I like. Maybe I lack Old Navy vision. Anyway, I did get this in red, which was pretty cute, though I don't know if it's nice enough for the family function we're having on 4th of July. I don't know about grandmas and haltertops, you know? We'll see.
I have gone out more times than I can count to buy pants. I can NEVER, EVER find pants. First of all, there's all this capris obsession right now. I can't even hardly FIND full-length pants anymore! Since there is nothing but a sea of capris at Old Navy, I figured I might as well try a pair on and see how they look. I've done this repeatedly, as if somehow I'll magically like how they look on me when I never did before. Never. I look ridiculous in capris. I'm completely the wrong shape for them. My hips are too wide and my ankles are too skinny. I look like a freak. Even the supposed tapered ones are strange, because I have to buy them to fit my hips/butt, so they assume that means that my legs must be proportional in size. Wrong. They fit so wide at the bottom. I just look ridiculous. I'm not being picky. I'm just really the exact wrong shape for them. So what am I to do when there is hardly anything else being sold? It's hard enough to fit a properly fitting pair of pants in a full pants market, but my choices are even more limited now. It's been months that I've been trying to find a pair of pants. I have enough black pants, and I have one khaki pair. That's it. If I had white pants to wear with the shirt I bought, for example, instead of jeans, I'd probably be able to go to the party that way. Fortunately, I have collected a ton of gift cards that I received for Christmas and my birthday that I haven't used yet. I'm hoping I can go to the mall tomorrow and buy a nice pair of Banana Republic pants I'd never be able to afford otherwise. Like these would look cute!
Wow, did I just really go on and on about clothing and shopping?? Weird. I so hate it.
So, what I meant to get started on talking about is that we are heading down to Orlando for the three day weekend. On Sunday, we are driving down to Stuart, which is where my Aunt Janet and Uncle Ricky live. There is going to be a ton of family there, like my grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins, including Jennifer's little baby Robert. I can't wait to meet him! I keep hearing about how wonderful he is! Apparently he is quite the cutie and gentleman. Here's a picture of him when he was just a few weeks old, and I've heard he's gotten quite huge, so he will look totally different. I'm so excited.
Posted at 9:07 AM
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Thursday, July 01, 2004
- So far, the Tampa premium tix have not budged from their opening bids while the West Palm Beach ones have soared to $510 already. There is a whole week left, but I can't help but check it every hour. I know it's such a long shot, but I'm just so damn excited about it. I forgot to say that my brother called me and then put my dad on the phone so that I could beg him to help us have a little more buying power for the tickets. Funny. My dad said he'd help out some, but didn't think it would be worth it to pay a fortune. And no, as much as I would LOVE it, I can't convince myself to spend a ton of money on the tickets. I'm hoping for a bargain relative to what they usually go for. Since the other two Florida shows are weekend shows, I'm hoping those will overshadow Tampa. I checked out some past bids. The cheapest premium seats I saw went for $220 for a pair in Utah, which is NOT bad AT ALL!! The most expensive I saw was a pair of front row tickets to see Dave and Tim at Radio City...get this...$7900. WHAT?? WOW! I can't believe people have that kind of money. In any case, I'm in my daydream, much like my phases when I start researching how much it would cost to spend a week in Ireland with Andrew and other such fantasies. In my daydream, the tickets go for that $220, I sell my regular tickets, and stand a few feet away from Dave for the second time in my life. Ahhhh...
Yes, I'm an idiot.
Posted at 3:40 PM
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- Yay! All of my documents from my fried computer have been restored! Woohoo! Thank you Computer Guy Pete!
Also, I just remembered that I dreamt I was pregnant last night. I was so happy that everyone was so happy, even though it was unplanned. I looked at my slightly larger belly and felt so very nice.
Posted at 12:23 PM
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- Yay for my first PT-free day!! Good riddance. The office is in a terrific mood this morning, and we're all gushing over the new lady. I hope she stays as nice as she seems! We're all so happy. She must wonder what is going on when we keep making comments about "the guy who was here before" and rolling our eyes.
Happy Hour was fun last night. We were there about two hours, which is the shortest we've done yet. Kelly's boyfriend just got accepted into law school here, so she was heading off to celebrate with him and his friends. Very exciting. We're going to get together again next week before I leave for my vacation.
Can I say how excited I am for this vacation?? Oh man, I can't wait. This summer has so many fun things!
Another day with the new computer. I better hear today about the status of my old files. I really, really hope they can be restored, or else I have a lot of work ahead of me!
Posted at 8:29 AM
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