Random Musings...
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
·Goodbye, 25!·
- 25 was pretty good to me. Kind of sorry to see it go. I kicked it off in NYC. During the summer, I spent a week in Lake Ontario, and then experienced the greatness of Alpine after a great DMB concert in Tampa. Our offices moved to this new, bright location, and it has made such a difference in my mood at work. My job sucks just as much, but it bothers me so much less. Yeah, we got hit by a hurricane or two...or three (ARGH!), but besides some water damage in three of our rooms, we didn't do as badly as many in our state. DMB actually came to this tiny town and I sat so close to the stage I could have reached out and touched it. We had our first Halloween party at home. We took our first trip to Savannah. I also developed the idea for my business, which has been slow in developing, but I swear it's really coming. I spent Christmas in Venezuela, New Years in North Carolina, and two days in between in Puerto Rico baptizing my wonderful, little Robert. We had our annual Super Bowl party. We took our second trip to Savannah. Unfortunately, I spent almost all of March and April completely and utterly sick, but I made up for lost time with our incredible trip to Italy. Holy crap. When I take inventory of it like that, I have really, really had an amazing year!! Don't think I can top this one!
And to cap it all off, Andrew gave me the most unbelievable sex last night to end my first quarter century with a bang. No pictures of that event. Sorry. ;)
Posted at 3:02 PM
Comments... Post a CommentI was reading all enviuos and then...read the sex comment and literally laughed outloud.. with 3 gus in here talking. Somehow, I don't think explaining the outburst would be anything they would EVER understand!!!
Posted by: 1:55 PM
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·Happy Birthday To Me·
- And it's raining like crazy out. I figured it's just typical, crazy Florida weather that would disappear ten minutes later, so I'm wearing a light, flowy skirt and a white tank top. However, this gloom and rain is sticking with us all the way through tomorrow! Weird!
I had a good weekend. Andrew, Bobby and I stayed up here on Friday and went to see Star Wars. I LOVED IT! It redeems the last two travesties that bore the name. I really enjoyed it. I'd love seeing it again. We went up to Orlando Saturday afternoon and met up with my parents who just got back from Vegas. We went out to fondue, which was yummy, and watched The Aviator on DVD, another great movie.
Sunday was my honorary birthday. In the afternoon, we went out to see the Interpreter (so many movies this weekend!) which was pretty good. However, when we got back home, we had a very big surprise, but not the cool birthday kind. Duke had managed to get out of his cone and ripped out his stitched and managed to chew his tail down to the bone AGAIN! We had to be leaving in 45 minutes for my birthday dinner at Benihana! My parents ended up having to take him to the doggy emergency room, and Bobby, Andrew, and I had to go on without them to meet up with Anika, Jackie, and Andy for dinner. It really sucked not to have my parents there, especially since they were picking up the tab, but it was nice to see everyone else who I hadn't seen in a while. Dinner turned out to be very fun.
Yesterday, we had the typical Memorial Day. We went swimming in the pool, goofing around like children, followed by hot dogs, etc. It was nice. We then decided to whip out the home videos and watched my 1st birthday through my third. It was pretty funny. After blowing out my candles on my 2nd birthday,I threw my arms up in the air like I was Rocky, and exclaimed, "HAPPY TO YOU!!" So, for the rest of the day, it was my Happy-To-You.
So, Happy-To-You! I get Andrew's presents when I get home today, along with a couple of other packages I got in the mail. Then, dinner. I love these multi-day celebrations!
Posted at 9:58 AM
Comments... Post a CommentIs it your birtday and i didn't even know it???
I feel like the very bad friend!
HAPPY B DAY!! Hope you get your wish!
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Friday, May 27, 2005
·Baby·
- You know, for being as baby crazy as I've been lately, I'm sure scared to death of them. One of the profs just asked me if I could watch his little 3 month old for ten minutes while he goes and gets something from the car. Here I am wondering what I'm supposed to do. Stare at her? What if she cries? How do I make her stop? I'm such a dork. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with ten minutes alone with such a tiny baby.
Posted at 3:10 PM
Comments... Post a CommentI forgot to update this. It actually went REALLY well! I fell in love with this little baby. I made her laugh so hard she was squealing and kicking!
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·Blah, Blah, Blah·
- There is hardly anyone here in the office today, so I think I'm going to try and see what I can figure out for my business. It's been at a complete stand-still, and it's driving me crazy. I REALLY, REALLY need to get the ball rolling on this. I suck. I wish money grew on trees so that I could quit this job to concentrate on building this business. It's so hard to do both. I need to get more motivated. I was hoping to start in June. Not happening!
As to the questions about why Duke would chew off his own tail, we really don't have any idea. Normally, it would point to some emotional disturbance. However, unless he just suddenly snapped, I'm not so sure that would be the case. He has never done anything even approaching this in his 12.5 years. The only other possibility the vet offered was that he might have been bit by something like a spider or whatever. It freaked him out, and he started chewing and chewing and didn't stop. Either way, it's weird. The only other thing I was able to come up with that I only thought of last night so we haven't been able to ask the vet about was that he has been put on pain medication for problems with his hip within the last two weeks. (What a stupidly long sentence. I don't feel like correcting it.) I wonder if the meds have made him loopy or something? It's worth asking about. We certainly don't want a repeat of this episode. In the meantime, he can't do anything about it. He has to wear that big cone for two whole weeks!
Posted at 8:35 AM
Comments... Post a Commenttotally time for the dog whisperer! ;-)
how scarey though! i have inherited two dogs (my boyfriends) and one, abby, the beagle, licks INCESSANTLY. Random stuff too...like the carpet or the couch. She's crazy. But i love her nonetheless!
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Thursday, May 26, 2005
·Jon Stewart·
- I had a dream last night that I was married to both Andrew and Jon Stewart. I was rather impressed with myself for snagging a celebrity. I thought how cool it was that I could brag to everyone that I get to sleep with Jon Stewart. However, somewhere in my mind, I realized that I didn't quite remember ever meeting him, so I didn't know how much I should say about it. I rationalized it by thinking to myself that he is a celebrity, so he doesn't have much time for me. I was then thankful I had my normal husband Andrew to be the good husband and just kept Jon as my trophy husband. Weird. And now, since that dream, I find myself strangely attracted to him when I really wasn't before!
Posted at 12:18 PM
Comments... Yeah, I have those strange dreams and attractions. The worst is when you have a dream about someone you really know! and then you have to see him. and when you do see him you think "in a dream I had sex with you...and it was good"
ewwww.
Hey Rosalie!!!
I'll be coming to Gainesville the week of July 10th!!!! Hopefully we can FINALLY meet ;-D
Posted by
ARE YOU JOKING?? What on earth brings you here?? It's IMPOSSIBLE for you to be in this tiny town and not see me. We're going out to Dragonfly, best sushi around! It's a date! DMB is in Tampa that week, and I'm heading down. Are you going?
i have weird dreams...in fact i recently posted about one in the midst of my doing that music poll pass the baton thing-a-ma-jigie.
anyways, this is the real reason i'm commenting: i was wondering if the vet told you WHY your dog would do something as scarey as bite his own tail off? like is it some sort of emotional thing or was there some sort of physical reason for it? I'm glad to hear that he's doing better though, and i hope the room cleaning works out well. *hugs!*
Post a CommentI was asked to do a work detail in Washington DC (I work for the fed govt). As part of that I'll be tagging along on a Civil Rights Compliance Review for the state of FL. Our State Office is in Gainesville but I'll also be traveling to several other areas of the state (I'll know my itinerary soon).
WOOO HOOO!! I'm so excited to finally get to see you!!! And I've never been to FL before so I'm excited for that! Frizzy hair here I come!!!
PS Hmmm ... DMB in Tampa. I would love to see them there but I'll have to find out my itinerary first.
Posted by
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·Musical Baton·
- Jay tagged me for a little music questionnaire that has been floating around. I don't think I'll have the most interesting answers, but since I've never been averse to wasting space with useless information on this blog, it'll fit in nicely! (If you scroll down on the links I gave for each song, you can hear a clip of it)
Total volume of music on my computer: At home, I have maybe 40 songs that I downloaded a really long time ago, mostly in college. I still listen to those songs from time to time. I'm not supposed to have anything downloaded to this one at work, but I do have exactly 19 songs.
The last CD I bought was: DMB's Stand Up. If I don't get David Gray's Sell Sell Sell this weekend for my birthday, though, I'm just buying it myself.
Song playing right now: REM's Can't Get There from Here (from Eponymous)
Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me: (in no particular order)
1. REM's Find The River. I don't listen to this song very often, but everytime I come back to it, it gives me chills. It makes me tear up. Beautiful, beautiful song. People always mention other songs on this album, but this one is all tucked away at the end and feels like it's just mine. When I went to see REM in '95, I remember Michael Stipe walking up to the microphone and saying, "We've never played this song in a show like this before, but since we wrote it here in Orlando, we thought it was fitting..." and then they played it. I could not believe it. Magical moment.
2. Blind Melon's Time. For several years in high school, Blind Melon was my absolute favorite band. This was the song I had on repeat the most. Something about the way it builds I remember just thrilling me. I remember being in my room, listening to this as loud as I could, and thrashing about in my glorious teenage angst. There are a bunch of other Blind Melon songs that *almost* tie with it, but this is probably most representative of that time.
3. En Mi Viejo San Juan. I know it's extremely unlikely that any of you have ever heard it, and yes, it sounds a bit dorky, but it holds a special place in this Puerto Rican's heart. It's about a Puerto Rican living in the U.S. being nostalgic for Puerto Rico, especially Old San Juan. Old San Juan is one of the most beautiful places in the world, in my opinion. The architecture is gorgeous, and as a child, I remember flying kites and riding my big wheel all around El Morro, the 500 year old Spanish fort there on the edge of the coast. Beautiful memories, and this song takes me right back to those days.
4. Come Rain or Come Shine as performed by B.B. King and Eric Clapton. This was the song Andrew and I danced at our wedding. It's a beautifully simple song that says in the simplest words what marriage means to me. I remember the feeling as we walked into the room after being announced. We walked in, and Andrew grabbed my hand tight and raised it high above our heads as everyone got on their feet and cheered. With as many plays as I've done, this applause was by far the most poignant as I looked around the room at everyone important in my life. The song started and Andrew grabbed me close and it was as if everyone else melted away and we were left singing to each other.
5. Ok, you knew I couldn't get this far without a DMB song. It feels nearly impossible to narrow down a DMB song that is most significant to me. There is a DMB song that speaks to me for every mood and in different stages of my life. It seems ridiculous to pick. If I *had* to pick, I guess it'd be Warehouse. The reason is because, in my memory, it's the first song that really seemed to sink into me layer by layer. It's an incredible song lyrically and musically. I remember listening to it and just getting it more and more everytime and being blown away by how much I didn't hear before. It's what really opened me up to DMB as more than just a great band. Honorable Mentions that pain me to call them mere Honorable Mentions: #41, Pig, Bartender, Dreaming Tree, You Never Know, Lie In Our Graves, and Dancing Nancies.
Wow. It was amazingly difficult to narrow down which songs mean the most to me. Shows me how much I love music. My answers actually weren't so bad. I didn't realize how much I would have to say about those special songs.
I'm supposed to tag five other people to do this, I think, but I think most people I know have done this already or have been tagged. I tag Jennifer, Erin and Anika.
Posted at 8:41 AM
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Wednesday, May 25, 2005
·The Pictures·
- Here are the pictures of the aftermath of Duke's morning...
Duke and his new "collar"
Duke and his "new" tail
The Crime Scene (I especially liked the walls)
Close Up of the evidence (notice the shreds of hair!)
Posted at 6:57 PM
Comments... Post a CommentDuke's a Sheltie as well. He's a little bit large for the breed, though, so he was sold to us because he couldn't be a showdog. I think he's perfect, though...well, was perfect. :(
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·WHAT A HORRIBLE MORNING!!!·
- What a terrible, terrible morning. Bobby came up to stay with us this week and brought along Duke and Toby, our two dogs. Well, when we woke up this morning, we found that Duke chewed off a whole chunk of his tail!!! Unless he swallowed it, we're going to find a big chunk of it somewhere. The room where he did it looks like someone was murdered. I'm not even kidding. I've never seen so much blood before. It was ALL OVER. All over the carpet, all over the walls. Just everywhere!! It nearly made me faint to see. It was like a scene from a horror movie.
So we rushed him to the vet. He chewed off so much that his bone is very exposed. They are going to have to ampute another several inches off of his tail so that they can find enough skin to cover. He is in surgery right now and will be done around noon.
I can't believe this all. I'm so freaked out right now. We have no idea why this happened. I wish I didn't have to be at work right now. If I hadn't been gone from work so much lately, I'd be at home. There isn't much I can do about Duke right now, but I could at least be dealing with this room, although honestly, we're going to have to call professionals. There is no way this can be cleaned with my carpet stain remover. I don't even know what to do about the walls! Ugh. I want to throw up.
Posted at 9:35 AM
Comments... Post a CommentJust heard from the vet. He is fine and recovering now. They only had to take off two inches, which is great news! Once his hair grows back, he'll look almost back to normal!
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Tuesday, May 24, 2005
·Comments·
- I finally decided to ditch the HaloScan comments. They were driving me crazy, but I hated to lose all of my old comments. Oh well. Fresh new start.
I can't get them quite how I wanted them to look. It looks like it just displays comments in the main page. Actually, though, maybe I prefer that. We'll see if I get sick of it or not.
Posted at 11:12 AM
Comments... Post a CommentI want so bad to play around with my blog. get a new look, add fun new things.
but I suck at this stuff, so I am left with simple. not at all a cool mama blog I want.
sighhhhhhhhhhhh. yours is nice. and I like hoe the new comment work
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·Another Quarter-Life Crisis?·
- My sister-in-law Rebecca is a very gifted poet. She has won several awards for it (including one national one) and is considering putting a collection together for publication, maybe even some grad school. I have read some of her stuff, and it actually is that good. It's interesting, because when I think of a poet, I think of a brooding misfit, depressed and too deep to relate with other people. Rebecca is not this way. She's fairly introverted, and she did go through a phase when she had spiky, colored hair, but she really is delightfully...normal. She gets along great with the family. It was a bit difficult to get to know her at first for me, but now we get along very well too. She has a fantastic relationship with a great guy.
I find this so interesting because you meet her and then you read her poetry, and you are just astounded by the thoughts and words in her head. I'm suddenly so intrigued by her, looking back on the weekend we spent with her. I find myself looking back on it all and wondering how it is that she sees the world around her. It's like this whole hidden layer of her that must be there the whole time. To be a poet, I would imagine that you have to really take in the world around you on a much deeper level than most. I imagine that level of observation is always with you. What words would she use to describe me? What words does she use to describe her love of Nathan? What images did she have of the weekend?
Thinking of all this reminds me to a certain extent of how I used to be. I was never a poet or a very deep artist. Nothing like that. However, as an actress, I did have a different way of looking at the world. I was much more observant. I thought a lot more about emotions and ideas. I look back to myself when I was Rebecca's age, and, though I don't think I was ever like her, I remember being more like that. I think that's why I keep thinking about her right now. I feel an old part of myself connecting with her.
It's hitting me that I've lost some of myself in the last several years, and I'm not sure how or why it happened. Is it because I'm older? Is it because I'm happier and no longer searching for meaning in my life? Is it because I'm bored and not exercising my mind like I used to? I don't know, and I don't know how to get it back, or even if I should. I've noticed over the course of the past year that I'm less dissatisfied with my job. I'm more at peace but also more complacent. I haven't thought lately about my life and what it means. I'm planning for the future, but do I know how that future fits in with what I *truly* want. I might have forgotten what that is.
Times flies sometimes. Seeing Rebecca start her new life was exciting, but I felt like I wish I could grab her and beg her to take advantage of everything she could and dream big. I'm only four years out. Four years is not a long time at all, but I'm beginning to see how quickly I have frittered away my time with things that don't matter to me. In theatre and acting terms, I've zipped by a lot of what should be my most marketable time. I've skipped an entire window of my potential career. I've moved into a new age bracket without realizing. Not only have I wasted time in my acting, but I wasted it without gaining momentum elsewhere. This age is supposed to be about spreading the wings I've been developing my whole life, but I'm exactly where I was when I was pushed out of the nest.
Posted at 10:48 AM
Comments... Post a CommentI often feel this way. I Really did before the baby. Now I want to rush out and tell everyone that yes all of those things are cool, do stuff for yourself and things you enjoy and make the most out of life...my teens went by so fast but my 20's are slipping away even faster. But the real fun starts when you have that little person who thinks you hung the moon. It makes the here and now so joyful. I know now that my greatest potential is my mommyness...
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Monday, May 23, 2005
·Random·
- Random: Andrew and I saw Robert Reich at the Cincinnati Airport yesterday. We felt like dorks for recognizing him, but at the same time, he is completely and unmistakably recognizable if you know who he is!
Posted at 1:06 PM
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·Skidmore·
- We had a great time at Rebecca's graduation. We finally got to meet her English boyfriend, Nathan. He is SUCH A GREAT GUY! I used to just hope and hope that they would break up because it sucks that Rebecca would probably end up moving to England with him, but after meeting him, I'm hoping they get married soon! I found myself being disappointed that he didn't propose right there on this trip. He was very easy to get to know and so friendly and funny, but best of all, he makes Rebecca just glow. It's funny. I've known her for six years now, and of course, she's done a lot of growing up, but I've never seen her so happy and comfortable in her own skin.
It was fun to get away from the now permanently hot and muggy weather, but yesterday, the weather in upstate New York took an unexpected turn, and I ended up wearing sandals in 40 degree rainy weather! In late May?? I like cool weather, but I thought it was a bit excessive since I'm already in summer mode down here. Saratoga Springs is beautiful, though. The town itself is so cute. The Skidmore campus is relatively new (mostly built in the 60's), but they did a good job of keeping it lovely, seemingly tucked away in the middle of a forest.
The graduation was super long. All three of the keynote speakers were great. It was cool to see Tim Russert! As we walked up to the site of the graduation, it hit me, though...Saratoga Performing Arts Center=SPAC. It hit me as soon as I saw it. I'm such a geek that I instantly thought of how DMB plays there almost every year, and Rebecca received her diploma right where Dave stands.
My brother is coming up this afternoon to spend the week with us. My parents are in Vegas for the week. My dad is there for a convention, and my mom came along for the ride. My dad is supposedly going to resign from his Chair position. We'll see if he actually goes through with it! So, since Bobby has nothing to do, he's coming up to do nothing with us, which is fine. He's a very low maintenance houseguest. Just show him to the PS2, and he's set!
Posted at 9:42 AM
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Thursday, May 19, 2005
·Thank You for Calling, and Have a Great Day!·
- I just re-recording our main greeting for the auto-attendant when I'm not able to answer the phone. We got a couple of new options for the menu, so I had to redo it. Since it's so long, I had to try over and over like ten times before I finally got it so I didn't stumble over words and/or sound like a moron. Now, I'm so very chipper. On a whim, on the last attempt, I crowned my lovely performance with a "...and Have a Great Day!" I think people are going to begin preferring the auto-attendant instead of getting the real me, who gives a whole lot of attitude to stupid people who are a waste of my time.
Posted at 3:26 PM
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·Ouch·
- Now that it's summer, the fitness classes schedules have changed. I've always gone to the Southwest Rec center for all of the classes. My routine is that I show up half an hour early to work on the machines, usually StairMaster, and then go on to the class, whether it's the half hour Abs & Glutes or Pilates. Unfortunately, the summer offerings at Southwest aren't quite as good, which leaves us with having to go with the original, far less attractive rec center in the middle of campus right next to the Stadium.
I had checked out a map of what looked like the most convenient way to get to this rec center, but what the map didn't tell me was that that whole area of campus is made up of one-ways. We gave up and parked in this parking lot, walked around some construction, and finally made our way in. We checked into the class and then went to locate the machines. When I walked in, a student worker stopped me. Umm, I was a little confused. I had my student-spouse ID and I had my towel. What was the problem? "You need sleeves to work out." HUH?? Am I the only idiot that hasn't heard of this etiquette?? I wanted to blurt out, "But...but at Southwest..." I looked around and spotted three people with their t-shirt sleeves rolled up to their shoulders and one girl with a tanktop with cap sleeves that just *barely* covered her shoulders. "Would you like to check out a shirt to wear?" The thought repulsed me so immediately that I spit out, "NO!" and turned around. Has anyone heard of such a rule? I don't see what the rationale is for needing sleeves to work on a StairMaster.
So we sat and waited for the Pilates class. The instructor we had had before just graduated last month, so this was a girl we had never had before. She wasn't as good at explaining things as the other girl. I've been doing Pilates for a while, but some of the exercises were different, so I got a bit lost. Plus, she picked all of my least favorite exercises all rolled into one workout (they rotate which ones they do so it's a different set every week) and added one that nearly killed me. You start off in the upward facing dog position, which means you're lying face down and then push up and straighten your arms so that your legs are still laying flat, but from your hips up are up in the air. Then, you had to stay in that bent shape and start rocking, dipping you chest down with your legs flying up. Up and down, up and down. Not the most comfortable exercise in the world. Stupid too. I hated that one.
Needless to say, I'm pretty sore this morning!
Posted at 8:37 AM
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Wednesday, May 18, 2005
·AI·
- Oh, and I'm officially in love with Bo.
Posted at 11:34 AM
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·Italy·
- On Thursday, April 28 right after work, Andrew and I drove down to Orlando to meet up with everyone before our morning flight the next day. It was great to see everyone, especially my grandmother who I hadn't seen since before the New Year. The next day, we flew to Newark and then on to Rome. The flights were uneventful and not all that intolerable, considering we were flying for over 11 hours. For the long flight, we had those little personal interactive TVs that have different movies, TV shows, and games, so that was pretty nice. We were supposed to get some sleep since we would be arriving a little before 8am in Italy, but I can never sleep on planes, so I had to do the first day on zero hours of sleep.
Saturday, April 30--ROME/VATICAN CITY
We didn't even have a chance to catch our breath when our sightseeing officially started. We knew we wanted to see the Vatican Museum, particularly the Sistine Chapel, but it is all closed on Sunday, so we had no choice but to hit it first thing in the morning when we arrived. A van came to pick us up at the airport and with our luggage and all, took us directly to the Vatican.
The guide given to us by the company my dad hired sucked (Seen here in the lower right corner). He was so disorganized. We showed up early and had to wait for him to show up. The line to get into the Vatican Museum was obscenely long. Honestly, it was very, very easily over a mile long. It kept winding and winding all along the old city walls and we never did see the end of it. I have never seen anything like it in my life. I'm wishing I had taken a picture of it. We felt so lucky that we had reservations to get in with our guide. He finally showed up and said that now we had to wait in line. Umm...what?? What was this about reservations? No, no, apparently it would have been fine if we got there earlier. Umm...we were there 20 minutes before he ever showed up. We were so pissed off and my dad was muttering about firing this stupid company. The guide's solution was to cut in line. So there, in the holiest of places, we cut in front of people who had been waiting for hours and hours. I felt terrible about it, but I accepted it because it wasn't my fault the guide screwed up and I'm sure no one else in that line had just gotten off a plane with no sleep for over 24 hours.
I'm glad I had seen the Vatican twice before because it really is a gorgeous place, but I was so cranky due to the lack of sleep and the ridiculous crowd of people. The Pope's recent death had brought millions here who wouldn't normally be here at this given time. It was so crowded. Even when we reached the stunning Sistine Chapel, we were like sardines, all staring up to the ceiling, and moving across the room like a mass herd. We had some guards clapping our hands at us urging us to keep moving. Fortunately, we were able to stake out a back corner of the chapel to stare up and marvel without being pinned to the smelly hoards. I felt bad for Andrew that this was his first time, but he said that he still enjoyed it very much, because it really is stunning.
By the time we were out of the museum, the crowds had died down, fortunately. We were able to see St. Peter's Cathedral in relative peace. It truly is a gorgeous place. Andrew said that you don't need to be Catholic to be in awe of it. It's truly incredible. We came by a small chapel within the large cathedral that is reseved for quiet prayer. No cameras. My grandmother held me by the hand and said she wanted me to come in and pray with her. It was very moving for me. We walked into this gorgeous little space, hand in hand, knelt together and prayed side by side. I knew what she was praying for and why she wanted me there. I sometimes struggle with what exactly it is that I believe, but that moment was a powerful moment that I will hold the rest of my life.
As we walked out of the cathedral, we noticed a long line to visit Pope John Paul II's tomb which had been opened just a handful of days earlier. Once again, the guide cut us up toward the front of the line, and we waited for about an hour. His tomb was strikingly simple, given all of the splendor we had just witnessed in the museum and the cathedral. We walked by the tombs of older Popes with statues of themselves resting on their coffins. John Paul II's was completely different. All it was was a white marble case with his name etched on top. That was it. Only a small plant adorned the site. Before I had time to think about what I was looking at and before my grandmother could even finish crossing herself, a guard clapped his hands at us and told us to keep moving in about five different languages. Oh well. We can say we saw it!
From the Vatican, we zipped over to the old ruins in the center of Rome. We saw the Coloseum, of course, as well as the old Forum and other sites along there. Although I had seen them before, it was exciting to see it with Andrew for his first time. He was completely fascinated by it all, and I became more fascinated experiencing it with him.
Finally, we were pretty much done for the day. We were taken back to the hotel. Everyone else went to sleep, but Dad and I went to go get the rental car since we still had the hired van who could take us to the airport. We got a pretty comfy seven seat Fiat minivan. Now, I had noticed already that driving in Rome was a tricky situation, but it was just insane! First of all, the street map of Rome looks like a giant, intricate, crazy web. No street is straight and they randomly turn into one ways with hardly any warning. Add to that the crazy city drivers and it's scary. Throw in the millions of scooters that weave all around you with no concern at all for their lives, and we nearly had a heart attack. Somehow, we made it back to the hotel unscathed. TIME TO SLEEP AT LAST!!
Sunday, May 1--ROME/CATACOMBS/ADRIAN'S VILLA/VILLA D'ESTE
Somehow, we all managed to get up at a reasonable hour without any wake up calls or anything. We had been warned the day before that this day was a big Italian holiday and that no businesses would be open. We walked along the beautiful streets of Rome, but they were nearly deserted. We figured we'd just walk around, but we ran into this guy who sold us on a glorified taxi service that we could hire for the day to take us to various sites outside of Rome. I'm glad we did it, because we saw some really great things.
Our first stop was the Catacombs. I had been there once before years ago, but it was so interesting to me this time around on a whole different level. These catacombs represent the very earliest stage of Christianity starting less than a century after the crucifixion of Jesus. After seeing the power and grandeur of the Vatican just the day before, it was interesting to see these underground sites tucked into the beautiful rolling hills on the outskirts of Rome. It really struck me that these people were true believers. These Christians risked their lives to come to this place and descend deep into the earth to worship. One of the earliest chapels is still intact, a tiny, simple room with some scribblings on the walls. Then, we walked by what seemed to be miles and miles of old tombs. It was really something to see this labyrinth. Though it was dark, eerie, and crude, it struck me perhaps more deeply than even the Vatican had.
We then headed over to Adrian's Villa, a small Roman town a little over 200 years old. It was incredible to walk in and around these old ruins, especially because some were remarkably intact. We had a great time exploring and trying to figure out what each building was used for before reading the signs.
From there, our driver took us to one of the most fabulous lunches any of us had ever had in our lives. If any of you are ever going to be around Rome, please do not miss this place!! It's a family owned restaurant tucked into this tiny, old, little town right on the edge of a waterfall. We even had an old Roman temple right there next to our table. (I wish the picture had turned out better!) We found out that the woman who came to take our order was the owner, and she walked right up to our table and greeted us as if she had known us her whole life. At one point in the lunch, she and my grandmother shared a hug. It was wonderful! All we were able to say was whether we preferred meat or fish. Once we stated our preference, that was it, and all this marvelous food just came to us. It was just outstanding! The setting was perfect, the weather was perfect, and the food was divine.
We wanted to linger in the glory of this spectacular meal a while longer, but since we were paying the driver by the hour, we headed out to Villa d'Este as soon as we were done with dessert. This is an amazing old Villa from the 1700's that is most known for its spectacular fountains. The owner had diverted a waterfall to go through his property so that all of the fountains were powered purely by gravity. No pumps whatsoever. It was truly a sight!
After that, we were dropped back off in Rome. We decided to wind down the day by walking around and catching a few more of the major sites before beginning our road trip the next day. We visited the Spanish Steps, which unfortunately was not as impressive since the cathedral at the top was under renovation. (These are big tarps painted to look like the building behind them.) It was also incredibly packed! We walked over to the famous Trevi fountain, which was equally mobbed. We knew we had to go there because the legend goes that if you throw a coin into the fountain, one day you will return to Rome. It's worked for me twice already, so I beieve it! ;)
Monday, May 2--ROME TO TAORMINA (Drive:470 miles)
We woke up bright and early and packed ourselves into the van. With all of the luggage it proved to be somewhat of a tight fit, especially for poor Bobby sitting the very back seat all by himself, but it turned out to be ok. We knew what our drive to Sicily would be like, but getting out of Rome proved to be the most difficult part of all. We got desperately lost trying to leave that crazy city! Finally, though, we were off, experiencing the famous Italian autostrade. Italy was the first to build these interstates, and they were the model for the autobahns in Germany and ultimately our own interstate system in the US. It was much, much nicer to be driving on these and the craziness of the streets of Rome melted away to beautiful order. Very, very fast order, but order nonetheless. The Italian countryside is gorgeous, and we marveled at all of the old towns perched high up on the mountain tops.
We drove all the way to the tip of the "boot" and drove right onto a big ferry that took us over the two mile stretch of water to the island of Sicily. The ferry was super crappy and we had many a laugh over the whole ordeal, especially a run-in with the vending machine on board. (Reenactment during the ride back) Andrew wanted a chocolate bar, so slipped his money into the machine, but nothing came out. It was at that time that we spotted one of two paper signs on the machine. The first said that if there is a problem, find an attendant for assistance. So we dutifully went and found a guy who came over, gave it a glance and proceeded to unplug the machine and return to his post at the onboard "bar". Ummm...ok. That was when we bothered to read the second sign that stated that the ferry is not responsible for any malfunction of the machine. Great. We joked that this was our first run in with the Mafia. They've resorted to stealing change from unsuspecting tourists. Andrew and my Dad went back over to the guy to complain about the lost money when somehow they ended up being sold on this cheesy, tiny little teacup that read "AMERICAN DAD" across it with a few small pieces of chocolate inside. They came back laughing so hard that it all happened so fast in Italian that before they knew it they were doling out more money for terrible chocolate in a cup especially designed for stupid American tourists! (Maybe you had to be there)
We made it to our beautiful hotel before sundown which over looked a small bay next to the medieval town of Taormina.
Tuesday, May 3--AGRIGENTO/PIAZZA ARMERINA (Drive: 280 miles)
We woke up early to drive to Agrigento on the southern coast of Sicily. We were all amazed at what a beautiful drive it was. (Dumb picture, but trust me, it was gorgeous!) We didn't expect Sicily to be so lush and green.
We went to Agrigento since it is the site of one of the best preserved Greek temples in the world. It was very pretty. The setting of it all was beautiful with the town of Agrigento perched on top of the hill on one side and the sea at the bottom on the other. There were lots of other great ruins on the site, including one that was tons of fun because you were allowed to go all around in it. It was an old temple in much worse shape that the other one, with fallen columns and walls, but it was just as much fun to see.
After we were done exploring there, we drove to Piazza Armerina, which is the site of an ancient Roman villa that is known for the largest and most well preserved area of mosaics. Pictures can not do the site justice. The mosaics were breathtaking. To think that they had been laid there thousands of years before was incredible.
We drove back to our hotel and had enough daylight to think we could try and visit the old town. We had to turn around! The only road into the tiny town was so steep and it was gridlock traffic hour! It was too much for the big, standard transmission minivan, so we had to turn around. We found out that the hotel had a complimentary shuttle service into town, so we decided to take that in the next day. We spent the remainder of the day in our rooms relaxing.
Wednesday, May 4--TAORMINA/MARATEA (Drive: 236 miles)
We woke up early and took the hotel's shuttle into the town of Taormina. It's a really gorgeous little town. We had a great time just walking around its old streets and quaint shops. It's built up on a mountain that juts right out of the ocean, which makes for some stunning views of Mt. Etna and the coast. The greatest site there was an ancient Greek theatre built right there on the point. It was so much fun to explore.
We headed out back to the mainland close to noon, crossing back over on the ferry again. Our plan was to get to the ancient ruins of Paestum, but when it became clear that we weren't going to make it in time, we decided instead to drive to beautiful Maratea, right on the water. We had no hotel arrangements for the night, but came across a great little one by luck. It was so cute and perfect...until we went to bed. You could hear everything in the place! The woman coughing next door, the train going through the tunnel every half hour, every flush of every toilet in the building. There was someone who decided to take a shower at 3am, and it sounded so loud that it might as well have been someone showering in our shower. Actually, as I lay there staring into the darkness, I thought to myself that the place is possibly haunted and it was, in fact, a ghost showering in our shower. It seemed the only reasonable explanation for why a shower would be so loud in your own room. Instead of being freaked out by the idea, I actually found myself thinking of getting out of bed and kindly asking the ghost to come shower after we check out in the morning...or at least use a ghost showerhead that doesn't have screeching pipes.
Thursday, May 5--PAESTUM/POSITANO/SORRENTO (Drive: 157 miles)
Despite the adorable quaintness of the place, we were all relieved to be checking out early that morning. We drove out to Paestum, an absolutely enormous archaeological site full of ruins not only of the temples, but also of the foundations of the various buildings around town. It was neat to get a sense of what these towns were like and walk along the same streets people walked along over 2000 years before.
From there, we got in the car to drive to Positano along the famous Amalfi Coast. The road is a very narrow, very winding road along the coast on the side of rugged mountains. It's barely enough to fit two-way traffic. Whenever a bus or a truck is coming in the opposite direction, things have to stop and an interesting negotiation takes place to see how you get by. It was scary at times, but well worth it. We drove through tiny little towns that we built nearly vertically up the mountains that dive straight into the water. We arrived to have lunch at Positano. This little town is so famous in movies (Think Talented Mr. Ripley for one), that we expected it to be cooler than it was. It was nice, but a bit cramped for our taste. Everything was at an incline, which made it hard for my grandmother to walk around, and the streets were narrow and winding so much that you had to go all the way down to the beach to have any view of anything other than a wall in front of you. Still, lunch on the water was fabulous. We sat and watched the boats sail by.
We continued the beautiful drive to Sorrento, where we would be staying for the next two nights. Sorrento is definitely the biggest city on the scenic Amalfi Peninsula. At first I was slightly disappointed at the big town feel of it after driving through so many quaint villages, but it really turned out to be a great city. We walked around town that night and caught the beautiful sunset into the ocean.
Friday, May 6--CAPRI/SORRENTO
It had been a little overcast the day before, but unfortunately, we got our first day of rain on the day we had planned to go to the island of Capri. The ferry ride over was EXTREMELY choppy. The huge, jet-powered boat was jumping up and crashing down with every big swell. It was interesting! One of the most famous things to do in Capri is to take a rowboat to the Blue Grotto, a cave only accessible through a tiny little opening at the edge of the ocean. It's an enormous cave that glows blue, thanks to it's huge openining out to sea under the crystal clear blue water. We were unable to do that due to the weather, unfortunately. We also had to skip the chairlift up to the top of the mountain to have a view of the island and the entire gulf. Fortunately, though, the rain never got so bad to ruin our time walking around. It's a beautiful little island. There were gorgeous views at every turn, including the famous rocky coastline, and the towns themselves were peaceful and quaint. It was so nice just to sit out in a plaza and just relax, taking it all in. Most of the shopping we did on the trip, we did here. They weren't cheap souvenirs, but they are lovely.
We came back to another night of walking around Sorrento. I really got to loving that town. It has the city part to it, but then in has the quaint side to it with these narrow streets that are closed to traffic and all sorts of great little shops.
Saturday, May 7--POMPEII/HERCULEUM (Drive: 85 miles)
This was probably everyone's favorite day of the trip. We had all enjoyed all of the ancient ruins we had been seeing all trip, but we weren't prepared for how much more spectacular Pompeii and Herculeum would be. I'm glad we did it in this order, or else we would have been incredibly bored with the other ruins! Both of these towns were buried under volcanic ash after the terrible eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in the first century A.D. It was a horrible tragedy, but the destruction of the towns by the volcano is actually what led them to be two of the most well-preserved archaeological sites in the world. Some buildings were ruins as you could expect to see anywhere else that we went, but some places were magnificently intact, almost as if they had only been abandoned a few decades ago. Paint on the walls and everything!
The most impressive sights at Pompeii, though, were the remains of the people who had been buried under the ash. As the archaeologists who were uncovering the site noticed that they would encounter pockets in the solidified ash full of bones. They realized these air pockets were in the shape of human figures. The ash solidified around these people, then their bodies decomposed. The archaeologists then began injecting plaster into these pockets, and amazingly enough, you see EXACTLY what these people looked like as they died, even the expressions on their faces. It was haunting. Most of the people we saw were laying, writhing on the floor, since many died from the toxic gas before being buried. There was one, however, who was the most incredible. He was sitting up, probably his back against a wall, with his knees up, and in a praying position. It was incredible to see this person reflecting on his own death centuries and centuries before.
Though it didn't have the people, Herculeum was perhaps the most fun an interesting of the two sites to visit. Herculeum is not as popular a stop as Pompeii since it was a much smaller town, so they don't have as many things that are closed off since they don't get heavy traffic. We were able to walk right up to many of these ancient marvels. These are the remains of an old restaurant, the decorative marble countertop and clay bowls for serving food still perfectly intact as if it had been left there days ago.
Our original plan was to stay at a hotel along the beach in an area that my dad read was a resort area, so we drove to the coast on the other side of Naples. When we got there, however, we noticed it was a very cheesy area. The hotels were all kind of crappy. It reminded me of some of those old 60's hotels you see in Daytona. We decided to turn around and head toward Caserta, which is where we were planning on going the next day anyway. We searched around for a hotel, and we had great luck! We found a four-star hotel that ended up being cheaper than any hotel we had stayed in so far! The best part: the rooms were quiet!! We ended up staying there two nights!
Sunday, May 8--CASERTA
Just down the road from our hotel was a famous Italian palace, which is the reason we came to the town. It really was amazing. Every room was filled with amazing paintings, marble, and gold. We explored all of the rooms inside, and then explored the grounds. We decided to take a horse carriage ride around, which was very nice. After we were done, we explored the town around it before heading back to the hotel to relax. Bobby labelled it as a "poorly planned day" since we had several hours to kill in the hotel room before dinner, but I thinkt he rest of us all welcomed the downtime after everything we had done the last several days!
Monday, May 9--SPERLONGA/CASTEL GANDOLFO (Drive: 167 miles)
Our last day of the trip, we didn't really have anything planned. I was afraid that Bobby would label it another poorly planned day, but my Dad and I researched the travel books and maps really quickly, and ended up having the perfect day to cap off the trip. We decided to drive up to the town of Sperlonga, which is a tiny town that mostly exists as a quiet getaway for people-in-the-know in Rome. It was delightfully un-touristy. No cheesy souvenir shops, no crowds. Just people living in this tiny, beautiful town on a regular Monday. There wasn't much to do, but we stayed there for hours just walking around the tiny streets, taking in the views, and best of all, having lunch. This was one of the best meals I've ever eaten. I had spaghetti with all sorts of random seafood (most of which I couldn't even identify, but I didn't care!) in a very spicy tomato sauce. Wow. It was amazing. Mmmm. I didn't want the meal to end! There we sat, with a gorgeous view of the very bay our delicious fish and seafood came from (the watress told us that that's where they fish for the restaurant) on a beautiful day. Bobby declared it a successful day already at lunch.
We got in the car and decided to drive out to Castel Gandolfo, a town in the hilly lake region just outside of Rome. It's claim to fame is that is it where the Pope's "summer residence" is. We drove around the lovely scenery until it was time to drive back out to the airport to stay at the hotel to prepare for our flight back home early the next morning.
TOTAL DRIVE: 1395 miles
The trip was absolutely amazing. Every day had memories I will have forever. It was wonderful to spend this time with my parents, my brother, my grandmother, and Andrew, and it was so great to be able to spend it exploring these amazing sites with them.
Click here to see all of the uploaded pictures of the trip.
Posted at 10:01 AM
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·Promise·
- Ok, I promise I'm getting the huge Italy post up today. I'm about 3/4 done with it. Plus, I'm mixing in some of my dad's gifts because there are several things I wrote about that I didn't have pictures to illustrate.
My opinion on the new DMB has shifted slightly from what I posted before. The CD is still ok with me, but I don't see it becoming a huge part of my CD rotation once the newness wears off.
Songs that I Like More than I Did Before:
Dreamgirl--got over the phlegm sound. It's nice.
Old Dirt Hill--the "bring that beat back to me" part grew on me
American Baby Intro--Don't know why I like it now so much!
American Baby--Still not a masterpiece, but I enjoy it alright
Louisiana Bayou--I liked it before, now it's the only song on the CD that I put on repeat! So funky!
You Might Die Trying--fine song
Steady As We Go--It's a beautiful song. I still think it's not a very original song, but it's nice.
Songs that I Like Less than I Did Before:
Stand Up--I don't know how I liked it before. Now it just grates on my ears. The must-skip on the CD for me.
Hunger for the Great Light--I can't stand the "Oh Gre-e-eat Liiiight of Looo-ooo-oove"
Songs that I Like the Same:
Smooth Rider--still groovy
Everybody Wake Up--fine enough
Out of My Hands--Still like it
Stolen Away on 55th and 3rd--Still boring
Hello Again--still like it
Posted at 8:20 AM
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Tuesday, May 17, 2005
·Weight·
- I've lost a ton of weight. Well, by a ton, I mean exactly 7 pounds in less than two months. This is the least I've weighed since college. Being sick for a month and a half will do that to you, I guess. The up side, my pants fit better. The down side, my bras fit worse.
Posted at 3:13 PM
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·*Puke*·
- Last night I got this annoying little cough just as I was going to bed. It drove me up the wall, so I tried sucking on a cough drop. That was no help, so I got desperate and decided to have some of my prescription cough syrup with codiene left over from my bronchitis a while back. Big mistake. I kept waking up last night to a spinning room. I thought I was fine this morning, but halfway to work, I started feeling dizzy again. Five minutes after I got in, I had to run to the bathroom to puke. Ugh. I feel terrible. I'm trying to eat or drink something, but each swallow just makes me want to puke some more. I hope no one here is thinking this is morning sickness.
I keep debating whether or not I should go lay down in the conference room. I feel like crap.
Posted at 9:03 AM
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Monday, May 16, 2005
·Busted·
- We had a lovely weekend. We went out to some fabulous, fabulous sushi on Friday with Kim and Brent and then back to their place for a movie. Saturday was a bunch of house work (FINALLY!) followed by poker night with one of Andrew's friends. He and his wife just had twins almost exactly a year ago, and the only social outlet they've had is now they arrange for this poker night Saturday nights after they put the girls to bed. It was a $10 buy-in with an additional $10 option, and they say that even if they lose, it's still a much cheaper night for them than if they had gotten a babysitter, etc. Well, there were six of us playing, I busted first, followed by Andrew...and that was it. Everyone else made money off of us. We're not exactly the power couple we thought we were, but hey, at least we know they're going to want to be inviting us more often now! ;)
Yesterday I drove down to Orlando by myself to spend the night there with my family before my 9am appointment this morning. It all went pretty well. It turns out, all of this was a virus very closely related to mono. I'm pretty much in the clear now. He put me on some prescription iron supplements to help take care of my anemia, but that's it! Yay! So nice to breathe this sigh of relief. No lifelong disease, no scary aggressive treatments!
Posted at 1:16 PM
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Friday, May 13, 2005
·Italy Megapost·
- I'm in the middle of writing my whole big post on the trip to Italy. It's already super long. I probably won't get to posting it until Monday. I'm not really expecting anyone to sit down and read the whole thing, but I'm having fun just writing it all down and going back through the memories in my head. What a great trip!
Posted at 2:40 PM
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Thursday, May 12, 2005
·Stand Up·
- I finally got my hands on DMB's Stand Up that came out earlier this week. Granted, I was only a few days late, but I realized it's the first time I haven't bought a DMB studio release on the day it was released since Under the Table and Dreaming ten years ago! Being out of the country is a pretty good excuse, though, I think.
I'm in the middle of listening to it now a second time. It's ok. There are some songs I like a lot, but there are a few I don't like at all.
1) Dreamgirl--Not a bad song. There are certain sections I really, really love, like:
Face down in the grass
In the park in the middle of a hot afternoon
Your top was untied and I thought how nice
It would be to follow the sweat down your spine
You're like my best friend
Mmm! However, something is weird about Dave's voice. When he sings the "girl" part of "dreamgirl" (which is a bit cheesy of a phrase, I think), it sounds like he's struggling not to drown in his own phlegm. Not sure why I get this image.
2) Old Dirt Hill (Bring that Beat Back)--I would love this song if it wasn't for the horrible, horrible, cheesy, cheesy "Bring that beat back to me, girl" part. It reminds me of the bland R&B I used to listen to in middle school. Whenever it's not there, I find myself getting into it, but then it comes back. *Shiver*
3) Stand Up--No substance at all, but I actually enjoy it. Not sure why. It's cool.
4) American Baby Intro--Different. There are machine guns sounds, which is a little weird, but then it builds into this really great jam, but it dies down again just when I want it to keep going. Not bad, though.
5) American Baby--This song doesn't bother me like it used to. It's fine. Listenable and moderately enjoyable.
6) Smooth Rider--This song is short, but pretty groovy. I had to laugh at the lyrics, because Dave really just can not pull off the gansta kind of thing about running away from the cops. I was wondering if it was a cover song or something! Too weird, but it's so fun to listen to! Like it!
7) Everybody Wake Up--Not bad. Doesn't really catch my attention in any way. It sounds like Sting or something.
8) Out of My Hands--My early favorite on this CD. I LOVE it. It's just Dave singing softly and playing the piano. I didn't even know he played! Well, it's not exactly a complicated melody, but still. There are some drums building in the background that give it a really nice touch of urgency despite the melancholy tone of the rest of it. Love it. Love it. Love it.
9) Hello Again--I LOVED this song live this summer. It doesn't pack quite the punch on this recording, but it's still fun. Dave does this overblown country twang on it that's interesting.
10) Louisiana Bayou--Don't know why I love this song so very much. It's so stupid, but man, I just love listening to it. "Down by the baYOU!" If only I was still driving around my faithful Bayou Billy, I would have sang him this song all of the time.
11) Stolen Away on 55th and 3rd--I don't know why I don't like this song. Seems so bland. Doesn't go anywhere. They all sound bored.
12) You Might Die Trying--Fine enough. It's not jumping out at me yet, but I think I might get into it after listening to it some more. The repetitive lyric of "If you give, you begin to get" is horribly trite and annoying to me, though. Hopefully I can get past that!
13) Steady As We Go--It sounds like it's a cover song that Dave does. It doesn't remotely resemble a DMB song. Just sounds like a run of the mill ballad. It's very pretty, but it doesn't hook me in. Maybe I'll get more into it. The words are beautiful, and the sound is beautiful. This will probably be the most likely to grow on me thought it's not clicking yet.
14) Hunger for the Great Light--This song is pretty good. At certain points, I think it's dangerously close to sounding like one of those pseudo-rock pop bands like Matchbox 20 or something, but I still like it. It's going to be fun in concert for sure! Yet another song Dave has written about oral sex.
My two cents! Not a bad album by any means, but certainly not destined to become a classic.
Posted at 11:34 AM
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Wednesday, May 11, 2005
·Back to the Real World·
- Italy was awesome!! Wow. It was just absolutely incredible. I'll write a whole play-by-play tomorrow. In the meantime, I have about half of the pics uploaded. My dad is sending me his half either today or tomorrow. There are a TON of them. There were just too many beautiful things!
I went to bed last night at about 10pm, which is 4am Italy time. Then, I randomly woke up at 4:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. Jetlag is rough! I can't wait to get back to normal!
We have a new website now at work. It's very, very cool, but I must admit that I'm a bit ticked off that I received no credit for it in the site credits under special thanks. Bitch Prof got thanked, even though I did every last ounce of typing for her. I typed easily 75% of the text on that site. Oh well. That's why I'm a stupid secretary, I suppose. I did get a pic on there, though: http://www.arts.ufl.edu/theatreanddance/pages/whatyouneed/advising/internships_careers.asp I'd make it a hotlink, except I don't want them to be able to trace their hits back to this page! Just cut and paste.
Posted at 10:30 AM
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