Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Fun fun

So I'm broke again. I had to shelve the credit cards till I pay down my Visa. In the meantime - I'll enjoy my BD and TKD classes as that will be my socialization for the rest of the year.

It's good that I am broke though, I was spending like a fool. And now I can focus on doing all the fun things that I've wanted to do all summer that don't really require funds (or much). Plus I can take a break from drinking - between CO and celebrating this and that, things got a little hectic. The last thing I want to do is get caught up in a drinking cycle again. Even though it's less dramatic than it was in my past, it's still beginning to wear on me. I just don't recover like I used to. Plus I tend to have more fun when I'm not drinking. But it's like once I start, I make a night out of it. I am getting better at only having a few drinks, but honestly that's only when I have something planned the next day. Otherwise it's like a free for all (when I let it). So here's to sober weekends and trying new things!

All the things I want to do this summer:


1. Space Needle
2. Zoo
3. Underground tour
4. Ride the Ducks
5. Ballard locks
6. Aquarium
7. Sea fair
8. Superman
9. Pirates of the Caribbean 2
10. Putt putt/go-karts/paintball
11. Cosmic/late night bowling
12. Botanic gardens/arboretum
13. Settlers of Catan game night
14. Canada
15. Olympic peninsula
16. Dessert night
17. Casino night

Friday, June 23, 2006

Still No Pics

Ugh - there was little to no coverage of the parade, so I will have to wait till next week to pick up the picture cd at Delilah's party.

In the meantime - I've been busy at work trying to close my corps for April and May. I even took work home with me to complete on Sunday. Good times. I haven't worked out at all this week, mostly cause I have been resting and enjoying not going full blast. My class sucks, I started an online revolt. I don't like the teacher at all and feel very disappointed in this whole experience. I was really looking forward to the government/nonprofit accounting class. Oh well.

In other news I will start going to Tae Kwon Do w/ HG next week. I'm really looking forward to that. Not only will it be a fun way to lose weight, but I think it will help give me the balance in my mental/spiritual life that has been missing since I stopped doing yoga. HG and I also start a new 10 week belly dance course with LR and Delilah. I'm glad she's doing that with me, it will be fun. I will still go to 24 Hour Fitness w/ RB too, and now it looks like HG got a membership there too, so it will be a happy little threesome again. I need to work out, I've been a glutton all week. Speaking of, Ben & Jerry's has new mini-tubs of ice cream. I call it guilt free ice cream eating. It's about a perfect serving size! And it's a cute little mini-tub. Safeway has em on sale 10 for $10 - highly recommended.

It was nice having Steven in town, we have so much fun! He's coming in town again next weekend. Maybe this time we can actually decorate. :-)

Right now it's about 11:15 on Friday night and I'm kinda tired, so I'm sure this post is all shades of wacky. We've been watching Dane Cook (hottie!) and laughing our tails off. Tomorrow is naked spa w/ HG for her b-day and then drunken pottery. Well, maybe not drunken, but painting pottery at least. Should be a fun way of celebrating her special day. Sunday will be spent closing SWC for May and doing homework since I will be at TKD (Tae Kwon Do) on Weds and Fri and BD (belly dance) on Tues. Thursday is my day off from everything so that leaves Sun, Mon, and Sat for homework. I hate this class. Are we there yet?! Only 3 more classes and then I will have my degree!! WHOO HOO!!

Monday, June 19, 2006

Fremont Pic



I will post more details later, but for now here is a pic from the parade of me, Dane, and Young O.

Friday, June 16, 2006

THE Weekend is Almost Here!

I can't wait! In a mere hours, the weekend will start! And while it will be nonstop, it's going to be a blast. First I'll get some piratey gear from Champion, then get my nails/feet cleaned up, tanning, eyebrows waxed, and then off to HG's for a quiet evening. Then Dane and Steven will meet up with us and we will park my car in Fremont and catch dinner somewhere down there. Then off to bed.

Saturday - early wake up call, get ready, go to parade. Parade. After parade party. Pirate party. Home.

Sunday - decorate reading room w/ Steven - thank Gawd I'll have his help. Alki beach. Kolbeh.

I think I might ask to come in a little late on Monday morning. I already owe 3 hours though, so I don't know....Other than that, things are going well. I'm so excited!!

You should see Dane's hair, OMG - it's crazy! I"ll have to post a pic. He had to sleep in a shower cap last night - H-O-T!

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Severed Friendships Part Deux

This is funny - I've just put a post up about severed friendships (SF) and how I felt about losing communication with a few people in my life over misunderstandings and this and that and now I'm going to put up a post about another severed friendship....that hasn't severed yet. Interesting indeed.

Here's the weird part, with the two aforementioned SF's, I was not really directly involved with the severing, one out of cowardness and the other just sort of happened, with no ill words passing directly between us. An indirect severance, if you will. This time it is different. This time there has been damage done directly to me.

The scoop - without getting too messy, I know this person has wittingly and/or unwittingly talked MAD sh*t about Dane and I and how we supposedly pressured, coerced, manipulated, and oppressed this person. I know this person then vehomently denied having ever said those things when called to the carpet. I know that this person has wrecked the same havoc on a few of my very close friends after leaving my (and Dane's) life an absolute mess. I know this person thinks they are doing the right thing. I know this person has absolutely no idea what they have done.

You can't trash a person, use them for all they are willing to give you, borrow extensive amounts of time, money, resources, etc. from them without some sort of recourse. At some point there needs to be a reconciliation or comeuppance! After the better part of the year with little to no effort made and then at that only when begged, I vote this person off the island. Comeuppance for you!

So it is with that that I will knowingly and willingly severe another friendship. I wish this person the best, we've had some GREAT times together that I will always look back on fondly. But call this person a life long friend, I do not.

*sigh* I hate doing this. But I also hate how toxic people can be. I can't believe after all we've shared, and all I've done for this person that it would come to this. I can just see it now - "I was going to _____!" "I told ____ that I did ____ and that made up for it!" "But I ____ back in early spring!" "So and so did ______ to me." "I just need to find a job." "Don't you want me to be happy?!" I've heard it all at this point. I don't want to hear anymore, I just don't have it in me.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Weekend PI

I can tell that I'm getting stressed because my head "herpes" (as I call my dry, flakey scalp) is back. But it's a good stressed. And it's more excitement than stress. Dane and I are preparing for the Fremont Summer Solstice Parade this weekend. My costume is done, with the exception of a few pieces. It was actually quite amusing, last Wednesday LR and I had a date to make the flower hair clips for my costume but we also wanted to go to the Rebar and see the "semi-pro" (I use that term VERY loosely) wrestlers. Seattle and its wonders never cease to amaze me. We got to watch wrestling (picture men in their 20's - the heaviest wrestler was a buck fifty in pajamas, as it was the Pajama Rama Jam), drink PBR for $1 and then we actually got to throw the empty cans at the wrestlers. Good times. LR and I sat in the back making my flower clips. First time I'd ever made arts and crafts while at a bar.

Dane's costume is a little trickier. He has a lot of gold lame in the Anubis costume that needs to be phased out. Plus we needed to find him a red shirt and pants. You would not believe how hard it is to find a plain, blood red shirt and pants of similar red coloring. I finally did find something for a top at Target but we were at a loss for his pants. And then, I remembered something profound! I had red pajama bottoms! They look like capris on Dane, but his knees down are covered with the other problem, a bunch of gold lame. So to solve that problem, I drew up a pattern of flames and we purchased a tulle/meshy type material and started making his costume. Nick and Andrew came over to help as well.

Saturday I went to school. I don't like my new teacher. Then we slaved away on Dane's costume some more. It's too cool for words. We had to do a lot of stuff ghetto (glueing fabric to fabric instead of sewing, and burning the edges of the fabric so it wont fray) but it looks good. For fun we went to RB's mom's house (parents are away) and even took the minivan to dinner w/ HG, her hubby and RB's hubby. It was fun to pretend we were renegade teenagers again. We stayed up late playing card games and watching movies - always a blast with that crowd.

Sunday we shopped at Ikea for our reading room and other stuff. Then I met with my team then went home and shaped Dane's mask using an X-acto blade, my hands are all cut up. Then I painted it - looks good.

As for this week, things are booked solid. Steven is coming in town on Friday, which is a godsend - he can help us get ready, secure a spot on the parade route, and then we can decorate my reading room go to Alki, and then meet up w/ HG and M for dinner and dance at Kolbeh. I really hope it doesn't rain for the parade, I've spent too much time and money on these costumes to get rained out.

After this busy busy weekend it will be a relatively slow week spent focusing on school and catching up at work. HG's b-day celebration and the Children's Charity Ride are coming up. Before I know it, it will be June! What the toot!

Friday, June 09, 2006

Severed Friendships

And now a moment to reflect on my severed friendships of the past. I noticed that there is a lot of grief surrounding the memories we share and there is a lot of blame, namely placed on me. I don't understand this, I really wish I did. It's taken me a long time to realize that some people just need a scapegoat and/or they need to hate you in order to move on. This I realized a while ago. What I wasn't prepared for is how long the hate has lasted. It's been well over a year since the mad drama went down in Colorado with a few people. I've made posts on this before, so in an effort not to repeat myself too much I will simply say that I definitely could have handled my conduct better, that's for sure! As for the others, I can't really speak for them or cast judgement on them. I don't understand what they were going through any more than they understand my own situation. What I can say:

To Becky (oh sh*t - I used REAL names!) - I'm so, so glad that you took that first, brave step to contact me. I know I didn't handle things well at all and I'm a very lucky person to have your forgiveness and understanding. It was so nice seeing you again. And I'm so proud of you! Look at everything you've accomplished!! You will continue to grow and shine, I just know it. I'm happy we are back to communicating, even if only in brief. And congratulations, you know what for. I'm sorry for last summer, truly, I am. And I'm sorry if I ever caused you pain and grief in your other relationships and friendships, I certainly never meant that to happen.

To Paula - I am also very sorry for how things turned out for us as well. Again, I did not handle myself well regardless of my intentions. I think I somehow got mixed up in what I thought was "protecting" Rhi (how silly can I be?!) and matters that I had no business being in. I'm really sorry for that. I guess I didn't realize at the time what I was doing. I hate that I've caused you (and others) so much pain. We might not have seen eye to eye on every subject under the sun, but I sure did enjoy your company while it was around. You too will always be a bright spot in someone's (in fact many people's) lives.

Recap - I think sometimes people just don't mix well together. Like ketchup, peanutbutter, and jelly. All three components are fabulous and have a variety of uses and they all have distinct, bold flavors. But if you combined them, it becomes a big blurry, disgusting mess. I don't know if that's because personalities, like flavors, can sometimes bring out the best and worst in other personalities, or if it's some other profound reason. What I do know is that I think I'm an okay person. And I think Becky and Paula are great people. And try as I might, I just don't think we are great people together. That doesn't mean that I don't respect and admire them though, I do. And I wish them the best. I know they deserve it.

Cheers, mates. To the great times we had.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

I'm Back

I am back from a LONG trip cover over 8 states of the western half of the US. *PHEW* There is WAY, WAY, WAY too much that happened for me to write it all down, especially for fear that I might miss something or leave someone/thing out, so instead I will just comment a one liner for each day I was gone, it is merely the first thing that comes to my head, nothing more or less. I cherished the time I had in Denver with my beloved friends. There was something so nice and comfortable and absolutely unexplainable about coming "home". It was wonderful to be with my family again, that I've missed so dearly. And it was nice to see Moab, though I fear for last time for a long time anyway.

Wed, May 17th - Amy - how I miss our nights at Boston's. It seemed like it had been just a long week since I'd seen you last but so much has happened since. Thank you for a wonderful evening and the opportunity to meet another wonderful, new friend - Lauren.

Thur, May 18th - A wonderful day at the zoo w/ my sister and Mel and their beautiful children, my niece and nephew, and god-daughter. I can't imagine a better afternoon. The day was only topped by a wonderful gathering of my closest and dearest friends (save Amy) at D&B - the fellowship was amazing, albeit poorly planned on my behalf. I shall do better next time.

Fri, May 19th - Body Worlds is amazing! It was great to see my old colleagues, how much has changed yet stayed the same. Joe is fabu and I adore spending time with him.

Sat, May 20th - Sarah, my dear, dear Sarah. I will never, ever forget this day. A perfect day of joy riding in the car, shopping in the Pearl Street mall, lunchtime martinis and gossip, and water, walks, and sunshine. And then the Skylark - GREAT bar! I had a blast. It was nice to be Sam's A team for once too, I like him. Of course, the only way to end that day/night was with the EXTREMELY AWESOME news that Sarah gave me. I don't know if I'm at liberty to speak of it, so I wont, but it was wonderful news that I'm extremely excited about.

Sun, May 21st - I got my China Taipei. AND Heidi's - a double bonus. Drove to Grand Junction in a truck. Fun fun.

Mon, May 22nd - drove to Vegas at warp speed, to my dad's dismay. Vegas = buffets galore, 25 cent slots, rollar coasters, beakers of beer, and shopping cart rides on the strip. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Tue, May 23rd - drove to CA at a snails pace, to my dad's dismay again. Then I got sick and spent the next few days in bed.

Wed, May 24th - In bed. Good dinner w/ my folks though. AND HOLY HELL THEY HAVE A NICE HOUSE!

Thur, May 25th - My luggage got lost. My travel stories never end. Fortunately I was prepared and had a Moab bag w/ Dane.

Fri, May 26th - Dane "rolled" the Jeep in a bathtub, then I drove down the canyon - "IT'S JUST STEEP IT'S JUST STEEP IT'S JUST STEEP"

Sat, May 27th - In bed.

Sun, May 28th - In bed. Went to the Da Vinci Code.

Mon, May 29th - On the road.

Tue, May 30th - On the road. Home at 8:00.

And then I got back to work to employee appreciation day, then cleaned my office, then Monday was a staff retreat. So it was a nice ease back into work.

Office Damage Report - so my "clues" were styrofoam peanuts on my name tag in the parking garage, my in/out magnet, and my mail box was stuffed w/ packing peanuts. My office door was shut and the window foiled so I couldn't see in. I opened the door expecting 10,000 peanuts to overtake me but instead there where tons of streamers hanging from the ceiling and anything they could tie to twine and hang from the ceiling, they did! My ten-key, my flower vase, stapler, cd player, candle, pillow, coffee mug, ALL the contents of my in box (strug up using twine and binder clips - think of photo processing), and then, as if that wasn't enough, they twined my desk chair to the desk so you couldn't pull it out, they tied twine around the arms of my emergency sweater so you couldn't get your arms in. Then to top it all off, they filled all my desk drawers with packing peanuts!! They filled my fax box and my printer box w/ peanuts too. AND they MAILED me an envelope full of packing peanuts!! They filled my journal boxes with peanuts....my gym bag....the blanket on my chair....the lamp shades....It was good times! It took me all Friday morning to clean everything up!

That's all for now.