Sunshine at long last!

We had an absolutely gorgeous sunny day yesterday. Spring finally came to the Pacific Northwest.

We never made the bike ride. It turns out that our bikes were in sore need of repair, but we had no way of transporting them to my parents house where there were tools like an air compressor.

Early in the day, Boyfriend Jon proved (again) how sweet he is, and helped me wash my car, clean out the trunk and vacuum the whole thing. It was so nice to get that done, and I instantly felt better. We then went for a picnic to the nearby Kirkland waterfront....which was jam packed with families, couples, dogs, ducks and seagulls. We turned our be-sunglass-ed faces up to the welcome warm rays, and shivered at the breeze coming off the water. Just a few more degrees, and everything would have been perfect.

We threw Ritz crackers to duck pairs, who got a little amorous nearby. They weren't shy of us at all, even waddled right under the nose of a spaniel who was sitting up on the bench with his owners as they tried to keep the squirming and woofing dog from pouncing.

Eventually, Jon and I had separate tasks to do so we each went home. But the sunshine still called to me. Even when i should have been folding laundry, or cleaning my kitchen, i found every excuse possible to walk outside. I even made three trips to the mailboxes and back...on a Sunday.

I hemmed the translucent curtains i put up and finally got around to cutting the board to stop my sliding glass door from opening. I refilled my bird feeder even though i know the chickadees and juncos will make a mess all over my patio again. I was able to sit there still enough while i was sewing the curtains with just the screen between me and the birds. They were so close i could have reached out and pet them. And they sang for all they were worth as happy as i was with the sunshine.

A pair of brown wild rabbits jumped and hopped all through the swamp, back and forth as i watched them...a foolish grin on my face.

Saturday, I spent with my dad, finally overcoming the problem that had been plaguing us for days. The drawers. I hadn't counted on the fact that the shortest full extension sliders that were available were 14 inches. I thought i might have been able to get away with a 12 inch set. This didn't work because the drawer was meant to be 13.5 inches deep.
After trying to figure out a way to make it work with the existing side pieces for two hours, I finally resigned and cut new ones with the additional half inch. In the end i'll loose a half inch on the front and back of the lip...but that's hardly noticeable.

The full set so far. Not finished yet.

Frolicking and Fake Flowers

I know that if i really wanted sunshine, i could move a few states south. But i'm a Pacific Northwest girl through and through. Right now, however, i miss sunshine more than ever. My brain tells me "It's spring! Go out frolic in the sunshine!" Except this is a record sunshine-less year. As of today, we tie the latest day of the year that we haven't reached 60 by. And the forecast is projecting more 40's and 50's degree weather for the next week at least. There's even snow again today...in April.

I'm should be watching crocuses pop up and opening up my apartment for some serious sunshine therapy and a stiff breeze to carry out the dank of winter. There is so little light that enters my apartment. I barely managed to salvage some of the Wandering Jew plant. It was so desperate for light that I ended up putting it between the vertical blinds for my sliding glass door...and the door itself. This way, it can glean what sunlight is available throughout the day without jeopardizing my security.

I've never lived without plants before. I stole a section of our back yard as a kid to build my own garden. My first roommate Katherine had COVERED the entire deck with pots, most of which had dead plants in them (to the point of not being able to walk anywhere on the deck without moving pots). I took the time she wouldn't and cleaned away the dead sections, and even planted a few bulbs with her permission. With roommate Kelsie, we had a few plants also; leafy green ferns. I never realized how cold a room looks without some plants about. It's not a feng shui thing...just missing some signs of spring i guess.

Never the less, i resorted to fake flowers. With a pair of wire snippers in hand, i corralled some fake dogwood some kind of long green branch and apple blossoms paired up with fake potted grass-like plants. I've begun strewing them around my apartment and so far, the effect on my mood is noticeable.

Damn you Fox!

When i start watching a show on Netflix instant, the only thing i really look at is the rating and the description. I don't look to see how long it runs or how many episodes it has...i just watch it.

I was extremely frustrated when Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles ended on a cliff hanger. Eager for more, I went and looked up when the next season would be out. Except i couldn't find it anywhere. I started Google-ing and lo and behold FOX has struck down yet another awesome sci-fi series.

Between Firefly, Dark Angel and now T:SCC......I have solidified an extreme hatred of FOX.

That and at this point, i think that any sci-fi writer or producer should avoid FOX like the fricken plague.

It's too bad; i was really enjoying the show. Once i got over the "Summer Glau, while an awesome actress, can't weigh more than 100 pounds!" and there she was, taking on guys that were three times her size and kicking ass. I forced myself to just go with it and began to get into the story arcs. I wondered what her place was in the future with John Connor, if Sarah would survive, if they could stop Judgement day or if it was inevitable...and they could only delay it. It was an intriguing plot.

But there's no more of it. Damn.

I did like the made up story ending that one of the threads featured and i'll just make do with this so i can have some closure:

 John connects with Alison and his Uncle BAG in the future. They find Danny Dyson, being held captive by Skynet to help Skynet build and maintain their computers and equipment. Dyson gives our team the answers they need to destroy Skynet in the past. 

With the help of Dyson, John, Alison, BAG and Cameron/John Henry access the Skynet time machine, but at the cost of Dyson's life (mirrors his dad's demise).
Once back in 2007, they reconnect with Sarah, 'Catherine Weaver', and Agent Ellis. Together, they destroy whatever the McGuffin that is Skynet is, but both BAG and Cameron/John Henry die in the process.
John has a touching moment with Cameron/John Henry before it's destroyed. Judgment Day (and the god-awful Terminator 4 movie) are averted. 'Catherine Weaver' turns to liquid metal, and slinks away to the bottom of the ocean, to await a time in the future when humans are ready to use technology like her without destrying ourselves.
Ellis provides new identities for John, Alison and Sarah to live out peaceful lives.
In a voice over epilogue, John remarks about how he and Allison are married with a son, and how his mother died of cancer several years after 2007, but that she lived long enough to see a future without Judgment Day come to pass. 

Anyway, i couldn't fall asleep last night and the subject of time travel began to bother me.  I began to wonder which direction i would choose to go; forward or backward.

If you had a time machine, would you first jump forward or backward?

Forward in time

Back in time

Free poll maker

Personally, I think i would rather go forward. Mostly so that i didn't inadvertently cut myself out of existence. And naturally that brought on the theories about alternate realities, and if i wrote myself out of existence, would i be there in the first place to go back.....

Perhaps you can see why i only got about three hours of sleep last night and eventually did dream about Doc from Back to the Future....cause if he says it, it must be real, right?!

Now i'm running solely on coffee.

Someday...

We all have dreams about our future life, things we want to own or do...


There's most often no real "plan" to get there, but there are small highlights that are incredibly impractical, but you'd love to have anyway. For some, it's a boat, or a house with a pool, or as silly as a entire room filled with play pen balls (minus unpleasant surprises). 


For me, I've always wanted a fiber optic star ceiling that twinkles. I'm not talking a random pattern...no, i'm talking a near-perfect replica of the nigh sky. Milky way and all. I don't care if it's in a home theater, a children's room, or above my own bed. I want one. 


So what's stopping me? Oh yeah, i'm a 20 something with a limited income and a rented apartment. So no customizing the ceiling allowed. 


That, and i'm not very good at small electrical. Give me a 220 cable, a drill and a pair of pliers (amongst other things of course) and i can wire up a kitchen. Wiring a new light fixture in a house...no problem. But building a small light source....is not my forte. I've lit a couple things on fire from light sources before. 


I find these DIY walkthroughs (through Boyfriend Jon's favorite: Lifehacker) and think to myself "I could totally take the time to poke through that many fibers", or "I would use this other material for that part to make it easier". But then i get to the part where you have to wire up the light source and i have to stop. I avoid projects like these. It just doesn't come naturally to me. 


Doesn't mean it curbs my yearning. I look at this and dream of what will someday be if i have my druthers:

This morning i stood at the edge of the world

One of the most difficult things to get used to at my job was the lack of windows. The building is basically a concrete hollow cube. The only windows are on the complete opposite side of the building from me and are part of manager's offices who shut their doors often.

I don't know if i should be upset that i indeed have gotten used to not seeing daylight for 10 hours a day (unless i leave for lunch). But something that i have noticed is that I've found a new appreciation for certain things like the rare moments when both those doors are open and my job permits me to walk by at coinciding moments.

This morning bright and early, the valley that those windows face was filled to the brim with thick fluffy fog and the sun shone brilliantly as it rose just barely above the horizon of the cloud sea. There seemed to be no end to the clouds and if i didn't know there was another mound of earth a mere half mile away, i could have been standing on the edge of the world. Everything glowed in glittering yellow as the sun demanded a moment of my time so that i might admire the beauty it had displayed for me to see.

And, standing in a office with a floor to ceiling window with no one around, i took that moment in and stole a second one just for good measure. I tried to take a picture, but it couldn't capture the incredible essence of sheer magnificent beauty that i saw.

I wished to share the beauty of that moment with anyone, but unfortunately the Droid2 was too full to capture that picture. And by the time i noticed and made room, it was too late to go back.

The years of transition

I'm sure many people not much older than me can look back at this point in their life. The point when things are starting to go well for you and you have the ability to do things you've never been able to do before. But there's a disparity between your past and future.

I'm not rich. Nor is Boyfriend Jon my sugar daddy by any means. But events, bills, credit cards and other such expenses have finally settled down into a do-able level which even leaves me a tiny little extra to enjoy life with. I've worked hard to arrive at this point and look forward to the continuing expedition.

My birthday is coming up. And with it I was hoping to do some things I've never done before. Granted my first choices were things like Zip Lines and White Water Rafting. But logistics and demographics have put the instant kibosh on that. I pretty much don't drink...so bar hopping is out. Which leaves me with three things. I love my friends, I love to eat, and I love to laugh. So I started looking up local comedy acts. And a great comedian is playing nearby on the day and days surrounding my birthday.

But here is what brings me to my problem. I seem to sit in the middle of two kinds of friends. I've gathered a new category of friends. The friends who are out of college, gainfully employed, and have the ability to drop 35$ on tickets for a friend's birthday. Then I have the friends who are still in college, and 35$ means the difference between groceries for the week and some fun. People whom I love and would feel horribly guilty about asking them to make that choice just because it's my birthday.

I don't want to divide my friends into the haves and have nots. And I certainly don't want to make people choose between needs and wants. So how do i surround myself with all the wonderful people who have been there for me at my lows, highs and everything in between ....and still get to experience new things in celebration of surviving another crazy year?

Is it better to play it cheap and do something that everyone can participate in or to "do what I want on my birthday" because it's the one day where it would be socially acceptable to be a little selfish?

....is there a way for that to NOT sound completely selfish? Uhg.

Family

I had a dream about my grandma last night. And it made me think that on November 11th, 1911, my grandma would have been 100 years old. That's not too far away.

Technically, she was never related to me by blood and thus not a true grandma. But I called her so, thought of her so, and sent her finger-painted pictures address to a woman called Grandma. It made me think of two very distinctly different, but related things.

I have never put much credit in blood ties. I think of the boys i grew up with as brothers, even though they just lived in the neighborhood for most of my childhood. I somehow managed to adopt our elderly neighbor, Mrs. Reed as a grandma like figure before she had to move away. I've even adopted a co-worker as a fictitious Uncle. And while my immediate family will always come first, I can't help but notice just how much some of these non-traditional ties have meant to me.

Children have ways of making up their minds about people, instinctively adhering themselves to people they believe are good. If i put a lot of credence on blood ties, it would have led me to people i have reason to dislike. And since, my experience with certain blood ties was severely limited, either due to death or distance, I found ways of filling those holes positively.

Perhaps that is why i get so irked when a "close" relative completely misspells my name, even when it was the same spelling as their mother's, but a boy whom I haven't even seen in more than a decade, still remembers to spell my name with an E.

The other different but related observation was this:

• My grandmother never learned how to drive
• she never went out much, much less to parties
  
• she never drank more than a glass in a night and only on holidays
  
• her house was immaculate, but she never had a house keeper
  
• she was fit as a fiddle well into her 80's but she never went to the gym
• when we came over, there was no TV. We played with her antiques, or Majong, or cards, or read stories
• she wore gloves and a scarf when she went out
• her house was locked with a skeleton key (real secure there, yeah)
  
• when i was bored, she would pull out a random cardboard jewelry box and i would decorate it with broken jewelry and glitter and sequins.
  
• And when she died, i found every single box i could remember making

And yet, I never remember ever not wanting to go, even in my rebellious stubborn teenage years. I don't remember asking to watch tv; not when there was the beautiful view of the Puget Sound Canal when there were boats and binoculars to be had.

I also never remember thinking there was anything wrong with it either. That it could be a better place with a big screen TV, or video games, or extravagant things. You know the coolest thing in my grandma's house....

Little blue light bulbs in the living room instead of overhead lights. I will forever remember dancing around in my Christmas dress in her living room with all the lights turned off except those as she watched and clapped her hands and laughed and my pure joy.

Oh yeah, I was 14 when this memory happened...shortly before she died.

Sayings

In my life, i've picked up sayings, quotes, or limericks. They travel with me in the back of my head, much as they do with anyone else.

The one on my mind right now is more of a play on words than an actual quote. I got it when i worked my second official job at a movie theater. I had been slated to work in the box office because my till was always spot on. And they had us throw up all these window decals for Eddie Murphy's Haunted Mansion film (wow, that just dated me).

I cannot stress to you how much i hate window decals. I have some kind of OCD when it comes to windows. Streaks are like nails on a chalkboard for me. Bird poop has me shaking my fist at the bird who dared fly over my car and relieve itself. And unless window decals are put on perfectly....i can spend literally hours pressing out the bubbles. Which is why my normal station was regularly cleaned between rushes for all the people who poked at the glass or annoying kids smudging their dirty noses and mouths all over.

Anyway, back to the decals. There was one decal on my side of the box office glass that took me a while to figure out. Hey, i was 16. In keeping with the haunted mansion theme...it was a headstone with the "name" Claire Voyant. Read it fast, and you have clairvoyant or someone that can see or know what other people can't. Soon after that, i started telling people who had assumed i knew something. "My name is Anne ...not Claire Voyant"

Sometimes i wish it were just that easy. To be able to understand where people are coming from without them having to tell you. To see why they feel the way they do, and what is prompting them to react in a certain way. Sometimes it seems like it would make everything better. And then i realize that it would also take away how we learn for ourselves.

Challenges the Status Quo

That's a phrase that has been on every single one of my annual reviews since I was 16.
It's always been listed under the accomplishments or pro side of my review. Before this year, I always thought it could never be a bad trait. Lately, I feel like people don't want the status quo challenged. That they go along with whatever IS because it is easier than provoking, evoking or dragging change to take place. That even if whatever change I suggest makes their lives easier or less irritable...they won't do it. Simply because it is the status quo.

I'm not that way. I see something I don't like, I try to change it. I believe a fresh set of eyes always catches something that has just slid under the radar for a long time. If I'm able to change say a process, a layout, even someone's way of thinking...i will try. I'm all about efficiency and working smarter, not harder. I want harmony, and if change is how that comes about....well, let me roll up my sleeves.

Doing this....ruffles feathers. Regardless if i ask ahead of time, or prep people with my plans first.

Some are amazed at the new concept that never occurred to them.
Some just nod and adapt to the change, sometimes with a mild comment about easier or difficult.
Others....it's like stroking a moody cat backwards.

Quite frankly...I'm tired of moody cats.

In other, happier news:
Getting down to the items which are bulky, or require a lot of work. As usual, that list includes my clothing. As a reminder, I HATE folding laundry. It is the most useless task ever! You spend hours folding neatly, stacking, and sorting...and the second you take one item....the neatly folded items fall apart and the stack slumps or shifts.

I think the end is in sight, and that i might be able to possibly sit down and have nothing left on my checklist to do...this weekend. With the exception of painting. And stretching the canvas paintings i got. and...and...and...... :)

Sleep

I'm an early bird. I usually at least open my eyes with the dawn before my alarm goes off, even if I decide to turn back over. Sleeping past 9am leaves me with a headache. And i have to be seriously tired in order to take a nap.
But at the same time...I like my sleep. Nay...love it, rely on it...etc. Without a good quality sleep, at worst...I get cranky, irritable, and short tempered. At best, my sentences just trail off into oblivion and i find myself staring with glazed eyes at something like a wall plug for several minutes at a time.

This month, has not been conducive to a good night's sleep. Between stress over the move, if it was going to happen or not, sleeping in a sub-terrain basement room where i froze despite five blankets, and the fact that my bed was buried behind a wall of boxes.....sleep has been short in quantity and quality.

I was so happy last night when, thanks to the sweetheart of a boyfriend i've somehow managed to keep around, my bed was freed at last. Soft and with sheets and a down comforter at the ready! I quickly made use of them flopping into bed and kicking off my shoes without moving from the gentle yielding pillows.
I slept so wonderfully last night that i wasn't even annoyed or in despair when my alarm clock went off reminding me that it was still a week day and I had work to get to. Of course i hit the snooze button a couple times, just to savor those few extra minutes of a rarely achievable bliss that comes from a restful sleep after such a long absence.

The October Turnover

October. The turning point of the year.

September still remembers the heat and sunshine, and everyone is so busy rushing around trying to get ready for the start of school that they even notice a fallen leaf.
But it's not until October that the world slows down; darkness comes noticeably earlier, the trees turn to the colors of flames; and we start to notice for the first time, the ice formed on our windshields when we go to work in the morning.
Early October is when all the summer clothes go into hiding, and warm coats are retrieved from vacuum bags, closets, and under the bed storage. Sweaters and heaters are needed all of a sudden as the cold penetrates no matter how tightly shut up your home is. Down comforters become a warm sanctuary emphasized by electric blankets and soft fuzzy socks.

Speaking of which. I'm not sure how i ever survived without the items in the last sentence. I have discovered that it is truly foolish to change out your blankets for a down comforter and an electric blanket on a Sunday in time for going to work on Monday. The foolishness lies in this because come morning...you are NOT going to want to leave. I sat there thinking to myself this morning..." Do I really need a shower? will anyone notice if I don't wear clothes in today?"
Of course the answer to these is why I did manage to pry myself from the folds of my comforter and proceed to do so. My workaholic nature aside, i seriously considered calling in sick.

NaNo 2009 is slowly but surely gearing up. Now is the time when I start working out tiny details which could have a big influence on my story. And with my role this year, I'm planning, and weighing odds for meetings. How many people can show up every thursday?, but then we run into thanksgiving. Would it be better to do it on wednesday, or the weekend. So many things to think about. And even though on the 6th, it seems like there is plenty of time; I'm certain there isn't.

In other news: My OCD took over one day and i spent 4 hours refinishing a headboard my dad got for really cheap. I sanded out all the scuff marks, and re-stained part of it, painted the other and now it looks like it came straight from a showroom. I also changed over the colors in my room from the blues and whites to the reds and browns for winter. Soon i hope to have my room actually...clean and organized. I hate living like this, but I haven't had a solution before.

And the greatest news of all, i have purchased a new laptop. It is georgeous, powerful, and will do everything i want Laglessly. I'm already drooling.

When I let go of what i am, I become what I may be.

This is the mantra that's been going through my head the last few days.
My weightloss journey hit a rather nasty hickup thanks to a very busy week and a half. I basically came home and slept for what few hours I could.
Between my sister's and dad's birthday, conveniently spaced just 4 days apart, friends, and other family obligations, as well as roommate....difficulties; I lost my stride. I went from running just about every day to none. My steady workout partner also had a busy couple of weeks and was unable to meet up. Making there even less of a urgent need to go to the gym.
That coupled with excessive pressure to eat eat eat at all these gatherings, and my lack of iron will against cheese ravioli in a cream sauce and Dairy Queen blizzards....
So without feeling like there was anyone holding me accountable, all my threads of discipline which I had wound tightly around myself over the last 3 months unraveled at a pace which, looking back, is unbelievable.
It finally occurred to me, as a severe (if short) bought with depression came and went, that I can't expect other people to hold me accountable to my own goals. Yes I realize this comes rather belated, but I've made some changes to the way I'm dealing with this process now.

1. My workout partner, although wonderful and encouraging....isn't the workout police. And I can't look to her to make myself get to the gym. I have two feet which work, and it's a matter of making time for it, just like I make time to watch a favorite show.
2. To hold MYSELF accountable to MYSELF, I've posted a chart where I can record daily what the scale reads. Blue for positive downward trends, Red for negative upward trends. I'm doing this instead of logging my food, because that's an annoying pain in the ass. I know when I eat things that aren't healthy, and the scale doesn't lie like a pen can.
3. I have a minimum of days where I work out from Sunday to Saturday. I can use them to go running, do core exercises, yoga, or soon to be swimming. Or any combination.
4. This is neat. www.WeightView.com A site that digitally re-images a picture of you (for FREE) to show you what you might look like if you lost X amount of weight. It basically gives you a visual goal. I plugged in 30, since it's a reasonable and attainable goal (not to mention it's a size i haven't been since junior high...as sad as that is) and these are the "possible results" :
   

My two reactions: "DAMN, that can't be just 30 lbs" then quickly followed by "HEY! where did my boobs go!?!?"
I'll post a real picture when i reach my goal (hopefully)

The only constant is Change

Today is April 20th. And with a shocking revelation, realize how much i have changed since moved out of my parent's place last August.

For example.
Old Anne: Too scared to even get on the back of a motorcycle
Today Anne: I'm signed up for a motorcycle course and it's 24 days away, and I'm bouncing off the walls. I wanna feel that power between my thighs (Get your mind out of the gutter Mark!)

Old Anne: "hey, come out to Chelan for my birthday!" "Sorry, i can't"(because my parent's would say no cause they never leave a 10 mile raidus so why should I)
Today Anne: "HELL YEAH! Gimme directions, what should I wear? What kind of food/alcohol should i bring? Are we going to have a bonfire?" Again, bouncing off the walls

Old Anne: It's 1 oclock in the morning, where am i? In bed asleep....every night. This was also true at 9 oclock every day.
Today Anne: Weekdays: this is probably still true given that i need to be at work at the ass-crack of dawn, but weekends: I could be anywhere...give me a call

Old Anne: Exercise? Why? That's just like torture!!!
Today Anne: Has an exercise partner, and then she goes and exercises on her own most days.

Old Anne: There are other colors besides black and bluejeans? I think not!
Today Anne: Is wearing white, turquoise. There's also pink in her wardrobe. Not to mention a dress in the making which is mostly white, with flowers, and polka-dots (not as ugly as it sounds) for me.

This is truly what i have been missing. Having a life, one that's mine, that i answer to myself for. That i can't blame my unhappiness on my parents. Which clearly is stated by my wardrobe contents...right?
This rocks.

Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime

At long last we have seen the sun in Seattle again! It was so wonderful, seeing shadows and feeling the actual WARMTH of the sun. I took a picnic lunch and sat out under the shade of a cherry tree in it's full and glorious bloom and just enjoyed the weather. I even had a small cat decide to come and join me. I have dubbed him Dapple because he looks like he's covered in blury spots of several colors. I don't know why cats like me; I'm very much a dog person. But he was friendly and ended up curled up on my lap. I've seen him around a few times and usually stop to pet him. He's a talkative cat. I find it strange when i can carry a conversation with a cat and get responses with infer-able meaning (no pun intended)

How far can kids push the line these days

Driving back from lunch yesterday, i happened to notice a young kid on a bicycle riding around. About to mentally commend him for at least wearing a helmet and obeying the "no walk" sign, i suddenly realized that this boy of probably less than 10 had in his had a red bull, one of the large versions, dwarfing the hand holding it. The boy takes a hearty swig, and looks around him as if trying to see if anyone noticed him looking cool and acting mature by drinking the overly caffeinated drink. He saw me looking at him, and i guess my expression must have been rather severe because his face went from smug to guilty in about one second flat. He crossed the crosswalk, occasionally glancing at me to see if i was still watching him. On the other side there was another professional looking bicyclist. When the boy pulled up next to him, the man also noticed the Red Bull in his hand and gave him a disapproving look as well. The kid dropped his hand so the Red Bull was behind his leg and out of sight.
I'm not against kids acting mature. I become concerned when they're consuming products that are not good for their system, in an attempt to "be cool". And dont' go telling me that Red Bull isn't that bad. It's high in caffine. And 99% of kids... DON'T need more energy. I would like to believe that it's not possible for children to buy a Red Bull, that the store clerk would have enough of a moral code to say "no, you can't buy that unless your parents say it's ok". But it's probably not true. Though, in all likelyhood, the kid probably snuck the Red Bull from the pantry, or an older sibling.
And that brings up another issue of my concern. I'm all too aware these days that kids steal even from family. A feeling of entitlement that removes all sense of shame and remorse. I wonder where it will end. When kids will try to lead happy, healtful lives instead of conciously pushing the envelope in order to unconciously get attention from the adults who ignore them.
I don't know this kid. I don't know who his parents are, or what his home situation is like. I can only assume that he is trying to be cool and mature bassed of the few moment's of behavior i noticed. I can only hope that two dissaproving glares had some effect on his decision to drink the rest of that Red Bull, though it's more likely that it will only encourage him.

Wait...I like to run?

Somehow this last two weeks, someone managed to give me a lobotomy and replace my brain with someone who likes to run.
The reason i know this is because at my peak in school, my best mile was 14 minutes and it was the PE session i hated the most. Make me do push ups all you want...just don't make me run. I'll even climb the rope!
Starting last Wednesday, my workout buddy, a former cross country runner in high school, got me on a treadmill while she worked beside me on the elliptical.
Next thing i know my brain is considering getting up even earlier so that i could go do a quick run before my shower.....before work, even. And i went to go exercise without her.
This is rather confusing to me, now i know what amnesia patients feel like >.>

"Just blast to Palm Springs"

Anyone in the Seattle area will probably agree with me when i shake my fist at the sky and curse it for yet more snow. Spring is supposed to be on our doorstep, not freezing temperatures and ice.
Surprisingly, after the snow decided to take a break from falling yesterday, the sun came out briefly. I found myself halfway home when i saw shadows and felt the sun's warmth.
It called to me, reminding of days when all the windows in my car were down, sunglasses on and i went speeding down the highway with my hair and fingertips flying in the wind.
And just like that, I didn't feel like going home. I purposely made a wrong turn and explored where it went occasionally adding a wrong turn here and there. I ended up 15 miles from where my apartment is, before the sun stopped shining and my stomach started growling.
But for that time, i felt so carefree, all the stress melted away like the snow under the sun.
I can't wait for summer to get here. For the day when I can put all the windows down and chance a speeding ticket. I know where I'll be:
Free.

Walk a mile in her shoes

Having a conversation with my sister yesterday led me to think about a few things. I've complained alot over the last week about my current situation, especially about the roommate deal.
I am utterly thankful that i have a job right now, one that is solid and that i don't dispise going to every day.
I'm lucky that i'm not chin deep in debt and that i know my paycheck will come through.
I am grateful for my family (bet a few of you never thought you'd hear me say that). In my moderate crisis, they have been willing to voluenteer advice, help, and a shoulder to lean on. And when they say that they'll help, i know i can count on them.
I dont' know what i did to deserve such great friends, who care so much about me that they're willing to listen to me when i vent or complain and invite me over even if it's just to watch tv and have some honest laughs.

It seems humbling when you look at it that way.
I know that i don't have the foritude to stand through every storm on my own. But when i'm supported by friends and family, i know i can make it through anything.

Pranks that deserve admiration

Normally, i'm not one that condones lawless behaviour. And since my dad and people like him rely on roadway signs to protect them from clueless drivers, i understand how troublesome a breech like this is and what kind of dangers it presents to road crews and motorists alike.
But I must admit, whoever came up with this multi-state prank deserves some applause before they get fined.

In three states, Washington, Illinois, and Texas, roadsigns were hacked to display messages such as above. Some of the better ones were: "Caution zombies ahead", and "Daily lane closeures due to zombies". Although it looks like one county didn't quite understand the whole message because they put "Raptors" instead.

Natrually, my overly active imagination took this prompt and ran rampant with it.
What if these signs were common place in our lives, general warning for zombie swarms? That would be interesting!

Getting my kicks while i'm young enough to get 'em

This will probably be one of my more cryptic posts.
I left the tv on while i did laundry and cleaned my appartment not really paying attention to it. Before long the movie I had been watching, gave way to Greese, the classic musical.
One part of the movie caught my attention. Rizzo, upon discovering that the guys are calling to them, climbs down the trellis to join them saying in her defense to the other girls; "gonna get my kicks while i'm still young enough to get them"
It reminded me that life is so short. Shorter still for others who really deserve to have longer lives but are cut off by disease, violence, or accidents. And those who are lucky enough to survive longer, often look back on their lives and wonder what could have happend?
Why is it so hard, to just enjoy life, all by it's pretty little self, anymore?

I found this quote several years ago, and it seems to make more sense now, than ever before.

When I let go of what I am, I become what I may be.