I put millions of miles under my heels

I haven't so much as looked at LJ since last year. However, I told David I'd post about my visit with him so here goes.

Friday after work, I embarked. Traffic wasn't bad but as I was coming into Chicago, stopping about a million places to pay stupid little tolls, my 'no gas!' light came on. I was already having trouble staying on track (the road signs and my GPS couldn't agree on what ANYTHING was called) but then I had to detour to a gas station. I then went in circles for a bit, in the dark, bitching to myself about having had a long day and scared of going the wrong way down a one-way street. Finally found his place but nowhere to park. Eventually we sorted it out and about 10PM it can be said I properly arrived =)

We went to the grocery store, got cookies, ice cream, Pepsi and Cracker Jack and - inexplicably - five short episodes of Mario Brothers Super Show, and consumed calories and horrible cartoonage on the roof of the awesome house David lives in. The view in all directions was fantastic and a train track passed within a stone's throw. Then we watched most of The Royal Tenenbaums with his roommates.

Saturday morning it rained a little but got beautiful. We wandered determinedly and with little plan. We

• ate bagels
  
• walked past the lab where David works
  
• were going to get some cheap yarn and make a lamp-post cozy but on the way to Walmart, through Cicero, we (I) were vaguely threatened and decided to abort the plan
  
• ate raspberries on a train using chopsticks
  
• saw the lake and river
  
• fought off my inclination to belly-dance with a pair of drummers in a tunnel (better for the world that that's what happened)
  
• made plans to see a time capsule dug up at a fountain when we're 102 and 103 (our phones are programmed to go off so it's totally happening)
  
• rode lots more trains (Columbus has zero trains)
  
• saw Chinese sculptures in Millenium Park
  
• saw some guys smacking buckets
  
• found a closed knitting store and ate Chinese food
  
• watched several episodes of Karau because Zanmei Tina was hard to find
  

AND on Sunday, we got up in time to have tea and breakfast, then attend a Buddhist service. Buddhism is nice and cuddly. There was then time to pick up Asian snacks (pancakes!) and go to the knitting store (not as impressive as hoped) and then I left for home.

I like where David lives.

I'm not even going to talk about how long it's been since I posted here. Just rest assured, I check my friends page just about every day.

No more questions,
I'm addressing my fears.
Top of the list was always traps but I think it's been replaced.
I can't help but wonder
What it would be like
To look back and see, oh wait,
That was the one person I could throw myself into!
Far too late to backpedal.

----

A lot has happened and is happening and will happen. Vague enough? I'm finally getting my head together more than ever, I just don't know quite which direction to go with it.

If this job I interviewed for last week in Columbus doesn't pan out (though of course I hope it will), I'm going to see what I need to do to get the further schooling I want.

Not telling what kind of schooling. Oh .. nothing scandalous, just not the direction I thought I'd want to go.

I dated Tom for approximately six months, and he turned out to be a jackass .. well, what I really think of him is a little more complicated and a lot meaner than that but I'll spare you. Someone needs to smack me upside the head next time I try to date someone I meet through Dag .. oh wait, too late. This one's name is Michael. We'll see what happens. I've decided against trying too hard. I do, however, love his family to pieces. They have my Wii.

----

I am dreaming out my fingertips
Through wild-boy hair,
Spreading it over and over again the upturned freckled shoulder,
My eyes can't decide to be open or closed
Like the half-forgotten book beside me and
The thing is, I'm only mostly sure he's asleep
And if I relax too much
I'm afraid I'll get bitten

I have more stockpiled Peeps and dark chocolate M'n'Ms then I have ever wanted. Mom keeps buying junk food for the family out of a guilty fear that she'll make everyone eat what she needs to eat (diabetic diet), then forgets what everyone likes and doesn't like and ends up buying a bunch of lemon sandwich cookies and non-chocolate Poptarts that don't get eaten and THEN sends all of it home with me whenever I visit. Guh. And all the while I'm trying to control my eating habits as well since I've been so sedentary, and my mom - who by the way has dropped a lot of weight and continues to do so, and she looks great and is staying healthy - SABOTAGES me.

I'm not really mad about it.

Hmm .. so my birthday was pretty sweet. I was initially scheduled to work that morning, which was a paid holiday, but my supervisor got the analysis rescheduled and I got to head up to GR Thursday night. We (Celina, Ron, Pat and I) went out for the midnight drinks, which was exciting and led to a few minor shenanigans. Then my birthday greeted us with a nice little snowstorm that got us stuck in traffic for a few hours and snowed in for the night, so we played Rock Band and had a few drinks in the basement. So it was a good weekend.

The next day Celina's dad made me sad because I was getting ready to think about leaving for Adrian, and he was all, "So, how long are you staying? A month? .. There's always room for one more here." And I was all .. maaannn!! I wish!

And my dad had surgery on his right arm, so it's in a sling and he has to take sink baths and get Mom to cut up his food and find someone to tie his shoes every time he leaves the house. And he's taking it pretty well. Probably better than I would.

I just blew two and a half hours on Smash Bros Brawl. I got my ass kicked in GR this past weekend by a drunk guy *grr Pat* so I'd better work on that.

Mm! Two weekends ago I went to the Rivendell season opener in Columbus. I hadn't fought in like a year and a half so I was awful. But it was fun! Everyone was really friendly and courteous and I can't wait to go back. So now I may have someone to camp with at Rag *dance* and won't have to rely on the civility of jackasses.

Mmmkay, I know this is like my third post today but it's actually important.

In case you didn't hear, Bishop Makarios lost his battle with severe injuries sustained during a car accident in England on 5 January 2008. Despite the internal trauma and broken ribs, he held on until 23 February 2008.

If you took a class from him, heard from someone else about him or even just saw him walking across campus, take a moment and think of him. The loss to the Alma community and to the Indian Orthodox Church is monumental.

In a colorless town
A colorless crowd of people
Mutters "Happy Birthday"s to each other

"But was not cynicism merely a mask on an idealist seeking more, seeking perfection, seeking disproof of his cynical assumptions?"

Andrew Offut, in The Vivisectionist

(You bet yer ass.)

Ha, screw the Super Bowl!

The Puppy Bowl is starting on Animal Planet right now.

CHECK IT

K so this is where I go,

Holy crap. Did I need to buy another DDR game, another lot of yarn from eBay, or that T-shirt?

I think I kind of went nuts with the whole "real job, now I can buy what I want" thing.

And now I have to stop because student loans are eating my paycheck and there's been a whole lot less overtime for me lately.

Also, cats are costly, especially when you're allergic. And getting them spayed.

( Oh but so cute. )

Just something that occurred to me ..

Was knitting and watching Glenn Beck (I don't make a habit of it) and they had a quick talk about someone that wants to put a tax on having children. And regardless of how I feel about that, they started talking about how people should really have more babies, not fewer. They said someday the history books will talk about the "decline of the West" and how we "brought it on ourselves" because we are being "outbirthed".

So, what? I guess I missed where human population became a competition.

Isn't overpopulation a global issue? Why is it us v the world?

"Fuck sides, man! What we need here is a little solidarity!!"

So I finally sucked it up and got my hair cut. The cut is not exactly what I wanted, and once I put my finger on it I'll probably fix it, but the color is great!

This is how the lady styled it .. kind of curled under and bob-y. Didn't really like it.



And this is me right before leaving for the Christmas party tonight.



which is after straightening and using product. Bwahaha! It also looks cute in high and low pigtails =P

Now if only Josh would show up .. *foot tap* it's go time!!

Hahaha. OK. So I'm playing DDR, and I'm kinda getting gross and decide to take a walk for some fresh air at about 11:15pm. I take off with my phone, a five for a pop at CVS, a hoodie and, just for the hell of it, my black "engineer" hat. I notice some cop cars zooming by me, but no sirens, think it's weird but whatevs, I get to CVS like ten minutes later, buy a Diet Sunkist, all is well.

And I'm halfway back to my apartment, and a cop car pulls into the driveway in front of me. I think, that's weird, that coffee shop's closed. So I walk by, and the cop jumps out and is all, "Hey, blah blah blah, do you have an ID on you." And I'm all, no, it's at my apartment. And she asks if I'm alone, and I say yeah, and she says "Well, someone says they just saw you with two other people." I really don't know what to say, right? Something comes out like, "Well, that doesn't seem right, I've been alone." Cuz, seriously, the last person I was with was Jess at like four in the afternoon. And I explain what I've been doing, and she writes down my name, phone number, SS number, all this. So it turns out, they're looking for a blond girl with a hat. (Damn the hat! Why'd I wear the hat??) And another cop comes up for a while, then he leaves, and then the lady cop asks if she can check to make sure I don't have an ID on me and I'm all, "Go for it." And she says, "Put your hands behind your back. You're not being arrested. Have you ever been arrested?" And I almost laugh.

Anyway, after that she said they found the girl they were looking for. And I walked home laughing to myself. Seriously, what are the odds?

Also I'm wondering if it's gonna be in the police log in the paper, and if my name will be in it, and if I'm gonna get asked about it at work tomorrow.

I love these commercials inordinately. When the Viking yells "NO!!!" and throws the garbage can .. that's, like, replaced my "DO NOT WANT" response to anything that irks me. At least for now.

But I didn't know till I looked on YouTube that there's like seven or ten of these. Holy crap.

Fell off the wagon again ..

and logged into Everquest 2 tonight.

Traj invited me right back into the guild and even offered to make me an officer. (I declined.)

*sigh* =^-^=

I like driving backwards in the fog cuz it doesn't remind me of anything

I was sitting at lunch yesterday, and the table was crowded but I was kind of spaced out, looking at the thick rain clouds and wishing I could be in them. Being in fog - even driving through it - if I relax, I really enjoy it. Reason being, if something is in front of me unexpectedly, it's not my fault. I couldn't have done anything about it. I am small and the fog is big.

If we give up responsibility for the big things, we lead such small lives. (I am not qualified to make this or any related statement.)

I'm only happy when it rains

Something Josh doesn't get, and kind of makes fun of me for, is my affinity for rainstorms. There's something about being soaked and droopy that really gets my creative mind in gear. Nothing I can usually phrase or form outside of my mind, but I walk slowly and let everything remind me of something. Thunderstorms are better. Nature's usually all, in the background, doing the normal thing, but then once in a while She gets in a mood and is all, pay attention to ME! And we do.

For some reason, though I have hit the random comic button on this site five million times, this one only popped up just now.

My kitten thinks it's funny to jump on the screen of the screen door and just hang there, spread eagle, with all fours. I think it's funny too but I'm worried about the screen.

I went to Wisconsin with my dad last weekend for my cousin Donnie's wedding. The first night we were there I stayed at Ty's new place, but wasn't much fun to be around because I was dead tired. (Bad planning, really. I decided to go to the Motocross event at the fair here with Josh, Harrison and Cheryl, and me and Josh couldn't tear ourselves away until 11pm. Then I drove to Adrian for too few hours of sleep.) The wedding was the next day. I wore a dress I made, which was cute, but I haven't gotten/won't ever get any pictures of it.

I met some kids I've never seen before in my life: my cousin Lisa's twins, Katy and Elizabeth



and their little bro (I forget his name), who was so sleepy his feet weren't even ticklish



and this is the wedded family: Donnie and Crystal, their twins Josie and Courtney, and the parents of the groom, my aunt Sherrie and uncle Dave



Then I went out with Lisa, Donnie and Crystal and partied at little country bars, got embarrassingly sick and didn't get to eat dinner. Ah well =)

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Something's going to happen.

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Some girls like to hold your hand and some girls like to pray
My girl takes her drinks with dust and rusty razor blades
She's my man and we've got all the balls we need"