- getting my hair done - going blonde again. welcome @justabouttoleav!
- do you eat dirt?? maybe you should... http://tinyurl.com/c6d6fj
- shamwow tested by consumer reports http://tinyurl.com/cqk9j5
- new blog post and one day left to vote on the poll! http://wanderlust-ndstyle.b...
- should i go to cancun despite swine flu?? vote on the new poll - no need to register http://wanderlust-ndstyle.b...
- sleepless in seattle or an affair to remember? http://wanderlust-ndstyle.b...
- what i learned from daria "life sucks. don't be distracted by location changes." http://wanderlust-ndstyle.b...
- thanks @erdynorth! watching daria movie on mtv. love it!
- done with work today and treating myself to sushi. i love irish sushi! o'kellys to save the day. mmmmmm....
- happy earth day! new blog post http://tinyurl.com/cftuqj and a few hours left to vote..
- heading to work then i have to finish booking trip to france/vegas/cancun/boston...
- new post and poll! http://tinyurl.com/cw36rd check it out and comment / vote...
- need to book hotel in cancun - where should i stay? any suggestions?? need your help! thanks!
- happy birthday @fargoOLE!
- new post on how nice north dakotans are http://tinyurl.com/c88c5x. & take the poll!
- I might not be able to work today. My blood pressure is too low. Wtf.
- yeah @erdysouth i finished in time to see a movie. so there! http://tinyurl.com/c45fqn
- JUST finished taxes (well, technically still need to enter bank acct info - but 99% done) and heading to a movie as a treat!
- new poll! when do you do your taxes? http://wanderlust-ndstyle.b...
- annoyed no one will go on a walk with me... there is nothing to do here. what do i do??
- very happy indeed. i'm catching up on tv on my new dvr. cant wait for new rock of love bus tomorrow. woo hoo!
- fun adventures last night! http://tinyurl.com/c362gz
- i effing fell in the gd river! http://tinyurl.com/dbljur
- just got home after spending night with @erdynorth, @charpie and @farjoe. there is mustard on my jeans. wtf?
- @Charlie you're not going to say hi to your ex?!?!
- At the best place in town for sushi! That's right o'kellys, an irish pub. With @erdynorth
- what's your blonde moment? leave a comment http://tinyurl.com/cfeo6z
- @fargoOLE, yeah... my lips are kind of burning. prob not good. there are a bunch of #s on the bottle 8204520H0807... 2007? eek...
- if my beer bottle has rust on it and it touches my lips, is that bad?
- Just listed myself in the http://localtweeps.com local Twitter directory in ZIP 58102
- rather annoyed by babb's today. yes? no? babb's downtown? http://tinyurl.com/csxpeq
- welcome @parithed to twitter! papa erd is following my every word...
- finally! another post. read up and enjoy. http://wanderlust-ndstyle.b...
- @ o'kelleys. With @erdysouth. This place is hoppin!
- going to fargo theater with papa erd - gonna see both doubt and milk tonight. woo hoo! popcorn dinner. love it.
- At dempseys with @erdysouth and papa erd. Fargo theatre closed for the night. Bummer.
- new blog post on floyd the flood! http://wanderlust-ndstyle.b... #fargoflood
Thursday, April 30, 2009
apr twitter archive
should i go to cancun in may poll archive
yes, swine flu pandemic is not a real threat | 5 (35%) |
yeah, just be careful - wash hands, wear mask | 3 (21%) |
not if you can get your money back | 5 (35%) |
no, don't go even if you lose money | 1 (7%) |
other (comment in blog) | 0 (0%) |
Votes so far: 14
Poll closed
i will survive!
the other day, ok, maybe a few months ago, i read this article about how dirt is good for you. and it got me thinking about a lot of things.
1) i was born in minot, nd, which is about 5 hours from fargo in the northwest corner (sometimes i get directions right!) of the state and we lived in a brown house on a hill. when you would walk out the front door, you would walk right into a brick planter box (you had to turn right to go down the stairs - it's not like you cant get out of the house). i distinctly remember being little (we moved to fargo when i was 7) and walking outside and picking dirt out of the planter box and eating it. i actually really liked the taste. minot dirt has found memories for me. somewhere along the way, however, i developed an insanely negative reaction to dirt. i HATE getting my fingers dirty - if i eat something and there is food on my fingers, i will WIPE THEM off. i do NOT stick them in my MOUTH. ewww. curly sue always grossed me out. i don't like walking on grass and dirt and you will NEVER see me walk on grass without shoes on. my first employer out of college was this small consulting firm in newton, mass. for a summer outing, the owner paid to send the 25 or so of us on a hiking trip. as soon as i found out, i went up to my boss and asked if it was optional. since it was during a workday, it was not unless i had a health reason for not going. i could not come up with one. whenever the planning committee would meet, i would join the group so i could get an idea of what was going to happen. i constantly reminded them that i had never gone hiking before and generally didnt like being outside in the city, much less outside not in the city. i asked if we were doing the type of hiking where you walk in the woods. and were we going up or cross country hiking? and were there a lot of bugs? and were there proper bathroom facilities? and what was i supposed to wear? did i have to buy special hiking boots? everyone in the company knew that this was a momentous day for me. i think they didn't really believe me and so it became a joke. so the day arrives and we get in these caravans and drive into new hampshire to go hiking by the man in the rock (whats that called?). apparently they chose an "easy" path with a little rest area halfway up so that people could stop there while the others continued on. i wore a tank top and brought 3 different types of bug repellant. i put bug spray on, sunscreen spf 500, and i had these bug wipes that you could wipe on yourself. i rubbed ALL of my clothes down and tied one into my ponytail. i had extras in my back pocket. people stared at me finally realizing how serious i was. we started off on the trail and i was right along with everyone. then my friend, jen, and i fell behind. i dont even remember it happening. it's not like i was going slow. i walked the same pace i would walk in a mall. are you supposed to hike FAST? i just didn't get why people were going so fast. what was the point? one tree looks the same to me. then, the cute guy, jim, stopped to wait for us. the three of us being separated didnt make me want to catch up with the others. :) i was sweating faster than i was drinking water and my clothes were completely soaked. no one else had wet spots under their arms! i couldn't understand why, despite going slowly, i was so hot. we finally got to the halfway point and there were a few other people who decided not to go to the top waiting there. jim went on because apparently it was really beautiful or something. definitely not motivation enough for me to go. we waited at the rest area and i spent about 5 minutes with my head under the faucet in the bathroom. the water was FREEZING cold because they had no heater way up in the moutain. and there was this cabin where people could eat and hang out. apparently they had people who LIVED there during the hiking season. ??!?!? who would CHOOSE to do that?? someone made trail mix, which i did not like, but ate about half of because i was so hungry. once the really stupid ones came back from the top, we all went back down and you should've seen me going down. i was leaping and bounding and jumping all over! i was SO EXCITED i had gotten to the halfway point and no bears had eaten me and i had hardly a few bug bites. it was easy going down and everyone was really proud of me. then, we drove to this lake thats up in the middle of the mountain and its perfectly clear blue. i'll admit it was beautiful, but honestly, it would've been just as nice in a picture. i got in my swimsuit and went swimming immediately. everyone was surprised that i would get into the water since i have such an aversion to nature, but that's where it's ironic for me. as long as it looks "clean" i would go in the water ANY time! i love water. it's just bugs and trees and dirt that i don't like. and hot weather. and animals. since that was the end of our day, i sat in the van on the way back to boston completely pleased with myself. you will NEVER.
EVER.
AGAIN.
catch me hiking, but at least now i can say that i've tried it and rightfully hated it. but i survived! and as long as i know how to love i know i'll stay alive - err... yeah. it was very hard for me to hide my disdain for all things dirt- nature, i mean. i only worked at that job for 3 months, and i'm pretty sure if any of those people remembered me, they'll remember my hate for all things outside. i wouldn't even go sit on the picnic bench outside the office and eat my lunch. i'll take the fake wood desk with my computer any time.
2) maybe i should've gone to africa. it might've cured my hate for dirt and hot and all those uncomfortable things. but then again, maybe i wouldn't have survived and everyone would be at my funeral by now. in reality, if i had gone to africa, i would be coming back this week. funny how things change.
3) i was once at my old company's office in burlington, vermont and the attorney walked into the room where i was working. i had just gone to the restroom and washed my hands and i have this major compulsion to immediately put lotion on my hands after i wash them (i HATE dry hands, but this is why i have nice soft hands now). so i was putting lotion on and i asked her if she wanted some. it was one of those lotions from bath and body works that have the antibacterial beads in them. she took the bottle from me and laughed. it was kind of a half-funny, half-disgusted laugh. "no! why would i use that?!" she exclaimed. and when gloria is aghast with something, she exlaims. "what? what's wrong?" i asked. i told her how i was afraid of germs. she then gave me a long lecture on how by using all these antibacterial products, i was actually weakening my immune system and making me more susceptible to germs and disease. her rationale was very convincing (she is a lawyer in vermont) and i agree with her 100%. and after reading that article, i understand. but no matter what, i will not like getting my hands dirty. and if someone coughs on me, i will instinctively hold my breath and run to the bathroom and wash every part of myself that i can. dirt. i just dont like it! and you can't make me! but i really do remember liking the dirt from my childhood. maybe it was specific dirt. in minot. i bet if i went back to that house, i'd probably crave the dirt again. but only that dirt. and in small quantities. it's not like i'd eat a dirt salad.
but this also makes me feel ok... part of the article talks about how, by being exposed to different bugs and viruses, we're actually helping ourselves. so this makes me think that i can go to mexico. my little brother was home a few months ago because he had influenza A. i was exposed to his coughing and runny nose and overall germ-filled contagiousness and didn't get sick at all! and since swine flu, excuse me mr. president, n1h1, is a type of influenza A, maybe i have built up a part of immunity. which makes me feel a bit better about going.
and as far as cancun goes, i'll sit on the beach and go in the ocean, but most likely, you'll see me sipping margaritas at the swim-up pool. mmmmm. margaritas and dirt. sounds good.
1) i was born in minot, nd, which is about 5 hours from fargo in the northwest corner (sometimes i get directions right!) of the state and we lived in a brown house on a hill. when you would walk out the front door, you would walk right into a brick planter box (you had to turn right to go down the stairs - it's not like you cant get out of the house). i distinctly remember being little (we moved to fargo when i was 7) and walking outside and picking dirt out of the planter box and eating it. i actually really liked the taste. minot dirt has found memories for me. somewhere along the way, however, i developed an insanely negative reaction to dirt. i HATE getting my fingers dirty - if i eat something and there is food on my fingers, i will WIPE THEM off. i do NOT stick them in my MOUTH. ewww. curly sue always grossed me out. i don't like walking on grass and dirt and you will NEVER see me walk on grass without shoes on. my first employer out of college was this small consulting firm in newton, mass. for a summer outing, the owner paid to send the 25 or so of us on a hiking trip. as soon as i found out, i went up to my boss and asked if it was optional. since it was during a workday, it was not unless i had a health reason for not going. i could not come up with one. whenever the planning committee would meet, i would join the group so i could get an idea of what was going to happen. i constantly reminded them that i had never gone hiking before and generally didnt like being outside in the city, much less outside not in the city. i asked if we were doing the type of hiking where you walk in the woods. and were we going up or cross country hiking? and were there a lot of bugs? and were there proper bathroom facilities? and what was i supposed to wear? did i have to buy special hiking boots? everyone in the company knew that this was a momentous day for me. i think they didn't really believe me and so it became a joke. so the day arrives and we get in these caravans and drive into new hampshire to go hiking by the man in the rock (whats that called?). apparently they chose an "easy" path with a little rest area halfway up so that people could stop there while the others continued on. i wore a tank top and brought 3 different types of bug repellant. i put bug spray on, sunscreen spf 500, and i had these bug wipes that you could wipe on yourself. i rubbed ALL of my clothes down and tied one into my ponytail. i had extras in my back pocket. people stared at me finally realizing how serious i was. we started off on the trail and i was right along with everyone. then my friend, jen, and i fell behind. i dont even remember it happening. it's not like i was going slow. i walked the same pace i would walk in a mall. are you supposed to hike FAST? i just didn't get why people were going so fast. what was the point? one tree looks the same to me. then, the cute guy, jim, stopped to wait for us. the three of us being separated didnt make me want to catch up with the others. :) i was sweating faster than i was drinking water and my clothes were completely soaked. no one else had wet spots under their arms! i couldn't understand why, despite going slowly, i was so hot. we finally got to the halfway point and there were a few other people who decided not to go to the top waiting there. jim went on because apparently it was really beautiful or something. definitely not motivation enough for me to go. we waited at the rest area and i spent about 5 minutes with my head under the faucet in the bathroom. the water was FREEZING cold because they had no heater way up in the moutain. and there was this cabin where people could eat and hang out. apparently they had people who LIVED there during the hiking season. ??!?!? who would CHOOSE to do that?? someone made trail mix, which i did not like, but ate about half of because i was so hungry. once the really stupid ones came back from the top, we all went back down and you should've seen me going down. i was leaping and bounding and jumping all over! i was SO EXCITED i had gotten to the halfway point and no bears had eaten me and i had hardly a few bug bites. it was easy going down and everyone was really proud of me. then, we drove to this lake thats up in the middle of the mountain and its perfectly clear blue. i'll admit it was beautiful, but honestly, it would've been just as nice in a picture. i got in my swimsuit and went swimming immediately. everyone was surprised that i would get into the water since i have such an aversion to nature, but that's where it's ironic for me. as long as it looks "clean" i would go in the water ANY time! i love water. it's just bugs and trees and dirt that i don't like. and hot weather. and animals. since that was the end of our day, i sat in the van on the way back to boston completely pleased with myself. you will NEVER.
EVER.
AGAIN.
catch me hiking, but at least now i can say that i've tried it and rightfully hated it. but i survived! and as long as i know how to love i know i'll stay alive - err... yeah. it was very hard for me to hide my disdain for all things dirt- nature, i mean. i only worked at that job for 3 months, and i'm pretty sure if any of those people remembered me, they'll remember my hate for all things outside. i wouldn't even go sit on the picnic bench outside the office and eat my lunch. i'll take the fake wood desk with my computer any time.
2) maybe i should've gone to africa. it might've cured my hate for dirt and hot and all those uncomfortable things. but then again, maybe i wouldn't have survived and everyone would be at my funeral by now. in reality, if i had gone to africa, i would be coming back this week. funny how things change.
3) i was once at my old company's office in burlington, vermont and the attorney walked into the room where i was working. i had just gone to the restroom and washed my hands and i have this major compulsion to immediately put lotion on my hands after i wash them (i HATE dry hands, but this is why i have nice soft hands now). so i was putting lotion on and i asked her if she wanted some. it was one of those lotions from bath and body works that have the antibacterial beads in them. she took the bottle from me and laughed. it was kind of a half-funny, half-disgusted laugh. "no! why would i use that?!" she exclaimed. and when gloria is aghast with something, she exlaims. "what? what's wrong?" i asked. i told her how i was afraid of germs. she then gave me a long lecture on how by using all these antibacterial products, i was actually weakening my immune system and making me more susceptible to germs and disease. her rationale was very convincing (she is a lawyer in vermont) and i agree with her 100%. and after reading that article, i understand. but no matter what, i will not like getting my hands dirty. and if someone coughs on me, i will instinctively hold my breath and run to the bathroom and wash every part of myself that i can. dirt. i just dont like it! and you can't make me! but i really do remember liking the dirt from my childhood. maybe it was specific dirt. in minot. i bet if i went back to that house, i'd probably crave the dirt again. but only that dirt. and in small quantities. it's not like i'd eat a dirt salad.
but this also makes me feel ok... part of the article talks about how, by being exposed to different bugs and viruses, we're actually helping ourselves. so this makes me think that i can go to mexico. my little brother was home a few months ago because he had influenza A. i was exposed to his coughing and runny nose and overall germ-filled contagiousness and didn't get sick at all! and since swine flu, excuse me mr. president, n1h1, is a type of influenza A, maybe i have built up a part of immunity. which makes me feel a bit better about going.
and as far as cancun goes, i'll sit on the beach and go in the ocean, but most likely, you'll see me sipping margaritas at the swim-up pool. mmmmm. margaritas and dirt. sounds good.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
classics matter
so i've just finished watching driving miss daisy and a few things come to mind that i thought i should write about:
1) it's actually on aMC, not a&e. should give it the proper credit. and speaking of which, why is it "a" "M" "C". small a, big M and big C? i wonder who came up with that logo. why a small a? or two big letters? can someone explain this to me? i'd like to go back to the design firm or marketing person who created it. surely there is an explanation and they probably had to have meetings about it and whatnot. my brothers friend, charpie, is a designer and he makes logos and other great stuff. you should check him out at http://www.charpiellc.com/.
2) miss daisy starts out the movie old and she just gets older and older. she reminds me a lot of my grandma. she says things like, "i don't talk about that - that's none of my business." then without skipping a beat, "but if you ask me, she done do nothin' right by him." or something. talk one second about it not being her business and then giving you her thoughts anyway. just like my grandma. but without a southern accent. which made me realize: my grandma is gonna be around for a looong time. just let this sink in for a bit, folks.
3) a quick shout-out to baby sean who i just found out was born last week. congrats!
1) it's actually on aMC, not a&e. should give it the proper credit. and speaking of which, why is it "a" "M" "C". small a, big M and big C? i wonder who came up with that logo. why a small a? or two big letters? can someone explain this to me? i'd like to go back to the design firm or marketing person who created it. surely there is an explanation and they probably had to have meetings about it and whatnot. my brothers friend, charpie, is a designer and he makes logos and other great stuff. you should check him out at http://www.charpiellc.com/.
2) miss daisy starts out the movie old and she just gets older and older. she reminds me a lot of my grandma. she says things like, "i don't talk about that - that's none of my business." then without skipping a beat, "but if you ask me, she done do nothin' right by him." or something. talk one second about it not being her business and then giving you her thoughts anyway. just like my grandma. but without a southern accent. which made me realize: my grandma is gonna be around for a looong time. just let this sink in for a bit, folks.
3) a quick shout-out to baby sean who i just found out was born last week. congrats!
the tell-tale heart
well good morning. for once in a long time, i am going to attempt to write this whole rambling in one sitting and actually post it right away.
it's wednesday morning and a rainy one at that. doesn't really make me want to do anything. i should run errands and get ready for the day - thanks to the new blinds in my room i slept until 10am this morning. woops. i'm going to finish watching driving miss daisy on a&e. its such a cute movie! i completely forgot. morgan freeman is soo charming and simple, my heart goes out to him. ignorance is bliss, i've always said that. and i think the movie is such a great example of how meeting people can change you. i rarely realize that these days.
so yes, the next few days will be busy. today is wednesday. still. and on friday i am going to bismarck with my mom to help my little brother move into a new house for the summer. or rather, a house. not new. new for him. he's lived in the dorm this past year since it's free for him. now he's moving into a house in town with some friends. i think it will be good for him. there are some people who shouldn't be alone too much and i think both my brothers are like that - they are much more social than i. it's easy for me to live in a town where the only people who are my friends are my parents, brothers, and one cousin i never see... or i guess all my cousins in town i never see. ha!
back to the plan. my mom and i come back on saturday from bismarck and we have to rush to get ready for my cousin's bachelorette party. we'll go out sat night with them and then on sunday i leave for my big may trip! so that means that before friday, i have to pack for a month's vacation, shop for last minute things for my trip, get my haircut, a wax, visit my grandma and great aunt, help with my bedroom (which my mom spackled yesterday and will start priming and painting soon), get gifts for my friends in europe, etc... i'd make a list right now but i am eating a hamburger. that's right, folks. a hamburger. i have finished my 14-year long vegetarianism thingie. i'll go into it some other time, but boy this hamburger sure tastes good! and makes a FABULOUS breakfast.
so anyway, lots to do in a few days. once i start my trip, here is how it will go. i'll be staying with my cousin in minneapolis for a few days until next wed when i have a red eye flight to paris. in paris, my friends fiance, meat, will meet me at the airport to give me keys to their apartment. i will take the air france cars to porte maillot and walk to their apartment where i plan to shower and relax and then go out in paris. i will spend one night with them in gay par-eee and then friday morning the three of us will drive down to the south of france, carcassone, for a nice sejour in a big house with 17 other people. the following wed i will take the train up to paris and stay in my friend's place alone again. on thur morning i will take the reverse trip - air france car to the airport - and get on a looong flight to vegas. i have two stopovers - chicago and minneapolis. then i spend thur night to sun night in vegas with my "boston" friends. sun night, elaine and i take the red eye to cancun (fingers crossed!) and stay there, hopefully disease free, until saturday when we fly to new york (good to keep the contagions in one place). we'll spend a night in new york before elaine flies back to london and i take a bus to new york. i have yet to book my ticket back to fargo, so... as my friend ryan said yesterday, "so, you're just living in boston again, right?" i guess so. :) one week, two? who knows? it will be interesting being back in boston. i read an article about edgar allan poe having a love hate relationship with boston, and i completely understand! i love my friends there, but hate the elitist attitude many have.
so that's the plan, stan. i have to go do something for the day since i finished my breakfast.
it's wednesday morning and a rainy one at that. doesn't really make me want to do anything. i should run errands and get ready for the day - thanks to the new blinds in my room i slept until 10am this morning. woops. i'm going to finish watching driving miss daisy on a&e. its such a cute movie! i completely forgot. morgan freeman is soo charming and simple, my heart goes out to him. ignorance is bliss, i've always said that. and i think the movie is such a great example of how meeting people can change you. i rarely realize that these days.
so yes, the next few days will be busy. today is wednesday. still. and on friday i am going to bismarck with my mom to help my little brother move into a new house for the summer. or rather, a house. not new. new for him. he's lived in the dorm this past year since it's free for him. now he's moving into a house in town with some friends. i think it will be good for him. there are some people who shouldn't be alone too much and i think both my brothers are like that - they are much more social than i. it's easy for me to live in a town where the only people who are my friends are my parents, brothers, and one cousin i never see... or i guess all my cousins in town i never see. ha!
back to the plan. my mom and i come back on saturday from bismarck and we have to rush to get ready for my cousin's bachelorette party. we'll go out sat night with them and then on sunday i leave for my big may trip! so that means that before friday, i have to pack for a month's vacation, shop for last minute things for my trip, get my haircut, a wax, visit my grandma and great aunt, help with my bedroom (which my mom spackled yesterday and will start priming and painting soon), get gifts for my friends in europe, etc... i'd make a list right now but i am eating a hamburger. that's right, folks. a hamburger. i have finished my 14-year long vegetarianism thingie. i'll go into it some other time, but boy this hamburger sure tastes good! and makes a FABULOUS breakfast.
so anyway, lots to do in a few days. once i start my trip, here is how it will go. i'll be staying with my cousin in minneapolis for a few days until next wed when i have a red eye flight to paris. in paris, my friends fiance, meat, will meet me at the airport to give me keys to their apartment. i will take the air france cars to porte maillot and walk to their apartment where i plan to shower and relax and then go out in paris. i will spend one night with them in gay par-eee and then friday morning the three of us will drive down to the south of france, carcassone, for a nice sejour in a big house with 17 other people. the following wed i will take the train up to paris and stay in my friend's place alone again. on thur morning i will take the reverse trip - air france car to the airport - and get on a looong flight to vegas. i have two stopovers - chicago and minneapolis. then i spend thur night to sun night in vegas with my "boston" friends. sun night, elaine and i take the red eye to cancun (fingers crossed!) and stay there, hopefully disease free, until saturday when we fly to new york (good to keep the contagions in one place). we'll spend a night in new york before elaine flies back to london and i take a bus to new york. i have yet to book my ticket back to fargo, so... as my friend ryan said yesterday, "so, you're just living in boston again, right?" i guess so. :) one week, two? who knows? it will be interesting being back in boston. i read an article about edgar allan poe having a love hate relationship with boston, and i completely understand! i love my friends there, but hate the elitist attitude many have.
so that's the plan, stan. i have to go do something for the day since i finished my breakfast.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
animal farm
monday monday. dah dah....
i dont really have much to say today... weekend was fine. nothing big. today my mom and i washed the walls in my bedroom after taking out the wallpaper. my parents are going to paint the room while i’m away - i leave in less than a week. i talked to elaine in london and we figured out our travel plans so now i have a train from carcassone in the south of france back up to paris. in the end, it will be a lot less stressful, so i guess that is good.
i’m also trying to think of the perfect gift for my friend lisa. it’s her 30th birthday that we’re celebrating in france. i’m going to bring some north dakota goodies, and other than that... quoi? je n’ai aucune idee...
oh! 2 things...
1) tonight was the season finale of chuck - AWESOME. you should check it out here. i couldn’t watch it live (we watch dancing with the stars), but it was great and i will def be checking it out again tomorrow. the end of chuck (for this season, that is, knock on wood) will be a lot less stressful on the family. see, monday nights are big tv nights here. we have 2 dvr’s set up to record 4 different shows at 7pm, which means that my dad is forced to watch the twins in his bedroom, which does not have a dvr. i dont think he fully realized that EVERY monday we have the same problem. he can’t wait tv in the living room. but now that should be over...
2) so now there is this whole swine flu thing. great. fabulous! lovely!! have you been following this? apparently it's a big deal. i’m meant to go to mexico on may 18th - cancun, specifically. so far, all the swine flu cases have been in mexico city and to the north, but on the other hand... it would REALLY suck to get swine flu and bring it back to the US. i’d feel bad if i gave it to others. for now, elaine and i have a plan:
i dont really have much to say today... weekend was fine. nothing big. today my mom and i washed the walls in my bedroom after taking out the wallpaper. my parents are going to paint the room while i’m away - i leave in less than a week. i talked to elaine in london and we figured out our travel plans so now i have a train from carcassone in the south of france back up to paris. in the end, it will be a lot less stressful, so i guess that is good.
i’m also trying to think of the perfect gift for my friend lisa. it’s her 30th birthday that we’re celebrating in france. i’m going to bring some north dakota goodies, and other than that... quoi? je n’ai aucune idee...
oh! 2 things...
1) tonight was the season finale of chuck - AWESOME. you should check it out here. i couldn’t watch it live (we watch dancing with the stars), but it was great and i will def be checking it out again tomorrow. the end of chuck (for this season, that is, knock on wood) will be a lot less stressful on the family. see, monday nights are big tv nights here. we have 2 dvr’s set up to record 4 different shows at 7pm, which means that my dad is forced to watch the twins in his bedroom, which does not have a dvr. i dont think he fully realized that EVERY monday we have the same problem. he can’t wait tv in the living room. but now that should be over...
2) so now there is this whole swine flu thing. great. fabulous! lovely!! have you been following this? apparently it's a big deal. i’m meant to go to mexico on may 18th - cancun, specifically. so far, all the swine flu cases have been in mexico city and to the north, but on the other hand... it would REALLY suck to get swine flu and bring it back to the US. i’d feel bad if i gave it to others. for now, elaine and i have a plan:
- don’t venture off the resort
- don’t “snog” any mexicans
- wear face masks on the plane
Saturday, April 25, 2009
sleepless in seattle
i fear it is the end of my weekly bonding sessions with my little brother, homie. for most fridays the past few months, we have gone to o’kellys here in fargo, a fine “irish” establishment that is not really irish at all. we did not go yesterday because he had to go to his girlfriend’s sister’s prom. i think he was just there to watch the grand march - when all the couples come in (so family members can see the dresses) - but maybe he actually WENT to the prom. i guess i didn’t ask. that would be embarrassing to be a 25-year old at a prom. in any case, this is my last friday in fargo for quite some time...
thinking back to all our fun times at o’kellys, i found a rambling i never posted. i wrote it after i got home one night and figured i would paste it in here to be remembered...
the rest of my day was uninteresting. i watched a movie and made my favorite - fajitas. mmmm... i had the house to myself because my dad was golfing and my mom and aunt took my grandma and great aunt to the casino for the day. when my mom got home, we played battleship. it was kind of fun and old school. i won, of course. :) now we are watching an affair to remember, which my mom has never seen. great movie. which of course makes us think of sleepless in seattle, also a great movie, but in a different way. whenever i think of sleepless in seattle, i think of two things: 1) my cousin, amy, was staying with us for a month one summer and so she and my mom and i went to see sleepless in seattle ('94 i think). they called someone a "ho" and both my mom and i said, "what's a ho?" my 17 year old cousin from new york had to tell us that it was a slut. i'll always remember that's the first time i heard that word. also, in the movie, there is a scene where someone from duluth calls in to the radio show (or something like that) and bill pullman asks, "where is duluth, anyway?" and meg ryan answers "i think it's in north dakota." of course, the whole theater busted out laughing because we all know that duluth is a few hours away in minnesota. i wonder if i have that movie. i should buy it...
thinking back to all our fun times at o’kellys, i found a rambling i never posted. i wrote it after i got home one night and figured i would paste it in here to be remembered...
ok, i'm pretty sure i'm like the best big sister ever. rationale:today has been uneventful. oh wait! i talked on the phone for almost two and a half hours with my friend lisa, in france. we are preparing for my trip over there in less than 2 weeks. while speaking with her, i discovered that i don’t actually have one of my plane tickets that i am supposed to have. i’ve kind of screwed myself and have to fix it. i should’ve done that today, but i am waiting to get in touch with my friend, elaine, in london, so we can discuss. let me explain: i am flying into paris on may 6 or something like that - thur morning. i used miles to get a roundtrip ticket from minneapolis to paris. so i leave from msp and arrive in paris on thur morning. i’ll spend the day at my friend’s house (lisa and meat) and then fri morning the three of us are going to drive down to the south of france, carcassone, to a house in the hills that lisa has rented for her 30th birthday. over the next few days, there will be about 20 people at the house, most arriving on sat or sun. one of the people arriving on saturday is my friend, elaine. on wed, may 13, elaine and i are supposed to go to marseille for the day and stay the night so that we can get up bright and early on the 14th to catch our respective flights to las vegas. since i had a flight from paris to minneapolis, i had to buy a separate flight to las vegas, which i did this past week. in addition, i *thought* i bought a ticket from marseille to paris. my flight in paris is from charles de gaulle airport (north of the city) and my flight TO paris is into orly (south of the city). i had to get an early flight so that i can get to cdg in time. on the phone with lisa today, she told me that i should plan to get to paris orly at least 4 hours before my flight back to the US because of traffic. this worried me, so i looked to see what time i landed in paris and what time i was leaving paris. turns out, i don’t have a flight TO paris. and i am leaving paris earlier than i thought (11:15am, instead of after noon sometime). so i look online and the only flight that will get me in to paris on time for my 11:15 flight is $500. !!! not cool. so lisa suggests that i take the train back to paris the day before and stay at her apartment instead of staying the night in marseille. so i think that is the new plan, BUT i already booked a hotel in marseille for me and elaine and i’d hate to leave her there all alone. so... this trip is becoming a logistical nightmare. i’m just sure i’ll miss at least a few flights and everything will get discombobulated.
1) bought brothers dinner and drinks
2) invited parents out to meet us
3) made sure brother did not drive home
4) dropped off other brother to meet cute girl at bar
5) got comfy at home and then left comfortness to take first brother to girlfriends house
6) stopped with brother at club to get keys to girlfriend's place from drunk sister
7) dropped brother off on other side of town
8) helped second brother carry luggage in to house
9) returned to coolness in recliner and pjs
the rest of my day was uninteresting. i watched a movie and made my favorite - fajitas. mmmm... i had the house to myself because my dad was golfing and my mom and aunt took my grandma and great aunt to the casino for the day. when my mom got home, we played battleship. it was kind of fun and old school. i won, of course. :) now we are watching an affair to remember, which my mom has never seen. great movie. which of course makes us think of sleepless in seattle, also a great movie, but in a different way. whenever i think of sleepless in seattle, i think of two things: 1) my cousin, amy, was staying with us for a month one summer and so she and my mom and i went to see sleepless in seattle ('94 i think). they called someone a "ho" and both my mom and i said, "what's a ho?" my 17 year old cousin from new york had to tell us that it was a slut. i'll always remember that's the first time i heard that word. also, in the movie, there is a scene where someone from duluth calls in to the radio show (or something like that) and bill pullman asks, "where is duluth, anyway?" and meg ryan answers "i think it's in north dakota." of course, the whole theater busted out laughing because we all know that duluth is a few hours away in minnesota. i wonder if i have that movie. i should buy it...
Friday, April 24, 2009
da funk
just one of those days at work. everyone has them. maybe your boss yells at you or your committee member doesn't finish his or her project or your patient complains. or you just keep bleeding. it's been one of THOSE days for me.
i got up at 4:50 this morning to take my mom to work so i could have the car for when i go to work at 10:15. i was in bed until after 9 and called them to change my appointment to this afternoon, but with only two openings, they said that they were really full after lunch, so i decided to keep my 10:15 appointment. i didn't decide this until 9:30, though, so i had to rush to get ready. i stuffed food down my throat and guzzled as much water as i could in 20 minutes. i headed to the center and should've just KNOWN not to go in.
i arrived and everything was normal until i went back to the beds. i usually donate from my right arm, but there were no beds with a right arm next to the machine - they were all set up for left arms. so i sat down and said to the guy, "i usually do my right arm." he didn't seem to care, said he would check my left arm first. i'm no dummy. i can look down at my own arm and see that there is no visible vein on the inside of my left elbow (what is that area called??). he seems determined, though. josh, was his name. so josh puts the blood pressure cuff on and hands me a squishy ball to squeeze. he tells me to squeeze and hold. i squeeze and hold. and he's pushing down on my inner-elbow. he keeps pushing and probing and feeling for a vein. i keep telling him, "you can use my right arm - the vein is right there. see???" he ignores me. he wants that vein. by now, my arm has fallen asleep and i am afraid to let go over the ball. he keeps poking me with this pen to mark where the vein is. the vein apparently moves under the skin - i have about 12 hole marks. i try wiggling my fingers but there's no feeling. my hand is purple. he calls over some other guy, the only cute guy in the place, to see if he can use the vein. cute guy tells josh that there's a vein there. of course there's a vein there! i'm not veinless! so josh gets excited and puts the needle in. at first it feels fine - not great, but not the worst. he tells me that everything looks ok so far and he'll monitor me. i brought my laptop so JaBootaay can see me working so i get online and we google chat. and then the pain starts. normally, when they're taking the blood from you, you pump your fist and there are these lights on the side of the machine that tell you if you're pumping enough. with my right hand, i am always at 100% green lights. now i'm pumping as fast as i can and i don't even get ONE red light. it's like the machine isn't even working. i push through and finally get to the part where they give me the blood minus plasma back. it hurts so bad. i tell JaBootaay to hold on and keep trying to call josh over. he either doesn't see me or is ignoring me. guess which one i think. i gingerly touch the area around the needle and its swollen and sore. i tell JaBootaay that i have to go, there is something wrong. i hang up with him and finally get josh's attention. he comes over and isn't worried. he tells me to "hold on" and goes to get a supervisor. i'm in incredible pain. i wait and finally this GIRL comes over and says, "oh, she probably has a hematoma. you probably have a hematoma." ???!! she says, "do you mind if we use your other arm?" i explain thats the arm i usually use. so they take the needle out - PAIN - and go to use my other arm. now, if it were me, i'd be like, "sorry, i screwed up. take your 50 bucks and get out of here. come back next time. thanks for playing." but nooooo, they just HAD to take my stupid plasma. i tell you, its important plasma and they know it. so they wrap up my left arm and poke my right. things are better and uneventful. josh leaves and i wonder if he's embarrassed to see me or if he just got put on a different rotation. he did wrap this tiny little ice pack smaller than a roll of quarters on my "hematoma." when i finish, everyone is busy so i sit there a few minutes beeping away, waiting for someone to give me saline. what a day. stoooopid.
so i'm driving away with my TWO bum arms and i think, "this is fun. let me go show my mom!" who is pretty much like my only friend in town. so i stop at the hospital and go in to her unit. i like walking in there because all the patient's families look at you like, "why do you get to go back there? i'm just sitting here reading a stupid magazine." so i find her and i'm like, "hey! look at this!" and i put my two arms out so she can see they're wrapped. it's at that moment that i notice my right arm HAS NOT STOPPED BLEEDING. there is blood EVERYWHERE. i didn't even notice! its on the inside of my sweater and seeping through all my bandages. we go into the bathroom and she takes off my bandages. she is a nurse, afterall. so i wash up and the bleeding has now kind of stopped. she gives me new bandages and all these nurses come around to see whats going on. everyone agrees they should have let me go with my one bum arm. now i have two.
to make myself feel better, i go to get sushi for lunch. we won't talk about how i almost ran into a cop. talk about losing your good mood. so i get home and the sushi isn't that great. then i realize why. the MFers put mayonaise in the rolls. wtf! i would've said NO MAYO if i had known they were going to do that, but they have never done it before and its not on the roll description. another downer.
when my mom gets home, i'm sitting on the recliner with a candle holder propping my arm 12 inches in the air. she rolls her eyes. my arm is NOT comfortable, but i'm supposed to keep it higher than my heart. i rotate the ice packs on it and now its a pretty color of yellow, blue, purple and wine color. makes me want some wine. which would've been great with the sushi, but the sushi sucked. so i have no wine. and i had a tough day at work. and the sushi sucked. i'm going to bed.
i got up at 4:50 this morning to take my mom to work so i could have the car for when i go to work at 10:15. i was in bed until after 9 and called them to change my appointment to this afternoon, but with only two openings, they said that they were really full after lunch, so i decided to keep my 10:15 appointment. i didn't decide this until 9:30, though, so i had to rush to get ready. i stuffed food down my throat and guzzled as much water as i could in 20 minutes. i headed to the center and should've just KNOWN not to go in.
i arrived and everything was normal until i went back to the beds. i usually donate from my right arm, but there were no beds with a right arm next to the machine - they were all set up for left arms. so i sat down and said to the guy, "i usually do my right arm." he didn't seem to care, said he would check my left arm first. i'm no dummy. i can look down at my own arm and see that there is no visible vein on the inside of my left elbow (what is that area called??). he seems determined, though. josh, was his name. so josh puts the blood pressure cuff on and hands me a squishy ball to squeeze. he tells me to squeeze and hold. i squeeze and hold. and he's pushing down on my inner-elbow. he keeps pushing and probing and feeling for a vein. i keep telling him, "you can use my right arm - the vein is right there. see???" he ignores me. he wants that vein. by now, my arm has fallen asleep and i am afraid to let go over the ball. he keeps poking me with this pen to mark where the vein is. the vein apparently moves under the skin - i have about 12 hole marks. i try wiggling my fingers but there's no feeling. my hand is purple. he calls over some other guy, the only cute guy in the place, to see if he can use the vein. cute guy tells josh that there's a vein there. of course there's a vein there! i'm not veinless! so josh gets excited and puts the needle in. at first it feels fine - not great, but not the worst. he tells me that everything looks ok so far and he'll monitor me. i brought my laptop so JaBootaay can see me working so i get online and we google chat. and then the pain starts. normally, when they're taking the blood from you, you pump your fist and there are these lights on the side of the machine that tell you if you're pumping enough. with my right hand, i am always at 100% green lights. now i'm pumping as fast as i can and i don't even get ONE red light. it's like the machine isn't even working. i push through and finally get to the part where they give me the blood minus plasma back. it hurts so bad. i tell JaBootaay to hold on and keep trying to call josh over. he either doesn't see me or is ignoring me. guess which one i think. i gingerly touch the area around the needle and its swollen and sore. i tell JaBootaay that i have to go, there is something wrong. i hang up with him and finally get josh's attention. he comes over and isn't worried. he tells me to "hold on" and goes to get a supervisor. i'm in incredible pain. i wait and finally this GIRL comes over and says, "oh, she probably has a hematoma. you probably have a hematoma." ???!! she says, "do you mind if we use your other arm?" i explain thats the arm i usually use. so they take the needle out - PAIN - and go to use my other arm. now, if it were me, i'd be like, "sorry, i screwed up. take your 50 bucks and get out of here. come back next time. thanks for playing." but nooooo, they just HAD to take my stupid plasma. i tell you, its important plasma and they know it. so they wrap up my left arm and poke my right. things are better and uneventful. josh leaves and i wonder if he's embarrassed to see me or if he just got put on a different rotation. he did wrap this tiny little ice pack smaller than a roll of quarters on my "hematoma." when i finish, everyone is busy so i sit there a few minutes beeping away, waiting for someone to give me saline. what a day. stoooopid.
so i'm driving away with my TWO bum arms and i think, "this is fun. let me go show my mom!" who is pretty much like my only friend in town. so i stop at the hospital and go in to her unit. i like walking in there because all the patient's families look at you like, "why do you get to go back there? i'm just sitting here reading a stupid magazine." so i find her and i'm like, "hey! look at this!" and i put my two arms out so she can see they're wrapped. it's at that moment that i notice my right arm HAS NOT STOPPED BLEEDING. there is blood EVERYWHERE. i didn't even notice! its on the inside of my sweater and seeping through all my bandages. we go into the bathroom and she takes off my bandages. she is a nurse, afterall. so i wash up and the bleeding has now kind of stopped. she gives me new bandages and all these nurses come around to see whats going on. everyone agrees they should have let me go with my one bum arm. now i have two.
to make myself feel better, i go to get sushi for lunch. we won't talk about how i almost ran into a cop. talk about losing your good mood. so i get home and the sushi isn't that great. then i realize why. the MFers put mayonaise in the rolls. wtf! i would've said NO MAYO if i had known they were going to do that, but they have never done it before and its not on the roll description. another downer.
when my mom gets home, i'm sitting on the recliner with a candle holder propping my arm 12 inches in the air. she rolls her eyes. my arm is NOT comfortable, but i'm supposed to keep it higher than my heart. i rotate the ice packs on it and now its a pretty color of yellow, blue, purple and wine color. makes me want some wine. which would've been great with the sushi, but the sushi sucked. so i have no wine. and i had a tough day at work. and the sushi sucked. i'm going to bed.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
what do you think of campfires? (mc avail) poll archive
s'mores! | 7 (46%) |
love sittin' around with friends | 12 (80%) |
afraid of fire | 0 (0%) |
never been on one | 0 (0%) |
get me away! | 0 (0%) |
other (leave in comment in blog) | 1 (6%) |
Votes so far: 15
Poll closed
it's a small world afterall
on my google reader account, i subscribe to a lot of "overheards." basically, people submit a conversation they overhear and usually its really funny because its taken out of context or just really dumb sounding or whatever. reading this one the other day made me laugh because it reminded me of when i was in berlin last fall. i emailed my friend, michela, to tell her i was going to be back in europe and see if she wanted to meet up. michela is italian and we met going to school in france 6 years ago. at the time, she didn't speak english and since i don't speak italian we spoke french together. she lived across the hall from me in our dorm and was always super nice with a huge smile on her face. we went to stockholm together and had a great time staying in a hostel on a boat. it was a fun trip. so it had been 6+ years since i had seen michela and she told me she was going to visit me in berlin. i was really excited. i met her one day downtown with her boyfriend who didn't speak english or french. he understood a little english, but was afraid to speak, so michela and i spoke english (she has since learned it through her job - she's amazing with languages. she learned spanish just by hanging out with the mexican girls we went to school with in france). it was a little bizarre speaking english with her, but good for me since it had been so long since i spoke french. anyway, we met during some sort of german celebration so there were tons of people around, a mini-fairground with a ferris wheel and carnival food. on one side there was a huge concert of german rock bands and on the other side there was this mini parade. we walked past these people in traditional german outfits blowing these horns like seen here:
and i instinctively said, "riiicolaaaa" kind of to myself, not really thinking anything of it. michela and her boyfriend stopped me and started lauhing, "we have same in italy!" she exclaimed. her boyfriend agreed. apparently the ricola company has the same marketing all over the world. it was one of those "it's a small world after all" moments and then the three of us started to merrily skip down the street. not really but it felt like it. anyway, here is a picture of me and michela and below that is the overheard that i read that made me think of this.
You Are the Weakest Link. Goodbye.
Teenage girl: E. Coli? Like in those commercials with the cough drops?
Spanish teacher: What?
Teenage girl: Y'know, like the "Eeee-coliiii..."
Jersey Shore High School
Pennsylvania
and i instinctively said, "riiicolaaaa" kind of to myself, not really thinking anything of it. michela and her boyfriend stopped me and started lauhing, "we have same in italy!" she exclaimed. her boyfriend agreed. apparently the ricola company has the same marketing all over the world. it was one of those "it's a small world after all" moments and then the three of us started to merrily skip down the street. not really but it felt like it. anyway, here is a picture of me and michela and below that is the overheard that i read that made me think of this.
You Are the Weakest Link. Goodbye.
Spanish teacher: And you really have to be careful what you eat, because they have a lot of E. Coli problems.
Teenage girl: E. Coli? Like in those commercials with the cough drops?
Spanish teacher: What?
Teenage girl: Y'know, like the "Eeee-coliiii..."
Jersey Shore High School
Pennsylvania
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
apocalypse now
first, let me say - i'm in a bad mood today. actually, i *was* in a bad mood. i'm better now, thanks to my favorite tv show, chuck. i rewatched monday night's episode and it put me in a good mood, as always. chuck is a fantastic show. it is a comedy/action/drama about a guy who gets CIA secrets downloaded into his brain and so he has CIA and NSA handlers to protect him and use the secrets in his mind. its funny, cute, charming, sexy, fun and always makes me happy. i have never been disappointed by an episode. so now i have to throw in my 2 cents and help chuck get renewed for next year. the ratings are fine, but not extradordinary, so it's kind of on a thin line if it will be renewed or not. if you are wondering about it, you should watch next monday's season finale episode on nbc. and check out this site (warning: sometimes it takes a while for it to load) to learn more about how you can save it. the creaters of chucktv.net have come up with a campaign to save chuck - watch it, buy it, share it and now i think they've added write it or something like that. i've done the first three - and now i am writing about it AND i plan to write to nbc to get it saved, as well. buy season 1 on amazon or itunes - you will not regret it. i have already pre-ordered season 2 - can't wait for it to come out on dvd. i've done this before - back when i was in junior high and my so-called-life was on abc, i cried when they cancelled it. to this day, its on everyone's list of tv shows that were cancelled too soon. i sent letters in to the president of abc and printed multiple copies and had friends send them in. i might get that desperate and do that for chuck, too. it's such a great show, chevy chase and scott bakula are on it. i mean, come on, people.
anyway, why am i in a bad mood? two reasons, actually.
1) it's turn off your tv week. i used to be all about this when i was younger and still think it's a great idea. and when i was in college, i never even watched tv because i didn't have one. and now, i'm addicted! and what bothers me is that they didn't publish the "turn off tv" campaign until it was too late. i didnt have time to prepare! i have no other activities lined up, i dont' have my shows ready for recording. i had to learn about it on huff po and i'm just really disappointed. why can't they have turn off tv week in the summer when people aren't even home?? i guess that's the point. so now i feel guilty because i haven't turned off the tv. grrr!
2) double grr it's earth day. i ALWAYS remember this day because it was my friend kristin's birthday when we were growing up. i guess it's still her birthday, but i haven't talked to her in 10+ years. in high school, i was the publicist for the environmental club. wouldn't have guessed that, would you? and i'm annoyed because EVERY. SINGLE. DAY i read a story about how we can be greener. or how doing such and such is bad. and it stresses me out! when i'm brushing my teeth, i'm worried i'm using too much water. i constantly go around the house and turn off things and then my parents get upset because they purposely left it on. and i'm trying to get my family to recycle, but it's very hard because there is no storage facility for this and we have to take our recycling in - it's not picked up in fargo. going green constantly makes me feel guilty. "if i use this paper towel will people die?" it's like every day there is something new. give up stuff for lent. then, i read an article pointing out how plastic is overused and bad for the environment. now i want to stop eating out and buying ANYTHING thats made of plastic. don't get me wrong, i'm GLAD for earth day for OTHER PEOPLE. there are millions out there who need to live better and be better to the environment. me, too. and i'm trying. i try so hard. it's tiring me out. i feel like unless i go live in a log cabin, don't shower and eat berries and tree bark i will never not feel like i am harming the earth. and it totally sucks! when i go to france, my friends are aghast with my "american ways." they have to tell me to recycle MORE than i would already recycle. and they tell me stories about cafeterias where you dump your plastics into one bin, your trash into another and your UNEATEN FOOD into a third. i can't deal with a bucket full of slop. it's just too much. i was surprised because their lights don't immediately turn on when you flip the switch. they SLOWWWWLY brighten up because apparently this is a big green issue - more power is used when a light is first turned on than the whole hour it stays on or something like that. and i'm embarrassed i don't live a fully green life. i use cloth grocery bags and reuse my bottled water. i turn off electronics and don't go for joy rides anymore so as not to waste gas. but am i doing enough? if i have to print something twice i freak out because i've just wasted two sheets of paper. agggggggggggggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
turn off your tv. save the world. or something. bleh.
anyway, why am i in a bad mood? two reasons, actually.
1) it's turn off your tv week. i used to be all about this when i was younger and still think it's a great idea. and when i was in college, i never even watched tv because i didn't have one. and now, i'm addicted! and what bothers me is that they didn't publish the "turn off tv" campaign until it was too late. i didnt have time to prepare! i have no other activities lined up, i dont' have my shows ready for recording. i had to learn about it on huff po and i'm just really disappointed. why can't they have turn off tv week in the summer when people aren't even home?? i guess that's the point. so now i feel guilty because i haven't turned off the tv. grrr!
2) double grr it's earth day. i ALWAYS remember this day because it was my friend kristin's birthday when we were growing up. i guess it's still her birthday, but i haven't talked to her in 10+ years. in high school, i was the publicist for the environmental club. wouldn't have guessed that, would you? and i'm annoyed because EVERY. SINGLE. DAY i read a story about how we can be greener. or how doing such and such is bad. and it stresses me out! when i'm brushing my teeth, i'm worried i'm using too much water. i constantly go around the house and turn off things and then my parents get upset because they purposely left it on. and i'm trying to get my family to recycle, but it's very hard because there is no storage facility for this and we have to take our recycling in - it's not picked up in fargo. going green constantly makes me feel guilty. "if i use this paper towel will people die?" it's like every day there is something new. give up stuff for lent. then, i read an article pointing out how plastic is overused and bad for the environment. now i want to stop eating out and buying ANYTHING thats made of plastic. don't get me wrong, i'm GLAD for earth day for OTHER PEOPLE. there are millions out there who need to live better and be better to the environment. me, too. and i'm trying. i try so hard. it's tiring me out. i feel like unless i go live in a log cabin, don't shower and eat berries and tree bark i will never not feel like i am harming the earth. and it totally sucks! when i go to france, my friends are aghast with my "american ways." they have to tell me to recycle MORE than i would already recycle. and they tell me stories about cafeterias where you dump your plastics into one bin, your trash into another and your UNEATEN FOOD into a third. i can't deal with a bucket full of slop. it's just too much. i was surprised because their lights don't immediately turn on when you flip the switch. they SLOWWWWLY brighten up because apparently this is a big green issue - more power is used when a light is first turned on than the whole hour it stays on or something like that. and i'm embarrassed i don't live a fully green life. i use cloth grocery bags and reuse my bottled water. i turn off electronics and don't go for joy rides anymore so as not to waste gas. but am i doing enough? if i have to print something twice i freak out because i've just wasted two sheets of paper. agggggggggggggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
turn off your tv. save the world. or something. bleh.
Monday, April 20, 2009
you know i'm no good
since being unemployed, i have been trying to use my brain a bit. i would hate for it to turn into mush, which is what might happen according to alec baldwin and hulu. i have been doing a lot of reading - books and online, doing sudoku and word warp on my ipod and watching podcasts so i can get some politics, social commentary, and refresh my french and german. i spent today downloading a whole bunch of new podcasts on itunes - money tips, wine, bartending, nutrition, yoga, business week, and tracey ullman. oh and get this! so tracey ullman has a new series out - state of the union or something like that. i downloaded the first episode and was watching the previews / ads for it and one starts out "when returning to north dakota from canada..." !!! it was so funny! it was about this old woman who went to canada to get cheaper medication and got caught by chris hansen (to catch a predator turned to catch a drug mule). isn't that hilarious? what i find most funny is that this nearly happened in my family...
some years ago, when anthrax was just starting to be a big issue in the US, my cousin in fargo got a letter in the mail. it was written to him in a scribbly-script with no return address or anything. the postmark was hard to read (as postmarks can be sometimes). he opens the letter and inside finds white powder. no note. no indication of anything else. just some white powder. what do you do with this? it was the height of the anthrax scare, so he calls the fargo police department. FPD shows up at his apartment and ... they dont know what to do. how do you handle anthrax? do you contain the area? who has been exposed? why would some random guy with no political associations get white powder in an envelope? they take the envelope and tell him they'll get back to him if he needs to do anything. about a week later, my aunt who lives in walhalla (very northern north dakota), calls her son and asks, "did you get my package?" "what package, mom?" "well, i was in canada and so i picked up some tylenol with codene because i knew you had some pain, so i put them in the mail to you." and all of a sudden the pieces fell into place. no one was trying to poison him! his mom was trying to HELP him. she didn't put her return address on it - why would she? she knew her sons address and wrote quickly to get it in the mail. to this day, i dont know why she didnt put a letter in the envelope, but maybe she didnt have time. when put into the mail, the postal system's machines crushed the envelope and made powder of the tylenol. my cousin calls back FPD to tell them what happened and get this - they're mad at him! supposedly for finding flaws in their policing (they didnt know what to do). so, anyway, tracey ullman is funny.
that was a little tangent... back to the real story. i went for a walk to listen to some of my new podcasts. i'm not really one for walks and enjoying the outdoors. i always think i can be doing something else, but this was a compromise since i could be educated. i guess going for walks isnt HORRIBLE, just boring. what i DO like doing is looking into other people's homes to see how they're decorated and what people are doing. a bit voyeristic, i know, but if you dont want people looking in your house, close your blinds. about two blocks into my walk, i got a big wiff of a fire. it wasn't a fire from a fireplace, but something you would smell sitting around a campfire. i actually really like the smell of campfire. i like sitting around them. you wouldn't guess that about me, would you?? i HATE the outdoors and forests and hiking and all that sort of thing. but i like campfires. i would REALLY like it if there were plush couches, air conditioning, skyscrappers around, no bugs, and cocktails served to me - all around a bustling fire. maybe a campfire on a movie set is for me.
anyway, this campfire smell reminded me of two things - 1 being on my cousins farm growing up and 2 this leadership retreat i went on in college right before becoming an orientation leader at northeastern. there were about 30 of us college sophomores at a camp in western mass. after a day of team building exercises in the woods, we had dinner in some stupid wood buildling. there were 5 or 6 of us at a table and the bus driver sat with us. i was complaining about how much i hated the woods and the bugs and the smell of nature. i wanted skyscrappers! and cement! and traffic and people. and then the food was served and there was little i could eat because at the time i was a vegan. the bus driver asked me why i was a vegan if i didn't like nature. i said, "well, i don't do it for nature. i don't care about animals, i just don't eat them." and then he asked, "where are you from?" my friend alex busted out laughing, "this is the best part!" and i said i was from north dakota. the bus driver, a big hairy man, started laughing so hard, the whole room was looking at us. it scared me. he reminded me of mr. pruitt - the truck driver without a right hand - from adventures in babysitting. he would pick you up on the highway and help you out, but if you were screwing his wife, he'd shoot you in the head.
so that is what i thought of on my walk this evening. it made me smile.
after that, i came home and watched desperate housewives with my mom. in the episode, edie brit died. sorry if that was a spoiler to you, but if you didn't see that coming then i have no comment for you. she was cremated and i would like to say, for the record, that if i were to die - or when i do die, rather - i want to be cremated, as well. just don't spread my ashes in a forest. that would be an ironic - not the funny kind - final resting place.
and then to end my night, you'll never guess what i did. i watched a movie on abc family - my fake fiancee. i don't even know how i noticed it was on, but i saw that it had joey lawrence (now going by "joseph") and melissa joan hart (LOVED clarissa explains it all back in the day). it was a pretty bad movie, but i actually enjoyed it. it could've been really good if it had better actors and slightly different writing, but if i was 13 again, i would've LOVED it and so i can appreciate it for what it is. it tugged at my heart strings and reminded me of my old crush on joey lawrence. he and jonathan brandis...
some years ago, when anthrax was just starting to be a big issue in the US, my cousin in fargo got a letter in the mail. it was written to him in a scribbly-script with no return address or anything. the postmark was hard to read (as postmarks can be sometimes). he opens the letter and inside finds white powder. no note. no indication of anything else. just some white powder. what do you do with this? it was the height of the anthrax scare, so he calls the fargo police department. FPD shows up at his apartment and ... they dont know what to do. how do you handle anthrax? do you contain the area? who has been exposed? why would some random guy with no political associations get white powder in an envelope? they take the envelope and tell him they'll get back to him if he needs to do anything. about a week later, my aunt who lives in walhalla (very northern north dakota), calls her son and asks, "did you get my package?" "what package, mom?" "well, i was in canada and so i picked up some tylenol with codene because i knew you had some pain, so i put them in the mail to you." and all of a sudden the pieces fell into place. no one was trying to poison him! his mom was trying to HELP him. she didn't put her return address on it - why would she? she knew her sons address and wrote quickly to get it in the mail. to this day, i dont know why she didnt put a letter in the envelope, but maybe she didnt have time. when put into the mail, the postal system's machines crushed the envelope and made powder of the tylenol. my cousin calls back FPD to tell them what happened and get this - they're mad at him! supposedly for finding flaws in their policing (they didnt know what to do). so, anyway, tracey ullman is funny.
that was a little tangent... back to the real story. i went for a walk to listen to some of my new podcasts. i'm not really one for walks and enjoying the outdoors. i always think i can be doing something else, but this was a compromise since i could be educated. i guess going for walks isnt HORRIBLE, just boring. what i DO like doing is looking into other people's homes to see how they're decorated and what people are doing. a bit voyeristic, i know, but if you dont want people looking in your house, close your blinds. about two blocks into my walk, i got a big wiff of a fire. it wasn't a fire from a fireplace, but something you would smell sitting around a campfire. i actually really like the smell of campfire. i like sitting around them. you wouldn't guess that about me, would you?? i HATE the outdoors and forests and hiking and all that sort of thing. but i like campfires. i would REALLY like it if there were plush couches, air conditioning, skyscrappers around, no bugs, and cocktails served to me - all around a bustling fire. maybe a campfire on a movie set is for me.
anyway, this campfire smell reminded me of two things - 1 being on my cousins farm growing up and 2 this leadership retreat i went on in college right before becoming an orientation leader at northeastern. there were about 30 of us college sophomores at a camp in western mass. after a day of team building exercises in the woods, we had dinner in some stupid wood buildling. there were 5 or 6 of us at a table and the bus driver sat with us. i was complaining about how much i hated the woods and the bugs and the smell of nature. i wanted skyscrappers! and cement! and traffic and people. and then the food was served and there was little i could eat because at the time i was a vegan. the bus driver asked me why i was a vegan if i didn't like nature. i said, "well, i don't do it for nature. i don't care about animals, i just don't eat them." and then he asked, "where are you from?" my friend alex busted out laughing, "this is the best part!" and i said i was from north dakota. the bus driver, a big hairy man, started laughing so hard, the whole room was looking at us. it scared me. he reminded me of mr. pruitt - the truck driver without a right hand - from adventures in babysitting. he would pick you up on the highway and help you out, but if you were screwing his wife, he'd shoot you in the head.
so that is what i thought of on my walk this evening. it made me smile.
after that, i came home and watched desperate housewives with my mom. in the episode, edie brit died. sorry if that was a spoiler to you, but if you didn't see that coming then i have no comment for you. she was cremated and i would like to say, for the record, that if i were to die - or when i do die, rather - i want to be cremated, as well. just don't spread my ashes in a forest. that would be an ironic - not the funny kind - final resting place.
and then to end my night, you'll never guess what i did. i watched a movie on abc family - my fake fiancee. i don't even know how i noticed it was on, but i saw that it had joey lawrence (now going by "joseph") and melissa joan hart (LOVED clarissa explains it all back in the day). it was a pretty bad movie, but i actually enjoyed it. it could've been really good if it had better actors and slightly different writing, but if i was 13 again, i would've LOVED it and so i can appreciate it for what it is. it tugged at my heart strings and reminded me of my old crush on joey lawrence. he and jonathan brandis...
Saturday, April 18, 2009
bird dog
i saved a bird’s life today. we figured that the bird was just dumb. i got up this morning and heard that the bird continues to ram itself against the glass door. my mom and i were watching tv and the bird kept hitting the door. again and again. i finally got an idea and closed the screen door. the bird took one flying swoop at it and flew off. we haven’t seen him since.
in some cultures, if you save a life, isn't that life yours forever? i hope that bird doesn't start following me around or anything. thats kind of a scary thought. can you imagine a bird flying above my car? perched on a ledge above the building i'm in? sitting outside my window at night? do i have to start feeding it? probably at the very least, i have to make sure the screen door stays closed. i might have to rethink this whole "saving" thing...
in some cultures, if you save a life, isn't that life yours forever? i hope that bird doesn't start following me around or anything. thats kind of a scary thought. can you imagine a bird flying above my car? perched on a ledge above the building i'm in? sitting outside my window at night? do i have to start feeding it? probably at the very least, i have to make sure the screen door stays closed. i might have to rethink this whole "saving" thing...
Friday, April 17, 2009
welcome to the jungle
living here is like living in the jungle!
while eating my breakfast in the living room watching chelsea lately this morning, every few minutes i kept hearing this *thud* against the sliding glass door that leads from our dining room to the deck outside. i ignored it for a bit and then thought, "oh crap! what if my dad fell and had a stroke and is throwing things at the door??" so i jumped up and went to the door. i see nothing. i thought maybe it was some branch or cable blowing in the wind, but there was nothing around. i went back to chelsea. i hear the thuds again. it's one thud and then about 5-10 min between the next thud. i stand between the living room and dining room wondering if i am going crazy or maybe i'm overhearing some other loud thud on our neighbor's window or something. all of a sudden, i see it. there is a crazy bird flying straight at our glass door! a suicidal bird! i immediately call my friend, JaBootaay and laugh with him at this stupid stupid bird. i feel bad for it. why would it be trying to kill itself? and it's not like our glass door is spotless and can't see that its a door. its clean, but its not like in the commercials or anything. JaBootaay thinks that maybe the bird was drinking dangerous, infected flood water and i concur. then, while i'm on the phone with him, i see the setup. he sits on the ledge of the window to the garage. then he flies to the ledge of the deck, waits a few moments and then takes a flying charge at the door. the bird flys at me in the house! i yelped, which i think it heard and it barely hit the window and then flew up and landed on the cable in the back yard. i think i scared him away. suicidal birds make me wonder if there is such a thing as reincarnation.
the bird doesn't come back, so i tell JaBootaay about how my parents were noticing a lot of little tree branches in their front yard. they thought the trees might be sick and shedding their branches, so they called the city of fargo to come check out the trees. a tree doctor comes out and tells them that the trees are fine, just plagued with agressive squirrels. AGRESSIVE. SQUIRRELS. and i've seen those squirrels - they aren't afraid of humans. they'll stare at you and sit there and eat their acorns. there is no cure for an agressive squirrel.
after i get off the phone, i went outside to look for the bird. did he succeed in his dance with death against someone else's window? are there other birds around? is he lonely? maybe i can befriend him. what if i saw him flying toward the house again and i just opened the door? would he fly in? as i'm standing on the deck, i look back at the house. a-ha! its not a suicidal bird, just a DUMB bird. i think the bird sees straight through the house out the other windows to the front yard and sees trees out there. i think he's trying to get there. he's too dumb to fly around or over the house. poor birdie. maybe he finally found his way around.
this is not my first encounter with wildlife this week. every spring, it seems we have a bit of a ladybug problem. it's possible to see 4-5 different ladybugs in the house. i said to my mom, "aren't you worried about all the ladybugs??" and she replied, "do you think we're the only house in fargo with ladybug problems??" yeah, actually, i did. but i guess we're not. apparently ladybugs are happy in fargo or something. it's like rats in boston or spiders in berlin. they just get comfortable. and ladybugs are pretty, you know? and that was the name of the movie with jonathan brandis, so i like ladybugs. until this week.
i was getting in the shower and noticed two ladybugs on the ceiling above the shower (the bathroom seems to get the most ladybugs). i didn't think anything of it until i was standing in the shower, washing my hair when a ladybug flew on my face and landed on my lip. !!!! i started spitting, but it wasnt IN my mouth, so i was doing nothing. my hands were all soapy, so i just stood there shaking my head and spitting. i finally had to use my hand to flick it away and there it fell into the water and floated away in the drain. take that, attacking ladybug! don't mess with me! now whenever i see a ladybug i'm ready for a fight.
an hour later, i was in the kitchen doing the dishes when i heard the thud again. the bird was back. i went to the door and hid behind the curtains waiting to see. he threw himself against the door two more times before flying off. i have not heard him since. good luck, little birdy, good luck.
wait. i just heard a double thud. literally, just as i'm writing this.
he's baaack...
while eating my breakfast in the living room watching chelsea lately this morning, every few minutes i kept hearing this *thud* against the sliding glass door that leads from our dining room to the deck outside. i ignored it for a bit and then thought, "oh crap! what if my dad fell and had a stroke and is throwing things at the door??" so i jumped up and went to the door. i see nothing. i thought maybe it was some branch or cable blowing in the wind, but there was nothing around. i went back to chelsea. i hear the thuds again. it's one thud and then about 5-10 min between the next thud. i stand between the living room and dining room wondering if i am going crazy or maybe i'm overhearing some other loud thud on our neighbor's window or something. all of a sudden, i see it. there is a crazy bird flying straight at our glass door! a suicidal bird! i immediately call my friend, JaBootaay and laugh with him at this stupid stupid bird. i feel bad for it. why would it be trying to kill itself? and it's not like our glass door is spotless and can't see that its a door. its clean, but its not like in the commercials or anything. JaBootaay thinks that maybe the bird was drinking dangerous, infected flood water and i concur. then, while i'm on the phone with him, i see the setup. he sits on the ledge of the window to the garage. then he flies to the ledge of the deck, waits a few moments and then takes a flying charge at the door. the bird flys at me in the house! i yelped, which i think it heard and it barely hit the window and then flew up and landed on the cable in the back yard. i think i scared him away. suicidal birds make me wonder if there is such a thing as reincarnation.
the bird doesn't come back, so i tell JaBootaay about how my parents were noticing a lot of little tree branches in their front yard. they thought the trees might be sick and shedding their branches, so they called the city of fargo to come check out the trees. a tree doctor comes out and tells them that the trees are fine, just plagued with agressive squirrels. AGRESSIVE. SQUIRRELS. and i've seen those squirrels - they aren't afraid of humans. they'll stare at you and sit there and eat their acorns. there is no cure for an agressive squirrel.
after i get off the phone, i went outside to look for the bird. did he succeed in his dance with death against someone else's window? are there other birds around? is he lonely? maybe i can befriend him. what if i saw him flying toward the house again and i just opened the door? would he fly in? as i'm standing on the deck, i look back at the house. a-ha! its not a suicidal bird, just a DUMB bird. i think the bird sees straight through the house out the other windows to the front yard and sees trees out there. i think he's trying to get there. he's too dumb to fly around or over the house. poor birdie. maybe he finally found his way around.
this is not my first encounter with wildlife this week. every spring, it seems we have a bit of a ladybug problem. it's possible to see 4-5 different ladybugs in the house. i said to my mom, "aren't you worried about all the ladybugs??" and she replied, "do you think we're the only house in fargo with ladybug problems??" yeah, actually, i did. but i guess we're not. apparently ladybugs are happy in fargo or something. it's like rats in boston or spiders in berlin. they just get comfortable. and ladybugs are pretty, you know? and that was the name of the movie with jonathan brandis, so i like ladybugs. until this week.
i was getting in the shower and noticed two ladybugs on the ceiling above the shower (the bathroom seems to get the most ladybugs). i didn't think anything of it until i was standing in the shower, washing my hair when a ladybug flew on my face and landed on my lip. !!!! i started spitting, but it wasnt IN my mouth, so i was doing nothing. my hands were all soapy, so i just stood there shaking my head and spitting. i finally had to use my hand to flick it away and there it fell into the water and floated away in the drain. take that, attacking ladybug! don't mess with me! now whenever i see a ladybug i'm ready for a fight.
an hour later, i was in the kitchen doing the dishes when i heard the thud again. the bird was back. i went to the door and hid behind the curtains waiting to see. he threw himself against the door two more times before flying off. i have not heard him since. good luck, little birdy, good luck.
wait. i just heard a double thud. literally, just as i'm writing this.
he's baaack...
when do you do your taxes poll archive
as soon as i get my W-2s | 2 (16%) |
whenever i get around to it | 3 (25%) |
april 15 - because i always owe | 2 (16%) |
april 15 - because i "forget" | 1 (8%) |
taxes? | 2 (16%) |
other (comment in post) | 2 (16%) |
Votes so far: 12
Poll closed
Thursday, April 16, 2009
try a little tenderness
for the past 9+ years, i have lived in, according to many, some of the world's most rude cities, (rudest? most rude?) and i always forget about it when i am coming back to the midwest. the whole country thinks bostonians are rude, except for massholes. the world thinks the french, in particular parisians, are rude. [i don't completely agree - they have a different way of looking at things, but i do understand why people think they're rude.] californians, although normally thought of as having a "fake" disposition, are a bit different in sacramento. not entirely rude, but since the majority of the city works for the state, people are slightly disgruntled, in general. sometimes this comes off as rude.
and i think after living in boston, paris, and sacramento, i have grown accustomed to indifference and big city life. the past few months in fargo have been eye-opening. take today, for example. my mom's co-worker at the hospital had surgery to repair some disc in her back and so she is home for a few weeks recovering. rather than sending cards or flowers, my mom MADE a homemade meal and brought it over to her house for her family to enjoy. and this woman doesn't live close. i drove my mom to south fargo so we could pick up some of our own dinner on the way home (not a homecooked meal for me today - ha). we got there and i thought it would be rude for me to just drop in because i dont know this woman and she just had surgery and might not want to be friendly to other people. my mom didn't really care, so i sat in the car and played on my ipod. then, while waiting for my mom, i realized that what i had done might actually be rude - rather than the opposite, which was my goal. here in the midwest, you don't really just DROP by someone's house. you plan to stay for a while. i should've gone in to say hi and wish her recovery well. but since i'm so used to not imposing on people and not really "dropping by," i ended up being rude.
this really hit me a few months ago when our family friend's daughter dropped by to pick up a pillow her mother had left at our house. the daughter, wendy, and i used to hang out when we were younger, but she is younger than me and lived 5 hours away, so we weren't close. whenever our parents got together we would hang out, though. anyway, wendy now lives to the west of us in minnesota with her husband and her parents live to the east of us - we are almost half way between her new house and her parents house. anyway, her mom, jill, forgot a pillow at my parents house last summer when they were in town visiting. jill really wanted the pillow, so when wendy was driving through town to visit them, jill told her to pick up the pillow. so one night, wendy calls the house phone and asks if we were going to be home for a while. i told her we were going to a movie and was about to say that i could leave the pillow on the table and she could just come in and get it while we were gone, and she immediately said, "ok, i'll stop by tomorrow then." ok, no problem. the next day, when she stopped by, i had the pillow ready and she came in the front door and took off her shoes immediately. it hit me. she was coming to visit! this would never have occurred to me! i just assumed she'd say hi, grab the pillow and go. and she is SUCH a NICE person, i really like wendy. she stayed for about a half hour and my dad came downstairs and eric came out of the computer room to say hi and so the 5 of us sat there talking to her. it was very refreshing and i could not believe that i didn't pick up that she was actually coming to catch up.
i've noticed my new rudeness at other times, as well. about a year ago, i was living in boston and came home for some reason. i was at target and i bumped into someone when turning a corner. i was about to keep walking when the woman said, "oh! excuse me!" in a very friendly, apologetic tone. i immediately apologized as well and then realized that if she hadn't said anything, i would'nt have thought to say anything. in boston, people bump into each other all the time and don't think anything of it. they don't take it personally, but they don't feel they have to apologize, either. i coudln't belive how rude i had become! i try to apologize, but sometimes i am just in my own world and don't even notice when i bump into someone.
friendliness is even more prevalent in northern north dakota. my mother grew up in the small town of walhalla, nd (current population 1,000) - about 5 miles from canada and 20 miles from minnesota (or something like that). whenever my brothers and i go up there to visit, if we are driving around in our car and we pass someone, we have to put up your hand and wave at the passing car. a very few people don't do this, so we play this game - will they? or won't they? and we try not to be the last ones to wave. you always feel bad when someone waves and you don't because you aren't prepared to, so we try to just wave all the time. a few years ago, my freshman year college roommate came home with me to fargo for a week. my mom and i took her up to walhalla so she could see small-town life (she's from right outside of boston). we stayed at the one motel in town and had a full dinner for 4 people for about $17 total. we went to the gas station to rent a movie for the night. i walked in and asked the woman behind the counter if they rented VCRs, as well. she looked at me befuddled, "well, yes." so my friend, kate, and i picked out a movie to watch. i went to the counter and said, "we'd like to rent this and a VCR, please." the cashier looked at me and said, "but, but... you're not local." i laughed to myself. this is true. "right, but my aunt is." "who is your aunt?" "vicki cook." "ooh, ok." and then she gave me the VCR and movie without taking a look at my drivers license or anything. i think it was like $5 to rent the two together.
especially during the times of the flood the past month or so, friendliness and community have never been so prevalent to me before. it can be rather refreshing. everyone should come to north dakota to visit.
and i think after living in boston, paris, and sacramento, i have grown accustomed to indifference and big city life. the past few months in fargo have been eye-opening. take today, for example. my mom's co-worker at the hospital had surgery to repair some disc in her back and so she is home for a few weeks recovering. rather than sending cards or flowers, my mom MADE a homemade meal and brought it over to her house for her family to enjoy. and this woman doesn't live close. i drove my mom to south fargo so we could pick up some of our own dinner on the way home (not a homecooked meal for me today - ha). we got there and i thought it would be rude for me to just drop in because i dont know this woman and she just had surgery and might not want to be friendly to other people. my mom didn't really care, so i sat in the car and played on my ipod. then, while waiting for my mom, i realized that what i had done might actually be rude - rather than the opposite, which was my goal. here in the midwest, you don't really just DROP by someone's house. you plan to stay for a while. i should've gone in to say hi and wish her recovery well. but since i'm so used to not imposing on people and not really "dropping by," i ended up being rude.
this really hit me a few months ago when our family friend's daughter dropped by to pick up a pillow her mother had left at our house. the daughter, wendy, and i used to hang out when we were younger, but she is younger than me and lived 5 hours away, so we weren't close. whenever our parents got together we would hang out, though. anyway, wendy now lives to the west of us in minnesota with her husband and her parents live to the east of us - we are almost half way between her new house and her parents house. anyway, her mom, jill, forgot a pillow at my parents house last summer when they were in town visiting. jill really wanted the pillow, so when wendy was driving through town to visit them, jill told her to pick up the pillow. so one night, wendy calls the house phone and asks if we were going to be home for a while. i told her we were going to a movie and was about to say that i could leave the pillow on the table and she could just come in and get it while we were gone, and she immediately said, "ok, i'll stop by tomorrow then." ok, no problem. the next day, when she stopped by, i had the pillow ready and she came in the front door and took off her shoes immediately. it hit me. she was coming to visit! this would never have occurred to me! i just assumed she'd say hi, grab the pillow and go. and she is SUCH a NICE person, i really like wendy. she stayed for about a half hour and my dad came downstairs and eric came out of the computer room to say hi and so the 5 of us sat there talking to her. it was very refreshing and i could not believe that i didn't pick up that she was actually coming to catch up.
i've noticed my new rudeness at other times, as well. about a year ago, i was living in boston and came home for some reason. i was at target and i bumped into someone when turning a corner. i was about to keep walking when the woman said, "oh! excuse me!" in a very friendly, apologetic tone. i immediately apologized as well and then realized that if she hadn't said anything, i would'nt have thought to say anything. in boston, people bump into each other all the time and don't think anything of it. they don't take it personally, but they don't feel they have to apologize, either. i coudln't belive how rude i had become! i try to apologize, but sometimes i am just in my own world and don't even notice when i bump into someone.
friendliness is even more prevalent in northern north dakota. my mother grew up in the small town of walhalla, nd (current population 1,000) - about 5 miles from canada and 20 miles from minnesota (or something like that). whenever my brothers and i go up there to visit, if we are driving around in our car and we pass someone, we have to put up your hand and wave at the passing car. a very few people don't do this, so we play this game - will they? or won't they? and we try not to be the last ones to wave. you always feel bad when someone waves and you don't because you aren't prepared to, so we try to just wave all the time. a few years ago, my freshman year college roommate came home with me to fargo for a week. my mom and i took her up to walhalla so she could see small-town life (she's from right outside of boston). we stayed at the one motel in town and had a full dinner for 4 people for about $17 total. we went to the gas station to rent a movie for the night. i walked in and asked the woman behind the counter if they rented VCRs, as well. she looked at me befuddled, "well, yes." so my friend, kate, and i picked out a movie to watch. i went to the counter and said, "we'd like to rent this and a VCR, please." the cashier looked at me and said, "but, but... you're not local." i laughed to myself. this is true. "right, but my aunt is." "who is your aunt?" "vicki cook." "ooh, ok." and then she gave me the VCR and movie without taking a look at my drivers license or anything. i think it was like $5 to rent the two together.
especially during the times of the flood the past month or so, friendliness and community have never been so prevalent to me before. it can be rather refreshing. everyone should come to north dakota to visit.
come on baby, light my fire
it's getting very stressful for me now that i am working again. granted, i dont work full-time. or even part-time. but 3 hours a week is starting to wear on me. i dont know how you normal people do it. how i USED to do it. take right now, for example. it's 11:28 and i want to stay up longer doing a lot of things - catching up on my google reader and my 13 podcasts i have missed all day because i was so busy - but i can't because i have to get up tomorrow to make sure i am at work for my 10:15 appointment. and it's not like i can just roll out of bed and go. i need to make sure that i have eaten at least an hour before i go and i try to drink at least 2 big bottles of water or other non-alcoholic liquids before i get there. i've figured out the key to plasma donation: drink lots and lots of fluids so that the blood flows quickly and the plasma bottle fills up faster. less time + same amount of money = more $ per hour. woo hoo! i'm not an hourly employee, you see. i'm salaried. i get $20 for the first time i am there in the week and $50 for the second time. if i can pump that plasma out in an hour, combined with the time it takes to get there and back and the time it takes to answer stupid questions about my non-existant social life, i figure that's about 3 hours a week. over $23/hr. not bad! but if it takes me longer and i spend 1.5 hours each time, then i am down to 17.5/hr. not quite as impressive. so i have to set my alarm for something like 8:30 tomorrow morning to make sure i am up in time to "get ready" for work.
but it doesn't end there. i had to PREPARE in advance. thinking ahead to what i'll eat tomororw morning, i had to go to the grocery store today to buy peppers and chicken. i should've cooked it tonight so i could warm up tomorrow, but i didnt get a chance since i was.... doing my taxes!! and guess what time i got them done, biatches! 4:30 easy! i had over 7 hours left to do them. i so rock. but, it meant that i couldn't cook my chicken. so now i have to do that tomorrow. in addition, i almost freaked out a second ago - my dvd player wasn't charged! i would've been ang-gry tomorrow if i had to go to work tomorrow without my dvd player. luckily, i remembered and it is currently getting a nice top-up of electricity.
so that is my stressful evening for you. and i truly do believe its stressful, oddly. i found a gray hair a few months ago. which is SO WEIRD. why would *I* have gray hair?? i have no stress! or had, anyway. it really freaked me out, this gray hair. i promptly plucked it out of my head and taped it to a post-it note and put it on the bathroom mirror so my parents could see. did they comment the next day?? noooo. gray hairs on a 27-year old don't phase them. i dont know why. i am soo dying my hair next month.
so the other big news is: ta dah! taxes are done, man. dishes are done, man. quick, name that movie. after getting home from the grocery story, i asked my mom if she wanted to go to a movie. she said she would ONLY if i got my taxes done. i have never worked so quickly ... since i got home. dangling a movie in front of me sure lit a fire under my ass. with just 10 min to spare, i finished and so i went to taken with the 'rents. it was a good action flick. i wonder what people in europe think... it made the french look not-so-good. really it was the albanians, but the french covered it up. it almost makes me worried for my upcoming trip in may. i'm going to paris, at which point i will stay with lisa and dims and then drive with them down to the south of france where they have rented a big ol' house for 20 people for lisa's 30th birthday. i will spend 5 days there at which point, i will travel with elaine to marseille for the night before heading back to paris to catch a flight to las vegas, baby. there elaine and i will be meeting another set of friends and staying at the mgm grand. or is it the mirage? i can never remember. in either case, we have a celebrity suite for one night. swanky. after the long weekend there, elaine and i are flying to cancun for the rest of the week. then we fly to new york for a night before she heads back to london and i go to spend some time in boston with the peeps there. should be fun. but d'oh! look at the time. i have to get my beauty rest.
but it doesn't end there. i had to PREPARE in advance. thinking ahead to what i'll eat tomororw morning, i had to go to the grocery store today to buy peppers and chicken. i should've cooked it tonight so i could warm up tomorrow, but i didnt get a chance since i was.... doing my taxes!! and guess what time i got them done, biatches! 4:30 easy! i had over 7 hours left to do them. i so rock. but, it meant that i couldn't cook my chicken. so now i have to do that tomorrow. in addition, i almost freaked out a second ago - my dvd player wasn't charged! i would've been ang-gry tomorrow if i had to go to work tomorrow without my dvd player. luckily, i remembered and it is currently getting a nice top-up of electricity.
so that is my stressful evening for you. and i truly do believe its stressful, oddly. i found a gray hair a few months ago. which is SO WEIRD. why would *I* have gray hair?? i have no stress! or had, anyway. it really freaked me out, this gray hair. i promptly plucked it out of my head and taped it to a post-it note and put it on the bathroom mirror so my parents could see. did they comment the next day?? noooo. gray hairs on a 27-year old don't phase them. i dont know why. i am soo dying my hair next month.
so the other big news is: ta dah! taxes are done, man. dishes are done, man. quick, name that movie. after getting home from the grocery story, i asked my mom if she wanted to go to a movie. she said she would ONLY if i got my taxes done. i have never worked so quickly ... since i got home. dangling a movie in front of me sure lit a fire under my ass. with just 10 min to spare, i finished and so i went to taken with the 'rents. it was a good action flick. i wonder what people in europe think... it made the french look not-so-good. really it was the albanians, but the french covered it up. it almost makes me worried for my upcoming trip in may. i'm going to paris, at which point i will stay with lisa and dims and then drive with them down to the south of france where they have rented a big ol' house for 20 people for lisa's 30th birthday. i will spend 5 days there at which point, i will travel with elaine to marseille for the night before heading back to paris to catch a flight to las vegas, baby. there elaine and i will be meeting another set of friends and staying at the mgm grand. or is it the mirage? i can never remember. in either case, we have a celebrity suite for one night. swanky. after the long weekend there, elaine and i are flying to cancun for the rest of the week. then we fly to new york for a night before she heads back to london and i go to spend some time in boston with the peeps there. should be fun. but d'oh! look at the time. i have to get my beauty rest.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
money dont matter to night
before i launch right in, i just noticed a csi commercial on about some trek episode they're having. how come all tv shows these days are doing episodes about trekkies and / or *insert some dorky thing*-con? weird.
so, anyway, this evening, my mom points out that i haven't done my taxes. i'm not worried, i explain. she wants to bet me 100 bucks that i won't have them done before tomorrow morning. our hands lean in for the shake and i'm about to wrap my hands around hers when she quickly pulls away. "with $100 on the line, you'll make sure they're done!" and she was right. they would so be done right now. alas, i forgot about it this evening and have not done them. i still have 24 hours. i'm pretty sure i'm getting back at least two large, so that will be nice. it'll help pay for my may trip and then some (hopefully!). this is like last year when i was worried i would owe like $20,000 in taxes (long story), so i waited until april 15 to start my taxes, and then i owed $2,000. i was like, "sweet!" why didn't i figure that out earlier?? or two years ago i was in new zealand for most of the first part of the calendar year. when i got back, i decided to use the excuse "i was traveling" and filed for an extension even though i was going to get back quite a bit of money. i waited until the final deadline, october 15, to file and get my money. i could've done so much with it! and yet i procrastinated. as usual.
tonight i was talking to my friend, JaBootaay, and his IM said "yeah, i am just doing my taxes now. don't judge me." and i was like, "don't worry, i still haven't started mine." guess what his response was.... "i knew i could count on you to be the last one." !!! that's what i am. to be counted on. the dependable one - dependable to wait until the last minute. i just work better under pressure. sue me.
the other reason why i havent done my taxes yet is because 1) i dont technically know where all my files are and 2) i was going to use today to find them because today i... dum dum dum...
switched bedrooms! that's right, i am taking over my brother's bedroom (who is away at college), which is TECHNICALLY my bedroom since when i left for college 10 years ago (!), my family packed up all my belongings and moved them into his room and he then took my better and bigger room. and now i'm back! it's not quite as cool as when i was here - the bed is bigger so there is less room, but its still cool. and there is a tv in here now, too! zaz! so i am pretty sure i could stay here forever. and then i remember where i am... i have been fighting some MAJOR boredom in fargo these past few days. and last sunday i was really sad because i was looking for jobs and there just dont seem to be any that i am properly skilled for. so... well, thats a whole other story. i think i will be moving this summer, for sure by september, even if i dont have a job. there just is not a lot for me here. i complained to my mom about how bored i was the other day. her response? "welcome to living in the midwest!" there are, of course, spurts of things to do, but its not constant. and that is lacking.
as for me, i am going to enjoy my evening in this big bedroom... woo hoo! oh wait. i wonder if the sheets stay cold in this room. that might not be cool.
so, anyway, this evening, my mom points out that i haven't done my taxes. i'm not worried, i explain. she wants to bet me 100 bucks that i won't have them done before tomorrow morning. our hands lean in for the shake and i'm about to wrap my hands around hers when she quickly pulls away. "with $100 on the line, you'll make sure they're done!" and she was right. they would so be done right now. alas, i forgot about it this evening and have not done them. i still have 24 hours. i'm pretty sure i'm getting back at least two large, so that will be nice. it'll help pay for my may trip and then some (hopefully!). this is like last year when i was worried i would owe like $20,000 in taxes (long story), so i waited until april 15 to start my taxes, and then i owed $2,000. i was like, "sweet!" why didn't i figure that out earlier?? or two years ago i was in new zealand for most of the first part of the calendar year. when i got back, i decided to use the excuse "i was traveling" and filed for an extension even though i was going to get back quite a bit of money. i waited until the final deadline, october 15, to file and get my money. i could've done so much with it! and yet i procrastinated. as usual.
tonight i was talking to my friend, JaBootaay, and his IM said "yeah, i am just doing my taxes now. don't judge me." and i was like, "don't worry, i still haven't started mine." guess what his response was.... "i knew i could count on you to be the last one." !!! that's what i am. to be counted on. the dependable one - dependable to wait until the last minute. i just work better under pressure. sue me.
the other reason why i havent done my taxes yet is because 1) i dont technically know where all my files are and 2) i was going to use today to find them because today i... dum dum dum...
switched bedrooms! that's right, i am taking over my brother's bedroom (who is away at college), which is TECHNICALLY my bedroom since when i left for college 10 years ago (!), my family packed up all my belongings and moved them into his room and he then took my better and bigger room. and now i'm back! it's not quite as cool as when i was here - the bed is bigger so there is less room, but its still cool. and there is a tv in here now, too! zaz! so i am pretty sure i could stay here forever. and then i remember where i am... i have been fighting some MAJOR boredom in fargo these past few days. and last sunday i was really sad because i was looking for jobs and there just dont seem to be any that i am properly skilled for. so... well, thats a whole other story. i think i will be moving this summer, for sure by september, even if i dont have a job. there just is not a lot for me here. i complained to my mom about how bored i was the other day. her response? "welcome to living in the midwest!" there are, of course, spurts of things to do, but its not constant. and that is lacking.
as for me, i am going to enjoy my evening in this big bedroom... woo hoo! oh wait. i wonder if the sheets stay cold in this room. that might not be cool.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
almost saturday night
what an exciting way to wake up this morning! my littlest brother, eric, aka player, has decided to follow in the illustrious footsteps of his older sister and created a blog. zaz! i have not read his first post yet, because we spent a fun night out on the town last night and i want to write about it before my memory is tainted with his recolection. you can check out one man wrecking machine by erdynorth at this link http://erdynorth.blogspot.com/ and follow him on twitter @erdynorth. add him to your google reader and have fun!
so back to yesterday. after my exciting day looking at dikes, i went with my mom to gma's house to do her upkeep (hair and nails). my mom is a one-woman beauty salon. my aunt, brenda, was there, as well. i brought my macbook along and showed grandma the photobooth function with the effects that make you look funny. here is a cute picture of me to give you an idea.
she HATED it. she laughed, and then said seriously, "get that thing away from me! why would you want me to look ugly?" she was semi-good natured about it, but i guess she didn't get it. i still had fun.
after an hour there or so, we drove back north and dropped my mom off at a bar my dad was at with my brother. i picked up my brother and we went to my new favorite friday night watering hole, o'kellys. they have cheap drinks and there is little chance i'll run into anyone i know. we sat in the back this time and ate SUSHI. mmmmm.... it was sooo delish! it's ironic that the best sushi in town is at an irish bar located in a hotel. that's the way things roll around here. i give total props to my little brother for trying sushi. i ordered two rolls and edamame. we also had miso soup, which, honestly, i can eat (or drink?) but it's kind of untasty to me. so i had a bit of that. player, my brother, really disliked the edamame, which i really didnt think was possible. i've never heard of anyone not liking edamame. its just a salty bean! i dont remember the names of my rolls, but they werent' raw (hoping the cooked food would mean my brother would like it better). one had spicy shrimp on the inside with spicy crab meat on the top. the other had shrimp tempura and cucumber. mmmm... anyway, i tried to teach player how to use chopsticks and he was decent for a first timer. i love using chopsticks and think i'm pretty good. it's like with my toes. i can pick up anything with my toes. anyway, he first tried the crab meat because he couldn't pick up the whole roll (they were falling apart - not too tightly wrapped). he HATED it. i thought he was going to spit it out. then i had him try some of the tempura flakes from the other roll, to get him through. he didn't mind those (who doesnt like deep fried?) but didnt like the roll. it was sad. i really wanted him to have found this fabulous new food for him to tease his pallet. no luck. he went back to his buffalo wings.
eventually we were going to meet my other brother, homie, and his gfriend, lindsay at the movies, i love you man. we first stopped at a liquor store and picked up sprite in a bottle and a flask of shmirnoff blue label to drink during the movie. mmmm. it was fun and the movie was funny. good times.
homie thought he might want to go downtown to billiards for pool and beer. i wasn't really feeling it, but decided i should bond with the bros. so homie left to take lindsay home (or something?) and player and i went downtown. since billiards isn't really my thing (i just dont get the whole angles part), we went to my sort of bar, the ho do, or hotel donaldson, to wait for homie. the ho do is kind of posh and swanky and trendy. i haven't been there in years. we saddled up to the bar and ordered some drinks which were just so-so. i'm not really into bitter drinks. i figured i would continue on the schooling mode of the night, so i had player order an appletini. i think scrubs attempts to make it a non-gay mans drink and my brother had never tried one. he liked it. then i ordered him a lemondrop martini and had the bartender give us a shot of limoncello to try. he also liked.
it's about this time that we notice my other brother's friends, charpie and joe, at the bar. we hung out with them for a bit and had a really fun time. after writing all this, i'm getting a bit winded and really want to go watch a movie. so let me just summarize the rest of the night: i stopped drinking so i could drive. i dropped off joe and then charpie, player and i went to perkins. i thought we were going to get thrown out. why? let me explain: almost picking a fight with another table, trying to pick up girls at another table, "stealing" a bag of cookies, then taking a bite of each and throwing them at people, stabbing a stack of toast and waving it at the waiter, and other fun stuff. it was quite funny and they're probably used to people like those in my party (not me!) at that time of night (3am). we were having a conversation about movies and asked the waiter, who was slightly socially awkward, what his favorite movie was and he said, "thats a really broad question." "just pick one." "ok, the big lebowski" and then, without waiting for a response, he did a little spin on his heel and walked off. !!
eventually i had to drop charpie off and player and i went home. good bonding time.
so back to yesterday. after my exciting day looking at dikes, i went with my mom to gma's house to do her upkeep (hair and nails). my mom is a one-woman beauty salon. my aunt, brenda, was there, as well. i brought my macbook along and showed grandma the photobooth function with the effects that make you look funny. here is a cute picture of me to give you an idea.
she HATED it. she laughed, and then said seriously, "get that thing away from me! why would you want me to look ugly?" she was semi-good natured about it, but i guess she didn't get it. i still had fun.after an hour there or so, we drove back north and dropped my mom off at a bar my dad was at with my brother. i picked up my brother and we went to my new favorite friday night watering hole, o'kellys. they have cheap drinks and there is little chance i'll run into anyone i know. we sat in the back this time and ate SUSHI. mmmmm.... it was sooo delish! it's ironic that the best sushi in town is at an irish bar located in a hotel. that's the way things roll around here. i give total props to my little brother for trying sushi. i ordered two rolls and edamame. we also had miso soup, which, honestly, i can eat (or drink?) but it's kind of untasty to me. so i had a bit of that. player, my brother, really disliked the edamame, which i really didnt think was possible. i've never heard of anyone not liking edamame. its just a salty bean! i dont remember the names of my rolls, but they werent' raw (hoping the cooked food would mean my brother would like it better). one had spicy shrimp on the inside with spicy crab meat on the top. the other had shrimp tempura and cucumber. mmmm... anyway, i tried to teach player how to use chopsticks and he was decent for a first timer. i love using chopsticks and think i'm pretty good. it's like with my toes. i can pick up anything with my toes. anyway, he first tried the crab meat because he couldn't pick up the whole roll (they were falling apart - not too tightly wrapped). he HATED it. i thought he was going to spit it out. then i had him try some of the tempura flakes from the other roll, to get him through. he didn't mind those (who doesnt like deep fried?) but didnt like the roll. it was sad. i really wanted him to have found this fabulous new food for him to tease his pallet. no luck. he went back to his buffalo wings.
eventually we were going to meet my other brother, homie, and his gfriend, lindsay at the movies, i love you man. we first stopped at a liquor store and picked up sprite in a bottle and a flask of shmirnoff blue label to drink during the movie. mmmm. it was fun and the movie was funny. good times.
homie thought he might want to go downtown to billiards for pool and beer. i wasn't really feeling it, but decided i should bond with the bros. so homie left to take lindsay home (or something?) and player and i went downtown. since billiards isn't really my thing (i just dont get the whole angles part), we went to my sort of bar, the ho do, or hotel donaldson, to wait for homie. the ho do is kind of posh and swanky and trendy. i haven't been there in years. we saddled up to the bar and ordered some drinks which were just so-so. i'm not really into bitter drinks. i figured i would continue on the schooling mode of the night, so i had player order an appletini. i think scrubs attempts to make it a non-gay mans drink and my brother had never tried one. he liked it. then i ordered him a lemondrop martini and had the bartender give us a shot of limoncello to try. he also liked.
it's about this time that we notice my other brother's friends, charpie and joe, at the bar. we hung out with them for a bit and had a really fun time. after writing all this, i'm getting a bit winded and really want to go watch a movie. so let me just summarize the rest of the night: i stopped drinking so i could drive. i dropped off joe and then charpie, player and i went to perkins. i thought we were going to get thrown out. why? let me explain: almost picking a fight with another table, trying to pick up girls at another table, "stealing" a bag of cookies, then taking a bite of each and throwing them at people, stabbing a stack of toast and waving it at the waiter, and other fun stuff. it was quite funny and they're probably used to people like those in my party (not me!) at that time of night (3am). we were having a conversation about movies and asked the waiter, who was slightly socially awkward, what his favorite movie was and he said, "thats a really broad question." "just pick one." "ok, the big lebowski" and then, without waiting for a response, he did a little spin on his heel and walked off. !!
eventually i had to drop charpie off and player and i went home. good bonding time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
