Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Migraine won't go away, and I've skipped class all week.  I'm definitely going on Friday if I can.  :\

Monday, December 13, 2004

Monday, December 13, 2004

   It got so cold here.  And, the weather shift brought a migraine.  :( 

Saturday, December 4, 2004

Saturday, December 4, 2004

Went to an office Holiday Party at an Argentinean Restaurant.  First off, whoever thought mixing business with alcohol was a good idea is an idiot.  I always lose so much respect for people who get shit-faced at company functions.  And secondly, I hate buffet-style restaurants.  Plus, most of the staff didn't speak English.  Fun evening, aye?  Mix in some dried out steak and make a night of it.  :p

Dessert was awesome though, even if I could eat only a few bites cuz it was too sweet.  I had the crepes with Milk Caramel Spread.  =)

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

I am so sore from class last night.  Pushing myself physically does seem to be working somewhat.  My body feels better which makes me feel better a bit.

Tonight, the Sensei picked me as his partner since everyone else paired off nicely and I was the leftover one.  We were practicing our front kicks.  Apparently I made so many classic errors that he kept using me as an example to explain the right way things should be done.  :p  He told me afterwards though that I did a good workout.

Monday, November 15, 2004

Monday, November 15, 2004

My brother called me last night and sounded pretty down.  Actually two of my brothers called me last night but only one sounded down.  :p  Anyway, I felt bad to talk to him since I was in no shape to give inspiration and a pep talk.  He seemed to want to talk to me even with my shitty mood.  And, he reminded me that our mom had died at this time of year.  I had totally missed the day and felt proud of myself.  It's been 5 years.  This shouldn't be affecting me so strongly, but maybe that's what's been causing me to cry so easily lately.

I've been chilling out listening to Nina Simone all day.  That seems to help.  :)

Friday, November 12, 2004

Friday, November 12, 2004

I kicked ass in class tonight.  I kept up with some of the hardcore guys even though he said I didn't need to do as many reps.  I'm sure I'll pay the price later, but it felt good at the time.  =)

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Thursday, November 11, 2004

I must not be that badly off.  Chocolate still tastes good although it didn't cure me.  :p

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Another skipped class tonight and more of the same general funk.  :(

I've been pushing my friends away a little bit cuz I don't want to lie and say I'm fine, but I also don't want to cry their ears off.  I did pick one to cry to (lucky sap :p), so I'm not keeping this all locked up.  Plus, I have this outlet, millions (haha don't flatter myself) of semi-anonymous people sharing a tiny piece of my pain.  Thanks.  =)

It's a good thing my body pushes me to eat cuz I'm starting to lose my appetite.  Emotionally the food doesn't taste good, but physically my body is craving nourishment.  I guess that's how people overeat.  Sometimes the food inspires an emotional spark.  Lately, mine mostly tastes dull but I eat it anyway since I can't afford to lose weight.  I haven't even had chocolate in days.  Maybe that's my problem.  I don't want any though.

To top it all off, I'm dehydrated from crying so much. Thankfully, my body has been kind to me and held off on the migraine activity.

Tuesday, November 9, 2004

Tuesday, November 9, 2004

I skipped class last night but went tonight since it's more of an exercise and less of a martial arts class.  I almost started crying in the middle for no apparent reason.  My Sensei of course noticed that I looked pale and commented on it.  How embarrassing.  I feel so horrible to be like this, bringing down others, so mostly I just want to be alone.  I've been ditching my guy's company most nights and I know he feels helpless seeing me this way.

Before any of you decide it's clinical depression, please save your suggestions to yourself.  I refuse to see a doctor and take meds for this.  I'm either going to beat this on my own or it's going to beat me, but I'm not going to pollute my body with chemicals when it's my soul that is sick.  I've been trying to boost my hormones a bit with progesterone cream.  That has helped in the past, so I'm willing to try again.  I'm also going to stay the exercise course as that should logically help.

Monday, November 8, 2004

Monday, November 8, 2004

Last night went better and worse than I thought.  I enjoyed myself but didn't like part of me that fell back into dysfunctional family patterns.  It was very subtle, but I saw it and hated it.  Maybe it's part of my whole self-loathing phase I'm coping with.  Feel free to stop reading for a few days cuz I'm throwing myself a GIANT pity party.  :p

Sunday, November 7, 2004

Sunday, November 7, 2004

I'm so sore and can barely walk.  My legs keep buckling at anomalous moments. 

As much as I'd love to crawl into bed and stay there, it's family night tonight.  We're celebrating my dad's birthday and welcoming him back to Florida since he's officially a snowbird now.  I never know what to get him partly because he has almost everything he wants and partly because he rarely shows any interest in things (to me anyway).  One interest that I happen to share (if one can call it that) is reading.  He appreciates a different genre than I, but sometimes we overlap.  Anyway, I bought him Jon Stewart's book cuz of the whole election hubbub.  I hope he enjoys it.

Friday, November 5, 2004

Friday, November 5, 2004

I've been fucked up all week, mentally & emotionally.  Part of it was watching someone close to me lose someone they love.  Part of it is just an integral piece of being Wendy.  I'm not so fond of this part of me, so I busted my ass (literally ;)) in class tonight hoping that the physical stress might ease some of my psychic pain.  It turns out the the endorphin high doesn't counteract that.  But I did get a hella-workout.  :p

Thursday, November 4, 2004

Thursday, November 4, 2004

Such a long day yesterday.  I flew up & back to Raleigh for a meeting.  I didn't want to spend the night, so it was worth it to sit in airports for a few hours to enjoy my own bed.  I did weave some fun into my day by talking to a friend on my cell phone while sitting on the floor, watching the hustle & bustle of travelers.  :)  I scooted around from one spot to another, searching for the ever elusive signal from Verizon.  My friend just laughed at my foolishness as I described some of my fellow passengers in all of their glory.  It definitely passed the time quickly --- so quickly that I almost missed my flight.  Ha, I'm such a goofball sometimes.

Of course by doing that I took the risk of sitting next to someone who saw me being a dork.  Laugh.  First he remarked on my reading choice (Clive Cussler -- apparently women don't read this), then my cell phone antics, and finally my weight (or lack thereof).   He was an odd man but entertaining after a long day.  =)

Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Voting went much easier than I had anticipated.  I had one person in front of me and was out of there in 10 minutes.  I'm not sure why everyone waited hours to do early voting.  :p
 

Sunday, October 31, 2004

Sunday, October 31, 2004

Happy Halloween!  I'm all jetlagged with the time change.  I hate that shit. 

Anyway, our new fridge arrived this morning.  Omg, it's soooo huge!  I didn't realize how big it is.  Laugh.  Oh well, too late to return it and he adores it.  Haha, he hugged it after it was all set up.  =))

Saturday, October 30, 2004

Saturday, October 30, 2004

Galahad asked that I go with him to buy our new fridge.  I hate shopping, even for appliances, especially with a migraine.  Our first stop was BrandsMart.  I hate that store on a good day.  Saturday is not a good day.  I'm glad I went with him because the Jenn-Air he picked out was hideous.  I could tell he was picking out refrigerators based on price, which is so unlike him.  He's the one who taught me to splurge and get good quality items. 

I announced to him that since I hated shopping so much and since his birthday was coming up, that this would be my present to him thereby saving me from shopping again and letting him pick what he wanted.  =)  It was a win-win.  My only condition was that we leave BrandsMart (immediately if not sooner) and check out Lowe's.  He had been there yesterday and said there was even less of a selection, but I like to compare and nothing at BrandsMart looked just right. 

We stopped for lunch on the way, but the sushi place was closed.  We ended up at a Chinese buffet (I hate buffets :p) since it was nearby and we used to like it before it converted to buffet only.  I was so excited to see they had bean curd buns (not sure of the real name).  Omg, they were so good and I pigged out on those.

Off to Lowe's where everyone was so friendly except the one asshole who helped us.  He was so high-pressure that there was no way I was giving him my money.  I thanked him, and we left to try Sears.  On the way to Sears, we passed another Lowe's and turned in.  The salesman there was soooo much nicer and knew immediately who we meant when we told him we left the other store.  Galahad had fallen for one model at the other store that was kind of pricey.  I asked this guy what the best he could do was.  He gave us 10% off and free delivery for tomorrow.  I gave him my credit card and made Galahad a happy man.  :)

Friday, October 29, 2004

Friday, October 29. 2004

Our fridge just died today.  It started burning something and spewed out a horrendous odor.  Galahad went shopping for a new one while I nursed my migraine.  :(

Then, off to class.

Thursday, October 28, 2004

Thursday, October 28, 2004

With much trepidation and after a few pep talks (starting with Galahad over breakfast and continuing through the day from friends --- thank you, Stuart & Charlie!), I trudged off to martial arts class last night. I'm so glad I went.  It was a much better class than the other two I attended.  By better, I mean less discouraging for me.  =)  We started off slowly as usual, stretching and chatting.  Then he had us assume some base position.  I think Galahad referred to it as a horse stance, but I didn't catch the Japanese name said in a thick German accent.  :p  Sometimes, he stops and spells some of the terms for me, but I didn't want to interrupt by asking.  For instance, I learned that our punches last week were uraken

Thanks to Google, I've learned it's called kiba-dachi.  We stayed in kiba-dachi for sooo long until my ankles and thighs burned, all the while practicing new punches.  I had some trouble learning all of these and staying coordinated.  I totally sucked at a few of them and screwed them all up.  Oh well.  Turns out it's tricky to punch and break into 2 fingers at the last moment and then reverse while pulling that fist back.  My fingers were spazzing out by the end of that set.

He had us relax our leg muscles by dropping to the floor for a quick 50 crunches (type of sit-up) with our feet in the air.  After that we held the upwards crunch position for 30 seconds.  I kept up.  =))  Yay!!!

Back to the kiba-dachi & more punches and then back to crunches and hold for a minute.  We did this a few times, and I was breathing hard and having a hard time keeping up, but I stayed close.  Galahad is amazing here.  He puts so much energy into every move he does and always asks for more.  I'm thankful I've been able to see this side of him.  I didn't think it was possible to respect and admire him any more than I already do.  He never ceases to amaze me.  :)

By the time we left there, I could barely walk but I felt great.  We came home just in time to see the eclipse start.  I gulped down some Vitamin C and ZMA and watched that marvelous event with my guy, relaxing & mellowing out.  I was so ready for bed and was grateful that the clouds came in thick & heavy with the rain to block the last few minutes of it.  I think I fell asleep in under 3 minutes.  :p

Monday, October 25, 2004

Monday, October 25, 2004

Class again tonight.  I forgot to be nervous until we started our first lesson.  And then I remembered that I sucked at this and how uncoordinated I am.  :(  Our Sensei paired me with the other female there at first who is almost as lost as I am.  But then he decided to switch us around.  He said he didn't like pairing couples together, so she got my understanding, wonderful Galahad and I got a different guy. 

Thankfully he was a sweetie, too.  He was very patient and showed me so many times with different pointers when I'd mess up.  The thing is, I felt like I held him back even though I know I always solidify lessons in my mind better when I teach them to someone else.  Haha, he kept telling me to do the move more forcefully, and I kept holding back cuz I was nervous I'd hurt him.  I finally got more vigorous, but then I held back cuz I didn't want to accidentally scratch him with my nails. 

I'm going to try this for a few more weeks, but I'm just not sure if it's for me.  I feel so fucking delicate & fragile.  It's yet another contradiction in my life --- empowering and facing my fragility all at once.  Mind over matter.  I think I can.  I think I can.  :p

Sunday, October 24, 2004

Sunday, October 24, 2004

Today was a splendiferous day!  I lounged most of the day, reading out by the pool and watching the vultures soar high in the sky.

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Thursday, October 21, 2004

I have bruises on my knuckles!!  Fear me!!  =)

Class was fun last night although I got nervous at one point when we had to individually go in front of everyone (all 4 of us hehe) and demonstrate how we were doing our punch.  I didn't realize at first that everyone was learning this punch for the 1st time.  I felt like such an uncoordinated girl.  :\   It seemed that they all did it faster, better, and more forcefully.  Then he painstakingly did a critique of everyone's style.  I really got nervous then until he said I had the best form.  WTF??  I guess me being an annoying non-stop questioner paid off.  When he was showing me the move, I kept asking why do you do that and why do you do this.  Either that or he was being nice to me so I'd come back to another class. 

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Tonight (if I don't chicken out like I did on Monday) is my 1st night of real martial arts class.  I feel kind of weird/stupid to be trying this at my age.  Plus, I'm 104 lbs (maybe 106 from all that pie :p), what damage could I ever do to someone?

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

I had a crazy dream this morning and woke up to Devo's "Whip It" in my head.  I was at someone's house teaching their kid Devo and playing with their iguana-kitties.  I can't wait for that species to evolve.  They were very cool.  =)  I wonder if I can get that to be my new spirit animal guide?

I signed up at Myspace.com today while I was bored on a conference call.  My friends all rave about it, although I'm guessing it's much better for singles who are looking to meet people.

Monday, October 18, 2004

Monday, October 18, 2004

First day back at work and inundated with emails. I did feel so much more relaxed though.  I hadn't realized how stressed out I had been everyday from those damned hurricanes.

Early voting started today here and was a huge clusterfuck.  I hope they fix it in the next two weeks.

Saturday, October 16, 2004

Saturday, October 16, 2004

I spent all day in bed finishing my book that I started on this trip.  I missed my bed.  =)  Plus it was an excellent book, given to us by a friend, which made it special.  I went online and ordered book 2 to be delivered to my local library branch.

Since we had no food in the house, we went out for sushi.  Yum!!!  Oh how I missed it.

Friday, October 15, 2004

Friday, October 15, 2004

We fly home today.  :(

But first we're off to the farmers' market.  I couldn't help myself and was staring at an Amish young man who was staring right back at me.  We both just stared at each other for 30 seconds or so.    I tried to imagine what his life must be like and how foreign it was to mine.  I think his mind was going through the same process. 

So much food there, so little time.  :p  I bought my very own homemade peanut butter sans sugar to take home with me.  Yum!  I also sampled some local birch beer that one of my friends tells me he's addicted to.  It is quite tasty.  Then I got sucked into some lady's sales spiel and felt bad so I bought some of her candles.  The mango scent smelled divine although I was flabbergasted when she said she'd never had mango before. Culture shock kept hitting me from every direction on this trip.

We left there to meet up with our friend's ex-wife that we became friendly with while they were married.  We had been at their wedding years ago.  I was sad they were apart and missed seeing her.   Fortunately, they are still very friendly so all of the awkwardness was on our part and none on theirs.  I joked that I felt like the kids of divorced parents, meeting up at a restaurant and getting driven off by the other party.

We spent a little bit of time with her catching up, then back to his place to pack and drive to the airport.  The weather started shifting and a migraine began to form in my head.  :(  Oh well, it was almost a perfect week.  Imitrex on the plane fixed me though.

As we landed and I saw the lights of our busy metropolis, I started to feel shallow like somehow their lives were more meaningful.  It was an odd feeling and not one I can recall having before even though I've traveled extensively.  I wanted to see stars in the sky not endless miles of strip malls.  However, I do love the convenience that those strip malls offer me.  I hated having to drive 20 miles to go choose between 5 restaurants.  I like having 20+ within a few blocks of me.

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Thursday, October 14, 2004

On our way out of town, we went back to the Grand Canyon and toured the west rim.  We also collected some leaves for Galahad's mother.  My guy is so sweet & thoughtful that way.  Did I mention he's goofy, too?  While he's cutting vibrant red leaves with his Swiss Army knife built-in scissors, he decides that he took too much off of one side and is now evening up the plants.  That's why I love him so much.  He's considerate of Mother Nature's feelings, too.  ;)

Afterwards, we stopped at the Twin Pines Tavern for lunch and my ritual grilled ham & cheese.  The guy in there kinda gave me the jitters and made me feel sympathetic to him all at the same time.  It was very weird.  I definitely would not have stayed in there had I been alone.  He worked there for room & board apparently.   He was very friendly even though his eyes looked like he might have killed someone in the past.  The lady he worked for reminded me of Momma from Throw Momma from the Train.

Then it was time for the long drive back to civilization.  I hate car trips even though the scenery was gorgeous.  My ass just gets numb from sitting for so long.

For dinner, we went to Dans in Reading.  The coconut-encrusted shrimp in the vanilla butter rum sauce melted on my tongue.   

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

The sun disappeared this morning behind a sky of haziness.  The mountains were still gorgeous to look at as the trees seemed to change colors before our very eyes.  I was crazy sore from our hike and asked if we could do a silly tourist thing.  They readily agreed and actually I think they enjoyed it more than I.  We took a ride on the Tioga Railroad.  I was starting to feel culture shock as we meandered our way through people's backyards and saw how the locals lived.  I can't even imagine what it must be like to live there. 

It is so completely foreign to what I know --- every modern convenience available to me in the blink of an eye.  Almost everyone we met was either local to the area or at the farthest, local to the state.  People looked at me just as peculiarly when I said I was from Florida.  I felt like I had either gone back in time or traveled to a foreign country, where everyone spoke English and drove Fords & Chevrolets, with a Dodge thrown in for color.  Little kids were pointing and laughing when they saw us driving around in the Bug.  I was starting to submerse myself in the culture and wondered if I could survive & thrive here if I had to (assuming I could survive the winters :p).

After the railway adventure, we drove a few towns over to see the Herb Lady.  Even though this next town was tiny, we couldn't find her place, so I called her up.  She gave me directions to get there and then let me know she wasn't open.  Wtf?  She suggested we come by tomorrow.  So I said, but we're here now, so she said, oh come by then.  Haha, so goofy.  Plus, her directions were to take a right at the light.  I asked which light, and she patiently explained to me that they only have the one traffic light.  :p  Her little shop was nice and we purchased a few teas that she had made.  She brewed up a couple for us to try and sat and chatted with us.  I was completely enthralled by the lifestyle there.  Galahad said it reminded him a little bit of Woodstock, NY before it got too commercial.

We had a late afternoon snack in Mansfield before returning to the same place we had lunch, the Wellsboro Diner.  We stopped there for more pie.  This became our new favorite place for meals and pie-breaks.  In fact, we had pumpkin pie as a dessert after apple pie.

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Today is the day we hike the Grand Canyon, well the Pennsylvania one that is.  It's the most glorious day --- bright, clear blue skies.  I barely have the words to describe the splendor I saw and the feelings this place evoked in me, but I'll try.

We had breakfast and chatted.   We stopped at some little hole in the wall to buy some water and supplies.  Smitty's advertised hunting licenses and cappuccinos.  We goofed that their slogan could be "one pump, no waiting" cuz they also sold gas.  Dunno what was funnier, us laughing at them or them laughing at us.  :p  I don't think they had ever seen a Volkswagen Beetle before.  They didn't understand how we all fit in plus 3 gallons of water.   By the time we were leaving to go on the trail, I was ready for lunch.  Bless Galahad's friend's heart, he could eat as often as I did.

So we stopped at another place to buy sandwiches since Smitty's apparently sold only Spam.  While we were there, we decided to eat and then pack a sandwich for the trail.  Lunch was followed up by peach pie.  =)  Now, we were ready to hike!

The 2 guys quickly decided we needed to leave the trail and hike down to the waterfalls.  Thankfully, Galahad held my hand on the steep inclines.  Towards the end of the day, his friend was holding my hand also to help pull me back up.  My body was just outright fatigued.  I was completely out of breath from lack of oxygen, and my muscles were screaming in pain.  I definitely had burned through my grilled ham & cheese plus the pie already.  It was time to break out the other sandwich.

I kept goofing that we were about to see pixies at any moment.  That's how magical this place felt.  It wouldn't have surprised me much if we had.  At the bottom of the canyon, there was a stream.  I stretched out on a sun-warmed rock and let my mind wander watching hawks circle above.  I saw an osprey get his lunch and fly away holding it.

I haven't even mentioned that all the leaves were changing colors, too.  I had no idea that some of these shades occurred in nature.  They definitely gave my hair some competition.  :p 

My hiking shoes broke about halfway back up the trail.  I had been goofing on Galahad cuz his top-shelf hiking shoes broke during one of our hurricane jaunts.  He called the company (that bought the company that made them) and gave them an earful.  They sold him a new pair for a fraction of the price, which he was breaking in on this trip.  I wonder if I can call Asolo and whine.

For dinner we decided to drive into the thriving metropolis of Wellsboro and try out Timeless Destination.  This has to be the quaintest town I've ever seen.  The main street is lined with gaslight lanterns.  No business here even takes American Express.  It was quite intriguing.  The food was scrumptious and we chatted with our waitress who was born & raised in Wellsboro. 

Monday, October 11, 2004

Monday, October 11, 2004

I woke up early from a quasi-nightmare involving my secondary spirit animal guide, the alligator, nearly biting me.  That added to my sudden bizarre sickness the day before really had my intuition on high alert.  I kept thinking it must be stress-related, but I'm not feeling stressed about anything.

I wasn't looking forward to the drive from his friend's house to our lodge in the woods by the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon.  I hate long car trips.  Fortunately, this was amazing scenery, interspersed with more diners.  =)  I decided to compare all the different grilled-cheese sandwiches & pies.

Our lodge has a giant elk head in it.  That seems to be a theme up here.  Dead animals mounted in every cabin & restaurant.  Lucky for me, I can still eat while dozens of glass eyes stare down at me.

Sunday, October 10, 2004

Sunday , October 10, 2004

I woke up in so much pain and almost nostalgic for migraine pain.  At least I know how to deal with that.  I think I have food poisoning from the pizza yesterday.  Except...  Galahad is fine.  Our flight is in a few hours and I'm blind with stomach cramps.  He offered to cancel our trip if I want, but I know how much he's been looking forward to seeing his friend.  I figure I should be better soon, and the pain will follow me wherever.  I've been downing glutamine & zinc just in case it's some kind of virus.

I started feeling better after a hot shower, lots of glutamine, and an Aleve.  Or maybe it was my strong will telling myself I refuse to fuck up this trip for him.  :p  Anyway, we caught the plane (fortunately it was in the afternoon so I had ample time to feel better).

We landed safely, and I was starving as usual.  I guess I got better although I have no idea what was wrong.  Part of me was apprehensive wondering if I should have canceled the trip.  Maybe I was psychic?  Ha, turns out I'm not.  :p  Good thing I didn't rely on that theory.

His friend picked us up, and we went to eat at the Bethlehem Diner just outside of the airport.  And that started the theme of our trip.

Saturday, October 9, 2004

Saturday, October 9, 2004

I'm starting to get nervous & excited about our vacation.  It looks to be cold where we're going.  :p  I'll be packing all of my warm clothes.

Wednesday, October 6, 2004

Wednesday, October 6, 2004

Someone said to me that I didn't understand his point of view cuz I'm not competitive.  I almost laughed in his face thinking back about my horribly, vicious competitive nature.  I recognized that I didn't like those qualities in me and have since tried to taper them down a bit.  Plus, I've changed the focus of my competition.  Now, I compete with me not against anyone else.  I want to better myself not shove someone else's face in the mud. 

Monday, October 4, 2004

Monday, October 4, 2004

It turns out it's harder to put eyeliner on while crying than it is to put it on by candlelight.

Sunday, October 3, 2004

Sunday, October 3, 2004

I'm starting to feel the pressure of my convictions with this election.  It looks like candidates A & B are dead even.  Florida decided the election last time with 250 voters, that had they voted the other way would have had different results. 

To borrow a friend's analogy (wave Grimmy), choosing between A & B is like choosing which type of STD I want.  :\  However, if I choose C or D, I am inadvertently helping either A or B get in.  So do I want to choose my STD or do I want to vote my conscience?  This is why people are still undecided.

Saturday, October 2, 2004

Saturday, October 2, 2004

Somehow all these hurricanes haven't scared away Scary Neighbor even though he said he was leaving.  He had a fucking convention outside his house this morning at 8am.  Women chatting, his fucking dog barking, Nextels beeping, etc.

I finally fell back asleep and got up at 10.  I heard his dog barking in the backyard incessantly like he'd been abandoned.  I felt sorry for him and went out to take a look.  The dog bared his teeth at me, so I stayed away even though his tail was wagging.  Fucking mixed messages.  :p 

I was out front later saying goodbye to Galahad when Scary Guy pulls up in his truck.  We're on friendly terms lately, so I waved.  He starts chatting and I mentioned I tried to visit with his dog (trying to hint that the fucker won't stop barking).  He goes and gets the dog so the dog will know me and not attack me (his idea).  He tells me the dog was police trained and doesn't like men.  Then as I'm petting the dog cautiously, he gets the dog riled up and the fucker rakes a gouge in my leg trying to get to Galahad in his car.  Sigh.  I decided this is one dog I don't like anymore and a neighbor I continue to dislike.

Friday, October 1, 2004

Friday, October 1, 2004

HFS, migraine, etc.

I went to class on 3 Excedrin, 2 glucosamine, and a zinc for good measure.  I'm blaming today's migraine on the weather (and maybe the chocolate rugala I had earlier).  At one point, I almost passed out from the pain, but then it got better and I had a blast.  It helps that my close friend goes, too, and we slay each other.  Haha, she had me laughing so hard that I finished one exercise without even whining.  :p

Afterwards, Galahad rubbed Vipratox (some German liniment that contains snake venom) on my neck while our Sensei hit the pressure points on my feet.  The snake venom liniment works as an anti-inflammatory.  And, no that's not the weirdest thing I've ever tried to make my head feel better.

Thursday, September 30, 2004

Thursday, September 30, 2004

We took Galahad's cousin (from out of town) out for dinner.  We ended up at Riverwalk and then at Max's Grille, who is currently boasting everything on their menu for $6.99.  They have to be money-laundering to stay in business.  I'm not buying the whole market share concept.  Anyway, we feasted like royalty for a bargain price.  :)

For those of you keeping track, 2 Excedrin & 1 Imitrex --- deja fucking vu all over again.  :p  Haha, even though I'm hurting, it still makes me giggle.

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

HUGE CONGRATS TO MY SIS WHO PASSED THE BAR!!  (not the alcoholic one, the legal one ;))  I'm so proud of her.

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Migraines & Hurricane Fatigue Syndrome.

It's like deja vu all over again.  :p
 

Monday, September 27, 2004

Monday, September 27, 2004

We watched a funny movie yesterday -- American Splendor.  It's another one of those wacky ones that Galahad is known to pick out. 

Sunday, September 26, 2004

Sunday, September 26, 2004

I popped awake at 5:30am to more howling winds and the sight of my digital clock peering out at me.  Yay, we still had power!  =)  

In listening to the wind whining, I tried to see if I heard the train or the lion roar that these newscasters talk about.  Nope.  One newscaster actually described it accurately, imo.  He said it was the loudest white noise you could imagine.  A few more tense hours passed as I willed our power to stay on.  It started getting light outside and the wind lessened a bit. 

I moved downstairs to eat even more and park myself on the couch.  I was now officially suffering from Hurricane Fatigue Syndrome.  It's not pretty.  I think I ate 5000 calories in the past 24 hours which is a lot even for me.  Also, the muscle soreness from Friday night's class was starting to kick in.  Did I mention the migraine came back last night, too?

I became loopy & delirious when I finally felt safe.  The newscasters kept using a silly line that was redundant, which of course made me giggle.  Yeah, I know --- I'm a geek who laughs at grammatically incorrect usage.  Sue me.  You ready for it?  Sitting down?
 
"It's like deja vu all over again."  Beautiful in its simplicity, isn't it?  Poor Galahad had to listen to me repeat that ad nauseum all day.  It always set me off on a giggle spree, too.  I doubt I could have been more annoying if I had practiced.  This far surpassed the hunkering in the bunker remarks from last time, although I still throw those in for good measure since it's like deja vu all over again.  =D

Saturday, September 25, 2004

Saturday, September 25, 2004

I woke up bright & early and full of energy after my class as usual.  The soreness & fatigue would kick in later.  I turned on the TV and saw that we were now under Hurricane Watch and a major storm was heading right for us but might veer.  I woke Galahad up in a panic and told him we had to get busy cuz we were supposed to get hit in 8 hours or so.  The poor guy was sleeping so peacefully, too.  I started calling relatives to see if everyone was okay and actually aware of this.  Hurricane Jeanne became a threat to us so fast.

Galahad's mom asked if we would come over and help with the shutters.  They had taken them all down last week.  *grumble*  We did some preliminary work outside of our house then drove down there to start that.  I was so tense that I burned through the food I had eaten as we walked out the door and arrived there hungry.  Laugh.  Lucky for me, she's used to my ways and made me a quick snack.  Feeder bands started hitting us at about noon and we got soaked fixing up her house.   Afterwards, we ate again and then left to get home before the strong winds and rain became more consistent.

Of course, me being me suggested we sneak onto the beach first.  Galahad being him thought that was an excellent idea.  =)  Last time (Hurricane Frances) we tried it using a major thoroughfare and were thwarted.  This time, I remembered a smaller access road, which wasn't blocked off.  We parked in an empty parking lot since everyone had evacuated and walked onto the beach.  The surfers were out as usual even though we were in a Mandatory Evacuation Area.  They seemed kinda chicken to me, but what do I know.  There were several paddled out, but they were very finicky about which waves they would ride in on.  Finally, I was so cold in the driving wind & rain, that I was happy to leave.  We drove North to the next major road to cut over to the mainland.  The police in all of their infinite wisdom had both ways blocked off and told us to turn around and go back the 15 miles to the smaller road.  :(  Sigh

By the time we got home, the feeder bands were constant.  I ran inside to take my last hot shower before the power failed.  It was like the last dinner of a condemned man.  Galahad cooked up a giant pot of dumplings and we feasted on the living room floor using a cardboard box as our dining table.  I naturally brought out the place-mats.  No reason to live as barbarians.  =)

We finished up all of the inside stuff that needed securing and wished that storm North.  At one point when it was still aiming right for us and they were saying it would be a category 4 hurricane, I panicked and brought out the Lucky Goat Milk.  It had the desired effect of breaking up our somber mood (and perhaps a side effect of sending that storm north :p).

Jeanne did start veering north although we were still in line to catch the outer edges of the hurricane force winds.  It got a bit scary at times listening to the winds whine & howl.   The power flickered and blinked off at one point.  That freaked us out cuz they had been repeating that if we lost power, it could be 3 weeks to get it back.  I was on my laptop chatting to several people all over the world attempting to remain calm & distracted.  Thankfully this storm was moving much faster than Frances so we had only about 8 hours of really intense wind & rain.  It's amazing what you get thankful for, huh?

I was way too tense to sleep so I was up most of the night holding our house together with the power on through sheer willpower.  =D  I woke Galahad up at 2am to watch the 1st ever  Chinese Grand Prix.  I finally shut down my laptop and we moved upstairs to watch TV in bed, where I fell promptly asleep.

Friday, September 24, 2004

Friday, September 24, 2004

I'm tired of this migraine already.  I'm taking meds and going to my class tonight anyway.

Monday, September 20, 2004

Monday, September 20, 2004

Karma is a harsh mistress.   Omg, I had the migraine from hell yesterday.  It took 3 doses of Imitrex to even make a dent in the pain.  I completely lost my mind and freaked out on Galahad.  Thank goodness he was around to take care of me cuz I was ready for drastic measures much sooner than normal.  On a scale of 1-10, this one was an 11. 

Sunday is usually a day of intense muscle pain from Friday's class.  I was in so much pain from my head that I felt none of it.  I could barely eat, and light & sound was killing me.  I had to cover my eyes most of the day and turn the TV volume down to almost mute.  Finally around 4 or so, I was able to eat some chicken broth & soda crackers.  Three cheers for hurricane supplies.  :p  By 8, my stomach had recovered.  I was starving and scarfed down some of Galahad's pizza.

My head is still hurting this morning.  I breakfasted on oatmeal (plain as always) and 2 Excedrin.

Saturday, September 18, 2004

Saturday, September 18, 2004

Karma is a bitch.  :p  I woke up this morning with a GIANT zit starting on my forehead.  I was sure Galahad punched me during the night cuz it started swelling like a goose egg.  He swore he didn't.  :p  I wonder which of my unkind thoughts led to this.  Perhaps it was the King-sized pack of peanut M&Ms I had consumed.  ;)  I usually only get ones that bad after an intense migraine and copious amounts of medication trying to leave my body in a hurry. 

Thank goodness for bangs & make-up.  =)  I covered my blemish (hehe I love that word) nicely before we went out to a surprise party and then to a concert.  We went to support a friend who was playing there.  It certainly was an interesting crowd since the theme of the concert was recovering from addictions.  Ex-addicts are as bad as born-again religious zealots in their preaching and enthusiasm.  The funny part was watching the few drunks in the crowd, too. 

Friday, September 17, 2004

Friday, September 17, 2004

Class tonight was awesome.  I pushed myself hard, and it felt so good.  Afterwards, we went out for sushi.  I ended up in a deep philosophical conversation with a man I had just met from class.  He had some interesting theories on the universe and the meaning of life.  We discussed karma and bad energy following someone.

Of course, Galahad and I goofed on him on the drive home seeing as how he had put down people for being close-minded and then looked with pity on me because I failed to accept his theory just like that.  Talk about a hypocrite.   :p

Monday, September 13, 2004

Monday, September 13, 2004

We watched some unknown (to me) film named Billy Elliot.  I had a hard time with some of the accents.  Okay, who am I kidding, most of the accents.  Yeah, I know it was English, but I'm challenged that way.  :p  It was a very cute movie although I cried quite a bit in certain parts.

Saturday, September 11, 2004

Saturday, September 11, 2004

It looks like Ivan may be going west of us thankfully.  It's heartbreaking to see what it's done & is still doing to the Caribbean islands.

Today we replanted 2 trees that were displaced due to Hurricane Frances.  My brother was very nice and helped us.  Omg, it was so fucking hot!  Afterwards, Galahad made a huge feast for dinner with BBQ steak and fresh jicama among other tasty delights.

At about 10 pm, my brother decided to go check his house again for power.  He was trying not to be compulsive every 10 minutes.  :p  Anyway, he called me so happy and came back to get his suitcase.  I offered to let him stay another night since his house must be so humid & hot, but he was so excited to be home again.  =)

Friday, September 10, 2004

Friday, September 10, 2004

I went to conditioning class tonight to relieve some stress.  We brought my brother since he is still staying with us.  It sucks not to have power for over a week, poor guy.  I love civilization and its modern conveniences.  Anyway, I really pushed myself, and I'm going to be sore for the next few days.  It was nice to let out my pent up emotions in a physical way, though.

Afterwards, we went out to eat with my friend to a sushi & Thai restaurant.  Yay!!  Omg, I've been craving sushi for days now, but Galahad wouldn't let me have any cuz of the freshness factor or lack thereof.  It was so wonderful, but then my insensitive clod of a brother decided it would be a good idea to tell a story about our dead mother that portrayed her & her disease in a non-flattering way.  That freaked me out, and I ran out of the restaurant crying.  I know he didn't mean it, but it just set me off and kinda ruined the rest of my night.  :(  He apologized and said he'd try to remember that I'm sensitive.  He assumed since she's been dead almost 5 years now, I should be over it.  I mostly am until he brings up stories like that for entertainment value.  I hated causing a scene at the restaurant in front of my friend & her niece from Paris.  Gah, I felt like such an idiot.  I paid the whole check myself just so we could leave quickly and not have to muck about with who had what.

Thursday, September 9, 2004

Thursday, September 9, 2004

I broke down and started crying this morning.  :(  So many people have died already from this monster named Ivan.  Others who lived have to rebuild their lives.  If that weren't enough to make me cry (it is), it's also headed my way.  It's amazing how humbling a natural disaster of this magnitude can be.  Now multiply it by 3 and factor in another month and a half of High Hurricane Season.  It officially ends November 30th, but September & October are usually the worst.  I'm starting to lose my optimistic outlook.  :\ 

I've been planning on donating money for the people who got hit badly by Hurricane Charley.  Then, I thought maybe I should save for Frances (just in case).  Now, I'm saving for Ivan just in case.  My dilemma is where do I send money?  Just to Floridians or to some of those poor islands who got wiped out?  I wonder if they have charities set up and how corrupt they will be.  I'm still so cynical that my money won't go where it's needed the most.  I would rather hand it to people I see and not take the tax break just to know it's being used properly.  I heard this morning that some church was selling their Hurricane donations.  How fucking sad is that??

Wednesday, September 8, 2004

Wednesday, September 8, 2004

I tried to go back to work today, but now I'm starting to get nervous about Ivan the terrible, the next hurricane bowling ball being rolled down our alley.  My concentration was definitely off, and I'm still not getting my 8 hours a night.  Apparently I'm still on Farmer Time and am waking up at daybreak.

A piece of trivia I found interesting:  Friday night was the highest incidences of domestic disturbance calls to the police because everyone was all locked up together behind shutters and scared witless.

Florida Hurricane Relief Fund

Tuesday, September 7, 2004

Tuesday, September 7, 2004

We survived Hurricane Frances!!  Yay!!!  =)

I lost power Saturday night at about 2am (so I guess technically Sunday morning) and just got it back last night.  Less than 48 hours without power made me crazy.  :p  Our A/C broke, so even after we had power, it was still kinda hot in here.  And the humidity was horrendous.  We had to change all the sheets & towels cuz they were yucky.

All the days started to run together so I can't give too much of a blow by blow.  Cabin fever set in rapidly.  I was thanking my lucky goat milk that we stayed in our house and didn't have anyone else there with us.  The flip side of us not having shutters is that we were able to get a front row seat to the majestic destruction that was happening around us.  We watched as one of our trees knocked over easily and almost rolled into the pool.  We ran outside and tried moving it to a better spot.  The two of us could barely maneuver it.  I think we both strained some back muscles with that.  Yeah, I know ... lift with the knees.  Try doing that when you're standing in 60 mph gusts and driving rain.  Okay, I have no idea how forceful the winds were.  I'm thinking my next present to Galahad is going to be a wind-speed gadget.  :)

Later on, we decked out in rain-gear and took a walk along our back canal.  We saw so many birds hunkered down for the impending storm.  A great blue heron looked so peaceful in his little copse although I was surprised that he didn't evacuate.  :p 

Big trees were already coming down on Saturday as the feeder bands were hitting.  It scared me to think of what might be coming up.

After we lost power, it started to get scarier cuz I had no idea what was going on, and it was fucking LOUD outside!!  Every crash I heard, I kept thinking, this is the one that is coming through the walls or roof.  No power meant no over sensationalized Channel 7 News.  The house stayed somewhat cool that night but really started to heat up the next day.  We opened all the sliders to let the hurricane winds blow through and cool us off, but it also let 9 million percent humidity in.  The carpet started feeling yucky under my feet.  :(

I got crankier as the temperature rose.  It kept raining a lot so that helped, but the breezes started dying down.  We went for another walk at some point (I lost track of time) and scoped out damages and wildlife.  We saw a truly amazing sight.  Somehow every iguana was out trying to warm up and/or dry off.  There were at least a dozen giant ones that we saw on tree branches across the canal.  They were much easier to spot since most leaves were stripped off.  Gronk was out with his Gronkettes and then we saw Grampa Gronk.  He was huge although not as brilliantly orange as he used to be.

I know this is disjointed, and I apologize, but random thoughts are popping up.  Like I said, I lost track of time & day. 

Galahad got out his little camping stove and made us hot soup (good thing I bought one edible variety) when we came back inside all wet.  The rain was driving so hard that it finally penetrated our rain gear even though he had just coated it again with silicone (or whatever they waterproof gear with).  He was enjoying himself mightily and looked at all of this as a big adventure.  It was nice because neither one of us got cranky at the same time, so the other one could always boost spirits.  I'll give you one guess who needed more boosting.  :p

I had breakfasted on a Snapple Meal Drink at 5 am when I woke up hungry & in the dark.  I was scared to open the fridge and let cold air out so I just felt around on the counter for one of those.  Just because I can eat anything when I'm hungry doesn't make it palatable.  It was fucking god-awful.   Shiver.  Cringe.  I drank it while sitting on the floor next to one of my big windows and watching our mango tree blow violently around.  It did serve its purpose though.  It filled me up in a quick, convenient manner.

During one of the semi-lulls in the storm, we went out and fished half of a tree out of our pool.  This was a different one from the one we rescued before. 

I spent part of the day bored going through an old box.  I found all of my awards from school, including my HappyGram from 1st grade.  Gah, I'm such a pack-rat, but it was valuable entertainment during extreme boredom and repressive heat & humidity.  I had already finished the book, Digital Fortress, that I was reading. 

Galahad insisted we go out for dinner and I was up for the adventure although I wasn't sure what we'd find.  It was a bit tricky putting on eyeliner by flashlight.  :)  I had him check it afterwards to make sure it was even.  :p  We tried north first but there were curfews in effect and police were closing down restaurants, so we ended up south at a pizza place.  They had ice cold a/c and hot food, so we gladly endured the one hour wait time for food.  They had a very limited menu quickly scrawled on a napkin taped to the front counter, and pizza wasn't on it.  He got spaghetti & and I had ravioli (and a Zone bar from my purse while I waited the hour).

We debated going to his mother's house (since she had power) to sleep or staying home and letting the breezes cool us off.  His mother doesn't keep the a/c very cold so we would have been hot there, too, just without the humidity.  It was about 76°F out with 20-30 mph winds.  Privacy won out, plus the roads were scary to drive on.  There were no traffic lights, and giant trees suddenly appeared fallen in the road.  We milked our time at the pizza place and stayed there until we got sleepy.  :p  The people at a nearby table had driven over 20 miles to eat there.  We drove home, brushed our teeth by candlelight, and tried to fall asleep.  I woke up every few hours as I'd been doing since Tuesday or so.

One of my phone lines worked intermittently, so I checked in with family & friends to let them know how we were and see how they were.  We started to set our house back to normal and were cleaning up outside as well as putting all the orchids back out.  Then, we were on Lizard Duty to catch all the ones who had hunkered down in our house.  :p  I rescued a butterfly from the pool while I was skimming out the 6 million or so leaves that had blown in.  It was nice and cold in there so I kept dipping my feet in as I started to overheat.  I didn't really care how dirty it was at that point.  We had chlorinated it beforehand so no bacteria should be in it, just good clean dirt.  :p

By 11 am, I had hit the end of my rope and called one of my brothers to see if he had power yet.  He didn't and asked if we wanted to go get lunch.  That was an easy answer.   I went inside, took a cold shower (yuck but at least I had running water), shaved my legs, put my hair in a ponytail, and tried to make myself presentable.

There were long lines at all the nearby restaurants and since the car had nice cold a/c, we just kept driving farther south until we found one without a wait.  They again had a limited menu --- quesadillas or quesadillas.  Galahad ordered a margarita which turned out to be huge.  The guy at the next table was on his 3rd or 4th (that we saw) and was so fucking drunk.  Again, they had good a/c and hot food, so we planted ourselves there for a few hours.  My brother was fun company and we amused each other with reminiscing and good conversation.   At 4pm, we left and drove across the street where another restaurant was opening up.

My brother ordered more food, and we sat there for another hour until Galahad decided it was time to leave to go to his martial arts class.  He had persuaded my brother to join him as they were both missing their normal workout routine, and my brother's gym was still closed.

We drove home surveying the damage and the fallen trees.  Overall, I have to say I was very fortunate.

I'm exhausted and will finish my story later.  =)

Saturday, September 4, 2004

Saturday, September 4, 2004

It's finally here --- well the edges anyway.  It's down to a category 2 so only (ha!) 105 mph winds, and we still should be taking a miss on this by 50 or 60 miles if it stays on course.  Thank you Lucky Goat Milk!!

I guess I'd better explain about my lucky can of goat milk.  Six years ago, a Hurricane was headed right for us in our brand new (to us) house.  I had less flexible hours then at work, so I wasn't able to take off exactly when I wanted to get supplies.  I ended up at my local Publix Supermarket picking up stuff that had been picked through hours ago.  That store caters to mostly retirees, so the only section left semi-intact was the ethnic section.  I was kind of panicking since Hurricane Andrew's devastation was just a few years prior, and I remembered my parents living on canned foods for weeks.  I loaded up my cart with anything edible, whether I recognized its use or not.  I figured that Galahad is creatively talented in the culinary arts, plus I'll eat just about anything when I get hungry.

That night, he's going through the supplies I bought and starts asking why I bought them.  He's new to Florida's Hurricane Season so he's giving me the benefit of the doubt if it's local wisdom.  I started crying and said it's all they had left, and I didn't want to starve.  He reassures me that all will be well and starts his mind going on unusual recipes.

Since then, we've had quite a few close scares and some brushes with severe weather but have come out smiling.  I credit my lucky goat milk.  :p  At some point, he used it or tried to, so it was no longer in our cupboard.  Wednesday night, I went through a similar feeling of "omg there's no food left for me" since I went to a different store and most of the ethnic foods had been cleaned out there, also.  I bought some Goya Tamarind Juice and pigeon peas (both new to my repertoire this year).  You might wonder why Galahad leaves it to me to do the shopping, but he was getting over some cold or virus and working like crazy at work, so I offered.  Plus, I got to hang out and laugh with my brother at a Wal-Mart at 3 am.  =)  As we got to the register, there on the side where someone had decided they didn't want it, was a can of Goat Milk, nearly identical to the one from years back.  Of course I had to buy it.  And so far so good, the storm has seriously weakened and is forecast to hit a bit north of us.

/dance

Web Cam: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Ocean View Cam in New Smyrna Beach Florida Live Video of the Beach on the Atlantic Ocean, Ocean and Waves
 

Friday, September 3, 2004

Friday, September 3, 2004

I lied.  I'm posting again but this time from my laptop since my PCs are safely ensconced in my laundry room wrapped under sheets of plastic & duct tape.

I finally got about 6 hours of sleep last night so I'm feeling a bit better (but not that much).  The storm has slowed way down so impact is now being predicted for tomorrow instead of today, although we did start to feel some of the feeder bands this afternoon.

We finished up the outside work here (30+ orchids in my house along with assorted critters who were hunkering down in them) and then drove to Galahad's parents' house to help them with final preparations.   After lunch there, we stopped by my brother's house since he's on the way to say hello and see how he was doing.  He didn't sound so good on the phone --- too little sleep, too much caffeine, and too much stress.  His house was mostly boarded up by then.  I got to visit with his doggies (always a treat for me =)).  We hung out there for a bit until the transformer popped into fireworks in his backyard and he lost power.  I have no idea what caused that since it was sunny out, and there hadn't been any gusting winds for an hour or so.  Anyway, we decided that it was probably time to get off the roads and get home. 

First we tried to detour to the beach to see the surf coming in (it was still a gorgeous, albeit hot, day).  The police had every access road blocked off, so that shot that idea down.  I think it was smart of them to do that even though I would have loved to take a last walk on the beach before the storm hit.

The storm has weakened down to a Category 3 and looks to still hit a tad north of us, so we'll be on the "clean" side of impact.

WebCam | Views from The Miami Herald

Thursday, September 2, 2004

Thursday, September 2, 2004

OMFG IT'S COMING RIGHT FOR ME!!!!

I feel a little bit better now.  :p  This will be my last posting before the storm hits.  I'll be packing my PC up after this.  I met my brother at a Super Wal-Mart last night to do our last minute emergency supply shopping.  It just reinforced how much I hate Wal-Mart.  We were there from 2 am until almost 4 am.  And, they were sold out of water.  Fuckers.  Oh well, I got lots of weird soups & beans and my lucky can of goat milk.  =) 

I'm starting to feel a bit frightened and losing some of my normal good spirits.  I only got 2 hours of sleep last night which didn't help, but my mind is too busy to sleep.  I'm also feeling terribly overwhelmed.  I'm not sure what to do first, and we still have to go help Galahad's parents secure their house.  We haven't really started on ours yet.  And, it all seems like a waste of time cuz what can I do against 140 mph winds and 180 mph gusts?  Bringing my orchids inside so that they don't get launched as missiles until after our windows shatter seems a little irrelevant.

We still have a full day to accomplish these tasks, so maybe if I start now and get a few things done, I'll feel better.  Most gas stations have run out of gas already, too. 

Did I mention I'm a teensy bit nervous?  :p  I've enjoyed my time in this house immensely, but I'm not quite ready to give it up yet.  I apologize for my disjointed thoughts, but like I said before, my mind is racing doing a hundred things at once.  Okay, I'm turning this off now.  I'll try to have my laptop up for as long as possible for those of you who have my IM info.

So long and thanks for all the sushi!  =)

weather.com - Atlantic Satellite/Radar

Wednesday, September 1, 2004

Wednesday, September 1, 2004

Bwahahaha.  I sent an email to my assorted siblings letting them know our status with the Impending Storm of Doooooom on the horizon.  My brother emailed quite a humorous reply back.  =)

"Good luck!  Our best wishes will follow you wherever your house may land!"

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

I got my first GMail account today!!  How geeky am I that I'm excited about it and actually expected my friends to know what it is?  :p  Btw, my nickname is wendria there.

This afternoon, I'm off to vote.  Ever the optimist, I'll still cast my vote and hope it gets counted.  If it doesn't, perhaps I'll be sufficiently entertained by the scandals to not care as much.

Monday, August 30, 2004

Monday, August 30, 2004

I started reading Digital Fortress.  Wow!  His writing style has sure matured, but Mr. Brown can write an exciting novel.  :)

Sunday, August 29, 2004

Sunday, August 29, 2004

Galahad and I spent a few hours picking out our candidates for Tuesday's primary.  It's so hard to choose based on a blurb in an article or negative campaigning from their competitors.  Plus, who knows if my vote will even get counted. 

Project Vote Smart - American Government, Elections, Candidates and Voting

Saturday, August 28, 2004

Saturday, August 28, 2004

We went to see Hero at the theater.  I loved it, even though I cried at one part.  :(

Friday, August 27, 2004

Friday, August 27, 2004

Head is still bad.  I skipped my class and feel guilty, but I know it was for the best.  :(

Thursday, August 26, 2004

Thursday, August 26, 2004

Woke up at 3 am with a sharp shooting pain in my head.  :\  I took Imitrex and watched the Olympics until I fell asleep.

Then, I had to wake up and drive 30 minutes to meet with my manager and get my annual review.  He loved the copy I had written last week.  I'm glad I was able to amuse him.  :p  I had to fake being fine all day because I hate admitting to having a migraine, especially to my manager.  Admitting weaknesses is not something I'm great at.

Saturday, August 21, 2004

Saturday, August 21, 2004

My cousin is in town this weekend and staying in South Beach.  My brother & I (and respective partners) are driving down to meet up with him for dinner and fun.  I'm kind of getting over the whole South Beach hype.  In fact, I was over it a few years ago.  However, he's my only first cousin and a lot of fun, so I'm making the effort.

Galahad talked me into wearing my comfy black boots instead of my comfy black high-tops.  Fashion and all that.  Gag!  But, for him, I made the effort.  Somehow, they decided not to be as comfy tonight and gave me my first blister.  I've had them over a year and worn them numerous times for hours at a time.  Dunno wtf happened but I finally took them off and went barefoot.  The blister was already the size of a dime and swelling.  Guess I need to buy new boots soon.  :\

In between my whining about the imaginary pebble in my boot, we finally (after 30 minutes of walking) picked out a restaurant to have dinner.  So many places were artificially expensive, or at least I thought they were based on the ambiance and food quality.  We ended up eating Cuban food at Bongos.  The food was tasty and the company was fun.  :)

Then Galahad had the bright idea to go over to the Delano.  We love that place but it's kind of far to walk when one has an imaginary pebble in one's boot.  Anyway, since he hyped it up, and I had dragged him out here in the first place, I said I was fine and could walk.  Everyone loved it (of course) even though the prices are exorbitant.  We watched the people next to us spend about $3000 on liquor alone, and we were there only a short time.  It's full of Euro-trash, but I love to people watch there.  I also love when women get all decked out and end up complimenting me on my simple outfit.  =)  Galahad wins again for getting me some chic (yet cool & casual) tank top to wear with my jeans.  ;)

Friday, August 20, 2004

Friday, August 20, 2004

I decided to have fun with my review.  As you may have noticed, I like to write creatively.  ;)   I hope he laughs as much as I did.

Class tonight.  Glad my toenails are looking good!

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Today was Conference Call from Hell Day -- back to back to back calls from 9 AM through 3 PM.  I did manage to paint my toenails a lovely shade of red.  ;)

Btw, I was told by my manager to write my own annual review.  It's good in the long run because I'm going to be kinder than he will, but it really sucks to write all this up.  :\

Saturday, August 14, 2004

Saturday, August 14, 2004

Those poor people who got fucked by the hurricane.  :(

I'm still happy it missed me though.

We watched the Olympics part of the day but I'm having a hard time getting excited, between the cheating players and the corrupt judges.  I also kept asking Galahad for his honest opinion.  Hahah, I know men hate to hear that dreaded question but I couldn't stop myself.  Mine is kind of in reverse though.   There's a Russian gymnast who looks very skinny, and I kept asking him if I looked that skinny.  He's so funny and gave a diplomatic answer --- that we have different body shapes so he really couldn't compare.  I'm guessing that's a yes, but I'm sure I have more body fat than her by at least 1-2 percent.  :p  Laugh.  I don't feel that skinny.

Friday, August 13, 2004

Friday, August 13, 2004

An auspicious day for some people who got slammed hard by Hurricane Charley.  I'm so happy it missed us.  I'm also not too bothered (migraine-wise) by the pressure changes and storms in the area.  I feel terrible for the people it hit, but did I mention I'm so happy it missed me?  I refuse to feel survivor's guilt over this.

So, on to other irrelevant topics.  Are you sitting down?  Remember how you thought I was an intelligent, modern woman?  I'm about to throw a monkey wrench into your image of me.  :p   You sure you're sitting?  Cuz I sometimes stand at my PC, especially while I'm brushing my teeth. 

Today, I used an ATM for the first time.  Yeah, you read that correctly.  Somehow I never used an ATM before for one reason or another.  When they first came out, there was a service charge and I was poor so every penny saved was a good thing.  Then, I learned how not to need one through proper planning and lots of plastic money.  Cash is so dirty.  Also, it seems risky.  Logically I know millions of people use one every day without problems.  But, emotionally, it seems stupid to advertise to everyone "Hi I'm about to have cash here you can steal from me after you knock my 104 lbs over."  And, what if there's some kind of mistake?  How do you prove it?

However, through bad planning, I ran out of checks before I got my new ones.  My friend needed money right away, so I resolved to get over my ATM-phobia.   We made plans to meet there in the morning before the storms got bad.  She went to the wrong location accidentally, and I was a nervous wreck by the time she got there.  First I cased the whole place to look for unsavory types.  There were a few.  I decided to try my hand at this magic machine while the unsavories were at a minimum even though my friend wasn't there yet.  It turns out that even though I can withdraw a large sum of money per day, it can't be done all in one transaction.  So now I had to stand there for several minutes inserting my card back in each time after pocketing wads of cash.  I was sure I had a GIANT target on my back saying "OMG, I just won the lottery and have all of it on me!!!"  Speaking of winning, is it just me or is this more fun than slots?  I insert my card, pick some numbers, and BAM, I win and out comes cash.  I could see how this ATM thing could become addictive.  :p

After all of the excitement of the Hurricane and my ATM Adventure, it was time for my 2nd conditioning class with the crazy East German guy.  I am ecstatic to announce I did much better this week and did NOT cry at all.  Yay!!!  I did have one iffy moment when I couldn't get enough oxygen into my body and I couldn't stop yawning.  That got me scared cuz that's usually a precursor to a migraine and I had forgotten all of my meds (so much poor planning lately).  I forced myself to relax and take deep breaths.  I had also taken some aspirin during the day to counteract the effects of the storm so I was hoping & wishing that my head would stay pain-free.  It did!  And there was much rejoicing.  =)

We stopped for sushi on the way home and I was having trouble walking already.  I worked my muscles to exhaustion (which didn't really take that long -- I'm such a wuss), and they were protesting now.

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Monday, August 9, 2004

Monday, August 9, 2004

I happened to mention to someone that I play one of my theme songs in my head when I need a boost.  He seemed confused by that concept so I'm going to try to explain it.  Pick a song or three that no matter your mood always make you perk up just a little bit.  You don't need to go cavorting down the street but that doesn't hurt.  =)

So here are two of mine.  Yes I know they're corny, but they work.  :p

O-o-h Child

I Can See Clearly Now

Sunday, August 8, 2004

Sunday, August 8, 2004

Yay, my head is almost all better.  I haven't taken any meds today.  I also managed to get up early and get some pool time in before the daily rains started.

My calves are a teensy bit painful today, and a few of my other muscles are sore, but I escaped mostly unscathed.  I'm so excited!  I usually end up jumping back into exercise too fast and either injure myself or make myself so sore that I don't want to continue.  I forced myself to hold back and not do too much on Friday.  That might have contributed to my feelings of of imperfection.  Well that or the fact that I'm imperfect.  :p

Saturday, August 7, 2004

Saturday, August 7, 2004

Last night's class went better and worse than I expected.  I was able to do most exercises at least partially.  But, I had an emotional meltdown when I got home.  :(  I sat on the bathroom floor crying quietly cuz I was embarrassed.  I thought I was done and also decided that the bathroom rugs needed to be washed (while I was down there :p), so I gathered them up and put them in the washing machine.  Then I got all energetic and switched out the towels, too.  As I was going back upstairs, Galahad asked me something innocuous and I just started bawling.  Sigh.  Logically I know that no one has a perfect body and perfect abilities.  Yet, I expect that I should be perfect; and when I'm not, my limitations frustrate me.  He just held me and let me cry and reassured me I did fine.  I think the week long migraine was taking its toll as well.

Anyway, I'm a little bit sore (mostly in my calves) and am gobbling up Vitamin C every few hours.  I also took some zinc-magnesium.

Friday, August 6, 2004

Friday, August 6, 2004

blah blah blah yes my head still fucking hurts ... breakfast of Imitrex, with a side of oatmeal.

Guess what I'm doing tonight?  Hehe, one of my male friends continues to remind me that men don't enjoy these guessing games nearly as much as women.  :p  So blame him that I'm ruining it and telling you.  =)  Omg, I'm skeeeeeered. 

I'm going to Galahad's martial arts conditioning class tonight.  My close friend really wants to go and persuaded me to try it once with her.  This is the class taught by his east German instructor that gets him so sore he can barely walk by Sunday.  He told me to stop when I can't do something, but I know me.  First, I like a challenge and usually don't stop until it's too late.  And, second, I'm going to be embarrassed if I have to stop too early.  Sigh.  I hope I don't cry.   I also hope I'm brave enough to go back next week even if tonight sucks.  I would love to get back into better shape.

I have no idea what to wear either.  I start suggesting outfits and I got "the omg you aren't serious" look from Galahad.  He was all ready to buy me something today to wear.  Ha, and I don't even know if I'll like it enough to go back.  Well, I'm off to pick out clothes.  :p

Thursday, August 5, 2004

Thursday, August 5, 2004

I was leading a conference call this morning when through the window I saw a beautiful butterfly get snared in a spider web.  I completely lost my thoughts and readjusted my vision so I didn't have to see the struggle.  Every time I shifted and saw it, I got distracted again.  Part of me wanted to save it.  Part of me told myself it's nature.  After ten minutes of morbid fascination, while someone else started speaking, I snuck outside (I love cordless phones) and freed the fucking butterfly.  It flew right off.  I feel bad that I ruined that spider's web.  I've knocked it down so many times in the past cuz he builds too low over our front gate.  This time it was finally high enough up to walk under and I fucking ruined it again.  I suck.  :\   I just couldn't watch that poor butterfly strain & thrash about anymore.

P.S.  My head still fucking hurts.  :(

Wednesday, August 4, 2004

Wednesday, August 4, 2004

I returned some DVDs to Hollywood Video and apparently didn't check closely if the titles matched.  They called Galahad (his card) to let him know.  So, I had to traipse back to the store after fishing the movie out of the 5 disc changer.  Thank goodness it wasn't porn!  But, it was my niece's copy of Lord of the Rings that we supposedly mailed back to her.  Oops.  Btw, do they make porn DVDs?  I'm so behind the times.  :p

/whine

still fighting this migraine  :(

Monday, August 2, 2004

Sunday, August 1, 2004

Sunday, August 1, 2004

Galahad decided that he wanted to go out for breakfast this morning.  So off we went to the Original Pancake House where everyone else seemed to have gone with their kids.  We got seated fairly quickly and served shortly afterwards.  Omg, the portions are so huge!  No wonder everyone is fat.  Plus, the plates start out HUGE (with a capital U :p)  The food was tasty though.  :)

About 3ish, I started to get a headache.  I took some aspirin and hoped for the best.  Haha, I'm such an optimist even in the face of harsh reality.

Saturday, July 31, 2004

Saturday, July 31, 2004

I was feeling kind of drab from a combination of shitty weather, hormones, etc. when serendipity struck in the form of a Secret Admirer.  Hehe, okay I'm goofing.  A man found his way to my site, read it all, and emailed me to say I gave him hope.

/swoon

Anyway, it definitely gave me a much needed lift to my day.  (Pssst ... I hope you don't mind that I wrote about you.) 

Thursday, July 29, 2004

Thursday, July 29, 2004

Sooooo tired.  But I finally made it home last night after sitting on that runway for hours.  My manager told me he heard the test theory also.  I still never saw anything on the news.

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Quite an eventful afternoon.

I was in a meeting all day at the airport hotel in Philadelphia, daydreaming in between important points being made.  During one of our breaks, we noticed that the line for security was so long that it had spilled out of the airport and into the hotel.  It turns out they had evacuated everyone from the airport because of a security issue.  I called a colleague of mine who had left about 20 minutes prior.  He said he hadn't gone through security yet but was close to the front once they reopened it. 

I jumped on CNN.com and MSNBC to see if I could figure out wtf was going on.  Nothing.  I tried Federal Aviation Administration.  Zilch.  I called my airline where the agent knew less than me.  However he did say all outbound planes were grounded currently.  Inbound were allowed to land.  He had no idea when they would resume but said the planes had to leave cuz they needed them at their destinations by the morning.  I asked about availability for tomorrow morning.  He told me there were 7 seats left on 2 of tomorrow's flights.  Another one was already sold out.  I'm actually amazed he disclosed the number because they never used to do that.

Someone near me spouted out that he saw an AWACS in the air circling the airport.

I started to weigh my options and thought about staying the night.  By this time, apparently so did everyone else because my hotel was overbooked, so I'd have to rent a car (if available) or hop a cab to an alternate hotel.  I called Galahad to let him know my status.  He explained to me what an AWACS is, and I started to feel a twinge of uneasiness.

AWACS: Airborne Warning And Control System. Aircraft fitted with long range radar that provide tactical and target information to air and ground control units. Usually big, slow and extremely high priority, both to defend and to attack.

We decided to go ahead and get our boarding passes and see what the situation was after that.  My manager discovered that the security line at the next terminal was about 45 minutes shorter.  Fortunately I was stuck with a couple of the fun guys so we laughed & joked our way down the long lines and outside down the street to the next terminal.  One did the limbo under the nylon ropes used to keep people in orderly lines.  Security was in fact much shorter there.

We finally had to split up as we were headed to different gates.  Our flights were still showing on-time.  Lying bastards.  I did see planes in the air again which reassured me quite a bit.

Of course I needed to get food so I followed a flight crew member since I figured he'd know where the good places were. :)  For a little bit, people seemed nicer while we all shared a potential crisis.  However, as the mood got back to normal, so did attitudes.  People got cranky again as fear & bewilderment turned to anger -- a much more acceptable emotion for most.

I finally boarded my plane (after talking to Galahad a couple more times to give updates and share some love just in case).  He was very busy at work though so I didn't want to bug him too much.  Amazingly enough, we left the gate only about 10 minutes late.

It had been approximately 3 hours by now, and I had heard 3 theories of wtf may or may not have happened.  One, it was a glitch.  Haha, nice line.  Two, it was a security breach.  And three, it was a test.

About 5 minutes after we backed away from the gate, the pilot said, "this is your captain and uh ... what can I say ... this is a mess."  I had to respect his honesty.  He said we were in line behind a gajillion other planes and only one runway open.  I snuck on my cell phone and called Galahad to let him know I wouldn't be home any time soon.  About 20 minutes later, the pilot came on again and said no change, feel free to turn on your cell phones.

So, I called my brother and caught up with him until I noticed my battery was dying.  Plus my ear hurt at this point from the fucking earpiece.  He reassured me that AWACS are also used to search for inclement weather like tornadoes.  Perhaps this was simply Mother Nature getting cranky at the same time as a defective security machine.  I feel so cutoff from news sitting sealed in here.  I miss the TV & searchable Internet.  Time to settle in with my book and make the best of it.  I'll assume the lady praying next to me will cover the whole row so I don't need to concentrate on that.  :p