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.