some girls wander by mistake.

happiness is...sharing a love for count chocula with my friend's boyfriend.

supreme happiness is...cashing in on their love/obsession (the petitioning, the special order of cases of count chocula all over orlando at super-target locations, the daily maniacal driving across town to purchase a dozen boxes) by being brought two boxes of count chocula and a mini-disco-ball this morning at work.

i had far-too eventful of a [long] weekend, but i'm not really complaining. in clip:

*thursday was turkey-day. went to james' parents', then grandparents', then made a brief stop at coffeefortwo & co's abode. i didn't eat nearly as much as i usually do, yet i was stuffed.

*friday i was one of the few business-folk who had to work. but it was okay. work was busy, came home and painted the upstairs bathroom a boring-beige, then headed out with my sister & a friend to the bauhaus show. they were terrific! we missed the first song or two, but they were great--the lighting, also, was spectacular. noteworthy songs they played: hollow hills, she's in parties, slice of life, ziggy stardust/telegram sam [1st encore], and of course bella lagosi's dead [2nd encore]. daniel ash looks like ass; peter murphy looks incredible with facial hair [but, like the solo show: i still suspect he lip-syncs].


why, hello boys.

*saturday i made a big breakfast for james and i, and we were joined in the afternoon by the lovely pwowsemaster. she and i made our way towards st. petersburg, which took a good 2.5 hours, where we met up with [in person!] the notorious the_red_fez and his fabulous friend, sue. this meeting has been years in the making, so it was nice to finally make it happen. we had a drink, then went for thai food, then onto our final destination: the tegan and sara show. they were great live, totally stage-personas, and played some of my favorite [old] songs. pwowsemaster and i bonded during the drive, which was nice: i miss her very much.


tegan and sara, in all their cute-ness.

*sunday i began house-hunting, which was fun but also sobering. it's a really strange market in orlando--real estate is ridiculously expensive, and somehow the gap between downtown/desired places and everywhere else has narrowed considerably. this means i can either get something on the outskirts for a smidge cheaper [but definitely larger], or just go for the more desired/more expensive ones as an investment. i'm not sure what will happen. my mortgage broker has advised me to go ahead and start shoppin', even before my house has sold, so that i can get what i want instead of what's left. it's still really stressful, but i'm confident something will work out. i'll keep you all posted.

who sent me the amy brown thing?
it's pretty!

last night, when i took luna to the vet, her anal glands shot liquid all over the vet. it smelled terrible, and i felt really bad. the vet was a very eccentric guy, and he spent most of my visit talking to luna in unfinished sentences. when he gave her the shots, he was practically shouting, "LUNA I'M SORRY I'M SO SORRY I'M SORRY" and it made me really uncomfortable. after the traquilizer shot, luna was acting all drunk and i almost started balling: i can't stand seeing animals all doped up, it breaks my heart. the appointment took forever [i got home at almost 1am], but i was really glad i took care of her before going out of town. [but, i have a guilty conscience: i lied about the heartworm medicine. to the vet. he woudln't have understood, and i was getting tired/irritable. so, i will take care of this when i return. that, and get the girlies fixed, maybe all in one clean, money-sucking swoop.]

i can't believe i'm waiting until tonight--the day before!--to pack. not like me, at all, to wait for the "last minute." wishingforrain is cute and over-sugared today, and i love it. i can't wait to see her, and dan [i think it's been year/s?], sparkle_m0ti0n and all of wishingforrain's friends and family! maybe i should ask captain willy t to dance with me at the wedding, maybe to "brandy, you're a fine girl."

so yeah, we leave tomorrow morning. mareeuh is taking us to the airport in the morning on her way to work, and i think i'm going to be a wreck until i board the plane. contrary to most people, it's the airports that terrify me. once i'm on the airplane, i'm completely at ease.

i hope james has packed. i hope he will help me catch a jackalope while we're there.

i emailed my family a list of where i'll be when--flight info, hotel, phone numbers in case of emergency. when i spoke with my mom, to make sure she got it, she asked if josh [AKA slamboni, who i'm visiting in austin after i leave dallas] was "my old friend from blockbuster." i said, "no. there wasn't anyone there named josh." she chortled, then said something to my grandmother [who is apparently there, listening-in, and they have apparently discussed this]. my mom said again, "you know, j o s h," with strange inflection. who does she think j o s h is!? so i said no, again, that it is my friend pwowsemaster's boyfriend, who i've told her many times about. she chortled again, and said, "oh, well, we thought he was someone else. nevermind." what? my family is crazy. i changed the topic, and somehow it kept circling back to all these austin statistics, and then my mom said, "oh, i just really hope you like it there." she apparently thinks i'm moving there. with them. very soon. she is mistaken.

work was stressful all day, because i have all this stuff to finish before i go. as of about an hour ago, i didn't think i could finish. but finally i'm caught up, and i feel like a million bucks. but my knee-socks are cutting off my circulation, right below the knee, and i feel weird. and the cake for secretary's day gave me a belly ache.

wow! tomorrow i will be in a different state! yee-haw!

i will try to update while i'm away, but if i don't...i'll be back in one week.

game night at teamradvak's seems like a great tradition to start, even if i can't get through my turn without laughing-crying. last night we played balderdash--i'd never played before. i wish i had a better memory, so i could quote some of the "answers" that were given.

thanks to proppat and pwowsemaster for making me say bad words, mareeuh for making me think i was having a heart-attack, and teamradvak for the "good time."

i don't even know where to begin, but in summary:

*thanksgiving was nice. i played air hockey, drank strawberry wine, got lost & cried [not so nice but you take the good with the bad], ate until my sides hurt, sat at the "kids table," snuggled with my sister, watched elf.

*i slept probably 21 hours on friday. sick. i'm probably exaggerating, but i slept a lot. felt like ass, still feel like ass.

*read & edited colin's 117 page senior thesis, where he applies the principles of philosophy, and a liberalist vs. conservative agenda to the issue of gay marriage [in a nutshell]. really interesting stuff--the kid's done his homework, and it's a very well-crafted argument. he's totally got me inspired to get my act together, take my GRE, and go back to school.

*tried to see garden state at a ghost theatre, where there were no employees, and no patrons, other than 5 people watching motorcycle diaries. i got tired of waiting to pay, so i just went in and had a seat in the theatre where it was supposed to be playing. twenty minutes later it just started feeling horror-movie-creepy--where was everyone? why did the music sound like it was on an AM station? who turned the lights out in the time between when we arrived, and when we finally gave up & left? why was the door on the roof open? i may never have the answers to these questions.

today is the fall equinox. so it's official.

at 12:30 PM, september 22, 2004, i was riding kraken with pwowsemaster during our lunchbreak.

where were you for the autumnal equinox?

1. carpool buddy and new friend, mareeuh.

2. unlimited coaster-ridding during lunchbreaks with pwowsemaster. yesterday we went and braved the wild arctic and journey to atlantis and kraken! good fun.

3. hurricane-y impending doom means i get to see wishingforrain, unless frances misses FL entirely. since this is unlikely, i'm preparing for the worst, and looking forward to an unexpected TX vacation.

last night we ventured downtown, karaoke plans debunked, to icon for the big 80's reunion [the edge, visage, empire]. the music was incredible, but hardly anyone showed. i guess that's what happens in orlando when no one wants to risk doing something different from "the norm" [i-bar]. my sister showed up, and we hung out as long as we could--as long as i could without alcohol playing a part--then dropped sara down at bar-b-que bar, where she was meeting some friends.

we saw a lot of familiar faces there, and while sasha caught up with an old friend, i stood there realizing why i'm so introverted when it comes to old acquaintances. the truth is this: if i wanted to be friends with someone after all this time, we would've stayed in touch all along. i can't say there's hardly anyone i've "lost touch" with who i'm saddened to not have in my life. if i liked you then, i probably like you now, and still spend time with you. end of story.

another big factor is the high-school 'thang. other than missing out on the people i met in college, a big part of me wishes i would've gone out of city or state to go to university. i hated high school, absolutely hated it, so seeing people i went to school with 8 years ago does not fill me with nostalgia and the desire to "catch up." it makes me want to be a wallflower--to blend in, to be avoided. seems there are a good number of people in the area that do, in fact, remember me from high school, though i can't ever figure out how or why.

but i adored college. i met a lot of incredible people during that time, many of which i still am in contact with. yes, there's the occasional lost-contact [jerel comes to mind], but the bulk of people i met or knew in college i still see/communicate with on a fairly regular basis. still, i think if someone approached me saying we had a class together at college, i'd be far more receptive to them. it's just a more feasible thing to believe someone remembers me from a sci-fi writing workshop, or doing rocky horror, or whatever, than "didn't you go to my high school? ohmigod! how've you been?" to which i reply, "who the hell are you?"

so when it comes to being downtown, and bumping into so-and-so from my past, i'm often not very receptive. perhaps this is a fault. i just don't understand the phenomenon, i guess. or maybe i'm just anti-social. or rude. whatever.

hi.
i hope you're alive.

it's been a while, and i'm sorry for being such a slacker. i meant to write you right after you left [or did i write, afterall? now i can't remember], just saying how nice it was to see you again, and tell you how beautiful tyler was. i still can't believe you're a dad.

but since i can't remember, and am guessing i probably never did send you an email [and pictures...i wanted to send you pictures], i'm saying something now. a headline reminded me to do so. 12 killed today. you are the only reason i care about these things.

email me if you're reading this.