What I did on my Summer Vacation

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HAHAHAHAHA. It's funny 'cause it's true! Having somehow acquired the plague on my vacation (which later turned out to be an upper-respiratory infection), there weren't a lot of very physical activities to which I availed myself. I was perfectly content reading in pretty much every location at the resort. And the portability of my book collection is only aided by my recent acquisition of a Kindle. So it was not uncommon to find me nearby to various bodies of water with Kindle in hand and a far-away look in my eye, and a glass of orange juice someplace close.

My best guess is that if you're going to be miserably sick anywhere, it's best to do it someplace tropical where it's not impeding your work or anything. On the other hand, who wants to be sick on vacation?

Just my Luck

Well, not EVERY vacation can be a winner, right? I'm just the kind of person who waits 3 years to take a vacation, only to have it completely buggered by what has turned out to be an upper respiratory infection. What can I say, I'm badass like that.

Keep an eye on this space as my vacation adventures unfold.

Ameritastic!

On Nov. 4th, I wasSO ready to vote. And after the terrible, terrible disappointment of last time (I mean to say, I believe I threw a chair at someone when I found out Kerry had given up on the election), I was SO ready to have it go well. I have thought long and hard about all the regional measures on the ballot, though I'm only voting YES on one of them. I had also looked up the regional candidates and their stances, particularly on abortion, environmental proposals, and education. This was a great Election. I'm psyched for January!!

Mmmm, Winter!

I got off the plane (oh, it felt sooo good to get off the plane)and it was dark out and I could see my breath! I love cold weather! But I especially love cold weather at night. Everything is so crisp and quiet. It's so good to be back where there is real winter. I'm looking forward to spending thanksgiving with my family and I hope it snows while I'm here.

They could totally beat you up if they wanted to

I did in fact get a chance to try Kangaroo meat when I was in Australia, both the jerkied kind and steak. The truth of the matter is, kangaroo is just not nearly as tasty as beef. My theory is that they use so much of their bodies hopping, there's just not much fat on them.

But they ARE super cute. And they're so... hoppy! I noticed a lot of animals in Australia hop. It's sort of a theme for them. They get extra awesome points for it, I guess.

Prepping for Takeoff

Taken from June 2007 when I was preparing to go to Australia:

"Despite the fact that I've had a terribly stressful month, I can't seem to stop myself from doing things I oughtn't. Take the following example:


With my incredibly ridiculous bipolarism when it comes to cleanliness of a given room, I find that my house is now also in somewhat of bipolar state, wherein some rooms there is not a speck of dirt to be found, and some rooms (like the TV room) are covered in foodstuffs, dust, clothing and other assorted items. At times, I find it distressing, and then I realize I was kidding myself if I really thought that I would ever become something of a Mary Poppins. Man, it would be so cool to snap your fingers and have your clothes fly up into your arms, folded and ready to be put away.

In reality though, the past week, I've just been keeping myself as busy as possible. This has included: A total wipedown of the porch, following by a hosing of the porch and then a mopping of the porch; A rearranging of the pantry to accommodate another house's worth of food; Grocery shopping; Cleaning the kitchen; Sweeping up the basement whose previous state would have you believe that the floor was just bare dirt down there; Backwashing the fish pond, testing it for ammonia, pH level and salt, purchasing and adding bacteria to the pond; Putting away boxes and clothing; Putting away books which had traveled with me; And listening to more Top 40's music than could ever be considered healthy (side note: I'm intrigued by Puff Daddy/P.Diddy/Sean Puffy Combs/Puffy/Fluffy or whatever the hell he's calling himself now. The man says hardly a word in his own songs, has other singers back him up, and yet, he gets all the credit... if only I could adapt the same mechanism to my own uses)

Needless to say, I'm quite exhausted and find other rooms in a state of panicky mess. Where is Mary Poppins when you need her?"

Sweet sweet commercialism

Staying up to ungodly hours has all sorts of bizarre effects on my imagination. Flashback to January 1st, just a few days ago. Here in the US, television for the first day of the new year consists of talk show hosts, lots and lots of commercials for gyms and weight-loss products, and football. Football may in fact be my least favorite sport, the day in question being the game day for some inane college teams to face off in the hideously warm California weather. This is a tradition commonly referred to as the Rose Bowl and is accompanied by a parade with a panoply of floats all (apparently) composed of flowers and various plant parts.

And of course, marching bands from high schools across the nation. Forgetting football for the moment, we can focus on the fact that the majority of these floats have some sort of hydraulics and carry some bizarre mixture of reality tv celebrities and small children dying of various diseases. Ah commercialism. The Rose Bowl Parade may be the main source of income of U.S. flower growers, sellers, and distributers, since we're looking at floats about 40 feet long and created entirely from poppy petals or wheat grass strands.

Anyway, having stayed up way past midnight the night prior tends to leave one in a less than top mental condition to remember whatever happened just minutes before. Take this wonderful example!:



Yes, George Lucas was the Parade's Grand Marshall or whatever, and some genius had decided to organize a marching company of storm troopers headed by a Darth Vader Marching conductor. I see marketability! Children's toys! Delicious money forth-coming! That's about all I remember from the entire parade now, though. I'll let you draw your own conclusions

Uh... Thanks?

In this season of gifting and giving and presents and delicious candy, I can't help but feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of spending to be done. Thank goodness I don't live on my own. I'd waste a small fortune preparing for the holidays. As it was, I was stressed enough just trying to buy presents for my friends in the short space of time available. Ideally, I'd be looking ahead and see something in a store in May or September and say, "oh, that's something I should really get for so-and-so". Unfortunately, I lack that sort of foresight and often find myself scrambling in December to remember things I saw on sale in February or July. I also lack memory and money; these things being among the most important when finding gifts for other people. Did I get them this last year? Did I see this item at her house last week? Gah!

Skip back two years, and this was an issue not at all helped by the fact that the last day of finals at my school in my senior year was Dec. 22, with most students returning home on the 23rd. How could I do a whole year's worth of shopping within a 2 day period?

Luckily, although I lacked foresight, memory and money, I AM fortunately blessed with a great deal of creativity with which I am generally able to make up for the other issues. For instance, for my college boyfriend's mother, I bought a stark white apron and made an iron-on transfer with a picture of a bichon and the words, "I only cook for my dog... and occasionally for my other children." Which was well-received, thankfully.

And also luckily, although I lack funds, I am an incredibly savvy shopper, and managed to spend only about $140 on all the gifts I bought which includes my 3 best friends, boyfriend, boyfriend's parents, my own parents (all 4), step-brother, and close friends at school in addition to cards for all those who didn't get actual presents. I was so pleased by my abilities, I will now insert a mood icon here:


This is exactly how I felt.

But how do people deal with gifts that aren't quite what we expected? I try to accept them gracefully. If they're really wild and out there, I still accept them gracefully, but in my head I think about all the nefarious things I can do with the item. A set of decorative pens? I would string them together with ribbon and use it as a spiky lasso of death. Or put marshmallow Peep heads on the pointy ends and surround someone's house with them. Put the fear in 'em, I say!

But Paper? The most nefarious thing you can do with that, really is some really nasty papercuts.



Again, Happy Holidays, everyone!