Huh. My little brother got a webcam. It was weird to see him, and then later my Mom on it. Technology is so neat sometimes…but still not neat enough to convince me that I need one. Finished two major projects this week. I am taking pictures so you can see later.
I had one of the best oatmeal cookies of my life this morning. It was a small cookie and I wish there were more, but if there were then I would probably end up eating them. Yesterday I had my tooth fixed and went home, made a mocha, cleaned, made dinner, watched Joe Millionaire …. er…is this show getting more ridiculous by the second? Ridiculous as in funny, of course…because the whole disney animal montage was great…and the butler! Holy shit. He took the “I choose you” puzzle! And the fake sadness the smokers had for Mojo when she didn’t get the necklace. Huh. I was SURE Zora was going to get booted.
Then I spent the rest of the night writing. I wrote my Mom and Sigrid a letter. Made Tim vacuum the living room. Got an email from Mari, who said “Superb” in reaction to my news of visiting her next month and suggested places to eat on Friday, February 28th. I got an letter from one the Hollywood penpal who had first described herself as a “goth chick”. Admittedly, I took the bait…so far she doesn’t seem to bad. I commented to Tim on counting her total goth points in the course of the letter. Pure goth points (one point awarded for each thing goth):
1. Decorated envelope with hand drawings of characters from JTHM
2. Use of the word “spooky” to describe one of them
3. Use of the word “goth” TWICE on the outside envelope alone
4. Use of phrase “woe is me” (but in different context than this)
5. Belle and Sebastian are the names of her cats
6. Donnie Darko mention in favorite movie list
7. Depressed Mode (aka depeche mode)
Total = 7 points.
=^-^=
But aside from that…she seems cool. Really lively, and descriptive, I think it will be a great penpal. I am excited. I also got a birthday card from Kersten. It was JUST a card….with her name signed on it. That was a first. Even the Ho-Chunk Nation said “Laura…blah blah birthday filler….HoChunk Nation” But it was a nice thought. I am kind of sad that Phillip Morris forgot it was my birthday this year. He must have known I was going to quit and therefore sending me loot was no good.
I changed Excerpts, and encourage anyone who wants to participate with me to do so. As of today, I have not even started on my own topic so there isn’t an unfair advantage.
So far no smoking this weekend, it will be easier when work starts I hope…other things to distract ourselves with? Plus Tim promised to come tomorrow and write words to accompany the House on the Rock photos. And I also finished the Tea Cozy! It’s cute as a dicken’s.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Last night Eric and Kate took Tim and I out to Merle’s for a nice birthday dinner. I had steak. It was GOOD. Then we went home and I watched the Surreal life (and man is that some surreal stuff). Other than the dinner it was pretty uneventful. 
Today I bought donuts, bagels and muffins into work because not only is it my birthday, but it is Cathy’s as well (a coworker of mine). Of course everyone forgot, and the Andrew the Temp who gives me an Tim rides in the morning, wanted to pay for it or to call Katie and see if she planned anything…but I told him no. Don’t do that. That will make them feel bad. Besides, I wanted a donut. For thirteen bucks I got Coffee and lots of food, for a nice little spread.
It’s really quiet to day. Katie is gone to visit her sick grandmother. Andrew is rewriting this play to make into his opera. Jessica is doing hell knows what. Rita is making schedules and chatting in greek, and I have just finished reading all of my morning journals and am now making my own entry. Rather unproductive morning, but also nice and quiet.
Last night I got a ride home with Andrew and was in the door by 5.30. It was nice. I wasn’t feeling well, so I smoked a smoke (only two more days left) and went to lay down. Rest would not come to me because Migo wandered around the apartment yowling. Tim yelled at her once to be quiet, which she was for a mere two minutes and then continued her lonely wail. Finally I got up and took her to the potty. She went and I went back to bed only to be harassed by more howling. Tim of course, is oblivious to all of this as his headphones only allow the sound of little digital robots blowing up other digital robots with the occasional techno..okay I can’t even tell you what kind of noise it is making because I haven’t heard it it in so long. But I ASSUME it is making footsteps and gun noises and blowing up stuff noise). I catch Migo and put a neck gaiter around her. I figure it is soft and won’t hurt her, but would keep her occupied. She squirts out of it moments later. Then I put a red ribbon around her, with some fake hair remnants tied pinned to the ribbon. That kept her busy for a few minutes and looked even more promising when Arkharm started to follow her around and pounce. Finally, someone would play with her. I went back to bed, but sleep would not come. I was afraid I would be too tired to watch Buffy, which I missed last week because I was watching a movie…the Wonder Boys. (Very inspirational movie). The Migo plan only lasted like 10 minutes because she started up again and Tim took off the ribbon (it would have worked it’s way free eventually). Anybody want a cat that want’s to be actively played with every waking moment of the day?
At the end of Buffy Tim surprised me with a delicious dinner of pork chops, couscous and mixed vegetables. I got up and joined him at the table with a glass of wine. It was nice. Afterward I was still pretty tired and unmotivated and retired to bed to read more Crytonomicon. I just feel like I haven’t had much time for reading lately with all my other projects. I also got a letter from Virginia in Texas. She’s 33, into information and library science originally from New York for her entire life except the last seven months and hates it there, I have quite an interesting perspective on Texas now. …
Last night I went to a suprise birthday party for Mischa [note to self, need a solo picture of Mischa]. He was suprised. I had a headache before we left and on the train I got motion sick. I figured I hadn’t eated and that was why I felt crappy. Then half way through the party I just didn’t feel good any more and so I wanted to go home. Home we went and to sleep I slept. Tim said I was getting sick. I said that was impossible because on Saturday it will be three years since I have last been sick with a virus or bacteria. Today…. I feel fine. It was probably just the heat and motion sick that made me feel crappy. YaH!
However, I think I *am* going to be sick on Friday. 8^\
Tired.
Did I mention I got a letter from one of the ‘new!’ pen pals? Yes, indeed. Her name is Kim and she is from Washington. She writes “Let’s see: TV. We watch: Stargate SG1, Farscape, Buffy, Angel, Trading Spaces, Changing Rooms and Junkyward Wars.” Um. Has anyone noticed the key word here? She said Farscape. I can’t believe. Of course as many of you know, I was obsessed with Farscape to the point of really wanting to go to a convention. But I have quit putting it in introductory letters and descriptions about myself because no one knows what the hell I am talking about. This is SO cool. I brought the letter to reply to this week. I also have to write Gale, Sigrid, Laura and Erin. Maybe I will just send the latter two cards with short letters, to get the ball rolling again. [Note to self: Get solo pic of Sigrid, scan Gale and upload]
This weekend we had a marathon watching Babylon Five. Mike and Rachel , and her strange cousin Julian, called on Saturday night to do something. Since were obviously doing nothing we went, especially since they were kind enough to give us a ride. We went to this bowling place but upon walking it I was thrown back to high school. Worse yet, I was flashed back into one of those lame roller rink turned teen dance club places in northern Wisconsin (ie, river falls, rice lake, etc). The music was even the same. I was pretty much enthralled and was nudged by Tim to leave. The waiting list was something like two hours. What do you do when you are rejected from bowling? Friends, the answer is simple. You visit a bar.
Hidee hiddee hiddee ho. Off to a Irish pub we go. We ended up staying there the whole night drinking and eventually playing darts where yours truly, kicked ass. After we were almost booted out we went to Clarks and ate some food. Tim was falling asleep and getting bitchy so it was a good thing we got home at the awfully late hour of 2:00 and went to sleep. Tim is such a peanut.
Sunday, seriously…I knitted and watched Babylon Five. Then I encouraged Tim to set up a table so he could paint miniatures while watching B5 with me. Once we did that, we were pretty much set for the rest of the day, with a brief break to make pretzels. Went to bed at 10:00….so that doesn’t explain why I was so tired this morning. I honestly felt dizzy and fall over tired. Duty calls though. No, not any kind of cool duty like being a commander of …oh say….Babylon Five, or even being second in command, or even head of security. No, I must be program coordinator for a bunch of whiny professors and their spoiled students, post docs, work shitties and lab techs. Although I generally sympathize with the lab techs. They are working joes like you and I.
Love, is a burning thing
Tim came home last night. I was happy to see him. He’s so cute. =^-^=
Knitted more last night. Got a letter from Sigrid! Work is tons better. I have the little moccasin souvenirs that Tim brought back from the Indian Art Museum in Canada on my desk. They are awfully cute.
Yesterday was anxious. There is this stupid situation going on in one of the building…no both of the buildings..but, it is causing me undo concern. What happened in there are like 150 people working on two floors in various labs. You cannot eat in the lab, and there isn’t enough common space for the folks to go too. So what has happened over the past years is people started constructing little “coffee bars” outside in the hallway. Complete with tables, chairs, benches, coffee makers, espresso machines, fish tanks, refrigerators, microwaves, etc. Most of the appliance are plugged into an extension cord and run UNDER the door into a lab. Does anyone want to tell me why the fire marshal thinks this is a problem? So, the fire marshal has asked them before to please clean up their space, and not be so over the frigging top. They ignored it…three times, until the fire chief says “Fuck it, clear it all!” (Expletive may or may not have been used).
Now is my problem to get those hallways clear in the face absolute opposition from everyone there. In other words…they do not find this “suggestion” agreeable. Um…is not your choice to find it agreeable or not folks. If there is a fire, then you are all going to burn.
But, that isn’t how it works. So today, I wrote a list of recommendations for a ‘good faith’ effort….and made sure to not that I do not guarantee anything…aka it is not my fault if you don’t clear the hallways and are fined. It is a terrible compromise for me…but maybe it will clean it up and look more presentable and discreet until the new building opens up to offer some relief. This is why I am getting that whole extra dollar an hour while my supervisor is on maternity leave. This is the “great responsibility.” Uff. I take responsibility for everyone else in this office and answering questions, but I hate politics. Hate it.
Tim comes back today! Yah!!! Last night he told me that he was now having a good trip because the people at the Ottawa Indian Museum were so nice. They gave him neat hand crafted souvenirs for his company, and a beaded pouch type thing that hold the umbilical cord. (No, a U cord does not come with it, thankfully). I am excited to see that, and more importantly excited to see my darling.
Last night I started on the tea cozy I am knitting Eric and Kate (because I was re taught how to cast off yesterday) while watching Beyond Belief and Angel. The zombies were cool, although I am little sorry that Galen died. 8( Then I moved on to work on beadwork for the moccasin’s I am making for the Geisler’s son. Then I finished a letter, wrote an email to my dad, listened to some Ho-Chunk, read a great email from Melissa, and packed it up and went to bed by 11.00. Good for me.
