Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Vienna ~ Billy Joel

Thanks to BF for this one. For obvious reasons, it pretty much sums it up.

Slow down, you crazy child
you're so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you're so smart, tell me
Why are you still so afraid?

Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?
You'd better cool it off before you burn it out
You've got so much to do and
Only so many hours in a day

But you know that when the truth is told..
That you can get what you want or you get old
You're gonna kick off before you even
Get halfway through
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

Slow down, you're doing fine
You can't be everything you want to be
Before your time
Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight
Tonight,...
Too bad but it's the life you lead
you're so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need
Though you can see when you're wrong, you know
You can't always see when you're right. you're right

You've got your passion, you've got your pride
but don't you know that only fools are satisfied?
Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

Slow down, you crazy child
and take the phone off the hook and disappear for awhile
it's all right, you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize,..Vienna waits for you?
And you know that when the truth is told
that you can get what you want or you can just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get half through
Why don't you realize,. Vienna waits for you
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?
Let It Be ~ The Beatles

Been listening to this a lot today...not sure why but it's really really resonating...


When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be
For though they may be parted
There is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Yeah there will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

Let it be, let it be
Ah let it be, yeah let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
And when the night is cloudy
There is still a light that shines on me
Shine on until tomorrow, let it be
I wake up to the sound of music,
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Yeah let it be, let it be
Let it be, yeah let it be
Oh there will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, yeah let it be
Oh there will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Ah let it be, yeah let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Cheetos (TM) and Assorted Tales of Scalded Toes

The nap never materialized. Neither did the going to bed early. Not suprising. Been in a super mellow mood, it's nice. Enjoyable, spent some time putting together a mellow mix cd. I went from having too few to being WAY over the limit in no time flat. Thanks to the PianoMan for providing lots of song suggestions. And for providing the impetus for the later drive to Store 24.

Heh. So after finally putting together the cd the way I wanted to, I ended up driving down to Store 24 to get a copy of Glamour so that I could read it while soaking in a Strawberries and Champagne scented bath. Keeping in mind I'd first scrubbed the whole bathroom clean. And that it was about 10:45pm at this point. PianoMan and his roommate are up working on a project, so I offered to pick up junk food of some sort. I am a firm believer in snacking while studying. Well, I wasn't but I seem to do it anyway, so you know...

End up in getting the magazine and feeling guilty about reading a women's magazine...so I got a copy of scientific american while I was at it. It's professional development. Really.

I'm pathetic. Whatever. I have accepted this. Wait til I regale you with tales of my OCD-traits.

So, after confusing the heck out of people in front of PianoMan's residence hall I was on my way. Filled up the tub with my customary hot water and the bubbley stuff and slipped in with my mix cd playing and a copy of glamour. To make a long and involved story short, I managed to scald my toes, and almost sweated myself to death.

It was bliss.

I look like a lobster and probably have 3rd degree burns...but I forcibly relaxed every muscle in my body. :-) It was needed.

But I should go to bed at some point...let me know if you want the playlist for the CD - it's pretty cool.

Sleep well people.
So much to say so little time

Too tired to really type. Not that this has stopped me before, nonetheless...I'm going to take a nap. On the chance that I sleep through the night, we'll call it going to bed.

Posting this cause I love the picture. Cute!
Your a dog.
You are the Dog. Brave and Strong


What Pet are you like?
brought to you by Quizilla

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Nothing of Real Consequence

I am very very sleepy and really have nothing hugely earth shattering to write, nonetheless I will. Middle of a huge snowstorm here, not suprising, I go away get almost 80 degree weather for a week and then come back here to snow.

*sighs*

Oh well. It was nice while it lasted. Spent some quality time with ebay yesterday, which was cool in and of itself. Fun times those. Just chilling, watching "Bend It Like Beckham" (good movie if you haven't seen it) and the usual inane chatter that comes along between 2 old friends who've seen the worst sides of each other and are still speaking.

Long hiatuses nonwithstanding.

Note, if you haven't, you should read "The Footprints of God" by Greg Iles. This is presupposing you haven't read "The DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown in which case you should read that as well. And if you're a Sherlock Holmes fan, Laurie R. King's Mary Russell (Holmes) books are not to be missed.

More details on any or all of these to follow, though I suspect "The Footprints of God" will require another reading before I'm ready to post a real review of it.

ttfn!

Thursday, March 11, 2004

Creepy Men and the Best. Freaking. Ice Cream. Sundae. EVER.

Ahhh...the lovely state when jet lag is working to your advantage...namely the point where I'm going to bed whenever I want to...and still waking up early. Beautiful.

Long day yesterday turned out to be - but productive at that. Got up with brother, and ended up puttering around, showering and just sorta hanging. By 10am I'd had enough of that and wandered over to catch the muni so that I could go to Amoeba music on Haight street - I wanted to pick up on of Rufus Wainwright's older cds. Not being entirely sure where the stop was, I wandered around in the stationary store across the street for a bit, saw something that I ended up going back later to purchase, and then caught the muni over to Haight. Well, more specifically I took it over to Cole and Carl and then walked to Haight. I'm still marveling at this whole public transportation thing - I really like it and it's a damn shame we don't have something similar back home. I was just chilling enjoying the walk in the sun, although I felt like a damn idiot walking around with the map in my hand. I really didn't need it as much as I was afraid I would - but I still needed it some, just to double check and get my bearings.

I wandered around Amoeba for a good long while before finally heading back - at which point I went right back to the comicbook shop and picked up Stardust. I couldn't resist. Really. It would be unfair to expect me too! Besides, I've been trying to find that edition for awhile, and now I finally have it. Yay! Actually talked to the owner a bit too, as he remembered me from the day before. Also stopped in the stationary store to pick something up, and walked down to Plutos - a sandwich/salad type place - to see what the menu was like. Turns out it was pretty good, so I figured I'd go back there later, it was lunch time but I wasn't fully hungry yet. As I'm walking back down the street, this creepy old guy sitting at one of the cafes outside asks me to sit down. I said no thanks and kept walking, cause you know, Danger Will Robinson! Well, he keeps insisting and then saying in this cackley tone "Scared, aren't you??" Ok...at this point I speed up, started walking with definite purpose and glanced over my shoulder to make sure the guy wasn't following me or something. It's a busy street with plenty of places for me to walk into if I was really threatened, so I wasn't worried, just a bit nervous. Not fun let me tell you.

Brother eventually comes home and we decide to go off to Fisherman's Wharf. It's a tourist place, but still it's kinda fun. Stopped at Plutos so that I could get a salad, and we were off. Fisherman's wharf was fun - got to eat clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, got to laugh at the sea lions who are just hilarious. And who, I think, have the right idea. Lounging in the sun, sleeping and sunning themselves. Smart animals. And if they get to warm, off into the water they go! :)

Instead of heading straight back we wandered off to Ghirardelli Square. Yes. The chocolate place. Oh man...what an experience that was. It was a walk, but well worth it. I did pass an In-and-Out-Burger. So Ebay, I now know where at least one is in SF. However, I still didn't eat there because acording to the sib, their fries suck. I don't love hamburgers but bad fries equals no buisness from me. Besides, I had my mind totally focused on the ice cream.

We get there and I was in chocolate heaven. In addition to the chocolate shop, Ghirardelli's has an ice cream place. Sib told me he'd give me $30 if I ordered the EarthQuake. The EarthQuake is a $20 sundae with 8 different ice creams, 8 different toppings, bananas and all sorts of other things. It was, in a word, deadly. So we ended up ordering the World Famous Hot Fudge Sundae instead. Seems simple but by all that is holy it was delicious. The hot fudge was amazing, the ice cream decadent. And then we wandered up to the chocolate shop, another place where I had to keep control of the credit card. They gave each of us a piece of caramel filled chocolate while we were nosing around. I think the only reason I didn't buy anything was the simple fact that I was so stuffed that very thought of eating was enough to make me nauseous. So off we went making our way back home. After all the walking and the sugar rush...well let's just say I was down and out for the rest of the night. Woke up this morning feelin' good though!

Soon, I'm back home. I'm gonna miss it here, the sense of utter calm and relaxation. And I think I saw in myself for the first time ever, someone who would be happy and content in a city. At least for a little while. We'll see. I guess it's really just a matter of habit.

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Used Bookshops, Comicbook Stores and the Resurgence of Wheepquog

What a wonderful day yesterday was (Tuesday). Really it just rocked. I got up around the same time my brother did, waited for him and is roommates to get ready and leave, and then hopped into the shower. After a nice relaxing shower and chatting on line with some friends, I decided to go out and explore the used bookshop around the corner from his place. GOOD IDEA!

I spent a very very long time in that bookshop, man I just kept roaming up and down the aisles pulling random things to read. And then I found out there was an entire sci-fi and mystery section upstairs that I hadn't noticed...yay! I ended up picking up one of Laurie R. King's Mary Russell Holmes books, which I incidentally reccommend to anyone who hasn't read them yet. Ask me about them, and I'll give more details. Anyway...

There's something about a used bookstore that is unique. And it's not something that I can easily describe. It's like they say - if you gotta ask, man you ain't ever gonna know. It's a feeling that is so unique, and perhaps I'm romanticizing it a bit. God knows I can't get enough of books in any sense, bookstore, used, or library. Nevertheless, it was indeed an excellent experience. Also it was just nice that it was so close that i just had to walk around a corner to get there. I'm not a city girl, I am definately the suburban mouse in this family, but I think maybe I had a glimpse of my being able to adapt to a more citified environment.

Happy with my purchase I headed back to the brother's apartment, only to get sidetracked by a comicbook shop next door. This was trouble with a capital T. I went in, just browsing when I hit upon Neil Gaiman mecca. They had a copy of Angels and Visitations which I very nearly bought. And the illustrated Stardust which I had been looking for. And the comic version of Murder Mysteries which is one of my favorite short stories of all time. I began reverently picking up items and looking at them. I am not a religious person, but I do worship books. And I was in mecca there. It took all my self control not to whip out the credit card and point to the whole shelf and say "I'll take that"

I did finally make it back to the apartment, and had a nice nap and had a superb evening. Brother and I cooked dinner - and it was fantastic. We had to go to the market around the corner to get some veggies and stuff - fresh farm stuff within a 30second walk! Came back realized we were out of garlic, so I laced up the sneakers and off I was again to get garlic. Hee. It was fun. Beautiful night out weather wise as well. Brother's SO came over and we had good conversation and a great game of Scrabble(TM). Which has it's own funny story attached to it, but we'll leave that for another time. Today is barely begun and I am off for more fun!
7th March 2004: 5:15 am: And the Journey Begins


A few things of note...I-91 and I-84 are really empty at 4:45 in the morning...who'd have thunk it? Bradley Airport is really looking nice these days. First of all the parking garage is pretty sweet. Leads right into the terminal, it was a nice change from the outdoor parking of yore.

Delta is located in the new terminal here - and a new terminal it is indeed. Wow! It looks nice, the self-check-in was sweet. Really a super experience.

My bag had to be searched at hte security check point. My purse and jacket came through X-ray no problem. So, for that matter, did I. My rollerboard, on the other hand... Yeah, not so much really. It was the last thinkg to go through, so after I had collected my purse and coat, I was waiting for hte roller to come through. It's funny because I was 1/2 thinking "It's going to be searched" and 1/2 thinking about the fact that the woman who was checking the screen and hte man who was helping load the conveyer belt were quite talkative/chatty with each other. Maybe they weren't paying as close attention as they would have otherwise.

Sidebar - I'm sitting at the gate waiting for thm to start boarding and just saw a woman and her little girl walk by. The little girl is probably in like 2nd or 3rd grage and DEFINATELY has a femma-mullet. Who does that to their child?! Dear heavens, please! That is so very wrong! Okay, back to the story...

So then, in the instant karma section of my life, X--ray Screen Lady (XRSL) looks attentatively at the screen and...oops, they're about to call my "zone".

Okay, and on hte airplane in my seat, back to the story.

So XRSL looks at the screen and calls over the gentleman who will hereafter be called "Powder Blue Gloved Man" or PBGM (Chris Carter eat your heart out) and points at the screen asking him a question. I couldn't quite hear what they were saying, not that I was trying to. They were just giving off the "there's something here that's a wee bit suspicious" vibe. Plus it was only 5am and I'd be up since 3:30am and to be honest I couldn't care less. Anyway. PBGM brings my bag and says, very politely, that it needs to be checked, is there anything sharp in there. Not that I know of, replied I, thinking as furiously as I could given that ~ 75% of my brain was either asleep or functioning so slowly such as to not make a difference. Thus commenced the searching - it's fun when powder blue gloves are searching through things icluding my underwear and pads.

PBGM was super nice though - and kept apologizing in the "I'm sorry I'm digging through your underwear or if I'm embarassing you sense." Not finding anything in the outer pockets, or immediately available (there was a false alarm with some chapstick in a grey tube), we moved onto unpacking. Herein lies another comedic moment by the fact that PBGM couldn't undo the inner buckle. He laughed after a few tries, and let me do it, apparently in violation of code.

First up? Toiletries kit! I idly wondered if my razor would cause problems (it didn't). turns out my (metal) hariclip was dense and triggered some sort of alarm. ie they couldn't see through it. Super nice PBGM veyr carefully packed everything back, even going back after realizing he'd left the toothpaste and toothbrush out.

Interjection - that safety video is a bit annoying. Even more so in Spanish. I'm just saying.

PBGM apologized again for taking up my time, wished me a good day and sent me on my way. Whoo.

Oh, Captain just said we're number 2 for take-off. I really hate take-off in planes. Not sure why, it just bothers me. This flight is, at hte moment, nearly empty. It'll probably fill up in Cincinatti, which bites only because I'd rather have more room on the longer flight to SF. Currently, though, there are whole rows that are empty. Whole row to myself, yay!

I'm looking down now, god it's beautiful from up here. Really lovely. Looks deadish like winter though, the view in spring/summer is breath-taking.

That's it for now. Naptime, here I come!

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Spring Jackets and Nice Weather

Boring title, but anyone expecting coherency today can just turn their little selves around, hit the "back" button on the browser and don't let the url hit ya on the way out, ok?

Sweet.

Weather this week is beautiful, makes me hope that we might actually get a nice long spring this year. Course I'm a NE girl at heart, so I never EVER trust the weather. Not really. There will be more snow, folks, and you heard it here first. I promise it, I really really do!

I have a lot of work to do, but I feel like before I can even look at it I need to clean my room. I'm told I have a desk in here somewhere, it would be sorta exciting to be able to, I dunno, see it again.

I really can't wait until things turn green again. There is something about the spring that just makes everything seem ok. Plus I definately get more motivated in the spring anyway.

I'm way too ADD right now to be writing this...I can't seem to keep my body still let alone a thought in my head. Almost lunch time, yay. Maybe I'll be better after lunch?

Out for now...