More about me! Thought I'd list some favorite bands/artists. Some are bands I listened to in jr. high and highschool, some Ilisten to now. I'm sure I'll add to this list as I come up with other names. In no particular oder except for the first two:

Tesla (#1 favorite band of all time, been that way since I was 13)
Tool (#2 favorite band of all time. Thankyou Firefuck, for telling me to listen to these guys)
Better Than Ezra
Faster Pussycat
Led Zepplin (of course)
Faith No More
Aerosmith
Guano Apes
Megadeath (old)
Metallica (old)
Soundgarden
Pearl Jam
Queen
Tori Amos
Sarah McLauchlan (up til she started playing the dyke crowd thing)
Poison
Warrant
A Perfect Circle
Skid Row
The Posies
The Doors (of course)
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Guns N' Roses
Extreme
Drain STH
David Garza (Dah-Veed)
Rush
Bar 7
Henry Rollins (spoken word stuff)
Bill Hicks (another dead hero)
George Carlin
Beastie Boys
Jane's Addiction
Depeche Mode
NIN
Throwing Muses
Judas Priest
Stereomud
Ministry
Erasure
The Cranberries
They Might Be Giants
Motley Crue
Deconstruction
Toad The Wet Sprocket
Type O Negative
Ultraspank
Queensryche
Madonna (old)
Iron Maiden
Savatage
Earshot
New Order
Garbage
Miles Davis
The Crystal Method
Massive Attack
Red Snapper
Rjd2
Zwan
The Dark Romantics
Bonobo
Amon Tobin / Cujo
Boards of Canada
Sleater-Kinney
Metric
Queens of the Stone Age
Xploding Plastix

...more to come!

I was borne on December 8, 1975 in Indianapolis, Indiana. My mom is Kim, my dad is Brian. I have a sister, Nell, whois 25.

I did the normal regiment of elementary school, jr.high, high school, then college. I graduated from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana in June of 2000 with a degree in general studies. I took 4 solid years of educational classes, but never got the certificate because I knew i was moving to a state where I'd just have to redo the whole thing again.

Life was pretty normal *until* I went to college. Then I discovered the internet, my mom went pscyho, and I learned that there was more to life than getting married and having kids. So, I dove into being a computer junkie and broke up with my fiance, Kit. The next 3 years pretty much sucked ass. I won't go into details because it really doesn't matter much anymore. I hooked up with Brent in May of 1996. In October of 1999, I decided that I was in a rut and needed a radical change. "We're moving to California. This place sucks anymore." And that's just what we did. Brent got a job in Santa Rosa (an hour north of San Francisco) and the rest is history. Now, I know this is supposed to sound sad, but, "mom and dad's divorce if final! yay!!!!". One or both of them gave up and it was time to move on. About *damn* time, if I may say so myself. Mom's started a body shop business and car lot with Dale, her S.O. and dad is engaged to a lady near Cincinatti, Ohio. My sister is in grad school in Switzerland where she's majoring in econ and minoring in polysci and international law.

As for me? In January of 2004, my bf Brent and I ended our relationship/living situation, so I moved into a room of a house with a really nice lady...or so I thought! I brought my cat Squeeek along too. Then really nice lady turned into a very difficult person with lots of problems that I just didn't want to deal with. So, Squeeek and I got our own place and are pretty happy on our own. Lurk, my princess, went on to bigger and better things in May, so now it's just z0rg left with Brent, whom he lived with until September of 2005, and now he lives with his mommy again!

In December of 2004, Gracila came into my life. She's a bit skittish, but she'll adjust eventually. Damn crazy psycho cat! However, Peet the dog next door thought she was mighty tasty, and we ended up having to put her down. In April of 2005, I lost my job and my car was robbed in the same day, and that was pretty much the final straw in a long line of events that happened. I got a new job and moved out of Santa Rosa and moved to Concord. I work in Walnut Creek. In July of 2006, Josh and I got an apartment together in Oakland. I still have Squeeek and z0rg. I got a job working for a commercial mortgage place in Walnut Creek, and the job is awsome.

So, I suppose I cannot complain too much. I live somewhere where I can be myself, there's always a show to go to even if you have to drive a bit, and it's not the midwest! Altho I don't mind going back to visit now, I don't think I could ever live there again. Not that California doesn't have it's ups and downs, but it's a whole lot better than living in Indiana.

These fucking *awful* covers of 70s and 80s songs...they're just *terrible*! As if the originals weren't enough, these whiners come and just ruin these songs even more. We all know that it takes a lot to cover an original well and that most people do it poorly, but this is pathetic. If you want me to be impressed that you botched the cover even worse than the original, then you've got my vote!

I can handle about half of indie rock pop stuff, but good *god* there's a lot of bad stuff out there. Of course, this is true with *any* genre, but the indie stuff tends to grate on my nerves more.

Damn, two good weekends in a row! w00p!

Friday night, my friend Ivan was nice enough to let a girl with very little time lately do laundry for free (well, it cost me a bottle of scotch, but I drank 1/4 of it :P) while drinking, smoking, and watching tv...with cute company no less! After watching 'The Science of Sleep', Jack Samurai, Empire Strikes back, and an entire disk of Invader Zim, I looked at the clock drunkenly and went, "Holy shit, it's 4:30am?!?!" I gotta go to sleep!". There was someone sleeping in my livingroom that night, so there was no point in going home that late/early, so I crashed there. Going to sleep late means getting up late...and then I couldn't bring myself to do anything but nothing :P Finally around 7, I got dressed long enough to go stuff myself with chinese food and go home. And then I slept for 12 hours :P

I woke up around noon today to a new couch in my living room (so now I have two. I haven't decided what to do with the other one yet), had my coffee, spent some time with Josh, and then went to Cato's for pizza and beer. We came home, talked to our neighbor for a few, then I played some GH while Josh has been figuring out how to mount a much-needed ceiling fan for the living room.

Tomorrow should be mellow. Sometime between tomorrow and Tuesday evening, I need to pack and buy food for Field Day. I think Tuesday at lunch will bring a trip to Trader Joe's. Wednesday is the Rush concert. And then Schreck is picking me up on Thursday morning, we're going shopping for food for BLTs, and then it's our goal to be on the road by 1p. We'll get there around 5, set up, and then we'll be able to relax.

Anyway, it looks to be a busy week...at least until Thursday evening. Good thing I had a mellow weekend!

So, a long time ago when dinosaurs roamed the internet in 1994-5, I aquired a group of very close friends, a couple of which I still talk to all these years later. My friend KP (who ironically is now a lawyer) is going to be in L.A. for a week, watching his sister's kids. I'm gonna go down for a couple of days and hang out with him. He and I have always had a semi-abusive (verbally) relationship. He kept telling me I'd chickenshit out, and I kept telling him to shove it up his ass :P. So, this morning I got my plane ticket.

He should be scared now :P

1. What is your work ethic hours-wise? Do you think you should be able to put in your 40 hours and go home, or is working 60 hours a week okay to you? Why/why not?
I don't care what the world demands or what people deem as 'normal' these days, I only want to work 40 hours a week. Sure, sometimes it requires a little more effort and a few more hours, but on a general day-to-day basis, I want to put in my time and go home to my life. I pay a monetary price for this, but my time is very important to me, and it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I have learned that life is just too damned short to work all of the time.

2. Do you believe that work is life or vice versa? Why/why not?
Absolutely not. Work is somewhere I go 8-10 hours a day to stay out of trouble until I can go home and get *into* trouble. I love my job. I have zero complaints about it. But it is not my life. My life is what happens when I am not at my job.

3. Do you plan to stay in your current line of work forever? Why/why not?
I don't know. I still want to teach when I grow up, but I like what I'm doing right now. I figure when it's time for me to change gears, life will let me know. It has a habit of doing that!

On accident, I created a *huge* shit storm yesterday on one of my email lists. I replied to the list in a case in which someone decided to take the world personally, instead of replying to that person's personal email. I thought it was a list email, not a personal one. This lead to a handful of people being ubber super pissed at me. Then this lead to a major fight between a married couple friends of mine. It ended up with me apologizing and one of the people in the couple sleeping in my livingroom :P. Yeah, I royally fucked things yesterday. *takes a bow and hangs head in shame*

Because things were *so* much the suck yesterday, I was trying to get out of going to my Planners meeting, but ended up not being able to find a place to hide out, so I went anyway. The meeting happened and went mostly without a hitch. There was one semi-argument where someone was being treated unfairly, but it ended up working out in the end. And there was one person in particular who worked their hardest to put me in a better mood by the end of the night, which they succeeded in doing, and I owe them many thanks for doing so :). Everyone left the meeting around 10, there was some hot water action taken, and then I went home around midnight in a 95% turnaround mood from when I arrived at 7p. Yay for good friends!

I got home last night and briefly shot the shit with my houseguest, then went to bed. Josh gently woke me up this morning, telling me I had forgotten to set the alarm. Oops :P. But, it was only 8:20a when he discovered this, so he wasn't late, and I was only 15 mins late. No biggie. With the added distraction of someone else in my house, I just forgot to set the alarm. The thing that is strange tho is a: I slept *very* soundly. I hardly ever sleep that soundly. And b: I slept thru our guest waking up and taking a shower, which is odd because I'm usually a light sleeper. But, I got 8 hours of sleep, and it was good.

My sick kid here at work's meds are starting to work finally, but he still feels a bit under the weather, so I'm trying to make things not so bad today. I sent him home yesterday at lunch time, and may try and send him home again today. To get back to normal, you gotta not push yourself and just get better!

Tonight, I'm going to Schreck's where it's movie night! He'll be putting together the rest of the boards for the mushroom lights (it involves putting wires into small holes and soldering, which with my eyes, doesn't work very well for me), and I will be working on a baby blanket. I'm half done with the first one. Tomorrow is movie night with I, which will be a nice time. I owe him a bottle of scotch for letting me do laundry over there :P

Hehe...I had fun yesterday afternoon :)

I left work at 3:30p and was home and playing by 4:15p. I had beaten the medium level by 7:30p. Yes yes, I'm a dork...but it was fucking fun! Altho, medium is really chord driven and kinda easy, so I may have to get proficient on hard. There are 6 levels. By the 5th, I just wanted to get done so I could play 'Play With Me' :P. And I did! Twice!

And then I got into *another* argument with Josh over fsking laundry. He started Monday's argument. I started yesterday's because I was subconsciously still pissed about Monday. Oops. I have to go to a Planners meeting that I don't want to attend tonight. Getting this event going has been stress, a pain in the ass, and there have been many hurt feelings along the way. Even tho I'll have fun at the event, I'll be glad when it's over. I may stay long enough to sit thru the meeting and hot glue the remaining mushrooms, and then just go home. Tomorrow is movie/tub night. Friday is another movie night. Thursday & Friday should be relaxing. But I won't see Josh again really until Saturday, which sucks. We'll have the weekend and Monday and Tuesday. But I've got to get ready for the campout by at least Tuesday, which includes going to the store to get food, learning how to set up our tent, and packing. Wednesday is the Rush show. And I think we're still leaving Thursday. So, it's gonna be kinda stressful for me, but I'll get thru it. But after FD, I'll be pretty much free until Chilits, which isn't until the middle of September.

I have a sick kid in the office. My co-worker came in sounding pretty congested yesterday. I sent his ass to the doctor where they said he had an ear infection and they found traces of staph. Well, after last year's fiasco, I don't fuck around with that, so I lysol'd the entire office. He started on his meds, but isn't feeling all that great today because they haven't kicked in yet. So, I told him to go home. Not only does he need to get better, but if I get sick, I will kill him. So hopefully he'll go home soon so he can get better, and I'll lysol the office again. And since I'll the only one in the office right now, I'll do it nice and proper. Don't come to work if you're sick, dammit!

I need to get over myself before tonight's meeting.

Josh brought me flowers yesterday after work! He's a sweet boy!

However, later in the evening (around 7:30), there was a knock on the door. Some person within the building was peddling something. A) don't knock on my door on a school night when I am trying to wind down from the day. B) there are 30 apartments in my building...what the fuck are you doing bothering me in a closed building? And C) I had been trying for a week to watch a movie with Josh. Instead, he sat there and talked the twit up. I don't care who she was, what she wanted, if she was pretty, or how nice she was, she interrupted my evening! MY evening! The ONE night this week I have to spend with MY boyfriend. For whatever reason, Josh could not understand this. I told him I wasn't pissed at *him*, but pissed more at the situation. He didn't listen because by this time, he was mad that I was mad. I said what I had to say and dropped the subject and went in the kitchen to clean up after Josh had made tacos. Now, I don't normally clean up the kitchen after he cooks, but I figured that if I did, that'd give him more time to sit with me and watch the movie because I generally clean faster than he does. Instead, he took this as a passive aggressive action, which I'm not even sure I'm capable of :P. I was genuienly trying to help, but oh well. We didn't speak the rest of the evening and he *still* hasn't apologized for being a butthead. This was one of the few times where I genuienly didn't do anything wrong *and* I was trying to be nice!

Lesson? Don't fucking knock on my door unless the damn building is burning down or you're bleeding. And *don't* answer the door! And don't assume that I'm pissed at you when I specifically say I'm not. And if I do something nice for you that I don't normally do, don't assume that you're being punished. Perhaps I was just trying to make the rest of the evening go smoothly?

Boys are dumb sometimes. Not to say that girls aren't dumb all the time, but I'm picking on boys today :P

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1. Are there any weird "food rules" you have? Feel free to list as many as you like.
I like food in small portions and broken up into small bites. For example, when cutting up a chicken breast, they shouldn't be huge chunks, but little bite-sized ones.

2. When you were growing up, what ONE thing did your parents always remind you of, when it came to meal time (or cooking)?
A meat, a veggie, and a startch. Sometimes 2 veggies instead of a starch. Sometimes a salad was added on. And on special occasions, desert!

3. Is there anyone you know whose food you won't eat (for one reason or another)?
No. I don't eat Josh's food too often unless it cooks it MissyStyle because my poor system can't handle his level of 'flavoring', but it sure tastes good!

4. Is there anything you "specialize" in cooking, that people actually ask for?
I make awsome cookies.

5. When you were growing up, what one meal do you remember as being your favorite?
My mom makes the bestest manicotti...and potatoe soup....and lasanga...yum.

6. Today, what is your IDEAL meal?
Ask me later when I'm hungry :P

Friday after work, I dropped by Josh's parents house for a few, and then I went to Safeway for a few things and then to Trader Joe's for a few things. I came home and put the groceries away and ate dinner, and then I called my friend Gil in San Diego. I had a glass of wine while we were on the fone chatting about various things. I also cleaned out my bag, downloaded 9 months of pictures off my camera, cleaned out the cat box, burned a music cd for M, and cleaned my bathroom. I went to bed around midnight.

Yesterday, I woke up in a not great headspace. I think I was missing my Mammaw and I didn't want to really own up to it. I had 2 cups of coffee, and spent a couple of hours cleaning up pictures, renaming them, and ftp'ing them to my site. After that, Schreck dropped off fixings for making mushroom lights, and that's what I spent the next 3.5 hours doing. I got 17 finished before I ran out of glue sticks. I also watched like 4 movies :P After that, I took a shower and made my way over to Alasdair's house where I had a couple of beers and shot the shit with people. I came home around midnight and made the beds and chilled out for awhile and made my way to bed around 2a.

I musta had too much caffeine yesterday, cause I was up at 8:30a this morning. Bleh! I got dressed and drove to Long's to get glue stick's. Schreck's glue gun was a little wonky, and took wierd sticks, so I spent $6 on a 'standard' gun and standard round sticks. I also found yarn for a baby blanket I need to make, and stumbled upon the new Harry Potter book, so I picked that up too. Then I went to Jama Juice and got a smoothie thingy and came home and finished the remaining mushrooms with the new glue gun. I had the makings for 26, so that's how many I made.

The only other major thing on my list this weekend is to make cookies for a buddy of mine at work. I'd like to get laundry done, but I've gotten so much done this weekend that if I have to wait a few days to do it, then so be it.

I think I've made the decision that Squeeek needs someone to take care of. After loosing G, he's been pretty lethargic, depressed, and looks generally unhappy. I want to get a girl kitten, and I want her to be fresh off the boat (8 weeks, just weened) so I don't end up with another G. So, I think I'm on the outlook for another munchkin. I'm gonna be picky about it, so it may take time. I also need to talk to Josh about it, but I'm sure he'll be cool with it.

Anyway, I'm gonna go eat breakfast and get going on my cookies.

Update 1:30p: I had a breakfast of maple sausages & scrambled eggs. Then I made cookies. Then I put new foil in the burners. And I did all the dishes. Now I'm gonna go take a bath and shave and then settle in with my new Harry Potter book. Look out for MissyFicient this weekend!!

Okay, so I've been a major slacker and pictures have been sitting on my camera since November. They are here, here, here, and here.

Warning: Most of them are cat pictures, but there are some of me, Josh, and a few other things this time around. I've been trying to take pictures of things *other* than my brats lately :P

Jesus. Never been woken up by an earthquake before! That sucked.

z0rg bolted out of bed and I found Squeeek in the living room like, "huh?".

It was on the Hayward Fault, the epicenter being about 2 miles from my house. Let's not think about what would happen if that would have been bigger. Now I gotta try and get back to sleep.

I have a 15 mile commute everyday. I also happen to live in one of the worst traffic/commute areas ever. Fortunately, I have a reverse commute. Usually it's fairly smooth sailing both ways except for tunnel traffic and even then, it's deal-able. But yesterday was *not* one of those days.

I started my trek down 24 from Walnut Creek towards the Caldecott Tunnel. At Acalanes Road (a good 5 miles from the Tunnel), traffic basically stopped. Eh? So, I called 511 and learned that there was a multi-car accident at Gateway Blvd, which is right before the Tunnel and that the right lanes are blocked. I'll just get in the left lanes and crawl to the Tunnel and just deal with it, right? Well, that *would* work if there were 2 tunnels going that way, but there isn't, and you *have* to be in the right lanes to get *in* to the Tunnel. d'0h! So, I got off at the Orinda exit and made a couple phone calls. Ivan gave me directions over and thru the hills. It was at that point where I needed to decide what to do with myself. Do I take this alternate route and get lost and eventually make my way home *sometime*? Do I turn around and go to Lafayette for drinks and dinner and just wait out the mess? Or do I take the path of least resistance and just park at Orinda BART and take the train home and get a ride from the station from Josh? Well, I just kinda wanted to go home, so I did the later. It ended up being the best decision for me. I was still home by 6, and I didn't have to deal with that bullshit traffic!

I had a pork chop and Velveeta mac n' cheese for dinner and Josh and I spent the evening not doing much and were in bed by 10p. He took me to the MacArthur station this morning and I took the train to Orinda, and drove the rest of the way in. I got gas on the way, and was here by 8:30a. Not too bad!

I have a hellishly busy day ahead of me, so I better get going on it.

1. Do you believe that we as humans were meant to have just one person we are paired with for life? Why/why not?
I'm not sure. I think the introduction of religion introduced the whole one person thing. That doesn't make it 'right' or 'the way it should be'. I've learned in my short 31 years that you can't rely on just one person. To smoother the person you like the most leads to you loosing them. For me, I have one main person who I go to for the big things, and then there are other people in my life who help with the little things. Josh is my main person. I trust him the most. I love him the most. He's my mostest! But there are other people I rely on also to help with other needs I have. I also believe as we grow older, we have different needs which require different people to fill those needs. My needs at 20 weren't the same at 25. I think that's why people cycle thru each other. However, I'm learning as I get older, things don't quite cycle so much. You start keeping the same people around and you change with each other.

2. What do you think about famous people who have huge egos and/or are general not nice people? Do you think they have any right to behave as such? Are you able to ignore them and still enjoy their work, or does their attitude just kill the experience for you? Why/why not?
The two people who pop into my mind when this question is asked are Axl Rose and Billy Corgan. Both are asses. Both have totally overinflated egos. Both seem to be generally unhappy people. Normally these kind of people turn me off to their work and I don't pay attention all together. Maybe it's just because I'm a music dork, but I've learned to ignore these asshole personalities and just concentrate on their craft. How silly would it be for me to totally ignore Guns n' Roses just because the lead singer is an ass? I would have missed out on one of the best rock albums (Appetite For Destruction)ever! And the same goes with Corgan and Smashing Pumpkins. I heart old SP's (and even the new album isn't bad) and have recently fallen for Zwan, I just ignore the fact that the head person is not someone I could ever tollerate. And, I certainly wouldn't pay good money to see these jerks. Smashing Pumpkins are playing 8 shows in San Francisco, but Corgan isn't getting any of my money. Perhaps one day he'll grow up and not be such 'the way he is' and maybe I'll consider it, but I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, I'll keep listening to the music I've learned to love. Even if the people making it aren't what I deem to be the nicest people around.

3. Do you believe that our happiness may be all about how we handle life's changes and curve balls? Why/why not?
I didn't used to think so. It's not that I'm a pessimist, it's just that I don't like bullshit. And life is *full* of bullshit. But as I experience life more, I *have* learned it's how you deal with it. It's the attitude you have towards it. It's like yesterday's commute fiasco (see next entry). I choose not to get upset and just deal with the problem at hand and it worked out just fine!

Jeesh! I use an exercise ball at work as my chair. I was sitting perfectly still at my desk, writing an email when the damn thing popped and I landed on my ass :P

*shakes head*

The new one should arrive Friday. Stupid ball!

Update 7/19: I am *so* sore I can hardly move :P. I woke up not being able to move much this morning. Apparently, I fell a lot harder than I thought. I emailed the company who makes the ball. They said that the ball wasn't meant to be used as a chair (so then I ask you, what happens if you just *use* the ball all day everyday besides having a great body?), but that they wanted it back to check it for defects. *rolls eyes*. We'll see about that! Until then, it's ibuprofen and not much moving for me.

It's been a good morning! I woke Josh up at 7a and spent some time with him, then took a shower, actually had coffee at home, and strolled into the office at 8:45 (instead of my normal 8:15). And on top of that, it's rainy/cloudy out! No getting thru the Tunnel only to find it's sunny in Walnut Creek! It was awsome. Can you ask for a better morning?

Yesterday was somewhere in the middle of okay and meh. My neck was bothering me yucky by the time I got home last night, so I did my chores and took half a Flexeril. I was asleep by 9p. No wonder I was up at 7!

I think I'm spending the evening with Josh tonight and tomorrow, and then I'm on my own Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. No one is going to be in towne, and the one person I would want to hang out with that *is* going to be in towne is hung up over a girl at the moment, so no one else exists right now :P. Hey, girls are good! I'm thinking staying at home just chilling by myself sounds like a fairly good plan.

My brain has been racing for 2 days now. It's making everything else race as well. I can't seem to slow down enough to get a grip on things or get much of anything done. I'm thinking fast, talking fast, and generally confusing everyone :P. The only upside here is that I'm speaking my mind and not sitting on thoughts, so that's good.

I need a downer or something! Need to slooooooow dowwwnnnnn.

Oh, I love being around cute boys. But in my experience, there seems to be a shortag of them. Except for lately. Example: I got into the elevator this morning and this cute baby-faced boy got in with me. I've seen this guy before, but have never said anything to him. This morning, just as we were getting to my floor, I turned to him and said, "You are *very* cute!" He thanked me, I told him to have a good day, and went on my way. Hope that made his morning!

Last night I went over to Schreck's to help him with the mushroom lights that he's building. I started to get worthless as I drank more scotch (oops :P), but we got a start on them regardless. I screwed up the stems, but they just need to be cut longer, and it's not that big of a deal. I'll fix it next time around.

I can't tell what today's going to be like. It could either suck or it could be okay. Let's hope it's the latter.

Alright, yall may make fun of me for my love of +live+, and they've done some wierd shit over the years, but I heart them. The remix version of 'Deep Enough" came up on the playlist today and I just had to point out what a good freakin song this is. The original *and* this remix version are both on the album V. But it's the remix version (which unfortunately, was also on 'The Fast and the Furious' soundtrack), that gives me the goosebumps.

1. Do you feel that children these days are disciplined enough?
Yes and no. It depends on the parent and the child. Child rearing today is not like it was when I was growing up and as I have no children of my own, I can't really say wether or not children are 'properly' disciplined. I suppose it's relative.

2. What are your thoughts about the "time out chair?"
I like it. I think it's good that kids know their boundries and that those boundries are made perfectly clear. And when they push those boundries, they pay a 'price'.

3. When YOU were a child, what form of discipline did your parents use most often?
I got spanked...a lot :P. I was a bad kid, tho *now* my parents will tell you differently.

4. Did your parents have to constantly remind you of the guidelines they set for you, or did they just have to LOOK at you as a "gentle" reminder?
Both. Tho I usually knew when I was doing something wrong.

5. What are your thoughts about screaming kids in public places?
It is my believe that children should be banned from public places :P

6. What do you feel is the BIGGEST mistake parents make when it comes to disciplining children?
There really *is* no correct or wrong way to disciplining a child, I don't think. I think it's relative, and I think that it depends on the child.

Friday night, I came home from werk and Josh and I went and did laundry. It was every bit as fun as I thought it could be :P. Actually, there were quite a few screaming children, so I waited until my wash was done and after I threw the clothes in the dryer, I went to the bar across the street for a couple of gin & tonics. My tollerance for children has seemed to wither lately. I hear a screaming child and all I want to do is silence them. I think it may stem from the screaming 2yo next door. But, she'll be moving soon, so that's good. We spent the rest of the night just hanging out.

Yesterday, I got up around 10:30a and putzed around until about 2p, when it was time to get ready for a wedding I was going to. It was a nice, but small wedding. The only thing that got me were the elitest hippies. Shouldn't that be an oxymoron? Everything was compostable. The silverware, plates, cups, napkins...everything. The other thing that amused me were the attitudes of the hippies. All on their thrones about one thing or another. I did a lot of people watching. We left around 9p and came home. Josh went to bed around 10:30p, but I stayed up for awhile. I ended up talking to a very old IRC friend of mine for about an hour and a half. It seems as if he may be in L.A. for a week next month, so I may go down and hang out with him for a day.

I went to bed around 1a and got up at 10:30a. Squeeek was bitching all morning long. And apparantly puking as well. Once in awhile he'll be starved so he'll eat a bunch and then ate too fast so he pukes it up. Rinse. Repeat. So, I had to cover his food when I got up. Then z0rg wouldn't shut up. Then Josh starts complaining of flea bites even tho I don't have any and don't see any fleas or their feeces on either of the boys. And I hadn't even had my coffee yet! This put me in an extremely bad mood, for I am no morning person *anyway*. I had my coffee and eventually (mostly) got over myself. Josh and I played w0w for about 3 hours, which was fun.

I was supposed to hang out with someone tonight, but have not heard from them yet, so I may be home. I think Josh wants to make his home-made tacos, which'll be good I'm sure! Tomorrow night, I'm going to Schreck's to help put together mushroom lights for FD2. I think the rest of the week is quiet tho. And then I think Fri-Sun, The Bachelor Party (a boys-only campout) is happening, so Josh won't be around. We'll see what the week brings.

I was going to bring work home, but I think I'll just bust ass tomorrow instead. But what to do, then?

I dunno, but I'll find something to do! Maybe left-over Indian food, a movie, and some crochet.

All I do know is that tomorrow is Friday and I'm glad. Glad glad glad glad glad! "I wonder if she's glad?"

1. Do you treat people you're extremely close to (S.O's, ex's, best friends, family, etc) the same as you would regular friends and people off the street? How so/how not?
I think we all treat the people we're close to differently than those who we aren't close to. I know I don't treat my temp and my boyfriend the same. I can say things Josh that I can't say to my temp. I can also call Josh on his shit openly, for example. Or, I can behave badly, and he'll forgive me. But for people I don't know real well, I behave myself. It's only polite!

2. What is it about knowing someone fairly well, or very well even, that seems to give us a license to say and do whatever we want/think/feel sometimes? Do you think it's right? Why do you think we do things like that?
I think we get to a point in a relationship (*any* kind of relationship) where the other person knows us so well (or vice versa), that we can just be the real us. And sometimes the real us doesn't always behave ourselves like we would around someone we don't really know. We get mad, we cry, we fart! But in the end, I think that we should just all be our real selves around others. And if it takes a little time to do so, then so be it.

3. Do you tollerate being treated a certain way by someone (good or bad)? How so/how not? Why/why not?
It depends on the person. We all get grumpy at times. We put up with it from each other because we care about one another. Sometimes it's a personality trait that we're willing to overlook. A 3rd party may not understand it, but that's just the way it is. I think history with the person has a lot to do with it. Sometimes it gets too much and then you have to say something to the person. It's when you need to say something and *don't* is the problem. I watched someone totally disregard another person's feelings about a situation, and those people have been friends for decades. But, they're still friends regardless. It's what friends do. Good times *and* bad.

I hate flakes. I can't stand them. Flakes are the people who cancel on you at the last minute...regularly. Flakes are the people that you ask for their time 2 weeks in advance and they are wishy washy, then don't show up to what you asked them to. Flakes are people who say, "Hey, let's do this at this time on this day", then never follow up on it. And on and on and on. And lately, this is starting to fucking piss me off.

First it was someone suggesting a group of us go on an outing, me setting aside time for it, and then never hearing from them. Then Josh was supposed to have a handful of people over in an hour and an hour before the All-Star game, all of them cancel except one.

*That* is bullshit. If you tell someone you're going to do something *fucking do it*! Don't let your friends down. If you can't get your shit together on a regular basis, that's not my fucking problem. And I suspect it's a big reason why I only have a few friends. I refuse to put up with that kind of bullshit. But, I like it that way. The friends I have I know I can count on. They aren't excessively late. They rarely cancel on me and when they do, it's important. They rarely change plans on me and when they do, it's far enough in advance that it doesn't screw up everyone's schedule. And maybe my friends don't flake on me because they know just how structured I am and that it screws up my whole night when something is pushed out of wack. So, I have good friends who like me and are willing to put up with my quirky ways!

But *dammit* I hate when people are flakes.

I had 2 pieces of french toast left over from yesterday. I also had a thing of raspberries and blackberries in the fridge. I grabbed those two things and dumped some syrup into a small container and brought all 3 in to work for today's breakfast.

It's *really* fucking good. It's given me the energy to pull thru the day. Yum.

I had a rather long Friday afternoon. By the time I made the drive home, I *really* wanted to call Josh and ask him to have a drink ready for me when I got home, but I didn't want to make any demands on him, so I didn't do anything about it. I figured I'd just make myself a drink when I got home. I walked in the door, Josh said hi to me, and he walked into the kitchen and pulled me out a drink from the fridge. I think my response was, "You are the best fucking boyfriend in the world!" :). He got bonus points for that one! We got pizza from Cato's and spent the rest of the evening just chilling. He was tired, so he went to bed at 9:30p. I stayed up and went to a DefSF party with Schreck around 12:45a. I got home around 3a. It was fun for awhile, but everyone was pretty damn drunk, and a non-drunk can only handle an apartment full of drunkards for so long!

I got up around 11a yesterday and had my coffee and putzed around until we went to the tkost bbq around 3:30p. That was a fun time! It was pretty chill, and we hung out and drank beer and other various forms of alcohol until around midnight. We came home and went straight to bed.

Josh woke me up at 11a yesterday to let me know that he was leaving for the day. He was going to work on Burning Man stuff with the boys. I wasn't sure what to do with myself for the day. There was talk of maybe hanging out with Ivan, but he ended up being in the city all day helping someone move. I made another call to someone and left them a msg, but they never got back to me. So, I had a really nice 'me' day instead! I had my coffee, read my news, and then fixed up a cat toy for Squeeek. After that, I decided I was hungry. I made french toast with syrup. It was yuuuummmy. I used 2 eggs instead of just one, and poured in some extra vanilla. I can't even remember the last time I made homemade french toast, but damn it was good! After that, I putzed around some more, played some Guitar Hero, pre-ordered the new one, and took a shower. It was about 3:30p then, and I was hungry, so I went to Raj, but it wasn't open yet! So, I killed an hour next door at the Kerry House drinking Crown & 7's and chatting it up with the locals. Around 5, Raj finally decided to open and I had mixed veggies in a cashew sauce and some minced lamb. It was *really* damn good. After that, I went to the tea bar across the street and got some iced green tea. After that, I was feeling buzzed and food coma'd, so I came home and took a short nap until Josh came home. We spent some time together, and then I watched some TV until 9:30p and got ready for bed. I was asleep by 10.

It was a really nice and lax weekend. I did a lot of chilling, and not much stress was had. And I forced myself not to let work enter my mind either! I'd start to think about it and then go, "Woops...no thinking about work! Oooh, something shiny!" :P.

This week should be pretty okay. I think I may go to Ivan's for movie night tonight, and then I have no idea what I'm doing the rest of the week, but I'm sure I'll either find something, or something will find me!

So, Hickory asked me to track down the new Smashing Pumpkins album, Zeitgeist for him this week, and I did!

I had heard the crappy single off it and was like, "Ah yes, more shit from the Great Corgan! Fuck that!" and I did *not* want to listen to the new album at all. And somehow, by osmosis, it made it onto my iPo, and I listened to it yesterday. Twice. In a row. Eh? It seems to me, this should have come just after Mellon Collie, not 10 years later. It's actually not *that* bad. It's a little more-of-the-same, but we come to expect that from Corgan. I find him (after 1993) whiney, boring, and un-imaginative. However, to his credit, Gish and Siamese Dream are both exceptional albums.

What I *wasn't* expecting was Zwan. Rex and I were talking about his loathing for the new SP's album when he mentioned them. I know this was another project seperate from SP, but *this* album should have been the Smashing Pumpkins album that came after Siamese Dream. It's pretty good, pretty in places, and not roll-the-eyesie, like everything after was. Mellon Collie had some good songs on it, but 2 albums worth? Oy vey. Anyway, I reccomend the Zwan album. And Paz was in the band! We like Paz. She's teh awsome.

Anyway, Corgan, you've redeemed yourself...at least a little! I'm still not paying good money to see your ass in concert, tho.

I overslept today! Me! The organized one! I forgot to set the alarm :P

I woke up from a dream with a start because at the end of it ,someone said to me, "Isn't it time that you got up for work?" or something to that affect. I normally get up at 7:30. Today it was 8:15a. Not *too* bad! Josh was actually out the door before I was.

It's been a pretty productive morning anyway! I also got my credit card to credit me 6 months for 'membership fees' because I think paying them is bullshit, and I also got them to lower my interest rate 4%! Stupid me, I didn't know that if you bug them every couple of months, they'll lower it for you. The nice lady I talked to this morning actually told me that! So, yay! My balance on my card is kinda high at the moment because of all the medical bills I've had this year, but I will be able to pay off close to a grand this month, and then maybe close to that next month, so that's good! I've been trying to get on top of things, but life just hasn't let me. I'm glad it's finally giving me the opportunity to do so!

Last night, Josh and I stayed home and played w0w. I used my puter in my corner, and we have a system in the living room that's connected to the big-assed tv that he used. Sure, his setup is cooler, but my space is *my space*. The room is big enough that he could have the sound for the game on and I could have my music playing on my system and the two didin't interfere with each other. I'm thinking of maybe just doing the same tonight. There's a chance I may go to a party later in the evening, but I may just bail on it. Who knows. I'm not real sure I'm up for a party where everyone is fucked up and I'm not.

Tomorrow, I'm sure we'll putz around for most of the day until it's time to go to the bbq in Concord. It's going to be fucking hot again, so I can't see myself wearing that many clothes. This may scare some people, but I've dropped 20lbs, and my comfort comes first :P. I have nothing planned for Sunday, and so I will probly do nothing, which is just fine with me!

Ah, my friends know what I like! I got sent a link to a website that specializes in heavy metal quilts. I want one! Anyone got a couple of extra grand lying around that they want to give me? :P

It was nice to be thought of :). I've been kinda down all day. It gave me that 'boost' I need to make it thru the next 40 minutes so I can go home.

It was pretty much like any other day off...mostly. I woke up around 11, had my coffee, and putzed around for awhile. Around 3, we headed out to the Montclair area to hang out at Jeremy & Melissa's with a bunch of the Stupids. About 8, we got tired and came home. Josh wasn't feeling fireworks this year, so I compromised and we came home. I got in to bed around 10, but didn't go to sleep until about 11:30p.

I'm kinda meh'd this week. I'm feeling the *physical* symptoms of PMS even tho I shouldn't be PMS'ing right now. I totally screwed up my cycle starting the pill in the middle. Good job, slick! :P My doctor was incorrect saying that it should be fine. Remind me to maim him next time I see him :P. It's making me a little bitchy and feeling me with self-doubt. Bleh. Things will work themselves out, but until then, I'm just trying to keep it together. It's not fun being me this week.

Oh well. At least tomorrow is Friday.

1. As an adult, do you feel the same about holiday's off from work versus the way you felt when you got them off for school? How so/how not?
Well, during the school year, getting a day off from school was like having a snow day. A free day off! In the summer, it didn't make much difference because you didn't have school anyway. I mean really, weren't holidays made so you get a free day off from school? As an adult, working 12 months out of the year, I'm greatful for *any* time off that I get.

2. What about birthdays? Do you view them differently now as you get older? Why/why not?
I've always liked birthdays. Some are just meh, but most are always good. It's the one 'me' day I get out of the year. Birthdays should rock, and I usually look forward to them.

3. New releases: Remember how psyched you were when you heard that your favorite band was coming out with a new album on a certain date? Do you still feel that same kind of excitement now? Why/why not?
The excitement isn't the same anymore. I don't know if it's because music has gotten so bad that there's rarely anything to look forward to, or I just got really jaded somewhere along the line. And maybe some of it is the fact that I can get an album anywhere from 2 months to 2 weeks in advance of the release date. Maybe that's taken some flavor out of things. But when it comes to the bands I *really* love coming out with new stuff, I'm always like a kid in a candy shop.

I can't help but think of a certain teacher I had in highschool when I read articles like this. Man, you got lucky, Dick!

This band teacher in San Bruno faces up to 30 years in prison for having consentual sex, while Fucking Boner Jr. (that's his new name...just Boner Jr. wasn't enough) commutes Libby's sentence. I don't get it. 30 years for having consentual sex with an underage chick versus breaching national security and serving no time and gets a $250,000 fine.....to a guy who's probly rolling in the cash anyway. Our justice system is fair, isn't it?

My quote for the day: "I want to roll the clock forward 30 years and look at a history textbook and see what they say about what has happened in the past 7 years."

My cramps got anything but better since my last post. It musta been the combonation of the pill, my cycle, and me starting the pill in the middle of my cycle. But *damn*, I was miserable for the next day and a half. Even tho I wasn't feeling good, I still went with Josh to see Bob Saget on Thursday evening. He was pretty damn funn, but his opening act was not funny to me at *all*. In fact, I had to surpress the urge to yell at him to get off the stage. This wouldn't have been difficult to do, as I was sitting about 50 feet in front of him. Alas, I was behaved :P

Friday morning, I woke up in pretty nasty cramping pain. I called in to work and cuddled up with my z0rg and my heating pad. I got up around 10a and misreably did laundry as a way to take my mind off the pain. I took some Vicodin also. I swear, I haven't had cramps like that since high school. I finished laundry and then lay on the couch afternoon watching TV. I also took a nap. In the early afternoon, M called and said his date had canceled on him (boo to that!) and wanted to know if I wanted to go see a show. After my nap, I was feeling better, so we went to 12 Galaxies in SF to see Inside A Broken Clock: A Tom Waits Peepshow. It was pretty funny and amusing. I got home a little after midnight, lost my dinner cause I still wasn't feeling all that great (obviously!), and went to bed.

I got up Saturday feeling a little better. I had my coffee, got dressed, and made my way over to Schreck's house, where we loaded up the MC4 board into the car and made our way back out to Valencia Street to the Mina Dresden Gallery, where we set up the MC4 board as part of a gallery showing. I was only there for setup, but we got a lot of, "Ooooh, that's really cool!" type comments. Schreck bought me lunch (I heart Greek food), and I took BART from the 16th & Mission station back home. I guess the art gallery showing went until about 5p, and then he was taking the board down (which he didn't need help for) and setting it back up at the PJJ for the party. BTW, I *finally* figured out why I didn't want to go to that party! I am not going to discuss it here, but I felt better once I figured it out. I guess the party went off without a hitch, so that's good! My not feeling good kept coming in waves, and I just wanted to get back to the East Bay in case I needed my heating pad. The Mission area isn't the greatest area in SF. In fact, it can be downright scary sometimes. Once in the BART station, I got to see some crazy guy physically taken off the train that he got on for going into the station without a ticket and throwing ice at the lady attendant. 4 or 5 BART cops showed up to take the guy away. That was my entertainment for the afternoon!

I vegged out on the couch the rest of the afternoon, and then about 7:30p, I ventured to Emeryville (because I didn't want to drive 10 extra miles to Lafayette) with fingers crossed, hoping there was no normal catastrophe at Trader Joe's, which there wasn't. I caught a break! Yay! $100 later, I left and headed to the Safeway at 51st & Broadway, which is about a mile from my house. Now, this place is usually a zoo, but it was 8:30p by this point. There were only like 4 checkers open, and the lines were literally across the store. The isles are also way too close together so you can't get around, and it was hard getting around anyway with all of the people standing in line. Halfway thru this ordeal, I decided I wasn't going to deal with the stress, took my cart up to where the manager was, told him I was never coming back to that store ever again, and left. I wasn't 'mad' per-se, but there's no good reason I should have to deal with that. And since that store is in that state most of the time, I highly doubt it'll ever change. I made a quick stop to Longs for wood stakes for my palm plant and some candy, and then I went home and put my TJ's groceries away. I spent the rest of the evening on the couch, watching bad Disney movies. I went to bed around 11:30p.

I was *rudely* awoken yesterday morning by Squeeek & z0rg demanding that I get up and out of bed because they were awake...at 7:20a...and then again at 9a. Squeeek got a good smack and a door slammed at him the 2nd time around. If it's one thing I can't handle, it's being woken up for no good reason. Fucking brat! I think he got the msg :P. I woke up around 11:30a, had my coffee, talked to Josh real quick on the phone, and did some cleaning. When I moved, my co-worker lent me a handful of moving boxes, and I kept being too lazy to bring them back. I finally got off my ass and loaded them into my car. Then I swept the porch. I also cleaned out the litter box and ran Domo. After that, I decided to venture to Safeway again. But which one? A quick search led me to one about 3 miles away from my house. It was an older Safeway, but it was more spread out, there weren't 10,000 people in the store, and the prices were actually *cheaper*! I told 2 different managers that I would be back. That was a fairly stress free shopping trip, and I appreciated it. Sure, I spent $180 on groceries this weekend, but that's enough food to last me for 2 or 3 months. Seriously!

After I got back home and put away the groceries, I putzed around for the rest of the afternoon until it was time to pick up Josh from BART. I was in a pretty grumpy mood for awhile for some reason, but I eventually got over it! Josh made himself beef stew for dinner, and I had a Velveeta grilled cheeze sammich. It was *really* bad for me, and *really really* good :P. We ended up watching 'Return of the Jedi' in HD, and then we went to bed around 10:30p.

This week looks to be fairly quiet for us. I don't think we have any plans for the holiday. We'll probly play it by ear. We have a walk-thru with our landlady on Thursday, but that's it. There's a Tkost BBQ on Saturday, which we're going to also. I missed the last one and got major shit for it, so I can't miss this one. I was invited to something else that night, but can't do it since I have the BBQ. No biggie, really.

Anyway, that's about it for me. I have a few things to get working on here at the j-o-b.

1. Do you do your own laundry or do you send it out?
I do my own.

2. Do you laundry at your home or a laundromat?
We have machines in the building, but they are *way* too expensive. I try and go to the laundry mat instead.

3. Are there certain articles of clothing that you need to have dry-cleaned on a regular basis?
No. I have no time for wasting on dry cleaning.

4. How often do you do laundry? Is there a certain day of the week that you consider "laundry day?"
I try and do it once a week.

5. Do you iron your clothes as you pull them out of the dryer or do you wait until just before you wear the clothing to iron?
I have no need to iron most of my clothes.

6. Do you hang your clothes outside to dry or do you dry them in a dryer?
I use a dryer.

7. Do you own things that need to be hand-washed or do you try to avoid buying things that you can't wash in the washing machine?
I have a few Victoria Secret things that need to be hand-washed, and a few 'hippy' tops, but it's not that big of a deal.