So, I'm on a liquid diet for the next 24 hours. Oh fun! I was actually kind of worried because of my dietary requirements, but I found a 'clear liquid' that not only is packed full of carbs and the protein that I need, but also doesn't taste that bad! It could be worse!

Yesterday, I was reading my friends' Livejournals and saw one of my friends talking about X-Files and watching all the episodes. Well, I happen to have 5 full seasons of that show which I was never really into, so I sent them to him this morning, and he'll get them next week. He's a very happy camper. I like happy campers!

Last night, Josh and I went to a new sushi place at the corner of 40th and San Pablo which was pretty good. The fish was really fresh. After that, we came home and Josh played Rez, while I experienced it. Damn, what a trippy game! It was described to me as 'Tron on Ecstasy'. Alright, I'll buy that one. Totally. But the first thing that popped into my head was 'rEvolution'. Musta been the trance! I'm definatly down to 'play' that game again! *evil grin* :)

Welp, there's things to get done before I am out of the office for a day...

1. Ae you registered to vote? If not, why not? Does it matter to you?
Yup. Even tho it seems like it may not matter, it does. Otherwise, you get regimes like the one we have today. I would imagine a lot of people registered to vote after *that* calamity. I live in CA, so I'm one of the 20something states to vote next week. Out here, we get the luxury of being able to be permanent absentee voters, so I've already gotten my ballot, voted, and sent it in over a week ago. It's kinda our one duty as Americans. At least, it is if you give a shit about the future of this country. Just because it sucks at the moment doesn't mean it'll suck forever if we do something about it!

2. Registered American voter or not, what do you think of all these primary elections leading up to the real thing 9 months from now? Does it matter to you? Why/why not? Do you think it matters at *all*? Why/why not?
I paid attention in the various government classes I took...I know why these things are important. It seems kinda pointless, but I know it's not. Right now we're in the weeding-out process. Even 9 months before the election, we're down to 4 candidates. The upcoming months will probly be very tedious, and I'm sure there'll be a lot of shit-slinging and a lot of me ignoring politics as a result. And while all of this matters in the end because it's all about who is going to run this country for awhile, it's the crap inbetween that really makes me angry. I have 4 people wanting me to vote for them. All 4 hurling insults at one another and making each other feel bad. Now, why in the world would I want to vote for someone who is acting less mature than my cats? Why should I be impressed by this? I'm not. Not at all. If the candidates were fair, brought up legitimate issues, and maybe a few *solutions* to those issues, things might be different. But all I see is a handful of people acting like children, making asses of themselves on TV in front of billions of people. And once there's one candidate for each party, I'm sure it'll get much worse. Impress me and give me some hope...please!

3. What qualities does your ideal presidential candidate possess? What do you want to see changed? What do you want to see happen in general? Is there any hope for any of it to come true?
I think that first, we need a diplomat. A real all-around people person. Someone who can talk to *everyone* (lay American citizens, people in their party, people in *other* parties, and people who come from different places and cultures, just to name a few) and who can get their point across. Also, someone who can get things done. For real. Real *positive* results. No one needs me to cite current examples of the opposite, I'm sure you all pay enough attention. And if you don't have a candidate who can do the first, everything else will be on hold...like they are now. We need to concentrate on things like keeping the peace with other countries, addressing and *changing* things like poverty and education in this country, and taking steps and making changes to ensure that the future of this country is favorable instead of what it is right now. Things change. They always do. It's just a matter of how and when.

1. If you're an American, are you registered to vote? If not, why not? Does it matter to you? If you do not live in the USA, what type of government does your country have? Between yours and ours, which government is better? Why?

3. What qualities does your ideal presidential candidate possess? What do you want to see changed? What do you want to see happen in general? Is there any hope for any of it to come true?

Remember to post these in your blog and don't forget to post a comment letting us know where you posted them by posting a link here!

Most commonly referred to by her mommy as Helen-a (pronounced Helen-uh). Josh nicknamed her Helen, short for Hell-in-a-handbasket. This is a very fitting name, especially when the kitten crack sets in!

Other names gone by:
1. Helen, no.
2. Helen, get down.
3. Helen, don't do that!
4. Little girl, whatchu doin?

But hey, she's cute! And sweet. Over the past couple of weeks, she's started sleeping with us on the bed, which is cool. She's a total mamma's girl. I can't make use of my bathroom unless she has access to it. When I take a shower in the mornings, she's in there to supervise. Afterwards, we wake up Josh together. Her favorite activities include bugging the crap out of her brothers, eating the food she knows she isn't supposed to eat (especially when mommy is looking), loosing her toy mice (which she has down to a science), standing at the sliding glass door and sniffing the air outside, and napping (in her chair, on the scratching post, on the couch or on Squeeek's spot on the bed).

And she's mine! All mine!

So, I spent almost 3 hours cleaning last night, but I got everything done! Yes, I'm crazy. It's okay.

I also finally got to talk to my best friend. She was being lazy and not calling me back after a month of trying to get ahold of her. After that, Josh and I watched a PBS program on parrots in Australia, and then we went to bed.

Tonight, Josh is taking me out for sushi. Yay! I anticipate tomorrow being the suck in general because of my procedure prep (which will literally take like 10 hours from start to finish), but it'll pass. My worry? That they *won't* find out what the problem is. Cause if they don't, I have no idea what the next step is. *sigh*. Oh well, positive thoughts!

Can has it be nap time now?

I got my POTUSA tickets! However, they still haven't sent them to me via email like they were supposed to. Oops. Luckily, I printed out my confirmation like I almost never do! I'm not worried about it.

Josh was sick all weekend, and is still sick. Apparently, he's got an infection in a tooth with a bad root canal, which apparently spread and he's got a nice cold too. At least he went to the doctor's yesterday to get drugs, and he'll see the dentist on Friday. So, I pretty much left him alone most of the weekend so he could rest. Friday night, I went and saw Tempest in Berkeley, which was cool. Hell, I even got up and danced at one point! Saturday, I mostly crapped around. I started work on my id3 tag project (more about that in a sec) and watched mindless tv. Sunday was about the same. I was feeling kinda under the weather anyway, so it was fine. I also made a trip to Whole Paycheck because i'm trying the no-wheat products thing again. You have no idea how starved I am for a sammich or pizza, or anything else loaded with wheat :P.

Yesterday, I had a pretty good day! I got a surprise visit from Josh (who brought me chocolate!) *and* The 3 Munchkins! And the afternoon only got better! It involved completely cute boys and scotch...who doesn't like *that* combo?! And chinese food. Mmmm, walnut prawns.

I *gotta* do laundry today. I have like 3 pairs of boxers left, but no sox. d0h! So, tonight's to-do list:
1. Laundry - done
2. Put away rest of winter decorations - done
3. Maybe re-pot fern in living room - done
4. Take some pebbles out of outside plant and put them in plant in bedroom (to keep the bugs out) - done
5. Move hen & chicks plant so it gets more sunlight - done
6. Continue working on id3 project - it'll get done eventually
7. Attempt to find Helen's toys (which seem to be everywhere) - done, sort of. The little toy mice seem to have permanently dissapeered.
8. Clean out Bob's vase - done
9. Pick up rest of house - done

So, the id3 project: This is where I get off my ass and go thru and make sure the id3 tags in my mp3 collection are correct. A lot of them are not. All albums will be complete, all have the same naming format, and all have correct song titles and album art work. There are some directories (a lot of my electronica and the misc. jazz stuff I have) that just can't be uniformed, but the big directories can be. And then I can finally bring in my music that's burned on the cd's that are sitting in my closet! I looked for weeks for a program for the Mac that would do as good of a job as Tag & Rename does on a PC. Unfortunatly, there just isn't a lot of good 3rd party software for a Mac just yet. Since my house is otherwise full of PCs, I decided that the best and most efficient way of getting this project done was to just do it on a PC. With some help from Josh (who set up the remote desktop software and paid for a copy of Tag & Rename...thanks!), I'm able to remote in to the tower across the room, and run my program and fix my tags! Yay! I started with the M.O.R. (the biggest directory) directory, and am in the L's right now. I'll get there!

Tonight is cleaning night. Tomorrow, I don't have anything planned. Thursday, I have to spend the day starving myself in preperation for Friday's medical test. Friday, I have to take the entire day off work for said stupid test. I hope the effort and the pain-in-the-ass prep I have to do for it yeild results. I'll come home from that and sleep and then that evening, a bunch of my friends are playing at an art showing in the city. Matt & George, Squelchy, Dr.Toast, MattG, and a few other folks...there's no way I'm missing this! I will totally rockstar-it if I have to. The rest of the weekend should be fairly quiet. I would imagine that there's going to be people invading Sunday, but that's par for the course.

Anyway, that's about it for me...for now!

Last night, we got our movie finished, and I was home by 10 after 10 and asleep by 11. Yay for early nights! I left my house at about 6:45...I spent 25 minutes calling Squeeek, trying to get him to come in before I left. He was being a bastard and wouldn't even show his face. And this was after I had found that he had ripped a hole in 2 bags of cat food that were sitting in the closet. Damn brat! So, his ass got left outside. But mommy isn't completely heartless. No, she put out a furry pad for him to sit on and contemplate why it's important for child to listen to mom. Hah! He had a lot to say when I came home, obviously. "Mommy, it's fucking *cold* out there! Mommy, I love you. Mommy, I'm sorry. Mommy, you're the best (with his loudest purr...I even got kisses like 4 times)!". *shakes head*. Who needs real life children? :P

I would not peg my friend Schreck as a POTUSA fan, but apparently he is, and is gonna go to the show with me in March. Yay!! That makes 6 shows I'm definatly going to between tonight and April. w00p. Mental note: purchase tickets today!

Storms have settled over Planet Bay Area lately. It's definatly winter! It's supposed to be crappy every day for the next week. The rain I can handle. It's the bone-chilling cold that I have a hard time with. I'm cold all of the time right now. Mostly it's cold fingers and feet, but I usually always have multiple layers on. And I'm *still* cold. Oh well...it'll get warmer soon! Sometimes just to switch things up, snow will appear on the few really high mountains around here. This morning on the way to work (heading in to Walnut Creek), I noticed snow on two peaks of Mt.Diablo, which is cool. And it's even more neato that I can see it from my office! Pretttty.

Welp, it's lunch time. And only 2 more hours to go before 2 days of no work! Josh isn't feeling well today, so I think I'm gonna go home an hour early and hang out with him before I'm gone for the evening.

So, I've known all week that I've been overly sensitive to just about everything, but it's also become quite apparent that I've been not communicating well either. From 6 emails about something that should have taken one, to people mis-interpreting other emails, to my brain twisting what someone says to me to mean that they are attacking me when really they aren't. I really need to get a grip, but cannot seem to do so. So, I think I have no choice but to just STFU and wade out the next day and a half until the weekend arrives. And then everything will go back to normal because I say so.

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The following is *only my opinion*. It holds no water elsewhere! :

I had an epiphany this morning after having a discussion with someone about a particular brewery: In general, I think I don't care for California microbrews. There are two reasons for this. The first has to do with their enthusiastic love of hops. The more enamel it takes off your teeth, the better! And while the folks out here seem to like that sort of thing, I do not. I also grew up in a different beer school of thought. I was taught to like the beers so dark that they were practically drinkable meals. The maltier the better! Really, it's just a personal preference, and also mabye a geographical one. There are a couple of breweries out here that I will drink just about anything they make, but my favorite breweries are out of Europe and the Midwest. I do not hold this preference against the hop-loving crowd out there, tho. More beer for you, I say! But, I think that's my first beef with breweries out here.

My second complaint has to do with breweries who have restaurants attached to their breweries (this includes stand-alone brewery restaurants). More often than not, the beer may be decent, but the food sucks, could be better, or does not play well with my palate. Or sometimes, vice versa. Why is this? How come more breweries can't get both right for me? True, this could just be me being the picky shit that I am, but I don't think that's necessairly a bad thing. I just know what I like and what I don't! I first noticed this phenomenon when I Iived in Santa Rosa. The brewery on 3rd street had pretty decent food, but their beer sucked for the most part (sometimes they would have a gem that would stand out, but not often). The brewery on 4th street has kick-ass beer, but their food could be better. Gordon Biersch has pretty damn tasty food, but I find most of their beer to be just okay (their food seems to be fairly consistant from restaurant to restaurant, tho, which is good). Pyramid's beer is okay (tho I totally heart the apricot ale), and while the food at the Berkeley restaurant is not too shabby, the Walnut Creek restaurant is just plain bad. I don't care for E.J. Phair's food *or* their beer, unfortunatly. The beer at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico was tip-top, but the food was on the low end of mediocre. The only place I have found that does a spectacular job of both is The 21st Amendment at the corner of 2nd and Harrison streets in SF. Not only do they have friggin yummy beers, but they have an outstanding chef that doesn't fuck around. Fancy soups with nice garnishes, classy salads, and burgers that seem to be so fresh they slaughtered the cows that morning. Mmmm...I dig that place.

There *is* an ale house called Cato's that's right down the street from my house that I totally love. They don't brew beer, but the usually have a pretty good selection of beers on tap. And their food is pretty good too. More notably, their pizza is some of the best pizza I've eaten in years. The owners also have another restaurant called Ben & Nick's, which is a couple miles away over in Rockridge. Their beer selection is always pretty good, but their food isn't as tasty as Cato's.

So anyway, that's my tirade on the subject. And again, it's only my opinion. I suppose it's good that I came to this conclusion now tho, because it gives me an excuse to stop drinking beer right now, which my body is requesting me to do. It seems that I can drink the lighter beers I don't like, but not more than one (every once in awhile) of the dark beers I love so much. So, my love affair with dark beer is on hold for awhile. Stupid body :P.

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Tonight is movie night over at M's, which will consist of finishing Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and if I can sneak it in, pizza. What can I say, I'm in the mood for artery-clogging food :P. I think I can even sneak an early night tonight, which would be nice.

Tomorrow is a show in Berkeley, and I'm anticipating a good weekend filled with relaxation and no stress. Even tho I have been sleeping extremely well this week, my emotions are tired.

1. Do you have very many friends? Do you hang out with them a lot? If not, why not?
I have 3 circles of friends. While I don't hang out with most of them on a regular basis because we all have different things going on, I like them all. However, I tend to only hang out with a handful of people at a time. I'm not a big people person, and I have a hard time with large groups of people. Besides, I like the idea of giving my all to a small group of people rather than lots of people. It makes them *and* me feel more wanted.

2. When/if you have issues with your friends, do you bring it up to them? How? If not, why not?
I tend to not sugar-coat things, well, ever. If I have an opinion about something, I say it. If someone does something that makes me uneasy or question their actions, I let them know my concerns/complaints. So yes, if I have an issue with someone, I say something. There's usually a discussion about it, and then we move on. My friends usually take it for what it is and do not hold my brash way of communication against me. Thankfully!

3. Do you still have friends from long ago? Do you still talk to them? If not, why not? If so, are you still close with them? Why/why not?
Yep, I do. I still talk to a handful of people from highschool. While we all live in different states and have all chosen different paths, we still find the time once in awhile to connect. I find it comforting to say, "Yeah, I've known This Person for 18 years". Because even tho someone is vastly different at 32 versus when you met them at 14, there are some things about that person that will never change. And that's why you were friends with them in the first place!

1. Do you have very many friends? Do you hang out with them a lot? If not, why not?

3. Do you still have friends from long ago? Do you still talk to them? If not, why not? If so, are you still close with them? Why/why not?

Remember to post these in your blog and don't forget to post a comment letting us know where you posted them by posting a link here!

1. Someone literally pushed me out of their way this morning on the way to work. How I wasn't hit is a miracle.
2. More crappy weather.
3. I have a headache.
4. Went to get a perscription and they canceled it for me. Thanks.
5. Went to find a specific product and couldn't find it anywhere real. Found it online. Find out later that I could have gotten it at Target (after they fucked around for 2 hours) for a buck less and no shipping.
6. I have a headache.
7. People don't read their emails, therefore making my life harder.
8. I have a headache.
9. I'm a little testy and sensitive this week.
10. I have a headache.

Doesn't seem like much, but it's enough to piss me off today. Is it Friday yet?

The Body Worlds exhibit that I went to in San Jose was pretty cool! First we toured the Tech Museum which was just okay, but it had its neato parts. Then we spent a good amount of time looking at the freaky dead bodies in the exhibit before everyone's hunger consumed them, and it was time to eat dinner. We went to Gordon Biersch and filled up on yummy food (I had goat cheese-filled ravoli) and drinks (and stupid me elbowed my 2nd drink that was 3/4 full drink that cost too much...d0h), had a drink at Colin's afterwards, and then the trip home was made. It was pouring down rain the entire afternoon/evening, which was annoying...and wet! Apparently, a front is coming thru that threatens to bring rain everyday into next week.

I'm finding that multiple days of crappy weather aren't doing much for my psyche. I'm a little 'meh' today. And as a result, my self-esteem is on the fritz as well. Worrying about stuff that I really don't need to worry about, fretting over irrational stuff...bleh. Oh well...at least I slept well last night! I haven't been taking my sleep meds again, and haven't needed them either. I fall asleep in a decent timeframe and sleep all night long....til Helen wakes me up being in KittenMode :P. Josh has a Sharks game tonight, and so I will probly go to bed early. I don't have anything else to do.

It was a fairly quiet weekend for me. Friday, I came home and finished a scarf I was working on for Steph. Then her and Whit came over to hang out for a few hours. And they brought me caramels! Man, those things are fskin' good. So..um...Steph....need moar, plz :P. I also hung up my very last tape in my music collection. I had it framed. Yes, I'm a dork :P. I also got a few other music-related things framed and hung up last week. There's a wall behind my puter which houses all my framed music stuff now. It's geekily neato! After that, I had some dinner and putzed around for a few more hours and we went to bed around 1a.

Saturday, I slept til 12:30p. Josh was up 3 hours earlier, but I decided getting up that early was a crime, so I went back to sleep. I got up and had coffee and putzed around a bit. Josh and I went to Ben & Nick's for lunch and beer, and then we did a much-needed Trader Joe's run. After that, we came home and put away groceries. Josh and Scotty went to the Sharks game, and I spent the first half of the evening putzing around. I spent the rest of the evening hanging out with some friends, being amused at their crazy antics.

Yesterday, I was up early, and managed to go out to breakfast before 10a! That was even after taking the usual 2 hours to get out of bed :P. Josh went to a bbq in the afternoon, while I stayed home and caught a nap, read rss feeds, and generally did much of nothing. Josh came home around 5p and we spent the evening hanging out together. When it was Crap Show time, I watched my show and he went and w0w'd until he put me into bed around 10:30p. Lucky for him, he didn't have to work today, but I did, so I had to get some sleep.

Tonight, I'm going to the Body World Exhibit at the San Jose Tech Museum, which should be cool. Tuesday and Wednesday hold no plans for me. Thursday is potentially Movie Night at M's. Friday, I'm going to see a band play in Berkeley. The rest of the weekend looks quiet, so that's good.

This morning, I went out to my car to find that it was raining. Traffic was pretty non-existant because most people have the day off, so that's a good thing. I got thru the tunnel and all the way to the first Lafayette exit and then all of a sudden it cleared up. Beautiful blue skies, sunny, green hills....California weather is wierd. I think the front is finally moving over the hills so it'll be raining here in awhile. I just hope it's not raining when I have to drive to San Jose! Oh well, I'm anticipating a not-so-bad drive down there because of the holiday, so it should be fine.

Anyway, that's about it for me today!

1. What have you been listening to lately (be specific if you can)?
I haven't been really listening to specific groups lately, just lots of music in general. I'm currently in the process of learning how to listen to music on my iPod. With 90 gigs, it appears to be an art. Creating playlists, playing with shuffle, running into bad id3 tags..that kinda thing. I finally created a 4 gig playlist (like when I had my 4 gig nano) with the usual 2 gigs half-new/half-used so I could start listening to new music again. I've also just discovered shuffling albums instead of just songs. That's kinda entertaining.

2. Where do you listen to music the most? Why? How (device-wise) do you use to listen to your music? Are you happy with it? Why/why not?
I listen to the majority of music these days in my car and at work, using my iPod (thus, having to actually learn how to use the iPod to my advantage). I haven't been listening to too much music at home these days except for the days that I play w0w. I do seem to be around music a lot socially these days (weather it's hanging out with someone at their house or out in public), so that's cool as well. For example, I went to Cato's last night and they were on a Bonobo kick! Yay for Bonobo! I'm happy to have music wherever I go. Really, it's kind of a must. I literally can't not be around music for too long, so it's good that I'm always around it!

3. Are there any shows you're going to, or want to go to? What are they?
Currently, I have 5 shows scheduled: Tempest on 1/25, Tesla on 2/8, 5 Cent Coffee/Hobohemians (among others) on 2/9, Queensryche on 2/28, and Explosions In The Sky on 3/20. The other 2 shows I'm thinking about going to are POTUSA on 3/18 and Bob Mould on 3/26. Shows for me seem to come in waves. I'm riding a pretty good one right now!

1. What have you been listening to lately (be specific if you can)?

3. Are there any shows you're going to, or want to go to? What are they?

Remember to post these in your blog and don't forget to post a comment letting us know where you posted them by posting a link here!

Barely. My hormones are wacky this week, and (in hindsight, probly as a result) Josh and I spent all of last night fighting. I started it (not thinking about what I say gets me into trouble) and it just got worse from there. At least the day ended. Tonight will be better.

I purposefully cleared my schedule this week. I just wanted to spend my evenings how I see fit. It's been nice so far (aside from the arguing).

Fragmented sentences. Brain not work today. Time to go do something different. :P

I had a great weekend! There totally wasn't a shortage of stuff going on! Friday night, I went home and chilled for awhile, packed, and spent the rest of the night not doing much. Hell, I was asleep by midnight, which is pretty good for me on the weekend! Okay, 1am. But still :P

Saturday morning included a shower and some Annie's cinnamon bunnies (it's okay, they were organic! :P) and then "I" and I hopped in the car and jammed to Anthrax's Persistance of Time down to Santa Cruz. After all these years, that's *still* a pretty decent album. We got to Santa Cruz with little traffic, then went to lunch (well, I had breakfast, of course, because it was offered!) with A&F at Seabreeze Cafe, which was pretty yummy. I like little breakfast/lunch places like this. You'll find the best line cooks in these places. Anyway, after that, we went to Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing for some organic beer. I tried the Devout Stout and the pale ale, which were both pretty yummy. I have in my possession a bottle of the stout and a bottle of the brown ale, so I can enjoy them at home. Yay for bottled beer! And somehow, Norm was in Santa Cruz (it seems as if he's usually within arms reach, no matter where I am!), so he came and drank with us! Afterwards, we made our way to a cool dune/beach that was less than 10 miles north of towne. The ocean is right outside of towne, so it doesn't take but 15-20 mins to get to the beach from just about anywhere. The only irritant about driving in Santa Cruz is that the speed limit is 25mph everywhere. Oh well, at least I wasn't driving! We got to physically watch the sun set that evening (something I had never done before...actually watching the sun take its last sinks in the sky and then completely dissapeering...*poof*), which was extremely cool. After that, checking into the hotel was accomplished. Dinner was being served at A&F's (which was only a few blocks away from the hotel), so we decided to go to Marianne's Ice Cream and get one of their mud pies for desert. But of course, how can you go to an ice cream shop that has 70+ flavors and not get a cone? Who cares if it's before dinner?!? I got a scoop of the coconut-fudge in a sugar cone, and it *definatly* didn't dissapoint! Dinner was a chunky tomato soup and squash au gratin (which was *really* friggin good. Squash, walnuts, and goat cheese) with this dark bread with chunks of garlic in it. Yum. And the mud pie was tasty too! Full and tipsy, it was time to go to the hotel and go to bed.

Sunday morning brought a little 'I don't wanna get out of bed, dammit!' grumpiness, but coffee, donuts, and pinball at the Ferrell's Donut Shop across the street helped smooth things out. I don't know why, but I had this mad craving for donuts. It musta been the 3 or 4 donut houses we kept passing. I had a chocolate custard-filled bar, some OJ, and got a yeast donut for later. Damn that custard bar was good! After that was a trip to a glass shop, which I mention because of the 2 shop cats they had there. I walked in there and one of the cats was barking orders at her owner, following him around like a kid..or rather, a boss! Then I walked into the back room to find a black cat rolling around in catnip on the counter. And she wasn't interested in the fact that I was trying to buy something...no, she wanted love and attention because she was high on catnip. "Love me! I don't care if you're looking to buy...loooove meeee!" Both cats were pretty sweet. I love shop cats. They're usually pretty cool and mellow. After that, we drove back out to the coast and went to Panther Beach. The climb down was a little steep, but the beach (aside from the scary but harmless nekkid guy) itself was really cool. Out on the Santa Cruz coast, there's a lot of layered rock. So, there was a lot of climbing around on said layered rock and jumping over the incoming tides (Unfortunatly, both times I was at the beach this weekend, it was during high tide. Even tho this is no big deal, being out at low tide is cool too because of the tide pools) to find a place far from humans. It was fun! And the waves this weekend were *huge*. It was fun watching these high-assed waves crash into the nearby huge rock masses and almost soak us. I don't think I've ever seen waves that high in real life. Ah, I heart the ocean, I really do. It amazes me how such chaos can be so calming. After an hour or so of chilling out, watching the ocean, we figured maybe it was time to get on the road and head back home. On our way out of towne, we stopped at Emily's Bakery for lunch. I had a grilled salami & swiss sammitch, which was pretty tasty. We made it home, again without much traffic, which was nice.

So overall, I had a really awsome time in Santa Cruz. I had never been there before, and it was a pleasant experience all the way around! Cool people, awsome food, and the ocean. Can you ask for much more? Even if you can't, things only got better! Josh learned that Information Society was playing a rare show with the original members (the 3rd out of 4 shows they are playing in different places) at the DNA Lounge in SF. w00h00!!

Sure, it was friggin late (they didn't get on stage until around 11:15p) on a school night, but it's Information Society! With original members! And it was a one-off show! Can you say no to that? However, I must admit that when I heard about the show, I didn't really want to go at first. But then I changed my mind. Glad I did! Josh and I found Ivan and Kevin, and it was cool to hang out with people we knew. It was a great show. The atmosphere was cool (if you've never been to DNA, it's like a dance club, only with an interesting group of people that run it and hang out there), and while it was not 100% in places (because this is what happens when you don't play together for 15 years!), it didn't matter because of the vibe in the room. Kurt is a 45 yo cynical crumudgeon after my own heart. Pigtails and all. All 3 guys were spot-on, and there wasn't a shortage of fun and good music! Hell, there was even a surprise vocal performance from Murat Konar. They played until about 1a (another reason I didn't feel too bad being out so late on a school night is because Kurt said he had to work the next morning also, so he'll be more ripped than those of us who only watched the show!), and we made surprisingly good time (20 minutes!) home and into bed.

Oh! And because my boyfriend is so damned awsome, he got 2 tickets to see Explosions In The Sky on 3/20! Yaaaaay! *And*, it's the first of 3 shows they're playing in SF! I'm excited. That's 3 shows in a month and a half's time! I'm thinking of making it 4 or 5 (with PUSA and Bob Mould), but I'm not sure yet. I'd have to go to these other 2 shows by myself, and I'm not sure I can make that happen taking public transportation because of safety issues involved. More specifically, me walking from BART to the Great American Hall and back at night by myself, but we'll see.

So, it was a full and busy, but extremely awsome weekend. Yay to everyone I got to meet and hang out with, and yay for one-off shows!

I made it to Friday! Yay for me! However, I think I'm a little sensitive today, as it feels like people are going out of their way to hurt my feelings and make me feel stupid. I know this isn't the case, but it makes it difficult to deal with the day anyway. But, I push forward, knowing I only have 5 hours to go until I have 2 days of no responsibilities! So take that!

In bratling news, Squeeek has decided that sleeping in my dirty clothes basket is comforting to him. He's been a little out of sorts lately (tho he's getting better slowly), and so I guess if it keeps him from being too butthurt, there's no harm in it. At least the clothes are dirty and not clean! Cept, I threw my bedclothes on top of him this morning on accident cause I didn't know he was there :P. I'm thinking about changing Helen's name to 'Helen, get down!", as she's been into everything she's not supposed to lately. Bugging Squeek to no end, rediscovering Bob (my betta) and taking off his lid everyday, climbing on and around the LCD tv because it's fun....stuff like that. Ah, the joys of kittenhood! And as usual, z0rg is The Perfect Child. "All I want is my McDonald's (MeowMix), treats, a warm place to sleep, and love...lots of looooove"...and then he purrs as loudly as possible. Hehe.

I've been having this on-going duplications problem with iTunes that I haven't been able to figure out. I fsking hate iTunes *anyway*, so this problem just added insult to injury. I would import an entire directory into iTunes, and it would duplicate some albums, but not others, with no rhyme or reason....or so I thought! I have asked probly 10 Mac people about this problem, and the solution I heard over and over was, "Relinquish control and let iTunes do what it wants with your music. Make a backup in case something happens, but this should fix your problem". Bleh. But after the last person told me what everyone else did, I was like, "Fine...dammit". So last night, I deleted all of my music in my library, went into the prefs and told it to manage my music for me, and tried reimporting music again. And the same duplication problem happened. Dammit! That's when Josh came over and asked to see the directory the music was in. He's looking around, checking things out and goes, "...wait a second...I bet it's the txt, m3u, and nfo files because they have track listings in them and I bet iTunes doesn't know the difference". And I'll be damned if he wasn't totally correct! Using the finder, I deleted all culprits and tried reimporting music again. Success! So, that's one problem solved without letting iTunes manage my music! Now my next job is to tackle the id3 tags without having to relinquish control to iTunes. I know there's gotta be a proggy for Mac that works as well as Tag&Rename for windows, I just gotta find it. I will win the iTunes/Apple war on this one....I will! Sure, I've converted, but don't you dare tell me how to maniuplate my music. It's more valuable to me than anything else I own.

In fucked-up news, Christopher Bowman (figure skating guy) has died. Talented guy, but it seems as if he had his issues and runs of bad luck.

In 'Jesus Christ, not again!' news, another boat smacked another bridge in the SF area. This time it was the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge. At least nothing was spilled into the bay this time. This quote at the end of the article did *not* make me feel any better, however: " In the past 16 years, bridges in the bay have been hit 50 times by ships. Eighteen of those were commercial vessels...". Oy vey.

In 'Man, I'm glad I got out of residential mortgage when I did' news: Bank of America will be buying Countrywide for a little more than $4b. This seems like a really low price, but I guess if your company is in that much trouble, you take what you can get. I hate B of A anyway (they refused to give me a bank account back in y2k because I didn't have a major credit card at the time...how stupid is that? Not to mention their shady policies towards users and their accounts), but I'm a little leary of these big banks getting bigger. I perfer the little guys, myself.

It has come to pass that I am indeed going to Santa Cruz (for the first time) this weekend! Yay! Josh asked me to vacate the premises because he's quitting the patch this weekend (I don't understand, I just do what I'm asked :P), so I found something to occupy my time! I'm looking forward to it!

Anyway, enough from me today. Have a good weekend, everyone!

First off, there's a (what I'm guessing is a metal) band called 'November 5, 1955'....*that* is awsome.

It's Thursday, which means tomorrow is Friday. This is a good thing. It's been a long week, full of stress and meh. And while things are moving forward, I'm still ready for this week to end.

There has been talk of going to Santa Cruz (a place I've never been to) this weekend, and I think a weekend out of towne sounds refreshing.

Until then, I must keep forging ahead.

1. Do you like it when it rains? Why/why not?
Yeah, I heart the rain. I like dark days when the sun never comes out. The rain just makes it better. On rainy days, I could sleep all day, snuggly under the covers and I wouldn't miss being out in the world at all.

2. Do you have a rainy season where you live (most people do)? If so, when is it, and how long does it last?
Here on Planet Bay Area, the rainy season is from December until about April or May, depending on the year. Because we're so close to the coast, we get the rain, which turns into snow as you go east. So while it's raining in Oakland, it's snowing 20 feet at Lake Tahoe.

3. What do you least like about rain? Why?
The way people drive in it, and having to be out in it as a result. People drive like crap here anyway, but add some extra water and they go completely apeshit. Seriously. It's wacky. And irritating.

(Sorry for the lateness...life got in the way this week)

1. Do you like it when it rains? Why/why not?

3. What do you least like about rain? Why?

Remember to post these in your blog and don't forget to post a comment letting us know where you posted them by posting a link here!

I fucking *hate* speakerphones! Well, I hate the phone anyway, but I hate the speakerphone feature even more. And it's a real big pet peeve of mine for someone to call me when they're on speakerphone because they're too damn lazy to talk on the phone like a normal person. I can't friggin *hear* you because of all the crap in the background! So please, stop being rude and just pick up the damn fone when you need to call someone, wouldja? Sheesh!

So, I'm still in a funky headspace, but I'm hoping to have some closure this afternoon, so maybe all hope isn't lost. (Alright, nothing's lost, I'm just still feeling sorry for myself)

But while I am feeling sorry for myself, I decided that spending money would make me feel better, so I bought Slash's new book and a book from one of my favorite back-in-the-day scenesters, Lonn Friend. He's been around since I discovered metal in 1989. I heart Lonn. I used to listen to him when he was a regular on KNAC.com. I remember when the whole Napster clusterfuck happened, and he was there, trying to be cool with Metallica and trying to understand why they did what they did. Anyway, these should be 2 very good books. I think that makes like 7 books on my reading list. Oy. Oh well, keeps me busy!

I had a really bad day on Friday. A *really* bad day. I had personal issues overshadow my entire day, and it never got better. In fact, it just got worse until I finally went to sleep so I could stop dealing with it for the time being. Having to be out in the crappy weather probly didn't help my mindset any either. While I love the rain, it's hella stressful being out in it because people freak out so badly because of some extra water. I hate that. Saturday was better, but personal stuff got in the way again. And getting drunk to deal with it better probly wasn't the best way to go about things, but at least things didn't get worse. Yesterday was cool (it was Rock Band Sunday), but things are kinda 'meh-ie' again.

I feel like I can't make everyone happy at the same time like I should. 'Should' being relative and self-inflicting, but that's how I feel. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, either. I have drastically changed my attitude about life in general over the past month in an attempt to show people that I really *am* okay. And I try and be there for those people who need me, but I feel like sometimes I fail. And I'm not supposed to fail at that. Am I spreading myself too thin? I personally don't think so. Do I expect too much by thinking I should be making everyone happy? Maybe. Probly. I'll be the first to admit I'm too hard on myself at times.

I just wish I could figure things out and make them better.

I love the rain, but it isn't helping my frame of mind today. It was raining in sheets, which made for a nerve-racking drive in, but I got here in one piece. And I was up too late last night as well. "M" made fish and veggies for dinner, and then we caught the first half of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam before sitting in the tub, which was nice. Warm tub, cold rain...mmm!

Without going into detail, my brain is messed up over having to deal with some stuff regarding a friend of mine, and I'm willing to guess the gloomy weather isn't helping with that. So, meh.

Salright...only 7 hours and 40 minutes to go :P

Yeah, I'm still here. I've just been quiet for no good reason! Last week, I finally finished the baby blanket for my nail lady, and started on a scarf for Steph, which if I don't slack, shouldn't take me too long to complete. I've also been playing a moderate amount of w0w with Josh, and also some GH.

When I started to get over my ass-kicking cold, Josh got it just as bad. He had to go to the doctor and get drugs and everything. Poor guy! And it's still pounding him, tho I think he should start feeling better by the weekend. Sorry hon! So, we've been staying in for the most part, laying low so the both of us get better. It seems as if everyone I know has *something*. Either this nasty cold or the stomach flu...bleh!

Josh's parents have this thing about doing 'holiday celebrations' on New Years day instead of Xmas, so that's what we did on Wednesday. The coolest thing I got was some hen and chicks in this cool hand-painted pot from Josh's mom. I need to email her about that. It really *is* neato. It's nice and wet in the pot, so now I don't have to water it for like 6 months :P.

Oh! In "it's about fucking time!" news, the FDA approved a 2 hour staph/MRSA test. Seriously, no one should have to go thru what I and many other people have. It's misreable and has long-lasting affects that a year and a half later, are still bothering me.

Tonight is movie/laundry night at M's. And maybe if I'm lucky, warm water! Tomorrow is a going away dinner for Stefi, whois moving to Thailand next week. Saturday, I'm going to lunch at Cato's with Josh, then "I" and I are going to hang out and listen to the rain (cause it's supposed to storm...and I heart the rain) and get yummy comfort food for dinner. Sunday, Stefi has requested a Rock Band Day at our house before she leaves the country again. So, I think there'll be a handful of us being silly and pissing the neighbors off. It'll be great fun!

Anyway, that's about it for me. I need to get going with my day. Lots of projects I don't feel like doing today :P

1. Are you content with your job? Why/why not?
Yes, I am. I like my job. I heart my boss. The work is Missy-oriented. Things are good on the work front!

2. Are you content with your relationship with your significant other? If you don't have one, are you on the lookout for one?
My love life all around is good. I'm quite happy and content, and if things didn't change anytime soon, I wouldn't be butthurt about it. Things are good...better than good. And, it's not often that I'm content. But I am right now. *sigh of relief*

3. How about your friends? Are you content with the ones you have, how they treat you, etc? How so/how not?
I like the people I hang out with and pal around with here on Planet Bay Area, but I'm starting to miss my old friends from back home. Tho we all don't have too much in common with each other anymore (we all took different paths), I really should make the effort to contact them more often. Lately (I've been listening to a lot of 90s/grunge), memories keep flooding back and I'm often reminded of certain people, things we did together, etc.

1. Are you content with your job? Why/why not?

3. How about your friends? Are you content with the ones you have, how they treat you, etc? How so/how not?

Remember to post these in your blog and don't forget to post a comment letting us know where you posted them by posting a link here!