My bosslady sent me home a couple of hours early on Friday because I pretty much couldn't breathe because of the poor air quality. I ended up taking a cab home because my chest and lungs hurt even once I landed in Oakland, where the air quality was better. I laid low and watched the first part of Metallica's 'A Year And A Half In The Life', then went and tea with Steph, then spent some time with Josh, and then spent the rest of the evening sitting around, which was nice.

Saturday, I woke up around 11a, had my coffee, got dressed, and Josh and I headed to Salut to go to lunch and see Kenny. The drinks were good, the food was good, and the company was awesome. That evening, I went to a hillbillie hoedown in Vallejo. I met a cool music producer/musician, a lost 25yo, and hung out with a bunch of people I already knew. There was also a cool black cat that lived there. About 9:30p, some local thugs tried to crash the party, but they were unsuccessful. I started to get a slight case of social anxiety at that point, and decided I had had enough for one evening. So, I went home and went to bed.

Sunday morning, we went to Lois for breakfast, and then I spent the afternoon with Hickory, hanging out and shooting the shit. I had a good, but intense afternoon! I spent the evening chilling out, and went to bed around 10:30p.

Tonight, I'm supposed to go to M's for movie night. Tomorrow, nothing's on the calendar. Wednesday, a friend from college is passing thru towne, and so I think we're going to dinner with him and his wife. Thursday, I'm hanging out with "I". Friday, I'm going to a 4th party at The Pharm. Saturday is a tkost 5th party. And Sunday is Sunday Sauce 2: Food & Rock Band. Monday is nothing, and then on Tuesday the 8th, I'm going to go see Stevie Wonder! Why? Cause, I hear he puts on a kick-ass show, and I wanna be able to tell my friends' grandkids that I got to see the Great Stevie Wonder!

The past 7 days have pretty much sucked with only a few precious bits of awsomeness. 3 days of a friend's wedding events (I heart the bride and groom, I just don't like weddings), a car almost overheating and asploding, a missing kid for 3 days, a wound on my finger that isn't wanting to heal as quickly as it normally would as a side affect of my meds, various other little things to get in my way, and the campout I wanted to go to changing into some hippy dippy event that I don't (and won't, now) want to attend. And so my question is, what the hell did I do to piss off the karma gods? :P. *shakes fist*

I've been very upset all week over the whole campout thing. For 10 months, M and I have been discussing how it would pretty much be like last year. There'd be very little planning (except music and potties), and everyone would just do their own thing, and it'd be awesome. If people wanted to bring art or do other things, they could, but it would not be planned, and we would have nothing to do with it. He and I discussed this, and this is what he told everyone he talked to about it. Then someone thought it would be a good idea to have a 'planners meeting'. I voiced my opinion that "what was the point if we're not planning anything?", and stayed home. Apparently, other people had different ideas, and M didn't stand up for what he and I and other people had discussed. In all honesty, he probly just doesn't care what people want to do as long as the event happens. So now it's turned into a 50 people 'birthday party' with much planned quiet time, story telling, guided astronomy tours, and very limited music. Hi. What the *fuck* is the point of having a music-based campout if you're going to severely limit the music? And *when* did you take the music-based theme and throw it out the window without seeing what everyone else had to say? I had my favorite DJ all lined up, and he got pushed out of the way for a live act. This was after I was told to see if I could get him to play. Which I *did*. *3 weeks ago*. So, in the span of 3 days, I have sent a few 'I'm highly disappointed in this turn of events" emails, with people criticizing me and the other couple of people who want to throw a regular campout like last year. Their argument: "Well, you can go to other campouts if you want that". This was *our* campout that we had been discussing for *10 months*. If you want to have a birthday party with activities and other things, great! Plan it for a different weekend since it doesn't have *anything* to do with what we'd been discussing all along! Not only that, but this was the *only* event I had planned this summer. I've miss most of the other big ones by now, or have other things planned.

I'm still pretty upset. My feelings are hurt for several different reasons. And most of all, I am upset that I probably won't get to go to a campout this year. Why? Cause, it's one of the few times I can totally let it all hang out and relax. I'm not going to Chillits because I don't want to be around 20-30+ kids. I swear to GungaMunga, if I wanted to go party with kids, I'd have some of my own. How come people don't understand this? However, I'm going to a cabin party in Tahoe at the end of September, so I have that to look forward to. It's going to take some time for me to get over this, but I *will* eventually get over it.

On to other things: My child came back, and emotions have seemed to have leveled out in my house, so that's good. On Tuesday, I went out for some beers and pizza at Cato's, and had a good time. And then z0rg came back that night too! On Wednesday, Hickory came over and we watched 'Schreck The Third' which was awful and terrible, but I was in the mood for something that fit that discription.

Yesterday, we went grocery shopping at Trader Joe's, as we had no food in the house. It seems like we're so busy anymore, that we wait until the last possible second to go food shopping. I hate that :P. Beforehand, I had the great idea of us getting a beer at Ben & Nick's, which helped with the shopping experience. I was also amazed to find that there weren't too many people shopping, which was very nice. I got mused at by the staff for dancing in the isles to break up the monotony. It worked! Then I spent the next hour and a half putting away stuff. Why so long? Because OCD girl portions out her food into seperate baggies of stuff and then freezes it. But hey, it just means that when it comes time to pull stuff out to cook, I don't have to do much prep work! KP called me a 'freak' for doing that, and he's right, but I swim with pride in my fr34k'dom! :P.

Tonight, I think I will hole up in my house and do not much of anything that requires too much human interaction or thought. Tomorrow, Josh and I are going to Kenny's new gig up in Point Richmond to have lunch. After that, I'm going to a hick/hillbilly hoedown up in Vallejo (the bankrupt towne....good place to have the party! :P). Sunday, I think there might be a BBQ somewhere, tho I may just stay home, too. I fear my current bitterness might get the best of me, and I don't want to bring everyone down. But, we'll see how the weekend goes.

In 'doom' news, northern California is on fire. While I'm all for entropy, it's creating quite a difficult breathing environment as a result! I live in Oakland, which is on the west side of the Oakland Hills. I work in Walnut Creek, which is on the east side of the Hills. Most of the fires are up north, with all the smoke and crap floating down south. It's pretty misreable over here on the east side of the Hills. It's hard to breathe, visibility is less than 5 miles (that's a guess), and even the short walk from BART to my office sux. Over in Oakland, it's much easier to breathe, but visibility isn't great. I do wonder tho, if some 4th of July campouts will be doomed due to crappy air quality, since most of them are inland. I hope not! That would suck! I wonder how long this'll last...

Song in my head this morning: 'Burning Down the House' by Talking Heads
:P

Anyway, time to get movin forward with my morning.

1. Got any big projects in the works? If so, what's on your plate? If not, are there any projects you want to start/take up?
I just finished a *huge* project. I tagged and album-arted 102 gigs of mp3s. My entire collection. It took a long time, and required a lot of patience, but now that it's finished, I'm reaping the rewards! It's much easier to find stuff to listen to now! Now I just gotta put away all of the CDs that I ripped :P.

2. Do you have pets? Do you think pets could/are beneficial to helping to have a less stressful life? Why/why not? What are your general views on pets?
I have 3 cats named Squeeek, z0rg, and Helen and a betta fish named Bob. I believe that pets *are* beneficial to lowering stress, at least in myself! Over the 11 years that I've known him, Squeeek has taught me to mellow out (at least a little!) in stressful situations. The other day when z0rg got out and wouldn't come home, I knew he was around and that he was okay because Squeeek wasn't freaking out. Even tho he could do without z0rg's presence, he knows that his mommy and Josh love him, so I know for a fact that he would have let us know if something wasn't ok. I suppose pets aren't for everyone, but I certainly don't understand people who don't have them. Why deny yourself the unconditional love? *shrug*

3. Do you wear any jewelry? If so, what do you wear? If you don't wear any, why not?
I didn't used to, but over the years have aquired a few pieces. I wear a ring on my right ring-finer that Josh got me in 2006. On my left hand, I wear a ring on my middle finger that my mom got me for Xmas in 1999. I wear a necklace that Micah gave me in 2003. And lastly, I wear a pair of earings that Josh got me in 2007 for V-Day. Each piece I wear means something to me for a particular reason. Everything is aquamarine or blue topaz in color, and is simple, but pretty. I like simple and pretty :)

1. Got any big projects in the works? If so, what's on your plate? If not, are there any projects you want to start/take up?

3. Do you wear any jewelry? If so, what do you wear? If you don't wear any, 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!

Well, z0rggy finally decided to show back up last night! "Ohai, Josh! Can I come in now? I'm done bein' mad and want food and looooooove". Silly cat! I'm glad he's back, tho. He slept with us last night. Josh wrapped himself around z0rg and wouldn't let him go ;P. And z0rggy didn't have a problem with this. :)

I got up this morning, fed the cats, took a shower, and left at 7:15a like I do every morning to catch the train. I get to the station, run up the stairs to the usual platform, and was in a rush to not miss the train, so I got on it. I knew something was wrong when there were people in my car, as it's usually totally empty. Ah, I got on a Richmond train...htf did that happen? The tracks musta been broken or something, and so they were running both Richmond and Bay Point trains on the same track. And since I was just rushing to get on the train and didn't know any better, I thought it was the correct train. I got off at Ashby and waited almost 20 minutes for another train, and just *barely* made the last train for 12 minutes. So, Instead of showing up at work at 8:05, I showed up at 8:30. Oops :P I wasn't late, but it was a dumb mistake on my part for not reading the sign even if I was in a hurry, and BART's fault for fucking with us so early in the morning. Hopefully this won't happen again tonight :P.

My friends and I are throwing a campout the first weekend in August, however, the more I hear about it, the more I may not be going. I probly shouldn't go into it until things are final, but there's a good chance that I'll be staying home instead. This also has my boxers in a wad today.

While I'm on a tirade this morning, The Supreme Court has decided that being put to death for raping a child is cruel and unusual punishment. Are these people fucking kidding me? We can only execute someone for murder? These sick, twisted idiots take a child's innocense away and scar them for life, but that's okay. They'll just do their time and get released. What the hell kind of drugs were the Justices on when this came down? I mean....are they really serious?

Here's the second "Oh jesus christ, do we really need to talk about this?": Some fucking crazy SF folks want to tack Boner Jr's name to the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant. What kind of insult is *that*? Are these people kidding me?

I am going to have to put a lot of effort into not loosing my cool today.

Since Thursday, I've had 3 days of wedding exercises for a couple of friends of ours, a car almost overheat and blow up, emotions flailing, and a missing kid.

We watched our next door neighbor's cat this weekend. I locked the kids in the bedroom, and brought him over to hang out in the livingroom for a few hours. I did the same thing yesterday, but for some reason, Josh brought out z0rg, who *freaked out*. He literally tore thru the screen in the sliding glass door, and took off. He's gotten out before and has come home, so I'm not really worried. I have let him out supervised enough, that I'm sure the smells are familiar enough that he knows where home is. He's scared and is probably hiding out somewhere. Josh has lost his mind about it, and feels horrible, but I keep telling him not to worry so much. When he s0rg to go out regularly, he would be gone for a week and then show his face again for a day or two before going out again. It may take him a few days, but he'll show back up. Hungry. Wanting lots of love.

I went and did laundry in the early evening, and then went to Koryo with "I" and had some way friggin good sushi. That place seems to be hit or miss on my palate, but last night was *delicious*. Yum yum.

I stayed home today because the nerves in my back are being a little wonky because of my medicine (I think my body is just adjusting again to a higher dose), and also to see if I can get z0rg to come home. Some rest and a hot bath should do my nerves good. I'll probly go walk the neighborhood at some point. Walking should help the nerves too. This is just an adjustment period, and that's ok. If it remains a problem, I'll drop the dosage down, but I think once my body adjusts, it'll be fine. From now until 7/14, I remain on the same dosage, so all should level out soon.

I need a vacation :P

Anyway, I'm hungry. Time for some CoCo Wheats!!

We'll miss you, buddy!

He was one of my comedic favorites. I first heard his stuff in 1992 with 'Jammin In New York', and played it over and over and over and over until I had memorized it. Since I'm home today, I think I'll watch that on DVD.

Heart failure sux.

At around 11:30a this morning, I was outside watering my plants and feeding my squirrels when I swear it felt and sounded like it was raining. I looked up into the sky and over to my left there was a big rain cloud. I looked straight up, and could literally see the drops coming down from the sky. I had never seen anything like that before. It was kinda cool.

And since it seems like there's no end to this heat even in Oakland, a few drops of rain is a nice welcome. Maybe I'll get to see some heat lightening next!

In response to my 3x Thursday answer about my feelings on marriage:

"My first thought upon reading your dissertation regarding your
feelings on the institution of marriage was that you were a hero for
saying that."

I love having friends that r0ck :)

I commute by foot/train almost everyday anyway, but the Metropolitan Transportation Commission picked today as a Spare The Air day, so all of us commuters going into work (and, until 12p) get to ride the trains and buses for free!

It's our gift for not driving! Yay, thanks!

First and foremost: Happy Boofday to Steph! Have a great day!

It's been another up and down week for my nerves, but I'm learning how to deal with it better. Walking everyday seems to help. Getting the blood flowing and all that. Maybe there's something to the guess-workers when they say exercising helps maintain health! :P

My nerve medicine side-effects (this is more for me to get it down somewhere): It tends to make my body tired, but not in a 'I want to go to sleep' way. Getting up and walking around helps. If I do some activity to physically wear myself down, my legs don't like to work very well. I get this aching pain in my back, and I have to force myself to move my limbs. They don't hurt and they don't tingle, just making the effort to move them is great. I could still get up and run if the building caught fire. If I don't eat regularly and watch how my body is doing, I will crash in the late afternoons. This brings mood swings that suck. The medicine also makes my short-term memory mushy. I've started writing things down more, and sending reminders to myself. I think that's all I've noticed so far.

Now that I'm done with my id3 project, I dunno what I'm going to do project-wise (having goals keeps me motivated), and I keep thinking about it and coming up not very much. I have about 4 books to read in my pile, so I think that'll become a focus. And working on my scarf for Taylor also. Oh, and note to me: put away all of your CDs next week! And I think that maybe sometime soon, I will go hunting for a crochet lesson. I think it's time to get better at it.

Okay, I have work to do, and a kneeling chair to put together, so I better get at it.

1. Have you made any life-style changes lately? If so, what are they? If not, are things fine the way they are, or would you like to change something?
Well, I started commuting (walking/taking the train), so I'd call that a lifestyle change. I only have to get up 20 minutes earlier in the morning, so it's not bad at all. And because of my walk, this means I get exercise on a regular basis now, which is good! In dealing with my nerve damage and the new medicine I'm on, I've been trying to be more in-tune with what my body is doing and saying to me. Sometimes I fail miserably, but I'm getting better!

2. Do you believe in the institution of marriage? Why/why not?
The really long answer: Absolutely not. The institution of marriage is a far outdated concept for current times.

Okay, I think I'm done with my long-winded answer now :P

3. How's life treating you these days?
On the whole, not bad at all. Pretty damn good, actually. Home life is good. The furkids are good. Other life is good. Work life is good. Health is at about 85%, but it's bound to get better. I'm battling my nerve damage, but even on a low dose (gotta slowly graduate to a higher one), I think I'm doing better on my drugs than I would without them. So, other than some discomfort from my nerves, I don't really have anything to complain about. I'm a happy camper these days.

1. Have you made any life-style changes lately? If so, what are they? If not, are things fine the way they are, or would you like to change something?

3. How's life treating you these days?

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!

Done done done done done!!!!! Done, I tell ya!

Many weeks and hours of work have produced 102 gigs of mp3s (all of the music, books, and spoken word that's in my collection) that are correctly tagged, (title, album, year, genre, etc) all with album art. For things that didn't have album art, I inserted fractals. None of this probably matters to most people, nor do most people care, but OCD Girl cares! And, it makes using my iPo a whole hell of a lot easier. Apple makes their products in mind with you using it a certain way, and if you deviate from that, then it's not as 'cool', or it makes the product harder to use. Fuckers! But, I decided that my music needed to be cleaned up anway, and if I was going to drink a little more of Apple's koolaid, I was going to do it *my* way.

Yay, I'm so proud of myself!

Steps involved:
1. Tagging and arting the 88 gigs of stuff that I already had on my hard drive.
2. Ripping CDs from my physical collection that never got ripped and then inserting album art
3. Re-ripping CDs from my physical collection that were below 192kbps and then inserting art

It doesn't sound like a lot of work, but it is/was. I used Tag & Rename, which Josh bought for me to use with this project. I'd been using a cracked copy for years, but him paying for it was completely and totally worth it. I love this program. It tags, renames, *and* finds you album art if it can (thru Amazon). There was a lot of album art that I had to go hunt for manually, but that wasn't their fault. Lots of it was rare, or wasn't in Amazon's database.

I spent today ripping a few more CDs and doing some last-minute cleanup, but now I've decided that I'm done! I'll copy everything to my hard drive at home tonight (I'd been making backups regularly!) and then reload my iPo. Then I'm going to make a solid playlist, and then I'll be done! And then going forward when I get new music, I've got an efficient system that works, and it won't take any time to clean it up!

What am I going to do now, you ask? Go get new music, of course!! :P

I had to go digging thru all my physical album art last night to find track listings for these albums because they were indie bands from 12 years ago and they're no longer around. So for anyone else looking for such a track listing, here ya go:

Clifton Wells - The Loats Letters
01 - Bought & Sold
02 - Go Away
03 - S.O.S.
04 - Torn Over You
05 - Don't Lie To Me Brother
06 - Try The Salad Bar
07 - Wrapped Around Your Finger
08 - Mr.Kennedy
09 - Little Boy
10 - I'm Opening
11 - And The Band Played On
12 - Hurting Kind
13 - Ghost Rider
14 - Sunday, Monday, Happy Days
15 - Johnny

Ring Levio - Picnic
01 - Sorrow
02 - People
03 - Reach Out
04 - Once
05 - Beg
06 - What i Need
07 - SKIN
08 - More
09 - It's All Wrong
10 - Somewhere
There are also 2 extra tracks that are not listed in the liner notes

I drove to/from work on Friday, and wondered how the hell I did it everyday for 2 years :P. People were jerks! Totally tailing me to the point where I had to keep stepping on the breaks, weaving around me even tho I was going faster than everyone else, being stupid about merging....sheesh! I'm glad I've stopped driving for the most part! Friday evening, we had a few people over to watch the mid-season finale (I swear they do that kinda thing just to fuck with us) of BSG. And for those of you who haven't seen it yet, all I have to say is, "Earth is a radioactive ruin!".

Saturday, we bummed around the house for part of the day, then Buster came over and we played Rock Band with him for a few hours. Around 4, I took a shower and went to SF to watch Weekend King, which was actually really good! I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew one or two people in it, so I said okay when I was asked to come see it. After that, I was tired from my nerve damage bothering me most of the day, so the rest of the evening was mellow.

Sunday was breakfast at Fellini. Tofu scrambled eggs (yuck! but, I wanted something healthy) and a pint-sized mimosa (yum!). After a little more being lazy after breakfast, Josh and I headed to his parent's house for his dad's birthday/Father's Day. It was a nice couple of hours.

My nerve damage certainly has its moments. It comes and goes. One hour it doesn't bother me, 5 hours later I don't want to sit. I'm taking my new meds, and have been bumping them up slowly, but I think I'm going to need a higher dosage. It makes me sleepy during the day, but I feel I need the help all day long, so I've been dealing with it. Walking 3/4 of last week helped. Probably something to do with blood flowing, blahblahblah. I go see the doctor again in about 3 weeks, so we'll see what she has to say when I go to see her again. Right now, when it's bugging me, I'm sitting on ice packs. Sounds a little silly, but hey, if it works... I also asked my bosslady if the office would buy me a kneeling chair, which distributes the weight more to your knees than to your booty. That should be here probably early next week. But in the end, it seems to be more managable, even with the side affects.

Tonight is my only down-time night. Josh is making me dinner, and then I imagine we'll watch the 3 hours of When We Left Earth from Sunday. That show is ubber neato. Tomorrow, I believe that one of Josh's old roommates is coming over to play Rock Band. Thursday is the rehersal and dinner for the wedding that Josh is in. Friday at 5p is the wedding. Saturday is a post-wedding party. Sunday, I am probably going to a late dinner with "I". A full week/weekend!

This morning, I drove to work and came in early so I could take The Three Munchkins to their day camp. Mom had a meeting, and it was a cool excuse to see them! And after a month of not getting my nails done like I normally do, I can't stand the way my hands look anymore, so I'm getting them done pretty-like today. And my toesies too! Give me shit if you like, but it's one of the few girlie things I do :P.

...And, apparently, we're back! While I was writing this, it looks like the web server that my site is on took a dump, or it was restarted. Either way, it went away for a few mins.. *shakes head*. Oh well, at least they fixt it!

Anyway, that's about it for me.

I drove to/from work on Friday, and wondered how the hell I did it everyday for 2 years :P. People were jerks! Totally tailing me to the point where I had to keep stepping on the breaks, weaving around me even tho I was going faster than everyone else, being stupid about merging....sheesh! I'm glad I've stopped driving for the most part! Friday evening, we had a few people over to watch the mid-season finale (I swear they do that kinda thing just to fuck with us) of BSG. And for those of you who haven't seen it yet, all I have to say is, "Earth is a radioactive ruin!".

Saturday, we bummed around the house for part of the day, then Buster came over and we played Rock Band with him for a few hours. Around 4, I took a shower and went to SF to watch Weekend King, which was actually really good! I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew one or two people in it, so I said okay when I was asked to come see it. After that, I was tired from my nerve damage bothering me most of the day, so the rest of the evening was mellow.

Sunday was breakfast at Fellini. Tofu scrambled eggs (yuck! but, I wanted something healthy) and a pint-sized mimosa (yum!). After a little more being lazy after breakfast, Josh and I headed to his parent's house for his dad's birthday/Father's Day. It was a nice couple of hours.

My nerve damage certainly has its moments. It comes and goes. One hour it doesn't bother me, 5 hours later I don't want to sit. I'm taking my new meds, and have been bumping them up slowly, but I think I'm going to need a higher dosage. It makes me sleepy during the day, but I feel I need the help all day long, so I've been dealing with it. Walking 3/4 of last week helped. Probably something to do with blood flowing, blahblahblah. I go see the doctor again in about 3 weeks, so we'll see what she has to say when I go to see her again. Right now, when it's bugging me, I'm sitting on ice packs. Sounds a little silly, but hey, if it works... I also asked my bosslady if the office would buy me a kneeling chair, which distributes the weight more to your knees than to your booty. That should be here probably early next week. But in the end, it seems to be more managable, even with the side affects.

Tonight is my only down-time night. Josh is making me dinner, and then I imagine we'll watch the 3 hours of When We Left Earth from Sunday. That show is ubber neato. Tomorrow, I believe that one of Josh's old roommates is coming over to play Rock Band. Thursday is the rehersal and dinner for the wedding that Josh is in. Friday at 5p is the wedding. Saturday is a post-wedding party. Sunday, I am probably going to a late dinner with "I". A full week/weekend!

This morning, I drove to work and came in early so I could take The Three Munchkins to their day camp. Mom had a meeting, and it was a cool excuse to see them! And after a month of not getting my nails done like I normally do, I can't stand the way my hands look anymore, so I'm getting them done pretty-like today. And my toesies too! Give me shit if you like, but it's one of the few girlie things I do :P.

...And, apparently, we're back! While I was writing this, it looks like the web server that my site is on took a dump, or it was restarted. Either way, it went away for a few mins.. *shakes head*. Oh well, at least they fixt it!

Anyway, that's about it for me.

So, I've been walking the mile to the BART station in the mornings (a 20 minute walk), taking the train to work, and then walking the 5 mins to my building. Then in the evening, I do it in reverse. It's not been bad at all! My legs are a little sore and I've been kinda tired from all of the walking, but I think that's just adjusting to changing my routine. I hardly notice the 20 minute walk in the morning and afternoon. The music plays and my mind goes off in some far-off land and I come-to when I get to my destination. And the saving money thing is nice too!

I somehow managed to misplace an entire pack of birth control pills. Me. Ms.OCD anal-retentive neat-nick girl. I've torn apart my office, car, and house. They're *nowhere* to be found. I'm pretty sure I lost them the day I picked them up, because I was pretty upset that day. I found out that the insurance company had dicked me over, and I don't remember much after that. It's very possible that I threw them away on accident. Stupid, but it's a possibility. However, I might be able to get my hands on a pack that someone isn't using. If not, I have to call my OB's office tomorrow and explain that I was an idiot and lost them and see if they'll give me a sample pack. If that fails, I'll have to shell out $50 out of pocket for them because I've already paid and picked up this month's supply that insurance covers. If that happens, then whatever. It'll be the price I pay for being dumb and irresponsible But, let's hope that donut happen. I still can't believe that I did that. *shakes head*.

I am *done* with 2 out of 3 parts of my music collection renovation project! Yay! The first part was to go thru and retag all of the music in my collection that sits on my harddrive. 88 gigs, but I made it thru without too many scars. This involved getting album artwork, making sure file names were correct, etc. The second part of the project was to take all of the music off CDs I had in storage off. So, I went thru 2 MSDN binders and pulled off what I wanted and was finally able to throw away all of those CDs. Then I had to go and re-tag all of that. I only kept the stuff that was irreplacable because apparently back in the day, I didn't know shit about tagging music :P. And, most of that stuff isn't in very high quality. The third and last part of this project is to go back and re-rip CDs. I have lots of CDs that aren't ripped into mp3's. I also have lots of low-quality rips from 10 years ago, and would like higher-res rips. So, that's next. Last night, I went thru and pulled out all of the disks that I want to rip. This will take some time, but I think it'll be less painful than the other 2 parts. The CD ripping proggy does most of the tagging and album art for me, so all I have to do is rip the CD and then double check to make sure things came out properly. Slowly but surely, the end is near! Yay! :P

Interesting to me: Josh and I had a conversation last night about his fear that I may get bored doing the same things with him all of the time. When we're home together (3-4 nights out of 7) we usually stay home and play games or watch TV or movies. Or, he plays games and I hang out in the living-room and do whatever. Sometimes we go out to eat, but not too terribly often. Personally, I like it. The less I have to be out in public, the better. I'm pretty much a hermit, and staying home and just hanging out is fine with me. Josh said he found it hard to believe he found someone who is simple in that way like he is, but I guess we'll chalk that up to luck or something :P. I like to think that on the whole, I'm fairly low-maintenance. I don't need much, and I try and not ask for too much from anyone. I've gotten better with age.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings for today.

1. Are you afraid of the 'elements' (floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.)that affect the region of the country that you live in? Why/why not? Are you prepared at all if something happens?
Nope. I believe that we make a conscious decision as to where we live, and each area has it's potential natural disasters. If you live on the east coast and in the south, you have hurricanes. If you live in the midwest, you have floods and tornadoes. If you live in the high north, you have blizzards. Deserts have droughts. California has earthquakes. It's nature in its purest form. I have chosen to live in California for a number of reasons. Earthquakes don't scare me. If one occurs and it kills me, then so be it. Population control is good.

2. What about the price of everything costing more these days? Does it scare you? Why/why not? Are you doing anything to cover yourself?
Why should I be scared that a loaf of bread costs more today than it did yesterday? Why should I be scared of something stupid like money in the first place? Things cost more now, so what? You come up with ways to cut costs in some areas so you can spend more in others. It's just the way the world works. I quit driving to work and am taking public transit instead. This saves me $30 a week (or, $120 a month), which can go to other things like going out, buying groceries, paying other bills, and hey, maybe even saving it for a rainy day. If I spent my life being afraid of everything, I'd be dead by now. Boo!!!

3. Are you afraid to die? Why/why not?
Not at all. I've lived a good, hard-earned privileged life, so if it all ended tomorrow, I'd die a happy person. I've spent the past 2 years dealing with major stresses and pain and complications from poor medical care, and I've learned that dealing with it all depends on attitude. One cannot influence outside sources on their life like bad doctors, MRSA infections, long-term complications from illnesses, and bad health care. However, they can totally control how they *handle* such things. If you can learn to do that in at least a semi-positive way, then you'll be a happy person. And if you can life your life as a happy person, then when it comes time to depart this world, it won't really seem like such a big deal. Because afterall, I believe there's something else waiting for us. Let me clarify here that if I *did* die tomorrow, I'd kinda want it on my terms. No horrible gruesome circumstances, and no pain.

1. Are you afraid of the 'elements' (floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.) that affect the region of the country that you live in? Why/why not? Are you prepared at all if something happens?

3. Are you afraid to die? 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!

I was listening to Apocalyptica this morning, and had the memory of the day I heard them for the first time....

It was either 1998 or 1999...I was living in Munchie (Muncie, IN), but was in Indianapolis at the time. Brent and I had driven down for something...probly to see my Mammaw or something. Anyway, before heading back up, we stopped at Best Buy at Castleton Mall. This was when people still bought CDs, and mp3s and internet radio were in their infancy (tho I was into both even at this time). I still bought CDs at the time also, and was rifling thru the Metallica section when I see the Apocalyptica album. I was like, "Huh? What's this? 4 cellos playing Metallica? This sounds too friggin' weird *not* to listen to it!". So, I bought it on impulse and threw it in the portable CD player for the hour drive back home.

I was hooked on the first note. Impressive, musical, pretty, and accurate. *Really* accurate. No botched arrangements, not even a note missing from a solo. Impressive...superhero-like, even!

They did one more covers album before venturing on to do their own stuff. I didn't listen to anything after the 2nd covers album, but I'm sure it's really good. Classically trained cellists playing on instruments from the 1700s? Sounds good to me!

Anyway, they have a spechul spot in my musical collection.

So, I've been on my new nerve meds for a week now. I feel a *ton* better already. I adjusted a few things like how much I take when. I take one in the morning with a little food (quicker absorption with food, according to wikipedia), and then another between 5 and 8p. Right now, this only adds up to 200mg a day. My doctor wants me to work up to higher doses, so I'm on 2 pills a day until next week, when I graduate to 300mg. I have very few side affects (it doesn't make me too tired, and my limbs don't twitch), so that's cool. I know that based on how it works now, that I need a higher dose, so I'm interested in seeing what upping the dosage by a pill does. So, yay for some relief!

So, this morning, right around when the sun started to come up, I swear it felt like someone came and kicked the bed at the base. I woke up (I'm a light sleeper anyway), looked around, and went back to sleep. Come to find out, it was a 3.1 earthquake that kicked the bed and woke me up. And what popped into my mind when I read what it actually was? "Eh, only a 3.1? Whatever". I think this means that I have acclimated to my surroundings pretty well (CA versus IN), and that maybe I was always meant to be here. Or maybe I lived here in a former life and a measly 3'er is peanuts compared to whatever else I experienced? At any rate, it was nothin'. However, I've been having lots of dreams lately about earthquakes. Nothing bad, just experiencing them. They're still fairly foreign concepts to me. I've been here 8 years and I've been thru less than 10 earthquakes, the biggest one being in 2003, which was a 4. I hope I don't ever have to deal with anything stronger than that, but I'm sure in time I will. You know, statistics and all that...

I had a good weekend. It was exhausting, but educational and eye-opening. I learned that the human brain is fucked-up, yet friggin' fascinating and amazing at the same time. That's all I gotta say about that. Friday, I hung out with my friend Margo, then spent the rest of the evening just chilling. Saturday was a nice day in the park, followed by another chill evening. I had this mad craving to watch 'UHF', so Weird Al made my night for me. Sunday was breakfast at Lois, followed by napping and laundry. Last night, Josh and I watched this week's episode of BSG, and we were in bed by 10p.

This morning, I started taking public transit to work. We have a rail/train/subway system here called BART. I can pay $1.75 to ride the bus a mile to the BART station from my house, or take a 20-25 minute walk. I walked this morning because, why not get the exercise? I left my house between 7:10 and 7:15 and was on a train by 7:40a. I took the train to the station near work, walked the 5 minutes to my office, and clocked in at 8:05a. w00p! Looking at the times for the train, I can leave Oakland as late as 8:12a and still get here by 8:35a. If I oversleep or something, there's a train that would get me here 5 minutes late, but that's not a big deal. It's nice to have options. And public transit! No putting wear and tear on my car! No having to wade thru Tunnel traffic! No idiot drivers! No $60 a week to fill up my car! It's $5.80 a day to take the train roundtrip, which equates to $23 a week ($29 if I took it all 5 days). Big deal. Half as expensive as driving. I'm going to drive once a week just so my car doesn't sit all of the time, but that still won't be much out of my pocket. Yay for being wise with my money!

There's some mild cold going around. A friend of mine gave it to me, but my immune system is up enough that it only got me in the head for a few days. No biggie. I'm pretty much over it. But I guess Josh has it, and my bosslady has it as well. They're both staying home sick today.

I think that's enough of my ramblings today. It looks to be another quiet week, so that's cool. So far, the only thing I have on my calendar this week is Movie Night on Thursday, which is at my house this week. Yay! The weekend should be quiet, and so should the first half of next week. The last half will be fairly busy, as a friend of ours is getting married and Josh is Best Man, so we have to be at all the events which range from Thursday to Saturday.

When trying to connect to http://www.amazon.com:

"Http/1.1 Service Unavailable"

Awesome.

Boy, I'm wired for sound today. My nerve meds apparently do the opposite of what my doctor said they'd do. Maybe it's the small dose, but jeeze. I've been having major discomfort this week, so I'm changing my med schedule to one in the morning and one at night. Basically, I have to play with the dosage and be patient for a few weeks. Aside from the wired-ness, I haven't been in too bad of shape today. It's almost 1p, and I *haven't* had to take half an Ativan, so we're doing good!

Last night, Josh made this way-friggin-yummy sirloin & cream sauce meal last night for dinner. *Damn*, it was good. And apparently, it was an Alton Brown recipe, so thank you, sir! Tonight, I think we're going out for dinner, but I dunno where yet. Tomorrow, I think I may hang out with my favorite waitress from Lois, listen to the Hobo's on the radio, and then hang out with other cute peoples later. I dunno what I'm doing this weekend while Josh is gone, but I'll find somethin' to do! The possibilities are endless!

1. So, we finally have a Democratic candidate in the U.S.: Barack Obama. What do you think of that? Do you think he can win against John McCain? Why/why not?
A woman and a black man running for president...it was completely unheard of 20 years ago, and today, it's still makes one think. Personally, I think it's awesome. I like Obama. He's smart *and* he can speak in public, which is more than I can say for our sitting president *or* McCain. Can Obama win against McCain? I dunno. I worry about the midwest and the south still thinking backwards, and voting for McCain because "they'll never vote for a black man". That line of thinking is one of the reasons that I left that part of the country. McCain worries me because I am not sure he's up for the job. He looks a little a *lot* wary, and very tired. Looking at him during his speech the other night, he looked like he was on pain meds, and really out of it. Is he going to do that for 4-8 years? Do I want someone running the country who can't handle it? No. Sure, he's got extensive military background, but when it comes to running the country and helping its citizens out, I don't think that really means much. I'll follow this process until it becomes a prick-waving contest, and then I'll pick it up again closer to the election. I *can* say that it'll be a very, very interesting 5 months. You know what I think? As part of each candidate's evaluation, I think we should make them each play a game of Civilization. That would *really* tell a lot, wouldn't it?

2. What is your position on illegal drugs?
I think that when a person hits Adulthood, they are responsible for their own actions. It doesn't matter what the subject is. If they do something wrong, then they must accept the consequences of their actions. When it comes to drugs and alcohol (I lump them into the same category for various reasons), a person is responsible for how they handle their 'drugs'. If someone goes on a coke binge and dies, what the hell do I care? They weren't responsible in the first place (because they OD'd), so why should I care that they're not taking up valuable space on this planet?

Personally, I believe that partying (no matter what is involved) is okay in moderation. Moderation to one person isn't the same as moderation to another, so each person has to be on the ball enough to judge what their tollerances are. If you work hard all day, keep your life in order, and are a 'responsible' citizen, then what's a little relaxation? What's the point of keeping your shit together if you can't cut loose occasionally? I can't control anyone's behavior but my own, and I think I control it pretty well for the most part.

3. What do you think of the health care system in the country in which you reside?
I live in the U.S., and it's *fucking ridiculous*. I have health, dental, *and* eye insurance. Ah, the benefit of working for a traditional mid-western company that's been around for almost half a century. I am *very, very, VERY* lucky, and I know this. And, I use it. And, I *need* it. And, I worked hard to get it. And, some of it was luck and karma. But most people are not as fortunate as myself. That's a shame, and it's not right. We need a major overhaul in this country, but I think until it burns down to the ground and we're forced to start over, not much will change. It will be a game of the 'survival of the fittest'. And as horrific as it sounds, it's true.

1. So, we finally have a Democratic candidate in the U.S.: Barack Obama. What do you think of that? Do you think he can win against John McCain? Why/why not?

3. What do you think of the health care system in the country in which you reside?

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!

Wayward Cow Holds Up Hwy. 24 Commuters.

Hahaha...I love cows :) And I love even more that it happened *after* I got to work! :P

I knew the whole Stone Temple Pilots thing getting back together and touring thing wouldn't end well, but apparently, it isn't beginning well either. When I read into this article, he probly came out on stage high as a kite, and started to make an ass out of himself, but was saved by his bandmate. But apparently, the performance wasn't very good as a whole. This does not surprise me at all.

Add this particular performance to the list of reasons I will not be paying to see them play in July, 5 miles from my house. I am *so totally* bitter about this. And disappointed. *Really* disappointed. I *love* STP, I really do. 'Core' and 'Purple' both have special places in my heart. But Weiland's blatent being an asshole by pulling stupid stunts and acting like a jerk has completely convinced me to save my money and stay home. And, it's a total shame.

I really hope the guy doesn't end up killing himself. He may be acting like an idiot as a direct result of his problems, but I can't really excuse that kind of behavior. Being high, acting like a jerk, not getting medical attention for disorders, and getting thrown out of bands for doing such things is something you do in your late teens and into your 20s, not something you do in your 40s. Get some help for your mental disorder, clean up your act, and try and be halfway responsible, will ya? If not for you, your bandmates, or your fans, do it for your kids and your wife. At 8 and 6, those kids probly know exactly what is going on. Don't make them hate you for it in 10 years.

*sigh*

So, I started on my new meds last night. Doctor lady says they're supposed to make me sleep also, so I didn't take anything to sleep. Not only did I have a hard time falling asleep, but I tossed and turned all night long. I'm friggin tired today! Maybe it's cause she started me out on a dose that's 1/3 of what she wants me to be at, but damn. I will definitely be going to bed early tonight. And, meds...do your jorb! :P

So, I went and saw my new doctor today, and spent about an hour with her. I told her the saga of my health over the past couple of years and what was going on now. My current major problem (and has been for a year and a half) is the pins & needles pains on my backside. Even sitting hurts. Now how much of the suck is *that*? Instead of just throwing pain meds about it, she's starting me on something called Neurontin. It's used to treat seizures, but is also effective in treating neuralgia (nerve pain due to surgery, skin conditions like shingles, etc...basically, long-term nerve pain).

So, I'm supposed to take 1 pill at night for a week. If I do okay on that, then it's 2 pills a night. If I do okay on that, it's 3 pills a night. If that helps, we can entertain the idea of a morning dosage, but I guess (like with Seroquel...the stuff I take to sleep), it can put you out. Hence, the taking it at night thing. Really, the starting dosage is 300mg, so she's starting me out slow. But hey, if this helps, and it means I'm not on pain pills all of the time, yay! It will also help out my wallet. Even $10 perscriptions add up when you're trying something new all of the time. Things are so bad that the Target pharmacy knows me by name. So if this helps, it'll be totally welcome.

So, here's hoping that this stuff helps for real!

So, as part of my job, I answer the phones. This one really bugs me:

"Good morning/afternoon PlaceWhereIWork"
"Hi, may I speak to Bosslady?"
"Yes, may I ask who's calling please?"
"This is SomePerson"
"Okay, and what company are you calling from, SomePerson?"
"*grumpy sigh* She knows me...."
"Yes, but I don't, and I've got to direct your call. Where are you calling from, please?"

I frigging *hate* that! "Oh, she knows me..". Yes, but as part of what I get paid to do, I am to screen calls that come in, and *I* don't know these people! It just irks me that they think they're so special that they don't need to give me requested information. You're not any more special than my bottle of water! Get over it!

:P

I'm still for 4 10-hour days...I really like 4-day weeks! :P

I had another pretty good weekend! Friday night, I went and saw the Plasterkatz perform at Expressions, which was pretty cool. They were doing a webcast. Also, since a few people I know went to school there/worked there, it was neat to see where it was finally.

Saturday, Josh and I ventured out to Target to make a major candy run (we were out!), a quick trip to Petsmart for cat food can covers, and then to the Asian mall in El Cerrito, where we milled around for awhile. It's kinda neato seeing all the unfamiliar foods and trying some of them. They also have the largest seafood and meat selection of anywhere I've seen around here. It was amazing. After that, we made one last stop to Lucky's, and then home to hide. We both hate going out shopping, but it has to be done once in awhile! Saturday evening, I went to Munchkin #1's birthday dinner and hung out for a bit.

Yesterday, I got up and Josh made coffee and breakfast! He made hashed browns and sausages. I have no idea why, but Mr.Cook Man uses frozen hashed browns. After years of ignoring this (because I can totally taste the difference), I finally spoke up and told him that he was way better than using frozen product, and to try food-processing some potatoes next time. I guarantee they'll be 150% better than they already are! Really, it's the crispiness. You can't get good crisp out of frozen product, no matter how hard you try.

After breakfast, I was headed out to a False Profit day party at a park in Oakland. Dr.Toast played an awesome set as usual, and the guy after him was pretty good too! Before that, stop was made to Lois, and since I was already breakfast-ed, I got sweet potatoe pie and OJ. Weird combo, but it was good! Really! I got home from the party a little after 6p, and I spent the rest of the evening chilling out. I made some spinach udon & chicken for dinner, which turned out pretty good. Josh and I watched the HBO movie 'Recount' also. Good, but politically depressing.

I've been hard at work (really, I have been!) on renaming all of my id3 tags in my music collection. Out of 88 gigs (just on my harddrive), I've got 57 gigs completed. Right now I'm doing my electronica directory. I got thru to-and-including the D's. So, only another 30 gigs or so! Sounds like a lot, but it shouldn't be that bad. After that, I'll pull my music that's burned onto CDs out, and bring all that onto my harddrive and rename that. That part shouldn't be too bad. After that, I want to re-rip a handful of CDs that are in low quality because they were ripped almost a decade ago! So, it's a big project, but at least I'm getting there! Once I get done with the existing music on my harddrive, the rest'll be fairly easy.

This week looks to be fairly non-eventful. Tonight I'm doing laundry, watching a movie, and soaking in the hottub at M's house, and Josh and I are going out for dinner on Thursday, but the rest of the week looks pretty empty. Josh is going to a campout Friday-Sunday, which means a mellow, quiet weekend for me. There are lots of possibilities, but I am non-committal right now.

Today, I go to my new doctor. I am really really really hoping that she is cool and knows. I filled out all of the 'new patient' mumbo jumbo, and then also copied both sides of my insurance card (so that they don't have to), wrote out all of my doctors information out (colon rectal, G.I., dentist, etc), and then copied the sheets of the current medicines that I'm taking, and then stapled it all into one pretty packet. Anal retentive, sure, but at least they won't have to ask for all of that info again! Besides, because of the problems I'm having, I *have* to be organized about it. Otherwise, we'd have to start over from scratch, and I'd loose 2 years of info.

Anyway, that's about it for me today.