what's that smell?

the drama in my life has all abated. this is good for me considering none of it was really mine. if you believe in prayer, juju or whatnot send some out in the world. this place is nutty.

good thing: we're heading to new york. can't wait to email folks and set up coffee and dinner and movie dates. yay!

i don't know why but i've been indulging, though i'm not sure that is the correct word, in an extremely guilty pleasure. tabloid websites. i don't know what it is. i can't stop lately. i'll be sitting at work, wiling the hours away looking at perez hilton or x17. i think it's the devil.


my co-worker (oh she of cat lovin') continues to scare me. i just heard her on the phone, "Oh, I'm ok! I'm going on another trip. That's what people who have no life do..they go on trips...people like me!"  the exclamation points are not exaggerated.

so i'm down 15.5 pounds. finally. after two and half months of ass busting elliptical burning cardio - i've dropped a size. woo hoo. the challenge is on to get back to grad school weight. i hate to even think of typing how much that will be. i'm more proud that i'm managing to do this in atlanta. home of the fatty, fried, dipped, buttered and creamed EVERYTHING. well, mostly.

back to work. i have an exciting night of babysitting ahead of me. i have been missing my niece lately. i miss the baby nieces too. one was just in the hospital for some rare kind of staph infection. poor little sweetheart! she's fine though and hopefully my sister's brood will move their asses out of alaska and back to the mainland.

that is all.

Breathe again

Well, now I feel much better. Most dramas have been pushed back to their scary corners and I am breathing more easily. JC teases me about counting months together- I don't care. Today marks the last month I can do so. We've been hitched for 11 months. It sounds counterintuitive to me to say it's FAR better today than 11 months ago. JC says that's what he always figured would happen. He has buckets more faith than I do.

I'm waiting for one grad school supervisor to send in a form and then I can FINALLY send in my license application. Of everyone I sent rec forms to she's the last one I thought would take forever. Go figure.

I am playing endless amounts of Scrabulous with JC. It became our habit during the writer's strike. So now, after dinner, we sit, he with his black laptop and I with my Mac and play the game on Facebook. We're tied for wins. I say it's only because he uses the word lookup function FAR too often.

I wonder if buying a house in Portland is going to be feasible. Everything anywhere west of 82nd is far and above our price range. North of Powell, East of 15th, all too much. We've limited our search to townhomes/condos at this point. We'll see. Again, PDXers please keep a look out for anything cute for us :)

Word to your moms.

CF

Things surrounding me have mostly been fucked up, to be perfectly honest.

I'm still reeling from my friend's impromptu and seemingly baseless leaving of her husband.

My nieces have been hospitalized all week.

My sister is having some pretty severe untreated PTSD issues.

My great aunt and uncle were missing for one day-- they've been found, thank God.

Myself? I'm fine. I continue to sweat, sleep, eat and overthink our impending move. Mostly, I just want to be there already.

My sister said, "Why? I mean..you just got here?" I said, "Why not? I know I don't like it."

I am pretty sick of people's assumptions of how "LIFE SHOULD BE LIVED" lately. I include myself.



Well, now I feel better.

It's a date

Oh the double meanings. A date?

Well, for one, I've finally made it back to LJ. I had an episode there in the last three weeks. It happens. I know now, after 20 years of this, what to do. It means toning down and not forcing myself into things that aren't comfortable. On the other hand, I stay secluded and that's not really good. But, I do what I can to get by.

So, for two (yeah, it's bad English), JC and I determined our eta for Portland. We're both relieved and thrilled to be heading back 'home'. Though it's definitely got it's minuses for the both of us- the plusses are over and above the little good we could say for the rest of the country we've lived in. We're taking off mid-June.

Thirdly, I'm off tonight for my first meal in a restaurant for which I had to make reservations. Actually, it's a first for the both of us. So sad. But better late than never. It's JC's birthday this weekend and I'm treating him to a chill, though I hope special, birthday weekend. I've planned a 'day in' a 'day out' and just a day to chill. Complete with movies, hikes and massage. What more could he want?

Cheers!

soar losers

I just joined two of my more favorite colleagues in an endeavor to encourage us to exercise more often.

My boss created the group title. Eh, I like it.

Things remain the same as they're wont to do. Oh, happy birthday PetmyRhino :)

I'm just enjoying reading. I love me some Richard Russo and I'm salivating over the new Curtis Sittenfeld book.
I've rediscovered one of my first music loves and I enjoy making hyperlinks in my online blog. Life is grand.

Peace.

blah

Nothing new under the sun.

JC persuaded, through his constant reference, me to read the book of Ecclesiastes. I KNOW I didn't spell that right. Anyway, I read it and it was kind of funny. For a book of the Bible, ya know. Anyway, the jist, for those who may not have read, is a man lamenting the futility of life. Life in the sense that, in my opinion, a lot of people look at it. There's no point in seeking admiration of others - it's fickle and destined to leave. Basically, the book's point was it's all be done before and seeking to establish yourself as higher than another is folly. I agree. I think it all depends on your own faith structure if you can really get into it. It was pretty heavy when I stopped to think about it so..I stopped thinking about it.

My sister's birthday is today. Because my employer, like Bush, doesn't care about black people we didn't have yesterday off. Just kidding! But I seriously didn't have yesterday off as a holiday so I took it off myself. We took my sister out to lunch. Her favorite food is Italian. Ugh. But I had a decent turkey sandwich so it wasn't all bad. My niece is was the most precious thing- she loved surprising her mother with the birthday cake that she and our mom baked. So sweet! I wanted to also surprise my sister today but she's doing scoring for a basketball game and with Atlanta rush hour traffic it will, no lie, take me two hours to go 35 miles. That's a no.

JC's mom remains stable for now. She ~says~ she's following the diet and not drinking. My heart of hearts wants to believe her but I feel we'll be getting another phone call soon.

If I don't find a volunteer job or something to get involved with soon, I may internally combust. This much leisure time can't be good for the soul ;)

nothing much

I have some of the best friends around. Thank you guys for the calls!

We didn't hear from his mom yesterday and instead of freaking we just hung out. We were literally in bed by 8pm for some much needing catch up on sleep. I did wake up a bit more refreshed but there was so much tossing and turning I probably got just the same amount of sleep.

Called Cascadia so they can send my W2 to this new address. Well, what do you know- they already mailed them out?! I'm beyond shocked. This whole controversy has probably got folks a lot more on the ball.

Work is going so slowly today. I. want. to. Scream.

Looks like I have to cancel my getaway this weekend to Charlotte. The $200 or so I would've spent has to go into the impromptu move to Phoenix fund.  It's my sister's birthday weekend so maybe there'll something fun going on here...I doubt it.

I'm reading a little pissy today so I better stop typing. Complaining never helps.

And today...

The husband is still torn up. He let himself read about liver failure on webmd. Why oh why?! He was externally alright but he tossed and tossed all night.

Flatulence. We also looked that up. Funny stuff. It's amazing how many foods cause gas. Just so you know...

I think a faux spa day is in order- nails, hair, face and massage. Just some good grooming can make me feel so much better. Who's with me?

I did an "e-course" on Phoenix yesterday. It was this website that gave a brief tutorial. Why is it over 100 degrees most of the year?! Really, is that necessary? On the most positive note I could find, it'd be a return to a grid road system. Why every city in the country doesn't adhere to this, I don't know. As someone who is perpetually lost it would be a wonderful world when I know heading north means the numbered streets go up. I'm just sayin'.