~*~ Merry Christmas! ~*~

Yeah, Yeah... I know.

So it's been a while. Things have been quite hectic since last I blogged. We had to get ready for Thanksgiving and company. John came home and while he was home a plethora of things to get done took most of our time. Insurance adjusters, shopping, making phone calls to check on Licenses, warranties, defective DVD players, writing out and mailing upteen bajillion christmas cards, you name it. Our time was pretty much sucked up like you wouldn't believe. Needless to say, I haven't had the time nor the energy to really sit down and write. So I'm sure you, precious readers, understand. I'm sure once this holiday season is gone I'll sit down and blog my ass off.

"if you move, I strike, and if you do not move I strike..."


The Indian snake creature known as the naga was
believed to reside in groups apart from normal
humans, and many legends tell of their secret
cities hidden deep in the jungle, underground,
or underwater. In many tales, the Naga is often
of royal lineage or sometimes even divinity.
Nagas are often associated with water, and it
is said that they can control the weather.

As a Naga, you possess strong leadership abilities,
you are highly intelligent, and you can also be
a bit intimidating. You also enjoy the finer
things in life and like to be pampered, and
you're not too keen on mixing and mingling with
the unwashed masses.


Who is your inner Shapeshifter?
brought to you by Quizilla

Links updated. Some broken, but now fixed. Some thankfully removed. I love exorcisms!

Cleaning in the real world isn't as much fun however. Though it's mostly done, I need to hit the garage and organize organize organize. We'll be sending a lot of things to Good Will and the Salvation Army once John comes home this month. It will be so nice to have al the extra room to store away other items.

Preparations for Turkey Day are underway. It looks like we'll have unexpected guests for the holiday, but good ones thankfully. Heather and Wylliam will be joining us for the weekend! Josh will be here and Georgiffer as well. I think Jennifer and I have decided to collaborate on Chicken vol-au-vent which is a wonderful recipe I've made a couple times in the last decade. This time though, Jennifer will be supplying her superior dough-manipulating powers to create homemade bread bowls for the sauced chicken. Mmmmm! This is going to be fun! I'm currently trying to convince our DC familial extension to come down to join in the festivities, but he may be too tight :( Oh well...he might be coming for our post-Crimmus Crimmus.

Happy Belated Blogday!

Wow, I just realized that in October I hit my first year on this blog! It went by so fast! I never really thought I'd get into the swing of this, but apparently I actually do enjoy it. Thanks to Jane for introducing me to this addiction. Oh yes, and thank you to her wife for my Chai addiction. So, in honor of a somewhat tradition set down by the Lowford-Crawers duo, have a Chai Latte and a carefully stacked Biscotti "cake" in celebration of my first year being blogilicious.

Waiting, Weaning and Cleaning

Music at the moment - Angelina "I Don't Need Your Love" (Pop Spanglish Edit)

The adjuster finally left a message with me the other night. Thus begins the game of tag. I left voicemail for him and am nigh-patiently waiting for him to call back so we can make an appointment. We shall see.

The day here is overcast and I think sort of cool, though I haven't been outside yet. Currently I'm sitting down for a sandwich. I hate making food in the kitchen now. Inevitably when I enter the kitchen my eyes are drawn to my tree to begin an interlude of mind-cleansing zoning. Alas, the tree is history and as soon as I realize that I return to my business a bit more sullen than before. That sucks. I need to find something else to look at out our windows and appreciate. Unfortunately all that surrounds us are houses, ugly trees that are not the one I liked so much and evil people that I'd much rather look at through crosshairs. Maybe I'll install a plasma screen TV on one of the trees outside so when I look at the window in the kitchen I have something to watch. With my luck it would only pick up that "fair and balanced" Fox News channel. Yeah, farily full of shit and a daily balance of nutritious hatred.

Music switch - Army of Lovers "Crucified" (Technostalgia Mix)

The upper tier of the house has been scrutinized for cleaning over this week and suprisingly, it's almost done already! Myshe's room is 300% better than it was, though she still needs to have a massive yard sale or just express her good will to good will. I dusted everything in our room last night, folded clothes, rearranged both closets and organized them with little shoes all in a row. Boxes unpacked, boxes repacked and stored away. I still have 5 boxes of cassettes I need to transfer to MP3 format before they disintegrate.

The stuff you find when deep cleaning! I found so many little sentimental things, postcards, letters, trinkets. I smiled at each thing for a moment upon finding it. THEN it was in the trash. Boom. I'm so ready to do the Edina Monsoon minimalist thing.

Music switch - Five "When The Lights Go Out" (Album Version)

Today I continued with the cleaning and broke out the new Dyson DC14 Animal! dun dun DUN! We'd needed a new vacuum cleaner so I went browsing. I'd read up on the Dyson among some other models when we started talking about a new one and then Myshe and I saw it while out one day. The DC7 I believe, it was an ugly yellow and gray. Ew. The one we have now is black and yellow and frankly I'm sick of vacuuming with a bumblebee. I wasn't prepared to invest in another yellow monstrosity. Then a light erupted to our left and what I can only assume to be a chorus of angels began to sing. Looking over there it was. The New Improved Dyson DC14 model made specifically for animal hair and allergy sufferers. My eyes widened as I read the specs on it and a tear fell from my cheek as I looked over its beautiful PURPLE frame. Hehehehe purple. SOLD!

Music switch - For Real "Like I do" (Album version)

Unpacked and assembled the thing is a juggernaut. I can't decide whether to vacuum with it, insert batteries and give it to Myshe to play with or to slot it with a lot of accuracy and damage enhancements. But dammit, it's purple! And wow...it works really nice! Animal hair step aside. Kitty and Julio, you are thwarted! I like my new one-hosed, non-bagged, sucking, purple, kitty cleaner. You can sing that if you're alone while reading this you know.

Music switch - Max-A-Million "Take Your Time (Do It Right)" (S.O.S. Band Cover)

Once everything up here is clean I'm going to finish a project that's been on hold since I moved the desk upstairs. I started it again last night as I cleaned. Phred, Muscial Multitasker Supreme. I'm taking the multitude of CD singles or full CDs with a couple songs on them and ripping them all to the other computer. Once I'm done I'll make a stack of MP3 CDs with all the singles on them and then pack away the boxes of singles I ripped. It's CD population control. As I move closer to 2000 CDs our shelf room is becoming dangerously non-existent. You can probably tell from the music in this blog. I'm currently in a lot of my 90's dance. Good stuff!

Music switch - Gillette "Short Dick Man"

Okay sandwich done and imaginary cigarette smoked. (Damn I miss smoking) Back to the grind and the hopes that the pet girl will show up at the door with Chai in hand for a job well done. Ciao!

Ending music - Merrill Bainbridge "Mouth" (THE version)

Here's another link that everyone should see. I think we'll send in a picture too. Thanks for posting this Josh! I was watching the news the other day and saw something about this. It certainly makes a point. Everyone take a picture and add your mug to the gallery!

--> Sorry Everybody <--

*Cackle*

Thanks to Peterrifico for showing me this! It really made my heart warm to see someone delivering prose like this. It reminds me so much of the conversations here at home, littered with such color and verve.

--> Yummy Goodness <--

Shameless Plug

I've been listening to this album for a while now and can't
get enough. Have a listen or just go buy it. Sublime.


Keane Hopes and Fears

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

Our newish house will most likely be on the market in the next couple of years now that we are forced to leave America and seek refuge in a more civilized region. Canada looks best.

As for Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon and Utah, we'll be avoiding you like the plague. No money spent there, no visiting, you name it. So long Atlanta, it was fun! Farewell Biloxi, we'll miss your concerts and shows! Auf Wiedersehen Butcher Hollow! Goodbye Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain. Boy...are we going to cott the shit out of you.

A big thank you to all of our friends and family that helped it stay in office thus sending us packing. When (and if) you miss us when we're gone, you'll have yourselves to blame. And trust me, when we move you won't hear from us much, if at all.

Oh yes and Florida. Home for most of my life, keeper of white beaches and fond memories. Go straight to hell. I officially abhor this state. You can shove those oranges where the sun doesn't shine.

Apparently America has become one big, half-witted, corporate, straight man:

Sports above education
Fight rather than think
Pad my pockets, to hell with the poor
Bush is the best and anyone who doesn't like it, no rights for you!



The letter W: The new 666

Of Treats, Tricks and Halloween Hullabaloo

So, Halloween. It wasn't as bad as I'd expected it to be thankfully. I'd fully anticipated being in a slump because it was the first Halloween John was going to be home in a few years and then that was dashed against the rocks like some unwanted child before we knew it had happened. Luckily I filled the time with movies, games and friends. I still missed my John though :(

Halloween Highlights

Chai
Keep this nectar of the gods flowing and everything can be made enjoyable. Curse you Sarah for this addiction! I would have gotten away from it if it hadn't been for you and those meddling dogs! *cue canned laughter and closing credits music while the Mystery Machine drives off into the sunset*

New Sandwich @ Starbucks
This may not seem like a highlight to most but we eat there on a regular basis. (It's the Chai addiction and availability of literature). The have a new (limited time *weep*) honey turkey, cheddar, mozzarella and cranberry sauce on honey oat bread. DAMN. This is really good. It's like a Monte Cristo only not deep fried. I'm all over it until extinction.

City of Heroes Hijinks
You can read about this at the Phone Booth if you want. Neat pictures included!
Phred Phun Phactor: 7 out of 10

Late Night Bowling/Drinking/Eating/Debauchery
We were invited by our UPS Store friends to a charity party at the local bowling alley. The party was set up to help a local girl make it to the national cheerleading competition. Having had an ex who was a fervent cheerleader I understand the passion of wanting to go to this event, so it was a good cause. The food was yummy, the drinks were tasty, the shots were potent and the company was fun. I got a strike and 2 spares which is a record for me being that when it comes to bowling, unlike my champion brother, I suxx0r.
Phred Phun Phactor: 6 out of 10

Chai
I must reiterate my love for this liquid crack

Movies
We went to see Saw which we'd been waiting for forever. I was hesitant to go see another movie on a sunday since the previous Sunday we'd gone to see The Grudge and could barely enjoy the movie from A) The chorus of constant cell phone rings and usage and B) the apparent school-outing around us. I swear there was a busload of unattended, 13 year olds running about and laughing. Parents, either go to the movies with your pro-abortion example or rent them DVDs and keep their asses at home.

...anyhow, we lucked out and were three of the seven people in the theater. Yay! Thank heavens for hangovers and late sleepers. Saw was an entertaining film, but riddled with problems. It was somewhat fresh and fun, but really didn't meet the expectations I'd had. The funniest thing about it was the fact that not 2 minutes into the movie I'd leaned over to Myshe and sort of detailed what was going to happen without knowing I was right on the money. In the last couple of minutes in the movie where we should have been gasping wide-eyed, Myshe and I couldn't help but laugh because of my outline earlier. Surprisingly, despite everything I'd heard to the contrary, this movie is not that gorey. It really didn't have anything frightfully graphic in it at all besides a decent amount of blood which was usually on the floor, wall, door, etc. instead of spurting from an artery. I did, however, dislike the high-speed segments. While this sort of shot can enhance the disturbing nature of a scene (A la Tool videos) it really detracted from the scenes in this movie. All-in-all it was well worth the watch.
Phred Phun Phactor: 5 out of 10

Back to The Grudge since I never really got to blog about it, the movie was good. Good in an "ehh..it was good." way and not in a "WOW! That was some GOOOOOD shit!" way. As in all Japanese to American horror migrations it changes a good bit. The plus to that is that the story becomes a little less convoluted. Japanese storylines are notoriously out there and loopy and a lot of times hard to follow simply because you're just supposed to accept it and move on. American audiences find this hard to do because of lack of imagination, attention deficit, or even sheer laziness. The downside to Americanization of these films is the commerical/vanilla factor. Groovy things from the original film get processed into more formulaic versions to be spoonfed to the audiences here. It can really destroy a movie.

As I said though, The Grudge was good. We enjoyed it as much as we could with the cacaphony of hell-spawn children and cell phones and any chance to watch Jason Behr on film is an A+ in my book. Then there's Sarah Michelle Gellar. Graduate from the Kathy Ireland school of Acting, this rather unattractive woman has one expression. "Confused Chihuahua." They really needed someone else in the film.
Phred Phun Phactor: 3 out of 10

A decent attempt at a migration movie but not toally blown away. If you want to see some really good asian horror check out these that we really liked (But be ready to push suspension of disbelief to new limits)

Tell Me Something director Yoon-Hyun Chang (Bryan and I love this movie)
Audition director Takashi Miike (Probably one of my favorite horror films to date..kiti kiti kiti kiti kiti)
The Isle director Kim Ki-Duk (This is one messed up Korean movie, though allegorically a love story)
The Eye director Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang

Other Foreign Horror worth watching:

Anatomie (Franka Potente stars. I Adore this woman. She's great in everything: Lola rennt (Run Lola Run), Der Krieger und die Kaiserin (The Princess and the Warrior)
Promenons-nous dans les bois (Deep in the Woods)

Like I needed a quiz to tell me this.

You Should Vote for Ralph Nader.

Sorry - Shirts and Shoes are Required in the Voting Booth.

Which presidential candidate should you vote for in 2004?

Fehscape

WARNING: This entry might contain spoilers. For those who intend on watching Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars but have not, continue at your own risk.

Well...I really had been excited about The Peacekeeper Wars. I looked forward to seeing a conclusion to the show I'd come to love so much. Now I almost wish they'd just left it where it was.

Admittedly the last run since Zhaan left was spotty at best. In my opinion, the writing declined and the story's direction was lost in a jumble of subplots and overlapping pointlessness. Again, my opinion. Others may have liked the last run.

I did not like Zhaan's "replacement" character Jool at first, but within a couple of episodes she'd really grown on me. I came to adore her and looked forward to her contribution to the run of the show. Then they drop her off on Arnessk and she leaves the series. Sigh.

Then we get Sikozu. Ick. Never liked her. Glad she turned out to be a Scarran spy. Wish she'd died.

All-in-all I really enjoyed the first two hour part of TPW despite certain issues:

1) We're left with John and Aeryn at the end of the series being blown into little bits of crystal on some unknown water planet and we're all like "Holy hell! What next!!!???" We return to the mini-series and within a very short time of the beginning they are reconstituted and it was "all a mistake". Okay, bleh. Talk about diffusing the climax of the series ending.

2) So one little crystal piece is left in Rygel's stomach when he collects what remains of John and Aeryn off the ocean floor by eating it. Well, when they're reconstituted we find out what that crystal piece was. Was it Aeryn's ear? No. Gasp! Was it John's wang?! No. Oh...Joy...it just so happens that the piece left out was John and Aeryn's child that Aeryn had been carrying. How covenient. No, not part of the baby mind you. The whole self-contained, perfectly intact little crystallized baby. And suddenly, now Rygel is carrying the growing child as if he'd been impregnated. Um...what happened to it being a little crystal? So Rygel carries the child through most of the mini-series until Aeryn can transfer it back to her for birth. Yeah. Okay. Hokiness factor from 1 to 10 - 12.

3) Okay, I love Commandant Grayza. She's a ballsy peacekeeper bitch who apparently picked up tricks from Elaan, Dohlman of Elaas, but has a sweaty chest instead of tears. Despite that, I still liked her. So, what's the point of the pregnancy? Unless the only reason she was pregnant was so that she could issue some line at the end of the series about "for the sake our our children" then it was pretty pointless.

4) I finally get to see Jool again on Arnessk. Yay! Oh..eww...boooooo. Okay so here's this incredibly intelligent Interion female who's so academically accomplished and she's running around like an alien Pebbles Flintstone? What gives? Was it really necessary she look like a cast member of The Interion That Time Forgot? Oh yeah and getting past this, still glad to see her what happens next. Oh yeah. They kill her after 10 minutes or so. Thanks. Pointless.

5) Okay...this crazy powerful ancient Luxan ship that D'Argo got. It's "unlike anything he's seen before" and he manages to play with it through a good bit of the last run. So it's destroyed in this mini-series (blown to bits by Scarran fire I might add, but Chiana and he are left floating in space without a scratch. Yeah. Gotcha. Hokiness factor from 1 to 10 - 10). Well who suddenly rescues them from space? None other than Jothee, D'Argo's son who happens to be in a Luxan ship that has capabilities like the ancient one and is a shaped remarkably a lot like Talyn. (Make that Hokiness factor 13)

6) HARVEY. HARVEY. MORE HARVEY. I can't relay my hatred for this scenario. Overdone and boring.

So part two wasn't any better. I felt rushed. WARWARWARPEACE. Boom, just like that. Wormhole weapon presented (and might I mention by this point in the series I am sick to shit of wormholes.) and voila, truce. Next we have Scarran Emperor Staleek and Commandant Grayza stamping what one assumes to be some peace document. I find this interesting given that Grayza isn't the highest of the high in the Peackeeper ranks and that she even acted without talking to her Peacekeeper superiors before heading to Arnessk to engage the Scarrans.

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot...D'Argo's climactic death. I use the term climactic loosely. What a waste. It was like the writers felt that unless they killed a well-known character in the mini-series then it just wouldn't have any impact. Well, it still didn't. D'Argo's fate was forced, meaningless and trite. He didn't die in any explosive gut-wrenching manner and it didn't snatch my heart from my chest that he "sacrificed' himself for those he loved. It just wasn't done well. And really...we didn't see him die. So...if ever it comes back to TV or the movies, then I'm sure they'll diffuse that "climax" by bringing him back. (Hey guys! Dead? Awww, no. I took out those Charrid and Scarran soldiers and then napped a little. When I woke, I was on some person's ship and peachy keen!) Oh and at this point, who didn't know what Aeryn and john would name their baby? Vomit. Four words for you, pre-dic-ta-ble. Hokiness factor from 1 to 10 - 10.

So where does that leave everyone come the new "end" of the show?

John and Aeryn - On Moya with baby D'Argo.
Chiana - Assumed to be going to Hyneria to settle down like D'Argo wanted.
Rygel - Assumed to be returning to Hyneria to take up his rule again as Dominar
Scorpius - Who knows? We weren't really given anything about him.
Pilot and Moya - Again, who knows? Pilot got ridiculously little screen time. One of the most underrated characters on the show. Watch his episode and you can't help but agree. (Now THAT was heart wrenching)
Jool - Unfairly Dead
Sikozu - Should be dead
Zhaan - Painfully absent

I say do another mini-series to really end the show. I'll write it real quick!

Baby D'Argo meets and marries the "V" baby and the two follow in hot Pursuit of Dana and Fox's baby who's on the run and lost in time with Dr Sam Beckett. Soon they all meet up at the relocated Cheers on Jupiter where the jovian ruler Bailiff Bull performs the wedding for Ross and Rachel.

Blog reorganization day!

Added CoH to Groovy Links
Added all gaming blog links to new Vicarious Gaming section. (Welcome Josh!)
Alphabetized Remote Sensing
Updated Pete's link in Remote Sensing (He moved, doesn't blog any more often now, but moved nonetheless. Hi Pete!)

Nothing new here really. Waiting on the adjuster. Simmering over John having to be out an additional 4 weeks to change hitches. At least now he'll be home for Thanksgiving.

Added a link under Remote Sensing to my City of Heroes blog for those interested.

Super Sad

Well, I'm pretty bummed out today over the passing of a childhood idol. I got up prepared to do my running around and checked my AOHell mail and there it was on the splash page. He was only 52. That's just too young to be gone. I loved him in Somewhere In Time. I adored him in Deathtrap and, of course, worshipped him as Superman. I always wanted to be flying right next to him. I'd like to at least think wherever he is, he's still flying.

You'll be missed Christopher

9.25.1952 - 10.10.2004

I always like to join in on the fun and games of quizzes, lists and various other horse puckey on friend's blogs, so here's this one from Joshy's. Be warned, it's long, but all-in-all not a very slow read.

01. Bought everyone in the pub a drink. (No)
02. Swam with wild dolphins. (No)
03. Climbed a mountain. (Yes)
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive (No)
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid (No, but it is a goal before I die)
06. Held a tarantula (Held? Hell, I owned one and played with her. Her name was Babette)
07. Taken a candlelit bath (Yes)
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it (Every day I talk to John)
09. Hugged a tree-several times.. (Yes)
10. Done a striptease (Yes)
11. Bungee jumped (No)
12. Visited Paris (Will be in the next couple of years)
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (Yes)
14. Stayed up all night long, and watch the sun rise (Yes)
15. Seen the Northern Lights (No)
16. Gone to a huge sports game (Yes)
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa (Will be doing this around the Paris timetable)
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables (Yes)
19. Touched an iceberg (No)
20. Slept under the stars (Yes)
21. Changed a baby's diaper (No. And I won't be)
22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon (No)
23. Watched a meteor shower (Yes)
24. Gotten drunk on champagne (Yes)
25. Given more than you can afford to charity (Yes)
26. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope (Yes)
27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment (Yes)
28. Had a food fight (Yes)
29. Bet on a winning horse (Yes)
30. Taken a sick day when you're not ill (Yes)
31. Asked out a stranger (Yes)
32. Had a snowball fight (Yes)
33. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier (No)
34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can (Yes)
35. Held a lamb (Yes)
36. Enacted a favourite fantasy (Yes)
37. Taken a midnight skinny dip (Yes)
38. Taken an ice cold bath (Yes)
39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar (Actually yes, when I lived in Atlanta)
40. Seen a total eclipse (Yes)
41. Ridden a roller coaster (Yes)
42. Hit a home run (Yes)
43. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days (Yes)
44. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking (Oh most definitely.)
45. Adopted an accent for an entire day (Yes)
46. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (Not yet, two years..two years)
47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment (Yes, in brief spurts)
48. Had two hard drives for your computer (Yes)
49. Visited all 50 states (No)
50. Loved your job for all accounts (Not yet)
51. Taken care of someone who was shit faced (Yes)
52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (Yes. There are moments. Fleeting, but moments.)
53. Had amazing friends (Amazing isn't strong enough to describe the people I call friends)
54. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country (Yes. Strret festival in Puerto Rico. Also the night little Phreddy switched his and his mothers Pina Coladas. That's probably why I was dancing with a stranger and Mother was wondering why her Colada was so weak.)
55. Watched wild whales (...with waffles wafting westwardly in the wind?)
56. Stolen a sign (Yep! A "Dean Str." sign and a "P" off Paradise Bay for my wall. Just you wait..I'll be having an Alphabet St. sign if I ever find one.)
57. Backpacked in Europe (Two years)
58. Taken a road-trip (Yes)
59. Rock climbing (yes)
60. Lied to foreign government's official in that country to avoid notice (No)
61. Midnight walk on the beach (Yes)
62. Sky diving (want to want to!)
63. Visited Ireland (No)
64. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love (Yes)
65. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them (I think so)
66. Visited Japan (No)
67. Bench pressed your own weight (Yes)
68. Milked a cow (Yes)
69. Alphabetized your records (Yes)
70. Pretended to be a superhero (Yes)
71. Sung karaoke (Yes)
72. Lounged around in bed all day (Yes)
73. Posed nude in front of strangers (No)
74. Scuba diving (No)
75. Got it on to "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye (Yes)
76. Kissed in the rain (Did more then that in the rain)
77. Played in the mud (Yes)
78. Played in the rain (Yes)
79. Gone to a drive-in theatre (Yes)
80. Done something you should regret, but don't regret it (Yes)
81. Visited the Great Wall of China (No)
82. Discovered that someone who's not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog (No)
83. Dropped Windows in favor of something better (No)
84. Started a business (No)
85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken (Yes)
86. Toured ancient sites (Yes)
87. Taken a martial arts class (Yes. I was actually a brown or yellow belt. I want to say brown in Yoshukai)
88. Sword fought for the honour of a woman (No)
89. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight (Can you actually get anything done in less than that?)
90. Gotten married (Working on it. Waiting for Bush to go away frist.)
91. Been in a movie (Almost. Had a part in The Truman Show. Gave it up for holiday with family.)
92. Crashed a party (Yes)
93. Loved someone you shouldn't have (Yes!)
94. Kissed someone so passionately it made you dizzy (Yes)
95. Gotten divorced (No)
96. Had sex at the office (Yes)
97. Gone without food for 5 days (No)
98. Made cookies from scratch (Yes)
99. Won first prize in a costume contest (Yes)
100. Ridden a gondola in Venice (two years)
101. Gotten a tattoo (No)
102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on (Yes)
103. Rafted the Snake River (No)
104. Been on television news programs as an "expert" (No)
105. Got flowers for no reason (Yes)
106. Masturbated in a public place (Yes)
107. Got so drunk you don't remember anything (No)
108. Been addicted to some form of illegal drug (Chai should be illegal. Curse you Sarah!)
109. Performed on stage (Yes)
110. Been to Las Vegas (Yes)
111. Recorded music (Yes)
112. Eaten shark (Yes and I love it!)
113. Had a one-night-stand (Yes)
114. Gone to Thailand (No)
115. Seen Siouxsie live (I did I did! Houston! Saw her with Skinny Puppy and some others)
116. Bought a house (Yes)
117. Been in a combat zone (No)
118. Buried one/both of your parents (No)
119. Shaved or waxed your pubic hair off (Yes)
120. Been on a cruise ship (No)
121. Spoken more than one language fluently (Yes)
122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone (Yes)
123. Bounced a check (Yes)
124. Performed in Rocky Horror (used to every weekend for 2 years)
125. Read - and understood - your credit report (Yes)
126. Raised children (No)
127. Recently bought and played with a favourite childhood toy (I'm trying)
128. Followed your favourite band/singer on tour (Sort of)
129. Created and named your own constellation of stars (I do it all the time)
130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country (No)
131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did (If it's true, yes)
132. Called or written your Congress person (Yes)
133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over (Yes)
134. ...more than once? (Yes)
135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge (No. Drove it though)
136. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking (Yes)
137. Had an abortion, or your female partner did (No)
138. Had plastic surgery (No)
139. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived (No )
140. Wrote articles for a publication (Yes)
141. Lost over 100 pounds (Yes)
142. Held someone while they were having a flashback (No)
143. Piloted an airplane (No)
144. Pet a stingray (Yes)
145. Broken someone's heart (Yes)
146. Helped an animal give birth (Yes)
147. Been fired or laid off from a job (Yes)
148. Won money on a T.V. game show (No)
149. Broken a bone (No)
150. Killed a human being (There are times... )
151. Gone on an African photo safari (No)
152. Ridden a motorcycle (Yes)
153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of 100mph or faster (Yes)
154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced (No)
155. Fired a rifle, shotgun or pistol (Yes to all)
156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild (Yes)
157. Ridden a horse (Yes)
158. Had major surgery (No)
159. Had sex on a moving train (Two years)
160. Had a snake as a pet (Yes and I miss him)
161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (No)
162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing (Yes)
163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours (No)
164. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states (No)
165. Visited all 7 continents (No)
166. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days (Yes)
67. Eaten kangaroo meat (No)
168. Fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground (Okay, who makes these crack-ass questions up?)
169. Been a sperm or egg donor (No)
170. Eaten sushi (I eat sushi almost weekly)
171. Had your picture in the newspaper (Yes, a few times)
172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your lifetime (Yes)
173. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about (Yes)
174. Gotten someone fired for their actions (Yes)
175. Gone back to school (January)
176. Parasailed (Yes)
177. Changed your name (Sort of)
178. Pet a cockroach (Yes. A Large Hissing one)
179. Eaten fried green tomatoes (Yes and they are gooood)
180. Read The Iliad (Yes)
181. Selected one "important" author whom you missed in school, and read him/her: (Yes)
182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups because your apartment needed them (well, not because we needed them)
183. ...and gotten 86'ed from the restaurant because you did it so many times, they figured out it was you (No)
184. Taught yourself an art from scratch (Yes)
185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (Yes)
186. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt (No)
187. Skipped all your school reunions (Yes)
188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language (No)
189. Been elected to public office (No)
190. Written your own computer language (No)
191. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream (Whatever)
192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care (No)
193. Built your own PC from parts (Yes)
194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you (Yes)
195. Had a booth at a street fair (Yes)
196: Dyed your hair (Lord yes)
197: Been a DJ (Yes)
198: Found out someone was going to dump you via LiveJournal (No)
199: Written your own role playing game (And still am)
200: Been arrested (No)

Josh!!!!!! I have to know your 106! I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours.

The panhandle continues to slowly lift its head from the aftermath and life goes on. Still no adjuster. I'm sure it will take some time considering the amount of damage done to all the businesses and homes. C'est la vie. When one chooses to live on the coast, one must accept nature's tantrums. The saddest part of "our" damage is the loss of my tree. The one I'd look at out our sliding glass doors and just drift. I'd looked forward to staring at it before school in jan uary when I start. I'm pondering planting another. I just don't know what it was.

Onto other subjects...

I'm more than a little irritated over John's birthday. I took into consideration that it took place only a few days after Ivan, but by now calls, cards or whatnot should have already made it to him expressing birthday joy and congratulations. He received absolutely nothing. We had a candlelight cake-munching/present-opening event on the actual day here in the slightly warm house and when businesses were open again we went for sushi and so John could get his birthday hashi. I'm a strong believer in celebrating the ones you care about on the day they were born. Frankly, birthdays are the most important holiday to me and it offends me when someone can't even pick up the damn phone or shoot off a lazy e-card. It just tells me that people are self-centered even moreso than expected and while it's fine to receive, giving is way too much of a hassle.

*topic switch*

The Sims 2 rocks. Beyond playing other characters, I'm engrossed in a "Save the Aliens" project. I'll let you know how it goes. Hmm maybe I should follow the example of a former friend and set up a separate blog for City of Heroes and Sims 2. I know Sims has its own blog so that would be easy. We'll see.

"Frank Herbert doesn't know the meaning of Dune, but at least Pensacola doesn't have giant worms" - A Post Ivan Blog

Music At The Moment and VERY loud: Kierra Sheard - "You Don't Know"

Okay, quick summary as I'm in no mood to blog and have too many other things to do. We're back obviously. We were without power for about a week. Cable came up a couple days later. Water is now drinkable.

Damage:
Fence pretty much gone.
Part siding/insulation on tallest eave of roof gone; tarped and awaiting repair.
Punctures in siding of house rear.
Exterior pane of storm window shattered. Interior intact. Thank you!
Trees, trees and more trees down.
Piles of debris prepared for the eternal cleaning.

We got away very lucky. Scenic highway is a once beautiful route along the bay reduced to something from a stage production in a local theatre...Houses look fine from the front for the most part, but lack insides or backs like prop scenery or painted scrims. It's rather surreal.

Music At The Moment: The Killers - "Somebody Told Me"

Thank You:
Bless you power workers from various states and Canada. You deserve that 1,000 dollars a day. Hell, I'd give you 5K a day if I were running it.
Neighbors for coming together for the most part. At least our immediate next doors and a couple others like the marine God two doors down with the big blue eyes, incredible smile and body by greek deities.
The Military for the comfort stations, ice, water, and yummy MREs. Those things are really good.
My dad and Uncle randy for bringing us food and water when we were running low. They'd been working non-stop on the beachevery day since they're the law, but they came to make sure we were good.
For our family and friends that helped us or checked on us: Heather for a place to stay during evac. Lisa and Sam for worrying about us. We miss you two so much! My northern italian blood for trying to constantly keep in touch with me to make sure we were all safe. I love yous guys! My Mom and Grandmother for weathering the storm and making despite deciding to stay. Grrr. Pete, Josh, Rita, Ron - You guys are real friends and I cherish you deeply. Thank you for having one face.
Kittums for being so wonderful on the evacuation trip. You really impressed me you behemoth.
The Bill/Credit Card companies for being understanding and bending over backward to help everyone in this area out.
My hubby for staying safe and loving me.


Fuck You:
Generator Mongers and their price-gouging asses.
Firestone on Davis Highway in front of the mall. Return day from evac - 175 dollars for a "car battery that was hard to get because even walmart was out of them." Went to walmart right after, they had 8 batteries for our car. I've already spoken to Firestone corporate and they'll be investigating for potential gouging and we might just sue.
Rude white trash that cuts in front of people in the very long comfort station lines.
Rude Rougenecks® (Those are the local vermin that are simply white trash with money) that feel they deserve power before other people or quicker service because their manure business took off and they swim in that green paper with those alien number things printed on the corners.
Julio for being such a little penis head on the evacuation trip. Why do you emulate everything else Kitty does except behave???
Ivan for ruining our trip to Seattle in which we could have: Visited Rita, gone to neat places, seen Scissor Sisters live and attended a Clive Barker book signing. Bitch storm.

Music At The Moment: Toby Lightman - "Devils & Angels"

Wow. I guess I did have some desire to blog. Maybe it's more of as trance-like state and just spills from my fingertips like those channelers spouting woes and demands from beyond the grave. Later.

We're a' movin' on up...

But not to the east side. Actually, we're running from the east side...of the eye, that is. Being the worst part of the storm to be in, it's advisable we head out before it makes landfall. Animals, Art and Photos are coming with. The rest is left to fend for itself. Let's hope we have a home when we come back. The worst part of it all is John still being on the boat. It's currently heading to Texas to wait out the storm which means he and I won't see each other until after all of this is over. This makes my heart ache.

So to all our friends that have to leave too, be careful and we'll see you when all is said and done. To those friends that are safe, we'll let you know how everything turns out after the fact. To those "friends" that are giddy over Ivan's path, you'd best be careful. Karma is a good friend of mine and she's a fucking bitch when crossed. We have so much in common.

Иван сосет.

She's on fiyah!

Almost forgot to welcome Fuego to my set of blog links! Oopsie on me. Yay for Miss Red and her beau, the priest-like one! Long distance hugs from Phlorida!

Blog Shui

Music At The Moment: Reactor - "Feeling The Love"

Yay! New blog setup complete. At least I hope so. Redesigning the whole site wasn't as time-consuming as I'd expected but I did actually discover broken links to sites, missing links to other blogs and various other errors that probably happened during regular updating and the like. With any luck I've caught everything and fixed it all. If not, it will eventually make itself known.

Begin Quick Rant Here I appreciate the concerns. I really do. But Frances is not here. She is not on our doorstep. We are not wading up to our knees in flood water. It is currently 88 degrees here and it feels like 90. The sun looms down oppressively above us, not some eager tsunami. I'm sure we'll get some weather eventually, but not that much. There is always the chance she will make it over here and if so we'll deal with it then and you will all receive yawn-filled phone calls letting you know we've left for the hills of Tennessee. Those of you worried about us, it's okay. We're on the other side of the peninsula and not in the projected path. For those of you worried she will miss us, get a real hobby. End Quick Rant

Song switch: Sarah Brightman - "Harem"

Picked up much fun and childhood glee yesterday at Best Buy! The Season One DVD set of Challenge of the Super Friends. Now I get to watch all the terribly written, cheese-filled episodes completely devoid or truly evil villains or the least bit of continuity. I'm so excited!!! On the subject of DVD viewing, I'll be sitting down this weekend to make sure Bryan watches "Kalifornia" which he still hasn't seen. I mean come on! One is not complete without watching Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis play some of the most sublime white trash ever placed on screen. (Juliette really deserved an Oscar for this). And, of course, his archive of quotes is most incomplete without such great hits as "Put your titty up, Adele"

Song Switch: Rick James - "You and I"

Did I blog about our camping trip? I don't recall doing so and I'm too lazy to go back and look in the archives. I'll talk about it soon and maybe post some pics. It was pretty groovy.

Just..stuff...

Music at the moment: Scissor Sisters - [Self Titled] Current track - "Better Luck"

I'm on "parade of demons" overload at the moment. I couldn't be sicker of politicians, political supporters, political agendas, political back-stabbing and the like. I feel like I'm in an EQ guild again. I'm certainly ready for it to all be over and for the media to go back to spotlighting Michael Jackson and that Peterson guy. Those were easier to escape.

The next couple of week’s schedules are sort of hectic. (Contrary to what some people think, my days are sometimes filled with work and frenzy. There is validity to the housewife/husband life being a fulltime job and let no one tell you any different. If they do they're probably just bitter because they don't get to stay home.) The ongoing project of organizing all my art and writing is still in full swing while Saturday and Myshe's brother's engagement party approaches.

Song switch - "Laura" (This is one of the best songs on this CD.)

Family arrives on the 7th for 5 days of family antics. It's looking more and more like I will be spared any involvement as the schedule is rigidly packed with stuff to do with other family members every day. Mixed feelings on this, ones of relief and resentment. Oh well. I'll certainly move past it. It's become steadily more apparent over the years that the word family has evolved to include very few of the actual blood members and more of the people I love around me.

Song switch - "Lovers in the Backseat"

And speaking of those I love, John will arrive on the 16th (I hope) and we'll frantically make sure we haven't missed anything before we leave to New Orleans the next day. Off on the 17th from the NO Airport to Seattle to visit our dear friend Ritahead. Lots planned there while we visit. The Science Fiction and Music Museums, The tourist-mandatory Space Needle, Trader Joe's, some restaurants that Rita swears by and John's birthday on the 20th! Robert (Rita's youngest gay son) will be taking us out for fun on the town and we'll see what Seattle has to offer in the way of "gayness". I doubt it will beat our trip to San Fran on a sheer scale of homonicity. (Come on...you stay with 2 lesbians, you walk the Castro, you eat fruit at a lesbian outdoor café and get hooked on Chai lattes? You CAN'T get a higher homonicity rating than that. Well...maybe if everyone was wearing tutus.)

Song switch - "Take your Mama" (This track is hardcore oldschool Elton)

On school...

The closer it comes to the spring term the more excited I get. I'm sure that will change once I'm in the swing of actual school, but for now I'm jazzed. Unfortunately though, it looks like I'll have to take Spanish as my first language course. At the moment it's the only beginning language class offered in the spring. The rest all begin fall. Now, if I was feeling brave I could always do as the college suggests and skip the straight to French II since I've had 2 years of previous French. That would allow me to start Fr4ench in the spring like I wanted. I think I'd rather start fresh though since, without an outlet for practice, my French has all but completely atrophied. Of course, I still remember all the swearing, but that's only because I use them frequently.

Music at the moment: Basement Jaxx ft. Michelle Ndgdgggegdegggggdgdgegdgegd'ocello
"Right Here's the Spot"

I'm excited about Halloween this year. John will actually be home! We're trying (we being John, me, Myshe, Bryan, and the Georgiffer) to take a trip to Atlanta to meet Pete and Frank for a rip-roaring good time. I hope it works out.

Oh and on a more serious update note...John came out to one of his co-workers. Jim is the guy he rides with back and forth from Pensacola each crew change. He’s a nice guy and I think he's John's only real friend out there. John downplays their friendship but I can see he really enjoys the things they talk about and do. I just worry about loose lips. I can't bear to think that he may have troubles on the boat resulting from this. I guess we'll see.

Direction

Music today: "Good Luck", Basement Jaxx

Registered for school a couple mondays ago. Interesting. I even took my CPT. More interesting. I never thought I'd make it into English Comp I Honors. This is good as it's required for my degree in Computer Graphic Design and onward into Video game Design. Who knows, maybe one day I'll actually work on these MMORPGs. Then maybe I can design a tool to get rid of backstabbing online "friends" in these games. Wouldn't that be nice? Then again, there wouldn't be that many players after that. Ah well...I'll be pursuing japanese too. Certainly they're more entertaining on these games than most.

I'm excited about school and meeting real people. I've come to find that most people you meet online are liars in one way or another or require more than one monitor to accommodate each of their faces. A shout out now to those exceptions: Pete & Rita, love you guys!

Welcome a new blogger on the links menu, Miss Sarah. Now I can return the favor of pestering her about blogging. Also Miss S, congratulations to you on your upcoming wedding!


Razors pain you; rivers are damp; acids stain you; and drugs cause cramp. Guns aren't lawful; nooses give; gas smells awful; you might as well live. - Dorothy parker

Phred Highway Loony-Bin Lane 9 Wealthville 18 Confusion Lane 67 Mt. Happiness 148 Paintown 320 Please Drive Carefully

Username:

Where are you on the highway of life?

From Go-Quiz.com

Who Would Slaughter You in a Horror Movie? Find out @ She's Crafty

Please God, destroy Hollywood.

Okay, could The Chronicles of Riddick have been ANY worse? I think so, but only if fused with Van Helsing and featuring a gratuitous lesbian scene between Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Crap. Go burn your cash or spend it on Garfield. Couldn't do any worse.

Happy Birthday To His Royal Badness

Merry Princemas everyone!

On this day in 1958 a little boy was born that was destined to blow the socks of millions of listeners with his escalating career. For the last 25 years Prince Rogers Nelson has made love to us over the microphone and caused many an eargasm with his sharp sound, creative style and ever-innovative musical endeavors. I've been lucky enough to have lived through every bit. Since the first time I heard his debut single "Soft & Wet" I've been hooked. His music has helped me through tough times, it's inspired my artistic side and it plays its part in making my feet move and my hips shake. If I couldn't have danced all these years while listening to his stuff I probably would have offed myself. He's infectious and I'm glad we got to take this ride through life at the same time. Thanks Prince! You've made my life colorful and I appreciate that. Happy Birthday!

MERRY PRINCEMAS!

You're an Etch-a-Sketch!! You're the creative,
artsy type who doesn't need to actually utilize
a single muscle group in order to have fun.
Doesn't matter though, you're still cool.


What childhood toy from the 80s are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Music at the moment: Janet Jackson "Sexhibition" (Didn't she perform this one at the superbowl?)

Wow..I came on once I got home to post today's not so great happenings and was taken aback by the new Blogger cinfiguration. *blinkity blink* Having to relearn my way around.

Went out this evening with our friend Jennifer to have some food, coffee and a necessary meshing of mindsets. Turns out today that she receives a collection notice from AOL saying she owes them $75. Shocked and bwildered she began her phone tag with the various parties (AOL, Collection Agency, etc.) Turns out that Adam, our "friend" having "successfully" gone through rehab and served his 1 year of house arrest for cocaine and crystal meth abuse, used her credit card number to secure his own AOL account. The account was cut-off for non-payment last november and Jennifer is just finding out about it. Wow. And here we thought he was doing so well. So, I checked the Clerk of the Court page this evening and lo and behold, his case is reopened. There before my eyes was text I'd expected/dreaded/wanted to see for a while.

4/14/2004 ALERT ISSUED
Violation of Probation Warrant Issued issued on: 04/14/2004
For: WELCH, ADAM ABRAHAM
Bond Amt:
Bond Type: PRE-TRIAL RELEASE BOND

This is his second VoP so from my understanding it's straight to prison this time. I hope it does him good. I doubt it will, but one can always hope. Our friendship had never reclaimed what it was before on our reconciliation and if nothing else it was good closure. I wish him the best and if the best is staying in prison so he's off drugs then I wish him a long sentence.

Song switch: Christina Milian "Dip It Low"

This event and the overall malaise that comes with it doesn't help this rut of depression I've been in for a while now. Nor does it help that dear friends of mine are going through the same thing. John, my heart, is getting depressed after 6 weeks on the boat. He's ready to come home. I think Bryan is in a slump from travelling so much lately. he's ready to stay home for a while. Jane is depressed over , well she isn't sure, but that was just like me so I totally understand. Heather's crapped out over school and this shitty class she's in. My mom's depressed over the court case she and Dad are going through with Bank One. I'm sure they will come out in the end owning their house outright as well as comfy from the punitive settlement. For now though, she's stressed and bleh. Maybe it's life in general and the state of the world that helps season everyone's routines here lately. I, for one, could use a trip off this rock to some super planet with neat things to see, plenty of entertainment, flying people and spaceships. Little green men are fine too. I like green okay and I'm partial to short men. They just have to be good looking little green men and none of that probing on the first date.

For what it's worth, all my love goes out to those people in a similar rut. Things will get better eventually. Have a glass of wine and a super dickmann on me.

Today was a nice day.

I got up and felt generally icky as I'd slept for too long. I went to bed at 11:30ish last night knowing full well I'd be up at 6 am for hitting the hay before midnight. It's my curse. But no, I woke up out of a dead sleep at 10:30 and though "Holy hell!" My body must have needed it.

Cleaned up and headed out to do the mother's day card roundup and mass mailing. The sun was bright, the air was clean, the humidity was thankfully absent and there was a slight breeze blowing. It was a perfect Florida day. (Though I still prefer overcast dark clouds, torrential rain and wind, but hey, that's me.)

I picked out my cards and meandered through the store just looking. After a bit I headed a few doors down to our UPS store where Stacey (The ultra cool store owner) was in and began to chat as she processed my mail. She updated me on some problems they’d had with a former employee and caught me up on how David and Bart were doing. After a bit she introduced me to their new employee Nichol. Nichol and I got to talking and somehow it came up that she was Greek and Stacey made jokes about how she’s related to or knows everyone that comes into the store. I asked if she knew an old school friend of mine named Anna Maria and low and behold, she goes to church with her! Then she asked if I knew a Casey Gill. I was floored! Casey and I used to pal around in the late 80’s early 90’s at the club and in general. Last I’d heard he’d gone into the military. Well sure enough it was the same Casey and he’s Nichol’s cousin. They talk regularly and she’s going to put us back in touch. He lives in San Diego now and comes back to visit every so often. (Beginning to look like California really is where I need to be.)

Stacey, Nichol and I talked for about 2 hours and then I finally loaded up and came back home. Not much happened in my time out, but it was all good and I laughed a lot. I guess that’s the important thing.

My tree is green and bushy again. They haven’t cut it down and I’m happy. I wish John was home.

Please welcome Pete to the world of ramblings, What ??? Are You? Quizzes and general text chaos. Yay Pete!

Interesting Musicology Review

One of my faves on the CD. Thought I'd share the commentary.

"Dear Mr. Man" - Prince

What's wrong with the world 2day?
Things just got 2 get better
Sho' ain't what the leaders say
Maybe we should write a letter

Dear Mr. Man, we don't understand
Why poor people keep struggling but U don't lend a helping hand
Matthew 5:5 say "The meek shall inherit the earth"
We wanna b down that way
but U been trippin since the day of your birth

Who said that 2 kill is a sin
And started every single war that Ur people been in?
Who said that water is a precious commodity
Then dropped a big old black oil slick in the deep blue sea?

Who told me, Mr. Man, that working round the clock
will buy me a big house in the hood
with cigarette ads on every block?
Who told me, Mr. Man, that Eye got a right 2 moan?
How about this big ol' hole in the ozone?

What's wrong with the world 2day
Things just got 2 get better
Dear Mr. Man, we don't understand
Maybe we should write a letter

Listen, Ain't no sense in voting - same song with a different name
Might not b in the back of the bus but it sure feel just the same
Ain't nothing fair about welfare
Ain't no assistance in AIDS
Ain't nothin' affirmative about ur actions until the people get paid

Ur thousand years r up, Mr. Man
Now U got 2 share the land
Section 1 - the 14th amendment says "No state shall deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law"
Mr. Man, we want 2 end this letter with 3 words
We tired a-y'all

Don't Call It A Comeback...

Okay. I think I'm fully recovered from May 1st and the totally mind-blowing experience that was the Prince: Musicology Tour 2004.

I tried to blog about the experience the day after but I found that each time I tried to describe it I was at a loss for words. It was simply one of the best perfomrances I've ever seen. The Lovesexy tour in 90 was incredible mind you, but this one just drained me and exhilerated me all at the same time. I guess it didn't hurt that if i'd spit I'd have hit the man dancing on the stage. I've never been so close to Prince before and to see him that close while dancing, performing and singing well, it was the closest thing to a religious experience I've ever had. I love music more than just about anything else. I love this man's music especially. And if anyone wants to know, he sounds exactly the same live as he does on a record. No studio cleaning there *coughbritneycough*

If you have the chance and the tour comes near you by all means go. It was truly an incredible performance. I was so ecstatic that I was able to see "Habibe" his Auerswald custom symbol guitar. In purple, this is one of the most gorgeous guitars I've ever seen. The man has taste.

If you haven't picked up "Musicology" give it a try. The album is great.

Thanks for the music in my life Prince. It's been a great ride since 1978. I look forward to many more years.

You are a chocolate cake, people see you as laid
back and confident. sometimes you can be a bit
daring, but you always a sweetheart!


What kind of cake are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

you're a Golden Retriever!

No bones about it, you're a popular, fun-loving Golden Retriever. Adored by all and too cool for school, you're extroverted and enthusiastic. Your magnetic personality makes you the life of any bash. Since you're a true people-dog, you genuinely love all kinds of social gatherings. Going to parties, dinners, and other shindigs is the best way to add faces to your constantly growing circle of friends. But besides being on the social A-list, you're a confident, well-rounded pup who's definitely something to bark about. Pretty accomplished at anything you set your mind to, your sunny nature and winning ways make you one of everyone's favorite dogs. Woof!

Find out what breed of dog you are!

Evil Incarnate

Boobah is perhaps the most evil thing I have ever stumbled across on television. Anyone who likes to be scared or drops acid really should watch it.

Following suit, I have done as Rob suggested.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

Well there are two books an equal distance from me on my desk. Short of flipping a coin I couldn't decide so I took the sentence from each.

1) "That is why the contortions and moans of the victim are necessary to the torturer's happiness, which explains why Verneuil made his wife wear a kind of headgear that amplified her screams."

Simone de Beauvoir - Marquis De Sade ( I was actually *just* referencing this a moment ago hence its proximity)

2) "Le petit prince, qui assistait à l'installation d'un bouton énorme, sentait bien qu'il en sortirait une apparition miraculeuse, mais la fleur n'en finissait pas de se préparer à être belle, à l'abri de sa chambre verte."

Le Petit Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupéry

You are a GRAMMAR GOD!


If your mission in life is not already to
preserve the English tongue, it should be.
Congratulations and thank you!


How grammatically sound are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I really ain't believin' that none!

I taste like Bread. I am a staple in almost everyone's diet. Friends like me are a complement to any other friends I get on with almost everyone, remaining mostly in the background, but providing substance when it would otherwise be lacking. What Flavour Are You?

***

John

Cor blimey, I taste like Tea. I am a subtle flavour, quiet and polite, gentle, almost ambient. My presence in crowds will often go unnoticed. Best not to spill me on your clothes though, I can leave a nasty stain. What Flavour Are You?

I am a Defender-ship. I am fiercely protective of my friends and loved ones, and unforgiving of any who would hurt them. Speed and foresight are my strengths, at the cost of a little clumsiness. I'm most comfortable with a few friends, but sometimes particularly enjoy spending time in larger groups. What Video Game Character Are You?

Okay in my quest for a decent lotion for dried skin (A common thing in diabetics) I have experienced many a product: "Choice" diabetic care lotion, "Shea it isn't so" foot lotion, the various jergens, "Diabetiderm", you name it. I have recently found one for diabetic use called "DiabetAid" which is VERY nice. However I was directed to one other that I swear by now. "Udderly Smooth" Udder Cream. Yes, you read right. Udder cream. Sarah dear, you might try it. The Shea it isn't so was good but this stuff rocks. I share with you now the directions so everyone knows what they need to do.

Wash udder and teat parts thoroughly with clean water and soap before each milking to avoid contamination of milk. Use clean individual towels for this purpose. Apply to the udder after each milking, massaging into the skin. For teat cracks apply in sufficient quantity to fill crack and cover surrounding area. Apply uniformly to chafed area and bruises to maintain skin suppleness.

For aid in softening swollen udders following calving, apply liberally twice daily with gentle massage.

There you have it. I know all of you were concerned with cracked teats and chafed udders. Now you can rest easy!

Now I can be an X-Man

by using the X-Men Genetic Mutation Finder I was able to ascertain that I am, in fact, a mutant! Now i live out my life long dream and join my favorite superhero group. Wow. To think I have powers! I've always known I was Homo Superior, but this adds a whole new dimension to it.

My Powers:
Paranism - Extremely sensitive hearing that allows you to hear what anyone is saying about you.

John's Powers:
Americanism - Inability to walk out of your house without a hand gun.

I think my code name will be something like Earshot or Grapevine. John's will definitely be Charlton Heston.

Yet another comes into the fold. Please welcome Josh aka "Dimples" to blogging. Josh is on the road right now on his move to Georgia to live :( At least this way we'll be able to see into his daily life. We miss you already Joshy.

Last night the group, sans Bryan, Josh and Heather, went out to Fuji for an evening of sushi and sake in celebration of Leap Year. Fun and a good time was had by all as we sat on the floor in one of their large party rooms delightfully set up as a japanese dining nook. We sat on little pads on the floor surrounded by the paper walls. (These were actually plastic giving the illusion of authentic Japanese walls while being more durable and flame retardent at the same time) Having been wanred, everyone wore decent socks since the shoes came off. After a few hours of Sunshine Rolls, Lobster Rolls, Volcano Rolls and the like all served on groovy little wooden plates with legs (Robby's on a little boat no less) and then dessert consisting of some Sweet Red Bean ice Cream and Fried Bananas in Honey, we were ready to come home. A fune little jaunt out for a day that only comes around every four years.

***

Reaching further back a day before this, we return to Saturday. I was too busy to blog that day about the happenings, but they beg recording so here I am. Myshe and I headed to the Pensacola Regional Airport to fetch John after his flight from New Mexico. We made our way to the lobby outside the terminal and stood there waiting for his flight to arrive. Luckily gate 3 began to unload only a couple of minutes after we took our places. Now it wouldn't be long bfore I got to see my John. Whew! I was ready for some quality time before he had to leave, yet again. Passengers flood out past us. I sway back and forth looking past the misshaped heads and general fashion ignorance of the sea of people trying to spy my beau. Of course, he'd be the last one off the plane I thought. As I'm craning my neck to look for the man I know so well Myshe pipes up next to me "That isn't coming in our house!". I knit my brows and look at her to guage where she's looking when i realize she's staring at a man standing almost directly in front of me. A double take at him registers that this is the man I was looking for and God help me, he found me. There stood John bathed from head to toe in parental abuse. Cowboy boots, brand new, starchy, dark blue, boot-cut, denim Jeans with no belt, a long-sleeve plaid shirt with dark blue shirt underneath topped off by a large beige Cowboy hat. To this moment I feel horrible that the first look John got from me on his return home was one of dawning horror, but it was a knee-jerk reaction I swear! I hugged him while avoiding the hat and asked him what happened. As it turns out, this was his christmas present. Before I could make a joke about "What? No horse?" he mentioned that that had been in the plan too if there'd been a way to transport one and keep it here. Help me. Luckily we got him in the car, home and changed before too much exposure to the outfit. I'll be making space in the bedroom closet for the hat and the boots when he leaves. The jeans will be washed a few hundred times in a healthy detergent/bleach mixture and may even become summer cut-offs. Before long the house will be exorcised of this texan demon. Just look for me at the top of the stairs done up like a little woman and declaring "This house...is clean."

Who needs Excedrin? Let New Improved PHRED get rid of your migraine!

Music - listening to a various playlist consisting of the new Janet jackson song "Love You For A Little While" (No Jane, it's not called "Lookitmytit"), "La Belle et Le Bad" by MC Solaar (French Hip-hop..tres cool), and "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" by The Darkness (I think the lead singer is definitely the next Freddie Mercury)

Okay, so this is a place to record my life to some degree eh? I suppose it could just be a place to vent assorted crap as well just to get it ut of my skull, meaningless or not. So, I suppose this is blogworthy.

It's never a fun thing when you split with a friend. However, it can be a healthy thing. I think this was on both sides. Melonie, who I've not mentioned in Blog before since she's pretty much fallen from our lives over the last few years, called me yesterday on my cell phone. I was in no mood to deal with her having recently been forgotten by her on my birthday, but I called her back nonetheless. Call me a masochist. Maybe I psychically knew this was the conversation that would end it all and maybe, just maybe, I welcomed it.

There were the obligatory "I'm sooo sorry"s that one gets in between each of her excuses or streams of verbal tripping while fabricating new lies (um...er..uhhhh..um...uhhhh..err.ummm). I simply sat there and listened and made no noises nor words of my own. As the conversation progressed I could see that she was looking for a confrontation. Maybe she wanted it over too. Thank God. So, one remark lead to another and before long we were both raising our voices. Things like It's always her fault and never ours. Why is it never us? We don't think anything could possibly be our fault. Hmm...let me see, She's a slob. She's a hypochondriac. She's a liar. She's a thief. She's a freeloader. She's always making excuses and those excuses are usually "I have a migraine". She's had 238 Jobs in the last 2 years because she stays at one for, at best, a week and gets fired or leaves them because "She had a migraine" or some fictional boss called her and her fictional co-workers "Lazy Bitches". So they all fictitiously walked out. (But never pursued a lawsuit. Hmm.) During all this we've reached out to her. We've had more "Interventions" than we can count and all cried with her saying "What's wrong?" and "We want to help you become the old Mel again". Each to no avail of course. Then there's the plethora of excuses as to why she acts this way "I'm depressed", "I'm Manic", "I was abusing my Mom's prescription medication...but I'm over it now and okay.", and on and on. Yeah...we're the ones that have the problem. Not Melonie, Goddess of Purity and Light.

Nutshell, she's gone. It's sad. The old Melonie we knew years ago was a great person. This new, dumpy, self-loathing, wallowing, lazy, wannabe-disability collector Melonie, well...she sucks dirty mule ass. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Next?

Welcome!

Much to my elation, my roomie Myshe has taken to blogging! Please welcome her and enjoy her musings. Her initial post is a poignant one that details a category of people we have coined "GGs". This will, no doubt, help those of you reading my blog in the future should I refer to these "GGs". Welcome Myshe!!!

And Finally...California Trip Episode III: Attack of the Castro

No music today - it is quiet and I like it that way

Okay so it took a while to get the final part of the california trip up here. Bite me. Look how long it took for the "first" three Star wars movies to come out. You'll get over it.

Though seriously, everytime I've sat down to finish this something's come up. There was "Phone won't stop" day followed by "Myshe's car is dead" day and various other "You aren't allowed to do anything you want to" days. So, now that the John is home, the house is quiet and both of us are basking in the afterglow of a wonderful surprise breakfast made by John himself I have time to blog. Yay me.

Our final day in California with our newfound wonder-buddies was so very nice! We rose mid-morning and readied ourselves for brunch in the Castro. How gay huh? Well when in Rome...

Anyhow, we ate at a busy little corner cafe (The name escapes me but Delores was in the title) which had really yummy food. John and I each had a ham dn cheese croissant while Jane ate some other sandwich monstrosity and Sarah watched her girlish figure with eggs and fruit. Go sarah!

After eats we started our trek through the gay mecca. It was actually very neat. Lot's of little shops with different themes here and there and all sorts of interesting little yummy things, to borrow a phrase from Edina Monsoon. We walked quite a bit and went in almost every other shop we passed. It is truly its own little city.



Once done communing with the nexus of Gaydom we headed off to take in random sights. The Pacific ocean was beautiful as was the Palace of Fine Arts. Even our zig-zagging down "The World's Most Crooked Street" was delightful, albeit devoid of cell-phone signal.



***



***



Come dinner time we headed to Jane's favorite Chinese place "Hunan House" (I believe the name was) where we yet again ate family style. I love Jane and Sarah for that alone if nothing else. Sharing food has always meant something to me for some reason. It denotes a comfort that has been lost in today's Mine Mine Mine portions that are usually served in reatsaurants. Anyhow, the food was great despite their lack of alternative sweetener. I guess being a Chinese place they thought "Swreet and Row" was some form of fish egg special.

Patting our stomachs we made way to our last big shebang in SF before departing the next morning bright and early.



This was, by far, one of the best things I've seen on stage in years. It's been a long time since I've actually cried because I've laughed so much and damn did it feel good. I couldn't have asked for a better way to end our trip to the west coast. If you haven't been and are planning to be in SF at one point, make time for this. You won't regret it.

Thus ends our story or at least this chapter. The next morning we rose before the sun did, hugged a sleepy-headed Sarah still in bed and were dropped at the airport by the sweet Miss Jane. I'll admit I got teary-eyed as she pulled off but I covered it up well. A few hours later we were back here at home with wine bottles and other assorted goodies intact. Our trip made us consider a few things, one being a move. We enjoyed ourselves, the city and the climate so much that I think we could be happy on the other side of our current world. The next were two wonderful people. To steal a remark from the Janester, I could grow old living next to them.

So much fun was had and only one real regret followed...I wish we'd waited to go until later. We could have brought back a Marriage License with all our tarder Joe's goodies.

Again, Jane finds cool stuff

Phred - yeah so there! I eat my French Toast while sipping on French wine and hurling French obscenities at all you "Freedom Fry" eating bigots. Vos mères suce des ours dans la forêt!

You're France!

Most people think you're snobby, but it's really just that
you're better than everyone else.  At least you're more loyal to the real
language, the fine arts, and the fine wines than anyone else.  You aren't
worth beans in a fight, unless you're really short, but you're so good at other
things that it usually doesn't matter.  Some of your finest works were
intended to be short-term projects.
Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

***

John - It's beginning to look like I'm married to Jane

You're
the United Nations!

Most people think you're ineffective, but you are trying to
completely save the world from itself, so there's always going to be a long
way to go.  You're always the one trying to get friends to talk to each
other, enemies to talk to each other, anyone who can to just talk instead of
beating each other about the head and torso.  Sometimes it works and sometimes
it doesn't, and you get very schizophrenic as a result.  But your heart
is in the right place, and sometimes also in New York.
face="Times New Roman">Take the Country
Quiz at the Blue Pyramid

Happy Birthday to Me!

Jan 30th

on this day in:

the U.S. No.1 on the 30th January 1970 was... Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head by
B. J. Thomas

***

1956, Elvis Presley started recording what would be his first album at RCA's New York Studios. Songs recorded included his version of Carl Perkins' 'Blue Suede Shoes.'

1961, The Shirelles started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow', it reached No.4 in the UK.

1964, The Searchers had their second UK No.1 single with 'Needles And Pins.'

1969, the rooftop gig took place with The Beatles appearing live on top of the Apple building, lasting for just over 40 minutes it was the last time The Beatles performed 'live.'

1970, Marc Bolan married June Child at Kensington registry office, they divorced in 1975.

1971, George Harrison became the first solo Beatle to have a No.1 when 'My Sweet Lord', went to the top of the UK single charts.

1972, Paul McCartney wrote and recorded his protest song 'Give Ireland Back To The Irish' within 24 hours of Bloody Sunday, when 13 Catholics were killed by British paratroopers.

1978, appearing at the Vortex, Wardour Street, London, The Police.

1981, appearing at the newly opened 'Rock City' in Nottingham, Toyah, tickets £2.50.

1982, Barbra Streisand started a seven week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with the 'Love Songs' LP.

1982, blues guitarist, singer Sam 'Lightnin' Hopkins died aged 70. One of his best known songs is 'Bald Headed Woman', influenced Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix.

1982, Hall and Oates went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'I Can Go For That, (No Can Do)', the duo's fourth US No.1, a No.8 hit in the UK.

1982, Paul McCartney guessed on BBC radio's 'Desert Island Discs', his selections include, Elvis Presley's 'Heartbreak Hotel', Chuck Berry's 'Sweet Little Sixteen', John Lennon's 'Beautiful Boy', and Little Richards 'Tutti Frutti.'

1982, Shakin' Stevens had his third UK No.1 single with 'Oh Julie.'

1988, during a court case involving Holly Johnson and ZTT it was revealed that Frankie Goes To Hollywood had not played on their hits 'Relax' and 'Two Tribes'. The court was told that top session musicians were used to make the records.

1988, INXS had their first US No.1 hit single with 'Need You Tonight.'

1988, Terence Trent D'arby went back to No.1 on the UK album chart for an 8 week run with 'Introducing The Hardline To Terence Trent D'arby.'

1988, Tiffany had her only UK No.1 single with 'I Think We're Alone Now.'

1990, unhappy with the re-issue of the single 'Sally Cinnaman', The Stone Roses trashed their former record company Revolver FM's offices and threw paint over cars, the band were arrested and charged with criminal damage.

1991, 22 years to the day that The Beatles played live on the roof of their Savile Row offices, Manchester band James played a live set on the roof of Manchester's Piccadilly radio station attracting several thousand on-lookers.

1994, Dina Carroll went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'So Close'.

1999, after spending 11 weeks on the chart Britney Spears started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with '...Baby One More Time'. Britney's debut album also went to No.1 on the US chart on the same day.

1999, in the NME readers poll results the winner of 'The pop personality that you would like as your doctor' was won by, Natalie Imbruglia.

2000, Gabrielle went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Rise'. The song used a sample from Bob Dylan's 'Knocking On Heaven's Door', giving Dylan his third UK No.1 as a writer, the other two being 'Mr Tambourine Man' and 'The Mighty Quinn'.

Sarah is chastising me for not posting on a regular basis. This is for her. Pbpbpbpbpbpbt!

Q: How many lesbians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A: Four. One to change it, two to organize the potluck and one to write a folk song about the empowering experience.

***

A woman walks into her doctor’s office and says “Doctor, I have this terrible rash.” She lifts up her sweater to reveal a large ‘M’ shaped rash. The doctor replies, “Now that is the strangest rash I’ve ever seen.” The woman explains, “Well my boyfriend goes to Michigan and refuses to take off his letter sweater when we make love.” The doctor shrugs her shoulders, prescribes some lotion and sends the woman on her way.

The next day another woman comes in with a very similar rash.“How did you get that?” the doctor asks. “My boyfriend goes to MIT and he refuses to take his letter sweater off when we make love,” she says. The doctor prescribes some lotion and sends the young lady on her way.

The third day another young woman comes into the doctor’s office and she too has a big rash in the shape of an ‘M’ on her chest. “Let me guess,” the doctor says. “Your boyfriend goes to Maryland?” “No,” the patient replies, “My girlfriend goes to Wellesley.”

Fun with Divinity!

Yay! More fun from Jane! She finds the neatest things.

Phred's Results:

Become a God or Goddess. by zerogirl
Name:
God/Goddess of	Creation
Element:	Lightning
Animal Companion:	Dragon
Weak against	Food
Weapon:	Bow and arrow
Created with quill18's MemeGen 2.0!

They sure as hell got the weakness right!

John's results:

Become a God or Goddess. by zerogirl
Name:
God/Goddess of	Darkness
Element:	Wind
Animal Companion:	Rabbit
Weak against	Fire
Weapon:	Partisan
Created with quill18's MemeGen 2.0!

The Trip Out West pt. Deux or An Ode to Lushbians

Music today is Wendy & Lisa's "Eroica". Superb.

Friday we were allowed to sleep in by our gracious hostessesses until 9:30ish before motivating to ready ourselves for our day of wine tasting! After gathering ourselves into warm bundles we headed to Sonoma and decided to fill our tummies at the Sonoma Cheese Factory. MMMMMMMMMMMMMM! We sampled the little cubes of cheese along the front before heading outside to order our burgers. They even had a veggie one for me! John had a regular one with Garlic Jack while I had my veggie with a melted piece of Mediterranean Jack which was absolutely delicious. While lusting over Jane's with Chili Cheddar on top we decided to have another veggie to split only this one with the same cheddar. Each was spectacular and we were wonderfully sated in preparation for our day out destroying our liver.

We first headed to the lovely Sebastiani to begin our tasting day. The décor was pretty, though a bit like some corporate storefront. The wine was good and John and I bought a bottle of 1999 Sylvia Sebastiani’s Symphony. As per the back label “Symphony is an improved, high-quality Muscat hybrid”. All I know is that it’s a dessert wine and it’s damn good. Unfortunately we didn’t get any pictures here, but we have plenty from other vineyards.

Next was Ravenswood. From the lush greenery everywhere to the cobblestone walkway the grounds are so beautiful! Inside the actual building is warm, cozy and quite comfortable. The woman serving us was very knowledgeable about the wines there and their histories. She was very nice, but lacked a “fun” quality. Here we bought our little bottle of 2002 Late Harvest Gewurztraminer. I have found that Gewurtz is probably one of my favorite wines ever.


Faces have been smileyfied to protect the innocent.

Off to Gundlach Bundschu we went! When we arrived we were so impressed with how beautiful it was. I took lots of pictures of “The Shire” as I’ve come to call it and half expected to see little drunk hobbits after each turn.



Inside the room was heated by an old-fashioned wood burning stove and was so comfortably rustic. Our server here was knowledgeable AND fun! She made us feel at home and we enjoyed listening to her as much as she seemed to listen to us talk about subtle “coconut” and “oak” flavors. My phrase du jour for our wine tasting day was “Gay and Sprightly” which really didn’t apply to anything we sampled there. We ended up leaving there warm, toasty and happy with a bottle of 2002 Morse Vineyard Zinfandel which I’ll be cooking with.

On suggestion from the woman at Gundlach Bundschu we then drove to Artesa. This was a gorgeous building set into a hill with fountains galore and babbling brooks running down each side of the stone steps. We really liked the look of the place as it had a feel of museum/art gallery. The downside to this, however, is the lack of “wine love” and personality noted by Sarah at first. Architecturally it was great, but we opted to browse and leave rather than stay and sample.



The last stop on our wine trip was Cline Cellars. Very homey and transporting me to the set of “The Waltons” our experience here was nice as well. The man serving was chatty to a point but let us have our time and look around at the wonderful marinades and spreads they had to offer. John picked the wine here and he chose a delightful (good wine word I find) 2002 Vin Gris. We had 4 bottles of wine at this point. I think our lovely tour guides had 23. Them’s is some wine-lovin’ ladies!



After walking the grounds and looking at the ponds and various birdies in cages we headed back to the city to meet J&S friends Austin and Jane (Referred to as Fuego given her FLAMING red hair) for dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant. The Blue Nile I think it was called and all our food was served on one large round pan with lines of pastes, rices and salad that we ate with torn pieces of spongy crepe-like bread. It was really cool and delicious. I ordered a glass of Honey Wine which we passed around the table. The whole experience was tres groovy.

Done with dinner we returned to homestead and Austin broke out his Munchkin game that none of them had played yet. We jogged through rules as we sipped on Port and played one very long game while the dogs, Timmy and Otis, dined in the background on dried cow penis…the things pets will eat! We had a blast laughing over the cards and everyone’s back-stabbing. It truly is a game for friends! Done with this, we had our fun with “Dirty Mad-Libs”. Each was great but I think the evening’s winner was Sarah’s “Monstrosity” a new dance, which John and I had to perform. Fuego and Austin were great and I hope to keep in touch with them as well. Who knew Austin, a studying priest, would be so good at “Dirty Mad-Libs”!?



All retired soon after our long eventful day and evening and slept soundly. That is, until I awoke at 5:45 am sick to my stomach and feeling dizzy. Which brings us to my Saturday in California!


This was the extent of my site-seeing for the majority of Saturday.

Apparently I picked up some sort of 12 hour virus that left me leaned over the pot rather than running around enjoying myself. John and Jane did venture out and went to do their own thing while Sarah watched QAF downstairs and then left to go play soccer. After hours of moaning, groaning, expelling and finally getting over it. I came downstairs a new, albeit sore, man. We left after showers and the like to eat at a really good Cambodian place (We think it was called Mekong Delta) where I had clay pot chicken in a caramel sauce. Damn it was good!

With dinner done we headed to Alameda and to my Mecca!



I could have spent a whole hell of a lot of money in Trader Joe’s had I not felt icky and sore. Thankfully that stopped me. We did get some yummy things to bring home and a lovely new Soy Vay sauce that I’m dying to try out. It was time well spent!

Having sated my TJ fix we returned home and settled in to watch my dance tape and “All Over The Guy” with yummy Sarah Chai Lattes. I was so very pleasantly surprised by a sudden birthday celebration when we settled in. A biscotti "birthday cake" and pressies from my baby and my two wonderful hostesses made the whole day fade away. I love you guys!

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of the Trip to California!