Light In a Tin Can

haha

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:05:28 GMT

makes me laugh:

makes me smile:

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:32:25 GMT

i feel sick. or my lungs are still jacked up from earlier this week when i went running in the cold weather because i have exercised-induced asthma that only seems to flare up in the cold and my inhaler is packed away in storage and i'm a nerd. who coughs a lot.

mike and i drove out to shenandoah national park this weekend and it was such a gorgeous day, sunny and 65, and the leaves were beautiful. we also saw a creepy-ass spider that was yellow and red. we talked about what a crazy and good year it has been.

halloween is over and i dressed as bob ross and enjoyed punkin ale and pumpkin-carving. now they're already selling egg nog at the grocery store. sweet.

of course i am crazy-excited for election day. maybe 80% excited, 20% nervous. I sent my absentee ballot back to Colorado last week so i won't technically participate in election day, but i am going to a loudoun county democrats election night party. also, obama is speaking in manassas tomorrow night and i want to go, but i don't feel good so we'll see.

i keep having dreams that i am enrolled in school again, but keep missing my classes - like i either don't realize till it's too late that i've missed class, or i don't know my schedule and don't know which class is when, or don't know where the classes are actually located. i'm not sure what this means other than... i'm worried i am missing some valuable learning experience? i'm also dreaming about swimming a lot lately.

things are moving along in the home-buying process. i can't wait to move in.

Tue, 27 May 2008 13:23:45 GMT

oh my gosh last night I scared Mike so bad that he fell down and it was hilarious. I was so proud of myself. He came out of the bathroom and I was hiding behind the couch (where seconds prior I had been playing with Finny) and I decided to try to get him, so I jumped up and yelled BOO! when he came around the corner and his reaction was PRICELESS! he yelled and threw his hands up and slipped on the hardwood floor. he didn't hurt himself or anything, so I ROFLed for many minutes. Scaring people is my new thing, but I usually fail, haha. I've even tried to scare my coworkers by jumping out from behind corners. hahaha. such a weirdo.

I also laughed really hard last night after I brought Finny in from the rain and towel-dried him, which always gets him riled up, and he started darting around the room like a maniac and throwing his bone all over the place.

Annnddd on a more serious note, I finished McCarthy's The Road this weekend and I thought it was really, really good. Sure, it's a little depressing, but I was prepared for it and I didn't think the bleakness overshadowed the more important themes of the book - what makes us human, strength of spirit, mankind's violent nature, etc. I really respect McCarthy as an author.

oh my god

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 04:16:24 GMT

I just saw on the news that Kurt Vonnegut died. I can't find it on the internet yet, though.

That is one of the saddest things I've heard in a long time. What an incredible mind, a fantastic person. The overused metaphor of a candle going dark comes to mind.

So it goes.

edit: article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/books/11cnd-vonnegut.html?_r=2&pagewanted=3&hp&oref=slogin

AHHHHH

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 04:32:07 GMT

EVERYONE IS GETTING SICK AND I'M GETTING SCARED FOR MY LITTLE LIFE. IT'S COMING FOR ME!!!!

In other news-- I have no news. Except that I can't seem to find a good living/apartment situation. That is making me anxious and unsettled and uncomfortable. Working to get that fixed asap.

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 04:52:34 GMT

There's a hard bump the size of a nickel behind my left ear and it HURTS.

I know it's old news, but the Democratic Convention is coming to myyyy new city! I will volunteer.

I bought new skis last week and we rode the pow over the weekend and it ruled.

I'm really effin' busy this week with prep and training for a volunteer event next week.

I got my hairs did and dyed and I like it a lot.

holyyyy shit

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 01:39:16 GMT

Do you SEE what Santa brought for me today????

My parents got me a new MacBook!!! I was so so so not expecting to get this. I expressed interest in it last month, but didn't want to ask for it for Christmas b/c it's a bigass gift to get from someone. I was planning on saving up for it after the holiday season. butmyparentssurprisedmeandi'msoexcitedyaaaay!!!

The computer I'm currently using is the one I got when I went to college, so it's about 6 1/2 years old. It is very slow. It is infected (d1/2dplay?). It is not transportable. It sometimes randomly shuts down. BUT, it does still work and I feel a little spoiled getting a new laptop.

But, man.

Top 3 gifts from my family:
1. Education
2. 1990 Bronco II (a.k.a. Excaliber) when I was in High School
3. APPLE MACBOOK!!!
(and number 4 is probably my current p.c. :)

Okay I'm sorry if that seemed like bragging (it probably did, I guess). I'm just so damn excited! I've never had a laptop OR a Mac!

the weather outside is goddamn frightful...for drivers

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 05:18:46 GMT

I'm getting really sad/scared for Mike; his commute, which is normally 40 minutes, has taken over 4 hours now and he's nowhere near home. The roads are snowy, but seriously, aren't people here used to it by now? It's already snowed hard a couple of times this season. But for some reason, this time is different and there are horrible accidents and people have died. There's only about 2 inches (max) of snow on the ground. Weird.

I wish I could go helicopter him out of there, but he has no choice but to keep on crawlin. It would be nice if I could just enjoy the snow (like chad_is_rad), but obviously, I can't. Right now I wish I was back east.

shortest/longest t-day ever

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 04:43:17 GMT

5 a.m start
10,000 people
65 degrees
no food until 5 p.m. delicious turkey.

Everyone loves a giant Turkey

And apparently everyone loves to dress up as a turkey (and force their dogs into adorable turkey costumes) - we even had a turkey on stilts walk the race!

But.. aren't you supposed to eat turkey on t-day? The maniacal red gleam in my eyes says "YES!"

Ahhh.. perfection. That's a sage/butter rub under the skin and an orange up it's butt.

I hope you all had a great day and found many things in your life to be thankful for :)

A-Basin... like C-Mountain and A-spen

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 05:14:52 GMT

Today I went snowboarding for the first time. I've been skiing (usually only once or twice a year) since middle school and while I'm no pro, I consider myself a very solid intermediate and feel fairly confident in my skillz.

I never want to strap into a snowboard again. I bit it so many times and my butt is SUFFERING. And I was on the bunny slopes all day! The last fall I took was because I was trying to practice riding on my toe edge and I flip-slipped around somehow and fell so hard on my arse that my first thought was that I had broken my tailbone. I even cried a little, which is SO wimpy, but the shocks of pain were intense. I need a donut. And more Aleve. I will probably call out of work tomorrow b/c I can't imagine sitting for 8 hours.

On a positive note, though, the CO mountains are SWEET compared to the VA/WVA/PA mountains I'm used to!! Plus everyone here brings their dogs and they play in the snow and are adorable and crazy. AND, there were more hippies than yuppies on the slopes today and that is defintely a good thing. Bet that's a different story at Vail and Aspen, though.

I remember Halloween

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 08:23:21 GMT

... and we weren't scary at all

Fightin' Mike KaPOWski and me

He got a blackeye from a show last week so we thought we should incorporate it into his costume (a boxer). I already had a Pulp Fiction black wig and a kimono, so a geisha was pretty easy (plus I was a geisha a few years ago). Happy Halloween!

I'm beginning to like music again.

Sat, 21 Oct 2006 19:54:32 GMT

Free Lucero set at a record store this afternoon. Strike Anywhere on Tuesday. Bouncing Souls over Thanksgiving. I love that more East Coast bands come through Denver than they did through Roanoke, VA :p

a little random and overdue

Tue, 19 Sep 2006 04:17:51 GMT

eecchhhhh.. too many teams lost this weekend. Hokies won, Atlanta won, and Broncos won (barely), but the Redskins, Steelers, and Eagles lost! crappy. Sunday was saved, however, by the purchase of some flat-heeled, tall, brown boots with interesting detail and sooooft leather-- which I've been looking for for over a year now! I'm feeling a little hesitant about them because they were a bit pricey and I'm not used to tall boots yet, but I think they're keepers :)

let's see, I also begin my oil painting class this Saturday morning at 10. I'm super excited and I've decided to paint this:

We had to pick a picture to paint since we need to learn painting techniques, not sketching techniques. I really like the visual and symbolic aspects of this photo, as well as the textures and colors. It will hang in our kitchen if I do a good job :)

Next weekend also marks the beginning of my TWO-YEAR wine-making endeavor! I bought 100 lbs of Sangiovese grapes from California and will crush and destem them, then begin the fermentation process this Saturday. Alltogether, including aging in the bottle, the process will take nearly two years. Guess that leaves me plenty of time to pick a name for my "winery."

Lastly, my sister's boyfriend (of four years) left for marine boot camp today. I feel really sad for her and worried for him. I think they have like 13 weeks of boot camp, then 4-6 months of training for whatever they want to specialize in (he's doing military police). He *will* go to Iraq. I hope things are calmer by then... for everyone's sake. I also hope little sister doesn't get too looonely :( She's gone into support-mode, though, and I suspect she'll just bottle everything up. I'm lobbying hard to get her to come visit before Christmas.

We did a whole lot of yard work last weekend and I'm worried my plants will die. I've never had a garden and I tend to kill potted plants with love-- too much watering.

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 03:16:10 GMT

I'm.. so.. tired. Will update very soon. We're moving to Denver in two weeks and we found a sweet place to live and I survived the plane trip out there and back last week.

Oh, and today, I hate the czech republic. But I love my coworkers who bought me a gift certificate to the NPR gift shop and threw me a mini-party, IN ADDITION TO taking me out to a nice lunch the week before last and giving me some american express gift certificates redeemable just about anywhere- none of which I expected. Nicest, greatest people to work with/for ever.

Lastly, Fud - I bought A Confederacy of Dunces, per your rave review. I hope its good!

Life is good.

Sun, 21 May 2006 01:34:41 GMT

Today ruled. We drove to Douthat State Park in my new car ('03 dark blue Honda CR-V; more on this later) and kayaked around the lake and hiked about the beautiful Alleghany mountains. It was a really pretty day, though a little windy - we definitely took on some water in the kayak, but it was goodtimes. We split a bottle of wine and sunbathed in the woods in our bathing suits / underwear. On the way home, we stopped by Blockbuster to rent a movie and the grocery store to buy some dinner. Mike made us some salmon with an herb wine reduction sauce over rice. Now we're sharing a bottle of our favorite Virginia wine. We may meet up with some friends later for a drink. We may not.

Last week I bought a car by myself for the first time evah. Obviously the largest purchase I've ever made, it was kind of scary, but pretty sweet. But it was so effin' sad to say goodbye to my trusty bronco - which the dealership only gave me $300 for!!

R.I.P. ExCaliber
we had eight years together and you were awesome. i'm sorry i had to trade you in for something newer and nicer and safer. i would have kept you if i had an extra parking space. i will miss your stickers and your syrup smell.

My new car pretty much rules, though. It has CRUISE CONTROL, A/C, AND POWER WINDOWS AND LOCKS, none of which I have ever had the luxury of experiencing in a car of my own. Plus, it only has 27,000 miles on it, despite being three years old, and looks brand new. I feel fancy. Almost too fancy. Now I will have to take care of my car, rather than ignoring bent axles, dented bumpers, scratched paint, and a dirty interior. I will no longer be able to drive over curbs at will, run over boxes, and take speed bumps as fast as I can. Sad. But fancy!

Oh oh, and before I bought the new car, I bought some radass
.
No more new things until after we move!

Ah yes, and the move is shaping up to take place between June 19 - June 26. Yessssss. I CANNOT WAIT. except I am scurred for my poor fair skin getting fried in the mile-high city :/

Loki has become a pacifist.

Sun, 14 May 2006 04:41:58 GMT

I just injured myself (well.. I fell backwards and scraped my arm on a wall corner) whilst trying to kill a fly in my apartment and that fucker still won. I spent like 30 minutes chasing him. I feel like Mickey Mouse in that cartoon where he works so hard to kill one fly (better than I did) and it gets spread around that he killed like ten giants or something.

Today I looked at cars. At dealerships. I've never done this before. I've owned one car since I turned 16 and we bought it from an individual for $4,500. Looking at cars made me more tired than I would have expected.

I'm sort of getting stoked for our yardsale. I plan to make megabucks. In fact, my goal is to make enough to cover my first car payment!

I haven't been eating that much lately and I don't exercise and I am STRESSED. I'd like it if I could just calm down and still be productive, rather than the current two options, which appear to be:
1. Get a whole lot of shit done while acting like a maniac who hates everyone.
2. Going into sloth-mode and watching hours of Simple Life: Interns and thinking about nothing.

That goddamn fly is going to crawl into my ear while I'm sleeping, I know it!

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 04:32:56 GMT

(and um, my floor really needs to be vacuumed)
I've already tried cleaning the lens with solution and a cloth, to no avail. What else can I do??

I would really like my camera to be working for this weekend when we stay here: http://www.boarsheadinn.com (too lazy to link). For our three year anniversary, we're going on a wine weekend EXTRAVAGANZA! in Charlottesville, VA. We'll visit eight wineries up there that we've never been to and maybe check out the town a little. I've amassed a huge hatred towards all things Charlottesville due to town's unfortunate luck of birthing UVA, but I look forward to giving the area a second chance this weekend. I highly doubt we'll encounter any of the college douchewads during our 36-hour stint there, but who knows.. I wouldn't be surprised if a few little UVA princesses stayed at the Boar's Head year-round.

Okay I didn't mean for all of that to sound so negative. I'm actually really excited! We're nerdy, boring people who love to visit wineries and love to learn as much as we can about VIRGINIA wineries in particular. It's also supposed to be a loverly weekend weather-wise. :)

--Joey just made a suggestion about my camera. Thank you, Joey.--

it's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful day

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 21:59:53 GMT

Today when we left the apartment to take Finny for a walk, we immediately ran into a man squatting on the sidewalk holding a bird. We asked him what happened and he said he had been jogging and found the bird on the ground. It was bleeding around the eye and obviously injured; we believe he flew into the side of the building. The man was from out of town and staying at a hotel, so we said we'd try to find help for the bird, a robin. We put the bird in a secluded, safe, shaded place nearby and went back upstairs to figure out who to call.

I called the emergency vet office and they gave me the wildlife protection's phone number. Called them and left a message and they called me back within an hour. Apparently they are a network of vet techs and the like who volunteer their services to help wounded wild animals. I brought the bird over to this lady's house and she told me all about the organization and how they would try to save the robin, who had extensive head trauma, but looked like she would probably make it.

I think I would have volunteered to join their organization and just help with transporting hurt animals if we were going to be in Roanoke much longer. But we're not. Or at least, we're not planning on it.

And yesterday we called 911 to report a big huge fire that we saw from the road at a construction site, but they told us they already had fire trucks on the way.

We rule at being good citizens.

over-reaction x10

Fri, 03 Mar 2006 18:02:33 GMT

Jesus Christ. I think it's apparent that I'm a little stressed out when I break down sobbing (kneeling on the floor) after discovering that Sheetz has screwed up my order and given me steak on my sandwich instead of chicken AND I DO NOT EAT RED MEAT and that I'm going to have to drive BACK OUT THERE on my very short lunch break to get a new sandwich. But now I have to wait a few minutes until my face returns to a normal color, as it is currently blotchy red and streaked with tears.

wtf is wrong here???

oh that's right, I'm a girl. damnit.

~*todaY wAs sOoO KewL!!!!!!**~

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 03:39:36 GMT

Today my new used clothes arrived from karimonica!!! I came home at lunch to a little package outside my door and I'm thinking "is this what I think it is? how the hell did she fit two pairs of pants and a shirt in there?" And not only did I find one pair of paperdenim&cloth jeans, one pair of daNang desert camo pants, and one little blue hooded shrug, but she found room to include some goodies and a sweet mix cd :D It effin' made my day, man. THANKS, KARI!! (you have snail mail comin' your way).

AND before that, I was already super happy because I had hurried over to this little purse boutique at the beginning of my lunch break to find my mom a birthday present and not only did I find just the purse I had in mind for her, but it was like FIFTY FLIPPIN' PERCENT OFF!!! AND WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!!! I also found myself a cutie-cute striped lime green purse for twenty five bones!!!!!

Today was a great day for getting stuff. AND I'M NOT SORRY THAT GETTING STUFF MAKES ME HAPPY, SO YOU CAN SHOVE IT UP YOUR MINIMALISTIC ASS.
:*

I get so excited that I have to wear it all at once. I'm not kidding. And I just put that cd in my computer, too.

ps: I re-did my journal layout; it was time for a change.

Sat, 28 Jan 2006 17:27:03 GMT

I have borrowed season 1 of Lost from a girl down the hall and that is what I will do with my entire precious weekend- watch Lost. Because I just started watching it this season and I need to catch up and last weekend was entirely too busy and unrelaxing (except for watching 7 hours of football). I will also take Finny to the park and call a newish friend to see if she and her boyfriend want to go out for drinks tonight with us. I will also scour the internets for ideas on how to decorate the bedroom (we've lived here for 6 months and we still only have like two things on the walls and are without curtains) and patiently wait for my new used clothes from karimonica to show up :)

I kinda sound old. And adding to the oldness-factor, I discovered NPR about two weeks ago when I was in my car and took a cd out and didn't have time to put a new one back in and it switched to radio-mode and BAM- NPR hit me in the face and I loved it. Now it's all I listen to in my car and I might as well throw all of my cds out or at least bring them into the apartment. I've always hated watching tv news for several reasons: 1. the nightly news is usually chock full of bullshit stories that I couldn't care less about, and 2. the news scares me. I am of the opinion that most television networks will try to show THE most sensational and fear-inducing footage that they can- I guess some viewers get a kick out of it, I don't know. I can tell you though that I do NOT need to see a video tape over and over of a huge, muscular young man PUNCHING A LITTLE OLD LADY IN THE FACE and knocking her out to steal her purse (I actually did see this on the news). It's fucking horrifying and depressing and disgusting. I have been scared of the news since I was a little kid, laying awake at night for fear that a goddamn drive-by shooting would take place in front of my safe little suburban home. I tried to calculate the angles of the bullet projectory from the street and moved myself into a far corner of the bed so I wouldn't get shot.

So anyway, NPR news is perfect for me. No sensational footage, just the facts. Plus a little liberal reporting :) Not to mention that I am really a lot more interested in what's happening overseas than the everyday violence going on in DC (which like I said, sometimes scares the crap out of me). Though I've yet to hear this "prairie home companion" show that this guy on my floor has tickets to go see and that fud recently mentioned in an lj entry.

All this talk about being old and what do you know- I'll be turning 24 in three weeks and c'mon, that's not old at all! Except when I think that my mom got pregnant with me when she was 24!

Well, I'm going to go do young-person things and walk around downtown to grab some coffee and some lunch and to check out some shops (downtown Roanoke only has about 5 shops total so this won't take long or detract from my Lost-watching). I'll wear my bright red converse shoes. Then there will be no mistaking me for the 40-year-old I sometimes act like now :)

Have a good weekend, dudes!

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 21:44:06 GMT

I'm heading to Snowshoe, WV in about two hours for our first ski trip of the year. Yes, first as in, there will be several. Mike is suddenly ski crazy and bought himself a snowboard and I'm like "but.. Europe? Let's not go using all our vacation days and money for skiing and forget about Europe."

So we've narrowed it down to just two or three little ski trips on weekends with discounts :)

Here's to falling on my ass (I still do) and making damn sure I catch (most of) that Redskins playoff game!!! Oh, and some sweet hot tubbin' (which is nothing like tub thumpin').

ps: imissmypetsalready :(

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 05:17:46 GMT

man. I guess no one wants to post about how freakin' AWESOME it is that the redskins won their first playoff game in like 10 years.

well they did! And I drank 40s for it!!

HAAAAAAAIL TO THE REDSKINS!
HAIIIIL VICTOORRYYY!
BRAVES ON THE WARPATH1
FIGHT. FOR OLD. DCs!!!!!!

RUN AND PASS AND SCORE
WE WANT A LOT MRE!
BEAT 'EM BUST'EM TOUCHDOWN!
LET THE POINTS SOOOOAAAAAR!

FIGHT ON!
FIGNT ON!
TILL YOU HAVE WON!
SONS OF WAAASHH INNGG TOON!
RAH rAH RAH!

stoked. next week's game is gonna be rough, though :/

hohohungry

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 04:28:07 GMT

Alright, here's the deal:

I'M SORRY. okay? I'M SORRY. I haven't updated in weeks and I'm boring. But actually I've been sort of too un-boring and busy and over-booked. Sometimes we have been doing fun things (fancy dinner(s), Moscow Ballet's performance of Swan Lake, going to movies, xmas parties) and sometimes un-fun things (battling crazy shoppers, xmas parties, cleaning). But um, 'tis the season, right? I love Christmas but "the season" tends to shift me into such a materialistic mode of thought and I hate that. I really love to give gifts, but I can't stand that I've been spending every free minute thinking about buying things. That part is just about over though, so, sweet. Now I can't wait for the free food gifts to end because I am putting on some pounds and my sweet tooth is back hardcore.

Anyway this update needs to be short and sweet (I'm TIRED) and will not include any holiday pictures that I've taken, HOWEVER, you can certainly expect those in the near future, like it or not :)

-I've been using Crest Whitening strips and they really do work. Definite improvement.

-Mike and I exchanged gifts and I got really hooked up with a new Canon digital elph! It's 5 megapixels and tiny tiny tiny and it's going to be effin' awesome when I can upload pictures and have them look good WITHOUT messing with every single one in photoshop! Speaking of uploading, he got a good deal on a photo printer so I received one of those, too :) Also I'm very excited to own SJP's Lovely perfume. I got him some gifties that I think he enjoys, though amusingly enough, I think his favorite may be the $30 home beer-brewing kit I got him.

-I really like my job. Though, I did have THREE Office Space moments today where the goddamn office machinery was bringin me down. Also, I have wasted ungodly amounts of paper making mistakes and having to re-print things in secret so no one knows I messed up. But we recycle!

-I have six days off starting Friday! Mike and I are going to Sterling (my parents' place) for 2.5 days and then to Philly and Jerz to his parents' place for 2.5 days.. and to Atlantic City for one day. I'm pretty stoked for the whole thing, especially considering I didn't get shit off for Thanksgiving and couldn't go home for that. Plus, it will be the first time that Mike and I spend Christmas day together.

-I still worry about us sometimes and I hate that. We really want to be better. And we are better most of the time. We both still have some growing up to do, I think. I'd like for us to do it together.

-My eyes are acting funny now whenever I sit in front of the computer (which I do a lot now at work). I suspect I may need READING GLASSES soon, ugghuguguugh. My vision is the WORST.

Okay I'm tired but please believe that I shall have plenty o' pictures to post in the very near future.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND CHEERS TO A NEW YEAR! Be safe and well, kids.

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 02:56:05 GMT

PROJECT RUNWAY SEASON PREMIERE IN 10 MINUTES!!!!!!

auf weidersehen!