Memories for Sale....

My childhood home is up for sale....how depressing. I was goofing off on the internet and wanted to see images from around the area so I typed in Addy, WA and this popped up. Its strange to see someplace familiar....ish on the internet with cheesy music in the background. I recognise it, and yet I don't. The trees have certainly grown, and I don't like the curtains in the kitchen, but at the same time I want to go home. Have you ever felt like that? That no matter how old you are sometimes you just want to go home and feel safe and sheltered; even if its only for a few minutes? I remember so many things about that home. I wonder if you can still see the fairy stump from my bedroom window. As much as I was tempted to I never would walk into the woods behind the house to see it up close because I didn't want to find out it only looked that way from a distance. I always worried that it would turn out to be just a rotted old stump with nothing magical about it if I wandered too close. From my window every now and then the sun would hit just right to have a sunbeam cut through the trees and make that spot just glow....I would sit there and just gaze at it, lost in dreams until the light faded. My own, personal fairy spot. Maybe some things are better left as memories......

Love what you do....even if it is menial....

Case in point. I recently noticed two different young men standing on opposing street corners holding signs. The one looked like he was not only dying of boredom but definately did not have an interest in what it was he was representing. The sign, barely even moving back and forth as he slowly rocked was for some furniture sale something-something-something. I have to admit I really didn't pay that much attention to what it was he was marketing. The other, seen from across the street mind you, put on quite the show. He had his headphones on and was rocking out across the street waving the sign, twirling it around, jumping up on a concrete barrier next to the road and generally attracting a lot of attention. His sign? "4 days left to file taxes, come to Allied Tax Service for no filing fee". I saw that sign exactly 2 weeks ago and its still with me. Amazing what the power of enthusiasm can do, isn't it?

Girls Road Trip #1.........

...is Disneyland. No one tell Lucie just yet 'cause she's not going to be happy with me!

Well I took Dan's advice and sold the 4 extra tickets on ksl.com yesterday for $200 so that's my travel money. Annie's booked a cheap hotel (it had good ratings and feedback though) so we've got a place to stay and we're driving down bright and squirelly in the morning. We'll see some of the park tomorrow evening and then play all day Saturday before driving back on Sunday. What a fast trip this is going to be.

My bags are NOT packed and I am nowhere ready to go....maybe I'll be more excited once we actually hit the road....right now it still hasn't sunk it that tomorrow I will be hobknobbing with the likes of Alice and the Mad Hatter.

Maybe part of the blah is that I hardly remember the first time I went (I was like 5) and the second time I went (I was 12) I spent my time with Jason riding Big Thunder Mountain about a jillion times (sorry Jase but that really sucked....) This time I am DEFINATELY going on Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, the Matterhorn and running around Tom Sawyer's Island. As for new stuff....lets toss in the Indiana Jones ride and Annie says I have to do some raft thing in California Adventures (we have hopper passes).

Mostly I want to go to explore and hang out, not necessarily to ride every ride there is....does that mean I've grown up a little if I don't squeal over amusement park rides? Nah....I want to have my picture taken with Chip n' Dale(not to be confused with the muscle-bound dancers!)and Stitch. Who knows, maybe I'll trade styling tips with Cruella and do a little shopping with Daisy Duck. On second thought, scratch that last comment....I can't afford to keep up with Daisy!

Oh the woes of the financially strapped....

I just got offered free Disneyland tickets but there's a catch....I would have to use them this coming weekend. sigh. I just don't see how I can afford it. Bummer....I haven't been to Disneyland since I was 12 and it would be fun to drive over with a small group and enjoy a short, three day weekend vacation, but I will just have to hope that this opportunity comes around again sometime in the future. Boy I can't wait until I am done with school and am not making a hefty school payment each month...then I can put it into savings for such an occasion as this!

Re: Idiot of the Year (ie: Giving Rides To Strangers)

Okay, okay.....I know I am in big-time trouble with everyone over that stupid stupid mistake! Trust me, I am still kicking myself over the whole thing and still chastising myself for allowing that guy to get me to cave in. I know I have a hard time saying no to people but believe me when I say it will never happen again. That last time (thank you Lord for keeping me safe from my own stupidity!) was annoying, humiliating and abusive enough....I'll just keep that creep in mind the next time I have someone bugging me for a lift!

Come out of the shell little turtle girl......

Some days you just want to crawl into the shell, block everyone out and stay warm and snug in your own little world. You know, I used to want a Fortress of Solitude like Superman had, somewhere all my own....of course, mine would be in a warmer, greener climate! Mike used to have to pull me kicking and screaming (well...a definate shove with me protesting and complaining loudly) out the door if he wanted me to go somewhere with him. Usually, once I got there I loosened up enough to enjoy the shindig and feel glad I went, sometimes not.

I am still that girl; not wanting to leave the comforts of home and spending time with people I do not know, but I have also changed enough now that I am the one pushing myself out that door rather than waiting for someone else to do it for me. Why do I write this? Well, there's this occasion I have to go out of town for. Wait, let me re-phrase that....that I want to go out of town for. The hesitation is still there and goodness knows my roommate has heard some of the complaints already...but along with my usual dread is a certain excitement. Who knows, maybe its just because I bought a new dress for the wedding and am looking forward to wearing it....

Regardless of the reason, the turtle has emerged from her shell and is blinking at the blinding sunlight streaming down...lets hope she stays out for awhile.

And they call it "Special Edition"???

Rented the special edition of "Armmegeddon" from the library the other night. I was all excited about the extended footage (who isn't? its like watching the movie for the first time all over again!) So last night when I came home from school I changed into my pjs, popped in the dvd, settled in on the couch for what I thought was going to be a great movie-watching experience....overlooking the fact that I really should have been in bed getting my hard-earned 8 hours of beauty sleep.

Afterwards I quietly walked to my dvd case, pulled out my original copy, and compared movie times to the extended "special edition". 2 whole minutes of "extra footage". They show a couple of people dying a little more intensily, Bruce Willis has a scene that was a total snooze of him talking to his father, and a scene of Owen Wilson unintentionally insulting the Russian cosmonaut. That's it. Nothing that helped the plot or gave new insight into characters....just two minutes of unneccessary fluff that was not worth watching.

How many people these days are trying to cash in on the "special editions" and "extended versions" of dvds? Isn't it enough that you got my cash in the first place (listen up Peter Jackson!) without constantly flooding the market with new issue after new issue after new issue of your stuff? And we, the ever-consuming movie market that we are, are slavering away every time an old movie is put back on the market with "additional footage" or "new bonus features"....goodness knows I am guilty of that one. "Ooohhhhh, Buffy has new scenes? GRAB IT!"

Oh well, there's always the bonus features disk still to watch....

And the idiot of the year award goes to.....

Me!?!? Again???? No, really....you guys should let someone else have a chance at this one! I'm just stunned....I want to thank my brain for not being up to speed and realizing what a mess it was getting me into--my courage, for not being up there where it should be so that I could be manipulated like that YET AGAIN...and last, but not least, my mouth for opening up, saying "Sure" instead of the "Heck No!" it really needed to say.

Need clarification? I am an idiot. Enough said. Nothing more to say, right? Wrong. I am suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch an idiot, and need a backbone and to be a little more firm with my convictions and "gut-feeling". I do not pick up hitchhikers on the side of the road. After all, you're driving along at a fairly good clip and if I don't stop then I don't have to feel pressured into giving someone a lift when in today's society that just isn't safe. Its another story altogether when I am approached and they start talking to me.

Case in point: about a month ago a gal walked by as I was getting out of my car. She looked nice and like she was out for her morning exercise and she stopped and asked if I was new in the area and then introduced herself. Thinking I am making nice with the neighbors I chatted with her for a couple of minutes thinking, hmmmmmmmmmm, she seems nice when she paused and asked if I would give her a ride to Center Street (about 9 blocks away). I hesitated a moment and then agreed, she hopped in and we were off. For the next nine blocks she proceeded to tell me everything bad in her life and how she was a recovering Meth addict, how she had no friends except her old drug buddies, that she stayed in her home all of the time and would I please be her friend. I'm sitting there trying to be polite but inwards I'm thinking "cripes, never pick anyone up AGAIN!!!!"

Cue to last night. I am tired, I worked late and just wanted to go home. I turn to pull into my driveway and this older guy is standing there trying to flag me down. Sadly, since I didn't notice him until I was in the driveway there was no way I could pull back out without being obvious about it and he's thinking I pulled over for him. He leans into my window and asks for help buying him a beer.

I said no. He asks why. I told him I wasn't going to give a stranger money for alcohol. He shook his head at me and then wheedled me into giving him a ride 5 blocks down the street to the gas station and dropping him off. Ugh. I admit I finally gave in (not my finer moment) just to get him to shut up and leave me alone. He gets into the car and the smell of alcohol just rolls off of him....ewwwwwwwww......he then spends the next 5 blocks proving he's unable to form complete sentences except the one where he chastises me for picking up a stranger! We get to the gas station and he looks at me and says "now you're gonna be here when I get back out, right?" I look at him, remind him he said he only wanted a ride here and that I was to "drop him off" and he shakes his dang head again and says "no, I wanted you to drop me back off where you picked me up". He then sits in my car for another couple of minutes, incoherently making statements about church and Joseph Smith and gold in them thar hills (we were facing Mt. Timp) and I am starting to realize just how drunk this guy really is. Crap. He wanders in and I call my roommate on my cell....where it promptly rolled into her voicemail. I left a message stating where I was and that if I wasn't home in 5 minutes to start looking for me.

Drunk gets back in car and we start heading back to my place. He rolls down the window to yell something in Spanish at the top of his lungs to a couple of drunk hispanic guys on the side of the road and they laugh and yell something back....goodness only knows what....before we pull up to my place. I start pulling into the driveway and he yells "what are you doing?" I stopped the car and pointed out that this is where I had picked him up and he shakes that head again and says "I live just around the corner....I meant for you to take me there".

By this time I am getting definately peeved off but back out of the driveway and drive this guy around the block and stop where he points. He opens the door, mumbles about having to give someone their change and then I will take him to his place. By this point he's already stated several times that he isn't into fat chicks (among other such "gems" that I will treasure always) but now he looks me up and down (EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW) and says "maybe you ain't so fat after all". He gets out of the car after making me promise to wait for him and walks up to the house. By this time Annie has called me back...she had immediately hopped into her car and had driven to the gas station looking for me and was now on her way back. She pulled up behind me and insisted she was going to follow me to wherever I took this guy (bless you Annie!)

Cue to drunk getting back in my car, directing me to his place (after looking me up and down a couple more times) and then sitting in my car making comments about his alcoholic problem, his temple married mom just loving me if I could get her son on the right track and hey, would I please come in and just pretend to be his girlfriend? I should probably mention that he'd already asked me out a couple of times in the car but I kept insisting I had a boyfriend (he promptly wanted to know if that guy was fat too!) I was polite but insistant that no, I would not be coming in, that I had to go now and for him not to forget his beer.

He laughed, went to give me a hug but I pulled back enough that he settled for a squeeze of my arm and a boob graze before getting out of the car. Leaning back in he mentioned again about how I could be his savior etc etc before throwing the kicker out....he said if I ever saw him walking again he expected me to pick him up. He said he was probably not going to remember who the f*#k I was and so I was to tell him I was the fat b*&@h who wouldn't be his girlfriend. (seriously!) ugh. Do I know how to pick them or what? Not to mention all the above-mentioned pearls of wisdom slash random thoughts just pouring out of this guy, but there were the couple of rude comments (not about my weight....I could have cared less about that) but there were a few sexually directed comments and then he'd pout when I'd politely remind him I had a boyfriend (not attractive at ANY age kids!)and insist that he had a job and lots of things going for him.

I felt so dirty driving home....

Thank goodness the smell cleared out of my car overnight, but I had bad dreams about pervs looking in my window....

I know, I know....never again!

Spammers and Virus-Bugs

Really suck. What kind of idiot actually gets off on sending a virus out there? Where's the thrill in causing chaos? Sick guys, really sick. And spammers...is there really anything more annoying than getting those stupid Viagra ads over and over and over? Seriously....and now they are being texted to our phones? I tell you, the more advanced technology gets the more warped and twisted people are getting in using that technology. So I have taken Jason's advice....all comments are now being approved since my last post tried dumping a virus on me (thank goodness for effective spyware!) Everyone (even if I don't know you!) is still encouraged to comment....just don't be a jerk and abuse it, okay?

On the plus side...it means more people are reading my blog if they stumbled in here to dump a bug, right?