Changes in Lattitudes....

I took off for a weekend last month
Just to try and recall the whole year.
All of the faces and all of the places,
wonderin' where they all disappeared.
I didn't ponder the question too long;
I was hungry and went out for a bite.
Ran into a chum with a bottle of rum,
and we wound up drinkin' all night.

It's those changes in latitudes,
changes in attitudes nothing remains quite the same.
With all of our running and all of our cunning,
If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane.

-Jimmy Buffett

This song keeps playing in my mind for a few reasons. First of all, at the end of each month, I have to go through my tracker for work and make sure I have documented everything I did throughout the month, so that I will be compensated for it. It is a weird feeling looking through all the things I have done and not even remembering half of it. It seems that life is going to quickly and I can not make it slow down. I feel like I need to follow Jimmy's idea and take off a weekend just to try and recall the whole year. It has been a strange year.

The song keeps reminding me that I need to connect more with the people I love and tell them how much they do mean to me.

And last but certainly not least, the song keeps reminding me that laughter is the best medicine. If we can't laugh we will certainly go insane. If you have a choice between laughing and crying, go with the laughing....crying just makes your eyes puffy, doesn't change the situation.

Little Presents

So when my Mom left for Israel, she wrapped up some presents for me to open at different times. I think the first one was a present just to open whenever I wanted. It was this little music box that used to sit on the shelf in the kitchen in the yurt. It was a very nice childhood memory and made me smile.




One present was for Thanksgiving. Apparently this was a dish from my great grandma Stella's good dish collection. My Mom said she used to get it out every Thanksgiving to put on display.




And this last little present was saved for Christmas. When I was probably about six, my mom bought this little angel candle. Every Christmas when we got out the Christmas decorations, this was one of them. One year, Forest thought we should light the candle and I had a meltdown. I couldn't stand the thought of melting down my angel. Since then it was always a joke about lighting the angel. Opening this little present really made me smile.

Christmas

So the storms cleared up and the Seattle airport got cleaned out just in time for me to go see my Dad, brother, and all the kiddies. I flew up on Christmas morning and drove over to Port Townsend amid snow and rain. I tried super hard not to be an LA driver, I am not sure if I succeeded, but I did arrive a half an hour earlier than google maps thought I would....

The newest Angle.... Quincy bug!

Sabba planned ahead and got books from the library. Turns out that Quincy was more interested in his hat than the book.

And the kids spent quite a bit of time creating masterpieces.



Sabba was so happy to finally see Quincy James.



Tia and Quincy



Tia was very happy with the fairies that I bought her. Isn't it amazing how little pieces of plastic can make a little girl smile and cause fights between the siblings.



Dad took us out to see his property.



And more stories.



Dad, Forest and Blake went crabbing on Sunday morning. They ended up with three. Blake was kinda scared of it, and I hear that he didn't enjoy eating it at all.



View from Dad's house. The sun peaked out a little on Sunday.

Lab Rats

Today I feel like a lab rat that some scientist is watching and laughing at because I just can not learn!
Here is the situation. In my office building, inside the elevators the buttons for the floors are on both sides of the door. So no matter which side of the elevator you stand, you can still have access to the buttons. Not all elevators are like this. Everyday I am constantly walking into office buildings and elevators. It seemed that I was frequently looking for buttons where there were none. So I decided to start paying attention and look for trends. Here are my findings: on most elevators, when one enters an elevator car the buttons will be on the left (if they are not on both sides). And I always turn to the right. ALWAYS! Even though I have started paying attention, I always turn to the right, and wouldn't you know, there are no buttons there. So incredibly frustrating.

I feel like a lab rat that knows the way out of the maze and still goes the wrong way.

'Stache Fever

So the last few months have been kinda rough on my team at work. My manager, Dan, has not had any luck motivating us with random contests. When he came back to work after Thanksgiving he had begun growing a mustache. He told us he was growing it for charity. Supposedly there is a charity called "Mustaches for Kids." I guess the idea is that you get your friends to sponsor your mustache. Anyway, he is using his mustache as the contest for the month. Here was the deal he unilaterally made. Every day that someone on the team sells a mobile phone, the mustache stays. If we miss a day he will either shave or we contribute $10 to his charity. So far we have only missed one day, so there is only $10 going to the charity that we all doubt really exists. But here is the thing, I can not take him seriously with that hair on his upper lip. He looks ridiculous. He looks like someone trapped by Chris Hansen. I really wanted him to shave it because I thought he was doing it to torture me. As it turns out, he is torturing himself even more! Last week, I sold a mobile phone the day before a really big appointment for him and he was apparently really looking forward to shaving. He actually cursed out loud when he found out that I had sold something. Me and my teammates make mustache jokes all the time now. It just never gets old.

Dan the man with his 'stache. My favorite picture of Dan's stache is in my previous post at the holiday party.

Without Dan knowing, Paula Jean wanted us all to wear fake 'staches in one of our meetings. But we procrastinated too long and Dan ended up buying us some himself. I put mine on and was walking down the hall and passed the recruiter with a new candidate she had just interviewed. She acted kinda awkward when she saw me. Not sure why. I think I look pretty much the same as always.

I can't believe how hot we are.


But it really doesn't get better than this.

Last week I actually used the "Stache Close" to get a deal. In sales there are only about six different types of closes, but the "Stache Close" beats them all! My customer was trying to put me off, telling me he thought he would rather wait until Monday to buy the phone from me. He asked if it really mattered to me if he bought it the same day. I explained the rules of the 'stache. Showed him the picture of Dan, and he bought the phone.

Even Larry has decided to join the ranks of the 'stached. But he grew his own....

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Jackson Anguilm!

The only thing better than just knowing you are here all safe and sound would be if I was holding you. I love you already and can not wait to actually meet you!!

Company Christmas Party

I was not sure if I was going to go to the company Christmas Party this year. In fact, I did not decide I was actually going until a few hours before. I think it was the right thing to do, playing the game is a necessary evil for me at this point. I took one of my friends from UCLA along with me. I absolutely could not have gone alone. The evening turned out rather well.

Me and Aron. Thank God I have a friend that always wants to meet girls and agreed to go with me to the party!

My manager Dan (yes, we make fun of the mustache all the time. He is doing it for a charity), Paula-Jean (I was the only girl on the team for four months before she was hired) and myself. By the way, I knew Dan was drunk when he complimented my hair for the fifth time. But I was happy that someone noticed I bought a straightener and made an effort to look presentable.

Paula-Jean, Myself and Doyle. Doyle was on our team and has recently gone back to direct sales.

Kevin (one of our Sales Managers), Mike (one of my many managers when I was in sales) and me again.

Some more of the boys...As you know, the story of my life includes very few girls. So you know that the girls that are included are pretty darn fabulous!!

I just like this picture because of the 'stache. But it scares me a little bit too. I keep thinking that Uncle Chris is going to catch him one day.

Another manager. I just realized how snobby my pics are. Do I only hang out with managers?

All in all, it was a good evening. Better than the party last year when we had to suffer through an evening of dinner theatre. And I learned some things about myself even. Like when one of my coworkers called a truce and explained that the reason we had an argument six months ago was because we had crushes on each other. News to me. I had no idea that I was ever interested in him. Isn't life entertaining.

The Bridal Shower

And here they are. Pictures of the bridal shower last weekend. It seems like a lot longer ago than last weekend. So much has happened since then.

The Johnson Sisters

The bride with her Mother in Law and Stepmother

All the Johnson Girlies

And randomly enough...as I was finishing up this post the crazy bird lady downstairs started playing "Here Comes the Bride" on her piano!

Last Weekend

Last weekend was CelestePie's bridal shower. I must admit that before I went, some whatifs crawled inside my ear. For those of you that have not met the whatifs, enjoy....

Whatif by Shel Silverstein

Last night, while I lay thinking here,
some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I'm dumb in school?
Whatif they've closed the swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there's poison in my cup?
Whatif I start to cry?
Whatif I get sick and die?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Whatif I don't grow talle?
Whatif my head starts getting smaller?
Whatif the fish won't bite?
Whatif the wind tears up my kite?
Whatif they start a war?
Whatif my parents get divorced?
Whatif the bus is late?
Whatif my teeth don't grow in straight?
Whatif I tear my pants?
Whatif I never learn to dance?
Everything seems well, and then
the nighttime Whatifs strike again!

I always get nervous when I go back to Sonora. I was worried that I would get lost in Sonora (now I know that sounds ridiculous but I always get confused with the bypass), I was worried that it would snow and I wouldn't be able to drive in it, I was worried that I wouldn't remember the way to Celeste's house (how sad is that...I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find my bff's house...)... And all of these are clearly ridiculous and that is why I say that the Whatifs crawled inside my ear.

The weekend turned out very nicely. I would even venture to say that it was a bit of "soul healing" for me. I am very thankful that my Cbeyond phone did not have data service while I was in Sonora, so the 50 odd emails that would have bombarded me, did not reach me til I was on my way home.

Sonora is a lovely place, that I am going to try to visit more often...it couldn't hurt...

Bridal shower pics to come..

Smiling

One of my baby cousins was smiling the other day and her explanation to her mother was this: "I am smiling because I can't believe how happy I am."

I want that.

Department of Motor Vehicles

DMV. Three little letters that strike dread in my heart. As I mentioned in one of my last posts, I lost my ID over the weekend. What annoys me most is that I was not having a good time when I lost it.

Today I looked up the closest DMV branch closest to my office and I made it there about 4pm. Now, all the experiences I have had at DMV offices have not been great. In Sonora, there are very few employees, or they all take their breaks at the same time when they see anyone approaching the doors, or they all hate their lives so much that they are determined to make those who visit miserable. I am not really sure the exact reason, but the outcome is always the same. I leave feeling like I have lost a part of my soul. I thought nothing could be worse than Tuolumne County DMV.

Then I went to St. Thomas. The STT DMV is significantly worse than Tuolumne County DMV, but for some reason I was amused instead of annoyed. The problem with the island's DMV, was that it had been flooded and simply closed for months. When they reopened, they only stayed open from 8am to noon. To have a chance of getting anything done, one would have to show up at 7, stand in line outside. Every once in a while the door would open, they would let about five people in and then close and lock the door again. Once inside you would find yourself in line again, this time to get a number. With number in hand you would take a seat and wait to be called. When I reached the front of the line after hours of waiting, I realized I did not have all the information. So I made it up. And I called it a success.

Arriving at the DMV in Torrance I was not sure what to expect. And I was pleasantly surprised. The line moved quickly. I was not annoyed like I would have been in Sonora, but neither was I amused like I was on STT. I paid my money, posed for a picture and was out the door in less than half an hour!

Just one more thing for which to be thankful.

Toby Flenderson

Today I saw Toby Flenderson at Peet's Coffee in Brentwood. Ok, I did not see Toby Flenderson but I did see the actor that plays the role of Toby. I was just telling someone the other day that I never recognize actors when I see them out of context. I guess I was wrong. Sometimes I do recognize them. He did not recognize me. Which is understandable, I try to be unrecognizable when I go out, so the fans and paparazzi will leave me alone.

One Night in Hollywood

So last night I was home, totally content to be alone with my bottle of red red wine, when my friend Aron called to say he was picking me up in five minutes. I protested a little, and then gave in, got dressed and went out to be social on a Friday night. We went to a bar in Hollywood, and I realized all over again why I do not go to that type of place with that type of group. I observed part of a game of beer pong, stayed relatively conscious listening to one of the guys detail his "workout tour" of Costa Rica and all his skydiving trips, listened to a Marine tell of the torture class he had to pass with all his friends reveling in every detail, endured a dunk girl stepping on my foot with her high heel, evaded the consumption of a redbull and vodka, met some guy from Northern California, listened to the advice of the Marine for me to ditch the CIA idea and apply for the DEA or FBI, messaged someone to come rescue me, conducted a texting conversation with someone in our group who was offended that I was texting someone else to rescue me, acted shocked that one of the most obnoxious guys in our group got punched in the face at the bar by a stranger (he actually got punch three times), endured more drunk waves of people at Mel's Diner on Sunset, finally got home around 3:30 and realized this morning that I had lost my ID.

So here I am content to be alone and drinking coffee...

Thankful...(cont.)

I thought I was done with the "Thankful" posts, but it looks as though I am not. One time the shark told me about a gratitude journal. Now, I have to be honest, I do not really remember how the journal that she told me about was set up, but I do remember how I put it to use at that time in my life. At that time I was a very fervent journalist. I wrote in my journal every day. I decided that the "attitude of gratitude" was important. Every day I began my journal with the date, the day of the week, my location and five things for which I was thankful. I have long since abandoned the journaling. But I still like the idea of being thankful. I am feeling particularly thankful tonight, but it could just be the wine....

Earlier this week when I was sad, I made several calls. One of them was to the house on Dull Road. Thank G-d someone answered and volunteered to send me pictures to cheer me up. How could these not cheer anyone up?!

Could anyone look happier at having the dentist appointment behind them?

I like that Tia has her little princesses all lined up very carefully and Blake is holding another doll by the hair. I can imagine Tia not not being impressed with his lack of respect for the princess.

Pearl with her daddy and her new do.

If that doesn't remind you of the "Frog" picture, then I don't know what would!

Brother Justin

Here is a little shout out to one of the best humans I have ever known. If you have met him, you would certainly agree. Happy Birthday Brother Justin!

Thankful...(cont.)

18. That this week is over. I couldn't be more thankful that it is Friday night!
19. A bottle of red wine. All to myself. Need I say more?
20. Good friends to share Thanksgiving with.
21. Learning to be thankful for this time in my life. I will never have it back again. And even on the bad weeks, I am sure I will look back later and think of how lucky I am now...
22. Last but certainly not least.....fins to the left....fins to the right....I am thankful for the shark! You are right...you couldn't be number one...no one else would understand! I wish I could include some of the old classic pictures like the one from Aunt Lisa's wedding, or in front of the Blue Oak Gulch DEAD END sign....

Just Plain Wrong

So the whole idea of meeting people online just seems wrong. Apparently everyone is doing it, but I cannot even stomach the thought. I know that so many people meet their soul mates on all those websites like match.com, eharmony.com, jdate.com and chemistry.com, but the idea just freaks me out. I have a friend in Atlanta that I found out is on match.com, and I like to make fun of him for it...mean, I know...and he is just trying to meet potential girlfriends. A friend of mine at work was telling me how he met several cool girls on chemistry.com, and how I really should try it out. Sorry guys, just not going to happen. Is it because of the bizarre experience I had in Israel in 1998 that confirmed my fears about people pretending to be someone they are not becuase they can hide in a chat room? Is it because I watched too many episodes of "How to Catch a Predator"? I do not really know.

All in all, I do not really care how other people go about meeting members of the opposite sex. Until I heard a radio commercial about another website. ashleymadison.com. I was not sure I heard correctly, so I looked it up myself. Yes, this is a website for people who are already in a relationship but would like to have an affair. Isn't that just wonderful?!

Seriously. Some days I feel like I am totally in the wrong world. How did I get here? How can I get out. I do not want to be around people that operate like this.

The Sky is Falling

Ok, the sky is not falling, but ashes are falling from the sky. Icky. And it does not smell pleasant either. Do you like how I can make the fires all about me, when people are losing their homes and others are risking their lives?

Say a prayer for all the families who have lost their homes and the firefighters who are risking their lives.

Broken Heart

I know all broken hearts eventually mend, but it will take me a while to recover from last night. UFC 91, Randy Couture lost to Brock Lesner. I was nervous....not surprised at the outcome, but definitely heartbroken.

Ok, so moving on.....
You know how the fighters have endorsements on their clothes. For some reason it really makes me laugh when their shorts say condomdepot.com across the back. I do not know why. It just really amuses me.

The other one that caught my eye last night was the shirt that said "Jesus didn't tap." You see...you can turn any sport Christian. I am sure that Jesus is very concerned with the outcome of all UFC fights. Forget world hunger and poverty, I mean let's get serious....

Thankful...(cont.)

13. Plummeting gas prices

14. xkcd.com A reason I look forward to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

15. Job interviews...and a faint light at the end of the tunnel.

16. The heater in my bathroom. It is the only heater in my house. Refer to item #2 on the list. I like to turn on the heater before I get into the shower on cold days because it is right below my towel rack. When I get out of the shower I have nice warm towels. It is the little things in life that make my day....

17. The innocence of children and the dilemmas that shape their world. My little cousin Taylor has long assumed she would marry her little brother Jake. However last week she told a Bradley, one of her kindergarten classmates, that he was a nice little boy. Two days ago when she was one the purple square and Bradley was on the blue square he told her that he was going to marry her. Now she is confused and is faced with a life changing decision. Who should she marry? Jake or Bradley?

Thankful....

It's time to start being thankful. Ok, ok, I know I should be thankful all the time. But since Thanksgiving is right around the corner I started thinking again of the things, people, events, etc for which I am thankful.

Here goes (in no particular order, and if you know me at all, my mind does crazy gymnastics and you never know where it will go next. By the way, I am thankful that I will not have to worry about dying in space, but that is not going to make the list)...

1. Summer
2. Living in a place that has tolerable winters...I do love LA! Cheers to Randy Newman for giving me a tune for that sentiment!

At the Getty with LA behind us

3. The significant decline in drama in my life since last year. Stay classy, San Diego!
4. Leap years. Because they always include Summer Olympics and US Presidential Elections.
5. A new President-elect.

You would have thought the he was too busy on November 4th to bother with us, but clearly he never passes up a good photo opportunity.

6. UFC. But mostly just Randy Couture, Anderson Silva and Georges St.Pierre


7. America's Next Top Model. I know it sounds shallow, but it is the excuse my friends and I use to hang out and have dinner every Wednesday.
8. Jackson Browne, but mostly just the music he makes. I do not actually know him.
9. Two of my besties and their love stories. I just hope they still make time to hang out with me now that they have these fabulous loves in their lives!

Celeste & Libby - Cancun 2007

10. UCLA. I do not know where I would be now had I not been there. Oh, wait, yes I do. I would still be on St. Thomas. That does not sound so bad. But I am still thankful for UCLA, for everything I learned and everyone I met....too many people to mention them all here.

"Are you cousins?" "No......Yeeeeees!" You make me smile!

11. My nieces and nephews. They make me smile and have taught me some valuable stuff already. I now know how to properly sign off from a phone call "goodbyeiloveyou!" I now know that earrings are not meant to be left on the counter, even a four year-old knows that. I now know that brotherly love surpasses even the love one might have for a particular glass dolphin. And I now know that helping make chocolate cake can usually dry the tears or at least stem the flow. No matter what you do, you might as well put your whole heart in it, even if it is just a funny face. And that redheaded babies never go out of style.



12. Lime Perrier. I know I mention that one all the time. But it is one of my true loves.

I am getting sleepy....we will have to continue this thankful attitude another day...

Randy

Now, I know most of you were just waiting on the edges of your seats for Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior to hit the shelves. (It never made it to the theatres for obvious reasons.) But because I care about all of you and do not want you to waste your time fast forwarding through quite a bit of the movie just to view the scenes with Randy Couture, I will include a picture of Randy on set.

You can all thank me later.

Choices

In the recent past (ok, sometime in the last five years) a friend was explaining to me how he had come to make some of the bigger choices in his life. He said something that I think of often. He had come to a place in his life that he realized he did not want to be. To rectify the situation, he thought back to a time in his life when he liked who he was and reevaluated who he was at that time. Scrutinized the priorities he had then and began to make adjustments in his current situation.

It made me wonder. At which point in my life have I liked myself the best? And does that time correspond with a time when I was happiest? I quite envy my friend who made it sound so simple. As though he looked through a photo album, selected a point in his life of which he was the most proud, and decided to recreated the priorities he had then. Seems so cut and dried.

I have another acquaintance who seems quite the opposite. He loathes himself. And he can not find a way out. He does not like who he is or the choices he makes. He despises himself for hurting people that care about him, but he makes no effort to curb the careless behavior. He thinks he is past saving.

I am not sure when I liked myself best, or if that self is in my future. I am not sure I will ever be able to see it as clearly as the former friend. I am sure that I want to be aware of the choices that I make so that I never even come close to resembling the self-proclaimed miserable existence of the latter friend.

Banana Bread

It is pretty obvious that your life is quite uneventful when the highlight of the weekend is that your bananas are finally ripe enough to make banana bread. I have actually been anticipating this day for about a week or two....ever since I bought the bananas. Now...what am I going to do with 35 Banana muffins and one loaf of banana bread. I could make friends with my neighbors, but I really would prefer to be anonymous in this building. I did not know anyone in this building for the first year that I lived here. I liked it that way. As soon as I made acquaintances with several occupants, the drama started. Luckily for me I managed to tiptoe around the drama. And now finally the neighbor that started or aggravated most of the drama has moved out. Now I just have to put up with the less than desirable managers of the building. Where was I going with this? Oh, yes, excesses of banana bread. I will enjoy the lovely smell in my studio of the baking banana bread and then take the muffins to work and reinforce my reputation of a good little Carny-Amish housewife.

I'm Feeling Hopeful

But it is not over til it's over, so I am still holding my breath!

*Update*
I am still feeling hopeful. And I am very glad the election is over.

Tomorrow

I really am excited for tomorrow.
Washington
Adams
Jefferson
Madison
Monroe
Adams
Jackson
Van Buren
Harrison
Tyler
Polk
Taylor
Fillmore
Pierce
Buchanan
Lincoln
Johnson
Grant
Hayes
Garfield
Arthur
Cleveland
Harrison
McKinley
Roosevelt
Taft
Wilson
Harding
Coolidge
Hoover
Roosevelt
Truman
Eisenhower
Kennedy
Johnson
Nixon
Ford
Carter
Reagan
Bush
Clinton
Bush

and....

Songs I Love and Songs I Hate

There are a few songs that I have been hearing on the radio lately that I really hate. I noticed that these songs that have recently negatively come to my attention do so with their lyrics. In fact one of them I think I could actually like the sound of, but the lyrics just really make me angry.

Right Now by Akon
....I wanna make love right now na na
I wanna make love right now na na
Wish we never broke up right now na na
We need to link up right now na na...

Umm...so how does that make me feel special? Yeah, you are lonely and horny, of course you wish we never broke up. Right now you want back any of your exgirlfriends. I'm not stupid enough to feel special and think I am the only one you call when you are lonely and obviously fighting with your current girlfriend. Leave me alone.

The second song I hate lately is..

She's so California by Gary Allan
...'Cause she's so California
She's a wild fire out of control, headed for ya
So, when you get burned, don't
say I didn't warn ya
'Cause she's so California...

What is that supposed to mean?! All California girls are bound to burn any guy that dates or loves them? I was talking to my manager about this and he said that it might be that when people not from California think of California, they automatically think of LA. And they assume that it would be fair to say that LA girls are the type to burn and leave a guy. Well, trust me, that argument just made me more annoyed. So, just because the song writers are shallow and want to assume that the entire population of California is shallow like some people are in LA that should excuse them? Nope. I disagree. Trust me, some of the most shallow people I have met in LA have recently moved here from places like Missouri, Ohio and New York.

I decided to start thinking of songs that I like. And I realized that many of the songs I like are because I like the way they sound and make me feel and not necessarily for their lyrics. Which make them hard to compare to the songs that I hate. I am sure the lyrics have something to do with why I love them, but to fully understand my feelings you would have to listen to them.

Good Things by BoDeans
....No, no, no, don't pass me over No,
no, no, don't pass me by
See I can see good things for you and I
Yeah, good things for you
Haunted love is all that I see, it's there in your eyes
And I say
No, no, no, don't pass me over No,
no, no, don't pass me by
See I can see good things for you and I
Yeah, good things for you...

Far From the Arms of Hunger by Jackson Browne
Far from the arms of hunger
Far from the world disorder....
...Where people walk in wonder
And speak to one another
And recognize as brothers
A face across the borders
Across a sea of differences
Across the drifting sands...
...Far from the arms of hunger
Far from the world disorder
Beyond the reach of war
There is a world where we belong....

This song just makes me feel that everything is going to be ok. It feels like I am five years old again and my Dad is hugging me and I have no concept that the world is cruel. It makes me feel that somewhere there is a "world where we belong."

The last song that I like lately is completely different. It is the kind of song that I want to turn up really loud and sing, or yell along. The kind of song that makes me want to fight back and not just accept the annoying things in my life.

So What by Pink
I got a brand new attitude
And I'm gonna wear it tonight
I wanna get in trouble
I wanna start a fight

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na
I wanna start a fight
Na Na Na Na Na Na Na
I wanna start a fight

So so what?
I'm still a rock star
I got my rock moves
And i don't need you

Nicknames

I find nicknames very interesting. Sometimes they work and sometimes they just don't. Sometimes they stick and sometimes they don't. Growing up I remember a group of boys in Ohio that all had nicknames that everyone knew. Their group even had a nickname. And everyone knew that nickname too. Then there were a few girls who started hanging out with the group of boys and they gave their group a nickname....that didn't catch on. Poor girls.

Any nickname I have had is just a variation of my name. Brookie and Brooklyn were the two most common. At work they call me Bangle sometimes I am even The Bangle. My manager started calling me Brook e Fresh when he met me....sometimes he just calls me Fresh. A new coworker has started calling me Brooker. Not sure how I feel about that one. Since I am semi-Jewish, Tamara's husband calls me Baruch. In the past five years my mom has decided that I am her butterfly....And one person I know calls me squirrel. If anything I think Squirrel is definitely the outlier. All the rest seem to have some logic to them.

All in all, I think I like it when different people call me different things. I guess it feels like there is a unique connection when people have random names for each other.

Finally

It is RAINING! with a little bit of thunder. Not enough thunder for my taste, but I will take what I can get! I am just really happy that I am not working and I am sitting at home with the windows open listening to the sound of the rain.

Fly in Cotze?

This morning I made myself some coffee and just as I was ready to put some cream in, I noticed a gnat commit suicide by diving straight in. Suddenly I was transported to Indiana on a summer morning in 2001.

The summer of 2001 I spent six weeks in Indiana and many of those days I was babysitting Elle. I remember her saying the cutest things. Often she would come up to me and say "Adoing, Brookie?" I kind of adopted that line. It is such a great contraction. Who has the time to say "What are you doing?" As it turns out, not everyone sees the benefit of this time and breath saver. Every time I said, "Adoing, Miiish?" to Miiish, he would reply with "Why are you saying that? You aren't two years old." Ok, fair enough. It is cute on a two year old not a twentyfive year old. But back to 2001. Every morning I had coffee. But one particular morning a fly flew straight into my coffee causing me to make some sort of wild exclamation (don't worry shark, I am sure I didn't use any bad words that Elle would have picked up.) Of course I had to explain to Elle that I was exclaiming because a fly had flown straight into my coffee. Every day after that she would climb up into my lap, peer into my coffee cup and ask "Fly in cotze?" It always made me laugh as I told her that there was no fly in my cotze today.

Well, Elle, today there WAS a fly in my cotze. And it made me think of you and miss you.

Scary

...Vampires, Mummies and the Holy Ghost,
These are the things that terrify me the most....
-Jimmy Buffett

I will not go so far as to say that nothing scares me, but I do not think I am scared by many things. Those of you who know me best, let me know if you know better. Even if I am not scared of many things, there are things that I find a bit scary.

1. Sarah Palin
2. The scene with the chainsaw in Scarface
3. My mom living in a spot renowned for terrorim
   
4. People I call friends voting for Sarah Palin
5. The end of ANTM when they make a model disappear from the collage
6. Me being employed at my company for over 26 months
7. Sarah Palin's interviews
   
8. Winter
9. People who deny the occurrence of the Holocaust.
10. Sarah Palin's idea of what the role of VP is
11. Coworkers of mine that have been drinking the kool-aid
    

That is all I can think of for now...I will probably wake up in the middle of the night and add a few

Wednesdays

I look forward to Wednesdays the way most people look forward to weekends. And it is all because of America's Next Top Model. Well, it is not strictly ANTM, but ANTM is the reason it all started. Back in the Winter Quarter of 2005 at UCLA, my friend Sherri introduced me to ANTM. I was amused and we made it a point to watch it together for the next few Cycles.

Sherri striking a model pose...

After UCLA, my friend Tamara and I made a weekly date to hang out and watch the show together. It is a fun kind of show to watch with friends because it is so much fun to make fun of Tyra and Mr. Jay becuase they take themselves so seriously. I love the bizarre advice they give. Sometimes Tamara's husband Jason also watches with us, but he is usually busy.

Tamara's "fierce" face. Notice the intensity in her eyes....Tyra would be proud

About a year ago, Tamara's next door neighbors joined our weekly party. And ever since then it really has been a weekly party. We all have dinner together and drink wine. Sometimes we take pictures utilizing the advice that Tyra so readily doles out, but mostly we just have a really nice evening. Yes, I do look forward to Wednesday evenings more than any other day of the week.

Tamara and Ron

Luis, learning to smile "with his eyes," a VERY important skill that EVERY model should have

Luis and me, not sure what the directions from Mr. Jay were on this one...but I am sure we nailed it with our mad modeling skills.

Last night we had to give up our weekly dose of the models and watch Obama speak to us the voters. But that is ok....we still got to hang out, have dinner together and drink wine. All in all a fabulous way to spend a Wednesday evening.

Election 2008

For me it is already over! Phew! I just filled out my ballot and sealed the envelope. I will be dropping it in the mail tomorrow. And just because I love the shark, I will not say anything more about it. She HATES to talk about politics with me.

UFC 90

UFC 90 turned out to be a huge disappointment. Some of the undercards were entertaining fights, but most of them went to decision, none were spectacular knockouts. But the fight I was waiting for was so very anticlimactic. In the third round, Cote blew out his knew and the fight was called. Boring. But do not worry, I am still in love with Anderson Silva.

Hollywood Pet Peeves

I used to resent Hollywood for making people think that love unrealistically easy or always clearly going to end up with a happily ever after. If a person believed the Hollywood drivel, they would assume that most love stories followed this pattern....Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl's relationship progresses swimmingly until there is some sort of misunderstanding. Maybe boy kisses someone else while drunk, maybe the girl just happens to believe that the boy kissed another girl. They break up. Boy pretends not to care until he finds out that the girl might be with someone else. Possibly even engaged. Then at the last minute he returns, declares his undying love, girl tells boy that she never stopped loving him and they live happily ever after. Phew! And we all sleep peacefully because "All's right with the world." I do not even have to go into why that is just silly. It is too clearly unrealistic. I think part of the reason I resent this type of story so much is that even those of us who are logical and know it does not work that way, still harbor secret wishes that Hollywood might be right. That while it is not a realistic story, that maybe, just maybe it could happen to us. Ridiculous.

Lately I just discovered an even more frustrating illusion that Hollywood perpetuates. The idea that one could have a life that one's friends are always around, no one moves away and we all have each other forever. Obvious examples: Friends, Will & Grace, Seinfeld, etc. Who lives the kind of life in which all their friends are around all the time? Who lives the kind of life in which the Gang all lives together? I absolutely loved Friends, but I am starting to think that no one, beyond their experiences in the dorms in college ever lives quite so close to so many friends. After college, we all grow up get our own apartments that are not across the hall from our friends and chances are that our friends moved to different cities, and we make new friends. My best friends and favorite people live hours if not states away (Uncle Toby excluded) and I resent that. I want my kids to grow up near their cousins (and not any nieces or nephews by marriage, we all know that those don't count) and by cousins I include all those children of my best friends. I want to have my favorite people close enough that I actually get bored of them. I want to know the boring little things that happen to them everyday. And if I can't have this, I want Hollywood to stop making those stupid shows!

The Weekend Ahead

I thought I had nothing planned for this weekend until I remembered that my favorite fighter is defending his title once again. Anderson "The Spider" Silva is the only thing I am looking forward to this weekend! I am sure I will find other random stuff to fill the rest of the weekend....until then I will leave you with this picture of The Spider.

A Case of the Mondays

I recently had someone ask me if I ever have "the Mondays." The truth is, I do not. Mondays do not seem to affect me any more than any other day. I do admit I love going to bed on Fridays and Saturdays knowing that I do not have to work in the morning and I love waking up on Saturdays and Sundays. Other than that, the days do not really matter to me. (Actually I look forward to Wednesday evenings more than the weekends, but that is another story completely.)

What does matter to me is the length of the days. I have found myself to be so sad lately driving home from work in the dark. I do not suffer from the Mondays, but I do suffer from the Autumn and Winter. It just seems so lonely. I think it would seem a lot less lonely if I had a wood stove or people to go home to, but driving home in the dark is just so darn depressing....

Soul mates

So I have been thinking a lot about soul mates. Or have I been thinking about finding someone I want or could marry. Soul mates and people to marry are obviously completely different subjects... Anyway, so many different trains of thought have merged to create this post...I will try to untangle them so that they kind of make sense.

1. A long time ago, my Aunt Nancy told me that I needed to make a list of things that a man would have to do before he could be considered seriously by me. I think she said her dad gave her this advice and it seemed to work. She made the list. Her current husband marked off everything on the list before he became her husband. It seemed ridiculous then....not so ridiculous now. Too often it is the little things that make us happy or unhappy. It is those little things that we think we can overlook when we really want something to work, even though it is obviously doomed....

2. Practical Magic. A movie that I love very much, but always makes me sad that I do not have a sister...(I should say used to make me sad until I realized that I am the Shark's little sister!) Anyway, I found something in this movie that I really like. This is a scene in which Sally Owens is concocting a spell to summon a future groom and her sister Gillian questions her actions....

Young Sally Owens: He will hear my call a mile away. He will whistle my favorite song. He can ride a pony backwards.
Young Gillian Owens: What are you doing?
Young Sally Owens: Summoning up a true love spell called Amas Veritas. He can flip pancakes in the air. He'll be marvelously kind. And his favorite shape will be a star. And he'll have one green eye and one blue.
Young Gillian Owens: Thought you never wanted to fall in love.
Young Sally Owens: That's the point. The guy I dreamed of doesn't exist. And if he doesn't exist, I'll never die of a broken heart.

If you have seen the movie you would know that the guy she describes does exist. He does find her...and we are led to believe that they live happily ever after.

3. Recently someone I met, about 5 minutes after I met him, asked me what I wanted. I was confused. Since I was a recruiter at the time and used to doing interviews all day everyday, I was used to asking the questions. I was used to controlling the conversation and turning around all the questions to find out more about them than they could learn about me. I never thought about what I really wanted. That question he asked has been bouncing around my head ever since.



So here is my thought.... I do not believe in witchcraft. But I do believe in positive thinking. And I do believe that in verbalizing what you want you can help it come to pass. So in the spirit of Sally Owens, my own Aunt Nancy, and Matt Damon, I have been trying to come up with my own list. What do I want? Here is the problem. I can only think of specific things. I can only think of things I want that obviously made me feel happy in the past or things that I do not want that made me sad in the past. For instance....I want someone who reads The Economist and that knows I love Lime Perrier and keeps it available just for me. I do not want someone that thinks German Baptist are scary. I want someone that could appreciate the fact that I would wake up an hour early just to cook them breakfast to help keep them on a diet to help them survive another year or two here on the planet. I want someone who will tell me that I am beautiful. I do not want someone that insults my intelligence.

But none of these seem to be worth putting on a list. I need help. What kind of things should go on my list?

Plurals

Ijust noticed that the plural of "passerby" is "passersby." And it made me wonder if there are any other words that have the pluralization in the middle of the word instead of the end.

Saving Money Kind of Weekend

I have had a seriously boring weekend. On a good note, I haven't spent any money unnecessarily. Yesterday I walked down to the laundromat to get coins to do my laundry at home. I used to take the laundry to the laundromat, but I figured out that it ends up costing more. Then I did my laundry. I even folded half of it. Then I walked to the library where I picked up two books and a movie and paid half of my library fine (ok, ok, so I did spend a little money unnecessarily). I watched the movie, read one of the books and started the other. (Random question I had just now looking at the second library book.... On the cover it says "More than 1 Million Copies in Print." So what does that mean? I guess it means that they haven't sold a million copies but they hope to?) When I got bored of that I went to the grocery store and bought more ingredients for more breakfast sandwiches. I made the sandwiches when I got home and put them in the freezer. And now I am bored again. So I baked some cookies to take to my coworkers tomorrow....

Forbidden Fruit

So back in Eden, Adam and Eve tasted the forbidden fruit and many undesirable consequences followed. I do not remember it ever saying specifically which kind of fruit was forbidden. I kinda always assumed it was a one and only kind of tree, therefore even if it was named, it would not be something we would recognize. So why do people always talk about the "apple" that Eve ate? And why in all the children's Bible story books is the fruit always an apple? I do like apples, but sometimes I hate them due to my dining hall year at UCLA. But really, I would like to think that if Adam and Eve threw away the Garden of Eden and living for eternity, that the fruit would have been more exotic and more tasty than an apple.

First Kiss

The other day I was reminiscing about the summer of 98 and about how many firsts I had that summer. Some good, some not so great. It was my first international venture alone, I made my first international friends, had my first "How to Catch a Predator" type of experience (thank G-d it was my first and only), my first hitchhiking experience, my first encounter with jungle juice and of course my first kiss.

I often find it funny when people are questioned about their first kiss in an interview and they often say something like "It was with Billy in third grade." Those kind of kisses just don't count for me. If I had to count those kind of kisses, I remember one in particular. I have no idea how old I was, probably about 6 or 7, it was a Sunday afternoon after potluck at church. Many of us kids were bored and decided to have a wedding in the sanctuary. I was the bride, David was the groom and at the conclusion of the fake ceremony we kissed. I think I would have totally forgotten about this had it not been for some older girl in our church who thought the kiss was highly inappropriate and told my mother. My mom obviously did not care in the least. But it amused me then and it amuses me now the gravity of the situation in the tattletale's eyes. Oh, and as a little side note, David has since come out of the closet.

I Have No Words

I'm watching the debate...and I'm speechless. I just wish that the average American was seeing what I am seeing. I thought that there wasn't a chance that we would make a bad decision, but then I remember what we have lived with for the past eight years....and I have to admit that I am a bit worried.

And one more point/question...who takes notes with a Sharpie?!

Uncle Toby

Growing up I only knew my Uncle Toby from a distance. My Mom wasn't incredibly fond of his views or opinions, so I saw very little of him. Of course I occasionally saw him at family holidays and celebrations, but I didn't really know him. That was until I moved to LA. I think it was half way through my first year at UCLA when I first ventured down to OC to see him and his family. Since then, I have spent quite a bit of time with Toby, Kim, Taylor, and eventually Jake. Most of my time with Uncle Toby could be split into three categories, laughing, drinking, and the occasional entertaining gig. I have spent very little time helping him entertain in the last two years.
This would represent mostly the drinking category. One day when we were swimming in the pool I noticed something on the bottom and Toby dove in to retrieve it. It turned out to be this shot glass. It had been drug around the bottom of the pool for quite a while by the vacuum and had worn off part of the base. We named it "the drunken shot glass" and until it disappeared, we never took shots from any other glass.



Toby taught me to love baseball and more specifically love the Angels. Without his love of the Angels, taking me to my first baseball game and watching many games in his living room, I would have never even thought of going to New York and Boston. It was a legendary weekend.



I know I can always count on Toby to make me laugh and to show me another perspective. Beyond the laughter, the drinking and the sports, he has also introduced me to some of my heritage that I had largely ignored until now. The German side. Last night we went to the Phoenix club to celebrate Oktoberfest....I don't think I have to elaborate....we had a good time.

So, here is a cheers to my Uncle Toby! I thank God that he lives near and that I get to spend time with him and his fabulous family.