The Plaid Sheep of the Family

So yeah, I'm still alive.

What the hell have I been up to, you ask?

Jay and me, still together. Things still good between us. I adore his daughter Hailey - she's a great kid. Jay is trying to quit smoking, slowly... but he's way overdue for that anyway.

The kitties and my little wolfie one (my eskie dog, Kai) are still fine.

Jack Sparrow (orange keeeten) is still growing, and has already blossomed into a really wonderful cat with an overabundance of personality.

Been playing lots of World of Warcraft (I have a L39 Blood Elf hunter named "Nytehawke" on the Suramar server.) Been playing Dance Dance Revolution - Universe 2 which proves that I indeed have no coordination - but it's fun to try. (Jay and I have an XBox 360 now). Also been playing Guitar Hero II - which I'm slightly better at.

Jay got me a digital camera for Christmas, so expect to see me post lots more cute cat pictures, silly dog pictures, and even sillier human photos.

Finally got a decent raise in December (way way overdue) - and some new title too tho I'm not really sure what it is at the moment. Things at work are getting better thanks to Jay being here and also thanks to this other guy we recruited from The Same Bank - it's great to have clueful teammates. On the downside, we have a couple of temps here to help with the phones, who are a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Hopefully they wont be here for long.

I'll probably start posting again soon since all the chaos seems to have quieted down, and I have plenty of stuff to rant about with the whole Presidential campaign thing heating up.

Happy New Year, everyone!

stolen from chaptal
1. You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up?

Michael Vick. Explode and then feed to a pack of hungry attack dogs.

2. You can flip a switch that will wipe any band or musical artist out of existence. Who will it be?

Only one? I would choose Britney

3. Who would you really like to just punch in the face?

A few people who treated me badly. I'll start with "comic book boy" aka ex boyfriend Brian (the one who said he hated my dog)

4. What is your favorite cheese?

ooh skeezy cheeses! Taleggio is a fave

5. You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your immediate disposal. What kind of sandwich will you eat?

Thin sliced Smoked turkey with brie on a fresh baguette with a smear of avocado spread, red onions, lettuce, and fresh tomato.

6. You have the opportunity to sleep with the movie celebrity of your choice. We are talking no-strings-attached sex and it can only happen once. Who is the lucky celebrity of your choice?

mmmmm... so many to choose from. OMG David Tennant. I know.. I know.. but he really makes my motor run. ;-)

7. You have the opportunity to sleep with the music celebrity of your choice, who will it be?

Jon Brion. Although I would probably have more fun hanging out drinking beer with him and talking about music than anything else.

8. Now that you've slept with two people in a row, you seem to be having an excellent day because you just came across a hundred-dollar bill on the sidewalk. What do you buy?

A tank of gas, a bottle of Patron (tequilla), and some snacks to enjoy with the tequilla.

9. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go?

Someplace warm and sunny. Puerto Rico or Mexico would be a good start.

10. An angel appears out of heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the beverage of your choice. It is?

La Fin Du Monde (beer!) from Unibroue (Canada)

11. Rufus appears out of nowhere with a time-traveling phone booth. You can go anywhere in the PAST. Where do you go?

London. Lyceum Ballroom. 7 May, 1980.
Yeah, not historically significant but the date of one of my most beloved Genesis shows.

12. You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place?

No fighting.


13. You have been given the opportunity to create the half-hour TV show of your own design. What is it?

It would be a cross between Square Pegs and Freaks and Geeks.

14. What is your favorite curse word?

MOTHERFUCKER

15. One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren't really doing anything, what do you do?

Go back to sleep. Let the cats hang out with them.

16. Your house is on fire! What do you do?

Call 911, get everybody out - the dog, the cats, grab my box of journals/photographs


17. The Angel of Death has descended upon you. Fortunately, the Angel of Death is pretty cool and in a good mood, and it offers you a half-hour to do whatever you want before you die.

Make sure my (furry) "kids" are taken care of, send a half-dozen or so emails, and spend whatever moments I have left holding my sweetie and surrounded by the doggie and kitties.

18. You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what's even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What super-power is it?

Can I be like Hiro on Heroes? I want to manipulate time and space.

19. You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again?

wow.. this is a tossup. Very tough.

Probably wandering around in London with Rob, 1991.

20. You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?

July, 1990.

21. You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check this out: you can move anywhere. Where are you going?

England.

22. This question still counts, even for those of you who are under age, if you were banned from every bar in the world except one, which one would it be?

heh... I have no idea.

23. Hopefully you didn't mention this in the super-powers question... If you did, then we'll just expound on that. Check it out… Suddenly, you have gained the ability to fly! Whose house are you going to fly to first, and be like "Check it out! I can FLY!?"

Generic House. (i.e. my friends who live a few miles over)

24. The constant absorption of magical moon beams mixed with the radioactive vegetables you consumed earlier has given you the ability to resurrect the dead famous person of your choice. So which celebrity will you bring back to life?

Frank Zappa. Music needs him now.

A beautiful little film (even tho it clocks in over 2 hours long). Not unlike The Princess Bride in it's lovely way to tell a love story with plenty of adventure, wacky characters, humor, and suspense thrown in for good measure.

My only complaint, were I to really have one, would be the casting of Claire Danes. Perhaps I was expecting Yvaine to resemble Charles Vess' illustrations - with blue eyes and wild blonde curly hair. Claire Danes always seems to play the same girl with the same look.

LOVED DeNiro.. he was FANTASTIC. Charlie Cox was wonderful as Tristan, and I really did believe his transformation (and he was DARN cute after his little makeover). Also loved Michelle Pfeiffer who seemed to be having a great time playing an evil (and UGLY) bitch.

I also think that casting the same woman to play the young Una as the one 18 years later was maybe not the best choice, but it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

I need to go back and read the BOOK vs. the illustrated book.. but I can say that it seemed fairly true to how I remember the story, and the cinematographer did a fine job at bringing Vess's drawings to life - the film was very pretty to look at.

.. and if an ending makes me feel all happy and weepy at the same time it's a good thing.

Treasures in the Trashpile..

or more specifically... in the soon-to-be-ex-neighbor's yard sale.

The family upstairs is moving to CT next week.

I bought their cute little Ikea kitchen set from them for $20 (it's even made from real wood!) which consists of a table, 2 chairs, and a bench with enough seating for 3 or 4 people as long as they're not too large since everything Ikea makes seems to be designed for really small people like myself.

I also purchased their gently used full sized air mattress (woot!! Baitcon sleep surface.) for $10 so all I need to do now is procure a pump to fill it with air. I'll probably just buy one since air mattresses come in handy when overnight guests come to visit.

I actually got to hit the gym after work today and it was goooooooood.

My car is also equally goooooooooood.

Gooooooooooooood car.

Ah the lovely little things one finds on youtube.

No, the bass player/singer is NOT Bill Gates. It's the Korgis, a more or less forgotten little band from England who wrote this little synthpop gem.

It was also covered by Beck in the movie soundtrack for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.



This song happens to be one of the most favoritest songs of my teenaged angst years. Absolutely, without a doubt, I loved this song madly when I was 14.

Update: Swampy has left the building (or rather. has left Echo St.) .... Goodbye old buddy *sniff* *sniff*. Enjoy your next lifetime with the wacky Yankees fans who are driving you back to Cooperstown tonight..

(and those kids are NUTS... but they left here with 4 jugs of water and a bottle of dexcool/water. They have a new engine to put in it, and are going to give him a 5 speed tranny too)

---

Someone is driving 3 hours to come and pay me $200 for Swampy the Saturn

I think he's a "Saturn guy" or something.

Since he's not showing up until around 8:00 tonight, I decided to go outside and remove the stickers and such.

Gone are:
"Life's too short to drink cheap beer" (black & white bumper sticker)
"Avoid the Stupid" (black & white bumper sticker)
"SPOOOOOOON!" (old school Tick cartoon sticker)
1 bumper sticker for a used record store in East Haven, CT
Some artsy sticker depicting a human form reaching for the sun (purchased at some Lilith Fair 8 or 9 years ago) - was on back seat driver side window
Sticker depicting a pouting fairy girl (purchased at Hot Topic about 7 years ago)
1 oval shaped white sticker with the letters ARF
1 oval shaped white sticker with "American Eskimo Dog"

Tried to remove "Doing My Part to Piss Off the Radical Right" but it would not come off.. and I dont have any GooGone here so I guess he'll take that with him.
Same with the Montgomery College parking permit sticker

and now the rain will come and fill Swampy with a delightful splash of water to honor the new owner...

PLEASE COME AND TAKE THIS CAR AWAY!!!

thankyouverymuch....

by the way... I will be a little more creative with any stickers and such I place on the next car I have - which hopefully will be the Nissan. *crosses fingers*

So I went and looked at the 99 Altima.
She's a nice car. peppy. super comfortable. a real grownup car
Shiny black with tan cloth interior
61K miles for sure
seems so much bigger than ol' Swampy even tho I think they're roughly the same wheelbase
It's all done except for the financing, which they insist should not be a problem.

If all goes well I can pick it up on Monday.

squeeeeee!!!

Bet you didn't know that Marina Sirtis and I share the same birthday... its TWUE!! (she was born 11 years before me tho)

Your results:
You are Deanna Troi

Deanna Troi 85% Uhura 80% Geordi LaForge 70% Will Riker 70% Chekov 60% Mr. Scott 50% Jean-Luc Picard 50% Beverly Crusher 50% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 50% James T. Kirk (Captain) 45% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 40% Worf 35% Data 30% Mr. Sulu 25% Spock 24%

You are a caring and loving individual. You understand people's emotions and you are able to comfort and counsel them.

Click here to take the "Which Star Trek character are you?" quiz...

courtesy of anotherjen

1. Don't stress so bad about your looks, you're a lot prettier than you think you are.

2. Grow your hair long. It suits you well.

3. Mom is never going to change. I'm sorry but you're never going to have that nice mom/daughter thing going on with her.

4. Forget playing the horn and hangin with the marching band guys. Save your money for a guitar. Learn to play and it will free your mind.

5. Someday you will live near the ocean. Your dreams about that will actually come true.

6. No matter how scary it may seem, you should lose your virginity to Paul. You don't realize this but you're teasing him. He will eventually break your heart but your memories will sweeten over time.

7. Your family life is going to be turned upside down your senior year of high school. It's going to suck but you'll get through it.

8. Do not let anything or anyone deter you from finishing college when you are young.

9. Take computer classes instead of office education. You'll learn how to type soon enough.

10. Don't waste your time with the high school boys, all that anguish isn't going to mean anything in a few years.

11. The friends you have right now will not be in your life when you get older. You will, however, make friends later that will change your life.

12. You are not going to believe the person that you grow up to be. The vision you have for yourself at 40 is really narrow in scope.

13. You do not deserve to be yelled at, talked down to, or hit by anyone. You do not have to take any kind of abuse from anyone. Be strong. Fight back.

14. Learn to speak Spanish. No, I'm not kiding.

15. I hate to say this but you have to learn to accept yourself, and maybe even learn to like yourself before you will really be happy. All that "Free To Be You and Me" crap is true.

16. Music is your lifeline. Keep an eye on your record collection and your collectables. Make sure to take them with you EVERYWHERE you move in life.

I almost forgot.. Happy Birthday tamidon!!

Hope your day was wonderful!