carpe diem

today:

• i got to work before 9am.

• i wore a skirt *and* did my hair.

• i bought a gym membership from costco.

• i branched out and bought a chocolate chip frappuccino with peppermint for happy hour half-price frappuccinos week -- not as good as my regular mocha non-coffee frap.

• i tried bayer (aka "the wonder drug") for my back pain -- verdict: works better than tylenol (and since i'm not donating blood until saturday, i'm okay to take it).

• my co-worker got called "laura webb-ensen" for not taking a lunch break.

• i learned how to fed-ex at work.

• i hand wrote out 42 percentage calculations on one sheet of paper.

• i locked myself out of my office after everyone had already gone home, and then spent an hour and a half chilling with the security team waiting for the admin to come back and let me in, rather than pay a $300-fee to have them open the door for me.

big day.

assault on the streets of l.a.

i had a meeting in l.a. about fas 157, fair value measurements (or whatever the new codification number is -- why do they have to renumber stuff??). my manager mark was the instructor, so i was particularly concerned with arriving on time.

training started at 8. i got there at 755. perfect.

after 2 hours of stimulating discussion about all things fair value, mark and i drove back up to the client's office. we drove separately.

the first half of my drive deserves no commentary herein. shortly after i passed white oak on the 101, though, things got interesting.

i had been driving in the next-to-fastest lane, singing along to the radio and enjoying a mid-morning drive. i came up behind a blue suv and because i don't like to be behind anyone, i flipped my left blinker and changed lanes. as i got settled into the fast lane, i saw a car in my rear-view mirror that looked like he had wanted to be right where i was, but he changed his mind and merged the other direction.

i watched as this white car with beige hood and faded black bumper went around a couple cars, crossed in front of the blue suv, and merged into the fast lane right in front of me ... aaaand ... slammed on his brakes.

so i slammed on my brakes.

then he sped up again. dummy.

so, i accelerated again. he was still in front of me. he slammed on his brakes again.

really?

i gave him the universal shoulder-shrug, palms upturned and a mouthed "what?", to which he responded with several arm motions out his window that looked like he was telling a story about a snake and a bunny to 4-year-old. except for that last part -- that last hand gesture was not intended for a 4-year-old.

[eye roll.]

so i signaled to merge to my right. if he wants to be in front, let him. but ... he changed lanes right along with me, slamming the brakes again. so i changed lanes back. again, he was right there with me.

i fell behind a little, trying to get some space between me and the psycho. then i hit my right blinker and gunned it. he mimicked, cutting me off again. and again. at this point i was in the almost far-right lane, and he was in the lane to my left, a little ahead of me. so i let off the gas entirely, slowing to about 40 mph and got behind a big rig. he kept a close distance, to my left and one car length ahead of me.

we drove like that for a few minutes. i tried slowing even more, thinking he might get bored and leave me alone. no luck.

his driver-side window was rolled down and he started waving his phone out the window.

what?? what does that mean?

is he trying to get my number??

this is the *worst* pickup line e-v-e-r.

once again, he waved his phone out the window. i tried to look like i wasn't paying attention.

he slowed down to get right beside me. i didn't look over. in my periphery, i could see that he was trying to get my attention. i didn't give it to him.

he slowed down more and got behind me. he was on his phone now (illegal in california as of 1/1/2009).

we came up next to another big rig, i saw my chance. as soon as i was able, i quickly changed lanes in front of the 52-footer. unfortunately, mr. ugly car also snuck past him.

very annoyed at this point, i couldn't even enjoy the music coming from my radio. my exit was coming up. certainly this dude wouldn't follow me off the freeway, right?

right?

wrong. we reached the bottom of the off-ramp; i turned right. he turned right. he pulled up next to me on the shoulder of the road. he was talking at me and still on his phone. figuring he wouldn't leave me alone until he got whatever it was off his chest, i rolled down my window.

"hello? hi. i just wanted to let you know that i called the police and gave them your license plate number. you were speeding and driving recklessly," he announced. he seemed a little too pleased with himself.

i replied with a simple, "umm, thank you." what else was i supposed to say?

his retort? "you're welcome." and, as i rolled up my window, "you're welcome for a ruined day!!" an inkling of exasperation in his voice.

oh, my heavens. the light turned green, so i hit the gas. he cut off a few people to get right behind me again, still on the phone.

we approached the road to my client's office. i turned right. he followed. there was no way i was going to show him where my car would be all day. so i passed the entrance to my client's parking garage, and pulled up to a red light. great. he pulled up beside me again, yelling again.

"i called the police and you are going to get a ticket for reckless driving and for speeding. you cut me off and then you were driving recklessly!"

because i don't take accusations as well as i could, i replied, "i didn't see you. you were blocking me in the lane and i was trying to get away from you --"

"you didn't see me because you are a woman!! and women never see men, they just run all over them!" he cut me off.

oh. my. goodness.

*what* is this about??

the light turned green, so i put the car in first and pulled forward, he paralleled me. while leaning out the window, one hand on his phone, one on the steering wheel and neither eye on the road, he yelled at me about my reckless driving.

looking for somewhere to shake this guy, i saw another parking garage coming up on the left. with him on my right, i waited almost too long before making a sharp left into the parking garage entrance: no way this guy would pay for parking just to continue harassing me.

when i got to the gate, i quickly pulled a ticket from the machine and the mechanical arm raised. i turned to my right as i put the parking ticket in my purse, put the car in first and looked ahead to pull forward. suddenly mr. ugly car was standing right next to me, leaning into the car, his arm blocking my window from rolling up.

"i just want you to say you were wrong and that you're sorry. say that you're sorry!"

i could have peed my pants right then.

i didn't.

"admit you were wrong! just admit it," he insisted.

... uhhh ... "if you think i did something wrong, then okay, i'll admit it." pretty sure i was shaking. still didn't pee my pants.

he straightened up, held out his hand for a handshake and said, "thank you." he walked back to his car.

too shaken to think clearly, i slowly eased into the parking garage. the mechanical arm of the gate lowered behind me. i didn't even see the guy pull away.

i sat in the parking garage for a few minutes, then proceeded to the exit and drove over to my client's office.

as i entered my client's office, my manager mark lifted his head and commented, "boy, you drive slowly."

uhhh ...

7 ate 9

i am in utah on vacation. heading home in the morning. i'll post stuff and pictures then ...

enjoy the anticipation.

off the face of the earth

some of you probably think i fell off the face of the earth. in fact, i have been asked precisely that.

well, i am back now. it was a lovely place, but i am glad to be among the living again. i'll have to tell y'all about it sometime.

but not right now. right now i am packing up so i can watch transformers with my nephew.

tchau!

work-related injury

so, i'm working, right?

computer out.

spreadsheet open.

outlook open.

sitting on my porch at the mission inn hotel in pismo beach.

for an hour or two.

working.

on the porch.

working.

think i can get worker's comp?

oh -- in case you want a better shot ... here you go ...

okay. stop laughing now.

(and yeah, this post is more than a 6 weeks delayed. don't worry: i still have the tan lines. as someone described it the other day, "it looks like you are wearing granny knee highs that are falling down a little.")

my eyes, my eyes!

there are two things i put on my face with a cotton ball:

eye makeup remover	and	toner

i mixed those up this morning.

ouch.

evidence

i mentioned previously that my favourite shows of late include csi and house. probably most of the appeal of these shows to me is watching the characters figure out a problem based on evidence collected. (well, that ... and i have a secret really-mean-doctor-crush on hugh laurie. sshh -- don't tell.)

yesterday something happened after work. see if you can figure it out based on this evidence ...

my elbow:

my pants:

and here's my leg:

any guesses about what happened?

... ...

the weather in socal has been kinda crazy lately, like in many other places this year (hello -- 10 inches of snow in seattle in a single day?). it was actually 39° here yesterday morning. but because i have been living in utah for a number of years recently, of course i didn't grab my coat. i mean, c'mon: this is california. no one from utah needs a coat here.

yeah, i decided that *before* freezing cold rain started falling. great. oh, well.

after work, i made my way to my car with my computer bag on one shoulder and an armload of papers in the other arm. i tried to appear non-chalant and completely comfortable in the sheeting, half-frozen rain. after crossing the unusually busy street to get to the parking lot, i said hello to the only other person out in this weather, as i stepped off the curb onto the asphalt.

just then my ankle wobbled a little, but i caught myself. phew!

with a nervous smile in the general direction of my cold compatriot, i snickered a little to myself as i imagined the carnage and destruction that would have ensued were i not so coordinated. and cool. yeah, i'm cool.

anyway, unfortunately, at that precise moment, a gust of biting cold wind came howling from the north.

my overly arrogant attitude and underly stable stance came into direct conflict in my war against the wind. it was a losing battle. time slowed and i watched helplessly as the ground got closer and closer. soon i was laying on my left side in a polluted parking lot puddle.

i thought i was cold before. it was much colder sitting in water. (as a side note: my grandmother has a sign hanging above her toilet that reads: "if we were meant to sit in cold water, we would have been born with webbed feet." heh.) well, since i don't have webbed feet, i didn't sit there long. standing up was a bit tricky with my inconvenient cargo, but i did it.

as i made the rest of the way to the car, i couldn't contain my laughter. oh, the irony: the very fate that i had but moments earlier presumed to have narrowly avoided became a very cold reality. literally.

how come no one i know is around when i do stupid stuff like this? it's much more fun to laugh with someone else.

anyway ... that's the story. is that pretty much what you thought, having looked at the evidence?

the emerald city

one of my favorite people followed suit with so many others in my life ... and moved to seattle. i like to think that they are all just making the exodus with the intent to prepare that promised land for me. i'll end up there someday, mind you: just you wait. just you wait, henry higgins. (sorry, that sentence was just asking for it.)

in celebration of his outset to a new life and to to help him make the transition, i joined a team of 2 others in taking on the task of picking up matt's whole life and transplanting it to the emerald city.

aside from the almost unbearable, all-in-one-day, 18-hour car-ride, it was a fabulous trip to my previously-declared favorite-city-in-the-whole-world-that-i-have-never-lived-in. (think that's a long title? just imagine having to fit that on an 8½-x-11 ivory certificate. not an easy thing to do, my friends.) (oh, and please note that the car-ride is herein described as "almost unbearable" simply for its length: sitting in a car for that long should be legally, ethically, morally, and chocolately wrong. the adventure and the company was quite pleasant otherwise.)

(i don't think i have ever used so many hyphenates in one post before. nor so many parentheses. this is quite a monumental post!)

after dragging the dregs of matt's stuff to the cars, we scooted out of santa monica at the butt crack of dawn on friday morning, august 29. being so early in the morning, this meant, of course ... no makeup for me:

mattso didn't wear any, either.

the road trip was filled with adventures and sights such as these:

now, i'd imagine that there aren't a few of you guys out there who are feeling a bit left out at this point, but don't worry: it wasn't anything you can't recreate. all you need is a vw golf crammed full of stuff, a location that is 18 hours away, and a dave. gotta have a dave.

we got to seattle around 2 am and crashed (on our beds).

saturday started too early. but saturday started with a bang. dave showed me the most amazing stuff: debacterol. it's awesome. it cures canker sores. all you do is put the sulfuric acid on your tongue (or wherever the canker sore is) for 10 seconds, it burns like a race horse, and then your canker sore is just a bit of dead skin you wait to fall off. (kinda gross, i know. sorry.) as you can see from the picture, it wasn't as bad as it sounds.

after such excitement so early in the morning, i suppose you wouldn't expect much else in the day ... but ... then we rounded up the troops and headed to ... bumbershoot!! oh, my heavens, what an amazing time was had. after waiting in a 4,000-mile-long line, we got into the gates around 11, i think. my old friend brad met up with us for most of the day (hi, brad!). we walked all over the place seeing everything that was there and making plans for what we just had to see before the day was through. after some discussion, we decided on a game plan of (1) eat bratwurst and french fries, (2) wander around for a couple hours, (3) watch modern dancers in the water fountain, (4) watch part of lucinda williams, (5) watch band of horses, (6) get high from second-hand smoke while waiting to watch beck, (7) watch beck, and (8) tucker out and go home.

sunday was a day of rest. as it should be. kinda. church started at 9, where we met many cool people! then we went on a beautiful drive and a bit of a hike up near (in?) issaquah. the weather was a bit damp, of course, which makes everything so green and beautiful so it's okay. here's the group in front of lake sammamish ("yeah, i'd say that lake is pretty sammamish."):

while there, matt taught us about the life cycle of salmon. we learned a lot, and, having been thus educated, we were ready to go to the university. and so we did. we drove out to university of washington to walk around a bit. last year when i was there, the cherry trees were in bloom and it was just absolutely gorgeous. this year, the ducks were in bloom -- this meant more poop than cherry blossoms. not quite *as* gorgeous, but not bad, no. i was able to do about 17 cartwheels in the quad and didn't get any duck poop on my hands.

from the university, we went to a ward-member's house and had all kinds of yummy desserts at a "dessert potluck" in which the hostess prepared all the desserts, (don't really think that qualifies as a "potluck", at least where i'm from, but ... it's seattle -- who knows?), after which we headed to st. mark's cathedral to hear the episcopaleon monks perform gregorian chanting. that was an *amazing* experience.

monday was officially dubbed "moving day": early in the morning, we drove matt's stuffed car to his new place to unload ... 2,374 armloads from car to apartment later ... all of his earthly belongings were safely stashed in his new seattle station.

from there, we had to officially re-seattle-ize mattso with the purchase of ... dun, dun, dun ... a northface fleece from rei! oh, behold the re-seattle-ization (okay, now say that quickly 4 times and note the excitement on mattso's face.):

being now appropriately equipped, we headed out on an even greater adventure! after a deep fried seafood lunch at ivar's, we drove down to the water and to take a ferry over to [ insert name of island here ] island. we didn't have to wait too long before the ferry arrived and we boarded. i love ferries. i love being on the water. i love standing at the front of the boat and getting almost blown away and then standing at the back of the boat and feeling the calm ... ... love it. i think they should put more in l.a. -- ferries, that is -- not fairies. heh.

after arriving on the island, we started driving. and we drove and drove and drove. it was *bea-u-tiful*! we drove up to deception pass and had to take a hike: it was sunset and it was awesome.

after hiking down to the water and back up again. we drove to the top of [ insert name of island here ] island and to another ferry pier to wait for the next ferry. i love ferries. i think they should put more in l.a. -- oh, wait -- we already did that joke ...

umm, tuesday morning found us atop of the space needle. well ... tuesday mid-morning found us there: we were on vacation, afterall. but it was lovely. the city is beautiful from up there. and it's just so cool to be 605 feet up! cell phone reception was surprisingly really good at that height.

after returning to sea level, we checked out some other tourist staples in this fair sea city. such as ...

i love this waterfall tunnel.	there's a pig in pike place market!	look who we found.

we capped off the day with yummy pizza with new friends. pretty good day, i'd say ...

wednesday morning we went to japan:

and then china:

and then we had lunch in seattle's international district (aka, "chinatown") at the uwajimaya village. that was not bad chinese. (while in china, i also found a chinese grocery store that had colored tapioca. little pink, green, and yellow tapioca balls. so cool! and even more fun to eat than the boring white stuff!)

our fearsome foursome split ways shortly after lunch. dave and nastia got back in the golf and started south. mattso and i had a couple more small adventures in seattle before i flew to utah the next morning: we went to gas works park and spent some time in the sunshine, then we went home furnishings shopping at target ... which was sorely needed for his otherwise barren abode.

farewell, seattle! i'll miss you dearly! --

err, uhh --

i mean ...

farewell, mattso! i'll miss you dearly!

poked and prodded

"the veins in my left arm are tiny and blood flows slowly."

that's what i told the phlebotomist last time i went in. that's what i tell the phlebotomist every time i go in. the saturday morning phlebotomists already know me and know my veins, so there's usually no confusion. but this last time was a tuesday evening. the tuesday-evening phlebotomist didn't believe me.

"well, what about this vein right here?" she asked, pointing to a tiny vein in my left elbow pit.

"they usually can't get that one; it's too tiny."

"i think i can get it ... see it there?"

"well, you can try, but the last time they tried, they couldn't get it and it flowed too slowly."

"i think i can get it ..."

"you can try, but it usually doesn't work. usually they just poke this vein here in my wrist or the one in my hand."

"i think i can get it."

with that, she started sterilizing my left elbow pit with the iodine and betadine ... okay, we'll try it!

and she got the needle in! that was pretty painless. so she opened the valve and let the saline solution begin to flow into the vein. the vein was flowing slowly. interesting. and oddly surprising. i kinda wish someone had said that the vein is too tiny and flows slowly. wait -- i think *i* actually said that. lemme check ... yeah. i did. i said it. i told her. i warned her.

because the vein was so tiny and flowing so slowly, the saline started to fill my whole elbow pit area, forming a growing lump ...

so, as i sat there watching my elbow get larger as it filled with saline, i could do nothing besides just chuckle on the inside and listen as the phlebotomist suggested that maybe we poke the vein in my wrist or in my hand. which she did: she pulled the needle out of my left arm elbow pit and put a new one in my wrist, where i happen to have *huge* veins. pronto. the rest of the platelet donation visit was pretty uneventful. i watched the other boleyn girl (great movie), and enjoyed many snacks.

that night, i took the bandage off and the lump was still there. so i put the bandage back on. in the morning the lump was still there. and i started getting a big bruise. fun times! so i called the red cross, y'know, just to check. the phlebotomist told me that because "we" had ruptured the vein (i *love* how she included me as one of the culprits), i should expect the lump and the bruise to remain for about 10 days.

after 10 days, my elbow still looked like this:

so ... the bruise has now healed and my elbow has returned to mostly normal. there's still a bit of a lump in there. it's been a month. oh, well.

don't you fret, though: this experience isn't keeping me from donating platelets (i went again last night) ... but i *am* going to be more adamant with the tuesday-evening phlebotomists, that's for sure.

(p.s. -- is there an actual name for the "elbow pit"? i feel kinda dumb calling it the "elbow pit".)

rock the block

okay, so i *have* experienced earthquakes before. but i usually either sleep through them or i am driving or something so i just don't feel them. until now ...

not sure how many of you heard about this one, but here are the details:

chino hills and diamond bar are about an hour and a half away from me, but i *did* feel this earthquake. i was at work and whining about my lousy raise when the whole building began to shake. guess it added a bit of drama to punctuate my compensation complaints. anyway ...

but it was the coolest thing ever! i am only not saying "let's do it again" because that would really be asking for it. ... but, i dunno, it was kinda fun. can i say that? am i actually allowed to say that? if we were to have another one, which i am not going to wish that we do, but *if* we do ... i think it could be fun to feel an earthquake again. yeah.

arguments anyone?

a bum

at what point do you have to start introducing yourself as a bum? i slept in my car on saturday night.

"hi, i'm christianna. nice to meet you. i'm a bum."

saturday was a *very* full day. i woke up in a panic at 7:15 -- i was supposed to be at the red cross at 7! dangit! quick pit stop in the bathroom to pull a comb through my hair, then i was out the door. i started the car just as my phone rang: it was the red cross asking if i was okay and if i was coming. "yesss ..."

after getting there, i crossed my fingers through the whole donor intake process -- well, except for the part where they prick my finger -- just hoping that my iron levels would be high enough to donate. (ever since i started this no-beef thing i just can't keep enough iron in my blood! anyone have any suggestions for that? i have recently started taking iron supplements, but those don't always work, either.)

i passed. yippee!

so i spent the next two hours reclined, smothered in blankets and hot rice bags, and enjoying juno. i gave a double-unit of platelets. pat myself on the back: pat, pat, pat.

from the red cross, i drove straight to the church building for ... enrichment super saturday!! where i made this:

on the way back home from enrichment, i called jenn to organize our beach outing, then called my sisters, et al, to pass the word along.

got home. got showered. got back in the car. got drove -- err, i mean -- drove. parked. walked. found jenn. laid out my towel. grabbed my boogie board. got tossed around in the waves. landed really hard on my shoulder on the beach. saw a big bruise on my shoulder. got out of the water.

then my sister, et al, arrived and we set them up and got back in the water. it was fabulous! so much fun. i love going to the beach!!

after a few hours in the sun, we packed up, walked back to the cars, and headed home. where i showered once again, cleaned the boogie boards, and got back in the car to drive up to eden's.

we met up with some friends of hers for pizza and blue grass at vincenzo's pizza esperienza in new hall, ca. a fun blue grass band plays there every saturday night. it really is a pizza esperienza. really.

then we went back to eden's friends' house to play ... dun dun dun ... rock band!! i must say that the several performances of the members of the troupe were quite impressive. but i think the "best of show" prize definitely goes to clint, for his vocal stylings in our home-grown rendition of iron maiden, "the number of the beast".

we finally retired the drum sticks and bass guitar at 1:41am, and, after assuring my bro-in-law that i was "fine" to drive home, i got back in my car and found the freeway.

however, i soon discovered that my eyelids were much heavier than i have ever known them to be -- it must have been the junk food i'd been nibbling on all day -- and so at 2:22am, i found a parking lot, locked me in my car, set the car alarm, and crawled into the back seat. at 3:34am, i woke up (much pleased that i was still in the backseat of my car and not kidnapped) and drove the rest of the way home -- about an 8-minute drive -- where i assume i crawled in my bed because that is where i was when i woke up the next morning.

and so, you see: i am a bum. i don't think i can argue that now. i slept in my car.

p.s. -- yes, i remember *exactly* what time things happened. i'm an accountant. i am good with numbers. apparently.

of all the random ...

okay, so friday i met up with my sisters, bro-in-law, and cami (a real australian -- yeah -- in real life) to go down to 3rd street promenade for some good old-fashioned people watching and foot slaughtering. (eden even asked me before we went if i wanted to put on my flip flops. but i wanted to be cool in my snakeskin shoes, towering over the rest of the party. i'll admit that was a bad idea. because it was.)

so after a couple hours of walking around, and maybe one more limping around, and then another one waiting hopelessly at a restaurant that only had open seating -- which can be okay unless you happen to be in a party of 6, in which case, open seating is such a bad idea -- so, after all those hours ... we finally gave up, decided to find food somewhere not at 3rd street promenade, and limped back to the car -- well, okay, i was the only one limping.

on our way down santa monica blvd, my bro-in-law saw a denny's! yea for denny's! (did i really just say "yea for denny's?" uh huh. i did. just checked. mmeh, oh well -- we were really hungry.)

so after we got seated there, i had to go wash my hands. (we really should take a tip from the brasilians here: let's put a sink out in the restaurant reception area so we can all be a little more hygienic. don't you agree? c'mon, who's with me?)

so as i hobbled to the restroom with my frizzy-because-of-the-santa-monica-humidity hair tied in a knot and held in place with a sharp stick, i saw a familiar face. took me a couple seconds to flip through the catalogs of "familiar faces" in my head, but finally found him:

umm, airplane boy.

whoa, weird.

the sun, moon, and stars

(amy, i stole your blog title. it was just so fitting!!)

to celebrate the birth of our country, i took advantage of every single minute of this day off.

having gotten home from my sister's at around 2:30 am the night before, pulling myself out of bed at 7am was a bit difficult. but i had groceries to buy and eggs to fry. so ... decked out in my pajama shorts and my i-mess-with-texas t, i headed for vons. (i'm still keeping my distance from ralph's, unfortunately. besides that, vons is closer to my house. yeah.)

after the quick outing to the grocery store, i came back home and cooked eggs for our ward fourth-of-july breakfast. dropped those off at the church and came back home to shower and get ready for the day.

unfortunately, i took too long. by the time i got back to the church with my stomach growling, my glass dish was empty and already washed and the only edible thing left was some maple sausage. so ... i grabbed a couple of those and drove home.

the sun

soon my phone rang. it was jenn. she gave me directions to zuma and told me they were by lifguard station 4. half an hour later, so was i.

jenn and her boyfriend had been there for maybe an hour already and were taking a boogie board break. but as soon as i arrived, they were ready to go in again.

the moon

i haven't ever been boogie boarding before, but, oh my goodness, i had such a good time! and i have the bruises all over my ribs to prove it!

oh -- i found out that my swimming suit bottoms are a little too big. which was a bit unfortunate for all the beach-goers at zuma that day. oops. sorry.

the stars

the evening was spent under the stars up in valencia after a delicious barbecue with my sister's friends. the city put on a fabulous fireworks show. my nephew loved it and clapped after each really big one. he's such a fun kid.

what do you do?

what do you do when the power goes out?

well, when the freezer is full of ice cream and you aren't sure when the power will come back on, i think y'all would do what we did:

make fruit smoothies using a battery-powered hand drill.

it was ingenious!

we jury-rigged the drill: hooked it up, first, to a blender blade to chop the fruit and then to a beater to mix it all up. then we enjoyed our concoction by candle light while playing super munchkins!

wish you were there

okay, so friday night was game night up at my sister eden's. they do it once a month. on the third friday. i know this. i can recite the schedule on command. but ... eden still has to call me every time and say, "hey, it's game night -- are you coming?"

game night is so much fun. it's usually at eden's house. or sometimes we go to other people's houses (don't worry -- eden knows all those people). and the agenda, you ask? well, mostly we play games. and we eat treats. and we play more games. and eat more treats. ... you get it. i'm telling you: so. much. fun.

so yesterday i was at work kinda late (even though busy season is over, whatever), trying to finish some stuff so that next week will not be so hectic, and eden called at about 6:40 to say, "hey, it's game night -- are you coming?" my response: "heck yes i am!" (or something a little less napoleon-esque, but just as excited.)

so i packed things up, drove home to change, and then headed up.

and so i'm driving, right. and i noticed this tube of lotion that i've had in my car since, oh, probably the 29th of november. it's the lotion i got from the pharmacy. my doctor had prescribed it for some really dry skin that i have on one of my fingers. so since i wasn't doing anything else at the moment besides driving, i decided it would be a good opportunity to apply said lotion. (ha ha: when i just typed that word, i actually typed "lotino". that's a fun word to say. say it: "lotino". ha ha. anyway ... )

well, it's been a while since i used the lotion, so the tube was a little clogged with some dried-out lotion. i thought maybe i could squish the lotion out so i squeezed it a little: nope. so i used the pokey end of the cap to poke it a little: still nope. i massaged most of the lotion up to the top of the tube. still couldn't get it out.

but when i stopped at the next stop light, i decided to just give it all i had -- it *had* to come out, right?

and ... umm ... i got it.

yeah.

i reeeally got it: all over my freakin' car!

yeah. i squeezed the tube with my muscles and the dried-up lotion that was clogging the tube shot straight up! followed by about half the tube of lotion! it was everywhere: on the ceiling, on the sun visor, on the window, on the windshield, on the dashboard, on the steering wheel, on the radio, on the gear shifter, on the arm rest, on the other arm rest .. and on me: on my head, on my hair, on my face, on my arms, on my shirt, on my pants ... and on my finger, which was fortunate since that was precisely where i wanted to put the lotion anyway. hmm. so that's good, right?

oh -- and additionally: it had been a hot day, so the lotion was rather melted and runny. so not only was it all over everything, but it was now dripping off of everything and getting on *more* everything. oh my goodness.

it was the funniest thing ever! i laughed and laughed and laughed. and i looked around to see if anyone else was perchance enjoying this spectacle. nope. no one. not a single person. not anyone. which is why i really wish you were there. really.

then i laughed some more, pulled out my handy wet wipes, and started cleaning up my mess. seriously: it was everywhere.

smashing good time

so to celebrate the end of busy season, and really just to enjoy a friday night after a long work week ... my friend alyssa and i planned to go out to duke's in malibu for some yummy food and good company.

so when i got off work around 7, i called her and said i was on my way. a quick stop at home to put my jeans on ... and then back out the door. i got to alyssa's a little early, and by 745 we were getting into alyssa's car to head off.

as we backed out of the garage, though, we heard a fateful metal-on-metal crunch. uh-oh. we spent the next few minutes looking at this:

but -- i'm sorry reggie -- i really didn't want to spend my friday night doing that. so ... we got back in alyssa's car and tried the whole thing again. success! we made it out of the driveway this time -- with no crunching!

the drive out to malibu was fun. we took topanga canyon out to the beach and then up pch to duke's. after dinner alyssa was telling me about the malibu country mart, so we headed over there to check it out. and then we watched leatherheads, which was cute (but long and kinda slow at times).

overall: a fun evening!

snowy california

okay, so this isn't really what comes to mind when you think of southern california, is it? but ... we got hit by a big snow storm last weekend. ("big" by california standards, but nothing too exciting to all you utahns, i know. and especially not anything even noticeable to you bostonians. but still. i guess the southern california sun has spoiled me.)

erica emailed me on friday afternoon to see if i wanted to celebrate the snow with a sledding trip! of course!! so she got some other people together and made plans.

which plans meant that i had to wake up at 630 on a saturday morning. (yeah, don't even get up that early on work days. oh, well -- this was for a better reason than "work".) whine, whine, whine.

so, i picked up perfect boy at his house just after 8; we got up to erica's around 830, where we met up with the rest of the troupe and headed out. less than an hour later, we found ourselves in this:

where we couldn't wait to start doing this:

err, uhh, i mean, this:

oh, fabulous snow. oh, beautiful snow. oh, freezing snow. and me in my jeans. i neglected to bring snow gear with me when i moved to l.a.: silly me. the southern california sun really has spoiled me.

but it was so much fun! we spent a couple hours sliding down and climbing back up the hills and sled runs. threw snow at each other. threw each other in the snow. fun was had by all.

after a hard day of play in the snow, we stopped at rocio's, a cute little mexican diner on the way out of frazier park, where we ate homemade tortillas and tried to warm ourselves before making the drive back home. it was a fabulous day.

distress call

brrring ... brrring ... (or maybe it's more like, "bzzz ... bzzz ... " since my phone is on vibrate.)

"hi, becky."

"i'm trapped in your backyard."

"what?"

"i'm trapped in your backyard."

" !! what? !! "

"so i went out to the backyard to pick some oranges, and pat poked her head out the back door to say that she was going over to the neighbor's house for a bit. and as she walked away, she pushed the door a little too much and it closed and locked --"

"you're kidding."

"no. and i checked -- both side gates are locked and they are surprisingly difficult to try to climb over. and you two are very good at making sure none of your windows can be opened from the outside."

"you're kidding."

"no."

"you want me to come home and open the door for you?"

"well, does pat have a cell phone?"

"she does, but she never carries it around with her."

"well, which neighbor did she go to? maybe i could hop the fence into their yard."

"umm, probably the one closer to the school, on the side where the trash cans are ... do you want me to come home and open the door to let you in?"

"would that be okay?"

"yeah, i could be there in 10 minutes. i can have lunch while i am there -- just take an early lunch."

"do you mind ... ?"

"i'll be there in 10 minutes."

"okay. thanks."

"see you in a bit."

what happens in vegas

a few months ago, my friend becky won a romantic weekend for two in the exciting sin city of las vegas on the radio. we were originally gonna go back in november, but had to reschedule a couple of times and finally got it set up for january 4-7.

so after taking my cpa test on friday, i came home, did laundry, and packed to be out of the house by 5 so i could pick up becky from the airport at 6 (she was flying in from her Christmas vacation with family back in virginia). well, because of traffic, i didn't get to the airport until about 645 ... argh ... but then we were on our way up to vegas!

the drive was long because of the insane rain storm but it wasn't too bad since we both had vacation stories and other stories to catch up on ... and we finally got to the stratosphere around 2am, checked in, and went to sleep.

the only catch to this romantic weekend for two in the exciting sin city of las vegas was that we had to sit through a "no-pressure" time-share presentation given by the company that sponsored the weekend. which was torturous. seriously. first of all, we thought that the meeting was at 10 on saturday morning. but when we checked into the hotel , they told us that we had to check in with the time-share company in the morning -- they open at 6. so ... at 730 the next morning, i finally wrestled myself out of bed, brushed my hair and groggily made my way to the check-in desk. where i found out that our meeting was at 8 -- not 10 -- at 8. !! so ... i called becky to wake her up and then i ran up to the room to change clothes and run back down to get to the meeting. :S

and despite their reassurances that this meeting was "no-pressure" ... it was seriously the worst saturday morning i have ever spent. ever. even worse than the saturday morning i spent ... hmm ... i was just trying to think of a really bad saturday morning experience that i had one time and i can't think of anything ... so either i've never had a bad saturday morning or i have blocked all of them from my memory ... interesting. but what i can say is that *this* saturday morning was awful. when becky and i told them "no", we don't want to buy into their time-share ... wow ... i don't think i've ever been through a worse breakup. i've seriously never seen a grown man pout so much.

when they finally let us go and took us back to our hotel, becky and i crashed back into our beds for some much-needed napping. the only problem was that i was tormented the whole time by "no-pressure" sales dreams and didn't get much rest at all. :P ugh. seriously.

the rest of saturday was pretty fun. we finally woke up and got ready to be out of the hotel room by 230 and went over to the hilton to meet up with becky's dad at the star trek experience for lunch and some rides. so much fun!! and i met a borg drone named 3 of 6. he seemed a bit taken with me ... though he adamantly refused to help me be assimilated to the collective -- evidently he is now part of a de-assimilation initiative and was posted on the station in order to observe human behavior in an attempt to regain his humanity. (oh! also, the actress that played alexander's mom was there, too. she wouldn't let me take her picture, though, unless i bought something. oh, well.)

and *that*, my friends, is my star trek geekiness. i think that's all i'll subject you to. for now.

after yummy dinner and some star trek adventures with becky's dad, we three went to see menopause the musical. it was an interesting show. funny. but i won't go see it again. and i probably won't recommend it to anyone either. dunno. just not my kind of humor.

after that show, becky and i hightailed it over to the mgm grand to see ká, a fabulous cirque du soleil show about a village named ká and the plight of the young prince and princess who seek to return home after being separated and "must embark on a perilous journey". i *loved* it! really. it was seriously amazing. i'd go see it again any time, anywhere. you wanna go with me?

sunday morning, becky and i went to the gilcrease bird preserve in the neighborhood where becky grew up. we had a great time seeing the birds and visiting the petting zoo, too. this one bird was hilarious: i have never seen a bird enjoy being petted so much in my whole life. can you see the sheer bliss on his face?! i swear he would have crawled right into my lap and died of ecstasy right then had that pesky cage not been in the way. (oh, i don't think we were supposed to pet the birds, though -- so, if anyone asks, you didn't see this picture.)

we then went to visit becky's grandma and had lunch with her. she was very sweet and made yummy homemade chili for us. mmm.

after a couple hours at grandma's, we left to meet up with becky's dad. first we went to the mandalay bay shark reef. i *looved* that. i can't even express how much i love looking at sharks. i don't know why. don't ask. (we tried to take a cool picture, but it didn't quite turn out.)

then we went to the forum shops in caesar's palace. that is an amazing place. it's hard to believe that all that is indoors and that you aren't really walking the streets of ancient rome. i wished that i had brought my toga.

becky's dad treated us to dinner at the palm restaurant. oh, it was fabulous. i ate a 12 oz. new york steak *and* flirted with a very cute waiter. ha. he wasn't even "our waiter" -- but he kept coming out to the patio area to check on us. maybe he was "my waiter". :P yeah, whenever i caught him looking our direction, he gave me a wink or stuck his tongue out or blew me a kiss or even mouthed an "i love you" ... heh. i'd go back there again, too, any time. you wanna go with me there??

that evening we returned to the stratosphere to watch the american superstars impersonators show, which was entertaining. then we went up to the top of the stratosphere to look at all of las vegas from high above it. if it hadn't been so durned cold i would have loved to ride the roller coasters up at the top of that thing.

after we descended back to street level, we met up with becky's dad again to go to fremont street in downtown las vegas. we hung out there for a while, saw some sights, watched some guys make art with spray paint, and enjoyed the light show. it was fun. and freezing. vegas in winter is cold. just for the record.

monday we slept in until we really couldn't sleep in any longer. because we had to check out of the hotel by 11. (i've never stayed at a hotel where check-out is at 11. it's supposed to be at 12. what's up with the 11? must be a typo. must be.) anyway. and then we went over to the venetian grand canal shoppes and wandered around for a while. again, that's an amazing place. and it's hard to believe that you are indoors the whole time. we also went back over to the forum shops to see some more of what was there. as we passed the palm on our way out i spotted my waiter ... he was still very cute.

umm, monday evening we saw stomp out loud at planet hollywood, which was thoroughly entertaining. really. i was interested in seeing it mostly because i am a science nerd to some degree (ha ha -- okay, stop laughing) and i thought it would be cool to see what they could do ... but i was completely taken aback with all the humor in the show. i had no idea i would laugh so much! and that i would be taken aback! really. i love being taken aback! and laughing!

after the show, becky and i went to see the fountains at the bellagio -- beautiful. it was so much fun to stand there on the strip and listen to music, dance, and watch the fountains. i loved it.

we watched the fountains until about 10:15, and then becky and i got on the road to head back to l.a.

shortly after we left las vegas, becky fell asleep. and i called cute guy. he was such a sport and talked to me for the *whole* drive back to l.a. ... which, thankfully, kept me awake ... so we could arrive safely home ... at 3 in the morning.