i'm home!

i'm also totally tired. i spent the past week in the most boring training on earth, surrounded by idiots who wouldn't shut up, and when that was over i walked all over the city. last night my roommate's and i went out on the town, and i have to say, that week i spent walking all over totally came in handy. i feel so much more comfortable in denver, and it was good to remind myself of the things i love about city life. the next time i move, i'm moving into a much more urban area. of course, i say this now but the next time i move (this december, when the lease is up) i'll be moving into a smaller town than the one we live in now. of course, i'll also be that much closer to denver, so yay! the move after that it totally going to be into the city. some city, any city. coming home sore from all the walking, with a camera full of photos, is something i love more than i realized. i took a lot of photos, and whittled it down to a nice little set you can see over here.

my tattoo is scabbing up hugely, it's beginning to itch rather than sting, and i still have half a sleeve left to finish on my sweater. i thought i'd get it done this week, but getting the tattoo took two days out of my schedule, what with my wrist being all gooey and hurty.

kinkos!

remember when i worked for kinko's? and i was mean and unhappy and wearing a lot of polyester? you might think this means i hate finko's now, but on the contrary, I FUCKING LOVE KINKO'S. i might not want to work here ever again, but they're in every town, they have computers you can log into with a credit card, and seeing my blog again is refreshing. whew. of course, because i'm paying per minute, don't expect spell check or anything fancy or well-thought out. what you see, is what you get, kids.

this week in denver has been alternately boring and extra-fun. i'm taking notes in a real journal that i'll scan and paste when i get home, but for now here are a few thoughts about today:

1. there's this one loud girl who absolutely, positively, must say something (anything!) everytime the instructor takes a breath or otherwise pauses. she answers every fucking question, she has to tell us her every experience, she has to remind us ad nauseum that she's a latina and how that relates to the subject, blah blah BLAH. i want to kill this girl. not with kindness, but with a solid blow to the head with something heavy.
2. i'm the oldest one in the class. this is not a surprise to me.
3. modern art makes me feel better about the world.
4. google mobile maps for your cell phone is amazing and wonderful.
5. my cell phone is a lot handier than i ever imagined.
6. i'll be glad to go home and bake some cookies and see my kitten-face and catch up with the thousands of blogs i'm missing right now.
7. also, go ahead and comment! dude, i can check my email through gmail, and it makes me feel a lot less bored. do it. you know you want to!

miss you! love you lots! wish you were here!

i'm a star!

maybe i shouldn't be left alone in a strange city, because today after training i walked a few blocks away and got a tattoo. a nautical star on my left wrist, blue. it's cute, it stings a little, and it's mine! next up on my tattoo wish list is my beehive.

time

yesterday i was 20 mins late, today i'm 20 mins early. I CAN'T WIN.

where's my razor?

nothing makes me feel older or crabbier than being trapped in a conference room full of 20 yr olds who won't shut up. also, i miss my computer! i'm having flickr withdrawls!

on-ramp

my hotel is ghetto-fabulous, emphasis on the ghetto. i'm equidistant from a gas station & the freeway. next to a diner, which i can't wait to try. crappy hotels aren't as much fun solomente.

sayonara!

i'm off to denver for five whole days of new-hire training. after eight months at work i was not only hired, given free cell phone service and new snazzy twin-set to wear at work, but i also get to get trained all over again! the joy of it! i might actually die of boredom!

the good news is that i get to stay at a hotel down in denver for a week, where i plan to finish my sweater (only one sleeve left, then blocking and sewing to go!), watch cable tv, take long baths, and eat out. i'm staying one extra night in town as well, and the roommate and some friends are going to come down and go out with me. i'm also going to try to hit the DAM and find a hom bao. i will not have a computer with me while i'm there, but i might try posting with my cell phone. expect short posts because i have fat fingers.

now i have to pack, which is undoubtably my least-favorite part of travelling.

also, i went out last night with my roommates and came closer to actually talking to a real-life boy than i have in months. it was a step in the right direction. i missed out on the kraken movie (it was hard to leave that behind, trust me) but i figured i could catch in re-runs and that my chances of meeting a boy were better if i actually left my house. you know, it has something to do with math (the amount boys out there versus the amount in my living room). it's been forever since i did something like date or flirt, so i'm easing back into it slowly, and dorkily. i'm pretty sure i made finger-guns at a guy. finger guns. dude! i rule! although to be fair, he was looking at me and he did shoot back.

magic bullet

ha! i underestimated how tired i was from the other night's boxed-wine debacle. i came home from work last night, watched about five and a half minutes of tv, then decided what i really wanted was to read (nap) and the next thing i knew it was 11 at night. i stayed up for a while after that, watching yet another infomercial about the magic bullet, which i'm sorry to say i have to have, before falling back asleep around 1. for those of you counting, that makes two whole hours i was actually awake and conscious last night. the rest was all sleepy good times.

i would feel worse about it if that nap hadn't been so good and if fallling asleep after it wasn't so easy.

folly

the thing about boxed wine is that it doesn't feel like drinking wine. it's more like juice that ends up making you feel sort of silly. it's cold, it's sweet, it goes down easy. then you wake up with cotton where your brains should be and a bit of a tummyache.

i ate a breakfast burrito this morning in an attempt to soothe my fussy guts, but i don't know if it's working. i'm also drinking a soda with breakfast. it's too early to be at work, but i am. if you come by the store, please speak softly. at least for a while.

verbatim

me: hi! what's up.
sister: i'm making a gin & tonic, what are you doing?
me: drinking boxed wine out of a mug.
sister: excellent. i'm making the gin & tonic in a jar. oooh, that's a lot of gin.
me: there's a lot of wine in my mug.
sister: i miss you.
me: i miss you too.

my sister and i have been having cocktails over the phone for years now, since we've been separated by states. however, the amount of over-the-phone cocktails has decreased significantly since she got knocked up and had a baby. hearing her on the phone a little bit tipsy, like me, is a welcome change. it's not that we can't talk while sober or anything, but i admit we have the most fun and retarded conversations after a few drinks. i love my people. bentley's RULE! you drool. well, at least when you sleep.

*also, we decided while having this conversation that this year for christmas we would be buying each other copies of arrested development on dvd. that way we both get what we want. which is a lot of the bluth's!

lazy

i don't know if there is anything i like more than boxed wine in a mug. the end.

baby cakes

we all still call her "baby" or "that baby," even though she's almost eight month old. first we all just called her "baby" because my sister changed her name so many times that when she settled on margaret none of us were used to it. then we started calling her "that baby" because that's what i called my sister until she was almost one. maybe when she's less like a baby and more like a small person we'll all switch over to maggie, but for now i like that she's still the baby. at the same time, every day she's more like her own person. when i talk to my sister on the phone i can hear her in the background, talking her baby talk, making noises, shrieking with glee when the cat walks into the room. my sister always puts her on the phone for a minute to, and i just talk to her, saying, "hi baby!" and "maggie" and i can hear her baby breathing and sometimes giggling. my sister says she wants her to know me and wants her to get comfortable with the phone, and that even though she doesn't say anything yet she always smiles when i talk to her. i think it's more the novelty of hearing her name on the funny, blinky thing that's mom's than her thinking "this is my cool auntie" but i like it anyhow. it pleases me immensely, her baby breathing on the phone.

i got my ticket to california for thanksgiving, even though i haven't *technically* been given the time off. mom found a cheap ticket and insisted on just buying it, and we figured if we needed to change the flight out or return that would be easy enough to arrange. i'm really excited. my sister's been calling every day since we got the tickets, and tonight she called to ask what sorts of things i wanted to eat while i was there. this is something mom used to always do whenever my sister and i came home for the weekend from college. you'd get a random call and she'd be on the other end saying, "you like goat cheese, right? how do you feel about gouda? would you eat a lamb roast or should i get beef?" i loved that. what i love even more is that evidently it's a habit mom's passed on to us, because i got to ask my sister to make popovers and teach me how to make a brioche. all my requests were made after i pointed out that i didn't care, that what i really wanted was to chew on my niece's cheeks and take a million photos of her. if we had time for dinner after that, then yay! what i really want though is to nibble on that baby.

well, and that and visit giant robot, chinatown, and kid robot. i also really want to see my people and sleep in late. and maybe ask mom really nicely if she'll make sticky buns. but mostly it's all about that baby.

really, i'd make a good housewife

except for the whole cleaning thing, that is. i like the baking and knitting and reading books to kids. that's the bulk of it, right? fall always makes me feel this way; i start nesting and cooking a lot. part of it this year is that summer was so hot, the cool of the fall makes being in the kitchen not so unbearable. plus, i love making anything involving pumpkins. today i'm doing some more baking, some knitting, and putting stuff in the mail. i'm telling you, i could do this every day.

last night i was watching dirty jobs with my roommate and we spent a good amount of time talking about how hot mike rowe is. i'm not talking a few moment of idle chatter, i'm talking a serious conversation about all the ways he is hot. he's not amazingly handsome or pretty, like say, keanu reeves or brad pitt, but he exudes this manly-manliness that is totally intoxicating. i might have to put him on my list.

mr. man of my dreams did not come back into the store yesterday. although i think i may have talked to him on the phone, and i think i made him laugh. the chances of us actually going out on something like a date or impossibly slim, but i have to say this little crush is pretty fun. it's nice to know that there's a cute, funny man out there. it's gives me hope that there might be another one somewhere in colorado. let's hope finding him isn't too much like a needle in a haystack. (does that make me sound too pathetic? i worried about whether or not to leave it in but decided to. i'm not totally boy-crazy, or desperate for a boyfriend, but i like the idea of having one, and to be honest, it's been on my mind. now you get to read about it. sucks to be you!)

cheesy

i totally met the man of my dreams today. actually, i met him a few days ago. he's cute, sort of nerdy, wears these cute glasses, and i think i maybe made him blush tonight. yes, he's a customer, because work is the only place on earth i meet men. seriously. also, i'm going to say this out loud: i kind of want a boyfriend. not just a boyfriend for the sake of having one (those are easy to get) but i'd like to meet a boy i like and want to hang out with and get to make-out with too. i miss going to the movies, having someone to call up and say, "hey, i saw this cool thing in the paper, want to go ____?" so if mr. man of my dreams comes into work again, maybe i'll try being bold and saying something to him. after all, this silent-treatment thing i go for isn't exactly working.

i know, cheesy. what's more cheesy are those pretty noodles pictured above. this weekend i tried my hand at making honest-to-goodness cheese sauce from scratch. it wasn't ar hard as i thought it would be, and even though my sauce needs some work, it was ridiculously good. i carbo-loaded and napped and was very pleased.
speaking of pleasing (god, my segues rule!), i found episodes of arrested development on some channel i'd never even heard of before, G4. i love love love arrested development, and while it's in my netflix queue as we speak, it's nice to tune in at night. it makes my rage seem smaller. in fact, tonight i feel downright chipper. what the hell? being a woman is fascination, frustrating business, yo.

i hate my job

i know, you're surprised, right? they want me to work tomorrow, even though i had that day off. mondays suck at work, suck more than they do anyplace else, because for some reasons only jerks come in on monday. i know this because i work basically EVERY MONDAY EVER. i agreed to it, on the condition i get the three days off before thanksgiving. they aren't technically allowed to give it to me as vacation, because it's "blackout" but i don't give a shit. i am the only person in that store who doesn't have family in the state. the only one. i think they can spare me. it's been a year since i saw my people, and they'll all be at my sister's in california, and honestly, if they don't give me this vacation i'm fully prepared to sell my car and all my stuff, quit my job, and get the fuck out of here.

i'm sure part of my rage is hormonal, part of it is just the grind of working a job where you're basically expected to check all feelings of human dignity in the overheard compartment, and part of it is just that i miss my family. i don't even hate colorado anymore, it's not that, i just miss my people. i just want a few days with them to hang out and goof around, to meet the cutest niece in the world, and to eat all the delicious things my sister and mom cook. is that too much to ask for?

**this weeks rageful outburst fueled by hormones and not enough sleep**

boozy

i don't want everyone thinking i'm some sort of boozy broad, but i have really been enjoying coming home to extra-cold beers this past week. normally we don't actually keep a lot of beer in the house (we have a small fridge and generally come home to cocktails, when we come home to drinks) but when we went to breckenridge i bought a 24 can pack of bud light. now we have a lot of beer in the house. or rather, we used to. coming home to a nice cold beer, a cat happy to see me, and taking off my uniform is like a comforting mr. roger's ritual for me right now. although at this moment i'm a little more itchy, i'm thinking, "it's friday, and only 6:30. let's go somewhere and do something." i know, it's a brilliant plan, i just need someone to execute it with me.

you should live closer to me.

things i am totally loving right now

1. rain! we don't get enough of it here. more, please.
   
2. pumpkin anything. bread, pie, lattes...on that note, i really wish i could go home just for a long weekend to pick pumpkins with the o'neal family. last year that was one of my favorite parts of fall; the fun ride out, the apple cider, the pumpkin throwing and the picking. tiernan was really into clean last year, and i think his favorite part was using the well pumps and giant brushes to wash off the pumpkins. we did that for quite a while.
   
3. adult swim on line. if you go the "fix" section of the site, you can actually watch cartoons commercial free. that means at lunch at work i turn on a little aqua teen hunger force, the venture brothers or metalacolypse. it's like not being at work for up to 22 mins straight.
   
4. having firefox back. oh man, that internet explorer is not so fun.
   
5. finishing knitting projects. i'm pretty sure not much else makes me feel so accomplished. especially since for a long time i was almost incapable of it. now, i'm like a rock star. (albeit a very librarian-looking one.)
   

work hijinx

they are making our cell phone store a repair facility. because of that, we've been getting boxes and boxes of supplies all week long. today we finally got the back room organized enough to start sorting through it, and i found a giant bag of finger cots*.
FINGER COTS. could any work supply be more fun? i suppose post-its are infinitely more versatile as far as work doodles go, but finger cots you get to wear. or pose! and they are freaky looking and feeling! therefore, they are my new favorite thing about going to work. i spent this afternoon with one of my co-workers drawing these guys and cracking each other up. we did the finger mustache thing, we gave the puppets funny voices, we goofed for a good, long time. it was great fun. although we didn't get much done as far as work went. i want to do a whole little series i will call "finger cot theater."

i also got my new uniform today, and it's infinitely cuter than my last one. it's actually a little twin-set, a cute shirt and cardigan combo. it fits well, and makes me feel a hell of a lot more attractive than that giant polo i've been wearing for months. i wish it had come in yesterday, when my current customer-crush came in. dammit.

*dude, that whole web site is all about finger cots. that freaks me out a little.

i came right home to a beer

i'm not suggesting to anyone out there at all that alcohol is a good way of dealing with stress, but um, somtimes a beer after work makes me feel like life might indeed be worth living. i just get so sick and tired of dealing with whiny bitches all day. that's essentially all i ever see: people who are fussy and mad and whiny and can't possibly live without cell phone service for the next thirty minutes. i want to point out to them all that you can't live without your liver that long, or your heart, or oxygen, but a cell phone? yes, you can live without it. the world will keep on spinning, and you'll still be an insufferable asshole when all is said and done.

hmmm. i wonder if my period is going to show up soon or if i'm just full of rage because it's fun?

i hope this isn't too horribly narcissistic

this is the photo:

and this is the bio:

When I was about 7 years old my mom taught me how to embroider. An extremely gifted embroiderer, she taught me everything I know about the craft and art of embroidery. As I got older and my ideas about what it means to be a woman and feminism got more specific, so did my embroidery. I feel that embroidery is often relegated unfairly to the world of crafts and not taken seriously as an art form. For me, embroidery is more than just making something prettier; it can be a fully functional piece of art that reflects more accurately the role of women today. I strive to make all of my work surprising, interesting, practical, and above all to challenge the way people think about the traditional arts. For a more detailed look at my work, please visit [website goes here.]

my sister wrote it, don't get too excited. she's way smarter than i am, and after spending all day trying not to sound like a total dork i finally sent her an email that said, "write my bio, i'll give you $5, cash money." good thing she will work for cheap. doesn't that make me sound all smart without also sounding like a pretentious ass? i mean, i hate to admit that i take my work that seriously, for fear of coming off like one of those art school students who spends too much time composing answers to interviews they think they'll have someday, but i do what i do for a reason. sometimes it's just that it cracks me up, but a lot of the time i am actually striving to make things that make people stop and think for a second. i don't need them to re-evaluate how they think about women and so-called women's work, but if they stop for a sec and go, "huh, i wouldn't have thought of that," then i'm happy.

but right now i'm tired and i think futurama is on. why am i here when i could be in bed in my still-warm-from-the-dryer pjs? jeez.

sometimes i just want to be a housewife

or maybe days like today where all i do is cook and clean and knit are just proof that i was a housewife in another life. most of the time i'm pretty happy with my haphazard spinster life, but days like today when i get to do fun domestic stuff all day make the whole happy homemaker thing pretty damn appealing.

that is a macro view of my mom's famous pumpkin bread recipe. i would post the recipe here, but it's top secret. if i were to post it on the internets where just anyone could find it, my mom would have an aneurysm. therefore, if you want it, you have to email me. i'll send it to you, but if you tell my mom about it you will be dead to me.
look! i did indeed finish the first sleeve of my sweater. i would have been done with it, oh, about a week ago if i hadn't made such an amateur mistake the first go-round. i was almost done with it last night, but i admit i got tired early and that was the end of me. i finished this today, and got about five inches into the body of the back of the sweater. i'm hoping by the time the fall bite is really in the air i'll have a new sweater to wear.

i think i have the photo situation figured out. i found out that the pictures themselves are going to be about 1x1 inch squares, so that helps a lot. no one will be able to see my pimples without a magnifying glass, whoo! i had this great idea for a bio too, then i sent it to my sister and she and her stupid english degree kind of tore it down. in a nice, loving way, sure--but she thinks it sucks so now i'm back to working on that again. i will get this done, tonight, if it kills me. i will also make my bed with new clean sheets, which is always an annoying task but also rewarding. it's still early, and i have more to do before i get to go to bed and do some more knitting.

i'm little betty homemaker

i baked two loaves of zucchini bread today! two beautiful loaves, one for home, one for the kids at work. i found the recipe over at allrecipes.com, and i have to say i really like it. it's pretty basic, but extra delicious. although instead of walnuts like they specified, i used pecans. mainly because i think walnuts can be sort of bitter but pecans are always great. that and there were no walnuts in the bulk section of the grocery store. tomorrow i'm making my mom's famous pumpkin bread. more happy homemaker photos to follow.

i've spent entirely too much time tonight trying to take a photo of myself that i like and doesn't suck. dude, my chin is fat. oh, and there's the acne to argue with too. this is a very important photo, dammit, and it has to look good enough that when i see it a few years from now i won't be too horribly embarassed. i promise to tell you all about why i'm taking this photo tomorrow.

or i guess i could just tell you know. i was approached in june by a very nice lady about contributing an embroidery pattern to a book that's coming out next year. i wasn't sure if i should do it, but after talking to my friends and family i said yes, and it turned out to be a super fun project to work on. (that and my mom is beyond stoked to see my name in print, and not in a police-blotter kind of way.) i got to make the stuff for the photos, write out the pattern, and now all that's left to do is take a half-way decent photo of myself and write a short bio. the photo part is sort of freaking me out. where's dan when i need him to make me look fabulous? when did my face get so huge? i know it's shallow, but i hate this part of the project most. writing the bio is fun, though. it's just weird knowing that after the book comes out that photo will be all the people see of me, and i don't want any of the chumps i went to high school with seeing it and snickering about how retarded i look. hello, neurosis.

also, i got so irriated with firefox the other night i uninstalled it. i lost all my links, which is a mild irritant (i use bloglines for just about everything i can, so it's not a big loss), but now i'm using internet explorer again and while it's less annoying than the present version of firefox, i hate it too. i need an internet browser that doesn't suck. suggestions?

remember the "suck it" story?

i kind of lost it at work today with some customers. i don't know why exactly those two people made me mad, out of all the jerks i deal with on a daily basis, they were actually not all that jerky. it was a couple, a father and daughter deal, who came in complaining that they'd had a phone for over a year, it never worked, and they wanted me to replace it. um, okay. why didn't anyone come in when they got the phone to point out that it didn't work? why wait almost a year and a half to come in demanding a new phone? it's not even a phone we sell anymore (anyone who's ever had anything to do with cell phones or cell phone service knows that a year is a hell of a long time in the cellular world. new phones come out all the damn time, and if those phones suck, they don't last very long either.), and how was i to know they weren't yanking my chain? why should i be responsible for a bunch of assclowns who not only bought, but paid for service on, a phone that they claim never-ever-ever worked? if they had come in and been nice about it, if the father hadn't immediately raised his voice to a level that was highly inappropriate indoors, i might have tried to hook them up. but once anyone hits a certain decibel level, i shut all the way down. in the end i kept my tongue and simply said, "i'm not having this conversation anymore. as a customer you have a certain responsibility to deal with phone issues in a timely manner. i've told you what i can and can't do for you, here's my card with my name, call customer care, call my boss, call anyone you want to complain about me. i'm done with this." the pop stuttered and stammered and tried to get in one more jab, but i said, "no, i'm done, you can go now." the daughter chimed in with an "i'm very disappointed that your customer care is awful and you don't want to help us," and i told her the same thing, "done, there's the door."

then of course i had to draft a long-ass email to my boss saying, "hi, i probably should have given them ten more minutes to yell and get really irate before asking them to leave, but something about them seriously irritated me and i just had to end the situation before i acted seriously jerky." he doesn't know about the "suck it" incident, and he doesn't need to. i'd say 89% of the time i'm perfectly fine with customers. i'm infinitely more patient, i'm a hell of a lot more pleasant, and i do indeed keep quiet when i want to shout obscenities, but there are some people who just get me in a soft spot. once they've gone there with me, i can't back down, i can't think straight, i can hardly stop from going all hulk on them and freaking out. the crazy part of me, the part of me that think that no job is worth totally suppressing my dignity (slight as it might be), the part of me that actually told an old lady once she could "shove it up your ass," is always there. loudmouth amanda is right under the surface of good customer service amanda, and while she doesn't come out often, it's only because i try to beat her into submission.

at the end of the day there's a line i won't cross for money, no matter how much i need it. it's petty and immature and ridiculous, seeing as i'm a slacker loser, but it's what i have. my parents hate it about me, and know they raised me like that. it's not that i'm full of my own self-import, it's that i think no one should be treated like shit because someone gives them money, because the rent hangs in the balance and i get tired of peanut butter sandwiches. while i did get a little irrational and shrill this afternoon, i did not tell anyone they could suck it, i didn't not storm out of work, and i did apologize to my boss before he even knew what i was apologizing for. it's a small step in the right direction as far as growing up goes, but it's a step nonetheless.

i hate the new firefox

i'm not afraid to say it, either. i don't know why i downloaded this version, especially while it's still in beta, because it s-u-c-k-s. for those of you who actually know shit about computers and modifying programs to suit your needs, i'm sure you love it. for dopes like me who like to download, extract and run things that work right away, this program is frustrating. for one thing, i don't like tabs and they show up immediately. i'm still missing my scroll bars, which is also seriously irritating, and whenever i open my browser i get this annoying message asking me if i want to look for a compatible google bar or tool or something, which i don't get because i can see my google bar up there right now. what does it mean it's not installed? i know i can fix these things, but i don't want to. i just want it to work, dammit, like it did before. can i just re-download the older version? i'm going to go look into that now.

in other dork-tastic news, i found out one of my co-workers loves* buffy and angel more than i do, and has, in fact, both sets of series in his possession. he's been doling them out, in order, to me the last few weeks and now i get to watch vampire-slaying-goodness every night before bed. me and the cat and my headphones are very happy.

and as a last testament to my own nerdy self, i just ordered this shirt. it's the second one down, the green one. i love it. it's on pre-order right now, meaning you can only order it until this sunday. which i highly recommend you DO. let's get all the kids we know to order them and then wear them around our fundamentalist, evolution-hating friends and family. it'll be a riot!

*he might not actually love the shows more than me, but he's certainly more dedicated to them. i have to say, when i found out that we both loved everything joss whedon's ever touched, i was so happy. marnie was the only other person i knew before now who understood how great buffy and angel are, and i missed that. now everyone at work knows our dirty little secret, and they try to make fun of us for being dorks, but together we are invincible. or at least, not nearly as embarassed to say out loud that we love vampire slayers and their undead-soul-mates.

OMG!

it is terribly shallow to admit that i squealed with glee this morning at the news that paris "it burns when i pee" hilton was arrested on a dui? because i was thrilled. oh my god, i hate that girl. i have no idea why she's famous. she's not even an interesting whore, she's just vapid and slutty.

lately i've been mainlining the pop culture, which i'm pretty sure isn't great for me. last night i dreamt i had to wear mischa barton's awful shorts, all while the pussycat doll's song "don't cha" was on. do i need to point out that i despise both mischa and those pusscat dolls? because i do. i'm sort of sick of women only being famous for being skanks. you can be a talentless, jerkface, idiot, but if you are hot no one will care. thinking about it is making me bitter, so i give up now.

there is a good chance i'm going to get sick this week so i might end up bitching about it here. two kids at work are super sick, and we work in a small office where we like to pass the germy goodness around. i'm drinking a lot of emergen-c, going to bed early, washing my hands all the time and trying to avoid the plague.

must go on!

see those balls of yarn in the upper right corner? they were the first sleeve of my sweater originally. you know, the sleeve i knit after reading the directions wrong. i ripped out approximately fifteen inches, irritated but grateful that i used thick yarn and fat needles. it's easier to reknit a sweater this way.

today i got a lot done at work. i signed up for benefits (yes!), ordered new business cards (just as hokey as the last ones), some fancy stationary (which i will then steal from work and use to write letters), and also ordered new work shirts. the ones i have now are so ridiculously lame. not only are they all faded and crappy looking, but they're a million sizes too big because i overestimated my girth at the time i ordered them. these shirts are going to fit, dammit.

being hired on as a real employee is good because of all the stuff mentioned above, but now i actually have to give a shit about commissions, which gives me the willies. i have to suddenly worry about making quota, combing my hair on a regular basis, and being extra nice to jerks that right now i barely tolerate. if i've said it once, i've said it a million times: i don't want to kill them with kindness, i want to use a good old-fashioned shiv. it doesn't feel real yet, and it also sort of cramps my i-want-to-move plans. i'm not going to bore you with my pro and con list right now, suffice to say it's being made on just about a round-the-clock basis.

the best news of all, though, is this delightful book my nephew sent me. it's an alphabet book that's all about day of the dead. i wish i could be there to read it to him and carve pumpkins!

teeny trip recap

breckenridge is very, very, very high up. the altitude made wine taste better, but also made my skin extra dry and the inside of my nose like sandpaper. it was a nice trip. i had the most beautiful roasted shank of lamb with wild mushrooms and a boursin risotto. i fell down really hard on a crack in the sidewalk and messed up my ankle. i realized this morning that i read the sleeve portion of my sweater pattern wrong and guess what had to be taken ou? vacations in general are always fun, and always tiring. i'm going to eat some cheese and watch some tv and get ready for work tomorrow.

cellular

up high in the mountains! roughing it by writing this on my cell phone. hooray for technology! and big dinners and buying tourist t-shirts and knitting AND having one more day off.

not only am i NOT packed, but i had one too many beers

now i don't feel like packing at all. i'm looking at my stuff thinking, "eh, whatever." what i should be doing is sorting things into nice piles, the "daytime looks" pile on one end of the bed, the "i'd like to make-out looks" on the other. in the middle the "hey, i'm asleep" look. oh, and my sweater needs to be packed. the whole point of this weekend, aside from maybe tipsy snogging in a corner, is getting more of my sweater done. i can't tell if i'm just becoming more into knitting and that's why it's on my list with tonsil-hockey, or if i'm slipping more into spinsterhood. you tell me.

i just watched brick. when i tell you a movie is totally fucking amazing, you should realize i don't say it often. this was one fo the few "holy shit" movies i've seen in years. if you hate noir, or a lot of talk, don't rent it. if you like both, then do, but watch it with the subtitles. the dialogue is too good to miss. i'm telling you, watching that movie was amazing. when i can't knit a movie is so engrossing, then you know it's good. i was completely sucked in, in the most wonderful way.

also, i sucessfully painted my toenails red, worked on more of my freddy sleeves, and make the cat supremely annoyed when i taunted her with my knitting needles. you might think i live a boring live, but ahem, i don't.

(the title goes here)

progress on my sweater is slow and steady. actually, it's sort of more like 45 miles per hour since i'm using big needles and a chubby yarn. i'm almost done with my first sleeve, and i did get the front (or back) done. it might end up being either, since you work both the same way. i love the red and black together, although last night i realized i'm making a sweater with freddy krueger's sleeves. dammit. i wonder if i'll ever be able to look at it or wear it without thinking of him?

my shoes showed up. like most pairs of converse i own now, they are a little too big. i hate the lack of half-sizes! they used to be a lot easier to find in cons. they are extra cute though, and i can't wait to wear them everywhere.

i'm going up to breckenridge this weekend. i actually got sunday and monday off, so tomorrow night after work i'll drive up and meet my roommates. i haven't been into the mountains really since i drove through them with dave. it will be a fun little trip. i should be packing for it now, though, since i work early tomorrow so i could get out of town at a reasonable time. (girly note: today while out running errands i found the absolute cutest top on earth. it's both kind of slutty and perfectly reasonable, and it makes me look hot with two T's. watch out boys of colorado, i might be fiesty this weekend.)

hmmm...i have a million things i want to tell you but there are a million things here i need to be doing. when i get home monday i'll fill you in on all the gory details. topics may or may not include; actually getting hired at work, baby cutting her first tooth, re-discovering dr. katz, being able to wear a size L now rather than XL, that funky cramp in my hand and my efforts to thwart it, kvetching about moving home and how fall in colorado really is ridiculously lovely. the air's been all crisp and delicious, the rain is coming back, and the kitten and i are spending ridiculous amount of time on the couch drinking tea. well, i drink the tea while she just sheds all over me. good times.