Ok, ok....

So yes, I haven't written in...months? Weeks? Does anyone even remember now? Things everywhere got busy and I just...didn't want to write. Plus, when work has sort of taken over your life, it's hard to write about anything else. And I don't want to do that here.

I'm currently in Vegas, but getting comments from roomie #1 and roomie #2 cajoled me into writing. I'm not quitting the blog. I clearly took a little, indefinite length vacation there, but I'll be back.

Maybe I'll muster up the words to talk about this trip at some point. But right now, I'm going to go do some work. Working from Vegas...

In the short term, you can always join the flock and follow me on twitter...

Open...

I seem to have lost the power and will to blog. I wrote a "post" yesterday, looked at it and decided never to publish it; complete crap.

Some stuff has happened:

• I graduated. I will never complain about school again.
• I got my tongue untied. I am currently learning how to work it and at the same time, mourning the loss of my "stupid human trick". My former "butt tongue" now just looks all wonky. Sad, sad.
• I sold my car. I believe I drove it for the last time to/from my graduation. I think I should be sad...but I'm not. I'm honestly more excited about trying out the whole zipcar thing (driving a different car every trip? Not paying for gas/insurance/parking? Who wouldn't love that?).

And of course, stuff is currently happening. I would love to be able to talk about work here. But I won't. I'm so buried in it at this time that it's hard to think about anything else.

I promise to try here though...

Mosaic meme...

Meme stolen from Life in the Pink

Answer these questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name.

The instructions to create the mosaic are:

* Type your answers to each of the questions below into Flickr Search
* Using only the first page, pick an image
* Copy and paste each of the URLs into the mosaic maker

Letter...

Dear Obama,

I love you.

Love,
Katie


Dear Hillary,

Please stop. You will not be in the white house (or allowed near it). And not conceding? Is just hurting your tiny, tiny chance of getting in on Obama's coattails.

Katie

PS to you all - election night party, my place, featuring a cake like this or maybe this, entrance fee = proof of voting (even if not for Obama)

In which I am a tight wad...

I am currently watching 'how it's made' and they're making a harp. It's amazingly interesting.

It just now came to my attention that I've suddenly become frugal (or if you listen to some family members, more frugal than they think I was). A tight wad if you will. I'm trying my damnedest to get out of the apartment and into a condo and it suddenly makes sense to bum a free vacation and sell my car. Maybe it always would have made sense. Maybe. But I think the whole striving for real estate is making me pinch pennies more (I almost just typed, "making me tighter" and that seemed like a grave error. Still does).

As an aside, 'how it's made' has one of the worst shots/scenes in the history of TV, where whatever is being made glides in front of some bullshit (the background NEVER makes sense) on a little pedestal. It annoys me to no end.

I wrote this whole post because I just found myself almost signing up for zipcar and then deciding that I should wait until the car sale goes through. I admit to being absurdly excited about zipcar. I also am excited about not paying for my parking space or insurance. I will save over $200 a month. That doesn't include what I'll save in gas. I'm so cheap I won't even sign up for zipcar 2 weeks early.

Not open to that...

Dear upstairs neighbor lady,

Having my windows wide open does NOT mean it is OK to walk up to the screen and talk to my cats. Because when I come downstairs from the bathroom, it's sort of startling and mildly scary to have a stranger standing in my window scratching on the screen. Then you ask me wildly awkward questions about my cats and lead me to believe that there might be something a little wrong with you.

And it was the most uncomfortable minute or two of 2008.

Not much love,

Katie

Blankity blank...

Because I really have nothing to write about (which I will blame on my not doing anything but work lately)...here's my latest etsy wishlist (click picture to see listing/etsy shop):

Bobbypins...


Ring...


Clutch (which sold out from under me, sadly. But I still love it, from a pure place, one that knows I can't have it)...


Buttons...


Print...


Token robot items...

A departure...

Hope you all had a lovely long weekend...

In order to get back on this blogging thing, here's a list of things I sometimes kind of want, sometimes don't want at all and sometimes I think I can't be without...

1. Wii. Mainly so that I can get wii fit. But also, Mario Kart. Ok, fine, wii sports too.
   
2. Rock Band. Mostly I think I can't be without it. Then I look around my apartment and think...really? Rock band would force me to move furniture. But I could have an avatar! Or two. Or five. And I could try to sing (I do not have the confidence to sing in front of you for the first time). And my drumming skills would explode.
3. A trip to Vegas.
4. A kitten. Damned if I don't go into the adoption center at Petsmart and get hooked on the troubled kittens every single time. I have a weakness for cats in cages. And calicos exacerbate that. But this one is certainly on the list of things I DEFINITELY do not need.
5. A condo. I always want this.
6. This election to be over already, Hillary to leave in disgrace (and debt) and Obama to eke out a win (or not eke...to kill).
7. About 10 things on etsy every day. That site is killer. Ordered within the last month that I do not need: shirt, ring, earrings, bracelet.
   
8. Work to be less about deadlines and more about the actual work.
   

It never rains...

It's funny, the way the posting on this blog goes in waves. I'll spend weeks being nothing but silly and then I'll hit some valley and suddenly it's negative post, negative post, negative post.

I'm just having one of those days where it starts off swimmingly, I mean, really good. A hilarious story about a white suit and a rib down the back at lunch had me laughing hysterically. Meetings were mostly good. And then bam. Stick in the spokes, I swerve. Now I'm just in that horrible balancing/juggling act of how I handle the next 40 minutes.

I think there are a lot of people, friends included, that don't think I'm entirely human (lack of feeling). And that's my own fault, because I'm so self-contained. If I'm upset, you aren't invited to see. I'll handle it.

So this is me, telling you I'm human. And I'm struggling with how to go to bed without tears.

Recently it's come to my attention that my feelings about loyalty are abnormal. I am loyal to a fault. Probably to my detriment in certain situations (invited to a party by a guy I'd love to see again? No thanks, I already had plans with my friend). And if there is one thing that I'm bound to get angry about it's a situation where I feel like someone was disloyal (the one large fight I can remember having with the bestie was because she backed out on me for a guy. Sure, he's her husband now, but at the time I needed someone to help me move and she could have survived a weekend without seeing him).

I am sure that a lot of this comes from my family. I am fairly close to my extended family on my Dad's side. We always spend holidays together. Christmas Eve has turned into such a big deal that even those with spouses don't do every other year anymore (it was tried by a few and it failed. Pretty miserably). And while this doesn't ring of loyalty so obviously - it is - it's family loyalty. We attend birthday parties, we attend graduations, christenings, baby showers, weddings - we put family first. And I guess that just bleeds into my friendships.

And I just don't think there is enough loyalty around these days...

I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I have been thinking about writing a post like this for more than a week now. And I opened up this blog earlier and just felt wholly uninspired (I think I'm using up all my inspiration on lame things like twitter, wording emails perfectly to play politics and crazy dumbed down CMS capable code). But, here I am. My family is pretty kick ass and I was reminded of that again tonight.

Aha shake...

On Friday I was chastised for not blogging more. So here's some blog for you.

Evidence of my brilliance:

i just broke janets chair! And I'm the drunkest. Asian guy with glasses was hot!

That is a text message that I tried to send to a friend. Apparently there was a "protocol error". So...sorry friend, your request for a drunk text? Unfulfilled.

---

Somehow, no matter if I'm interested or not, I end up watching the Derby every year (usually forced by the sister). I make it a point to root for the gray horse (or one of them) every year. They never, ever win. I found this year a bit hard to take. It makes horse racing seem all the more inhumane to me when a horse breaks both ankles right after placing. And then is shown on TV laying on the track. And then we learn she was euthanised. Horribly depressing.

---

Dear Harmonix,

Please make these songs for Rock Band posthaste:

Taper Jean Girl - Kings of Leon
Heartbreaker - Pat Benatar

More suggestions to come...

Love,

Katie

it's too late...

I feel like I need to post because it's been so long, so here's my terrible effort. I admit to being energized to post this morning and losing that energy as the day wore on and my sneezes got closer together. Now my head and face are tight and I'm not happy. But here's my post:

Most of last summer I wore nothing but skirts and two pairs of longer shorts. I just had a 10 line IM conversation with my sister about what I should call the shorts. Answer? Not culotte (I was misinformed). Bermuda shorts. And if you're curious, you should wikipedia "shorts". Back to the point. I wore shorts and skirts. I loved the skirts especially and so decided that this year I wanted to branch out into dresses. And let me tell you, the sun dress hunt has been amazingly difficult. I saw one million. Tried on twenty. And bought two (pictures at end of post). That's a bit sad, yes? I guess I'm starting my dress campaign small.

The last part of the campaign was to find the right shoes. And honestly, I wrote this whole boring post just so I could tell you how much I love these shoes. They kick ass (we'll see about comfort, but I think they'll fail there). Expect to see a lot of these shoes:

The weird appointments continue...

There was Wednesday's appointment, where I discussed shaving my head with my hair stylist (conclusion: I have the head for it. Do I have the balls?). At that appointment my head was not only felt like a melon (squeezed and fondled) but laser eyed by the stylist next to me.

Then today...at my gynecologist...the walls in the exam rooms were thin and I heard a fairly interesting conversation next door (while in my "all together"). My doctor was in there with a patient (I have been to that doctor quite a bit and could recognize her voice through any wall). I only was able to hear snippets, but it all started with my gynecologist saying: I understand that you're upset with me.

I heard other random pieces that I can't remember at the moment and it all ended up with my doc telling this girl that she would recommend other doctors. Somewhere in the middle I became fairly convinced that it was a pregnancy revelation gone awry that was likely ending in abortion doctor recommendations. Either that or a cancer revelation that was poorly handled.

And I saw the girl in the elevator bank afterwards (I can only guess it was her...she went in before me and looked like she had been crying). And I felt awkward.

The walls should really be thicker at the gynecologist.

That will be all in appointment weirdness for months and months...

Today's appointment that ended weirdly...

Dentist: You're entertaining. I hope you get 100 cavities and are here all the time.
Me: Please no.
Dentist: Yes. 100 cavities. (pulls ponytail. touches shoulder)
Me: (giggles. kicks him in the shin)

Obviously none of those actions happened (but the conversation is word for word...and there was a shoulder touch). But if I had a ponytail, he would have pulled it. And I felt like giggling and fake punching him or something. Ah, school girl crush...makes the day (and the tooth work) that much brighter.

We also chatted about the amazing tongue attachment I have. And how he had his cut (just typed cute...freudian slip) while he was in dental school. And, don't I hate being tongue tied?

Whenever I talk about the tongue thing with my mom, this is the conversation we have:
Mom: I thought your sister was the one that was tongue tied.
Me: Nope. Definitely me.
Mom: No, it was your sister. As a kid. Definitely your sister.
Me: Mom! Look at my tongue. It was me. How can you even argue it?
Mom: No. Your tongue is clearly stunted, but it was her.
Me: !

But I digress. I do hate being tongue tied. While it has provided me with extra control over my tongue muscles thus giving me a "stupid human trick", it is also maddening.

So now I decide whether or not to contact a periodontist and go through this whole painful thing, just so my tongue is more useful. Plus, it costs a lot of money. Maybe my "economic stimulus" money....

In which I am asked to save the world...

Today I was asked to be a hero and save the world. Or be totally irrelevant and, in the act, risk possible neurological issues. These two conclusions come from the same action.

At the dermatologist (I go yearly, mostly because melanoma hates my family) I was "approached" by my doctor to participate in one of her colleagues' vaccine trials. They are testing a vaccine for small pox. And while you may be saying to yourself "small pox was eradicated", you, my friend, are wrong. Because, geniuses that we are, there are two specimens of the virus in the world. One in the US and one in GB (and something about Russia? Her story meandered). It's clearly not fool proof storage because at one point the virus "escaped" and killed someone in GB. The government and scientists are trying to "head off" any possible biological warfare in case the virus is stolen. Because it could be leaked and kill boatloads of people. Doesn't that sound like it's sort of possible someone already stole it? It all boils down to terrorism and biological warfare.

So, why approach me about the drug trial? Because it's entirely likely that I have eczema. And people with eczema? Not supposed to have the vaccine because bad things can happen. So while you all are being saved from biological weapons, I will likely die because my skin is not good. True story. Wikipedia it.

In the end, it sort of comes down to...do I think it's necessary to participate and save the world (and self, since I'll be vaccinated), risking ruined skin and possible brain injury? Or do I think that small pox will not be stolen/used against the US therefore making the brain injury/ruined skin a stupid, unnecessary risk?

Self vs. community. I'll get more info down the line, when the trial passes some ethics commission, but I don't think it's out of character for me to say - fuck that, let small pox kill you all.