Dreaming Again (Weird#12)

It was night in Paris, right out of a 40's movie, all dark shadows and kinda grainy looking. I was waiting at a restaurant for my contact when two people from my previous office came in. They didn't recognize me but I helped them get a table - since I spoke better French than they did. Then I went back to my little apartment which was over the restaurant and Tarzan was there, wanting to "get it on," if you know what I mean...but we kept getting interrupted by noises in the street and FBI-type guys coming to search the pad. The last time they came it was apparent they were going to find whatever we had so we had to feed it to the fish - who were HUGE - and then we escaped in a little tiny convertible clown car and the fish were flying over my head (since Tarzan was up there with them) and they had to spit out the little black rectangles (about the size of a scientific calculator) into my lap as I was driving. I closed my eyes every time one came down since it was dark and they were all slimy and every time it hit me in the lap and slithered down my leg onto the floor of the car. I woke up when we (because Tarzan was back in the car with me now) got "away" to wherever it was and we were carrying all the gross items. There was a little bit more after that, but it's not fit for public consumption. :D And then I woke up with Sugarland's "Settlin" running through my head.

This is me wondering why I bother to think up new names for my dream posts. They should just be "WEIRD" In fact I think I will. There.

Completely Obssessed

This is completely off the originally intended topic, but OMG! the people one sees in the grocery store. I have said it before and I will reiterate it for those who didn't listen last time. Low-slung jeans with a cropped top do not a good combo make. Even if you are a size 0 - how many of us are? (well maybe Reva is...check out her at Christmas, this is after just having a kid) - but even if you are, jeans that sit on the hips and shirts that end at the belly button make you look like you are sporting a few extra pounds at the midsection. And then if your tum-tum hasn't seen the light of day for about 4 years and is all pasty white with blue lines - I don't want to see it bulging out over too low jeans especially while I am shopping for food!! After spending precious moments getting that image out of my brain I walk to the check-out line and some chick is bent over her baby showing me half her bare back and half her butt which is enclosed in a nasty black thong! People! What you wear at home is your own business but in the grocery store? Ew, ew, ew, ew, EW!!
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Perhaps it's just me, but when I find something I like I need to know ALL about it. Take 'Wicked' - having heard one song on a mixed CD, I looked it up on the Internet (wish I'd bought Google stock a few years ago) and liking all the clips from the songs, I ordered the soundtrack. Loving the soundtrack meant I needed to see the show. After seeing the show once I wanted to see it again. After seeing the show the second time I needed to find out about the performers (the second cast was not exactly the same set as the first) so I Googled the ones I had seen perform and the original Broadway cast to see what kind of people they are. AND I bought tickets for a third show. By the time the third show rolled around (it was almost a year later) the cast had changed completely because of contract renewals so there were more performers to Google and I needed to find out where the previous players had gone. (Some back to Broadway or other sit-down productions, some to other shows: Stephanie how could you? I bought tickets 6 months in advance, stayed on hold for 4 hours just to see you again and you didn't renew...) To date I have seen the show five times, and have tickets for two more performances this year. If that were my only obsession you wouldn't think I was SO very strange but from 'Wicked-mania' other devotions have sprouted. I try and stay current with actresses Stephanie J. Block, Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel. I have seen and want to see other things with them because I saw them in 'Wicked'. (Will The Pirate Queen come to The Jungle? Please say yes, please! I don't know where it would play as the Pantages is taken up with Wicked for the foreseeable future...Dorothy Chandler Pavilion perhaps? We'll build a new theater if necessary!)
The same mentality holds for TV shows - maybe to a slightly lesser degree - if you remember earlier this year I noted all the TV I watch. I have started watching a number of shows because an actor from another series was in it. When I find an actor I like: hellloooo IMDB and then I have to find everything that they have done. (Can anyone say Jason Carter?) And yet, with a seemingly unrelated list of shows there are a lot of actors that play on the same shows. Olivia Wilde (who was Alex on The O.C.) now stars on The Black Donallys. What is my point in telling you all of this?..I don't remember...Something about watching TV and me being obsessed with Dancing With The Stars and the injustice of the world that allowed Paulina to be the first one eliminated. Grr. Also that the new format certainly has changed the outcome. First, the recap episode was a brilliant idea, because with a second look I revised my opinion of some of the dancers. Also two dances per gives me a better idea of their all around talents. Last season, with only one dance per couple, it would have been Leeza or Billy Ray for certain going home (not that either one will win), but Billy Ray has improved a lot, Shandi's got worse and Paulina's mambo was not as graceful and elegant as her foxtrot was. She and Alec were cute though, and why couldn't it have been Shandi that got booted? She sure looked nervous.

This is me obsessed.

Are They Kidding?

Let me be the first to say that *I KNOW* reality TV is not all that real, and those that judge these things are not fair and unbiased - HOWEVER - did anyone else notice how Leeza got scored for it being her 50th birthday and not for her slow and stiff Mambo? I mean, really judges? Compare Leeza and Laila and the former SOOOOOOOO did not deserve the marks she got. Heck, compare Leeza and Heather and the former did not deserve the marks she got. Bruno, OMG! it was not fast and it was not hot and she did not move her feet! All necessary elements for the Mambo. Tsk tsk, I expected so much more from her. Clyde is adorable - I want him to be my grandfather. It's a pity his partner is so short. He should really be dancing with Kym. Heather was impressive. I wondered how they would deal with the typically barely there outfits that inundate Latin dance but she pulled it off. I think I mistook her English reservation for nervousness last week. She could hang in there for a bit. John may be the dark horse and Sam said. He's good. Better shape than Jerry and George (did you know George was hot when he was young?) and not hampered by injury. Billy Ray gets points for most improved - a LOT improved - so he might last another week. If my votes mean anything, either him or Shandi is going home tonight. Shandi is really pretty but she doesn't seem to be mentally there when she dances and her partner is REALLY creeping me out now. (How can he smile so much and not poke his chin through the skin? And his eyebrows are really plucked weird.) I predict Ian (Does he really look like an I-an? He's Ee-an) and Joey will likely be second and third with Apolo and Paulina close behind. And if there is any justice in the world, Laila is going to win it all. The chick has everything and she's not conceited or ditsy.
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In other news...I need a vacation. How many weeks until May? It is such a long time from New Year's to Memorial Day. I miss Spring Break. I never realized what my parents meant about working when I was a kid. I thought working would be great - making money and all that. Young and stupid as I was, I didn't appreciate vacations and the freedom of school. Bleaaagh. There's so much that needs to be done around the house too. With all this light we have after work now I can see that the trim needs to be repainted, the yard needs to be cleaned up and the bushes shaped and new chips put down. I totally need to clean out my closet and throw out old clothes. I need new running shoes. I really ought to wash the windows and get the carpets cleaned. Can the world just pause while I get my life together and when I'm caught up we can go again?

This is me today.

Sleeping (Weird#11)

I'm dreaming that I'm in a school. Sort of a mix of college and high school. All the classes are in the same building, but there was a 7-11 in the school. We were warming up to get on the treadmills by running and doing calisthenics in the basement of the school. I distinctly remember not having a partner for the sit-ups and being half a count behind everyone else. The coach was Pete Carroll. On our way from the basement to the treadmills we stopped at the 7-11 (this is how I know there was one) and I opened a loaf of bread to eat a tiny corner of one piece, then we had to go and the line was too long so I put the loaf back together over by the freezer section - it must have been Orowheat because of the plastic wrapper in the bag - the piece was whole again and I put it back on the shelf. Then we ran up to the roof which was like a stadium with a large net over the top and we were alternately running and swimming, though no one got wet or got in a pool, and there were no treadmills but that was why we went to the roof...

That was when Tarzan's alarm woke me up.

This is me dreaming again.

T.G.I.F...I guess

Thank goodness. I've been a total slacker about posting because frankly, who needs to hear yet another rant against MC? How many times can I scream that he's SO annoying and as soon as the office remodel is done I am so getting another seat? I've put in a request with everyone in the place almost. I wonder if I take his name in vain every five minutes or so he'll get the point? Gahhhhh! It's a good thing the drywall goes up this weekend and in three weeks +/- I won't have to sit near him. So. No complaining about MC today. :) (No complaining about stupid clients that require things in half the time they promised and that time was half of what was originally said either!)

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Last night Tarzan and I went to see a production of 'High School Musical' that his cousin's daughter was in. She's 10 and very precocious and very theatrical. She's part of a youth group called YADA in The Upper Jungle and we've been to a couple of her shows. It's a small theater and the kids are so very enthusiastic. It's awesome. So that was fun and I got to see Tarzan too, which is a plus these days. He's got school, baseball, his classes for credential and church youth stuff and blackjack, and after work and cubs scouts and Primary activities for me we don't see each other very often it seems like. The weekend seems to be chock full already too. Tarzan is bowling with the youth tonight and I have a baptism and a birthday party tomorrow. He's got a game in the pm and then it's Sunday and meetings up the wazoo.

This is me wondering what relaxation is. :)

Recap

I tried to get to work early yesterday to work on the plans that needed to be finished, copied (15 sets), date stamped and folded and delivered by noon. Not to be. The life insurance people came at 7am to take blood and stuff for Tarzan and my policies. We were told about 15 minutes each. Apparently we heard wrong as it took about 40 minutes each! I was SO late to work. The funny bit was that I pulled into the parking garage right behind my boss but I parked (third floor, he likes the second) and made it into the office before him AND without him seeing me do so. We submitted, not by noon, but it turned out okay. JOC can charm the Planning Department when he wants to. The afternoon was spent downtown at one of the multi-family apartment buildings we are building creating the punch list. (The list of things that still need to be done to an apartment before tenants can move in...touch up paint, install shelves in closet, that sort of thing.) It's actually kind of fun, and it was good to be out of the office for a bit. (I told MC that if he had to say something could he NOT take the name of the Lord in vain and choose something else. He said he'd try, and that lasted about an hour)

And then it was home to watch Dancing With The Stars!! Two hours long and it was good. As has been said by others before now, there wasn't a clear front runner, which (IMHO) is a better way to begin.

1. Laila Ali was beautiful. She's a girl I could get behind to win. (and there haven't many (well any) of them in previous seasons) Why did Maxim cut his hair?
2. Billy Ray needs to take the competition seriously, or he needs to get eliminated next week.
3. Clyde was cute to watch, (it was probably nervousness as the judges said) like he was just jiving in the backyard with friends. SOOO smooth, it's no wonder he got the nickname "Clyde the Glide."
4. Joey was good - enthusiastic and not too nervous which is common on the first night.
5. Shandi did well, certainly smiled a whole freakin' lot. Her partner give me the creeps though.
6. Leeza was a disappointment. I expected much more grace and a lot more confidence from her.
7. Heather was okay. What with all the hype I'm sure people have hashed her dance to death, but it wasn't bad. The question will be if she can progress or if the prosthesis will hold her back - she commented that she doesn't always know how it will behave in a given situation.
8. Apolo didn't do poorly. (He may have to choose at some point between speed skating and dancing since the show is live and I doubt they will reschedule a race just for him.) I have reservations about his partner though...can an 18 year old really teach anyone anything, no matter how talented they are themselves? (and she is talented)
9. Paulina has great potential, she's relaxed and able to learn, it'll just take time. I don't know how Alec will be as a teacher.
10. John (aka 'Cliff') was a lot better than either Jerry Springer or George initially. He's more shy than either of them though which may be to his detriment. Edyta is sweet, and not judgemental so that's to the good.
11. Ian was classic. He's got potential and a great partner (The judges also noted how Cheryl lucks out with partners, so it's not just me!) and he's young and willing.

It's shaping up to be a good competition. I'm betting on Laila or Paulina to win right now.

This is me watching.

Indecent Proposals

Speaking of getting propositioned by architects...The whole office was at lunch today for a birthday of the newest guy and the subject of the celebration was asking about my experience with computers. One of the other architects said in a couple of years he's going to marry me. (I guess to help him out with the computers - I tend to be the one they ask if they need help.) I asked him what his wife would think and he said "Oh, she'd be fine with it, after all you're Mormon. Don't know what we'd do with [Tarzan] though, I guess he could come too."...Wow. So. Much. Wrong. With. That. Statement. He didn't mean it in a nasty way, in fact he's a cute old guy and really nice, so all I could do was laugh.
Then the other day someone was asking about St. Patrick's Day and I mentioned that since it's on Saturday this year we don't have to worry about wearing green or getting pinched at the office, and one of the old(er) guys said "[Jane], you'll always get pinched..." Um, thanks?
Such a strange profession that I picked to be a part of. I wonder what I was thinking? And then I wonder, would I really like another career better? (Other than mother of course - that's a WHOLE different story) Would I rather work in an office with more chicks? No, probably not...Cogent says I'm a misogynist but I don't think I HATE other women. I love my mom, my sisters and my mother and sisters-in-law. I just don't understand most chicks and how and/or why they behave the way they do. (For instance: I call them "chicks.") While I've had one best girl friend at a time, I've never have a female posse. Maybe because I have so many sisters I've never felt the need for one...
In any case there are few professions I would be comfortable in I think, and so even though I gripe and moan about architecture, this might be the best place for me after all. Familiarity breeds contempt and all that.

This is me getting teased.

Manners? Never heard of 'em.

Returning to my desk from the restroom I find MC's big, smelly feet in his hippie-all natural clogs propped on my chair. Suddenly the clouds parted and I was struck with the comprehension of why my seat often has weird streaks and marks on the seat and why my arm rests are not where I left them the night before. As soon as the office expansion is completed I am putting in for a transfer of seating location...First the cursing and then the profanity, the snide comments, the insincere/sarcastic apologies and now he puts his feet on my chair! Gaaaaaaah. Of course he hurriedly sat up when we saw me coming, but really. How much do you want to wager he doesn't let people put their feet on the seats in his precious little Honda or on the sofa in his apartment? How much do you want to bet he would be outraged if he saw MY feet on HIS chair? I ought to do it just to see... Blaaaargh. I try to be a tolerant individual I do, I really do, but what is it about this guy that makes me want to run screaming from the office and never come back?

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Okay. On to happy thoughts...Rocketgirl's back!! She's in the USA and with only three hours difference (instead of 6!) in the time zones AND a phone that receives, I can call her! (Provided the aforementioned phone works...) Plus, eight weeks from today we go to Denver!

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What's with TV lately? All the shows are repeating...and where is Studio 60? Have you not been watching like I told you to? So disappointed people, so disappointed. Dancing With The Stars starts next Monday! Yay!

This is me requesting a new seat assignment.

Jungle Living - Part 4

Under normal circumstances I would wait until tomorrow to post again because then I can spread the interesting-ness around. But one can hardly classify these circumstances as normal!!

• 11. Edward James Olmos (of Battlestar Galactica, Zoot Suit, and Stand & Deliver fame) is eating breakfast NEXT DOOR!!! Right at this very minute!! Fortunately there was reason enough for me to take a large item outside and dump it in the city garbage can so I could oh so casually glance over and see them. (He's eating with some dude I don't know.)
• 8c. Gah!! I forgot to mention that I saw Constance Zimmer when the TV show In Justice was filming on our street. She sat in a chair right outside the office front window to get her hair and make-up touched up.

This is me seeing Admiral Adama NEXT DOOR!

Again With The Weird(#10)

Don't you hate it when you dream something and it's so real that you have residual feelings when you wake up? So disturbing. So hard to shake it off even now.

We were at my parent's house (not a house I have ever been in before) and all but two of my siblings were there, though none of the spouses except Tarzan who was out in the fields working or something. (Did I say it made sense?) I was helping out in the...kitchen I suppose it was. The entire house was white, everything was white except the wall hangings, pictures and stuff, but the furniture and the cabinets and the floor coverings were white. Not glaring white but white. (Why that was necessary to establish in my dream I know not.) The pictures were the pictures in the frames I spent all last weekend hanging in my real life living room. I left the dream living room to go somewhere else, the bedroom maybe, through this weird process of stepping over a really high threshold, like two feet high, and opening a face framed door. When I came back a few moments later via the same process, all the pictures had been changed, they were larger and a lot were of the family but without me or any of the married siblings. There were some of people I had never heard of but were told they were great aunts and uncles and many times great grandparents. There were also a lot of pictures of stills from TV old shows. My dad told me that "my" arrangement hadn't been diverse enough and they wanted more of the nuclear family and of the extended relatives. Rather than let is go, I got all upset and we started arguing over why my graduation picture wasn't more important than "Bewitched" or "The Three Stooges" or something. This continued for a long while with me getting mad and shouting and my dad being very logical and calm, but refusing to concede a point or a picture. I woke up in the middle of a very heated tirade on my part and I still feel anxious somehow over it.

Why can't I just dream of flying like everyone else?

This is me trying to let go.

Baby "R"

And here are the pictures of the newest addition to the family. I give you Baby "R":With mommy and big brother J:Proud papa (that's my younger brother for anyone trying to construct a family tree):BABY!! Oh, sssshh...baby {sayeth Little J to his grandma when she called}:

This is me wanting to be two places at once! (And having to be at work instead.)

Everywhere I Go These Days

Babies are busting out all over! Got a call at 2am that my sister in law in Middleton had her baby - a little girl - at 11:50pm on Friday, March 9th, 8lbs. 8ozs and everyone is doing fine. Interesting about the date; this gives the first granddaughter - and our first neice - the same birthday as my third sister. (The one that lives with me and Tarzan while she's going to school.) I'm surprised you didn't hear her when I told her the news this morning! :)
---->"With all the other days in the month wide open and all the other free months of the year we really don't have to start doubling up yet do we?"<--- sayeth she. Heh. It's true, I wonder what was going on last June? ;) Or why some months are just inundated and others have nary a celebration at all? January is swamped, June is outrageous, March is becoming cramped and yet, July through September we got nothin'. Timing is everything peeps!

This is me Aunt for the second time in two weeks!

"Squishy" Jr.

It's official: "Squishy" Junior is here. Good thing too, since the poor wee boy is a whole nine days old at this point! :) I didn't deprive you of pictures this week out of sheer spite, I was waiting for baby nephew pictures and here they are! So cute. His mother says he's an "angel" and who can deny it looking at this: And speaking of mom, check her out after just giving birth! We should all look so good everyday.

Too early for a father-son outing?:

At home with Grandma and Grandpa:

This is me wanting to go to The Other Side Of The World RIGHT NOW!!

Age Issues

Heh, I just got propositioned by a landscape architect. Not that they are better or worse than other architects but it's amusing. He's also 20 years older than me. That seems to be the age group I attract. (Should I be freaked out?) It's not just today, or even just work. Tarzan and I were at a concert one summer in Upper Jungle, his sister was at a violin camp (go here to read her account of the weekend) that played at the festival. Tarzan was dancing with PrincessReva or her friend and I was watching. This (fairly old) guy came over to ask me if I would dance with his shy older(!) brother. It was a foxtrot, no biggie, but he had such a good time he gave me passes to a movie he had worked on (produced or something)...I was flattered naturally but why 70-somethings? Why not 30-somethings? I had another architect tell me I was "older than my years." Great... Is that why I don't get hit on but guys my own age? Not that I'm looking for an adoring public per se, once in a while it might be nice to get a whistle or something.

But whatever. I have Tarzan, who is dealing blackjack these days for charity events and parties, in addition to teaching high school and umpiring Little League baseball. He do keep busy. Heh, why is it that a monkey suit brings out the best in a guy? It's just fancy pants and a bow tie...that must be it, the bow tie because the boy do look gooood in a tuxedo!!

This is me loving the monkey suit.

Late-breaking

Wow. People. The odds are 540,000,000 to 1. There is a teeny, tiny, infinitesimal chance that you maybe, might have won a few bucks in the Mega Lottery. Don't call the office to ask if "we" (by we I mean them) hit the jackpot. Don't be dumb. Just come to work. (I don't play the lottery at all, let alone part of the office pool, which is a constant source of amusement to those that do.)

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OMG. Though he has never met her, the guy that labelled our office manager a "rabid barracuda" is SO totally on the mark. Harpy is another one. I suppose some of it comes from working for her father. (I love my dad dearly, but there is NO way in heck I would work for him.) And then there is the insecurity that defines her life which requires she repeat herself 10 times to all parties in the vicinity. Just let it go chick. (Is it hypocritical to say she's judgemental?) Makes for a stressful working environment though. Jeepers.

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Oh dear. I just found out that one of superintendents for a project out in Santa Paula had a heart attack and died two months ago. (Isn't that the sort of thing one would tell the architect?) It's really sad. First because he wasn't that old. But also because he was a nice guy. (This is rarer than you realize in the constuction world.) He was really funny and friendly too. He called me "honey," "sweetie," "darling," "Lizzy-wizzy," "Lulu-belle," "Little bird," and a myriad of others, but not in a condescending way. And he really tried to not curse and swear when he talked to me. (That's a lot more than can be said for any of our clients OR the guys in the office, especially MC.) Rest in peace Carl. I will miss you.

This is me with the office news.

Why, why, why?

This is going to sound really dumb, but I lost my swimsuit. It's not like I NEED it right now or anything but I was mentally packing to go to The Rockies (yes I know it's still 2 MONTHS away) and I realized I hadn't seen it since we went to Mexico last November. Normally this would not be a cause for concern. You wouldn't think it to look at my house (my desk, my closet or my car) but I am organized. (I AM!) I know where stuff is and I can pull it out when I need it. So I went to my dresser to find my suit. And it wasn't where I was sure I had put it. So I emptied the drawer. Not in there. Emptied the two adjacent drawers...nothing. Now I was getting worried. Perhaps you think I am getting awfully worked up over a silly swimsuit that I won't even use for two months, but you don't understand! This was a good suit. It was brand new since we bought it on our cruise and I LOOK HOT IN IT!! This is not a usual occurrence. Seriously. My body is not made for spandex - it's a truth universally acknowledged. But this suit was awesome. Nothing fancy, nothing gross, just plain black with a aquamarine stripey pattern on the bust. It totally worked for me though!! And now I can't find it. I looked in the suitcases, I looked in the closet (even though I would NEVER put it in there), under the bed, in the laundry room, behind the dryer (found 3 socks). Where else is there? I'm nearly positive that it couldn't have been left in Swampland because the sad part is it never even got wet. We lounged in the sun on vacation but didn't really swim, so I hadn't even christened it (meaning I didn't have to hang it in the bathroom to dry anywhere), and now it's lost. *sniff* I really liked that swimsuit. Tarzan says to just buy another but I don't think I will ever find one I liked as much as that one. Plus I REALLY HATE to lose stuff. I feel stupid. And what if I do buy another and then I find it? Then I'll feel REALLY stupid. And I don't swim often enough to justify two swimsuits anyway.

This is me looking.

Every Day

Do my eyes deceive me? Did I really post every day last week? Why yes, yes I did. I'm so proud of me. It feels good that I have enough stuff, in a life I often consider uneventful, to write a decent entry for five days in a row. And also proud that I remembered to do it. I hate the feeling of forgetting to do stuff. Procrastination is com-PLETE-ly different. Then I know what it is I'm not doing. :)
The weekend was productive, if not exciting. Roto-Rooter came to unclog the kitchen sink (does it really make sense to have the garbage disposal in the sink if it's not going to grind stuff small enough to go down the drain?) The appraiser came by to take pictures for the refinancing. I got the bushes in the front yard trimmed FINALLY so they aren't like some dark monster stretching out to eat people in the street. It also gave the orange tree some room to breathe. I did the dishes, the laundry, dusted, hauled out all the pictures that we have collected, framed and hung them all, and worked on my moonlighting projects. (This was all by 2:00pm) Then I got groceries and cat food and had time to make dinner in a timely fashion (before 7:00 as is the norm during the week.) Watched Dance With Me (the 1998 version, who knew there were four movies with the same name?) which had a surprising amount of dancing in it. Even if you don't like the plot, you have to give Vanessa Williams credit for the amount of time and effort she had to put in to learning professional style Ballroom and Latin dance. It's tough stuff.
Sunday was special in that we had a large conference for the congregations of our church in the area. It's not a "day off" of church so to speak, because we still go and listen and learn but *I* didn't have to prepare or teach anything and that's rare for me these days. So even church was relaxing. No meetings and/or firesides that evening so we totally vegged out in the afternoon, read, slept. Got to go to bed early even, so I got to work on time today - major miracle. I hope the rest of the week can be as good.

This is me gearing up.

Big Relief

So, I'm not dying after all. :) Apparently I had some food stuck way down in my esophagus because I'm not chewing as thoroughly with this new crown. (It's true, I can't grind as finely as I did before. I think I need to go back to the dentist and see if they can file it down a bit more.) WAY more than you wanted to know right? I am SUCH a hypochondriac.
Friday again...each day crawls and the weeks seem endless but here we are in March with 9 months, 4 weeks and 1 day to go. It's passing...though not nearly fast enough. I suppose come next December it will feel it's gone by quick. It'll be okay, there are tons of things to look forward to before then. Like next weekend we're going out to my parent's house in The Desert for one of my sister's birthdays. Then there's Daylight Saving Time. Most people don't like turning the clocks ahead in the spring but I do because then the sun is still up when I finally get to leave work. There's Easter. And then there's May. May is going to be such a party month this year. First Tarzan and I get to go hang in The Rockies with all his siblings and spouses. There'll be fun galore going on. Sushi parties and an evening out to see Wicked, babies to spoil and alpine sliding, go-karts and the hot tub. So, so, SO excited for that long weekend. Then the very next weekend I get to go to Middleton for the graduation of one of my dearest friends. He was at USC for a time, then a Big Apple dot com mogul, then he lived in Steelville (close to Falling Water which I got to visit in person - it was spectacular!) and then a student again at St. John's College in Middleton. Well he's done and I think the original 'Four' will meet up with the additional 'Two' to become the 'Six' and we'll be together again for the first time in probably ten years. Again, we see each other in parts fairly frequently but never as the total organism. (Plus, I get to stop and see my brother and his family in Albuquerque.) And by the time all that is over with it'll be 6 months and change.

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I don't understand people that don't like animals. One doesn't have to snorgle them, have parties and dress them up, or even own one to appreciate that pictures like this are adorable. (Or this, this, this and this.) But Tarzan doesn't like animals. For him, an animal is a snack. This is a point on which we can not agree. I suppose it runs in his family. My family has always had pets. Mostly cats, but I love all animals. They're so cute when they're babies and there's the whole looking-after-them-responsibility thing I philosophized on when Barbaro died. Part of Tarzan's dislike comes from the fact that I bleed when one of our five cats scratches me. (Yes, we have 5 cats. Three are strictly outdoor cats and the other two are small. Runts of the litter I suspect. But I digress...)I love him for caring so much for me. But what then would possess the man to shriek at the cat WHEN I AM HOLDING HER? Gah. Now my right arm is a mass of red marks and scabs. Doesn't hurt anymore, but it's a little unnerving for clients when they shake my hand. I can see their tiny minds wondering what I do in my off hours.

This is me no longer hurting.

I'm sure there's more

Maybe I'm naive - well, I AM naive - but it seems awfully hypocritical to complain and berate developers who are building tract homes too close together and too close to their friend's house when all we build are crappy homes too close to other people. When it's our project that might be shut down or threatened then we're all over the city council to let us build "sorely needed" living spaces for old or poor people, darn the consequences, the view and the neighbors. BUT when it's our friends who's view will be impeded, and not our client building the houses then it's a crime and they're so right to complain to the city and get lawyers and all the rest of it. (By "we" I mean the office. The boss has been after me to stop saying "I" and "me" when referring to office projects. I see his point but it seems weird to say "We'll get back to you after we show [the boss] the sketch" when it's just me doing the showing and the emailing.) Just one more thing I don't understand about people in this profession.

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I wonder if I have pneumonia. There's this feeling in my chest, like when you have a cold and have to cough, but I don't have a cold and when I cough nothing happens. Looking it up on WebMD suggests I have heartburn or coronary artery disease. Hmmm.

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Loving this blog. I started with the beginning, so I'm still back in 2001. Hopefully it turns out okay! :) Thanks Girl for introducing us.

This is me on Thursday.