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NaBloPoMo starts this Saturday, and once again I'm going to participate. The idea is to post at least once a day for the entire month of November. I did it last year, and I'm going to try and do it again this year. Part of the reason that I've not been posting so much in the last couple weeks is that I've been saving my ideas for this challenge. While I have a few ideas saved up so far, I don't have anywhere near enough stuff to write about to last me an entire month. So, while unashamedly swiping the idea from another blogger, I'm going to ask you for questions I can respond to over the course of the next month. Or if you don't have a specific question, perhaps you have a topic that interests you, and you'd like to hear my opinion on it. Or maybe you couldn't care less about my opinion, but you just want to get a nice fuzzy warm feeling from helping me out. I'm not picky about your motives, I just want your help! You can leave your question in the comments, or e-mail me directly (thedenora (at) gmail (dot) com).
Any and all help is appreciated!
We spent the weekend in Arizona, and I swear every time I go out there I’m ready to pull up stakes and move. It’s so gorgeous and the people are so nice. Yeah it can get pretty damn hot, but it’s not a huge difference from California. And the housing prices are just amazing. I can buy an 1800 sqft house in AZ for nearly a third of what I pay for my 900 sqft apartment in CA. Remind me again why I shouldn’t move?
We went out there to watch my friend Duke play baseball again this year. Like last year, the team was… not so good. And like last year, it was a lot of fun. This year they got to play a game in Tempe Diablo Stadium, which is the spring training facility of the Anaheim Angels (I won’t call them the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. I just won’t). The only thing greater, in my Angel-obsessed opinion, would be if they got to play at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. Even still, this was pretty damn cool. They had a 9am game on the Angels practice fields, and then the 8pm game was in the stadium. That leaves a whole lot of hours to kill in between. Donald and I hit up the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch, and then spent the next several hours driving around Tempe. We found the biggest Bed Bath & Beyond I’ve ever seen, and miracle of all miracles, I was able to walk out with only one item. Tempe is a lovely city, and even when we got a bit lost driving through it, we had a good time together. The night game at the stadium was great. It was a little colder than I’d prefer, but nothing terrible. Duke’s team got spanked, but I got some great pictures of them, as well as some awesome pictures of the stadium itself (I learned how to take great pictures at night. Yay me!).
We stayed with my friends Tony & Kerry & Jenn, and since they all had to work Saturday, we killed time by driving around the city and casually looking at houses. When we got back, the 5 of us went to a great steak dinner at Firebirds, and then out to the greatest bar/club I’ve ever been to, called Graham Central Station. It had a huge dance floor in the main room that was mostly for line dancing and two stepping. The music was mostly country, with a couple of R&B/Hip-Hop songs mixed in occasionally. In that same room were 6 pool tables, 4 bars, and a mechanical bull. (I did not ride the bull on this trip, but I think I’m going to try it next time!) Off of the main room on one side was a room called South Beach that had R&B and Hip Hop music continually, 2 bars, and also had cages for dancers. On the other side of the main room was a room called Carnival, that had a very eclectic mix of Pop, Rock, and Hip Hop. Between South Beach and Carnival was a Karaoke bar that actually employed 4 people to be constant backup singers to whatever poor drunk soul was attempting to sing. I loved the variety of it all, and the way it was laid out. The speakers in each room were set up so the music didn’t “leak” from room to room, despite the wide open doorways. If you didn’t like the song in the room you were in, it was incredibly easy to go somewhere else. Not like at a regular club where there’s only one option. My favorite part of the place, aside from the variety, werethe waitresses (Tubey Ladies, as I called them) who walked around with test tube racks full of different shots in tubes. Ever since the bar scene from Miss Congeniality, I’ve always wanted to go to a bar that had shots in test tubes, just to try it out. I even kept one of my tubes to take home and compare to a regular sized shot (I contend the tubes have less capacity, but it’s just a theory.) We hung out for around 4 hours, and I danced a good portion of the time. Donald taught me how to two-step, and by the end of the night, I was fairly comfortable with the basics of it. Duke and his buddy showed up (totally not planned) and he and I danced as well. It was such a great time. I was a little bitter when they closed the place at 2 and told us we had to leave. But now I have yet another reason to look forward to going to Arizona for!
Sunday we all woke up late and went out to lunch before Donald and I made the long trip home. All in all it was a great weekend. I can’t wait to do it again!
My legs are on strike. They’re currently threatening to secede from my body, unless drastic measures to reduce their pain and suffering are taken. Negotiations are at a standstill.
A great start to my week.
Saturday was Step Out, and it was fantastic! There were far more people there than I expected (I don’t know how many, but I’d guess over a thousand) and it seemed more people than the organizers expected as well. Our team alone was comprised of over 50 people! We made the third most money of any team participating, and Kyla made more money than any other individual! (Donations, if you’re wondering, are still being accepted here or here for a few more weeks. Help us get to number 1!) The route we walked ended up being a 6.1K (3.8 miles) instead of the 5K as planned, but it was a beautiful day and no one seemed to mind the extra distance. The group was so large that we ended up walking in the streets, because people could not fit on the sidewalk. Our route took us down a few streets in Riverside and then around Fairmont Park which is home to a rather large lake. Some people with children stopped to feed the ducks and geese, while others just kept trucking through. The entire almost 4 mile route took us around 80 minutes, I think (It was way too early for me to be paying attention to what time we began, but I know we were back at the start around 10:30). The line for the free lunch was incredibly long, but some of the vendor/sponsor booths had apples and granola bars available, so we snacked on those. By the time we got home at noon, I was exhausted. I ended up taking a 3 hour nap, and was still tired when I woke up.
As if I hadn’t punished myself enough for one week, I chose Monday night to start the Couch to 5K program. It wasn’t so bad while I was doing it. It hurt at first because I didn’t stretch properly before hand (how do you stretch your shins? Anyone?) and because I’m in desperate need of new running shoes. But after the first couple intervals, I was feeling pretty good. And by pretty good I mean I was sore and tired and wanted more than anything to quit, but still managed to keep going. When I got back to my apartment after those two miles, I collapsed on the floor in front of the couch and attempted to stretch. My legs had taken on the consistency of jello, so standing wasn’t an option. It got better after a little while, though I was still stiff when trying to walk around.
Yesterday wasn’t the nightmare I thought it would be, but considering I thought I would be calling in sick to work due to lack of functioning limbs, my expectations were pretty low. I was stiff and sore, but could walk without any noticeable limp or wailing. Getting up off my super comfy and squishy couch is quite the chore (and should be loads of fun when I’m hugely pregnant someday) but I’m able to do it. Going from a standing to a sitting position (and vice versa) are the worst parts. My quads are on fire and just flat refuse to cooperate. I’ve tried bribing them with ice cream, but even that isn’t doing the trick. They’re just going to love me tonight when I start day two of the program. I might have to get one of those Life Alert necklaces. “I’ve fallen and my legs refuse to pick me back up!”
- My ankle isn’t quite healed enough for me to feel comfortable starting my Couch to 5K program, so that’s being postponed a week. Especially since…
- Step Out: Walk for Diabetes is this coming Saturday! If you haven’t had the chance to donate, or if you’ve managed to squeeze out a couple dollars since the last time I begged for money, click here to sponsor me. I’m about 50% toward my personal goal, with 6 days left to collect!
- Someone found this blog by Googling “Mia is the cutest dog ever.” I could not possibly agree more, and welcome to the blog!
- I have just about finished culling through my Hawaii pictures and picking out the greatest shots from that glorious vacation. Yes, it’s been a month and a half. I’ve been a lazy busy girl!
- And for your DUH moment of the day, I offer you this slightly blurry, yet amusing picture:
Salt? In a salt packet? NO FRIGGIN WAY!
I should have known better than to post about my excitement regarding writing and posting. I swear as soon as I hit Publish, my words ran right out the door, and I haven't been able to think of a single thing to say since then. My week has been extremely boring and lacking in blogable information. Monday I watched my beloved Angels eliminated from the playoffs. Tuesday I caught up on my Grey's Anatomy, and watched part of the debate. Wednesday I had a headache so awful that it sent me home from work early and forced me to do nothing but lay on the couch and whine.
Wow. That's even more depressing in print than it is just thinking about it.
Next week I start the Couch to 5K running plan that this wonderful person inspired me to try. I go through phases with working out and exercising. It always starts with a determined effort to get skinny on the outside, complete with hard workouts, multiple miles of walking and jogging and excellent nutrition. That's followed closely by immense pain and suffering and a promise never to exercise again. After surgery, I couldn't work out much, so I just watched what I ate. That totally worked for me, and I was able to get down to 193 (Considering I started at 225, and plateaued for 4 months at 205, 193 was incredible for me.) Then one day I started ballooning back up. Rapidly. I wasn't eating more, I wasn't exercising less, but I was expanding like crazy. I put on 20 pounds in a little under 3 months. It sucks, believe me. I bought all sorts of great new clothes when I was losing weight, and now I can't wear them. (Well technically, I CAN. But my fat roll shows. And I'm not one of those girls who's comfortable with their roll just hanging out for all to see.) I'm pretty sure that my thyroid has ceased working (it's happened before) and that's the cause of my rapid weight gain (as well as my sleeplessness, and my recent need to wear sweatshirts when it's 94 degrees outside, because I'm cold all the damn time). So hopefully with the medicine that my doctor is sure to give me (in six more weeks when I can FINALLY see her) and the exercise program I'm starting, I can lose all this extra weight, plus some more. My goal is to lose 40 pounds. That'll put me at a nice healthy 170. And when I reach that goal, I'm going to reward myself with something big. Maybe a trip to Ireland, or a new car. Or something fantastic and wonderful. Any suggestions?
My Angels are done. They fell to the Boston Red Sox last night and have been eliminated from the playoffs. I pouted for a while last night, and I’m sad today as well. But on my way to work this morning, I stopped to get the mail, and this was in it:
How can you be sad when you’re looking at him?
It's funny how I find myself going through such phases with this blog. When I first started writing, it was all I could think about. I checked the stats a few times an hour and would be ecstatic when I saw that someone hit my blog. (Of course, at the time I was getting 5 hits a day. 4 of them from me) Of course, I wasn't writing all that much, but I still kept looking to see if people were reading! Then I really got into the writing part, and less into caring if people were reading. I joined NaBloPoMo last November, which created a whole new group of readers, and forced me to write every single day for a month. At the time, and for a while after, I was really enjoying blogging and sharing my crazy thoughts with others.
Right after having surgery this year, the blog became a little less important to me. I considered forgetting the whole thing, because I just didn't want to do it anymore. It didn't help that I was feeling lousy while recovering from the donation, my marriage had finally fallen apart after dragging on miserably for a couple years, and life in general was pretty crappy. I think the only reason I didn't close it all down was that I was simply too lazy to do anything about it. I still posted now and again, hoping to find a way to get myself excited about it again, but it just didn't happen.
Recently I've found myself right back where I started. I'm excited about writing again. I find myself writing posts in my head throughout the day, and itching to get them on the screen. I don't know if it's because I'm so much happier now, or because my brain is preparing for next month's NaBloPoMo, or a combination of the two, but I'm really liking it. It's ironic, a little, that I'm so much happier with life now, but the tone of my posts lately don't exemplify it. I think part of me is a little afraid to be all mushy and gushy about how freaking happy I am lately, that I'm overcompensating with negativity. I'm trying hard to create a balance, and I hope you'll see it soon.
So, I'm a hardcore Angel fan. This is no secret. However, aside from the 1979 playoffs (when I was all of 5 months old) I've never been to a post season game. I've always wanted to go, but when ticket prices skyrocket from $30 to $110 per seat, I have a hard time with it. (Parking went from $8 per car to $10 per car. I don't get it. It's the same parking lot it was last week when we weren't in the playoffs. Why is it now $2 more for my car to rest upon the asphalt?)
Wednesday night Donald and I went to Game 1 of the ALDS between the Angels and the Red Sox, and I hardly have words to describe what it was like. Intense, electrifying, amazing. None of those seem adequate. When we got there, the place was loud and crazy and the energy was high. The same was true even at the bottom of the 9th inning when we were down by 3 runs. (Yes, we lost. But there are more games to come.) I've just never seen anything like it. Some people were a bit more rude than usual, (I suppose they think the amount of acceptable rudeness is directly related to the ticket price. Lower during the season, higher during playoffs.) but for the most part everyone was there to root on our team and to have a good time.
It was awesome and wonderful to be in a stadium with 44,000 other people who are just as excited about the game as I am. I can't even imagine the energy that we'd have had if we'd won the game. The next playoff game I'll be at will be game 5 of the ALCS, provided that the Angels win the ALDS against the Red Sox. Keep your fingers crossed!
Go Angels!
There's a little cafe around the corner from my office where I eat quite often. The staff is very friendly, and the food is excellent. Usually I sit inside at a corner table and quietly read my book while I eat. Today the place was packed, and my normal table was full. No big deal. I told the waitress I'd have my usual whenever she had a chance, and that I'd sit outside. It's only 78 out today, instead of the 101 it was two days ago, so I figured I'd enjoy the sun. I was the only person sitting outside, so it was nice and quiet. Just as my food is being delivered, another woman comes outside to sit down. There are 8 tables outside, but she chooses the one closest to me. Again, no big deal. Until she lights up a cigarette.
I don't mind people who want to smoke, as long as they don't do it upwind from me. I don't want to smell it, smell like it, or have my food smell like it. California has a no smoking law in restaurants that I thought also applied to the patio. (I admit I'm not sure if the patio is covered under the law or not). I covered my nose and mouth with my napkin for a couple of minutes, hoping the woman would notice and move tables. She did not. Without a single word, glance, glare, or sigh I got up, grabbed my purse and plate, and moved to a table further away, which was not down wind from her smoke. I did not ask her to stop smoking. I did not ask her to move. I simply took myself away from what I considered a problem. So I was astonished to overhear her say on her cell "Oh I seem to have offended someone with my smoking. The bitch got up and moved away from me."
Excuse me? I'm a bitch because I moved away from her smoke? I don't understand that. Certainly I could be called a bitch if I'd gone with my first instinct, which was to ask her to stop smoking near me, or move away from me (because I can guarantee I wouldn't have been nice about it). But I refrained. It's her right to smoke, just like it's my right not to, and it's my right to walk away from a situation I'm not comfortable in. It is not, however, her right to call me names because I disagree with her choices.
I didn't confront her, though in retrospect I wish I had. Every time I think I can't be surprised by people anymore, I get proved wrong. It's no wonder I get more and more bitter and jaded as I get older.
Since my last post was such an ugly post (although it did make me feel better) I decided to write a light and fun post today.
I blatantly stole this from The Daily Meme. I have no shame.
The Countdown Meme!
Ten movies you’d watch over and over: 10 Things I Hate About You, The Lion King, Usual Suspects, Miss Congeniality, Shrek, Rent, P.S. I Love You, Chasing Amy, Catch & Release, Sweet Home Alabama
Nine people you enjoy the company of: Donald, Jen, Jenn, Kerry, Tony, Kelly, Debbie, Heather, Kathy (If I didn’t name you, don’t be upset! I can only choose 9!)
Eight things you’re wearing: T-shirt, Jeans, Socks, Shoes, Earrings (4), Ring, Underwear, Bra
Seven things on your mind: Buying a house, tonight’s Angel game, having kids, having breakfast, getting some work done, cleaning my house, weekend plans
Six objects you touch every day: Mia, my phone, a keyboard, my keys, a fridge door, paper
Five things you do everyday: Wake up, whine about waking up, tell someone I love them, eat, check e-mail
Four bands or musical artists that you couldn’t live without: Metallica, Matt Nathanson, Brad Paisley, Unwritten Law (Do you know hard it was to pick just 4? I tried to pick 4 bands/artists that represent my eclectic tastes, but it was very hard to narrow down!)
Three of your favorite songs of the moment: Defying Gravity (Wicked Soundtrack), Calling All Angels (Train), Lookin’ For a Good Time (Lady Antebellum)
Two people who have influenced your life the most: Dad, Jason
One person who has been nice to you today: Donald
I’m not going to tag anyone to do this, since no one really tagged me. But if you decide to do it, let me know! I’d love to see yours!
By the way, please don’t forget Step Out! Any help you can give is much appreciated! Thanks to everyone who’s already donated!
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