If I had a working printer, I would print this picture out and hang it on my refigerator because it is a picture of my dad finishing a marathon. So very proud. I could never do that. I don't think any other member of my family could. I know none of us could. Lord, I almost passed out after running a record 3 miles this summer (and I was only able to make it that far because Dad was with me, encouraging me). Way to go, Dad!
* eh eh I think I'm getting the black lung, Pop eh eh *
Well, I am feeling better. And despite my illness (or, laziness that I will blame on illness), I actually HAVE gotten out of the house this week. But I can probably count those outings on one hand.
- Lunch with Marcia/trip to library
- Grocery shopping/movie rental
- Movies at theater/bought new fish for aquarium
Yeah, I think that might be it. For the week.
But I do love my apartment and do love hanging out here, seeing the love between
Donnie and
Ozzie blossom before my eyes, watching
movie after
movie after
movie (heaven!) ... and playing a lot of
Settlers of Catan. What a life.
Oh, and! My skin looks fabulous! All this time on my hands has also meant plenty of time for home beauty treatments. Manicures, pedicures, baths, face masks, hair-removal-processes, you name it. And my skin has really cleared up. I'm so happy. I'm actually thinking of getting a facial to help keep it this way. Unemployment: The Best Skin Care Treatment Not on the Market.
Inquiring Minds Want to Know
Yes, I have been applying to jobs. All editorial jobs at web sites and magazines. (And a smattering of a few other things, but I'm sticking pretty close to that.) I also emailed my resume to a few colleagues and friends who have connections that might be able to help me.
Bonus points for you if, the next time I see you, you
don't ask me how the job hunt is going. (Marcia is the first recipient of said bonus points. Get yours today!)
I'm still sick ... I have very little to say on the subject, I'm sorry to tell you. Stuffy nose, hacking cough. And my upcoming weekend visitors have cancelled on me. Oh woe is me. I am going to try very hard to get out and go to the movies today. Hooray for matinees!
Damn you
Heather! And damn you
Heather!
I'm sick. *snifflesniffleHACKsniff*
[sigh]
What did she write about me? ...
Nothing, you vain fool. The party was fun, good to see you. See you at the next one. ;)
*****
Genius. Pure genius.
*****
Heather visited me for the weekend. We had a good time ... doing a lot of nothing. We did have drinks, watched a few movies, ate some very good meals, and slept. It was a nice lazy weekend. Being unemplyed, I have many weeks, er, weekends like that, which I enjoy, but it was great to lie around and do nothing with someone. :D Thanks for coming!
I'm going back to bed now ...
My mom is so cute.
When I AIM her to say hello, she'll sometimes write "yo" or "wuzup." She sends me socks. Whenever I buy socks, I buy plain sporty white ones. She always sends me colorful, fun socks. I like getting those packages in the mail.
Because she knows me well and knows what I like, Mom ordered me a
Sewing Genie! I sew a lot and don't have room for a full-sized machine in my studio apartment, so this is perfect. (As long as it doesn't break!)
Thank you, Mom. :)
Kittens are so much fun. They're so floppy and uncoordinated. And fearless, because they're not old enough to know the difference. Energetic. They try so hard ... to jump on the bed that's still too high, beat up the cat that's three times his size.
I was thinking, for a little while, about the pros and cons for everything in life, including having a kitten. The cons are obvious: more litter to scoop, more food to buy, more hair on everything, possible destruction of fine items (and, in this case, disfiguring scratch marks up and down arms). The pros are also obvious: having a little bundle of cute fluffyness to snuggle and play with. I was wondering whether I was getting anything positive out of this kitten business because he wasn't cuddly --
isn't cuddly -- and wouldn't even look at me.
But I realize that I do. We played with a string together yesterday, though he'd never come more than 2 feet away from me. He'll paw at my feet when I'm not looking. Watching my kitten is so entertaining. Since I've had him, I've often paused movies I was watching, because the view of Donnie paying with his toys or with Ozzie was more entertaining than my newest DVD.
"Raise your hand if you're sick of Sept. 11."
LIZ MORRISON, high school teacher in Manchester, Mo., in an effort to engage her students in a discussion of the attacks; two-thirds raised their hands
TIME Magazine, September 23, 2002
That's my high school cheerleading coach. I'm flabbergasted. She was quoted in the same batch as Kofi Annan and George Bush.
(And no comments about cheerleading. It is all in the past.)
I don't know what time it is.
Well, I do now that I'm on my computer. But, sadness of sadnesses, my alarm clock has passed away.
You don't understand. That alarm clock has been with me for a very long time. I got it as a First Communion present from my Aunt Elaine when I was in second grade. I've used it ever since, the only alarm clock I've ever had. It woke me up for school from third grade through college and, until a few weeks ago, woke me up for work every day. I think that adds up to about 16 or 17 years I had this alarm clock. Which is, like, most of my life (an all were conscious years, as opposed to ages 1-3 which don't count for nothing when it comes to memories.)
And fond memories of it I have. Once, in high school, I had set it to 'alarm' instead of 'music,' as I usually did, and when it went off in the morning, not recognizing what the awful noise was, I ran downstairs and almost out the front door before I realized that it was not the smoke alarm blaring, but my lil' ol' alarm clock. In college, my dear suitemates taught me to glory that is The Snooze Button. While in the dorms, I met a very cute boy who had the very same alarm clock as I. Though I felt this created an enormous bond between us, he did not see it as reason enough for anything. Pffft! This alarm clock followed me through two houses, two dorms, two apartments, four states (not to mention camps, vacations and summers away) and over 1,000 snoozes.
I always wondered how this alarm clock would meet its final end, since it never caused me a single problem. But it shorted itself once the other day, greeting me with a blinking, incorrect time. And it did it again yesterday. And this morning, as I rolled around in bed in restless sleep, I realized, she'd gone dark.
I guess I'll have to go buy a new one. I don't know what's new in the world of alarm clocks since I've never had to buy one. And, now that I'm thinking about it, I don't have a working watch right now either. Would a psychoanalyst twist this all to mean that time has no importance to me? Maybe. I just want a new clock so I know what time it is in the middle of the night.
I Met Royalty and Shook Hands with a Billion Dollars
Saturday afternoon, one of my cousins in NJ called me and asked if I had any plans for the night. No, I said. (No plans on a Saturday night [sigh]) She said her husband was having dinner in The City and would give me a ride back to NJ to hang out for the weekend. Fab.
When the dinner let out on 58th Street, I met up with Scott and his party as they said their goodbyes. I, clad in jeans and a sweatshirt, was introduced to a gaggle of khaki-and-blazer dinstinguished men. (And they were all tall, which made this 5-foot-short girl feel even smaller.) We left the group and headed over the GWB.
"You met a Lord tonight."
"I did?"
"The guy we just dropped off on 67th Street. And a Prince too."
"I DID?"
"The tallest guy."
"What is he a prince of?"
"England."
"What does that mean, exactly?"
"Nothing."
He just has a lot of money. Scott is starting a new business and has gathered millions and millions of dollars from these men to fund it. I am very impressed.
Three Pedals?
In other news, while out in NJ, cousin Barbara and I borrowed a pick-up truck from one of her friends so we could move some logs from the yard of a family friend. The dump wasn't taking any lumber on Sunday, so we drove to a parking lot, where she taught me to drive standard in the truck. I got the hang of it too. I got up to 3rd a few times in the lot, but couldn't get above that. But I think I still get the gist of it.
I've long wanted to learn to drive standard and have missed a bunch of opportunites to do so. But now I've finally done it and can check it off my list of "Things I Want to Learn." (I actually do have a list, and I will really cross this off it.)
There's some very intense kitten-bonding happening this weekend.
Until yesterday, I hadn't picked up my kitten in a week. He runs away from me, and has some fantasticly impossible hiding places here in my apartment, including under the couch -- which my short arms aren't long enough to reach him under -- and inside the boxspring of my bed.
But after playing a lot of Nintendo last night, Mike helped me corral Donnie into a place that I could pick him up. After a lot of cuddling and purring, I put him in the bathroom. He's going to be there for the weekend, I think. I spent about an hour in the bathroom myself last night, reading a magazine, while he poked around at me and played with some toys that I brought in there. I'm hoping that after a day and a half or so of me going in there, picking him up, playing with him, when I let him out he won't be as scared of me. I do worry that he thinks being in the bathroom is a punishment, but I really want to take advantage of his capture, since it is such a rarity.
Who knows if it will work. We'll see.
If you've visited my apartment in the last few months and tried to help yourself to water from the fridge, say, you were probably yelled at with something like, "Don'tgointhereDon'tgointhereI'llgetitforyou!"
No more. On the 11th, with all my nervous energy, I cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom. Washed every dish, wiped down the counters, mopped the floor.
And to top it all off, I actually went grocery shopping -- another chore, like dishwashing, that I truly despise -- to fill this newly-spruced kitchen with food.
So, come on over! Help yourself to a glass of water or iced tea. :D
Anyone know if the Giants-Rams game is going to be on TV on Sunday? Got a real bug for football last weekend and would love to see it ... and am fearing I won't be getting it on any of my pitiful 10 channels ... [sigh]
Today is one of those days where every song you hear seems to have more meaning than all the other times that you hear them.
It's seemed cliche because I see signs that say it all over, but today they seem the only words that make any sense to say -- because there really are no words. ...
We will never forget.
*****
A few other things, as I'm committed to having a very normal day (did some dishes, going to do some shopping, have a dentist appointment).
*
Paul was nice enough to have me over for poker last week. Had a blast.
The Donk also did well (despite my threatening to say otherwise). Ken says of me: "Knows When to Hold `Em, When to Fold `Em, When to Kick Your Ass!" I did well. :) Looking forward to the next game.
* Went to Boston this weekend. Also had a good time there. Watched a lot of sports. Way hotter than I had planned. And stayed a day longer than I planned. Thanks to all my hosts.
* If C3PO is "fluent in over 6 million forms of communication," why does he stutter and hesitate so much when he speaks anything other than English?
* Watched a fabulous movie last week:
The Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa's classic. Known as the first action movie ever, I didn't expect to like this movie very much, but it's a classic, I felt obligated (in order to further round out my movie experiences). It's frickin' long -- 3.5 hours -- so I watched it in two parts. I really did like it. If you're in the mood, I highly recommend it.
* Still having nightmares.
Cat Rats and Classroom Kisses
I've been having a lot of nightmares lately. I guess that's not surprising, all things considered, but I wish they'd stop. (No, I'm not watching
Clockwork Orange or reading
The Fountainhead before going to sleep.)
My theory on 'what dreams are' is that it's just a bunch of thoughts all jumbled together, and sometimes represent what's been on my mind (Caryn's Top 10 Worries or What I Had for Lunch Today), sometimes they don't. Considering that I don't usually have nightmares, and I've been having a lot of them lately,
and I have had some upsetting things happen to me, I'm going to go on the assumption that these recent dreams do represent something.
Let's look at last night's nightmare, shall we?
I told off a girl I know named Cate. Told her I hated her, didn't give a shit about her, laughed in her face, called her insane and was very loud and mean to her ... all while I was washing dishes ...
In real life, Cate and I aren't close, and are aquaintences with a mutual friend -- and I like her, don't hate her.
However, when I woke up and thought about it, Cate -- who I just spent the weekend with at the lake -- is tall, fair, with curly brown hair ... a similar description of someone I
might want to hurl the insults I spewed at. And, I hate washing dishes. With a passion.
Lots of animals appeared in the house I was in. First, it was kittens. Tiny ones. But then there were more and then weird animals, like a freaked-out-cat-like white rat (with long legs and red eyes), and others I couldn't see, crawling under and behind furniture. I felt surrounded by them.
Must be anxiety about having 2 cats in the house now, not just 1 anymore. And my kitten crawls under the furniture a lot. Animals can make me a little anxious, so maybe that's also why I had such a nervous feeling about this whole scenario.
Cate (who wasn't speaking to me anymore) was smart enough to trap all the animals in boxes and we drove them to a vet where they could be taken care of and adopted. Then, when Cate was leaving the house, I ran down some stairs to catch her and give her a hug and tell her I was sorry for saying all those mean things to her. She thanked me for coming to visit her, because she lives so far away and almost no one ever does.
Umm ... I am going to interpret this as me saying sorry to
Cate -- because it's not her I was mad at --, and not the curly-haired crazy I would have told off. And I have few visitors to my apartment, but Cate actually said something just like this this weekend, because she's moved out to Flushing --
because she's going to law school on a full scholarship! And she's gorgeous! And she's single! Intelligent men, please apply!
In the final act of the nightmare, I walked into a lecture hall with a close friend I'll call Joan. As we walked up the stairs to our seats, she noticed that down at the front of the room was a guy (portrayed by a former coworker of mine) I'll call Steve. Joan is head-over-heels for Steve, and Steve is making out with another girl in front of the chalkboard. Crushed, Joan pulls me to the floor, to the side of the stairway, where we crouch behind a podium. She's crying, and Steve walks up the stairs and sees us. He yells at Joan to get over it, and then yells at me for being there spying with her. (But I don't think we were really spying.)
This one is very clear to me. A friend experiencing unrequited love. Even though Steve isn't the one Joan is in love with, I get it.
Anyone know what stairs in a dream are supposed to represent? There were a lot of them in this dream ... and I was going up some, and down others ...
I had a really good day yesterday -- hung out with Will, and had dinner and drinks with an old coworker. I went to bed early (for me -- 11:30) with no TV on and didn't read before bed, either. And I STILL had a nightmare. I want them to go away.
Well, I did send the notecards that I said I would, but that's about all I can scratch off of that To Do list. (I got inspired and sent a few more, including a set of sollymade Vin Diesel Paper Dolls to one lucky friend.) They weren't on the list, but I also bathed in the sun and the tub today. And read Entertainment Weekly cover-to-cover. (Sopranos issue!) I'm pretty bored ... but I have a lot of plans for the rest of the week, so I don't have to worry too much this week about more aimless days like today.
Hello, I'm back to reality where I have no job. In the last 11 days, I have rest my head on 5 pillows in 3 states and I'm sick of living out of a backpack. I've been in places of too much reality and not enough. And now I am back. My little kitten still hops away from me. I have a 'to do' list for today, but am unmotivated to do anything on it.
Caryn's To Do List
Write cards to Amy and Suzanne
Email my resume to Cousin Joe, Maryann, Stephie J
Buy toothpicks, cat food and nail polish remover
Look into joining the pool, getting a newspaper subscription
Buy some new pet fish
[sigh]
Julia Stiles or Erika Christensen?
Hollywood, find some new faces.
