|
|
12/30/02 Lunchtime... Tu-Bobbi kindly gave me a book by Philip Yancey called Soul Survivor. Let me say this, if you have ever had trouble separating personal faith from "religion" this is a must read. Its an amazing book-I'm not going to do it an injustice by trying to review it myself-read the reviews on the link if you are interested.
12/30/02 Gawd-what a weekend! I had 'da Flu (the Grippe to all of you old timers) Friday and Saturday AND THEN the freaking Saints lost Sunday. For at least 30 seconds, I thought I was watching kiddies play rugby, when one of those morons made a forward lateral pass. Oh well- as they say- there is always next year. The consolation was that we were at Gene & Ginger's and Gene made that terriffic crab dip! (ha ha Randy-you missed out). Also-yesterday was our (Bruce & I) two year wedding anniversary-and we both forgot! How romantic!? You'd think we had been married 70 years or something.
12/27/02 Santa was good to me this year-a pair of boots, a pair of shoes, a braided belt, and a purse-all from a particular brand name collection that I have wanted for some time. Lots of other cool stuff too-pretty pillows from mom, ceramics from Amber, more frogs for my collection from Andrea' and Paolo, jewelry from B's parents and a GREAT cd set from the Big D. I got little Brucie some masks (from Indonesia and Mexico), a textile from Bali and a Hot Wheels model of his Euro 380SEL (wrong colour, but I couldn't find one in gold.) B's parents gave him about three thousand pounds of power and hand tools. Thankfully Bruce is one of those rare men who actually knows how to use tools, so I expect he won't hurt himself with them. Yesterday Bruce, Tu-Bobbi and I went to World Market-great place-now my new favorite Metairie store and definitely a dangerous place for me to be with a credit card.
12/23/02 Saturday night's party. Well, lets see-the details are a bit fuzzy. But I do remember that Randy, who shaved off his goatee (thumbs up) was giving Sheri and I beauty advice that he gleaned from a Super Rod magazine (how to remove warts with duct tape-ok.....); Molly showed at least 85% of the people at the party her glow-in-the-dark Santa underwear (they were great, really); an executive decision was made by Randy and I to go to "The Velvet Turtle" on Williams (we've been intrigued by the place for years-for the life of me, I don't know why, but I'd be willing to lay odds on it being the name). Ok-the Velvet Turtle. About 30 of us get there, and, well, we obviously overwelmed the poor 95 year old barmaid. (who corrected Ginger on the name of the joint - "ITS DA VELVET TOITLE, NOT DA FUZZY TORTISE!") The old lady also repeatedly told us to "KEEP IT DOWN-YA COULD HEA' DA JUKE BOX BETTA IF YA KEEP IT DOWN!" Anyway-we made that place's month with the drinks purchased in 10 minutes, then we all went, en masse, to the Red Eye on Vets (another dive-only with younger people, where your grandma doesn't work and no one cares if you "HOLLA an YELL.") It was here that I remember Molly acquiring an amazing variety of plasticware for hair ornaments. Forks, knives, and spoons. Did I mention she had a broken toe and probably managed to dance more than anyone else?? Molly girl, I'm so glad you are working there-parties will be just that much better. I only told one "Tabitha, shut the hell up" story, so I did pretty good. Oh-did I mention the food was actually good? Sunday, while Bruce and his dad were working on the sheetrock downstairs (I try to avoid this type of thing at all costs. Sheetrock reminds me of chalkboards-skreeeee) I went kayaking in the Anadyr. Managed to make it to the first turnaround at Causeway and back so that would be about 6 miles or so. A great little 1.5 hour trip, and one more reason to love New Orleans-It was almost 70 degrees in December.
12/21/02 Thanks again to the wonderful folks at Hubbard for inviting me to their Christmas Party (and to Bill and Roy for the Ham!)-truly a first class event filled with a great group of terriffic down to earth people. I had a great time, and its always lots of laughs hanging out with Mike and Buck and his crew-Hot, Josh, Joe and Dilly. You guys are just some of my favorite people. Buck, I said it before and I'll say it to you again: I envy you-you've got roots in a simple and romantic life that most people only read about, you are a truly wonderful person for it, and I think the world of you. As for this latest job you all are on, go listen to that Stevie Wonder song "Don't you worry about a thing." Before you know it, it'll be over and you'll be able to look back on it and laaaauuuuugh. (I hope!) Oh-someone tell Boo that his bald head was looking pretty good, too. Does he polish that thing? Ok, now I'm working on a new list: are you all ready?.........."Most Agrivating People with A Mini Me!" Not going to make this a top ten or anything-I'm just going to add to it as I go along. Don't worry, Kirkley, you'll be on this list too. :-^
12/20/02 If you are looking for my links table, just click on the suncat icon on the upper left side of the page.
 Aryan and I kayaking in the lake in May of 2002 on the Prism (my first kayak and the one I sold earlier this year.) My little brother didn't move so much as an eyelash on that ride-he was facinated and terrified. My mom was laughing while taking the picture-said he wasn't even that still when he's sleeping.
12/19/02 Who are these people that keep dissing Fruitcake? And why? I happen to actually LIKE fruitcake. Since no one actually gives them any more because they have become such a "ewww-who sent a FRUITCAKE" thing I have to buy my own! When I was a wee lass, during Christmas time, there were always fruitcakes around-and I'm not talking about my family-they were there too, and you could call some of them fruitcakes, but I'm veering off the subject. In any event-we always got great fruitcakes in wonderful decorated tins-you know the ones-they had people in antique costumes in horsedrawn sleighs, snow, a house with a chimney in the background, stuff you NEVER see in the South... and the cakes had lots of pecans and cherries and good fatening stuff in them. Come on people-anything with nuts and fruit and rum is good! Granted there are some nasty fruitcakes-like the ones that get passed around from year to year and never eaten, only to be slipped of on some poor unsuspecting fruitcake eating moron such as myself. Dont do that, people. Just throw the thing away. Don't try to poison your friends; if they are anything like me they'll try to get you back by getting you drunk and making you show everyone your odd body piercings .... My Aunt Cindy-who saves EVERYTHING-(I'm not kidding here folks, its a problem. You should see the crap in her car!) came by for a get together when Amber was in town. She brought some cupcakes in one of those old fruitcake tins - I actually remember this particular tin from when I was a kid! You see?! Good Fruitcake memories! So stop giving fruitcake a bad name, and save your criticism for Spam or the nasty Satan Meat
12/18/02 After last night's free-for-all in the last Self-Defense class I am hurting in places I didn't know I had places. Well, Hop-all I can say is, I hope you are hurting too, after fighting with Ginger, Katie and I. It just wouldn't be fair if you came away from this unscathed. (actually-Hop should have some rather interesting and hard to explain bite marks from Katie, several bruises on his kidneys and blood blisters on his neck and shoulders). Thats what you get for fighting with three mean women! Wish we would have taken pics of all this-it looks appaling; but really, for the most part, its just funny to see us fighting. Hop just kind of holds us on the ground, and say "kick harder, punch harder, is that all you got?-You have to get out," expending no energy whatsoever, while we do everything we can to get away. And its harder to do than it looks! In any event-I'm tired and bruised, but all my teeth are in tact, so I'm grateful.
12/17/02 I had the freakiest dream last night-and I forced myself to wake up from it at 5:30. It was so weird, that I couldn't fall back asleep. The dream? I was shopping at Neiman Marcus. For a tan and red plaid purse. What is up with that? What would I do with a plaid purse? Only itty bitty tiny cute girls have plaid purses! Hey-I don't even LIKE shopping, let alone at huge department stores! Even swanky ones! I've NEVER had a shopping dream before! I must be turning into a grown woman or something..... I mean, gee-ANYTHING but dreaming about shopping! (well. maybe. shoe. shopping. That would be ok. But only if they have an extensive collection in my size. Now I really am dreaming.)
12/16/02 Melene-You may not have had sea monkeys as a kid, but you make the best Pumpkin bread ever! (how many calories are in that stuff? Like 8 bazillion?)
12/15/02 We went to a Christmas party last night with the people Bruce works with-some of Bruce's workmates have become good friends of ours, so it was a blast. We kind of got split up into girl/boy groups (as seems to happen at parties) and mostly the discussions were shoes and clothes, later deteriorating to sex (after more than one drink). A certain someone showed everyone her purple bra several times (no it wasn't me, dammit) but no one got naked or passed out drunk-so I guess the party was relatively mild. (unlike Rugby parties-where there are at least 2 naked people per party if not more.) Paddled the new boat for about 30 minutes this morning-I'm even more impressed with it now than I was yesterday. The weather is perfect and the lake is like glass right now-if I would have brought a water bottle with me and Bruce wasn't there (his wrist hurt-so he just sat on the seawall) I could have stayed out for a few hours. The boat is incredibly fast, great secondary stability, and tracks dead straight with just a hair of nosing side to side on wide paddle sweeps. The inital stability is poor, but you have to give that up so that you can have good secondary stability. Once you are situated, the boat really becomes an extension of your body and is quite comfortable in spite of its narrowness. It makes the Carolina (Bruce's grey boat) look and feel like a barge in comparison, and the Carolina isn't a "short" boat at 14'-9". Ok-enough of this-I'm not going to bore you all with the boat talk-I'll be writing a review of the boat for the Bravenet forum and I'll put a link to it if any of you are interested.
12/14/02 Picked up the new Anadyr today-I'll give you all a better review on it after I paddle it some more tomorrow. But for now I'll say this: Its Fine, Its Fast, and I can't believe its mine! Definitely a kayaking dream come true. And the folks at Splashdance are wonderful-very nice and very generous-If any of you are in need of paddling gear-see them. I have NEVER had customer service better than this. Never-not in anything I have EVER purchased. They cater to their clients, and there aren't many people out there that do anymore, sadly. I only had about 10 minutes of paddling time today - the winds were almost 20 knots on the lake in Valparaiso and it was cold-but the boat still felt fast and tracked straight as an arrow. I'm in love......
12/13/02 later.... Here is something else I feel compeled to share with you all concerning our office. We, for some unknown reason have a rather extensive collection of Maxwell House coffee cans. (well, thats the kind of crappy coffee we drink around here, but its free so no one complains.) At last count there were 22 of the "39oz" cans stacked in the corner of the kitchen/supply room. Plus, I have one on my desk which is used to store my crap in-my desk is right next to the door, so you'd think I'd get the nice looking office supplies-but NOOOOOO-I get a coffee can. (this is entirely my own fault-I'm to lazy to get my butt over to Office Depot and get one.) No one remembers why we stopped throwing cans away; There is speculation that Darrell started it all, but really, its a mystery. The cans are now more than 10' in height stacked one atop the other, so we have divided them into two stacks. Its becoming some sort of joke around here-"NO, don't throw that coffee can away-we're saving them!!" Those of you who already work in an engineering office know that we save EVERYTHING-but coffee cans? Maybe we could turn it into some sort of art project-or perhaps the beginnings of a bridge column?  12/13/02 A new lesson I have learned: Never, ever, under any circumstance should you tell Sensei Hop (the karate-aerobics-self defense instructor who actually has a Sushi Roll named after him at Shogun-the Sensei roll) that "I think I need more work on my arms" or even worse "Could you show me that hold again-I don't think I understood that" or "how do you get out of a choke hold?" Last night, Cathy and I both told him we wanted more arm work, and I'm paying for it today! As for the self-defense class, that can be comical at times. Hop actually shows you the moves by performing them on you-complete with the pain. (and he's correct in doing that, If you don't understand why it works, you won't be able to do it in a "real life" situation.) Tuesday he put Katie in a choke-hold from behind and told her to get out. They were near the wall, so she literally "walked" up the wall while he had his arm aroud her neck. She never did get away! Of course, he hadn't told us HOW to get out of it at that point. We know how to now.... Hop is a trip, though-loads of fun, super nice-and he apparently thinks its funny to hear us squealing in pain.
12/12/02 Boy, boy, boy. Got the perm last night. Well-so far, Bruce doesn't like it (I can tell by the-"uh-you know, if that doesn't relax soon, you can put some 'stuff' in it to make it less curly..."). But he is right. Its very curly. Leigh says it will "fall" in a week or so into what I am looking for. Thats good because I look like "Carrottop," only with black hair. Well, Tafoor and Darrell like it, Rahman laughed at me and Daniel just gave me the "look." Kirkley says "well-its curly, isn't it" -(hey Kirkleybabe, AT LEAST I HAVE HAIR! HA!-) Guess I'll just have to wait and see......
12/11/02 Thank you Mr. Bob at Splashdance! I am so looking forward to picking up my new kayak! I'll try to refrain from calling in sick at work to come pick it up........ When you all get a chance, ck out the new Flash links from www.eyeenvision.com at the left of the page.
12/10/02 even later... YES YES YES!!!!!!! Tomorrow I am buying the Anadyr online!!!! I am so excited! Hopefully I'll be able to take the drive to Florida in the next couple of weeks to pick her up. I think I've decided on the all red coloring. Everything I am reading about this baby is great-and I feel like a kid at Christmas that finally got a pony!! Yeah! I'm going to be getting this boat from splashdance in Niceville Florida, so it should be an easy "pick up" trip. Gee-hope I can sleep tonight!
12/10/02 later... This is SO very exciting-I think I have found my next kayak. Here is a picture. That is one sweet baby-now I just have to figure out what I can hock to be able to buy it. Bruce won't believe me if I just tell him that it followed me home. I need this boat. Too bad they don't carry it in orange. I'll probably get one in either red or yellow. Gotta love a yellow boat. Hate to say this, but I may be forced to sell my Shaman (the blue boat). Yikes. It would be worth the sacrifice, though-the Anadyr would be almost 5 feet longer and about 15 pounds lighter. Hmmmmmmm....
12/10/02 All I want to know is-who is this person that invented the name "Sea Monkeys" for brine shrimp and how much money did he make selling these little creatures as pets? What a marketing genius. Really-without the name, it just wouldn't be a big seller. Who would have bought brine shrimp as pets? They still sell those things! Please, if any of you out there didn't have Sea Monkeys as kids, let me know, so I can rag on you and tell you how deprived you were as a child. Oh-and publish your name here to let others know what a giant nerd you were for not having your very own Sea Monkeys to play god with. Thats another thing-if you did have aforementioned named shrimp, how long did it take for you to loose interest in them, and then the inevetable "Mom, I forgot to feed my monkeys for the past month, and now they're all floating. Whats wrong with them?" Personally, I think I got bored with mine after about a week, then we fed them to our goldfish (who's name was Daisyfish-thats right, it was named after my grandma!) Ahh, the memories....
 12/09/02 A mostly uneventful weekend-didn't do much except go to Parkway Tavern Saturday nite and then to Burke & Jack's house for a little while (because all you other turkeys wussed out-we'll be doing SOMETHING this weekend, dammit!) As for the hairdo-I have almost mastered the roller thingies. Dare I say my hair looks GOOD with some curl. So good, infact, that I have made an appointment to get a perm this Wednesday evening. This is going to be perm #3 (the others were had at the ages of *aproximately* 16 and 21) and hopefully this one will be better than the other 2, because they sucked. Of course, at that time I was trying to perm hair that was of Pentecostal proportions, and it is hard to hold a curl in 3 foot long hair. As far as how my current do looks, I have gotten only one vote against it. (From my boss of course-he says I look like a Bourbon Street stripper. I am taking this as a compliment, even though that was not how it was meant...) Daniel took a pic of it this morning and hopefully, I'll have that up soon, so you too can give me an, ahem, honest opinion.
12/07/02 There comes a time in the life of every straight haired girl when she feels the need to buy rollers. Most of us get this out of our systems before they turn 18. Me being the late bloomer that I am, bought a set today. I am 28 and 5/6ths years old. Ladies, I am here today to tell you. Don't do this to yourselves unless you A) Know what you are doing; B) Your mother is there with you and she knows what she is doing; or C) You live with a gay man who's first language is French and happens to be a hairdresser. Anyway-let me start at the beginning. I decided that my hair was looking kind of mousy again, so I went and bought a bottle of Feria Midnight Star hair dye (that is blue-black, for all of you "non-hairdye people")and right next to the dyes are the freaking rollers. Feeling a little flush after my last paycheck, I figured, "oh what the heck, I've always wanted rollers. I'll get them too," and out of the store I waltzed, rollers and black hairdye in hand. So, I dye my hair. It actually looks really good for once. Then on to the rollers. After carefully reading the instructions on how to use them, I start twisting my now almost dry hair on to these little purple plastic cylinders, and thinking about how goofy I look with them in. I am making faces in the mirror, posing and acting like a general idiot, dropping rollers and clips all over the place, etc. Then the time comes to remove them. Curls everywhere. Totally uncontrolable curls. I realize I have no clue how to style curly hair. So I start playing with it, pinning it back, taking everything out and then I just give up, because it really does look like a jet black bird nest. Not at all as glamorous as I had imagined. I brushed it and now it just looks like black cottonball. Being the glutton for punishment that I am, and having nothing better to do, I am going to go wet it a little and try again. I am not giving up this easily, dammit! So back to the trenches.......let you all know how it goes later.
12/05/02 a little later... Just hanging out now, burning a little nag champa incense, listenting to Radio Paradise and goofy Skis munching on chicken rissoto. Yes, he eats chicken. And ham, that little termite. Burke just called me to see if I knew a few Christmas trivia questions that were percolating around the bar. The first one was about that mouse christmas movie "Twas the Night Before Christmas." The other was that muppets Christmas thing that had the word "jug" in it. That was "Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas" and yes, I had to look it up too. Remember seeing both from my kiddiehood, but as usual couldn't remember the names. A little earlier some older lady called to ask me to do a survey (political, of course) - usually I don't bother doing these phone things, but being somewhat lonely and too lazy to go out -can you hear the small fiddles playing now?- I figured I'd humor her. All I want to know is-who wants to know what way you are planning on voting Saturday? What does it matter? What happens happens. Most everyone has made up their minds, and the results will be out soon enough. In other news, I have to tell you people, and I am sure ALL of you know this: there are some real freaks on line. There are really freaky sites that are easy to come across too. I stumbled across one tonight that actually raised my hair and scared the bile right out of me. And it had nothing to do with violence towards animals, children or women. Heck, if you want to see just what kind of freaky crap people are looking up go to the bottom of my page here and click on that yellow "free hit counter" logo and then click the "Search Query" button. Its weird. People look up some strange crap. Worse yet, these bloody freaks are hitting my site. (I just put this new counter up, so it only shows hits from November to present. Check it out. You'll be amazed-and hopefully as confused as I am.) Nag Champa sure is good stuff. Amazing how sometimes the simplest pleasures are the best.
12/05/02 Will someone please tell all the stupid e-mail spammers that I am a woman and therefore don't have a penis to enlarge? In my e-mail box (s) I get somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 to 10 advertisements that say, in the subject line, no less, something like this: Hey Suncat, you chick magnet stud, you can enlarge your penis in just 3 nanoseconds, drug free! Well, thats just great. If I had one, I might care. Actually its kind of interesting, because it seems that we have finally struck upon something that MEN must be self-conscious about. Why else would all this stuff be out there? Know what I think is crazy? What loving, decent woman would "dis" her man just because of his penis size? Is that the kind of woman you men want to be with? I can tell you right now, if some man had EVER had the nerve to tell me: "hey, I'd like to date you, but why don't you get a breast enlargement first," well-not only would he have had a large red slap mark on his face, but that would not have been the kind of man I would have picked anyway! So, dudes, get over it. If you want to impress your woman, stop leaving dishes in the sink for her to clean up and bring her home a box of chocolates (or sushi!). She'll be much happier (if she's worth her salt) than if your penis increases by a millimeter. This message was brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Suncat.
12/04/02 If anyone of you out there know of where guitar tablature for Precious Bryant's music can be had, please contact me. It seems as though it doesn't exist. I'll be your best friend for life.......well, maybe for the week.
12/03/02 Dear Fredrics of Hollywood: As if you guys over there haven't made it hard enough for the rest of us normal, not so well endowed or surgically enhanced broads to look good in your getups, you make them self-destruct so that we end up looking like complete idiots. Do you remember those red "maribou" slippers with the feathers on them that you sold to my husband? Well, the other night, to please him, I dug those suckers out from the back of the closet to wear with the rest of that stretch lace contraption that he bought. Aparently the moment that I put them on my feet, the feathers all started to come loose and spread themselves around the room. Being as the lights were appropriately dimmed, I didn't notice this immediately. I proceeded down the stairs, spreading fine red chicken feathers in my wake. When I turned around to walk back up the stairs I noticed the little red puffs floating everywhere. Do you know how hard it is to vacuum up feathers?? In a teddy?? Not only is it damn near impossible, but it totally ruined ANY chance I had of looking like one of the "goddesses" in your catalogue. They never have vacuums in those pictures. Sincerely, Suncat.
12/02/02 Lovely. Yet another hair from hell day. My hair looks like it has wings. Oh, and somehow, between the time I went to sleep last night and the time I woke up this morning, I received a bruise to my upper left cheekbone. Go figure. Must be my punishment for being such a slug yesterday. In other news, I've been reading up on "negative ions." Most of the stuff I've been finding on it states that negative ions are responsible for a sense of well being and good health. It also seems that negative ions are more prevalent in country fresh air, near moving water and especially in close proximity to waterfalls. Now, jumping to the next conclusion-could this be one of the reasons kayaking and canoeing are so relaxing, or perhaps that people who aren't into hunting like to fish? Could this be why so many people say they need to live near water or having an aquarium in your home helps provide positive feng shui? It may all be due to negative ions. Cosmic, maaannnn.
12/01/02 I am proud to report that Thanksgiving Day was pleasantly uneventful. Burke, Amber, John, Bruce and I went to Keystone's (yes, that dump in Metairie that is known for its Hard Rock Karaoke and the bartender who flashes everyone) to catch one of Jack's "JFKFC" gigs. The next day we had a little party for Amber and John before they hightailed it back to Mormonville. Saturday nite Bruce brought little Paolo home with us to decorate the Christmas tree. (Paolo is the most well behaved 6 year old on the face of the universe. Not to mention just downright adorable.) Today, I'm schlepping around the house, looking up strange crap on the net and eating ham and various other leftovers from Friday nites shindig. Just have to share this with you all-Skis At least SOMEONE likes it.... Oh-and here are some specs and pics of my next motorcycle. 11/27/02 later..... Everywhere I look there are people on motorcycles. It makes me so, SO jealous.... It makes me think, which model will I have for my next bike. Well, I've come to that very important decision. My next motorcycle WILL be a 73 to 76 BMW R90S. Preferably in Smoke Silver, or White. I'd consider black or Daytona Orange, though. The bike will be complete. It will have farings and bags. Its so easy to miss riding. Horses or motorcycles. *sigh*
11/27/02 Thank you folks over at Hubbard for the turkey. That was so sweet (and completely unexpected)! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Hope that you are all spending it with the people that you love and who love you. I can not tell you how very much I wish I could be in Utah spending it with my mother, sisters, and brother. The holidays just aren't even close to being the same without them. On a less depressing note, I managed to blow up the vacuum cleaner this weekend. Literally, that sucker (hahaha) was smoking and making all kinds of squealing noises. Secretly, I've been wanting one of those bagless vacs, so I ran out and picked up a new Eureka bagless. Let me tell you all, the difference is amazing. Not only is it light, its QUIET, and it sucks up an amazing amount of dirt. (you can see how much it picks up, because the damned thing is clear.) Now here is where the problem comes in. This could make me compulsive about vacuuming. I had no idea that "THAT MUCH" dirt was picked up on my weekly vacuuming forrays around the house. Its repulsive. You can't tell how much you pick up with a "bag" vacuum. But with this thing, well, it's like a tell-all novel about how much cat hair, dust, bird seed, and scary little things are floating around your house. I found myself vacuuming curtains, behind the sofa and the armoirs, under the rugs, windowsills, everywhere! Gross. I vacuumed pillows, headboards, closets, all the baseboards, on top of the doors and doorways, pictures, cabinets, bookcases..... and most of you know, I keep a fairly clean, neat house. This vac could turn me into one of those nuts who vacuum themselves out of the house in the morning.
11/25/02 Yet another interesting weekend-A group of us went to the LSU "Maize" in Baton Rouge. Wish I could have found out about it earlier and told you all; it closes December 1st. The maze was a lot of fun-especially at night. We managed to find our way out of it after about an hour and a half or so. Definitely something to do again! Amber and John are in town, they came over for dinner last night. (I made vegetarian and beef enchaladas-actually came out pretty good.) She's still as crazy as always-drew a "finger grease" painting on my glass table; John kept telling her to behave-she ignored him-told everyone it was her "Van Gogh." Bruce (now known as "Clark Griswald") spent the weekend decorating for Christmas. A new 9 foot star has been installed on the roof and a large animated/lit snowman has "magically" appeared on the lawn. Currently he is trying to "shame" our neighbor Carl into wrapping his pine trees in lights. (Shame is the word Carl used.) Let me tell you all about these lights-when I am sleeping late on the weekends, Bruce makes these silent forrays over to Kmart and Walmart to purchase more lights, because he knows that if I go with him, I'll bitch about how much he spends on it. (not that I'd ever tell him "NO"). So on Saturday and Sunday mornings he swipes the debit card from my bag and runs off to buy another 50 dollar yard ornament. Then he won't admit to it. Take yesterday for instance: I poked my head out of the bedroom window to tell B & Carl "good morning" and noticed a gigantic freaking snowman. Me: "Bruce, I don't remember that from last year." Carl gives Bruce a "look." Bruce says, "Oh yeah, baby-it was here. Don't you remember??" Me: "No, I don't freaking remember a 6 foot tall snowman. How could I forget something like that?" I finally got him to admit to it last night. He probably fibbed on the cost-but he loves Christmas so much, I'm not going to REALLY complain about it. :-)
same day-later still.. How is it that I can keep a whole website up and can't manage to forward a simple link? Well, here is that horse thing I tried to send earlier and goofed on. Singing Horses. 11/21/02 later again.... Have to tell you all about a really nice sparkling wine we tried the other evening, Veuve du Vernay. Its a French wine-a great value and has a really nice refreshing fruity flavor. Its my new favorite "cheapie" wine.
11/21/02 The Most Beautiful Bald Budda Belly Boy, The Mr. Ed Kirkley of the 10 dollar bill, sent me the lyrics (and some other cool stuff) relating to "Hercules" by Elton John. Now after careful scrutiny of the lyrics (aparently, I was making up my OWN lyrics while singing this song-don't laugh, you do it too), I am wondering, just what did Bernie Taupin mean when he says: "Some men like a Chineese life.." ? What does that mean? Did he just like the way it sounded? I have to know. What does it all mean, maaaaannnn???
11/20/02 later... What a nice, rainy afternoon. There is a really clean strech of shiny new asphaltic pavement between Bonnabel and Lake on W. Esplanade that looks like glass when it's wet. Reflections of tail lights and head lights appear to be glistening across a long narrow pond. The car tires make an interesting "ZZZZZZZZ" noise in the rain. Even the rhythmic click, swish of the wipers clearing the windshield of a million little drops of water is soothing. Add a little music with some horns and you have all the makings for a perfectly satisfactory late afternoon drive. Don't forget to check out my beach pics page 11/20/02 Darrell, my friend-please let me tell you that I am drooling over your new truck. Even if it IS a Ford. Gertrude
11/18/02 Same day, but later.... Isn't it nice that other people can't hear you singing in the car with the windows up? I was singing that goofy song "Mad about You" the other day (yes, it was on the radio. I don't have a copy of it.) and I noticed that I can't say " about you." It comes out "abou chew.." Wow-what a yat.
11/18/02 GREAT weekend-Burke, Heidi, Natalia (and Kevin, bless his heart) and I went out to Jaegers and then to the Basin on Friday night. We had an impromptu celebration for Burke's dad's birthday (he passed away unexpectedly this year.) It is so rare that we all get together-but I so wish that we did it more often. There is nothing like hanging out with your oldest and best girlfriends! Saturday morning my sister Cheyne and I went shopping-we bought her an outfit and went to lunch. I then ran over to the Westbank to catch the last Halfmoon's rugby game of the season against Houston. (The Halfmoons won! I miss playing rugby, but don't miss the broken bones and bruises.) Later that evening Randy, Sheri, Bruce and I went to my favorite restaurant, Hong Kong. (If any of you haven't been there you should go. The food is really good, but the view, well, its just fantastic!)
11/14/02 around 9 something pm..... I have a counter script on my site that lets me know "how people find" the this page, ie, what key words are used in a search engine that bring up the site (and wether or not people hit it.) I have no idea of the identities of the people that actually look at my site (unless they write to me and tell me if they think it sucks or what-have-you.) In any event, this keyword thing is totally freaking me out. The top four are ones you (and I'd) never expect. When you put the four of them up together, it's really gross, actually. I'm not even going to list them here because its just to bizzare. (Can you believe this? I'm not going to say it! If you want them, I'll e-mail it to you.-hit me at tab@suncat.net). One thing I do know is, given the words together, it is 100% women looking it up. No doubt about it. Ok-two songs that I have totally worn out this week: Hercules by Elton John and Mona Bone Jakon by Cat Stevens. CD that has been way overplayed in the car: Precious Bryant-Fool Me Good. (oh how I love this woman's music; I want to play guitar and sing like that-I swear to you all, I'd pay big bucks to see her play live, and bigger bucks if she'd teach me her finger-picking style.) One more thing : If anyone is interested in kayaking next Saturday morning (or the Saturday after), PLEASE let me know. I so need an excuse to put the rack back on Gertrude and get back out there-just been a little to lazy to do it just for me. Even if its cold-I'd like to go. Its hard to get motivated when the days are so short and the only time we have (due to daylight) is on the weekends. When I had my truck it wasn't so bad, but the rack thing bugs me when its on the car, so I take it off and its a pain in the ass to put back on. Its so easy to be a slacker in the wintertime!
11/14/02 My doctor has turned me into her human microbiology experiment. I was on one antibiotic for this cervix thing, then she called me and told me that it was the wrong kind (after all kinds of lovely side effects) and put me on another. (which is also resulting in ever so lovely side effects.) Maybe all these antibiotics will keep me from getting this cold/flu that seems to be going around. Hey-can antibiotics give you bad hair days and make you forget how to do simple math? That'd explain a few other things... Anyone out there overdue for a nite out to see some good live music? Maybe its time to make some plans to go to Rock and Bowl or something. Rebirth or Anders Osborne or Snooks would be nice. Its time to go cut up!
11/13/02 Going to take a few minutes away from my usual self-centered diatribe to remind everyone to give a little to the poor this holiday season. I know that all of you are unselfish, giving people to begin with and you probably already have a pet charity that you donate your time or money to, but just in case you don't let me tell you about a really good one that is making a difference in New Orleans. The New Orleans Mission. Not only are they feeding the poor, but they are helping them get back on their feet with programs that help them to quit drugs and alchol, learn a trade and give them hope for the future. They have only been around since 1989, but have been growing rapidly due to the great need in our community for progams like this. They recently expanded their operations to take on homeless women and children, and are in need of toys for the children for Christmas, and monitary donations to feed and house the folks that come to them. Their address is: New Orleans Mission, 1130 Oretha C. Haley Blvd., New Orleans, La. 70156. Phone number:(504)523-2116. You know what is amazing? Everyone reading this has someone in their lives that care for them. That want good things for them. That love them. Most of the people that end up on the streets don't have that anymore. They may have lost their families, or children or spouse. They don't have jobs, or friends or anyone in their lives who can be a good influence. The People who work and volunteer at places like N.O.M. actually care about these people. They can still see the humanity in the poor. Sometimes, all it takes is one person who gives a damn, who cares wether you live or die, to motivate you to better things for yourself. That is what the Mission is doing. I believe that All of the good you do and the love you give is returned to you at some point in your life; so spread a little love and joy this holiday season, ya'll. Hugs!
11/12/02 Tonight is the 3rd self-defense class of the 6 class series I am taking with Ginger and Katie from Hop. The class is actually kind of fun-we get to take out all of our agressions on punching bags and learn defensive moves on "live attackers." Maybe now I won't be quite so worried when B goes out of town and I have to be alone in the house. Not that Pickles isn't good protection-all I have to do is keep her in the room; Her snoring and purring keep me awake.
11/11/02...later around 9pm. Life is good at this very moment. Bruce is safely ensconsed on the sofa watching the football game (500th game of Monday Nite, he tells me). I'm in the blue room upstairs, rain is hitting the window and Dylan is playing. Later we'll have some Crosby, Stills & Nash (I'm thinking of being 18)Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings (reminds me of Buck), some King Crimson (Dutch-don't cringe, Dutch or I'll punch you), Parliment (Bruce-hahaha), Bonnie Raitt(Burke-because I can see her singing this song), Mountain (Mom!), some groovy bass porn riff (Amber-don't laugh-its like all that techno stuff you have on in your car) and Cat Stevens (me as a dorky, large foreheaded kid, learning to play guitar). I just made that cute little gif that you see on the top of the page. (someone let me know how long it takes to load up on a regular modum, please? If it's too long, I'll delete it.) Skis is chewing on his peanuts. The smell of roasted peanuts has filled the room. There is an undercurrent of lavender soap. Not too bad a combination, actually. I was going to write about some stupid incident that happened at work-but I don't even feel like thinking about it, 'cuz I'm in too good a mood. Should be practicing bass but can't convince myself to move. The rain and the peanuts are a nice combination.
11/11/02 Watched two great Judy Garland movies this weekend; "Easter Parade" and "A Child is Waiting." Bruce and I also tried to watch "Spiderman"; If you haven't seen Spiderman yet, don't bother. We turned it off about 3/4 of the way through. The special effects were a poor copy of "The Matrix" and the acting was crappy, to put it nicely. The costumes didn't even fit the actors right. Saturday and Sunday we redecorated the bedroom for the second time. We relocated all of the silver stuff to the spare room and put new curtains, bed linens, and a few other things in our room. It looks 100% better. Decorating a red room is a learning experience, to say the least. The chalenge comes in realizing that you need to have a lot of red stuff in a red room to make it all look right. Oh-and gold stuff. So, in order to have it look good it has to be kind of tacky. When we finish it, I'll take a pic and put it on the site so ya'll can see what I'm talking about. We are happy with the result, though, and it is MUCH more romantic looking than it was a week ago.
11/8/02 Bruce droped a large relationship bomb on me yesterday. Babies. He's ready now. I'm not so sure that I'm ready yet. But is anyone ever REALLY ready for kids? I'm wondering if Bruce isn't just in love with the idea of MAKING a baby. (I ain't talking about practicing making a baby. We do that.) He'd be a GREAT dad, but would I be a great mom? I mean, do they make baby seats for kayaks? Just kidding, but you get the point. I'm still kind of (errrr, very) self absorbed. You can tell by the way that every other sentence in this blog starts with "I." Me me me. Me not wanting to look like a basket ball. Me afraid that Bruce won't think I am attractive carrying around 30 (or 40 or 50) extra pounds. Me not wanting to be nauseated for 4 months. Me not dealing well with a kid that won't stop crying. Me not sure if we are financially able to live on one income so that I can stay home and raise the kid THE RIGHT WAY and not stick it in daycare to be raised by strangers who really don't give a crap about your children. Me afraid to give up my stranglehold on youth and independence and do what you want when you want, Bruce having to drag me kicking and screaming into parenthood and responsiblilty and play dates and diapers. Usually it is the woman who has to convince her man that it is time for kids. I just don't feel that burning desire to reproduce yet. Can't relate to the biological clock thing. Hear some kid screaming at the top of his lungs in the store, see the unhappy/frustrated/angry parents and think "gee, sure as heck am glad thats not me." Read on the news about someone's child being killed or dying or suffering with some terrible disease and think "how do you live through that-what would I do if it was me-glad I don't have to worry about it..." Listen to women BITCHING about a miserable pregnancy and think "WHY would anyone want to subject themselves to that?" Guess I have issues here, huh?
11/7/02 There is a certain room in my office which should be renamed "The Bermuda Triangle".......... Other than the fact that carrots are nutritional and filling and conveniently portable, they pretty much suck. My current carrot consumption is up to about 2 pounds per week. Some brilliant mind should develop vegetables that taste like cheezeburgers or twix bars. It would make being healthy a heck of alot easier. Ever notice how most of the stuff that is good for you has dates on it that tell you when it is going to go bad-and most of the stuff that is bad for you has no date on it? Like hamburger helper, for instance. Ever see a date on a hamburger helper box? Or a snickers? Does this stuff have so much preservatives in it that it doesn't go bad? Oh, one more thing. Why are some people attracted to naiveté and youthfulness, while others are attracted to maturity, cynicism, and wisdom? Take me for example (of freaking course), I love conflict. I could never be stuck with someone who was eternally cheerful. It would drive me crazy. It would be like a never ending aerobics class or something.
11/4/02 I am going to spare all of you on my e-mail list by not sending this to you-if you are interested in what "IT" is, click here.Please be sure to have your sound turned up.
11/2/02 Thanks to Carl next door, we have some great pictures for your viewing pleasure of Halloween 2002 on our block. So if you were not fortunate enough to come trick or treating by our house, you can see a little of what you missed here. 10/31/02 Happy Halloween! If you want lots of chocolate candy, come trick or treat at my house. Let me tell you all why Dutch is quite possibly the coolest guy I know-his favorite color is "Cheeze Wiz Orange." How many people would admit to that? I mean, at least 1/2 of the population of the universe claims that their favorite color is blue. Dutch-you are truely an original. And the only guy I know who keeps 22 keys on his keyring.
10/29/02 Gertrude I need a truck. I need to kayak. Gertrude doesn't like kayaks. Besides, she seems to like Bruce better.
10/28/02 What a great weekend! Bruce and Toni across the street had a Haloween party Friday night(more about that later). Saturday and Sunday night, Bruce, Tu-Bobbi and I watched 3 movies: French Kiss (loved it-especially Meg's hairdoo), Windtalkers (a great movie-very violent, which was hard for me to handle, but the story was so good that I managed to make it thru it), and Dragonfly (some stupid parts, but mostly pretty damned good-and what a great ending!). Sunday we went to the Angola Prison Rodeo, which was quite an experience. My first impression of the place was how VAST the grounds are. And then, oddly enough, how beautiful it is. There is a long oak and cypress lined road that leads up to the actual stadium, which is where the rodeo is located. Either side of the road has four rail, whitewashed fence all the way down to the facility, which is a good 2 mile drive. Cattle dot the pastures on the left; the right fields seem to be used for growing hay and food. There are several large flower gardens all around the facility near the roads. Security is very tight going in and leaving the actual rodeo grounds. Prisoner trustees man most of the craft and food booths, and are very polite. Behind the craft booths are areas that the prisoner crafters are "locked" into-they are there to watch the people buying their wares and talk to them about their crafts. There were lots of leather crafts, such as belts, purses, walets and key fobs; wood crafts of everything from carvings to jewelry boxes to porch swings; paintings and drawings, and metal crafts like copper bracelets. The rodeo itself was a hoot. The events were mostly typical rodeo fare, although there were a few strange ones, like "wild cow milking".(thank God the spectator stands of the stadium are covered, because it was raining-the parking lot was a muddy mess.) Some of the inmates are pretty damned good cowboys. I think my favorite event was a modified bulldoging. There was one set of inmates who had obviously not had much experience in "tackling" cows. As the "head" man was trying to wrestle the cow to the ground, the other inmate was literally pulling on the end of the cow's tail. He's lucky he didn't get kicked. The strangest part of the experience was just actually being there. It was almost surreal and even though we were there for almost 5 hours, time seemed to go by so quickly. I found myself constantly thinking about the prisoners-what they were in for, their stories, what brought them here. It was hard to make eye contact with them-but also seemingly inevitable. You could tell that they wanted to look at your face just as much as you wanted to see theirs.
10/24/02
10/18/02 How the heck is it that we let our goals get nicked away piece by piece over time? When I was a kid I thought at some point that I'd like to be a "weather man" (er...woman). (This could be why I have had a long-standing facination with Brad Panovitch of WWL TV, God help me). I mean-what could possibly be a better job than that-you read off the weather, all of which now is dictated to you by the weather service and computers, you read it, you can be wrong and no one really cares, you are famous and idiots like me love you. What a great job. Why didn't I pursue that?????? What the heck is wrong with me? I'da made a great weathr man!
10/10/02 I had the "cryo" done yesterday to take care of the cervical dysplasia issue that most of you know about. The procedure itself wasn't that bad-only took about 10 minutes or so. Basically she puts you in this room with something that looks like a welding rig, you stick your feet in the stirrups and they freeze (literally) your cervix for 3 minutes, then a 3 minute thaw, then another 3 minute freeze. It feels like really (really really) bad menstrual cramps. There is no way to know if this is actually going to take care of the problem until they do a follow up visit in about a month. Now here is the drawback to this procedure - (and she didn't tell me about this until I was in the room with my pants down) no sex for 6 WEEKS (thats like, ALL of October and well into November!, and not to mention, no sitting down in a bath tub, swimming, etc. Wow. Bruce seemed less phased about it than I was. When the Dr. told me about that, I asked her if SHE could go break that news to Bruce. (she knew I was just kidding, of course-I knew he'd be understanding about it.) So..... thats that. Should be an interesting (well, maybe not so interesting) 6 weeks ahead.
10/07/02 How do we define our loyalties and love for things like sports or music? For instance, why do New Orleanians love the Saints? Do we love them just because we happen to live here? Because they have always been on TV for as long as we can remember? Maybe it is because they are the "underdogs" or because our parents and grandparents loved (and loved to complain about) them. How about music? How many of us "loved" teeny bopper music as children, rock and roll as teens and young adults, and now find themselves listening not only to "the rock you grew up with" but also to WWNO or WWOZ as adults? Remember listening to rock at 18 years old and thinking 'only old people listen to Jazz (or worse yet) opera or Classical music'? When I was a kid I bought a Moody Blues album -the one that had "Nights in White Satin" on it. (Yes, that was my "most favorite song in the whole universe, and it always will be, I swear it just like I'll love Ryan Picolo -except when he eats cool ranch doritos- forever and ever" when I was 13 or so. Tell me I'm a dork, go ahead. I already know this.) I played that damn thing so much that I hate the song now. When it comes on the radio I change the station. Guess that I wore that one out. We get tired of listening to the same old rock tunes and look for something completely new to us like Opera, Jazz, and Classical. Hmmmm, with this in mind, now I understand why people never get "bored" with sports. Teams (even ones that loose a whole hell of a lot) are constantly changing. You never have to watch the same thing twice, even though you are watching the same teams play over and over. Each year something is different-different players, coaches, commercials, cheerleaders, signs in the audience. That must be something like listening to the same bands play but never hearing them play the same song more than once. Wouldn't that be nice.
10/03/02 There is a chat room at the bottom of the page now-I don't know if it'll be of much use to anyone, but hey, when you are here you can check to see if anyone else is checking in. Hope that everyone survived "LILI" ok; we did fine. I slept all day. What a bum. Bruce, Randy and I watched the "Royal Tanenbaums" yesterday (is that how you spell it?). It was a good movie. Reminds me the kind of movie that Woody Allen would make. It will be good to get back to a normal routine ie. no tropical storms or hurricanes or flu or bladder infections or dehydration. My eating habits are out of control and I haven't been exercizing much. I'm afraid that if someone looked closely on the ground where I've been walking, they'd see a slime trail the past few days. :P I need to get off my ass and get back in motion.
9/27/02 This takes the cake-literally. I just got a spam mail for (drum rolllllll please) RE: Your Bowels Cleaned. What in the hell does anyone need their bowels cleaned for? What does this mean? Does roto-rooter come out to your house and perform this service for 19.95 or something? Please. Someone explain that to me.
 Stomach Muscles by Hop's Dragon Fire Karate-Really!
9/26/02 Good job Tropical Storm Isadore. Boy did you leave us a mess- wet carpet downstairs and Bruce's car flooded. At least you couldn't get Gertrude because we were smart enough to park her down the street on higher ground. We had to scrape up wet (glued down) carpet padding all day. Good bye and good riddance. Thank you Randy, Derrek Toni, Big Bruce, Kerri and Carl for helping us with tools, vacuums, extra hands and encouragement. Bruce and I owe you all big time! Happy Birthday Mom! I love you! I have made some more soap in the past few days. Two great big batches-so if any of you want some in any particular flavors, let me know by e-mail or whatever soon so I can custom blend it. I made olive oil castile and some vegetable based soap. I have plenty made, so don't be shy. So long as you don't want HUGE amounts of it, you know I'll give it to you free. If anyone wants more than a pound, it's about 8 bucks per pound.
9/22/02 First off, let me apologise for not having written in a while. Let me also apologise if my entry today is somewhat incoherent. I'm pretty damn sick. But first things first. Bruce and I went on our first "real" (aka-not to visit my family in Utah) vacation in about 4 years. We left last Friday to go to SanDestin, Florida for 4 days. You all remember, the tropical storm Hanah? Well, it hit about 60 miles west of where we were. So Friday and Saturday was a washout-we shopped, ate, and hung out at the indoor pool. It wasn't bad at all. Sunday the surf was huge, so we played in that for a little while, and Monday we had to leave at 10 am, but I did manage to get some time in at the beach. Of course, it was perfect Monday. We saw porposes (Spelling??) not more than 100 feet from where I was swimming the day we left. Now I'll digress a little to the first day we were there-this was pretty much the only really funny thing that happened on the whole vacation-well, maybe it wasn't that funny. You be the judge. Friday afternoon we decided to go walk down the beach; the rain was off and on, and several other people were doing the same thing. As we were walking we noticed a big middle aged man with very long hair and a huge camera with a telephoto lense taking pictures of a rather matronly woman who appeared to be in her late 40's. As we get closer we can tell that this woman is obviously very drunk (or stoned or something.) She is trying with all of her womanly might to look sexy for this guy who is just snapping away with that camera. Right as we walk past, she releases a big ol' left tit from her "grandma skirt" style bathing suit. I'm not kidding here folks. There were kids around, people everywhere-and all eyes were on her. I'm not sure if this is what she wanted or if she was just so out of it that she didn't care. So, we just walked on past, laughed about being on the nude beach, etc. On our way back, the modeling crew was still out there (literally and figuratively). Only this time, she was buck naked. Can you believe it?? I think when she sobered up, she probably burned that film (that is, if mister long hair with the camera wasn't long gone...) Now, to bring you up to date. Wednesday (yeah, back at work, outside in the heat) I was feeling kind of nauseated and dizzy. I chalked it up to not drinking enough water. Thursday was worse. I went to sleep pretty much as soon as I got home. By Friday I was feeling so bad I was having trouble walking. I was running a fever, feeling nauseated almost constantly, bad headache and a cough. I left work early on Friday (mainly because I figured if I was going to collapse, I'd rather it happen in my own damn bed.) Well, while driving home I had a wave of intense nausea pass over me. Like an IDIOT, A COMPLETE IDIOT, I closed my eyes for what I thought was a "split" second. When I came too, Gertrude was stuck in a truck bumper. Joy. At least the accident happened at less than 5 mph and no one was hurt. I have NEVER been in an accident before. I havn't had a ticket in 8 years. Wow. Fast forward to Friday night. I'm feeling even worse than ever. Mom makes me promise to go to the Urgent Care facility near the house. I check in-the Doctor says I have the Flu, am severly dehydrated, and have a freaking bladder infection. They "main line" me 2 liters of fluid and give me a scrip for the bladder thing and nausea. Treat symptoms for the flu, because its viral. Sweet. So, I'm still feeling like crap, only not quite a crappy as yesterday.
9/12/02 You are now reading a post by the Queen of all Goobers. Here is the "Tab is such a Goober" story of the day- "Hot" (a super cool construction worker at the jobsite I am at) was stringing some yellow caution tape around the hole we were working on at the end of the day. Buck (The foreman who's ear I talk off all day-who is also very cool and now one of my most favorite people) was standing there watching the process. I had to pass under the tape to get to my stuff to pack up. Hot asked me if the tape was too short for me to pass under; he was sort of kidding because I damn near could have walked under the tape. I said "NO!" and proceeded to LIMBO under the tape, like a complete idiot. Well, don't you know, I manage to make it all the way under the tape (WITHOUT TOUCHING IT, OF COURSE) and then proceed to trip over my own big feet straight on my face into the sand. Naturally I squealed all the way down. Buck and Hot thought this was hillarious (yeah, it was-I wish I could have seen it myself). Since it was sand (and I was a big bad rugby player about a year ago) the only thing wounded was my pride. I have a feeling that I will have a tough time living this one down....
9/9/02 Happy Birthday Brucie! One of my favorite things about you is that no matter how angry, mad, upset or whatever I am with you, you can always make me bust out laughing. I don't know how you do it-but its one of the things I love about you. That and your burly mechanic hands. :-)
9/6/02 Most of you have heard me complain about how hard it is for me to get the kayak on top of Gertrude. Well, Saturday morning I wanted to go, so I loaded up the 'yak at the house and went out to the lake. It was extreemly windy, but I managed to get in about 45 minutes of kayaking in about a 3 foot sea. (fun and kind of scary!) Now for the hard part-getting the boat back on top of the car in a 15 knot wind. I managed to load the boat (wind coming at the boat broadside) and as soon as the boat was on top of the car, the wind caught the front of it, whipped the rear end around knocking me in the head and basically scraping its way down the side of the car. I was so angry that I didn't even notice the giant scrape and dent the boat made. (and thus didn't tell Bruce about it......) Damned if Randy, who was borrowing the car to go out of town, didn't see it and call in the report to Bruce. Ouch! Bruce took the rack off Gertrude, and I have a feeling that it won't be going back up any time soon. The good thing is, with Randy out of town, I have his BEAUTIFUL truck to borrow and throw the boat into the back of. Yes, Randy's truck is finally being used to do what it was made for. Know what the worst part is? I feel like I am more "stylin'" in his truck than I am in a Mercedes! Trucks just get into your blood, I guess. One thing that is for sure-I won't be giving up kayaking just because I have a car-the car will go first. I love kayaking too much; it is one of those things that make life good.
8/29/02 Skis is chewing up his room (the room that was previously MY room.) So far the little termite has chewed three separate sections of the window frame. He has been locked in cockatoo jail until we get his wings clipped. The new box turtle arrived today-and she is SOOO pretty! The other two don't know what to make of her yet-hopefully there'll be some romance in the back yard soon.
8/25/02 Skis the cockatoo is so cute AND he scares the heck out of Pickles! When little Pickles walks into the room, Skis gets all PUFFED UP and puts his crest up and HISSES at Pickles. This is usually enough to make her leave. So much for the big bad kitty image... We found out the Skis is a "Goffin's" cockatoo. Oh, and HE DOES KNOW HOW TO BITE HARD. I have my first war wound on my index finger. He knows when you are trying to clip his wings. He doesn't like this and under no uncertain terms let me know. :P
8/23/02 What IS it with those stupid "FEAR THIS" stickers you see on the backs of mini pick up trucks and other *junky* cars? What does that sticker mean? That the rest of us should be afraid of someone driving a 7 year old green Toyota? Or maybe we should be afraid of the life size soccer ball sticker? Or perhaps its the K-mart hubcaps that are about to fly off the truck we should fear. Hey, next time, tell us what we should be afraid of......
8/22/02 Got the results back from the biopsy. I have something called "dysplasia" also known as "pre-cancer" (whatever the heck that is....) The Doctor said not to worry too much about it, that they can cut it off and just keep an eye on things. So, at least I know what is wrong. Thank God it's not full blown cancer. That would have been pretty devistating. In happier news, a friend/fishing buddy of ours and his daughter gave us a cockatoo. His name is Skis. He is sitting behind me right now as I type. Very cute, doesn't have much to say, and doesn't bite hard (which is great;my dad's macaw used to bite the heck out of us). I am very grateful to them for Skis-he is such a happy critter. Now we just need to figure a way to keep Pickles from being so curious about him.
8/21/02 Today I've had the brave face on all day but really I'm scared silly about what the Doctor is going to tell me tomorrow. I'll let ya'll know as soon as I find out. (right after I call everyone that I promised to call...) Please say a prayer for me. If nothing else then for my sanity until 3pm tomorrow when I get some details on what the heck is going on.
8/20/02 I must be loosing it. Dutch just wrote me an e-mail reminding me that we went to 4 places Saturday nite and not 3. I forgot about the Basin, which is one of my personal favorites! (he also reminded me about some potential blackmail stuff I have on Derek. hehehehehe.......)
8/19/02 With the exception of Sunday morning's hangover, I had a very good weekend. Can't remember the last time I went out and partied (and stayed out) quite so late. We went to Parlay's, the Matador (to see Tara from Taibo class sing) and then the Red Eye Grill (where Ginger's brother works). It wouldn't have been so bad if I would not have had that last -who knows where the heck they came from-round of nasty "redbull" shots at 2am. I'm getting like an old person-as soon as someone mentioned going back home I was the first one out the door. Hey Dutch-thanks for being such a good tequila buddy. You're the best, babe! Thank God, I'll be back out in the field tomorrow, so I have to get up early (drag) but it'll be great to not be in the office for a month or so. (and have half of Friday off!) 8/16/02 If I only had a million of these......
8/15/02 Monday afternoon our neighbor Bruce (aka-great big Bruce) gave us another box turtle. Its a monster-one of the biggest box turtles I've ever seen! Its easily twice the size of "Beast." Bruce found the turtle crossing Harrison Avenue, which is a very busy street in our neighborhood. So now the turtle's name is Harrison. In any event, after a quick inspection, both Bruces pronounced Harrison to be a male. I sat "him" in the cage with Beast and went in the house so the mosquitos wouldn't carry me away. The next morning when I came out I realized just how lonley Beast was in his cage. Aparently he thinks Harrison is a girl. Ready for love. I was in a rush to get to work, so I didn't check out what was going on TOOO closely. It was fairly obvious what was on the Beast's mind: "LOOOK at this SWEET big sexy turtle they put in here with me! Boy am I a lucky guy..." In any event, I ordered them a girlfriend. She should be here right on time for the weekend. Who knows, maybe we'll have some baby turtles this spring! You know, maybe I should have Harrison checked by a turtle specialist. He may be a She. :-)
8/13/02 Happy one year anniversary to Shannon & Nate! I love you both! AARGH-when is it going to stop raining??????? I want to go kayaking! Been going to Hop's taibo class 3 afternoons a week and it is starting to cut into kayak time. I may have to start skipping class on the days that are "kayakable." (probably won't though, because the results that I have been getting doing taibo are amazing. Kayaking, unfortunately, doesn't do a damn thing for your thighs. )
8/9/02 It has been a long time since depression has had me in its grips like it does right now-and I can't seem to shake this crap, either. My insides are all cut to hell and they still hurt. All I can think about is cancer. It scares me shitless. All of the sudden, its as though I've lost control of my body and now I'm waiting on a stupid (yet essential) freaking test to tell me what the hell is wrong with my cervix. Yes I am obsessing. Yes I am feeling mighty sorry for my stupid ass self. This is all very humbleing. Kind of in the way it was when I got shingles at 18-only different, because freaking shingles doesn't have the deadly potential that cancer does. At the very least, shingles doesn't have the power to leave you without your fertility. Ok-I've vented on you all again and I apologize. This is supposed to be a humorous look at my life. Not so damn serious. Its just hard to be cheerful these past few days.
8/8/02 Went for the dreaded colposcopy yesterday. I had one a few years ago and it wasn't too bad, really-just a little uncomfortable, and I actually got fairly good news. Nothing was wrong, the pap was probably just "off" or something. Well, damned if it wasn't completely different this time. First off, this pap said that I had something different wrong-abnormal cervical cells. The Doctor had to do a biopsy. When I first got in the room, she told me it was probably nothing, that paps come back normal all the time and your body tends to heal itself, blah blah blah. So first she was scraping around. Very uncomfortable. But bearable. Then came the "little pinch" as she clipped off part of my cervix. Ladies, don't let them kid you. It definitely is not a little "pinch"-its more like they are ripping your cervix out with something you would prune trees with. It hurt like hell-as a matter of fact, I think it was quite possibly the most physically painful thing I have ever felt in my entire life. I actually yelled out in pain. Definitely more painful than the arm stiches and more intense than the broken rib. After she was finished torturing me, she said that they'd have to look into things a little further because about 1/8th of my cervix doesn't look normal. Well golly gee, isn't that just great. She said she biopsied (spelling?) that part and would know more in a couple of weeks. I pressed her as to what exactly they were looking for. Cancer. Oh terriffic. So now I have to sit on pins for 2 weeks waiting to know whether or not I have pre cancerous or cancerous cells on my cervix. Lovely. Yeah-I know worrying isn't going to change anything, but how can I help it? It probably wouldn't be that big of a deal if I had already had a child. But now it is a big deal, because usually cancer of the cervix means a radical hysterectomy. No children. And all this news hard on the heals of the discussion with Bruce's father about Bruce and I having (or not having or adopting) kids and this being *one* of the reasons she hasn't been talking to Bruce. So, things could get very interesting in a very short period of time. I'll keep everyone posted. ----Sorry about the graphic description of the colposcopy. I figured if I had to suffer through it, someone else should have to listen to me bitch about it.---- 8/6/02 Lorelle, a "Southern" friend of mine sent me an e-mail with a funny saying refering to Northerners: "Just because you move to the South and have kids doesn't mean they'll be accepted as Southerners, after all, if the cat had kittens in the oven, you wouldn't call 'em biscuits." Now that is Funny.... Here is one I don't quite understand-I'm sure someone can explain it to me: "If it's yellow, let it mellow." Sounds like a 60's hippy thing, but I ain't too sure. So if you know, let it go......AARRRGGGHHHH :P
8/5/02 I'm sure you've noticed a few new additions to my site, namely the "Phenomenal Women of the Web" tag and my fitness journal. The Phenomenal Women site nomination is so completely awesome! It's not an award, but it is a type of recognition for a really good site, accepted by other members of the Phenomenal Women web ring. I feel honored to have my site recognized by them. As for the Fitness/Diet journal, this is to help me stay on track with my exersize and eating habits. So far it has helped me to be more conscientious of what I am putting in my mouth (other than my big size 9 feet, of course.) Bruce's dad came by this weekend and proposed that we try to make up with Bruce's mom. I'm cautiously optimistic about this...most of my close friends know that this situation has caused me great pain as I feel like I have UNDESERVEDLY been on the receiving end of a great deal of uglyness from her for quite some time. Needless to say this crap we have been getting from his mom has hurt Bruce also. Neither he nor I want to have to continuously go through being on her good side for a week and then having the "silent treatment" for a year again and again. The situation is absurd. As usual-I am willing to go with the flow and see what happens. But I'll be damned if I'll let her hurt me again. The only reason I agreed to this is for Bruce. I love him and want him to have a good relationship with his family. But not at my expense. I would never let my family hurt him. I expect that he will do the same for me.
8/1/02 A certain coworker of mine (Ol' Big D) had to go to a class at the airport so that he can have access to the airport facilities. One of the things he was told was: "You are not supposed to smoke cigarettes around fuel spills." Do they actually need to tell people this? Oh-and why just single out cigarettes? Why not pipes, cigars, cherroots, etc? Hmmmm.
7/31/02 Just read an article about some rogue Chinese fish that is infesting ponds in Maryland. The Wildlife and Fisheries Department is trying to figure out how to get rid of it before it gets out and infests other waterways. Aparently the fish can leave the water and live on land for something like 3 days and it eats almost any other fish/water creature it comes in contact with. The whole time I'm reading this article, I'm thinking-"well, the damn thing IS edible; they could just eat it to extinction; almost anything fried is good...." Can you say "COONASS WOMAN?"
7/29/02 Right now I look almost exactly like Luke Skywalker. That is how bad my hair is. Like some grown out 70's man's haircut. Maybe it's time to see a stylist, because I look even more dorky than I usually do. But dammit all, I'm letting it grow out. Just need to suffer through it. Bruce, Becky, Randy and I watched "Shallow Hal" Sunday night. It was much better than I thought it would be. (With a name like that, you aren't expecting much, right?) It was definitely a movie with a pleasant twist. Even a tearjerker in one certain part. It gets the "Tab Stamp of Approval."
7/25/02-later again...this is getting to be a habit. Admit it. You all love that crazy chicken picture I made. You like it so much that you want to see it some more, only bigger now, right? Yeah. Me too. Ok-get ready-here goes.......
If I can't have chickens in my yard, at least I can have some cyberchickens.
There. Now I have chickens of my very own. And you can enjoy them too......
7/25/02 Here's a secret (well, not so secret anymore...) I'm not a big fan of consuming chicken meat. I've really been giving this some thought lately, because I just couldn't really figure out why I've always been like this. So I have come up with a list of reasons why: Ok-now you knew this was coming. Here are the exceptions.
Well, now you know one of my secrets. You also know that occasionally I have absoutly NOTHING better to do than think up and list reasons for not eating chicken. Will someone please pass me that rare filet?
7/24/02-later in the evening... Just stumbled upon the most amazing internet radio site "Radio Paradise". If you like decent music (Dutch, you know what I'm talking about-and you of all people should check this out) you need to check out these folks. I can't believe this is actually out there. Most of the internet music radio stations suck. Big time. So very commercial. Not these people. Check them out-you'll be pleased.
7/24/02 Happy Birthday to Amber who is 25 years old today! Welcome to the downslide to 30, sister. :-P My Aunt Cindy, whom I love very dearly but who is late with EVERYTHING, called me to TODAY get a copy of some pictures for Amber's Birthday. So, Amber may get her birthday present from Cindy in about a month or two. I used to have to rely on Cindy for a ride to school in 7th and 8th grade. I was always the last one to get to school. Literally. And it wasn't even my fault. For holidays we used to tell Cindy to get there about 1 to 2 hours before the time we figured dinner would be ready, just so she'd be on time (or only a half hour late.) When she was in school was she always late with projects? Is she late for work every day? I don't know. It would drive me nuts (an' dat ain't uh faw drive, dawlin.) I love you Cindy, but I am glad that I didn't inherit this "lateness" trait from our genepool.
7/21/02 I apologise for my page being down this weekend. For some reason my domain is not forwarding to a new page I made for the beginning of the site. So, I'll go ahead and show you the page and just leave the front page be. (CREDIT DUTCH who is SO COOL for the idea....)
7/19/02 Thanks to Ginger I'm becoming a taibo addict. Guess there could be worse things to be addicted to, though. Hop's classes are awesome-a really great and consistent workout, and quite a bargin at 5 bucks a class. Is it hot outside or what? Kirkley The Great Budda Belly says he doesn't need to go to the gym to work out in the sauna now-he can just pull weeds in his back yard in the afternoon for the same effect. Now if only Jen could keep him from eating prunes and fried chicken.....
7/16/02 Just found out there was another Tabitha that shared my name. Actually there were 2 "Tabitha Meriwether" 's. (sort of odd, Tabitha isn't exactly a common name.) My mom and dad didn't know there were other women in my family with that name when they named me, either. Well, aparently it wasn't a very lucky name; one of the women died at 28 and the other at 20. Of course, that could have had something to do with marrying INTO a clan of tobacco farmers....
7/15/02 Here is proof (as if anyone needs it) that I will do stupid things to prove a point. The Big D and I were talking about fingerprints and it came up that you can file your fingerprint
7/14/02 A few of you may know about my half-sister Chanette' that neither my sisters Shannon, Amber or I have met. Well, today I finally met her. She is a beautiful, smart, witty 12 year old girl who looks a great deal like Amber. I'm very excited at the prospect of having close relationship with her even though we haven't known each other all our lives. To be honest, it's kind of strange to even think about the whole situation. I'm having trouble putting it all into words.
7/13/02 I haven't been kayaking in over 3 weeks because of the Mercedes kayak rack fiasco. Gertrude
7/12/02 Guess how many donuts I ate today...... Donated blood yesterday. Aparently all this exercise is paying off. My pulse rate is down to 60 bpm. Blood pressure is 104 over 63. Goofiness is around 98%, though. Guess I still need to work on something.
7/10/02 Yeah, I am trying new things....Tell me what you think. Tai Bo got canceled tonight, so I have some time on my hands-figured I'd mess around with perfection..Ha ha ha. Back at work today, taking my turn answering telephones and all, and naturally, I get an extreemly strange (and really scary) phonecall. A woman calls and asks for the person in charge of the mosque. Somehow she got my boss's work number in conjunction with the local mosque, of which my boss is an elder. I explained to her that the person she needed to speak with wasn't here and could I take a message. Her (paraphrased) message:"I'm the owner of the van thats been parked in front of the mosque for the past few days. I didn't know it was there until the police contacted me yesterday evening. My daughter used the van to go somewhere over the weekend and she has been missing ever since. I didn't want to move the van until the police had a chance to examine it and see if anyone in the neighborhood had seen my daughter. I'm sorry about the van, we'll move it this evening after the police finish up and I speak to some people in the neighborhood around the mosque." Can you imagine the horror this woman is going through right now?
7/8/02 I'm almost back indoors-the project that they have me on now wraped up today. But....It looks like they'll be extending it for another 400 feet or so and I'll be right back out there. Mosquitoes, sunburn, heat and all. Still better than being stuck in the office all day though. Independence Day was pretty much uneventful. Baby B and I went to Unc & Cuz's house in Garyville for John's big crab boil. Overboil is more like it. Crab pudding, anyone? I think one pot actually boiled for more than 40 minutes. Uh, isn't most seafood only supposed to boil for around 5 or 6 minutes? We did hang out with the neighbors that night, which was good. Particularly since Bruce and Toni (our very cool across the street neighbors) cook and host so well. Made some creole cream cheese. It came out pretty durned good for my first try. Even had that creole cream "wang" to it..... Bruce (the across the street Bruce) gave us a box turtle the other day. His name is "the Beast." You should see this pen we made for him. I'll try to get someone with a digital camera to take a picture of it. It was supposed to be rectangular. It IS round. The Beast hasn't gotten out of it. So I guess it's working.
7/1/02 Got up early again this Saturday-but this time it was my turn to get out and do something. Unc and I went to Sulphur, Louisiana to see a model airplane show. All the planes that flew were "scale" warplane replicas, most of them being 1/4 scale, a few were 1/8 scale. Sulphur is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Garyville (unc's hood). We stopped twice at Waffle House's along the way for coffee and food. I have a new theory as to why the color scheme in Waffle House is yellow. It's to hide the nicotine stains on the walls. In any event, the ride there was uneventful, and the plane show was amazing. They played WWII music all day. Unc and I left the airstrip at about 1:30 and started our drive back. Somehow the subject came up about how boring it is to drive on the interstate and how you really miss all the scenery. SOOOOOO-Unc, who knows his way around, right?? Says, hey, how 'bout we take a right here and go see the Gulf? We're only about 15 miles away. So, I'm game-what the heck, we got all day, lets take a durned scenic route for once. 32 miles later we finally get to the gulf. It's brown. The sand is brown. The brown sand is covering all the cars and shanty fishing camps in town. It's covering the people. The sky even looks brown. Ok. That took about 2 seconds of looking and we decided to move on. Unc, who has checked out the map (he didn't have his glasses with him. I was driving. But, hey, he knows where he is going....) says that it is about 80 miles or so to Lafayette if we just stay on this road. We can see some neat small towns, parallel the gulf, make a day of it. I'm cool with this, but we are now down to less than 1/4 tank of gas. We asked the woman at the nearest store where gas was. "Oh, about 30 miles back that way (pointing in the direction we had just come from), or about 18 miles that way (the opposite direction from where we were going), or about 12 miles that way (the way we ARE going)." Great. 12 Miles later we are stopped waiting for a damn ferry. The road ends here. Still no gas station. A half hour goes by, during which I prod Unc to go and actually talk to someone for some directions. We get on the ferry. There was a giant sign at the ferry dock "DO NOT GET OUT OF CAR". What did Unc do the moment we got on the ferry? Got out of the car. -"Hey Toots, get outta the car.." -No one ever gives him any crap, though. Maybe thats because little old men look mean. We saw 2 dolphins right next to the ferry. Very cool. Gas was found as soon as we got off the ferry, just like the lady said. (only she forgot to mention the ferry at all....) 50 Miles after this we come to a sign that says, ABBYVILLE, 82 MILES. Abbyville is below Lafayette. About 25 miles below Lafayette. I swear, we drove on some of the MOST DESOLATE roads I have ever seen to get there, too. If we would have drove off one of them, no one would have even thought to look for us there. Let alone actually found our sorry asses. Unc doesn't wear a seat belt. I found this out after making an extreemly short stop because the the idiot broad in front of me creamed her brakes to make a turn-no signal, either. He damn near hit the windshield. So I start hollering at him about the seatbelt. This is why he doesn't wear one-BECAUSE THE SEATBELT SQUISHES HIS POCKET WHERE HE KEEPS HIS CIGARETTES. oooookkkk. Unc knows Lafayette. We got lost in Lafayette looking for the I-10. Drove smack dab in the wrong direction, no less. Unc sheepishly admited that he hadn't been to Lafayette in a few years. About 20 to be exact. When we finally got on the I-10, Unc suggests that we tell everyone that we left the airshow at about 5 or so. Did he actually think I was going to let him get away with that? The story is to funny. We really did have a great time. Even though I did have to drive 10 hours.
6/22/02 Bruce got up at about 3 am this morning to go fishing. Woke my sorry ass up too (accidentally of course, a cats purring could wake me up.) So I started making gumbo. 4 am, digging in the attic spaces looking for my big pot. It's nowhere to be found. 5:30-go to Walmart. Buy big, fabulous, stockpot. Great buy, very happy with deal. Leave da Mawt, go to da Sav-a-Center. It's about 6:15 am now. Get crabmeat and oysters. Some of them terriffic disposable plastic containers. Stand behind drunk dude buying 16 oz Budweiser. His shirt is on inside out. Its a purple Hanes tee shirt. Get YELLED at by the old bitchy cashier that I pressed the wrong button on the credit card thingy. ("WHY DID YOUUUU DOOOOO THAAAATTTT??????" "I TOLD YOOUUUU IIIII WOULLD DOOOOO THATTTT!") Mutter under my breath that she is a nutty ole bitch and leave. Go home, finish gumbo by 9am. Go back to sleep. Pickles comes to bed too. She apparently feels the need to sleep in my face. Loose hair, fleas, catbreath and all. Everywhere I move, she is right there. I am not able to escape. This continues til about 3pm. Bruce, now very sunburned, arrives home at 6 with cleaned fish fillets and a couple of fish stories. I brag about my new pot. Not too bad of a day. :-)
6/20/02 Everyone! Run out right now and pick up a copy of this week's Gambit mag. Vernon Smith, of home produced comic book fame, has got a write up in it (and his picture-isn't he cuuuuute!) Right after you do that, go buy at least 5 copies of his newest comic book. Your fearless leader comands it. Vernon, Babe-You Rock. Now we'll be able to brag on you extra hard at our 10 year McMainiac reunion.
6/18/02 Check this out (courtesy of my e-mail pal Frank: The hanging bunny!
6/17/02 We sold my pickup truck. I'm actually feeling sad about this. It's almost like giving up a little of my independence. (even though I probably couldn't go a full 300 miles without stopping to add a quart of oil.) Funny how I've managed to identify with the "truck" mentality. After all this time of driving a truck, it just felt "right" to be in one. A little less feminine. A lot more independent. Throw the kayaks in the back and go. Who cares if its dirty. Its a truck. Sitting above the rest of the traffic. No near misses because "they couldn't see you." Yeah, I can check my own oil, it's my damn truck, kinda thing. Oh well. Now people are going to expect me to get dressed up, I guess.....
6/12/02 No, have not gotten a speeding ticket in it yet, but it has been washed 3 times since Saturday morning. It will be washed again Friday. If not before. It now has a name: "Gertrude Von Schnackenburg." Yeah, I know it's a big car name, but, what the heck. Gertrude Von Schnackenburg does (at least)sound German.
6/7/02 I am SO PSYCHED-Got a new car! It is a 2002 Mercedes C230 Sports Coupe. Paprika (orangy-red) color with grey interior. This is the first time I've ever had a brand new car. Picture coming soon!
6/6/02 You never saw Aunt Violet without a sweater. It could be 98 degrees out and she'd have on that conservative off-white sweater with the plastic pearlized buttons. -Aren't you hot in that, Aunt Violet?-Us in our flip flops and polyester shorts, stareing at her like she was crazy. -A Hrum hum hum.... I'm always cold, ya gramaw keeps it so damn cold in the house. Like an icebox...A Hrum hum hum...- That was her laugh. Never heard anyone else laugh like that. She could also keep an ash on a cigarette longer than anyone else. She smoked the 100's, too. Her with that yellow blond doo carefully holding that ultra long cigarette, never taping it. She'd smoke almost the whole thing, ash dangling precariously over the kitchen table, us watching in rapt fascination, as she'd finally tap it into the tray, take one more puff (she didn't inhale, she said-cause thats where cancer came from) and stub it out. When Aunt Violet would come over, her son Bruce would usually be with her. (His laugh reminds me of hers.) We'd play Scrabble. Aunt Violet and Bruce were very serious scratch Scrabble players. Bruce has the unabridged Scrabble Dictionary. That Serious. They would sit with my grandpa, mom, sometimes Aunt Cindy and maybe grandma sitting up in her wheel chair. Green olives, swiss cheese cubes and adult beverages on the table. Everybody laughing and Aunt Violet A Hrum hum humming and creating that gravity mocking cigarette ash. Smart, trim, gravely voice, blond, smiling Aunt Violet. Aunt Violet passed away late this May.
6/4/02 I was thinking today about how odd memory is. Our memory of people, places or events doesn't really change. We may not think about any particular memory very often but at some point, something is going to trigger it. When a certain memory is "triggered" its amazing how easily it all comes back to you. Kind of like when you reread a book that you read when you were younger. The story hasn't changed, but what you may get from it at a different time in your life is. It makes me wish that I had appreciated certain events more when they were happening and people when they were there in my life. It stinks thinking about the "I should have..." or "If I could have..." or "If I'd only known..." Not a week goes by that I don't have thoughts like this. They aren't necessairly depressing (thank God) but they sure can leave you feeling ignorant, embarassed or just a little sad that something didn't turn out quite as good as it could have.
5/30/02 A group of us went out to Lager's last night to celebrate Dutch's birthday. (-HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!) A round of tequila was ordered. When the barmaid brought out the shots, I got all excited saying - GEE these are huge shots- I mean, the glasses seemed huge. Well, don't you know that there was about an inch of solid glass at the bottom and the sides of the glass had to be a third of an inch thick! Talk about faulty advertising. I guarantee you, there was enough glass here to make 2 coke bottles and a pair of spectacles for a blind person. Ah well... Question du jour-how in the heck does junk mail get routed? Where do they get the names from? My mom REGULARLY gets credit card advertisements for me in the mail. At her address in Utah! I've never lived there. I've never had mail sent there. Nothing. It's kind of scary to think where all this info goes. I mean, does this crap get sent to any old address you may have lived at? Could some random freak apply for a credit card in my name with one of these advertisements? I'd love to know how a person can stop all this trash. As it is, whenever I get a "postage paid reply" envelope, I usually fill it with junk (toothpicks, old paper, etc.) and send it back. What this accomplishes is pretty much nothing, I'm sure, but it makes me happy. Ok-other news. The two websites that I visit the most are: www.comics.com and www.motherinlawstories.com. Both very amusing. Favorite comics: Rose is Rose, Pibgorn, 9 Chickweed Lane, Potluck Parish, For better or for worse, Luann, Fatcats, Raising Duncan and Arlo & Janis. Arlo & Janis remind me of a couple I know, which is what makes it funny to me.
5/28/02 In case you haven't already heard-You can now reach this website by typing www.suncat.net instead of the long address. I can also be reached at my new e mail address tabitha@suncat.net. I may finally have my cello sold. If so, I'll be taking some guitar lessons. Finally. I want to learn how to play fingerpicking guitar/blues. Always have wanted to. Now I may just get off my lazy butt and do it. Nothing else going on musically right now really anyway. We stopped playing at our house 'cuz we were pissin' off some of the neighbors. (It was loud). Still working out in the field and am enjoying it tremendously. Lots of bugs, frogs and the occasional snake to play with, plus, I'm outside, its warm and I'm not stairing at a computer screen all day. Only drawback is I have to get out of bed at 6am (major drag) and I'm tired when I get home (poor Bruce). Has anyone ever heard of a person under the age of 35 or so with skin cancer? I had a Doctor tell me today that you don't get skin cancer at "my age." This sounds like bunk info to me.
5/27/02 This is a Letter found on the front lawn at my house. The letter is like a journal entry. It's rather sad, but most of us could relate to this kid at some point in our lives. (I know I definitely could!) Funny thing-it seems some other (kid maybe?) tried to "correct" the grammar and spelling!
5/24/02 Happy Birthday Eddie-Great Budda Belly of the Universe. I love you, man. :-)
5/17/02 I miss the sound of rain. If you live in the South and your home is not hermeticly sealed or saturated with poison, you will experience the occasional large cockroach, er....I mean, Palmetto Bug. Well, it is rather rare that we see living palmetto bugs in our house because Pickles thinks they are cat toys. She even knows where they come from. Downstairs, we have an old shower that no one uses, and the drain is uncovered. Every now and then, one of those afforementioned pests finds its way from the sewer into that particular drain. Pickles sits next to the drain like a lioness of the Savanah waiting for her next unsuspecting victim. Yesterday when I got home, there were three of her dismembered victims scattered from the kitchen to the living room. (which is a rather large number-I usually just find one or two a week) She will pull each leg and wing off and then batt the bodies around until they *finally* just give up and croak. You could almost feel sorry for them. Sometimes these things are so big you need a front end loader to pick them up. You know what else is funny about roaches? Bruce and I can (just about) never kill them by ourselves. If one of us spots one, we'll put out the general "Oh CRAP, its a giant ROACH-COME HERE QUICK!! Bring a shoe!" Then we'll kill it together. A real team effort. One of us will be the spotter, the other will do the smushing. The spotter usually has to clean up, as the smushing is probably the worst part. Pickles, if she is around, is paceing franticly around waiting for the roach to fall (so she can dismember it.) It's hard to keep her away from them. "Hold Pickles, I'll pick it up-QUICK, hand me a papertowel!" Roach smushing. The oldest sport in New Orleans.
5/14/02 A Pair of Plastic Lions that look like marshmallo candy 5/10/02 Had a great time with my family. They left yesterday to drive back to Utah. 30 hour drive. Geez. Monday night Bruce and I took them to Commanders Palace. None of us had been there before and were looking forward a great experience. Unhuh. Well, thats not quite how it worked out. The service was really poor. The waiter had a "'tude" and was very slow to get to our table for anything. The food was good, though. But not that damn good, considering the price. Ah well. At least I can say I've been there (and won't be spending any more of my money there again.) I can get better service at my local sushi restaurant. We went to the Global Wildlife Center in Folsom on Tuesday. What a hoot-everyone should visit there. It is such a unique experience to be able to feed the animals. I really enjoyed the giraffe, camels and longhorn steers. The steers just tilt their heads back, open up their mouths and let you literally pour the food down their throats. They don't even chew! Hopefully I'll have pics up of our week together soon.
5/02/02 My Mom, Shannon, Aryan and Nate are in town! I'll be taking some time off of work to spend time with them, so-I probably won't post til next Tuesday or Wednesday! :-)
5/01/02 THE CONFESSION OF A TRUE DORK ON MAY FIRST: I flex my arms in the mirror (occasionally) after working out to see if my muscles have gotten any bigger. (*they haven't*) And let me clarify something, as one of my critics pointed out that 10 pounds isn't too much on my frame. I don't add ten pounds evenly to my entire body. I add 98% of it straight to my bootie and thighs. The remaining 2% goes to my upper arms and my calves. Never, ever does it go anywhere else (like-my chest would be nice....) or even across my belly. So, this said, my butt really does get out of proportion from the rest of me. My torso will be a "size 6" and my legs will be a "size 10." Like a giant pear. Yummy. Now I'm hungry. For chocolate covered pears with vanilla icecream. Never mind.
4/30/02 In an effort to shed a few extra pounds and to get back in "shape" I've started to alter my diet. This all came about after a recent visit to the mall to buy a new pair of shorts. I'm usually somewhere between a 6 to an 8, although I've been in as small as a 4. Well, after NOT being able to find ANYTHING that fit properly (IE without showing the crack of my butt) I had to go shopping in the "old lady's" section of Penny's. Yikes. Then I find out that my butt has expanded to such freakishly large proportions that I can't fit in an 8 and am now barely squeezing into a 10. Diet time. Big time. And here I was thinking that Bruce was shrinking all my pants. Wrongo. Ah well, my daily intake of junk was too high anyway. Hopefully, this will wind up being a lifelong healthy change and not just a loose weight and go right back to ice cream every other day thing. We'll see. Hahaha-literally.
4/25/02 I have GREAT news-Lisa, my gurlfriend from grammar school is contemplating moving back home from Texas!!!! I am so psyched! COME HOME GURL! RITE NOW! In other news-I'm busy busting my butt at work. Lots of O.T. but I gotta work for it. My eyeballs get kinda dried out after staring at the monitor for more than 8 hours.
4/24/02 Here's the freaky dude story. When I was out on that job, one of the dump truck drivers came up to talk to me. Exactly one sentence after "Hello" he started talking about how he didn't think that women should be in the military. I responded by saying that I didn't really understand why a woman would want to be in "active combat," but that I had no problem with women serving as doctors, flying planes or in technical postions. He goes on to say he was in Vietnam and how he saw several nurses killed. THEN he tells me that he KILLED an entire family in 'Nam, and how it has affected him all his life! (Yeah-no shit, that would affect any halfway sane person. But this is entirely besides the point.) Ok-this is at about 2 minutes into the conversation. I don't even know this jerk's name yet. Being somewhat stunned by this sudden relevation, I didn't know what to say, so I let it go. Next sentence- "I've been off of drugs for 20 years. Alot of people got hooked on drugs in 'Nam." Then he asks me if I wanted a coke. (Yeah RIGHT-I'm going to accept something to drink from this dude.) Ok- He brings up the "family killed in 'Nam thing again. So, my curiosity getting the best of me, I asked him-"did you have orders to kill an innocent family?" He looks at me and says "YES" and then says, "Oh, I was just kidding" and proceeds to playfully and somewhat forcefully punch me on the shoulder like it was all some kind of very sick joke. Ok, my turn-"WELL, I HAVE TO GO CHECK ON SOMETHING DOWN THE STREET-SEE YOU AROUND.." then I proceeded to walk off as fast as possible toward safer territory, namely another inspector on the other side of the job. What the hell was up with this nutcase? I guess he was offended that I, a BROAD, was out there working with men. On a MAN's job-and this was his way of intimidating me. At least was what I got out of it. The whole thing just felt hostile. Well, I guess that ignorant people like that deserve to have to see a woman making more money than them. HAHAH!
4/22/02 Miss Pickles is much better now, thank goodness. Thank you all for asking. My apologies for not updating my site-problems with my hosting site (again!) I spent last week out "in the field" doing construction inspection. What a great job that is! Stand around and watch other people work. Make plenty of O.T. What a cushy job-I'd sure like to do that full time. You meet all kinds of really nice people, and the ocasional freak or two. I swear-the next time I hear anyone "dissing" roadway workers, I'll slap 'em. Those are some of the hardest working people out there. Tomorrow I'll tell you the story about the completly freaky jerk I met out there-it is somewhat of a long story and I don't feel like typing it out right now.
4/10/02 How do you fix a price on the life of an animal that you love. Naturally-you have to do what you can afford, but at what point does the expense become unreasonable? Yesterday, Pickles went to the Vet. She is very sick with a fever of almost 105 degrees. The Vet doesn't know exactly what is wrong yet, but its looking like kidney infection with possible partial kidney failure. The bill so far:$250. This didn't seem too unreasonable to me-lots of tests, she has to stay there a few days, medication, etc. Well, Bruce had a fit. As if I'm not stressed out enough over my cat, he was giving me grief over the bill. This from someone who spends about 120 bucks a month on cigaretts! Go figure. I could really go on in this vein for awhile, but not now-I'm rocking the boat as it is with MY dental bills, MY truck repair bills, MY "20 dollars of used books for my little brother" bill, etc. I guess I'm just one giant liability.
4/09/02 AHHHH! Much better. Finally went kayaking on Saturday. There was a brisk wind out of the east, kicking up waves that were about 3 foot from troth to crest. Nice big fat wide waves. The kind that do not break over; they just roll. Lots of fun to paddle on, but definitely not for those who are afraid of water. I paddled into the wind for about 40 minutes. Then the wind just "pushed" me back to where I started in about 15 minutes. You can imagine what its like to paddle into the waves-you see each one and anticipate how the wave will effect the boat. You adjust your weight, paddlestroke and direction. Can't do that when you are going "with" the waves. It can be a little scary at times, especially when the wind is shifting directions and a big wave hits you broadside. But heck-thats what makes it fun! You can feel the wave coming on, sucking the boat into it for a split second; you pick up the paddling pace and then the wave is pushing you for an awesome moment or two; then you are sliding over the crest and down into the troth; and it starts all over again-getting pulled into the next roller. Until you've experienced this, you can't imagine how fun it is! I feel so wild out there, like I could just paddle anywhere. The salt water smell, waves, wind, birds, fish, boat and me. Its a strange mix of Sane and Insane all at once. Just when you think you've predicted the wave patterns, the wind changes and everything is chaos. I love it!
4/04/02 My mouth always has caused me alot of trouble, but now its starting to cost me alot of money, too. Yesterday I was munching on a "soft 'n' chewy" granola bar and a tooth cracked in half. So, off I went to the dentist (again) for a tooth pull. Geez. Now I'll have to get that bridge sooner than I originally planned. Hey Mom & Dad-whats up with these bad tooth genes?????
4/02/02 You know, it felt kinda funny to be gettin in my ancient "work style Chevy" pickup truck with my very first fake tooth this afternoon. I think I'll go fix dinner, yell at the old man and kick the dog. Hmmm... do I feel a hankerin comming on fer a Budwiser? Heck-it ain't even 5 yet. Quick-someone slap me before the redneck within takes over.
4/02/02 If anyone knows of a GOOD free chat board, let me know. Mine are down unless I pay 20 and some odd bucks. Forget that. I'm too cheap. Still haven't found a good "chat room" either. So...... Dentist again today-oh joy. Dr. Bent is very gentle and quick, though. I even got Bruce to go-he was impressed with her too. Not at all like that Pain In The Butt BASTARD dentist I had when I was a kid. With people like that in the dentistry profession, its no wonder so many people let their teeth go.
4/01/02 Happy April Fools Day. Every year, at least one or two people play an "April Fools" joke on me-and I ALWAYS fall for it. You'd think I'd have learned better by now. I'm still waiting for today's joke on me. Yesterday we had a small "band" crawfish boil. Dutch & Derek's parents came over-that is one cool family. Just goes to show you that good people usually have good parents. Went to lunch with Jen & The Great Bald One on Friday (to a seafood restaurant on the last day of lent-were we nuts?), had much fun. One of my 8th grade teachers, Mr. Cosgrove, was at the oyster bar! I was thinking, how in the heck did he recognize me (I barely recognized him until he showed me his drivers license)- its embarassing to think that I still look the same as I did in 8th grade. Geez. I am still a big dork, I guess. :)
3/27/02 Working on adding a chat room to my site. We'll see how that goes. My message "chat" boards are about to expire and I don't want to shell out 20 bucks a piece to keep them (cuz they ain't that great anyway!)
3/25/02 I apologise to all of you for not updating my site in so long. Its been a really strange week. First off, Burke's father passed away unexpectedly last week. He was a great guy-and I'm still trying to come to grips with his death. I've known him since I was a little kid and have so many great memories of him etched in my mind-he was quite a character. Whenever someone dies, it reminds me of just how tenuous every person's hold on life is; It leaves more questions than answers. The root canal Tuesday afternoon was uneventful and the actual process was pain-free. Hurt like heck after, though. Got my new bass in Tuesday-its beautiful and a true joy to play. Derrek, Rich & I have been playing music together for several weeks now and things are starting to sound pretty good. I know I've said it before, but playing music really fills a void for me that no other activity can. We all need a "creative" outlet and music is the best one for me.
3/13/02 Went to Unc's house for his 30th birthday party (30 for like the 33rd time or so) last nite. It was a spooky drive back from Garyville. The sky looked positively evil. Low dark clouds fanned out as far as you could see like dirty waves in a lake, their peaks illuminated by the light from the city and the oil refineries. I was quite glad to get home. Bruce wanted to watch "Blow" which I had no desire to see-as most of you know, I don't like violent movies, and I heard this was violent. So I went to sleep after watching the History Channel after about a half hour. Well, at about 11pm I hear Bruce next to my side of the bed grabbing my baseball bat. He wakes me up, hands me his cell phone and my coat, tells me that someone is trying to break into the house. I'm not quite comprehending why someone would be trying to break in when half the lights are on, the tv downstairs is on and it's well lit around our house. But now I'm thoroughly scared, because Bruce has NEVER told me he thought someone was breaking in before in any place we have ever lived. He tells me to follow him down the stairs and he walks to the front door (which connects our foyer to the outside door) holds up the bat and whispers to me that he's going to beat the heck out of whoever is trying to open the jalouse windows in the foyer. Picture this. I'm standing in the living room, in just my coat holding the cell phone watching Bruce prepare to maul some thief with a Louisville Slugger. He's scared, I'm scared. I am mentally reviewing rugby tackles and thinking about what the heck we are going to do if this person has a weapon. Then.....a little "meow" from behind the door. It's Pickles, locked in the foyer. She was apparently up on one of the window ledges brushing against the glass. Pickles is getting rather famous for getting locked in the foyer after Bruce takes one of his front porch cigarette breaks. She waltzes in, sits on one of the chairs (unnoticed in the dark, of course), Bruce walks in, closes the front door, then the foyer door and Pickles winds up stuck in there until we hear her crying (or scaring the crap out of us with her not so stealthy cat movements). Maybe Bruce should stop watching scary movies, too.
3/12/02 Got back from the dentist. VERY bad news. It appears as though I'll have to take out a mortgage on the house to pay for the dental work I need. Next week-root canal & crown. One month from now, pull tooth & get a bridge. Sometime after that, replace 4 or 5 cracked fillings. Great. My dental insurance might cover a grand. Ha! That'll be just a drop in the proverbial bucket in my estimation of the total cost of all this. Boys and Girls, don't neglect your teeth. It'll cost ya in the end. I havn't been to the dentist in over 8 years (because Im terrified of getting shots in my mouth.) I had to laugh when she told me that other than "that" my teeth were in good shape. I suppose she meant that they were nice and white! They certainly don't seem in good shape with all that work needing to be done!
3/11/02 Had a good weekend-shopping with Burke & L.J. Saturday and played music Sunday. Still no kayaking, though. I'm suffering from kayaking withdrawl. My rib feels much better, but now unfortunately I'm somewhat loath to go out to play rugby again. Definitely don't want another broken rib (or something else broken) interfering with my ability to pick up a 50 pound kayak. In my list of sporting priorities, kayaking still comes first; even though I truly enjoy rugby. For those of you who havn't kayaked before, I just can't explain how awesome it is. Its more than just fitness and fun for me. It IS my therapy. Thats really corny, I know, but I just feel so at home in a kayak. I dream about them, I'd love to have a whole garage full of them (because each shape and size has it's own "feel" on the water). If you are comfortable in "big" water, you really should try it. Nothing else compares. And yes-it does put a canoe to shame!
3/8/02 (a little later) "I miss my sons, but there was nothing to eat." AKHTAR MUHAMMAD,who traded two of his children for wheat. This is a quote from the New York Times from a man in Afganistan. The article that accompanied it was one of the saddest I have ever read. It must be VERY hard to think about freedom when there is nothing to eat; when all you have to barter for food is your own children; when there are people who will actually BUY your children in exchange for wheat. May God help them. These people are innocent victims of a terrible government. People essentially no different than you and I-just trying to live a decent life. They had no more to do with the tragedy of September 11th than we did. Yet they suffer horribly. Can any of us imagine having to even CONSIDER selling our family for food? We should all thank God that we are so fortunate to live in the USA.
3/8/02 Received the amp the other day. It is awesome! Great sound, nice punch. Must say-ebay is pretty neat for getting good stuff at a reasonable price. Hung out with Burke and L.J. at Parkway last nite. (two very cool ladies, by the way.) Got the grand tour of Burke's new digs and visited with Ms. Scooter who is quite possibly the neatest doggo ever. I need to get used to the fact that Burke isn't living in Lakeview now. She is an "Old Metairie" girl now. There was some talk of she and I getting together to do some acoustic folk music soon. Which would be so nice, because it's the only kind of music that my voice seems to work with. Ah well, maybe if I smoked cigs on a regular basis, I could get some "gravel" to my voice. Just couldn't live with the smoke smell on my clothes that seems to go with it.
3/6/02 I am very excited-Bought a Warwick Fortress One Bass and an Ampeg Amp through E-bay. Should be here today or tomorrow. Never purchased anything used online before. I sure hope they look as good "in person" as they do in the pics. You'll hear all about it soon enough. The music thing is moving right along. It's so nice to play with other people again. We don't have any "big" plans yet with it (hey-we are still a long way off from playing in front of strangers anyway!) but I wouldn't complain if we actually developed a real sound and started gigging. So far, (this could be just me) it seems that Derek, Rich and I have a pretty good chemestry and have similar musical interests. Band name suggestions, anyone?
3/4/02 Check out my newest work in progress-"Tab's Scale of Coolness" 3/1/02 As I sit here eating my formerly frozen low-cal lasagna I am dreaming about a stuffed baked potato from my favorite greasy spoon. Amazing how some of the best semi-fast food you can get in Kenner comes from such an ordinary place. Potato King is located in an L-shaped strip mall flanked by a full gospel church and a pool supply store. My guess is that they got the paint for the dining room from the pool place. Dulled by cigarette smoke and cooking fumes, the walls are about the color of "too old" swimming pool water. Sunlight, one single florescent bulb and a tv light the dining room. Someone, (more than likely the proprietor) painted what he must think a "potato king" looks like. You could probably see the resemblance after a Budweiser or two. 2 potato dolls sit next to the tv above a video poker machine. N.S.F. checks decorate the wall to the right, along with a caricature of the owner and his girlfriend, and an "I can only please one person...." sign. A faded cardboard "Bud" sign hangs from the Styrofoam drop ceiling. The friendly "yat" waitress who must also enjoy stuffed potatoes immensely will get to you as soon as she gets off da phone, dawlin. But don't let any of this stop you from eating here. You will never be the only person in the dining room. I've actually come to enjoy Potato King's homey ambience. It's got character-and the best-damned potatoes ever. The next time you are in Kenner, stop on in and get a potato. Oh-don't forget to tell me what YOU think that "painted potatoe king" looks like.:-P
2/25/02 Played music with other people this weekend for the first time in probably 4 or 5 years. It felt great. Hopefully now that I've found some people that I have common musical interests with, this will be a regular thing. We got a high speed connection this weekend, too-so I'll be setting up a webcam in the near future. Yeah! What is wrong with people who plagerize your work and then make themselves out to be some kind of victim when you call them on it? If you want to know that story, write me. I'll be glad to tell you all about it. The whole incident has me really stressed out and pissed off.
2/19/02 I'm thinking of setting up a webcam in the computer room. Pickles hangs out there alot on her chair (and Bruce & I at the computer.) Its still up in the air, though. I have to figure out a way to stream a video feed to my website server (or set up my home computer as the video server.) Truly, I am turning into a big nerd. What might be even more fun is to have a live audio feed. My viewership would mostly hear sporadic farts, giggling, and (pathetic) guitar playing. I'll keep you updated.
2/18/02 Our house is about as close to clean as it gets...so if you want to see if HURRY. I'll let you in without being embarassed for,oh....the next 24 hours. After that, it's prone to be a mess again. Our garden even looks good! (thanks to Bruce.) Amusing story du-jour. For years (aproximately until I was about Suncat10 or so) I had no idea that I had a big birthmark above my butt. I knew about the one on my hip, because I could see it. I was telling B the other day that I didn't "discover" the birth mark until my butt started to get bigger, a la puberty. It was rather suprising, at the age of 11 or so, to check out my butt (finally) in the mirror only to discover this huge spot at the base of my back! Suddenly the rapid expansion of my thighs didn't seem half as scary as that mark. I even asked my mom about it. "Mom-has that ALWAYS been there? Why didn't you tell me?" She said she thought I knew. Then told me maybe it was just dirt. HAHAHA. Funny mom. My ass is growing to freakish proportions in the course of months, I discover a new (huge) mark on my hide and she wants to make "not funny" jokes about my bathing habits. Ahhh puberty. The time of self discovery.
2/14/02 There are all kinds of people in this world. Like you all didn't know that. Sometimes I wonder if the reason some people are jerks or hard-asses is to protect themselves. To protect themselves from getting hurt by other people maybe (or who knows what). If you don't know anyone personally, then I guess you can't be hurt by them. Maybe thats it. I just can't imagine that the people we come into contact with whom we think are assholes are like that all the time. There are people that I meet that are extreemly aloof and just come across like they don't give a damn about anyone or anything. How do people like this have (or Make) friends? Heck. I try to be nice to most everyone that I meet and still have trouble making "good" friends. Ok-Ghosts. I don't believe in them per say. What I believe is that in certain places the fabric of time is extreemly thin. Perhaps even torn. In these places voices and images from the past seep through into whereever the present happens to be. Certain places are "haunted" and others aren't because the "thiness" of time is somehow tied to a place. Let me back this up a bit. One of the reasons I think this is because many times when you hear about haunted houses people will say that the place is being haunted by several inhabitants who are in no way related and who, infact, lived at totally different times. Take cemetary hauntings for instance. Why would a ghost hang around a cemetary? If it could, wouldn't it go somewhere better? Perhaps the hauntings at cemetaries aren't necessairly by people who are intered there, but by those who have visited loved relatives or friends there. So-now you all know that I am nuts. Call Art Bell or the people with the white jackets. They'll understand perfectly. Of course, if YOU understand, I invite your reply.
2/13/02, 10:00 p.m. I must be hormonal today or something. Just got finished watching the movie "A Child's Wish" on Lifetime and I swear, I cried through the entire last hour. Normally I won't watch movies that make me sad, but I just couldn't turn it off. I'm a complete dork when in comes to "tearjerkers"; cry at the drop of a hat. Really. I do. Ask Bruce. Complete wuss. I was going to write about my theory on ghosts but now I'm so damned depressed I'll have to save it for tomorrow. What a way to spend an evening alone-CRYING in front of the tube. Well, hopefully my contacts won't be glued to my damned eyeballs. Now, I'm going to go catch up on Olympic Curling. The only way that'd make me cry is if they dropped one of those friggin curling stones on my foot.
2/10/02, 7:32 p.m. Made it through the birthday, Gov't. Mule Concert and the rugby tournament. I'm still alive. Much to the dismay of all my Arch Enemies.HEHEHE. If any of you like rock, you absoutely must see Gov't Mule live. I can't get over how good they are. Quite possibly some of the best live music I have ever heard. I think I have a broken rib. Then again, maybe it's just really bruised. It hurts. Especially when I breath deeply. Or sneeze. Ouch. With rugby, you learn alot in practice, but it doesn't even compare to what you learn when you actually play the game for real. The sport is truly brutal. It toughens you up. But oh so much fun! I love my rugby girlfriends-some of the coolest women you'll ever EVER meet play rugby. AND THE PARTIES ROCK! Music I am listening to right now as I have been typing(and playing on the 'puter)-Alice Cooper-Its my body;Bach-Prelude in C Minor (pipe organ);Cat Stevens-Mona Bone Jakon;Beatles-Taxman;Captian Beefheart-My head is my only house unless it rains;Bonnie Raitt-Love sneaking up on you; Heart-Love Alive. What a mix, huh? I miss Napster.
2/8/02 Yes, it is my birthday. I'm 28. I've never experienced "birthday anxiety" before because I've always felt so young. Well, last night as I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep (way past my bedtime, I might add) it dawned on my that I am seriously on the downside to 30. Yuck. Now I know, those of you out there who are over 30 are laughing at me now. (ALMOST 30-HAHAHA!!) Its just that I'm sitting here thinking, what the heck have I acomplished? I tried to think back to when I was 18. I don't even think I though about being 28 then (just like I'm NOT thinking about being 38 in 10 years.) Yikes. I'm babbling now. Anyways, I just had much different goals then (most of which were NOT achieved) than I have now. My goals were much loftier then, too. I do have some of the same desires; actually get a bachelors degree, be more fit, play music more, etc. I'm just not really any closer to them now than I was then. (well, I am more fit, anyway, and I have a big "A.S." degree, but what the heck is that? Something you get to pay the bills. Its not for "knowledge and enrichment" for sure.) Well, one day soon, I'll reveal to you all what I'm thinking about getting my degree in. I still need to STRESS about it some more, though. Enough of that line of though. I'm going to enjoy my damned 28th birthday weekend! And you, my friends, I love-thank you for all your support over the years! And Thank YOU Mom, for having me and putting up with my crap for all these years!
2/6/02 Yesterday I went and hung out at Parkway to see my friend Burke. Bruce was sick so he stayed home. The bar was pretty busy, so Burke was really busy and I wound up talking to L.J. and Justin most of the evening (Justin has quite a few interesting stories-and I found out he played rugby years ago!) I actually managed to get "hit on" by some random guy in the bar. You know what's strange? When I was "single" I never got "hit on" in bars. Wedding rings must be some kind of odd magnet for single men (or men who want to act like they're single). The way I see it-most men are too damn easy. Read MOST, the ones worth having are much harder to get (like Bruce :-) for instance). I can sympathise (SP??) with people who are trying to meet other singles-its damn hard. A bar room just doesn't seem like the best place to do it. Hmmm.. you know what else? I think alot of women (obviously myself included) feel a little threatened by a strange man approaching them. I don't mind talking to a man to whom I have been introduced to by a friend. (presumeably, the friend knows them and the man in question just wants to b.s. while hanging out in a bar.) And naturally, I don't feel threatened by women. Of course, how often does a woman approach another woman in a bar? I'm usually flattered if a woman wants to talk to me for whatever reason. Ok. The point of all this blathering? I don't know. I'll shut up now. Oh, one more thing-completely different subject-NEVER NEVER NEVER watch a documentary on spontaneous human combustion before you go to sleep. Makes for really crappy dreams.
2/5/02 Anyone desireing to see me get my butt kicked playing rugby should attend the Halfmoon's Mardi Gras tournament this Saturday and Sunday at the Gretna Rugby Field. We'll have games from 10 am to 5 pm Saturday, and 10 am til about 3 pm Sunday. Directions from New Orleans- Take the GNO to the Westbank Expressway. Get off at Lafayette Street. Hang a left (go under the bridge) Follow Lafayette Street (it becomes Belle Chase Highway)-to Gretna Blvd. At Gretna Blvd hang a right. The field is about 300 ft. up on the left.
2/4/02 Bruce, Randy and I went to "da Quawta" Friday night. Truely-it was the busiest I have ever seen it. We went to Pat O's fairly early in the evening, you could barely move. Just so you all will know-I was a Pat O's Virgin until this Friday. Can you believe that? I've lived here all my life and never been in the place. The experience was much improved after a Hurricane and a SkyLab. I don't really remember much of the evening past that-everything was somewhat of a blur of tequila shots and lots of walking. Saturday we went and watched the Men's team play rugby. I didn't do anything special for Superbowl, just stayed home and took it easy. (Gotta rest up for the 28th Birthday/Gov't Mule/Rugby/Mardi Gras/Party weekend coming up!!! Oh-I dyed my hair, too. It's looking sort of greenish-brownish. Jee-one day I'm going to get this right.
2/1/02 Probably by the next time any of you see me I will have drasticly changed my haircolor. Again. I'm going back to dark hair. Blond is just a little to high profile (and maintenance) for me. Plus I'm thinking about maybe letting it grow out again. Hair color and style for me is kinda like the weather in New Orleans; If you don't like it, just wait a little while-it'll change dramatically. Besides, I'm tired of the freaking blond jokes now. Ya'll can stop sending them. Send me some of that wonderful smelling Aveda Pomade instead. Don't forget to vote tomorrow! Go Patriots! Make Ram-burgers! Gee...did I just say that? Sounds to violent. Must have been one of my other personalities.
1/31/02 Let me brag on Bruce for a minute-he sent me flowers at work today. BruceeeBabe-for all that I tease you and pick on your laundry and housekeeping habits, :-) I love you; thanks for being there for me when I am down (and up and everything else!). And also-to my Best Bud Ed Kirkley-thanks for being one of my best friends ever. Oh, Kirkley? Jen told me to tell you to go clean your room or she is going to come down with perm lockleg.
1/30/02 Spring and Summer are not far away. It was so warm last night that all the crickets and frogs were out making their noises. I miss that during the Winter (or what passes for Winter around here.) Of course, the Cesna sized mosquitoes were out too, but so long as you keep moving, they don't bother you much. One of the best things (to me) about the warmer/hot months is the extended daylight. Its nice to go home after work and know that you still have 3 or 4 hours of light. One of the main reasons I can't kayak during the winter is because its damn near dark when I get home. Naturally, on the weekends, there is always something more important to do. Soon enough though, you won't hear me complain about it. Heck, I may not even have time to write (because my big-ol butt will be in a boat floating around somewhere!)
1/29/02 I don't really know how to put this into words, but I was really saddened by the murder of two Vietnamese women. The news media treated this like it was no big deal because they were prostitutes. What I gathered from the treatment in the news of the story of the women that if they had NOT been prostitutes, they would have gotten more than just a blurb. If these women had been white socialites their lives might have been treated as important by the media. How is one person's life worth any more than another? The "crime" these women commited was selling their body (probably to keep themselves fed and a roof over their heads). For this they are treated as worthless scum. Less important than us "law abiding" citizens. I don't understand this. These were thinking, breathing, feeling women who may have had families and God knows what other people and things in their lives that were important to them. Their lives get summed up in a single sentence. They get stuffed into a garbage bag and thrown on the side of the interstate. Thats it. Forget about them. Who the hell cares? Don't go to thinking that I am condoning prostitution. It's illegal-I am well aware of that. I'm not a liberal, either. I just object to the way the media treated their story. Thats all.
1/28/02 I was doing good with my promise to not bite my damn fingers for almost 2 weeks. Started to chew on one little hangnail a few days ago and now they look like hell. More than likely I'll be a nail biter until I join the underground. It's such a disgusting habit and more than likely the worst I have (wow, thats kinda boring, huh?) In other news, I am burnt to a crisp from being out in the sun Saturday at the rugby field. I forgot how much sunburn hurts! But its for a good cause-the Mardi Gras tournament is 2 weeks away! My sunglasses are the "wide band" type so I have that burnt racoon thing going on. Guess this kind of goes along with the sexy outdoors girl look. Wait-I'm married. It's just outdoors girl now!
1/24/02 Its pretty amazing what those little plastic contacts do. This girl can focus on just about everything when she's wearing them. But sometimes you don’t need to "see" everything so clearly. It’s nice to be able to look down at the grass and see a green carpet, or look up at the trees and just see a bunch of different colors blurred together. A beautiful softfocus.That is how I like to think of it. When I watch life happening all around everything becomes very clear. I don’t need focus, I need perspective.
1/23/02 Another newsflash. I have just been informed by a man (you know who you are) that the "G-Spot" is is a salad bar at Wendys. Just thought you ladies out there would like to know this.
1/22/02 I am a slacker. Yesterday I let myself get talked out of going to rugby sprints so that I could gorge myself on Chineese and watch Bruce and Randy play video games. The worst part is that it didn't take much convincing for me to do this.(I did manage to go jog 3 miles in spite of myself.) Oh well, I'll go get my arse beat to a pulp at rugby practice Wednesday. Sometimes I think I suffer from a deeper problem. Too many "irons in the fire." Jeez-I play guitar, but have not really improved my playing in years because I barely practice. I tinker around with the mandolin, lets not even talk about that damned cello. I love to draw, but being as I do that all day at work, the last thing I want to do when I get home is draw any more (even though this is completely different types of drawing-but thats beside the point.) I'm lucky if I make soap more than 4 times a year lately (alot of that is due to no freezer space, though!) My to read list is outrageous and I haven't even begun to scratch the surface on what I do for exersize. I want to take lessons for stained glass and photography. You know, if I was independently wealthy I'd have plenty of time for all of this. Heck, for that matter, I could take up yachting and cigar smoking. People keep asking when I'm going to have kids. WHAT? With what time???
1/21/02 Will someone please explain to me why so many people are concerned with their reputation and so few are actually concerned about their honor? I mean, not to complain, (yeah-right) but what should be the most important? Why do so many people care about what casual acquaintences think? Shouldn't we be more concerned with how we think and feel about ourselves? About how our closest friends and family think about us? Ok, enough of that. I am not at liberty to truly explore this tangent on so public a forum as this has become, but trust me, one day I'll get around to talking about it indepth. Ok-FUN stuff now. I bought a pair of burgundy 5" platform heels this weekend, walked in them all Saturday night and managed to not break an ankle. Have I mentioned before how much I love high-heels? Now you know. I think that I am developing one of those shoe problems...er...disorders. Hmmmm....about that reputation thing? :-)
1/17/02 Wha..? Wait, What the heck is this?! Could it really be? YES! I'm back and better than ever. I've moved my site to a new
server (because Gurl can't get their crap together.) I must say, this looks better anyway. And, to pat my durned stupid self on the back, I wrote this whole thing
using HTML ALL BY MY SELF. No tools, nothing. So, one by one, I will be updating and moving my other pages over here and giving them proper connections to this site.
Bear with me while I update my links and stuff. This is an ongoing project for me. Let me first off say that I DID NOT get a chicken for Christmas. This was EXTREEMLY upsetting, although for some odd reason, the neighbors seem relieved. Why? I have no idea. Since my birthday is coming up, I am still holding out hope. I think that if I do actually get a chicken (or chickens) that they are going to have a very special coop. Envision this-a chicken pagoda. It would be like, chick (no pun intended) backyard architecture! People would come for miles around just to see the Chicken Pagoda of New Orleans. Ok, ya'll get to work on convincing you know who that I NEED a CHICKEN PAGODA!
Web Page by: Tabitha Suncat26@hotmail.com |
in the white cans. Thank goodness no one passes that around for Christmas.
loves 
is jealous that I was out there eyeballing that big beautiful truck this morning, as she was sitting there covered in muck, her rims coated with brake dust, her interior littered with "working outdoors" necessities. She told me the other day that she can hardly wait until I get a truck and she can hang out with Mr. Bruce. 
are not getting along, that or she is bad luck. When I got to work this morning my drivers side front tire was going flat. Ginger had someone come and pick up the tire so that Bruce could fix it. Well, it appears that I managed to roll over a BOX CUTTER, (how in the heck do you do that?? Those things should lay flat when they fall on the ground. Try and drop one on its side and see!) which lodged itself in my tire. Either that or someone stuck it into the tread of the tire and broke off the blade. (I think if that were the case, the tire would have been flat when I got in the car this morning.) Guess how much a new tire is for this damn car-$200 freaking dollars. 
KOIKLEYBUCKS!!!!!!!I wonder how many buckets of fried chicken I could get? Or maybe stewed prunes? Well, how about the chicken prune combination platter with a side of hardboiled egg (to match that beautiful bald head...)
Harrison seemed to be tolerating all this fairly well. He wasn't trying to get away from Beast, anyway. Later I got to thinking, "this is terrible, I need to get Beast (and Harrison) a girlfriend..." I mean, what would people think if they come in our yard and see that we have homosexual turtles? (just kidding, really.) Actually its just kind of funny to see the relatively small (but obviously manly) Beast trying to make Sweet Turtle Love to the absolutely huge (but dignified and effiminate) Harrison. He looks like he's trying to climb a mountain.
off and it will come back looking the same. So I went ahead and inked one index fingerprint then filed the same print down to smooth skin (well, almost smooth, anyway.) Now my damned finger hurts. I can hear it now...."Well, DUH..."
