Too Late, Too Late to Stay Home and Sit Around

Here is a pretty spot where we stopped on our bike ride last weekend.

So, last night was lovely. I ran after work and then The Guy and I made dinner together and had a great talk and watched another Andy Griffith episode. It was the "feminist" one where Ellie runs for city council. It's interesting to see the point of view from back then.

Tonight I'm planning on giving plasma after work, then coming home to an empty house. The Guy will be at his mom's and Stinky will be at work. I think I will sit in my quiet little cottage and watch a movie. How quaint of me.

I Tell You Love, Sister. It's Just a Kiss Away

Here is a snowy, slippery, spiral fire escape.

I read Slaughterhouse 5 while I was giving plasma today. I got to the part that said:

Billy answered. There was a drunk on the other end. Billy could almost smell his breath - mustard gas and roses. It was a wrong number. Billy hung up.

That whole answering a wrong number thing, reminded me of a story an old lover told me about his parents. His mother met his father when she answered a party line back in the day. He originally called for someone else, but quickly forgot about her after talking to his mom. She was a beautiful Swedish woman who had had many suitors at the time. His dad was a short Chinese man studying engineering.

My ex said that his mother chose his father over all the other men because she knew exactly how her life would pan out with the other men, but had no idea where she would end up with his dad.

After many moves and degrees and advanced degrees and a marriage and two children who she loved and fretted over, a divorce after she found her husband having an affair with their close friend's daughter, starting a gallery with money from said divorce and ultimately retiring to Mexico; I would love to ask her if the gamble on the unknown had been worth it to her. Of course, we all know that the "safe" choices that she rejected in those other men, could have turned into something completely different than she imagined too. I doubt there are any really safe major life choices out there. Shit comes at us out of nowhere and all we can do is brace ourselves and wait for it to hit or be aggressive and meet that shit head-on. So it goes.

It Might Not Be a Lot But I Feel Like I'm Making the Most

I got these pics off the website asking me to pay them tons of money to buy an 8 x 10 of me all gross and sweaty and looking like crap right at the end of the Bix. No thanks. I say, the smaller the better on these. Yeesh!

Today, I took it easy. I ran my 6 mile in the morning, and then had an appointment to go to with Stinky. At 2, I gave plasma. It was fine, but it was also really hot and humid and rehydrating enough to get anything done is pretty impossible. So, instead, I just chilled out, ran a few errands and made dinner.

Here's me after I was done running. Another thankfully small, thumbnail of a photo.

In the evening, I thought I might be up for a little cerebral, thought provoking movie, like Hot Tub Time Machine. Don't worry. I drank a couple of beers, so I'd be smart enough to process the rapier like dialogue.

Funny thing was...I actually worked at a ski resort in Southern California in1986...Well, the first month of 1986, anyway. We left to move to San Francisco, right after we watched The Bears win the Superbowl, and missed the Challenger disaster the next morning when we drove across the street from our motel to get gas. Weird. Anyway, it's always interesting to watch Hollywood's idea of a similar time in my life. Some of the hair and the clothes and music were right on...Other things were ridiculous as the rest of the movie.

Like Stars Burning Holes Right Through the Dark

Here is the back end of Roberts Dairy.

Okay. I may have overdone it a bit today. I ran 6 miles in the morning, then cleaned my kitchen. After that I called a woman who is a friend of someone I work with, to set up an appointment to mow her lawn. She says she's too old to do it anymore and didn't want to pay the amount a lawn care company would charge. When she answered, she said she didn't just want to set up a meeting, she wanted me to actually come over and mow. I had already made plans with my friend K. to kayak at around 3, so I told her I'd come over after that.

K. and I kayaked for about an hour and a half. There weren't many people on the lake on a Monday, and so we had a ton of space to paddle around in. She had a super fun weekend, and I got a chance to live vicariously through her. I almost felt like I had a life for a minute there.

I dropped K. off and then drove over to the woman's house. Her lawn is pretty big, but not out of control. It took me almost two hours. She called me a work horse and couldn't believe I was done so quickly. Then came the conversation about pay. Neither one of us had any idea how much she should pay me. Finally, she said $40. I thought that was a little high. She said, she'd pay me that today, since the grass was a little high and then after that, she'd go down to $30. I accepted that. It will be nice to trade one day of giving plasma for mowing her lawn. I'll still have to donate plasma one night a week, but that's so much better than two.

The Scars of All I'll Ever Know

This weekend in my garden; the gerbera daisies, lupin, black eyed susans and the cone flowers were all in bloom. I think next year my garden will be a hundred times better. This year I was just trying to figure how much sun it would get and how much room some things were going to take up.

Today was a day of me taking care of bidness. As you know, I'm not much good at the practical stuff, but I sure like it when it's done. So, I finally called the termite guy back. He never got back to me after his initial visit. He told me it could be a while to look up the price of the original treatment, but I thought a month and a half was excessive. I asked my friend Michelle when I saw her at the Dublin on Friday and she said to definitely call them. I did that today and the guy was really nice and apologetic. He said he would come by on Wednesday or Thursday and treat that area and said he'd charge me $120 this time and then every year after to keep them from coming back. That sounded reasonable.

I also got my results back from the plasma place and my protein was finally within approved levels. I donated tonight after work. It's definitely not my favorite thing to do, but I need the money right now, and so at least for the next couple of months, I'll continue donating. I also told myself if I donated tonight, I could laze about when I got home and watch a bunch of house hunting shows on HGTV. I love looking into people's homes and they make me feel so laid back in comparison.

My flower attracting some wildlife.

I got a text from Stinky when I was at work today. She asked me if she could go with her friend Em and volunteer at the hospital. I told her what I'm sure all of you would say too: "Hell no! What did I tell you and your sister about all your little do-gooder projects?"....Just kidding. I thought it was great.

She and her friend helped a family from Wisconsin who had a premature baby in the NICU and two other daughters who were 5 and 7. The little girls were tired of sitting around and their parents were feeling guilty about not letting them play and not being able to give their preemie the attention she needed either. So, Stinky and her friend took the little girls for a couple of hours. They went to the kids playground and the library. Stinky said it brought back a lot of memories from when she was sick. She said there was a little 4 year old boy who was hooked up to a machine and he had to be so careful how he moved, so he didn't pull out any tubes. Stinky had forgotten that feeling until today. She was attached to an IV pole for her entire stay in the hospital. She wasn't strong enough to move much, but she remembered being scared that it would get pulled out when we wheeled her around in her chair.

I asked her if she was glad she went, or if it brought back too many bad memories. Stinky said she was glad she went and she wants to do it again. Even though it was a little weird at first, she thought it was good to go back to the scene of her illness now that she's well and can run around with kids on the playground.

But My Head's to the Wall and I'm Lonely

Here is some pretty for you.

Weird day today. We had a work meeting to give me my 10 year in the office anniversary certificate. I didn't realize I'd worked there for the last decade. Doesn't it sound longer when you use the word decade? I've worked for the University for almost 13 years altogether. Weird. When I was younger, I'd be lucky if I lived someplace longer than 6 months. Now I own a house, have kids graduating from high school, and have worked for the same institution for 13 years. Hell, I almost look good on paper now. I never thought that would be possible.

In the interest of taking it back to my white trashedness...I tried to give plasma today, but I didn't have enough protein in my blood. I'm not eating any differently, but I'm running and riding my bike a lot more, so it could be I'm just depleting it more. I had to take another blood test today, and then I'll find out in a week or two whether it's better.

This was the second night in a row that my girls were gone. Coadster got a role in a production of Godspell, and has rehearsal pretty much every night. Stinky went to a friend's birthday party. It's nice to have a night to myself now and then, but I can see really missing them in the next couple of years.

Since I'm being all random anyway, I thought I'd tell you about the book I'm reading. It's called, When Will There be Good News, by Kate Atkinson. So far, it seems really well written and the story, though horrifying right from the git, is also fascinating. "On the other side of the wall they could hear the horrible animal noises that meant their parents were friends again. " Was just one of the lines that cracked me up. It just could be the perfect Summer read. I can't wait to get a couple of hours on my back porch with it this weekend.

This Heat Has Got Right Out of Hand

Does it ever feel like the birds in your neighborhood are out to get you? They did this to me less than a half hour after I washed my car. Stupid, dumb, ignorant birds...

Well, kids. I'm not sure where any of you live, but it is hot as hell here in Iowa. This is the first really hot weather we've had since we moved into our house. Of course, the lack of air conditioning didn't seem like that big a deal when we moved in in November.

Tonight I gave plasma after work, but didn't dare run, since I would have been too dehydrated even if I had all of my fluids. Instead, I came home and Coadster and I finally took care of the last form for her financial aid. It's due June 1st, so we're pushing it...As usual. Then Coadster went to her dad's and Stinky came home and I made some more fresh de gallo salsa that we had with guacamole and lettuce on quesadillas. It was about all we could get ourselves to eat when it was so hot.

This weekend I started reading Graham Greene's The Quiet American. Coadster suggested it and she's been really good at recommending books I wouldn't have chosen on my own, but am so glad to have read after the fact. So far, The Quiet American is good escapism. I've always been interested in the history of Vietnam and this book takes place during the French occupation and war, but before the Americans entered the picture.

Okay. I better try and hit the hay. I sleep even worse when it's this hot.

Those Were the Happiest Days of My Life

Here is a really bad pic of Coadster's honors assembly.

I'm finally home. I never thought I'd get here..And be able to hang out. I went to give plasma right after work, came home and ate a bowl of cereal. (It's a good thing I made stuffed pork chops, wild rice and corn on the cob for Sunday dinner, because I might not have time to eat anything decent for a few days here) Stinky and I then had to run out and get to Coadster's seniors honors assembly.

All of these lasts for Coadster this year will turn into firsts for her next year. But now it's a little sad. I remember her last day of kindergarten. Back then I still worked two jobs. I took off my day job to go on their field trip, where we walked from their school to City Park. It was such a nice day and I stayed and played with them all until I had to leave to get ready for my second job. As I was leaving, almost all of the kids wanted to give me a hug goodbye. I got a little teary thinking that none of these kids would ever be that sweet and openly affectionate again...And there I was tonight, watching half of those kids going up to receive their scholarships and awards. They may not have been as sweet and openly affectionate, but I was happy to see that so many of them had really grown into interesting and hard working adults...Again with the slight tearing....All these endings and beginnings in the next year could get a little emotionally messy for me. Ahem.

The saddest part was saying goodbye to the girls' principal. I've never really been clear on the story, but it seems the much beloved principal got ousted by some bullshit politics within the school board. All the kids are wrecked. Every community member who came up to hand out the out of school scholarships, gave him his props and there were at least 2 standing ovations for him, with a couple of the senior boys chanting his name. I guess the good thing is, he just got a job in the big O and if my sister's kids are lucky, he'll be their principal when they get to high school in ten years.

Happiness, Is So Hard to Find

Here is a pic leftover from prom. Coadster's group decided to have a potluck and the family fixed their dining room all up for it, including rose petals all over the floor. Nice.

Today was a good money day. I rarely have those, so it is quite a celebration when get one. I gave plasma. The young boy who checked all my vitals to make sure I could donate, asked me if I worked out a lot. I told him I liked to run. Then when he stopped back to drop my chart off at my donating chair, he saw me reading and said, "Wow! A runner and a reader. That's awesome!" So, maybe there is hope for America's youth after all. As I was leaving, one of the women who worked there told me that they were raising their donating prices again. So, I'll get $50/week starting Monday. Sweet!

Coadster called me while I was donating. I called her back but just got her voice mail. She had her solo festival and she was getting ready for that. She didn't have time to rehearse because of all the time she had been putting into the school play lately. She asked me not to come, because she thought it would make her too nervous and she didn't want me to see her perform badly. I love to see her perform no matter what, but I understood, so I stayed away.

When she finally got back to me, she told me that she got a 4 year full ride scholarship. Even sweeter! I was so worried that she'd have to work full time and take classes full time and still have bad debt like I did when I was in college. Hopefully, now she won't have to work quite as hard and I don't have to breathe into a bag worrying...About that, anyway.

Personality Crisis, You Got It While It Was Hot

Coadster's corsage. I'm pretty sure it was the only one like it at prom.

I'm still working on the calming and slowing down process. I gave plasma today after work. They just cut their payments down by $10/week, so there have been less and less people donating. The plasma place downtown pays $30/week more, so I have a feeling most people are going there instead. I would, even though it takes twice as long there, but they close at 6 and I'd have to take vacation time every time I donated and it's not really worth it to me. Anyway, I actually had a point here this time, and it was that since there are fewer people donating, I get in and out in about 30-40 minutes. Not bad.

I did decide to run today, but just my 4 mile route and even though I was a little tired and dehydrated, it still felt really good. My original plan this evening was to transfer my tomato seedlings into bigger pots and bring some over to my friend K.'s boyfriend's house and hang out at his BBQ for a bit. Just as I was ending my run, I realized that I knew the two women who were walking by my house. It was the wife of the guy who owns the Dublin and her sister. We chatted for a little while and another Dublin guy who lives around the corner from me, came by with his two dogs and as we were all talking, another neighbor/Dubliner drove by and honked. Good lord, but this is a small town.The women invited me over to drink wine with them, but I was suddenly feeling that I had overextended myself again, and I haven't had any alcohol in a couple of weeks and I probably would have passed-out after one sip with my fluids so depleted, so I had to say, thanks anyway.

I walked into my childless house, and quickly realized I wasn't going anywhere. I did that thing that people have been suggesting, and listened to my body. What a great idea. I read on the couch in total silence and it was ever so nice. I'll have to remember that next time I feel like I want to do too much.

Rattle of Bones, Dreams That Stick Out, a Medical Chart on the Wall

Hey, look what revealed itself. The plant I thought was a peony, was really a bleeding heart. How perfect for me. Ha!

I really went through the wringer today. I had a dermatology appointment in the morning to check out that weird spot on my lip. They asked me if I wanted them to do a full body check for skin cancer, and I figured they probably should since I was there anyway. I am Irish after all and we were not meant to grow up in Arizona, like I did. Of course, when the doctor came in looking like a younger hotter Peter Gallagher, I thought I might take it back. I'm pretty sure I was blushing throughout the whole exam. The good news is that I didn't die from embarrassment AND I don't have any signs of skin cancer. He said the thing on my lip was pretty common in outdoorsy people like myself and he gave me a list of lipbalmy/sunscreeny products.

Then I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon. I scheduled the appointment 6 months ago. My last appointment was actually the day I got approved for my home loan. Doesn't that seem more like 6 years ago, than 6 months? Anyway, once I realized I had both appointments on the same day, I figured I should just leave it and get it all over with.

I gave plasma after the dentist, but wisely decided not to run today. Even I know when to take a break...Well, sometimes, anyway.

Another angle.

So, now it's the weekend and I got all my body maintenance issues out of the way. How do I plan to spend it? I'm not sure, exactly. I have so much to do, I'm having some trouble trying to prioritizing it all.

Most of my girly type friends will be in the Quad Cities at the State Pool tournament. Right now, I think I'll run after work, and then I'll probably have a fire in the pit in my backyard. I'm pretty sure I'll open the bottle of Pinot Grigio at some point in the evening too. If anyone stops by great, and if not, that's great too. I'll be happy either way.

Saturday will be my day to try to get stuff done. I want to take care of some yard work, do some kitchen work and do some car cleaning and maintenance. If I don't have any more tempting offers, I might drink some more wine either in front of fire or in front of a movie or both.

I'll try to get as much done as I can on Sunday before Coadster's cathedral concert at St Mary's in the afternoon. And that should be more than enough for one weekend.

How about you all? Will you be drinking wine in front of a fire or doing some much needed maintenance this weekend?

She Said a Bad Day's When I Lie In Bed and Think of Things That Might Have Been

Here are some Irises in one of my raised beds.

Okay. Here's the dealio. I gave plasma after work and it was fine again. I'm really getting into my book, but it still cracks me up, because it's a retelling of the Prodigal Son and there's such heavy talk about piety and coming back home twenty years older and trying to establish yourself as an adult within your family and I'm reading it at the plasma center. I'm sure none of you will be at all surprised when I tell you how much I love that juxtaposition.

After plasma, I ran. It was so warm and humid and there were storms and amazing clouds all around our town, but they didn't hit us while I was running. What did hit me though, was dehydration. I have to be so careful when I try to run after giving plasma and it's hot outside. Duh, I know. But they're only able to put a percentage of fluids back in me and even if I drink a bunch of water first, as I found out today, I can come back from my run feeling pretty damn woozy. Nothing like a free high, right?

Tomorrow I might actually get an evening to myself and if I do, I'll try to do a bit of real writing. I'm planning on taking off where my last writing exercise left off. Now, though? Now, I'm super beat and so I'm going to hydrate myself and read for a little minute and try to sleep. Night, night.

But I'm Sorry I Don't Pray That Way

The lilacs are starting to bud out.

I gave plasma after work today. I think that's been going a little better. I talked to one of the girls who works there last week about all the hematomas (I was starting to suffer from hematomaphobia) I get. She said it was because my veins roll so badly. She also said I might be able to prevent a lot of them by keeping the employees from pumping up my veins so much before they put in the needle. It seems to be working a little better now. I'm still running my 4 mile route afterward. I think I'm too dehydrated to run any more than that, but I'm fine with 4 miles anyway. Since I'm not giving plasma tomorrow and it's supposed to be in the upper 70's, I thought I might do an 8 mile route to make up for it.

Stinky's orientation went well today. She needed new shoes for her job and since word on the street is that her dad got some tax money back, she called him to ask if he'd buy them for her. Surprisingly enough he actually agreed to it. (Of course, after he asked why I couldn't get them) Anyway, I think that's the first thing he's bought either one of the girls in forever. We'll take what we can get.

I started reading Marilynne Robinson's novel Home today. I still have a little to go on the McCarthy book, but it's a loaner from someone else, so I don't feel comfortable carrying it around with me. I read Robinson's first book, Housekeeping when I was in my early 20's and it is still one of my all time favorites. It's so moody and dreamlike. When Robinson moved to town here, I was still working at the coffee/ice cream shop and waited on her a few times. I'm sure I screwed up her order every time, I was so nervous. Her writing is so dense, that it cracked me up to be reading it while I sat in my chair giving plasma and trying not to listen to the guy's phone conversation right next to me. "Experience had taught them that truth had sharp edges and hard corners, and could be seriously at odds with kindness." Wow. And that's just one sentence of the book. It was a lot to digest, set against the background noise of the cell phone talker and Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" playing on the satellite radio station they pump in there.

Sooooo. Let's see. My kids, Spring, running, trying to scratch out a living, listening to music and reading. That pretty much sums up my day. I think it was a good one.

I Felt Almost Demure

Here is a photo of The Golden Gate Bridge that we took on our road trip two years ago. I would love the promise of a great vacation right now.

Oh, thank god for the weekend. Today was kind of a weird day. The guy who was going to put my counters in, got back to me while I was at work. He apologized for how long it took him and said he was insanely busy and didn't know if he'd get to doing them next week, or next month. He also told me he was worried that I'd be disappointed in him. I told him not to worry. That I had a couple of other options, but I would see if I could get someone else who could do it sooner. Then one of the women I worked with said that her husband might be able to just come over and do it for free. She was going to check with him and get back to me.

After work I went to give plasma and got another hematoma. This time, the blood stopped coming out, so they caught it right away and it was a million times better...That was, until they were starting to put fluids back in me and I was so dehydrated that I almost passed out. They brought the nurse out and she checked my vitals and my pulse was under 40. Hmmm. I drank water at the same time they pumped me full of saline solution and I was much better in 10 minutes, but that was more than enough drama for one evening.

Okay. And now it's the weekend. As usual, there is a ton going on. Originally, I planned to go to this burlesque show tomorrow night. A lot of my friends from all different groups are all going to be there, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to see many different people at once. Then the woman who said her husband would put in my counters, said he might come over tomorrow night. I'm not sure if that would be just for a minute, to check things out, or if she meant that he'd actually put them in then. If that's the case, I'm sure I'll just stay home tomorrow night. I guess we'll see.

Saturday will be a day that I try to get as much done as possible. I have tons of paperwork and bills to pay and a new tax form to fill out to try to get my first time home buyer credit, on top of a bunch of projects.

Sunday is Coadster's very last show choir performance. She is also singing a song for the special acts portion of it. My sister and her family and my aunt, as well as a few of my friends are all going, so it should be a lot of fun.

...And now it's your turn. Will you be recovering from an old-fashioned fainting spell this weekend, or watching some old-fashioned, fun and raunchy burlesque acts?

It Comes to Us All. It's As Soft As Your Pillow

By the time most of you read this, it will be hump day. So, I thought this pic would be appropriate.

Hey, kids. I thought I'd do a little writing exercise tonight. This time I'm writing about giving plasma. Sounds neat-o, huh? I'm sure you know the drill by now. I just wrote this, so I know it needs a lot of work and feel free to point out anything that looks all janky to you:

You are now a commodity. You are questioned, measured, poked, and tested to make sure you will be good enough. Once you pass inspection, you are led to a room full of others like you lying in beds, hooked up to bags, which are in turn, hooked up to machines. You are instructed of everything you can and can't and some things you must do. You can bring a laptop (they offer free wifi), you can listen to an iPod and text or anything else you can handle one-handed. You can't eat or drink, but you must continually pump your hand while the product is being taken out of you. You also must stop pumping your hand once the product is skimmed of its plasma and whatever's left gets pumped back into you.

Even before you realize the girl next to you is droning on and on to someone on the other end of her cell phone, you hear one horrible song from whatever music stream they have going and quickly plug yourself into your iPod and open up your book. Some guy in a lab coat is preparing to start the IV. You say, "I have great veins, but they're really rolly, so you have to hold them down," to help you both out, and then you quickly look the other way. You don't like to watch the needle go in.

The iPod isn't completely drowning out the droning girl next to you, so you turn your ear to rest on the pillow to see if that helps. Doing this causes you to hear the sound of your own pulse. It's louder than you're used to. It keeps time to your music and counts down the seconds. Thump, thump. You pump your hand to it and almost forget to stop when the cycle is over. Your arm starts to feel sore and stiff and you wonder if that's how it's supposed to feel. You figure that the blood wouldn't pump right if there was something wrong, so you don't say anything. There is a shift change with those wearing the lab coats before you are done.

The new girl says they have all they need from you and starts to replace your fluids. You have done this once before, so you are prepared for the sensation. The saline solution they replenish you with is colder than your body temperature, and you cool down from the inside. A blanket or coat can't help warm you up and you start to shiver violently. Your arm is still sore and now you realize that it is much larger than it should be. You mention it to the girl who seems perplexed that they were able to still get the fluid they needed, since it appears that the needle pierced all the way through. It means that some of what your heart pumped out was wasted and seeped out into your body leaving you bruised and sore and swollen.

The new girl tapes an icepack hard to the inside of your arm and you think how strange it was to be totally unaware of what was going on inside your own body. It reminded you of when your daughter was younger and got so sick. You sat in your living room with her head in your lap gently dabbing her face with a cool cloth. You knew she wasn't well but you had no idea the battle that was going on inside her between her antibodies and the bacteria that had invaded her. You carelessly watched a movie while the bacteria launched a surprise attack and fought their way into her spinal chord fluid.

You leave the plasma center favoring your unbending left arm wondering what kind of internal wars everyone else around you might be waging.

Nothing That I Would Not Try

Here is a nest in the top of my lilac bushes.

So, I did something weird tonight....I donated plasma for the first time. As most of you know, I bought a house in November and my mortgage payments are a couple hundred dollars more than my rent was. Then, of course, a month later I found out that we had to take mandatory unpaid days off. Great. All of that left me with very little wiggle room financially. I thought about getting a second job, but then I wouldn't be available to see my girls play sports or perform in anything and I'd probably lose most of my weekends. I decided to check out giving plasma instead. It won't give me a ton more money, and I may not be able to do it every week, but it gives me so much more schedule freedom, and basically I'll get paid to read for an hour.

I originally started the process a month ago, but had a little snag because I have a very slight congenital heart murmur. Doctors can usually only hear it if I alert them to it. When I was 19 and it was first diagnosed, the doctor told me that if I'd been running since I was 10 and never had a problem, not to even worry about it. The plasma people made me go to my doctor, so she could check it out again and give me the okay. Anyway, it was all fine.

A lot of the students who work in my office have given plasma, so they were telling me all the ins and outs of it. They all said that my life would be much easier if I drank lots of water. Because I'm me and I want to make sure I do a thing well, I came in there about as hydrated as a person can be. The only problem with that, is that all that water can affect your crit count. You have to have a certain amount of iron and protein in your blood before they'll allow you to donate. My iron levels were okay, but barely.

The nurse who had to do my health history scored big points with me at first, by saying, "Oh, they must have your birth date wrong." I asked her what they had down and I told her that was correct. Then she said, "Holy cow! I seriously thought you were in your twenties." I thought she might be my new best friend, until we got to the part where she had to feel my stomach for whatever reason and she asked accusingly, "Why are you so skinny?" Huh? For one thing I don't think I'm all that skinny, and for another, how rude. I bet she wouldn't have asked anyone why they were so fat. Anyway, I guess I'll just have to call it a draw and I won't ask her to go have a beer with me after all.

So, since I was so hydrated and my weight put me in the lowest category (which still doesn't mean I'm too skinny) I only had to give the least amount of plasma, and it just took me 33 minutes to donate. The tech people were pretty impressed. I do feel a little weak afterward. Some of it might be that I haven't been sleeping the best this week, but I'm sure it takes something out of a person to have their fluids drained, farmed and given back to them. I'm supposed to go again on Friday, so I'll see how I feel after that.

What Reason Do You Need to be Show-ow-ow-ow-own?

So, you know how I said this weekend was really fun and I saw a lot of people I hadn't been in contact with for years? Yeah, it was great. I even made out with a cute boy who I've known for years and now lives in another state. And on Sunday? On Sunday I had a great day with my girls where we were all mellow and went out for a late lunch and then to see a girl movie matinee. It was all kind of perfect.

Of course, today started out seeming like my day of reckoning. When I got up, it was February cold outside. Then my work day began with this warning system on our campus calling all the parents and students and cautioning them about an unidentified male who was driving around in his car and shooting a gun. There was no other info than that and not even a hint of a recommended course of action people should take. It just so happens that I answer the toll-free lines for this particular institution and the phone was ringing off the hook with understandably spazzy, freaked-out parents and students all looking for answers that I didn't have. Nice, huh?

It turns out that the man wasn't out driving around in his car shooting. Instead, he killed his wife and four children and then drove his car into a cement structure thing and as far as anyone knows right now, died in a fiery car crash. How sad is that? Because his kids went to school in my kids' district, they had a lock-down at all the schools here. Needless to say, it was a scary and stressful way to start the week.

The story of the guy, is that he had a coke problem and had just gotten caught embezzling half a million dollars from the bank where he was vice president. It's so tragic, it makes my heart hurt. The weird thing is that we were just talking about it this weekend with some of the old townies who were here for the reunion and went to high school with him. I think the guy was my age too. Crazy.

Anyway, after work, I decided to give myself a get out of jail free card day and not do anything practical or stressful, like trying to pay bills or solve world peace or clean my house. I did stop by my friend K.'s house and talk to her and her housemate J. Then I went home and watched a biography documentary called Joe Louis: America's Hero...Betrayed. I like boxing and I love watching stuff about boxers. I thought the documentary was really well done. So, I guess what I'm trying to say, is that I ended up having a nice relaxing evening despite how it began. The end.