Don't Tread on an Ant He's Done Nothing to You

Here is a picture of some daisies I'll be planting in my garden this week. Because I need to see something pretty right now.

Sometimes you have a fine day and the weather is amazing and work isn't all that bad and you spend your 3 o'clock break out on a sunny bench reading your book. Then after work is over, you have a pleasant bike ride home. You run for an hour after taking a couple of days off and you feel amazingly strong on this warm and windy day.

You come in the house and the first thing you hear is, "Mom! I'm gonna puke. LOOK AT THIS!" You are high out of your mind from endorphins, so you try to stay focused. You think your daughter must have the flu and you wonder why she doesn't just get a bowl or go to the bathroom if she feels like she's going to be sick. She points to the kitchen and she says, "Look in there. Gross!"

What you see when you peek into your kitchen is a floor covered in little flying bugs. What the!... You reach under the sink and spray every inch of the floor with Raid. Later, after you check things out on the internets (as suggested by your sister) you realize the bug spray spaz, while quite satisfying, was actually a bad idea. Because the web has instructed you to pick-up one of these creatures, now dripping in poison and look at its wings and its body to see if it is a termite or an ant. They're pretty tough to distinguish. So, you find a few that aren't quite so drenched and put them in a tupperware container. You hope to bring them to a pest control place as early as possible, in order to quell your bad habit of creating bizarre scenarios in your head. If you know the damage of a thing, one way or the other, you are generally much less likely to spaz.

Just As Hate Knows Love's the Cure

Here is a table full of Hayden Fry's.

Okay. I'm done whining about finding a subletter...For now, anyway. I'm still working diligently on it, but I'm trying not to "soak in it" so to speak. I'm sure my attitude adjustment has a lot to do with me getting a nice 6 mile run in this evening. I've never taken any before, but endorphins have to be better than Prozac as a mood stabilizer. Ahhhhhh.

After we ate, Coadster and I went to put up a flyer or two and since we were on that side of town, we stopped at Menards to look for paint colors and counter tops and do something a little more positive in regards to buying our house. I found the perfect shades I wanted for my bedroom and the kitchen. I'm still working on the living room paint, but Coadster has a lot better idea for her room too.

Looking ahead to the weekend...The weather looks amazing. It's supposed to get up to 69 degrees on Saturday. Sweet! Tomorrow night, both of the girls will be at the high school play-off game. I have someone who is supposed to look at the place around 6'ish, so I'll wait unitl after that to run. Then I'll probably watch a movie and tackle cleaning, sorting and packing up our big walk-in closet.

On Saturday I'll have to get up before 6 again, since Coadster is volunteering and then racing in the Run for Relief benefit. This year the money is going to the Free Med Clinic. Stinky has to work, so she can't run, but she did donate some cash instead. Later in the afternoon, Coadster and some of her friends will meet to plan the first dance marathon at the high school to raise money for the Iowa Children's Hospital. I think they're also going to try and get kids from the Eastside grade schools to participate. It should be pretty cool.

Those darn Hawkeyes will be playing Northwestern on Saturday. The consensus seems to be that being on the cover of Sports Illustrated will jinx them and they will lose every game from here on out. Personally, I have total faith that they will actually play a WHOLE game this week and that will be awesome to finally see...But I've been known to be a sucker for false hope too.

I am definitely planning on running and hopefully biking this weekend. I have a lot of work to do at home, but there's no way in hell I'm going to let good weather in November go to waste. I'm pretty sure that's a sin that would send me straight to hell.

My Saturday night is up in the air. My friend G. has been sick all week and might not go out. There's also a rock show I might go to. It's a band that Mr. B. really likes, so there's a good chance he'll be there. I haven't spoken to him since June, but I am sooooooo over him, that I think it would be just fine to see him again. Who knows? Maybe we could actually even work on a friendship. Eh, it's not something I'm going to waste a lot of time or energy on either way. It will just be nice to see him and not care anymore. You know?

And now blog readers, it's your turn. Lay it on me. What are all of your exciting weekend plans. Will you be running for relief, or just relieved that you won't be running from an ex anymore?

You've Got to Want to Succeed

Here is a group shot, so you can see tons of scary 80's wear.

Man, I wish I had an extra day for this weekend too. It's been great, I just always try to pack so much into it. I'd love an extra day to get it all done.

So, Friday? Well, at first both the girls were going to drive to the town a half hour from us to watch the football game, then neither of them were going. It finally went down that Stinky went to sleepover at a friend's house and Coadster stayed home with me. We got a pizza delivered and watched a movie. She had to take the ACT test in the morning, so she wanted to just shut her brain off before she had to crank it up in the morning. Of course, that means I didn't get to read as much of my book as a I wanted, but I try to take full advantage of any time I can get with my girls. I'll for sure finish it this week, though.

As you all know, you need a seriously ozone depleting amount of Aquanette to host a successful 80's party.

Saturday was crazy busy and that was mostly my fault. Lately, I've been feeling great and in good shape and it affects everything else with me, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally too. I REALLY don't want to lose that over the Winter. So, I thought a good way to keep me on a roll, was to decide to do a triathlon next year. I hate to be bad at stuff, so I'm thinking if I commit to a triathlon, I'll keep up with training work-outs all Winter long and I'll stay in shape, which will keep me happy and well-adjusted (well, as I can be, anyway). I guess we'll see how that goes when the snow and ice starts flying.

Anyway, I added biking and swimming to my running and it cut into my time to do other things, but by Saturday afternoon, I was flying high on endorphins - my drug of choice.

Here was my 80's party attire.

On Saturday night I went to the 80's party and it was all different kinds of fun. Everybody made white trash casseroles, and there wasn't just Mad Dog 20/20, there were Bartles and Jaymes wine coolers too. Yeah, they covered all the bases.

Many of my favorite people were there. I had my few beers, did some Molly Ringwald from The Breakfast Club dancing and had great conversations. I spent a lot of time talking to a woman who I've known for a while, but not very well. She and her husband buy and flip houses and she was telling me she thought I should buy my own home. It's something I've been kicking around for a while and this wasn't the first time anyone's ever told me that. Since she's in the business, she had a lot of great knowledge and advice about which banks to go to and how much a mortgage payment might be, depending on what I borrow. In other words, she was awesome. Of course, I have almost a whole year left on my lease, but I might start getting a little more serious about persuing it.

Here are my pink and black Vans - the best part of my outfit.

By midnight, the keg was dry and half the party was heading to the Dublin and the other half was staying and sitting in front of the fire. I decided it was a perfect time for me to head home. So, I said my totally tubular goodbyes and walked to my abode.

Where is My Mind?

Here is a butterfly on a flower.

When your mind wanders, where does it go? At our retreat today, we had a wellness helper/expert visit and teach us yoga exercises we could do at our desks at work. It was actually pretty cool. I've never really been super interested in yoga before. It just seemed like for a while there, everyone was doing it and since I have to be difficult, that meant I couldn't. Plus, there's all that sitting still that I have a really hard time with.

Here is some fungus on a tree.

The woman who coached us told us to concentrate on our breathing and try to clear our heads of all thoughts. The breathing part reminded me of when I used to be a patient advocate helping people get through procedures that doctors liked to describe as uncomfortable, but most patients thought were just plain painful. I always tried to get them to work on their breathing too. "Take long deep breaths. In through your nose and out through your mouth...."

I used the same technique on Coadster when she was younger and would get too tired or have a meltdown, just to calm her down. One time when she was feeling particularly stubborn she told me, "No. I'm not going to do it. I'm not breathing anymore!" I had to hide my face in my sleeve so she wouldn't see me laughing.

Shit. All those memories weren't helping me clear my mind. If there was only an off switch for my brain, I would be the happiest girl alive. When I really tried, the closest I could get was to think about running. It doesn't happen all the time, but once in a while when the weather is nice, and there's a light breeze against me and I've run long enough for my endorphins to kick in, I get to a place where I can't feel even the slightest pain, and I have a hard time remembering where I am exactly (even though I run almost the same route every day). My mind isn't completely clear, but it's as close to an off switch as I'll ever get.

She's Fresh as a Summer Breeze

The Saturday Scavenger Hunt word was chosen by Laura B. at What Fresh Hell is This? blog. She chose the word fresh. Originally, I had planned to paint the above photo I took a couple of years ago and post that as a fresh take on an old picture. But yesterday, I was in the need of some freshening up of my own. I've been so overwhelmed as of late, and knew that I would be a much better person if I selfishly used my four hours of vacation to relax and do things just for me.

So, I had a nice long run when I got off work, and since it was so warm out, I sat in a lounge chair and read a novel and soaked up some badly needed vitamin D for over an hour. I can't remember when the last time I took that much time out to lounge and read was. Then, after all that relaxing made me tired, I took an hour long nap until Stinky called me to pick her up from track practice. I felt so fresh and I'm a much better person and parent because of that. Sometimes my selfishness helps everyone I'm around.

How Come I End Up Where I Went Wrong?

Here is a guy sitting on the sidewalk downtown about a week ago. That felt warm then, but it was almost twenty degrees warmer than that today.

The weather has been amazing, but I've found myself feeling a little angsty for a couple of reasons. As I've discovered over and over, there really isn't much of a cure for that like endorphins, so I ran my six mile route and it was in the 70's and most of the town was gone for Spring Break, and best of all, when I put my iPod on random, it served me this bizarre mix of music that was perfect for me:

1.) "Don't You Evah" - Spoon

2.) "Pork and Beans" - Weezer

3.) "Welcome to the Jungle" - G N R

4.) "Honey Don't" - Carl Perkins

5.) "Hypnotize" - The Notorious B.I.G.

6.) "Soul Shakedown Party" - Bob Marley and the Wailers

7.) "Closer" - Nine Inch Nails

8.) "The Girl Can't Help It" - Little Richard

9.) "15 Steps" - Radiohead

10.) "Bad Reputation" - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

If any of you were feeling angsty, I hope you found things to soothe it too.

Welcome to Your Life

On Monday I took photos of doors on my way home from work. As you will see, there are a lot of churches on my route. Even though I'm not big on walking through the doors and going inside, I really like looking at them from the outside.

Today marked my triumphant return to work and civilization as I know it. Right away, I got to call my nosy cubicle neighbor, Gladys Kravitz. Luckily, she's good natured about it. She even asked a good trivia question: What was Gladys Kravitz's husband's name on Bewitched? I said Lenny and then giggled for way too long trying to picture Lenny Kravitz having sex with the actress who played Samantha's nosy neighbor. The answer, if you really want to know, is Abner.

This pic and the next are of the same doors, but from different angles.

I ran today for the first time in THREE. WHOLE. DAYS. At first I was all whiny and thinking I should just stop and go back home and sit on the couch and eat some pumpkin pie I had leftover from our month early Thanksgiving feast, but I soldiered on and the endorphins kicked in and I got all high and felt like I should run for another couple of hours. When I was almost done, the East Indian dance music came on my iPod and I was this close to dancing right there on the sidewalk across the street from Lou Henri's. It was that great...Okay, remember I was high on endorphins too.

I like to look at things all different kinds of ways.

After dinner, I stopped by my friend K.'s boyfriend A.'s house to drop off some extra turkey and dinner rolls. They were just finishing dinner and his son, who is almost four, was playing this elaborate game of pirate. He had to ride on his belly on his mini skateboard in the kitchen to escape sharks, which were actually his dad's shoes. When his dad put them on to walk out on the porch, his son yelled, "Dad, the sharks are eating your feet!" I thought A's new pretend sharkskin shoes were quite fetching, myself.

This the church where my daughters go. It's super garish inside. I liked the Catholic church that got blown apart by the tornado better. And the other one that's still standing, has a polka mass that I've always wanted to attend. For real.

So, this whole new Facebook thing might just be too socially exhausting for me. No, it's actually good. I've reconnected with tons of people I haven't seen in years. The saddest thing, is that some of those people actually live in my same town and I still haven't seen them in years.

I've decided to rectify some of that by going over to my friend Sara's house earlier on Saturday evening. She lives about a block away from me and I haven't seen her in over a year. Yeah, I suck. Then, later that night, meeting my friend Lydia at the Picador. Some of our old punk rock friends who moved to Minneapolis many years ago, are coming down to play at the Picador. I haven't seen them since the 80's punk rock reunion they had here last March. It should be fun.

This house is about a block away from me. Obviously, it isn't a church, but I really like the cardboard faces they stuck on the door and the beam of the porch.

Right now, my plan tomorrow night is to just stay home and chill out and watch movies and/or read and drive Stinky around a little bit. Both she and Coadster have to be at work at 6:30 Saturday morning, so I can't see any of us partying too hard or too late before that.

And you? What kind of mischief are you all dreaming up for the weekend?

This is Why Events Unnerve Me

Here is a picture of a guy cooking crabs on the Embarcadero.

Do you ever have that where you go through your day, and everything seems fine? You go to work, and things are pretty normal. Sure, you have to throw your newest rubberband ball at the guy who sits in the cubicle behind you because he's saying stupid things, but that turns out pretty great because you nail him in the forehead. But then later, when you're out with your friends and you start speaking, you realize that you're kind of in a mood.

Well, that's how it was for me today. Part of it was probably that I didn't run after work. It would be my seventh day in a row, and I'm trying to be better about taking breaks. I just wish there was another way to get that free high. I decided to take a quick nap instead. My friend T. called me around 6:45 or so to see if I'd give her a ride to supper club. Of course I would.

We went to Los Portales this week and it just sucked. The service was bad and then there was all this weird bullshit about trying to figure out our checks when we left. So, basically we decided that we wouldn't go back there anytime soon. We were all kind of in a strange space after how weird and pissy the guy running the register was to us.

Then my friend T. asked me if I wanted to hang out for a minute at her place. At first it was nice and we had a great talk, but then I kind of went on a little rant. I have no idea why either, because I was bitching about stuff from the past that I really didn't care about. Really. It was like I couldn't help it, and if there was any way I could have grabbed the words as they were spewing forth and shoved them back into my mouth, I would have. Of course, T. was wonderful and let me go on, but I felt bad about it later on. I just hope T. comes to me next time she's in a mood and wants to vent, because I will totally return the favor.

I Am Something That You'll Never Understand

I am sick. Just sick I tell ya, of all this rain. it makes me go right back into hibernation mode and now I'm tired, tired, tired as well. So, in order to combat my rain induced crankiness, I'm posting photos of flowering trees and daisies. Believe me, if I had some pics of rainbows and unicorns, I'd post them too.


Can you tell I wasn't able to run today after work? Yeah, I could use every one of those endorphins right now. Actually, I'm doing just fine for the most part. I just really wanted to go running tonight. But here's what I have to look forward to this month: I'm giving myself a four day weekend starting on Friday. I'm not sure what all I'll be doing, but I'm seriously thinking about writing a list so I don't forget to do important things like buy a season pool pass, pay bills and get my oil changed, in addition to lying around reading comic books. The girls' last day of school is Thursday, so we'll see if they want to hang out with me at all any of those days.

Then next weekend is my friend Rory (Ruadhri, if you really want me to spell it correctly) and his lovely E.'s wedding. I'm excited for the people watching part. There should be tons of folks coming into town for it. I'll know some of them, but others I've just heard stories about and I can't wait to put a face with the deliciously ridiculous behavior. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll take tons of photos.

The weekend after the wedding, is my girl crush's bachelorette canoeing party. Camping, canoeing, beer drinking and some of the bawdiest dames you'll ever meet? It should be the best time ever.

Okay, all this talk of fun and adventure is really lifting my spirits. Here's hoping for sunny days where I'm able to run every day after work in the future...And if you happen to spy a unicorn or rainbow, point it out to me and I'd be happy to photograph it and post it right here on this blog.

I'll Just Figure Everything is Cool

Oh my god, you guys. It is so nice outside here today. It's making me very happy. I ran my eight mile route today for the first time since November, I think. I do apologize for any accidents I may have caused from drivers being blinded by the glare off of my pasty, pale, ashy, Irish American girl who lives in Iowa and so her skin hasn't seen sunshine since October, legs, but that's why god made sunglasses.

Of course, I'm far away from being in the shape I was in this photo from last Summer, but that's not really what I'm going for anyway. Mostly, I'm in it for the free high. Now that I have my iPod and can listen to music while I run, the high seems to be even better. The only problem with listening to music, is that I have no idea what people are saying to me as I run past them. There's an old man who lives right next to the Catholic school in my town who tells me to run an extra mile for him every single time he sees me. So, when he was obviously speaking to me yesterday, I just assumed that's what he was saying and I smiled big and goofy and gave him a double thumbs up. Although, he could have said, "Die, you stupid, fugly bitch," for all I know.

Here are a few songs that came up on the random running playlist that I made last week. I'm sure I don't have to warn you that there's something here to offend everyone.

1. "Sex Beat" by The Gun Club - This song reminds me of hanging out at my friend Marty's studio above The Vine back in 1985.

2, "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas - I can't hear this song without remembering the fourth grade talent show. Patty Lopez wore her brother's Judo suit and her whole dance consisted of her swaying to the music until, he said, "Ha!" and then she karate chopped the air.

3. "Could You Be Loved" by Bob Marley and The Wailers - This is an awesome song to run to. That's all I have to say about it.

4. "Ch-Check It Out" by The Beastie Boys - this isn't the best Beastie Boys song, but it's one of the best ones for running.

5. "Til I Hear it From You" by The Gin Blossoms - Who doesn't love early nineties pop songs? You don't? Okay. I don't love every early nineties pop song, but this one is kind of sweet and there is that whole nostalgia thing where it reminds me of a time when my girls were young and definitely not teenagers.

6. "911 is a Joke" by Public Enemy - It's even more fun to crank this one when you're a middle aged, white, Midwestern woman jogging in a college town in Iowa. You have no idea how hard life is for us hear in I-town.

7. "Talk Talk" by Talk Talk - This must be another one of my theme songs.

8. "Fortress" by Pinback - What a nice little ditty this one is.

9. "Dr. Rock" by Motorhead - This is one of my favorite songs to run to of all time, and it hasn't come up on my playlist in months. In other words, it was perfect.

10. "Gimme Danger" by Iggy Pop - I love, love, love this song. I can't imagine ever skipping it no matter how many times it came up on my playlist.

Looking back at my playlist, I think it's WAY more than random. It's more like total chaos. And that's why it was perfect for me today.

Do My Dreaming and My Scheming

I seem to be going out a lot these last couple of weeks. I think it's probably part of those stages of loss or grief or whatever they're called. You know, it's anger, denial, punk rock reunion shows, dance parties and flirty texting. Isn't that how it goes? Eh, something like that.

Anyway, I've been going out a lot and not spending much time alone. So, yesterday I decided to take a night for me, myself and I. It was really warm on Monday, so I ran and got all high and it was wonderful and then I came home and planned to do all my geek girl activities after the girls went to their dad's house. I thought I might make some food, and mess around on the computer, and play some video games and read my book (I've started reading The Book Thief) and maybe watch a movie. Which would have been great, had there been 107 hours in the day instead of 24. What actually happened, was that I turned an embarrassingly stupid movie on while I was eating dinner and got sucked in and didn't get a whole hell of a lot else done. Um, duh. It was still nice hanging out by myself and living in my own little world.

Tomorrow I'll actually be venturing out. Sadly, I'll miss supper club, but it's for a good cause. I'm finally going to meet my friend J. at the Java House. Even though we live in the same town, I haven't seen him in over a year. I can't wait to catch up on all his business. I want to to try make an early night of it, so I can spend another hour or two of alone time too. This time, I promise to swear off the cheesy, mindless movies.

Lookin' In The Stalls, No There Ain't Nobody Here

So, this week's Saturday Scavenger photo hunt word was chemistry. I couldn't think of a photo take on it that everyone else hasn't done already. So, I'll post a bunch of photos that don't have much to do with chemistry and just talk about it for a minute instead. Lately, I've been very aware of my own chemistry and how it's felt a little thrown off the last month or two. I'm trying to de-wonk myself by running outside (today was the first day in a long time I've been able to) now that it's finally safe to do that. There is nothing like endorphins to de-wonk your body chemistry. All I can say right now is, ahhhhhh.
Okay. Now I'll put up photos of bathrooms from CBGB's and The Venice Cafe in St Louis. This top one is at the Venice Cafe (you can always tell by the mosaics). These lions sit facing the toilet and can be a little disconcerting when you're trying to pee.

This is one of the stalls in a downstairs bathroom at the Venice Cafe. (again with the mosaics)

From here on out, we'll be in the women's room at CBGB's. I love that they drew a big star in front of the word "sex". Because nothing deserves a gigantic star like sex does.

This is the best graffiti I've come across in a long time. If you can't read it, it says, "Amanda Linn writes shitty dick-loving poetry". It totally made me want to ask around and find Amanda Linn to see if she'd let me read some of it.

Erik told me I had to check out the women's bathroom. (as if I wouldn't have on my own...) And he was so right. There were two toilets with a huge table in between them. I've never seen a bathroom like it.

I said to Erik that you could totally pee and play cards at the same time and he said, "Or do coke". To which, all I could reply was, "duh." It's not like I've never been in a bar before or lived through the eighties, but for whatever reason, that idea never occurred to me. Dude. I am such the country mouse visiting the city mouse sometimes.

For Me to Stay Here I've Got to be Me

Here is another photo from Coadster. This one is of our iced over alley.

Sometimes I love my town. Sure, I'll probably never meet a guy I can date here, but everything else is pretty good. So, why stress-out about the one thing I can't have, when there are so many other great things I can have? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you'll also read plenty of "I hate Iowa City" posts from me, but tonight I'm have a little fling with my town. Ah, hell. Let's just count some ways, okay?

First - I've decided for sure to go see Dinosaur Jr play next Tuesday night at the Picador. I messaged my friend J. about it, because he works there, and he told me it was an early show, so it should be done by eleven. Even I'm not so lame that I can't make it to an early show on a school night, right? Plus, it only takes me less than ten minutes to get home from there.

Second - I work almost downtown, so I was able to go kidnap my friend A. from her job at 126 for a half an hour right after I was released from the agony of my job. We went into the Deadwood and had a Pepsi. It was angry hour there and beer was really cheap, but I had promised Coadster I'd go to the rec building and run with her. Sadly, I'm not coordinated enough to run without tripping when I'm sober, let alone after a beer or two.

Third - While A. and I were at the Deadwood, we were talking about a fairly famous folksinger and his also fairly famous folksinger wife who just recently moved from their acreage outside of Fairfield into A.'s neighborhood. She was talking about their daughter who they adopted from Russia and has a fairly distinctive name, when a guy approached our table. I had my back to him, so I couldn't see who he was until he spoke. "Hey, I'm sorry. I was over there playing Sudoku, and I overheard you talking about G.B. and his daughter. They're actually friends of mine..."

"Oh, that's cool. I really like them too," My friend A. said. I recognized the guy. He lives kind of by my friend K. and he's a friend of this guy I know named B.C., so we both said hi and I introduced him to A. He asked if he could join us and so we all talked for a while, before Coadster called and informed me that I was really late and needed to get going. I both love it and hate it that in this town anyone sitting near you, knows someone you're talking about. But I only love it and don't hate it, that that person will have no qualms about introducing him/herself, and if they sit down with you, will almost always be entertaining in some way.

Fourth - Coadster and I finally made it to the rec building. It's an awesome 200 meter track with indoor tennis courts in the center, and best of all, it's completely free and open to the public. Tonight they were having indoor youth soccer practice, so there were plenty of things to watch while we were running. Because I was a little delinquent earlier in the evening, I really only had time to run a few miles, but my iPod was feeling all groovy and playing a lot of sixties music. I heard "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys, "Go Where You Wanna Go" by the Mamas and the Papas, "If you Want Me to Stay", by the Chili Peppers (it's a cover of a Sly and the Family Stone song, so it totally counts as groovy) and "Police and Thieves" by The Clash - which is not so sixties at all, but a song I like a whole, whole lot.

So, people always want to talk shit about Iowa. I agree that the weather sucks. It's crazy cold in the Winter and stoooopidly hot and humid in the Summer and usually the weather is the most exciting thing going on here, but I can work around all that and love everything else... At least I can tonight.

Oh, I Just Don't Know Where to Begin

Hey, so here's a question for all you Fall connoisseurs...

Do you like your tree foliage more red/orange...

...Or more yellow/green? This tree was so crazy bright, that I could barely look at it with my slight hangover today.

Oh, kids. Have you ever had those times in your life when things were really pretty good, and there was lots to do and no one in your household was really sick or emotionally upset and there wasn't a whole lot of drama unless you decided to create it, and you hate drama, so you chose not to? There was so much in your life to do and see and you didn't want to miss it, so you tried to grab it all up with with both hands and stuff it in your mouth, so you could keep it with you to have for when things got really bad again? And you know they will. There will be lots of pain and scary stuff and bad luck, but for this weekend, things were good. So, maybe you did too much, because you also know that soon, it will get cold outside and there won't be so many options? Well, that was pretty much how my weekend went.

Things were good, but hectic. The weather was amazing and I ran 24 miles in three days. I didn't get as much cleaning done as I wanted, but I'll make up for it as soon as things get more seasonably chilly...Or else I won't and will just deal, and I bet no one dies because of it.

On Saturday night I had a bit of a migraine. I took my meds, but they didn't work like they usually do. I went to dinner with friends, and had to take some more. I can be very internal when I'm in pain, or sad, or even sometimes when everything is just fine, but mostly when I'm in pain. My friend H. noticed, and later when I was better, she said, "I could see we were losing you there for a bit at dinner..." Yeah, I had to tune out, or I was afraid I was going to pass-out.

Thankfully, I didn't and my headache went away. So much so, that I actually drank some beer, and then some more. I went to The Picador to see a friend's band play and I had a lot of fun. There were many people I knew there, and I was a little overwhelmed. I tried to talk to everyone, but conversations kept getting interrupted, and then I'd forget to tell people the stuff I really wanted to say. Of course, whatever I did say, was very loud and inappropriate. I knew it was time to go when I just blanked out on what I was talking about in mid-sentence and left the words just hanging out there to dry. I'm sure whatever it was I was going to say was really earth shattering, though.

Today, for some reason, I was tad hungover. Hmmm, I wonder what could have caused that? I ran my eight mile route very slowly. By the end of my run, I had sweat out most of the evil toxins that were bumming my high, and could go about the rest of my day.

Stinky had a friend over, so I made grilled cheese sandwiches and soup and then dropped them off at a movie. I took Coadster out for dinner to celebrate her making All-State. We were both pretty tired, so we ate our pasta and stared off into space a lot.

Since we were downtown, I stopped into 126 because I knew my friend A. was working and I never see her. We sat outside on a bench and chatted. At one point my friend Brice came out to take a little break and asked me if I still ran. He said he had just started. I asked him if he had experienced runner's high yet. He said, no. That now it still just kills him. I told him to stick it out and he would be rewarded with endorphins. He said, we'll see.

The football watching extravaganza got canceled on account of someone's (not mine, this time) hangover. It could have just as easily been mine, so I totally understand.

Sunday Morning Coming Down

I swear to god that I will take some new photos very soon. These snowy ones are starting to get a little ridiculous.


It was almost eighty degrees here on Sunday. Even though I was a little tired and still feeling kind of high from the night before, I couldn't pass up the chance to run and get even more buzzed. It seemed as though the further I ran, though, the more discord I felt.

Once I was almost to Scott Boulevard, I heard a middle aged couple arguing. At first I thought they were just kidding around, but then I heard the woman say, "Oh, so then you get home and it's four o'clock and you sit around watching sports for the rest of the night and nothing else gets done. Real nice, Joe. Maybe everything will just magically get taken care of by itself." I exchanged raised eyebrows with the couple walking toward me and picked-up my pace to get away from all the negativity. I didn't want the Bickersons to ruin a perfectly good buzz.

Once I turned on to Court Street, it happened again. This time a woman was sitting out on her deck screeching at someone inside her house. A male voice said, "Shut-up, bitch." And then she really got loud.

The worst part, after all the f'in' this and f'in' that, was that she finished by saying, "Whatever, bitch." I thought that was supposed to be my special phrase. I'm not sure if this kind of dissonance took place all the time on my running route and it had just been contained inside all winter by closed windows, or if there was some kind of bad juju in the air for some reason this weekend.

On any other day, I might have soaked up the discord like a sponge and let it take away from all the endorphins I'd been cultivating. On Sunday, however, I was working with two different highs, and I was able to make it safely home, still thinking about unicorns and rainbows and cute little puppies.

Where Everything Was as Fresh as the Bright Blue Sky

This was my alley a little bit earlier. Now, almost all the snow has melted. Bring on Spring.

Remember how on Friday I said we could check and see if I ended up being lame or not this weekend? Well, it's time to add it all up. Are you ready?

1. On Friday I went to Stinky's talent show. I know, I already talked about the scary kids and the hormones, but I forgot to tell you the best part. Two girls did a tap dance routine to Guns and Roses', "Sweet Child O' Mine". How rich is that?

2. After the show, Coadster, Stinky and I went to the rec center to rent a space for Coadster's birthday party. We were able to get the Social Hall there for the 5th of May. There's a $100 deposit on it, so all the girls' talk of a cake fight was quickly squashed. Hey, anyone want to volunteer to be a bouncer? How fast are you reflexes when you see a 15 year old with a handful of cake?

3. When I put up the post on Friday, I had forgotten what happens when we hit a certain temperature - I get all kinds of energy and I don't even want to hibernate. That temperature must be about 50 degrees, because I was rarin' to go this weekend. I got my recycling done on Saturday along with a few other cleaning projects that I kindly won't go into on this here blog. If you've been having trouble sleeping lately, I'd be happy to e-mail you a detailed list of everything I cleaned, and it will be so mind numbingly boring, that it'll put you right out.

4. On Saturday night, I decided to go see a movie after all. I asked Coadster if she wanted to watch something, and she suggested that we see Zodiac. Stinky was going to see Ghost Rider with some friends, but they got confused about the time and missed their show and played hide-and-seek at Target while they waited for me and Coady to get out of our movie. I liked the movie a lot, but then again, I'm addicted to Cold Case Files, so I don't know if any normal person would find the length and the material a bit tedious.

5. I had originally planned to go home and read White Teeth, after the movie, but the whole snafu with the movie time, and the idea of Ale' and her friends playing hide-and-seek at Target, while Coadster and I were in the theater, made my head hurt. So, after I drove all the kids home for close to an hour, I wrote a very quick blog post and went to bed.

6. I lengthened my running route from four miles to six this weekend. I was tired for the last mile both days, but I didn't stop, even after a bird shit on my head on Sunday.

7. Running around town with bird shit in my hair, made me engage in deep philosophical thought. One of the things I wondered was, what happened to all that talk about the Avian Flu? Is it not a threat anymore, or did it just get overshadowed by other more important issues like Anna Nicole's death, Britney's melt-down and subsequent shaved head, and the diaper wearing astronaut?

8. Here are the things I didn't get done: Get my oil changed, read my book, wash my car and determine the paternity of Anna Nicole's daughter.

So, was I lame or was I not? I like to think that I was only a little bit lame.

This is Your Night, Baby You've Got to be There

Here is a picture of a steamy tunnel in the snow. At least there isn't a train going through it.

Last year my neighbor/friend B. quit her job waiting tables at 126 and started working for Tait's Natural Foods, the new place downtown that didn't last very long. After about a month, B. decided she didn't want to be the cheese girl in town, so she quit that to begin her own house painting business, which she loves and is amazing at. I was also in my mid-thirties when I stopped working food service jobs, and the transition to a world where you actually have to work at maintaining a social life, can be awkward. Because of that, B. called me the other night to see if I wanted to join her and some others in a "ladies night" outing at 126. (we wouldn't be outing ladies so much, as going out with ladies in a purely platonic sense) I told her I thought I might, and I wasn't lying. I really thought I might.

At different times during the day today, I'd remember that I said I may go out, and I was okay with it. Even by the end of the day, when I was walking home from work, I thought, "You know, I might just join those ladies, tonight."

Then I went running and got a huge runner's high and came back all sweaty and was rocking my frizz halo. My house was warm and I had tostadas to eat and some killer guacamole I had just made. I also thought seriously about what going out with real live ladies might be like. It would be so much different than drinking PBR with my raucous girlfriends. These ladies were all moms from B.'s daughter's club swim team, so they probably had some money and talked about their homes in terms of square footage, and went on real vacations and had advanced degrees and could possibly be offended by dildo or blow job jokes. In fact, I may have almost nothing in common with actual ladies.

So, I stayed home. I know. Shut-up. I lamed-out, but I was so close to going out. For sure, the next time someone I know asks me to hang-out with them, I will totally go...At least, I'm pretty sure. I would seriously think about it, anyway.

I Feel That Ice is Slowly Melting

Hey, Lookee here, I'm embracing minimalism:

BAD: I tried cleaning the hell out of my computer as Booda Baby suggested, and it's still pulling the same crap. I'll try the Dell tech support tonight.

GOOD: With all the extra time I saved not obsessing on the internets, I was able to watch Wife Swap and Supper Nanny. I also increased my vocabulary, by reading my violent novel that's full of swears.

GOOD: The February thaw finally arrived and I spent as much time outside as possible.

BAD: The snow melting suddenly exposed the carnage of car wrecks and a season's worth of dog shit in my neighborhood.

GOOD: I've been able to run outside for two days in a row now. At some point both times, I've found myself thinking, "Dude. I am sooo high right now."

BAD: Uh, yeah. I can't think of one bad thing to say about endorphins.

In Starlit Nights I Saw You

I lifted this beeyoooteeful, full moon photo off of the beloved interenets.

I had just about an hour in between the time I got home from work and when I had to pick up Stinky from basketball practice. I decided to sneak a run in there because I needed the endorphins to help wash the stank of work off me and I make it a policy never to pass up a free high.

As I reached the top of the hill on Rochester Street, I saw the full moon looming just above me. It was Crayola, dandelion yellow and about as big as your head and both of mine, all put together.

"Aha," I thought. It was suddenly clear to me why I had been so restless all day and why every, single, phone call I received at work was from a scary screecher who happened to be, straight-up, cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs - when that pockmarked ball of cheese in the sky becomes full, it truly is the boss of all of us.