i should be in the one taking the pictures

it's a record! the mosquito bites from my trip to montana/wyoming haven't even healed yet, and i'm already putting up pictures...mama would be so proud.*

wednesday, 21 june 2006

flew to bozeman, montana, after putting in a half day at work. was met by four of my best friends- charity, holding two tacos and an order of potato ole's from my favorite fast food establishment, taco johns. (yes, she's my friend because she's thoughtful like that.) spent night in local hotel.

thursday, 22 june 2006

took shower to wake up. the evil shower fairy made sure it happened. nothing like having that constant battle between hot and cold while standing naked at the opposite end of the shower. for some reason, charity declined to take one. i guess she heard my screams or something. passed an alarmingly large pile of mattresses on the way to the car.

after a stop at walmart (i'm photo-happy, which necessitates the purchase of large amounts of film)and the post office (not only am i photo-happy, i'm also postcard-happy, which necessitates the purchase of mass amounts of stamps), we headed south to west yellowstone, montana.




(ignore the crappy background and focus on charity's huge grin. i've missed seeing her like this.)

see those spiffy sunglasses? they were my favorites...until a tragic accident the next day....but we'll get to that part in a minute.

after setting up camp near lake hebgen (near west yellowstone, montana), we headed into the park. we didn't have time to cover the whole park, but we managed to see norris geyser basin and mammoth hot springs before having to turn around and head back to our tent.

norris geyser basin

devil's thumb is on the left, and palette spring is on the right.

sunset in yellowstone national park

friday, 23 june 2006

woke up first at 4am, realizing that my contacts had been possessed by some sort of demons overnight and were now scratching my eyeballs. pried said contacts out of eyes and, remembering i'd brought a spare set, tucked them into the pocket inside the tent, where they could agonize me no more. unfortunately, a couple of hours later, i managed to leave my favorite sunglasses in the tent....which went undiscovered until we unpacked the tent that evening and found them in about three pieces. *sigh* perhaps we shouldn't have stomped the air out of the tent quite so vigrously.

here's a view from our tent. note the lack of bears. i was quite relieved to wake up and realize that i had not, in fact, been mauled during the evening. mud treatment, anyone? this was taken at artists paint pots in central yellowstone.

(by the way, i might have forgotten to mention earlier that most of the geysers, springs, and other geothermal features smell like rotten eggs. i became very good at holding my breath.) i thought i'd missed this shot. perhaps my digital camera isn't so bad after all. at 1200 feet deep, the grand canyon of the yellowstone isn't nearly as awesome as the grand canyon in arizona, but still fairly impressive. dragon's mouth spring, so named because of the roaring sound made by the water rushing through the cavern. yellowstone lake on the way to the park's southern entrance the view of the tetons from the flagg ranch campground, where we spent the night with the most aggressive mosquitoes i've ever run into.

saturday, 25 june 2006

two nights in a row without so much as a bear sighting- woo-hoo! then again, perhaps the mosquitoes scared them off. i'm afraid i wound up with mosquito bites in some rather, uh, personal places, despite bathing in bug repellant.

in every crowd, there just has to be an early riser. bet you can't guess where charity and i are......

jackson lake and the tetons- one of about 20 pictures i took at this particular pullout. me with the tetons. (insert small chest joke here.) the large, flat-topped peak toward the right is mt. moran, one of the most photographed mountains in the tetons. the dark speck at the top of the peak is left over from when the chain was volcanic. beneath it is one of the twelve glaciers in the park. the tallest peak at the middle left is grand teton....i'm still trying to sort out the others. the mangy moose, in teton village..a family tradition, though it's expanded a little since my parents were here.

(to be continued....)

*not really. in fact, she's still picking at me about some pictures of ireland that i need to post for one of the gnomes.

44 down, 6 to go.....

real post to follow later, but for now, a quick update.....



create your own visited states map

on the road again.....

i'm leaving in less than three hours for the charlotte airport...and i'm racking my brain, trying to figure out what i forgot to pack. i've got the cameras, an obscene number of gnomes, enough clothing for a small village, basic toiletries (wait- did i remember a toothbrush? crapola.....), my national parks passport (yes, folks, i am a raging dork, but at least i'm not in denial about it), and my discman/cds.

*sigh*

i'm sure i'll figure it out about the time the plane takes off, because that's just how these things work out.

back with pictures in a week....in the meantime, feel free to amuse yourself with some of my older posts.

sentence saturday

it's that time of the week again, gang. as a reminder, we will skip next weekend's edition of sentence saturday, on account of my spending the weekend trying not to get mauled by any bears or other large animals in yellowstone/the grand tetons.

this week's first word is iopus. scroll through the comments to find your word, use it in a sentence, and then please leave a new, made-up word for the next person who stops by.

thanks for playing with me again this week!

bringing out the ice, ice baby

i just drove two miles out of my way heading back from the bank, because when i passed through the construction zone the first time, two rather attractive young mexican dudes waved, and a third smiled at me.

unfortunately, none of the three were anywhere to be found during my trip back through the construction zone.

all was not lost, however- while waiting for my turn to pass through the zone, i became fascinated by the guy holding the "stop/slow" sign. i'm not sure if he was indulging his inner vanilla ice or what, but i haven't seen anyone with diagonal lines shaved into their eyebrows in years.

cute and cuddly? i think not.

i was asking for trouble- i really was. that much became very clear to me very quickly.

as i've mentioned before, i'm running away again next week. while i was at work today (necessary to support my travel habit), i took it upon myself to find a new image for the wallpaper on my computer at work. before the trip to havasupai, i found a picture of one of the waterfalls (havasu falls, as it turns out), so it seemed fitting to look for a picture of the grand tetons, amongst which i hope to be hiking around this time next week.

i found a rather striking picture on the national park service website, saved it as my wallpaper (if you followed the link, i now stare at a larger version of the picture at the top of the page), and i really should have quit while i was ahead.

i made the horrible mistake of clicking on the link on the left hand side that said "be safe!", and was a little unnerved to find that there's not one, but two different kinds of bears frolicking about the park.

nothing makes you look forward to a trip like finding out that there's a chance you'll encounter something that might like to nibble your ear....and you'll be damned lucky if it's only that much.

according to the website, should one encounter a bear, one should not throw their backpack at it, nor should they turn and run. no, sirree....if i come upon a bear, i'm supposed to back away slowly and speak in calm, reassuring tones.

would somebody please tell me just exactly how i am supposed to be calm and reassuring while a bear is staring at me as if i were a fresh steak with legs? (true, my legs have slightly more fat than they used to, but i think they call that "marbling" and i've seen professional chefs talk about it fondly on tv.) i might calmly wet my pants while staring at this bear, but i doubt i'll be able to be soothing and reassuring while doing so. perhaps it would be a good idea to stay with a crowd of slow, fat people, just in case. if a couple of those folks can't satisfy a hungry bear, perhaps they'll at least slow it down a little so i can get away.

confronted with such alarming information, i felt the need for some sort of reassurance.

perhaps calling daddy first was a bad idea.

"i've never seen a bear in the grand tetons..." (so far, so good)

"...most of them are in yellowstone." (not reassuring, dad. guess where we're stopping on our way to the tetons?)

"i've never seen one when i've had a gun."

great- the faa is going to love this. in addition to asking me if i'm flying with a chaperone (sadly, it's been a couple of years since the last time that happened), now i'm going to have to answer all sorts of pesky questions regarding the heat i'm packing in my suitcase. somehow i doubt the "bear repellant" excuse is going to fly.....and neither will i if i depend on daddy's methods, from the sound of it.

looking on the bright side however, daddy said there really aren't all that many snakes in the area.

of course not- the bears probably ate them.

crazy from the heat

we had our first hundred degree day here yesterday, and i have never been so thrilled to spend my day- the entire day- indoors at work. in fact, it may have been the one and only day this summer (wait- it isn't even officially summer yet, is it?) that i have appreciated being forced to wander around the building shivering and hoping that my foundation undergarment is thick enough to not only make me look vaguely busty and prevent me from poking out the eyes of midgets who wander too close to my chest under such conditions.

yeah, there's a mental picture for you, huh? you're welcome.

anyway, where was i?

it was so hot yesterday that one of my coworkers suggested that we bring in steaks and lay them out on the asphalt. he moonlights in local comedy clubs, but i think this may have been one of the few times he was actually serious. i would have taken him up on the offer, but didn't think i could sweet talk him into springing for the steaks. (sadly, neither radio or comedy are very lucrative careers, unless you're howard stern or george carlin or david lee roth.)

wait a minute...david lee roth didn't do so well with that whole radio thing. true, he had the misfortune of following howard stern, but as i understand it, he would have been better off with that paramedic gig he had before hitting the airwaves.

which reminds me, as i worked at the country station this weekend, i heard a remake of "jump" as.....interpreted by good ol' diamond dave and a bluegrass band.

yeah, you read that right....just be glad you didn't hear it, as it was....more of a half-hearted hop than a jump.

perhaps all that heat in the 80s had some sort of damaging effects.

procrastination tattool

i suppose it's a bit of an understatement to say that SO is just a tad straight laced. he turns pale at the mention of dyeing my hair purple (it was such a great color). he accepts my multiple ear piercings, though i know for a fact he was relieved when a less visible piercing was taken out, and i swear he actually stopped breathing the last time i mentioned getting it redone the next time i make it to mardi gras.

in light of such reactions, i know better than to even contemplate getting another tattoo while in his presence.



however, i think i can get away with playing around with them here.

sentence saturday

forgive me for not posting all week- too busy working to balance out an upcoming vacation. perhaps i'll get back in the swing of things later on today.

in the meantime, this week's first word is nakanix. scroll through the comments to find your word, and please remember to leave a new made up wrd for the next person who stops by. thanks for playing with me this weekend!

how much pop culture can i possibly squeeze into one post?

a lot.

i was quiet all week, much to my sibling's disappointment, especially on wednesday, when i failed to observe that purple pop pixie's 48th birthday. (to make up for it, i am fully prepared to sing "1999" in its entirety* to anyone who asks....in the next ten minutes.)

surprisingly, when sibling called me at the ungodly hour of 8:30 am wednesday, she failed to mention that welsh crooner/sex symbol tom jones was celebrating his 66th birthday. *sigh* priorities, people, priorities.**

while i'm getting caught up on birthdays,i was stunned to learn that tom hanson turned 43 yesterday...as did edward and sam......i'd still happily date any (or all) of the three.

_________________________________________________

okay, now that i'm caught up on birthdays, let's focus a little attention on the upcoming holiday. i freely admit, i haven't done squat in the way of shopping for father's day, though daddy knows a couple of ideas i have been tossing around. (i'm kind enough to steer clear of the traditionally ugly father's day ties, though we may have to start some sort of "ugly tie" competition in the future....all i have to do is find something that clashes with his favorite bright orange wool jacket in a way that is simultaneously repulsive and intriguing, and i'm sure to win.***

if, like me, you're stuck in a bind when it comes to father's day gifts, and you have a spare $2150 to spend, the options are endless:

~4300 cans of soda
~143 cds
~86 dvds
~1 invitation to britney spears' wedding plus a free candle from the reception.

yeah, you read that right- the winner of that particular auction shelled out over two thousand bucks for the privilege of adding those items to their collection of britney memorabilia, which, i might add, also includes britney's pregnancy test and a half empty bottle of water she left at the hospital after delivering her first child.

pair that with a good prince album, and what more could dad possibly want?


*well, the lines i can remember, anyway

**the two artists share another link, besides their shared birthday. who can come up with it first?

***crap- my sibling, who checks in regularly, probably read that part, and will steal my idea next year. perhaps i need some sort of "plan b"

writer's block

it came yesterday.

no- not my new pet elephant....nor was it the long-awaited invitation to a hot weekend at val kilmer's ranch (at this point, i'm thinking maybe he has my old address scribbled down instead of the current one).

actually, it was an invitation of another sort- the official invitation to my ten-year high school reunion.

the invitation wasn't a huge deal, but i must admit i'm sort of struggling with the "biography form" that was included in the envelope. i mean, some questions are easy enough- i took care of my name, address, phone number and email without any problem.....but then the questions became a little more difficult.

my biggest "problem" (though i don't necessarily see it as one) is my inability to play it straight. (perhaps that's why i was voted the female class clown, but i could be wrong about that.....)

so, when i look at a question like "what are you currently doing?", i'm not going to list my multiple jobs and make up fancy titles for myself so i sound like the most successful member of my class*, nor will i put down what i'm doing at the present moment (which would obviously be playing around on myspace and trying to figure out how to fill out the silly questionnaire).

instead, i'm putting the truth:"trying to figure out how to become rich, famous, and gorgeous by august."

actually, that was easy enough. moving on.....

spouse/significant other: spouse? you're kidding, right? i'm way too young for that.

number of children, names and ages: see what i put over by "spouse"

what's still on your to do list? this one's a bit tricky. i mean, how many of my uptight former classmates will see the humor in my putting "val kilmer, johnny depp, matthew m.**, owen wilson, billy idol...

so i guess i need to ponder this one some more.

other questions i still have to figure out:

favorite place you have lived or traveled: (crap- just one?)

favorite high school memory: what to choose.....having sam kinison as my teacher? how about spending saturday detention getting hit on by judd nelson in the school library? the day sean penn had pizza delivered to our classroom? finding out that christian slater was a basement dj? i'm going to have a hard time narrowing these down to one.

are all reunion questionnaires like this? where are the questions we really want to know the answers to? i don't care where your favorite place to visit might be. instead, how about telling me whether or not you're part of the 10% of my graduating class that took up stripping after graduation. how about a competition to see who's had the most children since high school? the most spouses? i mean, if my $25 is going to cover the cost of "a full night of entertainment/laughter", let's make this entertaining! who's boinked celebrities since graduation? been on a reality show? become a mulitmillionaire? legally? illegally? seen the inside of the playboy mansion the highest number of times? who's been arrested for indecent exposure? made out with paris hilton?

i want drama. i want scandal. i want jerry springer to show up at this shindig! most of all, i want to know why the invitation to val's ranch still hasn't arrived.

*though i am surely more successful than at least one classmate...i mean, i'm not living in a trailer and working at the gas station on the corner or anything like that, after all.

**i'm too lazy to look up the proper spelling of his last name right now, and every time i attempt to spell it, i wind up with a "cough" and about five extra vowels. however, i'll be more than happy to learn it in the extremely unlikely event that he proposes.

sentence saturday

has it really been a week already?

the first word this week is spogorted. scroll through the comments to find your word, use it in a sentence, and then leave a new made-up word for the next person who stops by.

thanks for playing with me again this weekend!

...and a step back....

as usual, i have stuff to do.......and i'm having a hard time making myself focus long enough to do it.

.......which reminds me- there's a great line in my favorite movie.

well, actually, there are a lot of great lines in the movie, like:

"i was thinking of the immortal words of socrates, when he said, "i drank what?" "

mitch taylor: something strange happened to me this morning.
chris knight: was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?
mitch taylor: no.
chris knight: why am i the only person that has that dream?

"if there's ever anything i can do for you...or more to the point, to you, you let me know, okay?"

however, none of those really apply to my current situation.

i've written before about my procrastination issues- and probably multiple times because, well, i procrastinate often. tonight, obviously, is no exception. i have been putting off this pile of avon stuff for a week, because i was getting to the point of burnout, and i chose to follow some of val kilmer/chris knight's advice.

in the movie, there's a scene where mitch (chris knight's protege, i suppose) is getting frustrated with the big project he's working on, and chris knight walks in and gives him quite possibly the most useful advice i've ever heard:

"let's just take a step back. no, i was wrong. i'm sorry. take a step forward. now take a step back . . . and then a step forward . . . and then a step back . . . and then we're cha-chaing."

i took the step back last week, and unfortunately i can't seem to stop cha-chaing long enough to put together this damned order.