cherry coke and mole hair

hi.

i know, i know- i've been a little too quiet for the past couple of days, but i figured rather than stare blankly at my screen and write some sort of blogbabble before falling asleep, drooling on the keyboard, and somehow electrocuting myself, it would be better for everyone involved if i just went to bed like a good girl.

but now i'm refreshed and rested and ready to write. (actually, i'm at work and need something to keep me awake, as my body is still not convinced that i need to be awake before 8 a.m.)

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today's post is being brought to you by the kind folks who thought to put lots of caffiene into cherry coke. bless them all. (which reminds me, have you checked in with blog jesus today? me neither, but i will as soon as i finish pounding out this entry.)

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since kal, larry, and my mossy friend wiped out my last list of musical aliases, i suppose it's time to create a new list:

steveland judkins ::

irene escalera ::

kenneth edmonds ::

mark feld ::

paul caravello ::

neneh karlsson ::

lesley wunderman ::

sheena orr ::

johann holzel ::

stasia micula::

it's hard to believe that last one is in her 50's- i just can't see her singing her big hit with a straight face at her advanced age, though i'm sure she will on kal's favorite show, which i was going to link to, but found this instead. (which reminds me, "don't treat me bad" was a pretty good song.)

while coming up with this list, i learned something interesting- "michael bolton" is not the singer's real name. (it's close, but not quite.) so, michael bolton in office space was correct- he should keep the name, and the "no talent ass clown" should find a new moniker.

also, did you know there was a real chef boyardee?

in other trivia, cary elwes' real first name is ivan. (it only makes him slightly less attractive to me, though the fact that he's married probably lessens the chances of him ever offering to do as i wish.)

Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

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all that work has made me hungry. perhaps it's time to nuke the leftover pizza from last night.

note to self: next time, reheat pizza for 30 seconds, not 45. i lost way too much cheese to part of the paper towel. dammit. oh well- that's why i brought in more than one slice.

i am so glad i don't have food/body issues. sure, i could stand to lose a couple of pounds and my derriere certainly isn't as taut and toned as anna kournikova's, but i'm okay with not having the sort of figure that would attract enrique iglesias (and his large mole, which i'm sure has about a 4-inch long hair sprouting out of it. creepy.)

where was i, and how did i wind up talking about mole hair?

oh, right- body issues.

while the phone isn't ringing off the hook with calls from sports illustrated begging yours truly to pose seductively on exotic beaches in an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini, i don't feel the need to take up atkins, south beach, or old fashioned bulemia. (besides, my intense dislike of puking was one of the many factors in ending my slight drinking habit in college.) i basically eat what i want (though even i admit i probably shouldn't have tacos for every meal), work out when i have time (not very often lately), and though my stomach's not always flat, i don't obsess about it. (besides, it's probably just a little bloated from the ill-advised baked beans/broccoli, cauliflower, and cheese sauce combination i ate for lunch the past couple of days.)

now, if you'll excuse me, i have another slice of pizza and half a bottle of cherry coke to consume before my shift later on this morning.

shawn colvin and bad driving

in my head this evening: "primal scream", by motley crue.

how it got there: it was one of those days when i wanted to lock myself in the bathroom and scream....and i don't remember enough of michael jackson's song "scream" to have it in my head.

school- excuse me- summer camp- was an adventure sure to provide fodder for a chapter of my memoirs one day. my dinner this evening was good, but then spending 15 minutes on hold with my part time employer listening to shawn colvin's greatest hits was....draining.

however, i survived and my makeup order might even be here tomorrow, so i suppose i'm pretty well off. (i know what did it- emailing all of my helpers this morning to apolologize for the delay. heck, had i known, i would have done that several days ago.)

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thanks to south carolina's bizarre weather systems, we've gone from sunny 85-degree days last week to 65-degree rain this week. (i sincerely hope things clear up tomorrow.) since i am still waiting for sears to get my replacement top-of-the-line michelin tire in stock (i need a replacement hydroedge tire since a nail got stuck in the last one at a rather odd angle), i skidded a little bit this evening on the crappy temporary replacement they stuck on my car 2 1/2 weeks ago. (i should wait until i have raging p.m.s. to storm into sears and ask them where on earth my tire has been lurking for the past 2 1/2 weeks. however, time is of the essence, so i will stomp into their shop tomorrow in as pissy a mood as i can muster. (if i were a cell phone sort of person, i'd call mama, hand the phone to the manager, and give her the joy of tearing someone a new posterior opening.))

 

so, i had my excuse for crappy driving this evening. however, the guy who turned onto the road in front of me and promptly took his half of the road out of the middle had no excuse. while i have no idea how to turn on my brights, i can certainly flash them, and flash i did. repeatedly. it took him/her a minute to get the message- perhaps because they had flashbacks to strobe lit dancefloors of years gone by- but eventually they picked a lane, much to my joy.

 

thanks to my mossy new friend, there are two musical artists left to guess. i suppose that means i should start on a new list......maybe tomorrow.

everybody's working for the weekend....

it's been a long day, and i'm tired. since i freely admit this post may not be my best work, i'll understand if you scroll down and read a previous post instead.

still there?

summer camp starts tomorrow, so my day was spent at school. my assistant and i cleaned mysterious crud off the walls, scrubbed dried paint and other substances off the chairs, and swapped out zoo animal decorations for dinosaurs. by the time we were chased out of the building at 5:00, we still had a fair bit to do, which is why i'm planning on going in at 7 a.m. to accomplish a bit more before the two year olds begin to appear.

after work, i spent a couple of hours at a friend's house, helping her set up her email. (long story- don't ask.) upon returning home and discovering that my makeup shipment still had not arrived, i called my part time employer and discovered that, despite being assured previously that a replacement shipment would be on its way to me last night, it would not actually be shipped until thursday, and would therefore arrive next wednesday.....a week and a half late. (wednesday, by the way, is when the new order goes in.) the customer service rep on the other end of the phone line offered a weak apology "for any inconvenience this may cause you", but quite frankly, i'd prefer:

1. an emailed apology to each of my customers admitting that the company screwed up, not me. (to be composed by the customer service rep, of course.)

2. my shipment to be delivered, pronto

aaaaarrrrggghhh. if i had pms right now, someone would be in really big trouble.

i feel much better getting that off my chest.

(by the way, i'm typing this on my old-school, pre-pentium (i'm pretty sure) windows 95-equipped computer, so if the little codes i put in to make some words bold didn't work, you'll just have to forgive me.)

for some reason, an old loverboy tune about everybody working for the weekend has been running through my head for the past two days. i do not know how it came up on my mental jukebox, but i really wish it would stop.

and on that note (actually, i'm sure it's 30+, with the guitar part after the first line of the chorus), i need to reply to a comment or two and head for bed.

i'll try to be a little more entertaining tomorrow- a couple of cherry cokes should do the trick.

what the......?

as i mentioned before, i'm working at the radio station on my day off from school. one of the perks of working at the station is that there's always at least one newspaper lying around for my convenience.

so, i set down my bag (weighed down with more magazines for my uncluttering effort), hooked up the headphones, popped in my tape, and opened up the latest edition of the state.

now, i'd heard rumors before about this, but i'm afraid inxs may have gone off the deep end. (actually, i'm tempted to say "sold out".)

it seems my favorite band in the whole wide world (since the tender age of 8, when i first heard "need you tonight") has decided that, nearly eight years after michael hutchence's death, they need to find a permanent lead singer.

terence trent d'arby didn't work out, which is a pity- that could have been interesting. (somewhere in all this, he decided to change his name.) jimmy barnes (who joined inxs on a tune for the soundrack to the lost boys, "good times", in 1987) didn't work out. even jon stevens (who was declared a permanent replacement.....then left a year later) only hung in there for one single.

what's a band to do?

obviously, the only option is to join the three-ring circus that is reality television.

when i first heard the rumors about this, i thought the show would be some spawn of american idol. (no link- i can't stand american idol- even when celebrities i like are guest judges.)

i was close- i think.

the premiere of "rock star:inxs" will light up tv screens around the nation on monday, 11 july. (i'm mildly curious, but i doubt i'll watch it.) the show will be hosted by dave navarro (of jane's addiction and red hot chili peppers fame- and the guy who gets to see carmen electra naked any time he wishes) and brooke burke (who i believe is involved with/married to someone famous, but quite frankly, i don't care enough to look it up). it will begin with fifteen contestants, and each week one of them will be eliminated after some sort of "performance competition".

but wait- there's more!

not only will the contestants perform onstage on a weekly basis a la american idol, but they will also live together in a hollywood hills home! (hmmm......where have we seen this before? real world? big brother? surreal life? why not stick them all on an island and have the judges (the other 5 members of inxs, i assume) float in on a cruise ship and dock on the island for the weekly performances? i can see the "challenges" now:

~get helena christensen to look in your direction
~write a hit song about kylie minogue
~take up with bob geldof's wife (oh, wait a minute.......)

(quite frankly, i'll never understand how that last one happened anyway. i mean, she was more than a little odd.......)

even better- mark burnett plans on milking this for all it is worth- which apparently is three episodes a week.

*shudders*

in other inxs news, it seems michael's daughter, who is now eight years old, is recording a rap single and has plans to release an album. so- will she go by her full name- heavenly hiraani tiger lily- or will she stick with her daddy's nickname for her? (as i recall, he called her "tiger".)

ok- on with my shift.

calls from overzealous "fan" so far today: one
number of strange jokes told during phone call: one
radio_fan-joke

why bask in the sunshine when i can freeze my butt off in a 70 degree studio?

i'd much rather be inside this windowless building all day than outdoors enjoying the 87-degree sunshine.

perhaps if i say it enough, i will start to believe it.

i'm trying to make the best of being indoors all weekend- my rollerblades are in the car. (well, i didn't seriously injure myself on them last weekend, so i figure i shouldn't take another crack at it.) i also have a jump rope in my backpack, and if the treadmills at our weight room weren't broken, i may seriously have considered bringin one to work. (fitting it in my car would have been difficult, but it's the thought that counts, right?) of course, since i have all these great fitness plans (rolling chair races in the hallway, anyone?), i am sporting the bouncy adidas.

surprisingly, my biggest fan has only called once so far today. (then again, i have only been on the air for less than two hours, so i'm sure i will hear from him again. repeatedly.) i asked folks to go to our website and take my summer vacation poll, and my listener felt compelled to call me immediately and let me know his itinerary for the next twenty four hours. unfortunately, i had to decline his invitation to a barbecue with veterans.......i have to work.

make that two calls. during my last break, i said something about needing to figure out how to get a treadmill out of my car, so i guess my fan immediately set about coming up with a solution for me. i didn't quite catch the whole plan, but for some reason, there was a heat lamp involved.

perhaps i should stay inside all day, lest he swing by and offer his assistance in person.

speaking of staying inside, i didn't have a chance to take photos at the asylum yesterday. i wound up working until around 5:00, and when i got home, instead of picking up my cameras and heading back downtown, i picked up my pajamas and a magazine (my uncluttering project continues!) and fell asleep reading.

after a two-hour nap, i groggily agreed to go out for mexican food. (not that it's ever hard to talk me into going out for tacos....and chips and salsa.....and guacamole.....why am i hungry all of a sudden?) after dinner, there was no movie (i was a sleepy, cheap date), just more sleep.

as a result, i'm relaxed, refreshed, and having a pretty good shift. (of course, all the bigwigs were potentially listening yesterday, when i pretty much sucked, but that's the way my timing generally works.)

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how about a quick peek at what my fellow bloggers have been up to lately?

~kal is rattling off obscure jethro tull trivia while lounging around indoors instead of going out and mowing the lawn.

~larry is mourning the loss of 16 armadillos and celebating the finalization of his divorce.

~digitalicat is contemplating revamping his blog.

~citrus is still in self-imposed exile. (though he's still checking in with other blogs, including this one, according to my counter.)

~sojourning crow is spending the weekend playing with flame throwers, while nj is undoubtedly working on his car.

~meanwhile, kristi is preparing for two huge life changes- bone marrow donation and starting a new job.

~free-writer is featuring a highly entertaining guest post today from mixed moss.

~finally, it seems my little sister, after showing concern that i was becoming addicted to blogging, has started a blog of her own. (it seems that, as we've aged, she has taken on the role of "serious sibling", which allows me to continue to be the fun, frivolous one. woo-hoo!)

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speaking of fun and frivolity, i suppose i should abandon this and get back to "serious" work. (reading the paper, telling folks that lollapalooza has been resurrected, googling myself, reading rolling stone, practicing my awesome jump rope skills, et cetera.......)

trying to keep my eyes open

*yawn*

excuse me. the alarm went off way too early this morning, and i'm having trouble keeping my eyes open. you know those cartoons where people (or animals) would resort to propping their eyelids open with toothpicks? that's about where i am right now.

if i keep this up, my saturday night will be spent curled up in bed, unconscious.

don't you wish you were cool like me?

(you can stop laughing now.)

i've been flipping through other people's blogs this morning....looking to see what's out there. so far, i've passed on the opportunity to buy various lawnmowers from ebay- three times, i've backtracked out of five anime-laden asian schoolgirl blogs (complete with those annoying "click here" popups), and i've actually stopped to read five or six blogs that looked interesting.

this looked promising.

i found some really cool photos here. (perhaps over the weekend i'll manage to get some more of my photos put up....don't sit by your computer waiting for it to happen, though.)

this one was just a little too odd. (digitalicat-if you're reading this, do not use this one as a model for your revamped blog, okay?)

in an attempt to wake up, i just wandered across the building and bought a refreshing cherry coke, which is currently cooling off my chest, as when i took my first sip, somehow i spilled all over my shirt. fabulous- guess i won't be going to any black-tie events without a costume change. (then again, i am in jeans and a couple of tank tops this morning, so i suppose that a change in clothing would be unavoidable if i were going someplace fancy- which i am not. )

it could be worse- last time i visited that machine, it ate my dollar and refused to give me any sort of liquid refreshment. perhaps the kick i delivered on that occassion motivated it to cooperate this time.

ugh- just clicked on a blog with all of those irritating "you MUST upgrade your internet explorer now" popups. the last thing i want is a computer giving me orders, so i closed all fifteen windows that popped up. so much for flipping through other blogs. (well, until i get bored later and give in to curiousity again, of course.)

i meant to bring my camera to work this morning. the lunatic asylum downtown is about to undergo all sorts of development and renovation (keeping five or six of the older buildings and tearing down the rest to make room for apartments, condos, and a few businesses), and i'd like to get some black and white photos of the grounds before the digging commences. perhaps if i have time to run home and grab the camera, i'll snap a few photos after my wnok shift this afternoon and then post them (well, just the digital ones) this evening.

speaking of photos, i'm sure the kind folks at target are about ready to sell my latest batch of pictures to the highest bidder by now. i really should swing by there and rescue them....perhaps on the way to see "madagascar" at some point this weekend. (the thought of psychotic cartoon penguins in action intrigues me.)

which reminds me.....

you are 20 years old

20 under 12: you are a kid at heart. you still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: you are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: you are a twentysomething at heart. you feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: you are a thirtysomething at heart. you've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: you are a mature adult. you've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. now you get to sit back and relax.

what age do you act?

damn- i thought i'd score younger than that. perhaps next time i should pick "spongebob squarepants".

here's something else i couldn't seem to resist.....

your political profile

overall: 20% conservative, 80% liberal

social issues: 25% conservative, 75% liberal

personal responsibility: 25% conservative, 75% liberal

fiscal issues: 25% conservative, 75% liberal

ethics: 0% conservative, 100% liberal

defense and crime: 25% conservative, 75% liberal

how liberal / conservative are you?

oh- and i just retook the stupid test. (there were a couple of graphics i couldn't view at home, so i'd picked random answers the last time i took it.)

okay- time to start prepping for today's shift. i need random trivia, music news, and a few links for my webpage would be good. better get cracking.........

fish in shallow water

it'll be a quickie tonight, as i have to be at work at an obscene hour tomorrow- maybe i can make it up to you later......

i'm bushed. the last week of school is always a long one, and the kids spent the week bouncing off the walls. too bad we don't get summers off- but at least i won't be stuck in a cubicle like most folks these days.

so, three days off, one day to prepare for summer camp, and then it's a pleasant mix of art, field trips, and outdoor play (featuring the elmo sprinkler, of course) for ten weeks before breaking in a new crop of two year olds.

i will be on the air each of the three days i'm off from school, which thrills me no end. lots of time to practice and perfect my whole radio....thing. rumor has it there will be some pretty big fish listening over the weekend......but no pressure at all- of course. (as long as they don't call in, i'll be fine.)

otherwise, i'm toast. i just don't do well in front of people. i get through my air shifts by fooling myself into thinking no one is listening. if i had to do what i do in front of even one person i don't know, i fear i might have flashbacks to high school speech class, freeze up completely, and come off like the bumbling idiot i (maybe not so-) secretly am.

this could be a problem when i'm rich and famous, but i'll cross that bridge when i find it....another day to make my stand....sorry- had a duran duran moment there for a second.

i actually went out briefly and socialized with some of my coworkers at a pool party i wasn't going to attend, but a good friend was celebrating her birthday and talked me into going. i'm still not up to spending hours on end with coworkers outside of work, but half an hour (after this evening's babysitting gig) was okay.

on that note, i need to abandon this, wrap up a package to send to my dad (one of my gnomads, bodhi, will be accompanying him to his high school reunion in lingle, wyoming in mid-june), and crawl into bed.

come here often?

i should be in bed. i know this. before i last went to bed (at 3 a.m.), i said to myself,"tonight, i will go to bed early and catch up on all the sleep i missed this week."

i got home before 9, piddled away nearly four hours (blogging, flipping through other blogs, teasing larry, shopping for underwear in my underwear (not really- just marked selected pages and put it in a not-to-be-missed place (on top of the remotes) as a gentle suggestion)) and while i had every intent of going to sleep, somehow the munchies mix (original, with doritoes) started calling my name. i tried eating them in bed, but i wound up with pointy little dorito fragments poking my belly button, so then i figured i'd hop on here and just check my email for a minute and then maybe look to see if anything new has popped up since i last made the round of blogs two hours ago and well- maybe just a quick post......

i'm bordering on pathetic, and i know it.

for some reason, i want to know how badly larry has beaten his car stereo in an attempt to get bono to stop speaking in tongues.

i will not sleep without knowing whether kal is still an insect, or if he's regained his "mollusk" status.

i need to know if nj has finished working on his car yet, so he can resume running over clowns at high speed.

have jo-anne's platonic male friends quit hitting on her yet?

and has citrus started posting again, or is he still in self-imposed exile?

which reminds me- if you witnessed any of his last few posts....well, you know. i think i figured out part of the problem: when you become attached to a blog enough to check in regularly, you tend to feel as if you're getting to know the blogger, simply by reading the words in their blog. (i get that way, anyway.) for me, it was a little unsettling to discover my first comment from someone i barely knew. i mean, here i was, writing all sorts of things- whatever i happened to be thinking about at the time- and suddenly it was as if someone had walked into the room and started reading over my shoulder. while it was a little odd, it didn't change the way i handle my blog- i still write whatever i happen to be thinking about at the time- and none of it is fiction.

the problem with citrus' last days was that i think many folks (more than would care to admit it) read his stories as nonfiction (i sure did- fell for most of his anecdotes hook, line, and sinker), and then when his attempt to flee to canada took some odd twists, people were left feeling confused, and then maybe like their......trust.....had been taken advantage of. sort of an "i was honest with you, but i feel like you hid behind your "mask", and i still don't know anything about the "real" you" sort of thing. (sorry- having a terrible time with wording, but hopefully the main thought is coming across. if not, well, it won't be the first time i've gotten people lost in my mind.)

anyway, i suppose where i'm going with all this is to say, "thanks."

thanks for letting me peek inside your world and for caring enough to peek into mine.....even if all i'm doing is rambling about nothing of consequence.