Creative Energy

After a fun weekend with Ms. Julia, I attempted to download some of the crazy pictures from her camera this morning. As much as technology can surprise me with its capabilities it can also surprise me by being a little bitch. Now, I know it's not rational to assign such labels to non-living things, but seriously, my computer was a total bitch. I figured since we had the same camera, mine is just insanely outdated after only THREE YEARS (and as of late a temperamental bitch as well), everything would just magically be compatible...no dice. I do have a couple of pics from my bitchy, beastly, camera = one of Jules, Amanda, and Dryfus participating in a favorite Saturday tradition of ours, which entails piling into my bed and watching crappy TV; and one of Jules with an oven mit in one hand and a plastic spoon in the other as she desperately works to save the bottle of frozen wine from Friday (Oops! We did end up melting most of it so that we could all have a glass @ 3pm on Saturday). Anyway, my point is that I'd rather have Julia's pictures to post and hopefully she will email me them sometime so that I can share them in all their splendor.

When Jules left today Amanda and I felt a little lost. It was so nice being out with everyone together this weekend, I almost forgot about how fast we're growing up. I don't know if I just needed distraction or if Sunday is just Art Project Day but I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon painting my toenails, and they're just so ridiculous that I had to post them:

There really wasn't a whole lot of direction in this endeavor, although, I do say they seem rather FANTASIA inspired (think of The Never Ending Story, which we watched this weekend!). Yes, I'm aware it's the same foot with different backgrounds, but that foot turned out the best.

It's Timmy the Tooth's Birthday!

I love this picture of you Timmy -- I tried to snap it before you put on my stylin' shades, but you were too quick for me. Can't remember what we were laughing about, though I know it caused tears to stream down your face! Perhaps it was just from the pitchers of beer we were draining in mass quantities that day. I think you guys love the Union just as much as we do.


Here's a hug for your Birthday, wish you guys would visit us so I could give you a real one. It is your turn, after all. Miss ya as much as I miss Spring Break!

How drunk are we?

I heard a rumor

...they say you've got a broken heart! No, actually that's not the rumor (like I'd care if you have a broken heart anyway). The rumor is that:

MS. JULIA IS COMING TO VISIT US TONIGHT!!!

Unfortunately, I am unable to share any fun, and/or embarrassing, photos of her as I am posting this from Tiff and Carly's couch, where I happened to camp out last night. However, once I get my butt to work and then home finally I may have to remedy that. Alright, no sense in dilly dallying, I best Faux Walk-of-Shame to the office so I can get this party of a weekend started. Looking forward to seeing you Jules, and I expect everyone else to be on their best behavior for your first visit back IN AGES.

***

2:45pm UPDATE -- I won't believe you're actually coming until I see the whites of your eyes!

(Jules, those of us who were there know that this documents a rather interesting time in our lives, but trust me babe, I could have picked one that was WAY worse! LOVE YOU)

I heart Paula

Conversation at work today reminded me of a dream I had last night about a specific Paula Abdul song. In the dream I was trying to remember all of the moves to it that my friend Stacey and I made up a LONG time ago. I'm sure the dream was a reaction to watching American Idol and me professing how much I love Paula, c'mon I had all of her tapes! Anyway, I was in a goofy mood at work (go figure) so I started singing the song and doing as much of the routine as I could conjure up, here's the best choreographed part of the song, for you fellow "Straight Up" fans:

I've been a fool before
Wouldn't like to get my love
Caught in the slammin' door
Are you more than hot for me
Or am I a page in your history book?
I don't mean to make demands
But the word and the deed
Go hand in hand
How about some information, PLEASE?
please? please? please?

Straight up, now tell me
Do you really wanna love me forever
Oh, oh, oh
Or am I caught in a hit-and-run?
Straight up, now tell me
Is it gonna be you and me together
Oh, oh, oh
Or are you just havin' fun?

If you get me drunk, I may just sing and dance the whole thing for you like I did today STONE SOBER, at work! Oh man, eventually the student pushed me, in my desk chair, into the back room to avoid scaring the normal people.

So this is the New Year

I tend to recall what I was doing a year ago very vividly. Part of it has to do with seasons and cycles, and part of it is, of course, the fact that I DOCUMENT EVERYTHING. Today, I was reflecting on last year at this time when my days started really early. I remembered hating getting up and going to school and work, but the worst part was having it all finished by late afternoon. This is what I wrote then:

1/26/05
She swung her legs off the side of the bed. 2:03pm her clock stated in bold, red, light. "Wow" she thought "Had it only been six hours since I started my day?" Frowning, she reasoned that it had certainly seemed like a bonafide full, LONG, day. Of course, everyday did lately. It was January, she had nothing to look forward to... she needed something! Spring Break was too far away, besides, she could only imagine beaches for so long before imagination turned to desperation.

I completely remember feeling that way, the strange thing is, I feel the exact opposite this year. Now, when 10pm comes around it's like I'm 8 years old again pouting about having to go to bed. Granted, this year my schedule is quite different and my tropical vacation is approaching much faster than a Spring Break would...I just can't help finding it curious how much I stall going to bed right now. Also, I'm not creating beach scenes to fall asleep to anymore. I go against my faithful pre-sleep ritual by thinking about all sorts of important, major things -- which has made for some pretty wicked (as well as restless) dreams. Not to mention, when I was still picturing the ocean, the sand, the sun before I slept I kept having dreams where I would get sunburned! What the hell does that mean?

Get your hand out of my cookie jar!

ROAR!

http://www.specialtygiftsandmore.net/Cookie.html

Who would've thought a neglected cookie jar would bring us so much entertainment this weekend? Carly's empty lion friend was kidnapped by Big Jared on Friday (evidently this happened at Post Bar and none of us even noticed him being smuggled out in J's coat) and he was returned on Saturday night FILLED WITH COOKIES! Doug also brought a wonderful plate full of cookies over to us ladies -- we pretty much felt like the luckiest girls in the world. All day while we were busy doing nothing, our guys were slaving away making cookies for us. I F-ing love that cookie jar :) Jared does the best imitation of him too = priceless.

His battle is finally over

Back in November I did a post about our dying fish Harold. After holding on for almost two more months, it seems our little buddy felt it was time to give up and swim towards the light last week. We kind of had a nice ceremony for Harold on Thanksgiving, and though I tried to play "Taps" on a roll of cardboard yesterday, his burial was...well, it was awful really! See for yourself:

Amanda and Harold, right after the rocks shifted and completely covered his dead body! (Yes, she is laughing, but it was nervous laughter THE HORROR.)

Part of Harold's lifeless, partially covered, body!

We, (in all honesty, it was just Amanda because I had to leave the room to stop gagging) did end up giving Harold a proper burial at sea. Thanks for the memories Harold, I'm almost positive we will never replace you.

Psychotic Stalker

There really isn't a good way to describe the letter I came home to on Sunday night. I can say that it was horrifying to walk in the front door and see an envelope with "STEPH" written on it, however, the inner contents were much more horrifying. I have decided to post some of it, just so you can truly get a sense of how demented it is, plus, some of you inquired about it after seeing my freaked out away message.

---

I won't post the whole thing, since I wasn't the only one it was addressed to/about. To preface, I met Crazy Stalker through a mutual friend - the other recipient of the letter - and we hung out ONE time. By "hung out" I mean: conversed in a sickeningly PG manner.

---

First I would like to say I’m sorry to the both of you. A mistake is something that you look back on and regret. In as much as I would like to say that I made a mistake I cant say that because I don’t regret getting to know you Steph. The regret is that of coming between two friends.
(I don't believe that you can come between two friends who aren't interested in you AND I know I drank that night but I do not remember making any plans for a wedding, or even a date for that matter! Um, get over yourself.)
Blah, blah, blah, barely coherent rambling that continues on FOREVER, single spaced, 12pt font, with 0.5 inch margins. Steph thank you for a wonderful night I remember ever word that was passed between the two of us and you truly are an old soul. Now thanks to you every time I hear Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers I will think of talking with you. I don't like Tom Petty. I hope you don't hate me but if you do please I ask on behalf of the rest of my gender don't give up. What I told you about romantic ideals there are men out there who hold these thoughts close to their hearts as I do. You need to remember that with out the sour the sweet is never so sweet. I'm sorry for hurting both of you and if nither one of you wanted to talk to me again I would understand I just needed to say a few things before they ate me up on the inside.
(1.Honestly, I remember what we talked about that evening, and from this letter I swear it sounds like he was talking to someone else. 2.Romantic ideals?! Um, barf. 3.Don't butcher quotes from a movie and pass them off as your own because I will google the shit out of it and discover that you stole from Vanilla Sky. 4.If you have irrational thoughts, go ahead, write 'em down, BUT, if you feel the need to share them with people, do realize that they will use them as they see fit! 5.Lastly, without is one word, and neither is n-E-i-t-h-e-r, and those are just the obvious errors.)

Happy Birthday you "LT" you!

That nickname really isn't as bad as it sounds...well for the most part. After all, you almost blew a job interview (no pun intended) when they asked you "How would your best friend describe you?" Well, as of late, I've been introducing you with "This is Sarah, she's SICK and DISGUSTING." (Yes, I'm aware that is ripped off of a "FRIENDS" episode, yet, it's too damn appropriate). Luckily, they specified in your interview that your response should only be one word, so you went with "talkative!" Way to go Rahman, it looks like that paid off as today I not only say Happy 23rd, but also -- CONGRATS ON THE NEW JOB WOMAN!

~~~

I'm very proud of you Rah and I'm excited to watch you start this new chapter. May there be many more laughs in our future you sick and disgusting LT.

another phenomenal sunset

My love for the sun is well documented, and over the years I have had the privilege of witnessing numerous sunsets. All the same, there is still something powerfully captivating about them for me. I wanted to have a destination or route mapped out for my walk today, and then I realized, I love to wander, why not just see where my feet take me. I ended up at the Monona Terrace and, by accident, happened to be right on time for a gorgeous sunset. The sun was a brilliant red, bursting through a haze of orange, pink and gold clouds and the blue sky above me was peppered with those perfect, little, tufts of white cloud-clusters. I was freezing my ass off as I apparently thought it was 68 degrees (not the actual 38 degrees) and I only had my Spring jacket on; regardless of my poor judgement, I had to stay for the show. I love dusk. It is my favorite time of day -- everything just looks clearer and I feel the most alive and conscious of my surroundings. I'm not entirely sure there is a point to this post... I guess I just want to say that I am so grateful for another phenomenal sunset.

A new room...

...makes for a new perspective

In effort to get my life in order, and become a Real Person, I decided to use my day off today to clean, organize, and rearrange my room. I'm hoping that this change will inspire me to keep my motivation up throughout my job search. After tons of vacuuming, windex, garbage, and 3 loads of laundry I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. All of the arranging went fine -- it's amazing how even after you plan everything out in your head you still fail to account for things, like how much space your door needs to successfully close without clipping your TV and ripping the shelves off the wall, DETAILS. Anyway, I have cleared my room and my head of some clutter and now I have a few tasks to get working on...but did you see that sun out there? (I've had a couple windows open all day, and I'm in a tank top, AND IT'S JANUARY!) One short rollerblade trip and I'll really be ready :)

Totally had a moment

ON MY BEAUTIFUL BIKE PATH! Oh, the sun was so gorgeous. I was inspired by the weather + getting out of work early today, thus, I decided to blade to my old bike path by the old apartment. After some research it looked as though this might be possible without having to do any urban (sidewalk) blading. This wasn't exactly the case, as Phase C is not yet complete, but I didn't mind. Urban blading is always interesting and seeing how there were NO casualties it was a breeze. Plus, I had an awesome playlist consisting of:

- Well, Well (Nelly Furtado)

- Not Coming Home (Maroon 5)

- Shiver (Coldplay)

- Hear Me (Kelly Clarkson)

- We Looked Like Giants (Death Cab for Cutie)

- Breath Me (Sia -SFU Soundtrack)

- Amazing Life (Jem -SFU Soundtrack)

- High and Dry (Jamie Cullum)

- La Mer (Nine Inch Nails)

- Trouble (Coldplay)

My goal was to make it to the spot on the path (a favorite place of mine) where the trees bend together and touch at the top. As psychosis would have it, I failed to realize that this was the goal I'd had when I lived at the old apartment and coming from my new apartment would add about TWO MILES on the way there, and more importantly TWO MILES on the way back. Well, thankfully I made it to the spot where the trees bend together and I stretched it even a little further because I knew there would be some benches I could lay down on. Yes, I laid down, and I elevated my feet to get some blood back to my brain. I didn't see a single fellow rollerblader the entire time, and my playlist only lasted until the halfway point, it was up to Maroon 5 to get me home after that, and I'm really glad/surprised that I made it.

***

I always thought I'd leave Wisconsin, and then I fell in love with Madison. Now that I think about it... I think I fell in love with Madison right about the time I discovered my first section of bike path. Quite a coincidence that my old favorite section is being connected to my new favorite section, don't you think? I always knew I wouldn't want to leave the people, and now I know I don't want to leave this place either.

A Real Person

I was taunting the students at work today about how they have to go back to school next week and they were quick to point out how I have to get a job, a career, become a real person. These students, when did they become so sassy?

- - -

So, here I am. I decided to begin this whole Becoming a Real Person Endeavor today by searching for my resumé which I assumed would be on my desktop...it's not. My desktop does contain edited photos, drawings in paint, the mislabeled "Monsters" document which I use as a quick spell check reference/vocabulary list, and other various crap, but alas NO resumé. Hmm. I looked in my correctly labeled "My Documents" folder and found "My Resumé" which I sadly discovered hasn't been updated since high school. Shit. Due to the fact that I've had the same job for almost 4 years now, this shouldn't come as a huge surprise, however, I swear I updated my resumé when I was looking for a second job one summer, where the hell could it have gone? As a last resort I went into my school email account to see if I had saved any emails with the resumé attached, I looked in "SAVES" "Summer Jobs" "Sent Items" still, no luck. It wouldn't take long for me to just create another resumé, though, I remember being quite pleased with the updated version of my resumé -- I believe it was a simple, legible, format, done in WordPad for easier accessibility. I LIKED IT DANG IT. The only other place it might be is at work...guess I'll check tomorrow.

- - -

All in all, the point is that it's time for me to jump into seriously searching for a job, and time for me to admit "OK World, I'm ready to be a Real Person." BRING IT.

A piece of the past...AGAIN

You visit me in my dream...you act like I would 'dream' you to act. You told me she didn't even compare to me, and that was all you had to say. I know it's not the real you, but what am I to do? If only we could carry on our dream sequence and never have the reality. The reality of who you truly are. I'm proud of myself and disappointed by you. I knew all along that you would turn out this way, yet I will NEVER let you get me -- I’m too good for that and I know it.


I believe this is from my freshman year in college, and I have a good guess as to who it's about. Still, it is from my Anonymous Journal, thus, it seems I have delightfully spared us all of the details. Mostly, I wonder why and how I ever felt that way... and who is this girl who needed to write all of that down? There was conviction in her words, and because I know the outcome I admire and pity her at the same time.

Pics from New Year's

The girlies. Only moments before Beck lost all control of her hands and started knocking over everything in sight.

What? I had chocolate on my face and my hands were full...er something.

Me, surrounded by my dates for the evening, the guests and the hostesses.

Brian and Sarah. The picture really speaks for itself.

...and lastly, me in my weird hat, proof again that I have a HUGE (pronounced "YOUedge") skull for protectin' all them brains!

OH, and I have no idea whose tongue that is! Shame on them.

ANY light at the end of the tunnel?

I totally feel you on the weather aspect. When (if) the sun ever comes out,Wisconsinites everywhere will flee into the shadows like Morlock or turn to dust like Anne Rice vampires under the sudden illumination.

(- email response from my Bro, after he read my paragraph of bitching about the severity of my SAD)

I'll be the sunshine of your life

Dear Sun, where are you?

I miss you.

Come back to me.

My Creative Stalker

If the handwriting on the envelope wasn't a dead giveaway, then the signature wrapping style, of this intriguing gift, would have been the best clue towards identifying the sender. I am honored that I was a chosen recipient of yours, dear friend, and I only hope that you find a way to use your large stash of curiously strong cinnamon mints. I will certainly let you know if I find any more baking/drink recipes.

we used our bar money for Topper's

...and it was worth every penny! Oh man, from the get-go last night you could tell that even us Die Hards were struggling. Carly, Tiff, and I finally made it over to hang out with Dan and Steve-o after 10pm, and we had to do a Beer ID Taste Test just to get ourselves to drink. We had three different beers and from our 5 blind taste tests we concluded that none of us could really tell the difference between any of them -- perhaps some taste buds were killed along with all of the brain cells this weekend. Eventually, the time came to decide whether or not we were actually going to go to the bars. I stated that I thought it would be interesting to see what other crazies had made it out on New Year's Day because then we would truly know who 'our people' are. However, once the suggestion of food was brought up and we decided on two orders of Topperstix (one regular, one taco) it was clear we weren't movin'. In the end I was fine with that decision, I don't know if I would have survived another night out, and it was nice to just hang out with those guys and happily stuff our faces (even if they did make us watch Smallville, which we totally got into). Well, back to reality tomorrow. I will certainly be posting pictures, though, seeing as how my camera (and my ability to operate it) was out of commission I am counting on people to send me their pics THIS MEANS YOU KIDS! Hope everyone else had as much fun as I did this New Year's. I already have a lot to think about for 2006 and I'm looking forward to discovering where this year takes me.