The Year in Review

I'm jumping on the bandwagon and doing a brief year-in-review. Or at least attempt to. It really wasn't a very eventful year.

In the early part of the year, I had mucho jaw pain to contend with. I spent a LOT of time at the dentist this year. I got a new computer in January, and retired my outdated monster of a machine.

I saw a lot of concerts this year. Three Ani Difranco shows, which rocked. Ben Folds was great, as well. Jay and I went to DC and hung out with Beth, Nathan, and Nicole. That was fun. However, I never want to drive a Ford Escort again.

Jay and I decided to buy a house, and that plan will be put into action during 2003. It will be nice to not live in an apartment anymore.

I stopped playing soccer for a couple of reasons.

I went to Connecticut and New York City. I met Matthew Davis and Jamal. That was fun.

The most significant event of this year was my mom's stroke. It was very scary. She was hospitalized for about a month. She had to adapt to her right side being extremely weak. It's taken awhile, but she's a lot better now. She's walking without assistance (no cane or wheelchair), and using her right hand pretty well. It'll continue to get better as she goes to physical therapy. Her speech is still a bit hard to understand, because the right side of her mouth is weak. She'll probably need speech therapy for that. Despite her remarkable recovery, I still worry about her health.

That seems to be everything for the year. It wasn't too eventful, and it wasn't too good. Hopefully 2003 will be stroke-free, Jay and I will find a suitable place to live, and we'll get a dog.

Happy 2003, everyone!

My most touching Christmas present

My parents have a dog named Princess (I consider her my dog, too.) She's the most terrific six year old black lab/chow mix. She has a wonderful temperament, plays with the cat, sheds like crazy, and is very cute and fuzzy. She's very gentle, and even when playing rough is very careful, even though she probably weighs about 60 lbs.

For Christmas, she got a big ol' foot-long rawhide chew. We teased her by going over to her while she was chewing on it, and she'd give a warning growl (although I think we could have taken it away from her, and she would have just growled. hehe.) It was Her Bone, and No One Was Taking It Away From Her.

Christmas afternoon I was playing with her on the floor, wrestling around, and what not. In the middle of it, she walked over to her bone, picked it up, and set it in my lap. It was the nicest gesture I've ever seen from an animal. I gave her a big hug and told her Merry Christmas, and gave it back to her.

The day after Christmas

It's such a dry boring day. There's no gratuitous food (as Aimee stated in an email.. "I have to go forage for food. It's been 10 minutes since I've eaten.") There's no presents. There is a bit of snow, however. Eh. Not enough to make up for the lack of Christmas.

(Technically, if I'm going by the whole Epiphany thing, it's what, the 2nd day of Christmas? I'm waiting for my two turtle doves, and the Patridge Family in a pear tree.)

Ok, here's what I got for Christmas:

• 3 shirts
  
• 1 sweater (so soft and fuzzy. It's shedding like a wildebeast, however. I hope it holds up through washings.)
  
• $100 from grandma (I spent that in November, buying a jacket and new sneakers.)
  
• $50 gift certificate to Wal Mart, $50 to Lowe's from the 'rents. For the new house. Although I might spend some of it at Wal Mart beforehand.
  
• A hairbrush set (brush, comb, hair claw thingies, and hair elastics)
  
• A pair of cute cat earrings from Jay. They have a head up front, and behind the ear a tail hanging down.)
  
• A very cute collector Boyd's Bear from Jay. She has her own little stand.
  
• I'm Just Here for the Food, by Alton Brown (he rocks.)
  
• A hat/glove set
  
• Two separate mug sets, from my sister and brother
  
• A set of different teas (which I meant to bring to work with me today. Darnit.)
  
• A picture frame/clock. I need to find somewhere to put this where the ticking won't get to me.
  

I think that's all. I might be leaving out something. Anastasia got a box of assorted treats from my mom and dad, and some more from my sister (her cat doesn't eat the moist treats, so she gave me all of those she got in the same kind of box mom gave me.)

It kinda looks like that might be my last Christmas at home, at least for awhile. Next year Jay and I would like to spend Christmas together, and the new house (assuming everything's ready for that.) In a way, it's sad, but I also realize that while traditions are all well and good, eventually we have to make our own new traditions.

My family did a lot of shopping in the Wal-Mart prepackaged gift aisle this year. Some people might complain that's cheap, but I don't care. I know we don't all have a lot of money, and it is the thought that counts. I'm tickled to get anything from my brother, at all. I'll use the mugs with my new teas. hehe.

What I got for everyone else:
(why not? I've got nothing better to do.)

• Mom: undergarments and houseshoes (she's hard to buy for.)
  
• Dad: $20 in gift certificates to his favorite movie theatre
  
• Shannon and Greg (my sister and her fiance): The Game of Life for Playstation. They'd rented it a million times, but couldn't find it anywhere to buy. I found a used copy online. They stopped making it a few years ago.
  
• Pat and Shelly (brother and sister-in-law): A prepackaged Smuckers gift set from Wal Mart. It had a bunch of ice cream toppings, and four dishes. My brother had actually almost bought the same thing for himself. I accidentally left the price tag on. Oops. Oh, well, he already knew how much it was.
  
• Autumn (my niece): A portable cd player, and a cd with kid appropriate songs that aren't crap. (No Britney, no N*Sync. GOOD stuff. Darnit, though, I should have put the Fountains of Wayne cover of "Baby One More Time")
  
• Patrick (my nephew): A $15 gift certificate to Circuit City, breaking from my tradition of one to Blockbuster.
  
• Grandma Mooney: A $10 Wal Mart Gift certificate
  
• Grandma McClanahan: A Brita water pitcher/filter
  
• Jay: a barn coat with a removable liner, a pair of slipper socks with cats on them, and Ben Folds Live (which still comes with the DVD. I thought that was a limited time thing. Hrmph.)
  
• Angie and Lizzy (Jay's mom and sister): A bunch of various art supplies, individually wrapped. That was a pain, but I liked it as a gift.
  
• Boxes of candy for various people.
  

That's all for now. I think I'll post other stuff in separate entries.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

YAY!!!

My geek-of-a-boyfriend got straight A's!

I told him he had to, he was in direct competition with Ms. Fleeher.

Congrats to both of you. :)

I was sitting here at work, bored, waiting on graphics, listing to Dilate. It's Ani Difranco's angry bitter love album, and it got me to thinking about my past.

I've had two Big Loves in my life. The first was Sam. We dated for about nine months to a year (depending on who you ask, and what kinda mood they're in), and then kinda broke up. I won't state some of the more pressing reasons on my blog, as that is unfair to Sam. We started dating in my freshman year of college. However, after we broke up, I still had a huge thing for him for about two years. Two years full of repeated heartbreaks. Finally, in about 1998, part of me realized I didn't have a chance, and I started dating again. After a string of mini-heartbreaks, I found Jay in 2000. Or he found me. Or Karen pointed him towards me. Or something like that. Anyhow, I met Jay. That's three years ago, next month.

Now, it's hard to remember that I ever loved anyone else. I'm not trying to be cheesy, or discredit Sam, or anything like that. The Sam thing was just seems like it was another lifetime. It's hard for me to remember that I ever felt deeply for him, to remember the "I love you"s that lasted for years after we broke up. That he was my best friend, outside of Aimee. We've really grown apart. I'm not mourning the loss, just remarking on how some things you thought would never change do, in fact, change.

Things with Jay are so completely different than anything I ever had with Sam. Maybe the balance of power is more even, and I'm not overwhelmed (hehe. Hmm. Jay might have something to say about that, though.) I don't regret anything with Sam. It's not like if I'd met Jay then that anything would have happened (he was 13, for Pete's sake.) I've changed a lot in the years since Sam, as I'm sure he has. But to think back to the emotional intimacy we once shared (what a cheeeeeesy phrase), it's hard to believe that ever existed. It's all so foreign. Another person, in another lifetime.

But where the hell was Dilate when I needed it?

I had this dream last night that you could travel back in time. All you had to do was eat 17 pieces of Storck Riesen chocolate candy, and draw a square on something with chalk, and jump in the square. You could eat less pieces of Storck Riesen once you got good at it (although why would you want to?) We were excited to find this obvious loophole in the time continuum. You couldn't stay too long when you went back in time, though, or stuff started to feel wrong.

It was a very odd dream.

I suppose I should blog about something.

However, I'm not sure what. Life's been pretty uneventful the past few weeks. I had to work Saturday, which sucked. We've been testing the software they've been building for the past few years. Most of the bugs are out now, but I'm SO sick of seeing it.

I've finished most of my Christmas shopping. As soon as I think I'm done, I think of two or three more people to buy for. Argh. Aimee and I opened our presents last night. From her parents, I got some neat vanilla candles and Ani Difranco's Living in Clip (her first live album, which I didn't own). From Aimee I got a little Care Bear (Bedtime Bear), some Bonne Bell (it's just not Christmas without it), and the Friends Trivia Game. It has horribly complicated rules, so we ended up just cutting out most of them, and playing it our way. She won, but darnit, next time, I will prevail. If anyone would like to challenge me, step up. hehe. It's kinda sad to realize just how much I know about Friends. I got Aimee the Ani Difranco DVD Render and the Heartbreakers DVD (it has Jason Lee in it, all right? hehe.) My parents got her the Barenaked Ladies DVD Barelaked Nadies (thanks, Tara, for the heads up), a Hello Kitty Diary, and a hat/glove set. It was a nice pre-Christmas. On Friday Jay and I are opening gifts (I got him a HA! You really thought I was going to tell you, didn't you, Jay?). I think he'll like it. hehe.

Yesterday for work we went to the Univ. of KY Children's Hospital and gave out Christmas presents (although our real presents were toys for the playrooms, so no one in particular really got to open those.) We all had to go (unless you had a cold or other infectious illness), which I didn't think was cool. No one wants to see a bunch of people who really don't want to be there.

That's all. I must go test the software more. *cry*

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So Ani Difranco is coming to Lexington. Thursday, April 17th. We will camp out for tickets if need be.

WHOO HOO!

Can I express my excitement enough? hehe.

The Singletary Center's new Turning the Corner series kicks ass. Ben Folds and Ani Difranco in the same school year. Two of my most very favorite artists. Wow, now wouldn't it kick ass if Tori came there on the spring leg of her tour?

The recent lack of comments has made me sad.

Actually, a lack of properly process serontonin makes me sad, influenced by many external stressors that have little to nothing to do with the internet.

Also, I received an insulting piece of spam earlier. The subject was "Stop Being A Degenerate #101"

I didn't know I WAS a degenerate!

GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH.

Ick. I need a bath.

Ok, so as previously mentioned, I'm bored at work.

What do I do when I'm bored at work? Look up names on Google.

After going through everyone I could think of, I look up a loathsome ex-boyfriend. That's right, you know I'm speaking of (and you do too). The one without a soul.

I found his site. I will not link to it here, for I don't want any association. If you wanna know, ask me. I didn't even click on the thumbnails to get larger pictures. I plan on having dinner sometime today. hehe. ANYhow... I click on the guestbook. The very top entry? A weird coincidence.

Back when I lived in the dorm with Misty (and Aimee upstairs two floors), there was a person that lived across the hall from us. She was small and balding and had a nasty personality and a pointed nose. We couldn't help but call her RatGirl. She was oversexed (I don't know how), backstabbing, and Not Nice At All. No one kept in touch with her after we moved out of the dorms, and I hadn't heard anything about her for years.

But there she was. The top entry in the sordid guestbook. If there's one cretin on earth I think deserves to be saddled with the black hole of humanity that is the ex-boyfriend, it is she.

I had to call up Aimee and tell her of this.

RATGIRL LIVES! Secure your small animals, and batten down the hatches. An unholy alliance if there ever was one.

Moron of the Week

Yesterday the weather was snowy, icy, and crappy. As a result, the person that normally answers the phone couldn't get to work. During lunch, Ben and I were watching The Muppet Christmas Special in the conference room, and I was answering calls as they came in. Here's an exchange. (First names altered to prevent Googling.)

Me: Good afternoon, MaxWeb.
Her: Hello. Yes, I need to speak to Fred Howard or Robert.. I don't know how to say this. M-I-M-S.

What? Is there truly more than one way a native English speaker can say "Mims"?

This day is dragging on forever. Forever-ever-ever. It's 19 degrees outside (with a windchill of 12 degrees), and yet my office is sweltering. (I don't know if that's good insulation or bad insulation.. it's hot because the sun is shining in here, making it a virtual terrarium. None of the outside cold bothers me. It's light, or the lack thereof that make me hot or cold.)

That paragraph was more parentheses than it was actual content.

Today is boring. I wish the work-part would be over, so I could get to the fun-part. BLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEECHHHHH.

For the first time ever, I heard a Moxy Früvous song on a local station (public radio, of course.)

They played "Jockey Full of Bourbon" (a Tom Waits cover) from a World Cafe performance. Technically, it's live, but it sounds more like a studio version than the officially released live-concert version on Live Noise.

*sigh* I miss Früvous.

People around here are crazy about snow.

If any accumulation is predicted, the supermarkets are jam-packed. Lines are 20 people deep. All the eggs are gone, the milk shelves are bare, etc. It's a little bit of snow.

And you should see how they drive in it.

I'm glad I don't live any farther south than here. People would go into shock and the site of a snowflake.

Everyone needs to read this letter in response to the Rolling Stone "Women in Rock" issue.

Aleks kicks ass.

This is about a program he wrote, and it'll be on TechTV tomorrow:
click here to read about it

Everyone watch, and download the program mentioned here.

Today is weird.

1) My bank has $100 held on my account, meaning it's not available. I don't know WHY. All I've used my debit card for this weekend is gas and ATM withdrawals. I guess if I had a big enough car, I could have feasibly put $100 in gas in my car, and maybe one of the gas stations held that much. This really bothers me. If it doesn't clear up by this afternoon, I'm going to have words with the bank.

2) I knew I had some cash, and looked in my wallet. It was bare. Luckily, that was in my car. It freaked me out, though.

3) I had this super-weird Matrix-like dream last night. You woke up from the other life (normal life, as we know it), and you were in some weird seat swooshy stuff, blah blah blah. I can't explain it, but in the dream I couldn't get back to my other life until I did something. It really scared me. When I woke up from it, it was about 4 am. I tried to completely wake myself up, since it scared me so much. I didn't want to continue it. Needless to say, I am not well-rested.

Blech. I hope everyone else had a happy weekend.

1) Watching Barenaked in America has renewed my love of Barenaked Ladies. I have stolen Stunt from Aimee's room, and will now listen to it.

2)Reason #194,958,173 that I shouldn't be allowed to check out joke books from the library

Darth Vader: "Luke Skywalker, I know mwhat you're getting for Christmas."
Luke: "How do you know?"
Vader: "I felt your presents."