So here I am, sitting in my hotel room in Milwaukee. I drove up earlier this morning and I'm here for a couple days, doing a shadow assignment. It sounds like some covert military operation, but trust me, it's nothing as exciting as that. It took me a couple hours to drive in this morning, but it went by pretty fast, thanks to the all-Christmas, all the time radio stations.

It's snowing here, but that didn't stop me from going to Michael's to buy some Christmas decorations for the house. We haven't gotten our tree yet, but I've got a lot of ideas going through my head.

It's our first Christmas in our new house, so we don't have decorations for a tree, other than the ones that we bought for our mini-tree last year. So it's like a clean slate. Our home decorations can be whatever our imaginations and pocketbooks allow!

Though Dave vetoed the inflatable penguin and igloo I wanted for the front of the house. But oh well. There's always next year. I'll just have to settle for a candy cane walkway and icicles on the gutters.

Doesn't it feel like Christmas is coming soon?

I mean, I know it IS, but it really FEELS like it.

Saw this cool thing on Deann's blog.

Three questions

(A) First, recommend to me:
1. a movie
2. a book
3. a musical artist, song, or album

(B) Ask me three questions, no more, no less. Ask me anything you want. (it doesn't mean I'm bound to answer them. :))

(C) Go to your journal/blog, and copy and paste this allowing your friends/readers to ask you anything. Say you stole it from me.

-------------------------

Yes. This is your chance to ask me all those things you've been wondering. Get inside my head. Find out what color underwear I'm wearing today (if any). Ask me why I never used my college degree. Discover what my favorite 18th century painter is.

I'll answer the questions at the end of the week. Or when I feel like it. But I promise that they'll be addressed eventually!

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend was pretty jam packed with activities. I'm back at work and I'm just exhausted!

I avoided the major shopping areas on Friday, opting for doing some simple Christmas decoration shopping at Menard's and then later at Target, which wasn't as packed and crazy as I thought it would be.

Later Friday night, we headed out to Dan's 30th birthday party that his mom was throwing for him. She decided to revert him back to his childhood and have a kiddie party. We played a bunch of games, like the Bozo bucket game, hula hoops, that almost impossible ball and paddle thing where the ball is attached to the paddle with elastic and you have to bounce it of, etc. It was tons of fun. Later on we watched 'Old School' back at the Landlord's pad on the 108 inch projector screen, courtesy of a Martha Stewart blanket.

Saturday we did a bit more shopping and hung at Dave's parents for a bit. Later on we went to Trully and Irio's tree trimming party. What is a tree trimming? When you're too lazy to decorate your own tree and you use y our relatives for slave labor, promising food and libations in return. OK, I'm kidding - Trully put a lot of the ornaments up there herself. And the food and libations were awesome. Irio made this great Brazilian wine drink that had wine, lemons, sinnamon and apples all heated together on the stove (I'm not sure if those are the actual ingredients, but I'm guessing), topped of with a mixture of whipped egg and sugar. Sounds gross, but it tastes awesome - almost like warm apple milk. Just be careful not to inhale the alcohol infused fumes!

We got our fill of food (I even made my now famous bruschetta) and watched a buttload of holiday movies. After several rounds of 20 questions (since they had no boardgames for us to play) and a brief food coma induced nap, we went home with our candy filled goodie bags, all ready for the holidays.

---------------------------

Sunday, headed out to Madison for some short track fun. More on that later, once I process my pics!

Just in time for the holiday season, check here to discover your:

Secret Christmas Name

Mine is Cutie Chocolate.

Yum!

Yesterday we started off the holiday at Dave's parent's place, and munched on some turkey, sweet potato and ribs. Me and his god daughter looked through old family photographs and laughed at the young, awkward Dave (of course, I should be the one to talk).

After that, we went to my family Thanksgiving which had winded down a bit. After a couple hours of playing our own version of 'Catchphrase', me, Marlon and Jeffrey headed out to Blockbuster to pick up some movies to watch. We ended up picking up 'Elf' (which everyone had requested) and 'Ju-on: The Grudge', which is the original Japanese version of 'The Grudge'. I've heard it's really scary.

So we all packed into Mel's room and lay on the bed like sardines. Just like we always do. Ju-on wasn't as scary as we thought it would be, Marilyn said the American version was creepier and easier to follow. That, and we wouldn't have to read so fast. :-P There were actually some times we were laughing because the acting got a little cheesy. But I admit, it had it's share of creepy parts and jump out of your seat parts.

'Elf', of course, was great. I think I reviewed it before. Or maybe I didn't. But it's Will Farrell. Hilarious! What else can I say?

Great Thanksgiving. Worthy of being extremely thankful for.

Good times.

Photo Friday : Prosperity

Field Museum Opal - Chicago, IL : September 2004

One day, this will be mine!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

There are so many things I'm thankful for, just wanted to give you all a little list of the things that come to mind...

I'm thankful for (in no particular order)...
Life, a loving family, a great husband, wonderful cousins, my new home, supportive friends, a job, great people to work with, enough sense to get my eye checked before it got too bad, not getting hurt during my car accident, freedom, cable TV, my dad's new car that I get to drive around, cocoa wheats, old friends that call you out of nowhere, my ultra-cool blog readers, fuzzy slippers, White Castles, king sized beds, easy to make bruschetta, Smallville, good health, the internet, my fish not dying after I've forgotten about them, dollar taco days, Photoshop, getting email for no reason, internet friends who are closer than some 3D friends, vanilla soy milk, blue skies after a snowy night, reclining couches, late night movie nights, old school bootie music at clubs, hippos, contact lenses, digital cameras, little kids laughing, MT-Blacklist, glasses that don't look dorky...

...and so much more!

Don't eat too much today!

Had a hard time deciding what my holiday layout would be, but then I ran across a picture of Rudolph, and I'd always loved him when I was a kid. So enjoy it!

I think a couple hours ago, I was lightheartedly posting about how excited I was about winter coming. I went so far as to start singing 'Let it Snow' with my coworker. All this, watching the snow fall slowly down from high up in our office floor.

I take it all back.

They said it would be a *light* dusting of snow. It's almost looking like a full on blizzard out there.

We got out of work early. And since it was early, I had to take another bus, since my express bus doesn't run that early. So I had to stand in the bus stop in the snain to wait - and I forgot my hat at home. But it was a good thing that Sam pointed out an alternate bus, or I would have to have spent money to cab it.

When I got to my train stop, there was about 3 inches of snow on the ground. Since my dad's car is pretty new, I had to manually swipe all the snow off. The snow was falling down in good amounts, so it took a little bit to get home.

And since we just moved in, we hadn't thought to get a shovel yet. I'm debating on going out to buy one since Dave is on call today.

Hmm.

Or maybe I'll just leave it until he gets home.

*evil grin*

So yeah, that snow high I was on earlier? Completely gone. As soon as I saw that gross melted snow puddle in my garage, that was about the end of it!

It is *freezing* outside right now. It started to snow a little earlier, but then it was kinda raining, then it turned into a frozen rain, and I believe it's snowing once again.

Winter is here.

The lights on Michigan Avenue are up and everything is starting to get festive in the city. Holiday sales are going on and I need to go and buy some decorations for the home. I'd love to get one of those animatronic things that creep out little kids and small animals to put up on my front lawn.

I've had the biggest yearning for some Starbuck's Peppermint Hot Cocoa. But I'm broke, so I figured I'd just buy the peppermint syrup that they use and make my own hot cocoa. I've been on a huge hot cocoa kick at the office. So I stopped by the Starbuck's downstairs and they didn't have any more. So I walked several blocks to the closest Starbucks to go and buy some. Once I have an itch, I'll do everything I can to scratch it.

So I made some hot cocoa with my new peppermint syrup and it was *yummy*. I could very well OD on hot cocoa here in the office!

So I am content. A nice, relaxing four day weekend is coming with lots of family and food.

Happy almost thanksgiving everyone!

1. Have you ever ran into a glass door? Yes. But unlike some people I know, I didn't take down the screen door.
2. Name 3 names that you wish were yours. As first names: Rowan, Cassandra, Zoe
3. Do you have more than one screen name? More than there are grains of sand in the sea. But I usually stick to 'MissYano'
4. Have you ever licked a light bulb? No.
5. If you could buy one celebrity for a day, who would it be? Mark Wahlberg
6. If you could get rid of one celebrity who would it be? Juliette Lewis. For some reason I've never liked her.
7. Favorite color? Purple.
8. What is the worst thing you've done? Um, I can't talk about it. Think 'Office Space'
9. Is it illegal? Just a little
10. What's your favorite band/singer? Don't have one, but I'm fond of Coldplay and Alicia Keys
11. What is the most outrageous thing you would do to get someone's attention? I dunno. I do a lot of stupid things.
12. Who is your favorite cartoon character? Chilly Willy
13. What hospital were you born in? Grant Hospital
14. Are you an AM baby or a PM baby? AM
15. Is your house a one-story or two-story? Two story, with a kickass basement.
16. When you were little, did your parents sing you to sleep? If so, what did they sing? They sang all the time. Lots of songs.
17. Who are your closest friends? I'll just name one, because the list would be too long. Jaygee.
18. Who is the person in life that has had the biggest impact on you? My highschool band teacher. He loved us like his own kids and he fought so hard for us when the schools tried to bring us down.
19. Do you enjoy family reunions? Love 'em.
20. Are you one to express anger or do you keep it bottled up? I'm pretty much internal, all the time. I could count on two hands the times I've lost my temper.

In honor of Halo 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Everquest 2 coming out, this week's topic is:

Ten Great Video Games

1) Super Mario Brothers
2) The Sims
3) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
4) Pitfall
5) Mortal Kombat
6) Super Bomberman
7) Bust a Groove
8) Streetfighter
9) Yoshi's Cookie
10) Thrill Kill

Next Week: Ten Things You're Thankful For

So here's a little interactive thing for you all out there. Here's a pretty weird dream yesterday, so I was wondering what you guys think of it.

So me and some friends are going to a concert - a KISS concert actually. (I was totally scared of KISS when I was a kid) We were having a great time, we had face paint on and everything. We were rockin the house.

Afterwards, we hung out with the band and we invited them to another party we were going to that night: A surprise party for Martha Stewart. Because in my dream, I KNOW Martha Stewart.

We get to Martha's house, and I'm hanging out in the kitchen, and Martha comes in. She doesn't know about the party, yet she isn't surprised to see me hanging out in her kitchen. We must be really good friends. Anyway, we chat for a bit and then I say, 'Let's go sit in the garden'. We go into the garden and everyone comes out and yells "Surprise!". She's totally surprised.

So I spend the rest of the night mingling with celebrities and other people. Something doesn't feel right. People are cordial and nice to me, but a bit distant, some are even cautious. The party winds down and there are only a few people left.

I'm left talking to this one woman at the end of the night and she asks me, "Are you famous?" I tell her no and she then asks, "Are you a rock singer or something?" I once again tell her no and I have no idea what she's talking about. I look over to the bar and see my reflection in the mirror.

And to my horror, I realize that the whole night, I've been walking around with my KISS makeup on.

I quickly tell her why I have the makeup on and how I've just realized why people were so weird to me all night.

Then I wake up.

Ok. Interpret away!

Today is Dave's big 3-0. Lots of 30th birthdays this year!

I actually woke up extra early this morning (which is a great feat in itself and shows how much I love this guy -because he leaves for work at 6am) to make him an extra special birthday breakfast of pancakes, eggs and sausage. I'm a breakfast making queen!!!

Of course, after making him breakfast, I went back to bed and missed my regular train.

But it was worth it!

Happy Birthday, Dave!

My mother passed away one year ago today.

It's been a tough couple few weeks, realizing that this anniversary was coming. It brought back a lot of memories, and lot of feelings, a lot of 'what if's. Now that it's here, I don't really know how I feel.

I guess it feels just like it was yesterday. For some reason, I thought that the pain and sadness would ease off and that I'd come to terms with it, but although the sadness isn't as constant as it was a year ago, there are still times that I'm falling into the sadness, falling with no sight of the bottom.

It's obvious that I miss her a lot. There are so many times in the last year that I needed her, that she may not have helped me with, but I would have been comforted to know that she was just around. Of course, the right thing to say (that people have been telling me) is that she's watching from heaven, that she's with me all the time. Yes, I know that. But it's just not the same.

The other day I looked back at the eulogy I wrote, which is one of the hardest things I've ever had to write, and the hardest thing I've ever had to read - outloud, and to a room full of people. One thing that I reflect on a lot is how she took the time to talk to each one of us, telling us what she wanted us to do once we were gone - to take care of each other. She was always the one to take care of us, the glue that held our little pretend extended family together. The co-mother to a dozen kids. Now that she's gone, the group has come a little undone. I guess sometimes you forget the things that hold you together. Your sadness is so great that you try to set yourself apart. One thing that I didn't write about was my mother's power of forgiveness. That's a trait that I definitely got from her - the need to make everything in the world right. The want to make everyone in my life get along, to be happy. When me and Claudine would fight (which was often) she'd always tell us to make up, for me to leave her alone, for us to get along. It was that way in all aspects of her life. She would always be trying to make peace with people. Now that she's gone, there's a little less peace in our lives.

Yesterday, we had a prayer mass for the one year anniversary. The place, just like her funeral mass, was packed. We thought we had so much food (and anticipated a week of yummy leftovers) but there were so many people that there was just enough food to satisfy everyone. My mom was all about the food, so I'm glad that everyone had enough to eat.

One of my mom's coworkers was there, and she was pretty unfamiliar with Filipino parties. I guess outside of the Filipino community there is not one year anniversary prayer luncheon. But we Filipinos like to dwell on such things (as I do here). She asked me, "I think that this whole thing was beautiful, but I have to ask you, does it help at all?" And I had to think about it. Does it really help? Is my sadness any less? "In a way, it does help. I don't think it will stop the sadness that I feel every now and then, but it helps in knowing that there are so many people who loved her and who miss her. And she would have loved to see so many people here, eating, talking, laughing, reunited with each other." Because if there was one thing my mom loved more than food, it was food at a party with all her friends. And they were all there yesterday. Yesterday wasn't about sadness or grieving, it was about celebrating life, celebrating each other. Oh, and eating. We did a lot of eating.

Today, well, I wish I could just skip today. I'm going to work and I hope I don't end up a teary eyed mess. I'll likely just throw myself into work so I don't have time to think about anything. Time to dwell on my thoughts. Time to think back a year ago and hear the wailing and crying of the people in the room. Time to remember counting the seconds between her breaths before she took the last one. Time to remember just standing there, holding her lifeless hand, talking to her spirit to tell her that I love her.

Whoa. Better not cry on the the train.

So anyway...

I miss her a lot. Today is going to be a tough day to get through.

Here's some lyrics from the song "There You'll Be" by Faith Hill, which was playing on the radio as we drove away from the cemetary after the funeral:

Love you, mommy.

On Friday, I finally got new contacts.

For the last 3 months I've been surviving on glasses that weren't the right prescription. My left eye had gotten significantly worse after the surgery, so even with my glasses, the sight in the left wasn't great. But I had to wait for my eye to heal before I got contacts.

My eye doctor had deemed November to be the month I could finally go back to contacts. I got them on Friday, and when I put them on, I was floored by the clarity of my vision. So THAT'S what it's like to see with 20/20 vision! The world was so clear, so vibrant and sharp. I was giddy. And after the eye check, my doctor actually said I was at 20/15, sharper than most.

So I breath a sigh of relief, to be able to wear contacts again. But I've gotten so used to my glasses that I keep on pushing my phantom glasses up my face. But they're not gone forever. Now that I have a pair of glasses that I'm not ashamed to wear in pulic they may come out every now and then.

But not in the near future!

Good times!

Love you, lady!

After a night out with the gang, we were listening to The Score (of course - Dave was driving) because Dave wants the Illini score from the night's game. Then we heard about the fight against the Pistons and the Pacers in Detroit. They said it was a pretty ugly fight, but we had no idea how bad it was until we got home and saw the replay.

It all started when Detroit's Ben Wallace went in for a layup and was fouled hard by Artest from behind, and escalated when Artest stormed into the stands after being hit by a full cup.

After being fouled, Wallace wheeled around and pushed Artest in the face. The benches emptied and punches were thrown.

As the players continued shoving each other near center court and coaches tried to restore order, Artest sprawled out on his back on the scorer's table, looking relaxed.

Just when it appeared tempers had died down, Artest was struck by a cup and beverage thrown from the stands. He jumped up, and charged into the stands, throwing punches as he climbed over seats.

Fans were punching back, and Jackson and another teammate joined Artest in the melee.

Actually, the fight between Artest and Wallace was over, with Artest laying down on the scoring table. Ironically, after the goul it was Wallace that was going after Artest and Artest was just walking way, eventually getting pushed down on the table and resting. Nothing more would have happened. But then someone threw a drink on Artest's face, and he just lost it, running up and climbing over the stands and starting to hit the wrong guy, with the dude who threw the cup trying to restrain him and then later throwing some cheap punches in.

Then the whole thing blew up.

It was fucking crazy, and pretty upsetting.

Ron Artest was at fault for losing his temper like that and crossing that invisible barrier. But a lot of the blame goes to the fans that take it too far by assaulting Artest, and the other ones who made the cheap shots on the players when they weren't looking during the melee. I don't care if these guys are making millions - when you're provoked, you're provoked. When people are throwing things in your face, when they're throwing cheap punches at you, you're going to fight back.

But those idiot Detroit fans made fools of themselves. I'm not talking about all of them. But those guys who were in the the fight, who threw the punches, the people who were throwing things on the team and the coaches as they were leaving the court. Something said on ESPN was "Fans believe that when they pay to go to these games, they are not only watching the games, they're a PART of these games." Which isn't the case. We go to these events to support the athletes. To watch them and enjoy the games. Not to be in their faces. Not to harrass them.

Where was security? Security should have been in there like THAT. Quicker than lightning. Surrounding the players right after the original scuffle started. But I didn't really see anyone. I saw a broadcaster coming out and try to control people, but I hardly saw any security in there.

Thanks to this, the fans and the reaction of the players, the game won't be the same. There'll be barricades separating the court and the seats. Courtside seats? Gone. Forget it. Beer in the second half? No way. Anal probes before you go into the stadium? You betcha.

Sadly, the line between what fans can do and what fans cannot do is getting blurred. Athletes not only have to worry about getting injured on the court, but now they can worry about getting injured by a fan.

I'm not excusing Artest's actions. He lost his temper. He should get suspended. But it could have all have been prevented if some asshole in the stands didn't try to be cool and throw his drink on the opposing team.

Lamar Odom of the Lakers saw it for the first time as he was being interviewed.

``Whoooo. When you see things like that, just think about what it takes for NBA players to go into a crowd,'' Odom said. ``Sometimes fans get kind of out of hand, but it must have taken a lot for NBA players to go into a crowd and start a fight.''

Poor Jim Gray, the reporter for ESPN who was at the game. Just watching him talk about his experience is saddening. You can tell that he's affected by it, as he speaks his voice is shaking as he says he's never seen anything like this.

Neither have I.

And I pity the people who were at the game to enjoy it. They've been showing a shot of one of the player's kids, who's hugging his older brother, crying because you could tell he was scared for the safety of his dad.

What's happening to our society?

Is this the NBA or the Vibe awards? It's getting really hard to tell the two apart.

With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person which almost went unnoticed last week.

Larry La Prise, the man who wrote "The Hokey Pokey", died peacefully at the age of 93. The most difficult part of this sad loss for his family was getting him in to the coffin. They put his left leg in and that's when the trouble started.

----brought to you by current coworker Sam.

Lately I've been more distracted than usual. At work, I've got a lot of things on my plate, but sometimes I just don't know where to start, or I forget where I left off. People talk to me and 10 seconds into the conversation I've already zoned out and I have to ask them to repeat themselves. I'm constantly in motion, constantly doing something, constantly thinking, constantly analyzing.

I guess it's because of all the stress I've been under. Added on to the stress that I had last month with the company being sold, taking care of the house, recovering from emergency eye surgery, etc, all this business with the car accident has added on additional worries for me. I've been an emotional yo-yo for the last couple weeks, and I'm sure it'll all come to a peak in the next week - my mother's death anniversary. Hmm...not looking forward to that day. Just thinking of locking myself up in a room on that day.

So I've noticed that my attention span has been near zero the last couple weeks, and that it's been really hard for me to concentrate. I saw a commercial the other day which said:

"Feeling distracted, disorganized? Trouble waiting your turn in line? Fidgety? Maybe you have adult attention deficit disorder, or adult ADD, and need to see a doctor."

Hey, that's me! But do I really need to see a doctor? You know how I am with doctors. Except the one I'm married to, of course. So I found this online quiz:

Jasper/Goldberg Adult ADD Screening

...and I got a 67. "Moderate ADD or ADHD". Whoo hoo! I may have a mental disorder. Kind of ironic that I was a psych major, no? I thought my lack of attention span was because I was a Gemini, who are supposed to be mercurial, scattered, restless and lacking in concentration. Does this mean that all Gemini's have ADD?

Of course, I'm taking this quiz at a very stressful point in my life. I'm sure if I took it 5 months ago the results would have been very different. Also, there are some people who question the validity of the testing for adult ADD, saying that a lot of the symptoms are just a result of living an adult modern life. And I agree.

At least now, when someone gets frustrated with me when I'm not paying attention to them, I can just say, "According to Dr. Grohol, I have moderate ADD, so please be patient with me."

Photo Friday : Patterns

Portland Airport - Portland, OR : March 2003

Introducing, the Hardee's Monster Burger. Spitting in the face of the carbless, superhealthy society that we live in today. When the rest of the country is out having carb free wraps and salads with fat free dressing, Hardee's understands that there are some of us who are trying to find the fastest way to clog our arteries while maximizing taste bud happiness.

Boasting two 1/3 pound slabs of Angus beef, three slices of cheese, four strips of bacon, special sauce and a buttered bun, this jewel has a whopping 107 grams of fat and rejoices in the 1460 calories that it puts into your body. I'd like to call it "Instant Heart Attack - But At Least You're Smiling When it Happens". And the best thing about it - it's only about $5. $7 if you want to throw in fries and make it a combo meal, which you KNOW what to do. Oh, and be sure to make that a DIET Coke.

Look at it. You know you want it.

God bless you, Hardees.

Take THAT, Jarod!

While surfing through blogs on this site I found these two blogs which really touched me.

It's almost been a year since my mother passed away, and even now I'm still dealing with the conflicting feelings - anger, sadness, despair, longing. Feelings that I thought would eventually go away are still lingering, possibly forever. One of the things that I've been thinking about is how my mother felt, what she went through knowing that the end was near, that she was going to leave the people that she loved. During the last days she couldn't talk much, must of what she said was in a concentrated whisper, in the end we just had to figure out what her mouth was annunciating since there was no longer any sound.

I found the blog of a woman who was about the same age of my mom, who also had cancer and who knew that it was her last days. Treatment had stopped and she was on her way to a hospice. Her last post consisted of her goodbyes to her family - her husband, children and grandchildren. It hit me so hard because in a way, I could hear my mom talking through her words, I could imagine her saying the same things. What she wrote was beautiful, but it also brought back so many sad memories for me, and I was brought to tears just reading it.

Her daughter also has a blog, which I saw first (a link led me to her mother's site). Reading her words reporting her mother's death reminded me so much of what I went through when my mother died, how I debated on writing a post about it or to just write something simple. Her mother's last days were eerily close to what we went through - from the labored breathing to the problems with her mother's arm. It was a little comforting to read her post, but heartbeaking at the same time, knowing that other people go through the same thing that I did. But I wanted so much to tell her that it's going to be ok - it won't be great and life won't be the same, but life does move on.

So if you're up for depressing, but beautifully written sites, go ahead and check out these sites:

A Mother's Life in Disappearing Autumn (the mother)
Punkin Toes (the daughter)

This is a beautiful quote that was on the site:

". . . we paused and looked about us, and, slowly, as the sun made its way, we saw something, something that was all around and above us. We did not see the trees, we saw the gold, the same gold that some people spend their whole lives looking for. And, just as quickly as it came, the sun went down behind the mountain, and our gold disappeared. . ."

*sniff*

Thursday Challenge : Everyday Things

Cup o' Pens - Chicago, IL : July, 2003

This is my cup of multicolored pens and pencils. Glitter pens, ball point ink pens, silver markers, pens that light up in the dark, I got all of 'em!

Here is a poem that Britney Spears posted on her website about her honeymoon:

Some crafty lyrical styin's she's got! Watch out, Dr. Dre, she could be your next protege!

Dave had a half day yesterday, since he was on call the day before. He stopped by his parents house to chill out and have lunch. When I came home, I started up dinner and we were talking. He then pulled out an envelope from his bag.

"Guess what my dad's manager found in his desk drawer," Dave said.

"Um, I dunno. What?" I replied, wondering why I would actually care what this guy found in his desk drawer.

Dave held up the envelope. "Our marriage certificate."

"Our what?"

"Our marraige certificate. Yours and mine." He put the envelope on the table. It was the envelope that was sent to me from the county, and inside, a copy of our marriage certificate. I had two made when we got married - the other copy was in my backpack, I never really wondered as to the whereabouts of the other copy.

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"Yes I'm serious. My dad's manager was cleaning out his desk, he found this envelope, and he asked my dad if this belonged to me."

"Really?"

"Really!" And although Dave's a pretty imaginative guy, THIS was a little too out there to be a practical joke.

"How the hell did it get there?"

"I have no idea! I was thinking that maybe you know!"

"No, I don't know! I didn't even know where this copy was. Maybe your dad accidentally brought it to work."

"But how did it get in his boss' office?"

"I have no idea!"

Which left us to ponder how it got there. But we had no good theories. Of course, if we were in TV Land, it would have been because I was having an affair with my father-in-law's manager, but come on, let's be realistic. I wouldn't leave behind evidence like that! Who would bring along their marraige certificate on an adulterous tryst?

The truth is something which is probably simple and innocent - the envelope may have gotten lost in some paperwork brought to the office by Dave's dad and then moved over to his boss' desk.

But that's pretty out there, don't you think?

I've seen this link around the 'net. The Brita filter isn't just for water!

Practical Applications of the Philosopher’s stone. For drunks.

Damn, I really could have used this in college!

Since the car was towed after the accident, I was left without a car to drive to the train station. I called up my dad to tell him about the accident, and of course, he was really concerned. Yet, just like always, he figured that it was my fault. Hmph!

So I told him that I didn't have a car to drive around while we were getting things worked out with insurance and everything (silly us didn't get the rental car option). He's out of town, and I know that no one at home is using his car, so I sheepishly asked, 'Daddy, can I borrow your car?"

Silence.

I knew in his mind he was contemplating a thousand things. First, I had just gotten into a car accident. Second, every time my dad rides with me in the car, he has his foot on an imaginary brake, much like the ones they have in driver's ed, pushing down on his pretend brake everytime I came to a stoplight. Third, this is his brand new car, his new baby - it's got less than 1600 miles on it - can he trust me with it? The list goes on and on...

But finally, he said, 'OK'. Then he proceeded to give me a list of 10,000 things to do and not to do with his new car. Make sure that I lock the doors. Don't park it too close to other cars. Don't go over the speed limit. Don't brake too hard. Don't leave your valuables in the car. Park it in the garage. Use the parking brake when I'm on a hill. blah blah blah.

Reminds me when I used to use the old Accord when I was living at home. I'd always get a speech, ending with, 'Make sure you use the club!' I hated that club. That was the uncoolest thing on the planet.

So yeah, I'm pimpin' out in my dad's new car, but he really has nothing to worry about beacuse I'm still in that post accident paranoia where I've becomg the driver that I've learned to despise so much - driving slow with so much space in between me and the car in front of me, checking 8 times before switching lanes, etc. Argh. I hope this phase ends quickly. I mean, I'm having road rage with MYSELF!

1) Ho Ho's
2) Haagen Dazs Ice Cream
3) Cool Whip
4) Godiva Chocolates
5) French Vanilla Milano Cookies
6) Lou Malnati's Deep Dish Butter Crust Pizza
7) Cheddar Bratwurst
8) Krispy Kremes
9) McDonald's Hot Fudge Sundae
10) Chili Cheese Fritos

Next Week: In honor of Halo 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Everquest 2 coming out, next week's topic is "Ten Great Video Games"

I think the funniest thing about the American Music Awards last night was that Snoop Dogg was probably the ONLY one not on something. That bake sale skit at the beginning was pretty awesome. Extra points for throwing Bobby Brown in there!

I'm so happy that Anna Nicole Smith has lost so much weight, thanks to Trim Spa. Ack, who are we kidding? From the way that she was so strung out yesterday, you know she's on something else. Maybe even something not of this planet. Felt bad for Kanye West (our hometown boy whom I adore), whose intro she was doing. Shame on me for thinking that once she lost the weight that I'd actually be able to UNDERSTAND what she's saying half the time! Though I had to admit, as sad and uncomfortable as I, and the rest of America felt - it was really entertaining.

Not to be outdone, Nicolette Sheridan, from 'Desperate Housewives' looked equally as loopy when she announced Bon Jovi. Not only was she embarrassing poor co-presenter Eva Longoria, who you could tell was a little mortified, but Sheridan also looked a little manly.

I was so happy that Bon Jovi won the Award of Merit. But I was pretty disappointed that their performance had the energy of the 85th Street Senior Citizen Women's Knitting Club. No offense ladies. You do great work. As for Jon and crew, I would have expected something spectacular. But I guess old age is catching up to you. But you guys still look good!

I want Lenny Kravitz's hair back. Right NOW.

All in all, it was actually a mildly entertaining show, with some great performances (Kanye West, Alicia Keys). I missed the last hour of it, but from reading the news about it today, I think most of the action happened while I was watching, anyway!

Yesterday I had my staged reading at the C hicago Dramatists theater. It's been such a long time since I've had that butterfly in the stomach feeling that comes before a performance. It was a relief, though, knowing that this was just a staged reading (kind of like a trial run for a play) and I would have the script in front of me. Staged readings are done for the playwright - not the actors or the audience.

For my 10 minute play, I played a Vietnamese computer science grad student who is locked out of her house, trying to communicate with her neighbor. We don't understand each other, but once I go into this trance, talking in just ones and zero's, we come to some sort of understanding with each other. I was really nervous about this binary speech I had to make, which just consisted of '1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0'...etc but said in a way that the sequence of numbers was something magical, something that is understandable and beautiful. So I guess I made it into some sort of song of 1's and 0's, giving accents to different syllables, moving my hands. In the end, it was like spoken word - the beat box kind of poetry, starting off soft and quiet and reaching a peak in both volume and feeling. At the end, as my voice trailed off the end of the stage, there was silence. I opened my eyes and thought to myself, 'Damn, that was good.'

The high that you get on stage is difficult to describe. Going through your scene, hearing the audience laugh, letting their energy carry you on through - you become another person. You transcend your other life and become this character. For ten minutes, these people are real. The applause you get when the lights go out provides a euphoric feeling like no other.

During intermission, I get several compliments, from people telling me that my performance was 'enjoyable' to how real and natural the scene was to how much they laughed during our scene. That stuff just feels great.

The other plays were amazing - mine was just one of seven plays that were performed. I can't believe I was on the same stage as these talented actors - I was in awe and definitely didn't feel worthy to be on the same stage. Afterwards was the critique of each of the pieces, where the audience got to meet the writers and discuss what they liked/didn't like about the play. Ours got rave reviews for its realism, the laughter it provided as well as the underlying themes that they were able to catch.

All in all, a great day's work.

And they want my resume and headshot so they can contact me for other performances. So this could very well be a regular thing. Whee!!

Any Chicagoland photographers out there that can cut me a deal on making some headshots? Joey? Anyone?

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Later that night I headed over to Nikki's pajammy jam - a sleepover she was having for her birthday. Before you guys ask, because believe me, Dave has asked already, we did NOT go around dancing around in lingerie and having a pillowfight with feathers fliying and brassieres falling off. Get your head outta the gutter, lads!

It was great to see her after so long. With Nikki, our friendship is so easy - if we haven't seen each other in years, when we do see each other, its like no time has passed. She is one of my best friends and will always be.

Had a good time at the party, though I came kinda late. Met some of her coworkers and some people we went to highschool with. We just watched a lot of girlie movies and I fell asleep on the couch.

I need to have me a pajammy jam sometime! With alcohol!

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Wish me luck today - I'm off to clean the fridge. There's a funky kinda smell that's been emanating from it and we have no idea what from. I'm determined to find it today!

Before I leave you today, here's a cool little link from Walter:

TV Locations Map

Sunday Shoot : Adorable

Little Princess - Chicago, IL : June 2003

This is my flowergirl, Nina, when she was trying on dresses for my wedding. We told her she looked like a princess and she loved it - she didn't want to take any of the dresses off.

Just wanted to share an email I got the other day:

Isn't that a little bizarre? My name and my mother's name are very similar, growing up I always answered the phone and talked to telemarketers when they asked for 'Christine'. I never realized that the church announcer would spell her name wrong (actually putting Christina, which is a blend of our names) on the front cover. I wonder how many other people I grew up with may be worried about my misreported passing!

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On a similar thread, I've changed the layout once again - it's the ADD - addled Gemini in me. This month's theme is 'Roses', and as much as I keep away from floral designs, I did this one in honor of my mother. At the end of the month will be the 1 year anniversary of her death, and it's going to be pretty hard. I chose roses because she always did love roses. We had a mini rose garden in the front of our house, and she would spend countless hours tending to them. On anniversaries and birthdays we could always expect to see a fresh bouquet of roses on the living room table for her, courtesy of my father.

In the last couple of weeks, I've been thinking about her more and more. It's been pretty tough, and step by step I'm slowly coming to terms with it. Never did I think it would be so hard. Seeing someone handle this grief on TV only gives you a small glimpse of what it's like to actually go through it yourself...

So enjoy the new layout...I'm already thinking of what my holiday theme is going to be!

Yesterday I had my rehearsal for my gig on Saturday. It went pretty well, though it's pretty intimidating working with REAL actors, directors and screenwriters. I mean, when they ask you if you're equity or not, that's a big deal.

Anyone know where I can get a headshot in 24 hours?

Afterwards, I was driving home, and it was about 10:30 at night, though there were still a lot of cars on the highway. I wouldn't say there was traffic, but the roads weren't clear, either. So I was driving along, and on I-290 there are some exits on the left hand side. I was on the lane next to the exit lane, following traffic, when I saw the SUV in front of me start to brake. So I started to brake. What I realized too late was that the SUV had come to a complete halt. I thought I broke in time, but I didn't. I hit the back of the SUV.

I didn't feel any impact.

But my car did.

I heard the car behind me screech and my body tense up waiting for the hit. But nothing came. But I heard another crunch of metal behind me.

After it was all done, the hood of my car looked like an accordion. I was able to pull off to the side of the road. The lady who was driving the car that I hit came out and asked if I was ok. I said that I was and asked if she was ok, and she said that her and all her passengers were alright. We checked out the damage to our cars. Since she had a big 'ole SUV, her bumper hardly looked like it was hit at all. My hook was all whacked out, but the bumper and lights weren't damaged. It was kinda of weird. But there was definitely damage to the car since there was some fluid leaking from it.

Of course, it's these points in time that movies run through your head of people running from the cars, screaming, 'It's gonna blow!'. But that's just not real life. Though it would have been funny if I did that.

Within 3 minutes, there was a firetruck there. It was as if they had been waiting for this to happen. Within 5 minutes there was an ambulance and several cop cars, who closed the left two lanes.

My apologies to anyone that was stuck on 290 yesterday because of this.

It turns out that there were two other cars behind me that got into an accident (which accounts for the crunch that I heard after my accident). They were still stuck in their lanes and the police had to help them over.

All of the firemen, policemen and medical personnal were really great. They made sure that I was ok and asked if I needed to be taken to the hospital. I told them I was alright, though I wasn't sure if I was shivering because of shock or the cold. Several of the guys called me 'Fuzzy Slippers' because of the fuzzy leopard print slippers that I bought earlier that day, which had spilled out onto the back seat.

Although drivable, there was no way I could drive my car back to my house, which was still about 10 miles away. I had to wait around for a tow truck, and for Dave to pick me up. One of the guys from the other accident was waiting around, too, and he said that he wasn't sure if they'd let him drive home - not because his car was in bad shape, but because his license was expired. As for me, I got a citation for not braking or something like that. Hmph! But the cop took great care in making sure I understood all the things that needed to be done, from sending in the accident report to where they were towing the car to making sure that I had a ride home.

As much as I'm pissed that I have to go to court, I'm so thankful that the police and co. came, because it made the whole ordeal that much easier for me. This is my first major accident, and I admit, I was a bit shaken up and couldn't believe how surreal it was, with all the traffic backed up, the emergency lights glowing and the emergency personnel walking among the damaged cars. They made sure everyone was ok, that everyone knew what to do, and that everyone was safe. Thank God no one was severly injured.

So I'm a bit skittish today, still a little weirded out. It was sad to go into my garage this morning and not see Lex Luthor-us there (which I have dubbed the car.) There's a lot of 'what-if's' running through my head, like what if I didn't lose my keys in my purse, I would have gotten in my car sooner, what if I had taken 90/94 instead, what if I didn't go to rehearsal at all, what if...what if...

One thing I do know is that I'm alive...and that's a good thing.

Right?

Photo Friday: Family

Holiday Sisters - Chicago, IL : December 2003

This is a picture that me and my sisters took last Christmas. We're big dorks, and we fight all the time, but we're sisters, so um, yeah. I can't rid of them. They're related to me.

And I guess I love them, too.

The other day I got a call from my old director. Unfortunately, he had my old number and my sister was the one who took the message, and I never got a chance to call him back.

For those of you who don't know, I used to act. Nothing huge stage production or anything. Mostly small things like the improv group I was a part of in college, a couple small theater things and a one night performance as a stand in for Stir Friday Night. I really haven't done anything on stage in the last 5 years or so, with the occational script reading to help out writers here and there.

So earlier this week I get a call from a man who needs an Asian actress for a staged reading on Saturday. He tells me where he's from, and surprisingly, I know the theater group he works with. He said that I came recommended from a friend who got a recommendation from another friend (who is my old director). Which is surprising, because I've been off the radar for a while. Makes me think that they must be pretty desperate!

So I talked it over with him, and there's a rehearsal tonight and the performance is Saturday afternoon. This is a staged reading of 10 minute plays, written by writers who took a scriptwriting workshop. A 'staged reading' is when the actors read off the scripts - there's no need to memorize, because the main objective is for the audience to get a feel of the script, because later on there is an open discussion of critiques to make the script better. Kind of like a trial run of the play.

This kind of thing is perfect for me, because I have a horrible time memorizing lines. Which is why I did improv, because memorizing wasn't needed all the time.

But I'm nervous, I've got butterflies in my stomach. It's been so long since I've done something like this I hope I don't mess it up!

And when I went to their office to pick up the script I would be doing, I realized that I've been cast as a post-graduate Vietnamese immigrant, which means I need to have an accent! A Vietnamese accent! I can't even fake a Filipino accent, much less a Vietnamese one!

Argh.

This week's Thursday Challenge - Window

Tiffany Window "David Set Singers Before the Lord" - Jekyll Island, GA : June 2003

This window is in the Faith Chapel on Jekyll Island was designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. This picture can't relay how truly gorgeous the window was and how it caught the afternoon light.

I think there are three reasons bloggers stop blogging - the first is that there is no time to write. The second, that they really feel they have nothing to write about. The third is that no one is reading - there's no traffic going to their site.

Well, thanks to Tara I found an interesting place that not only brings traffic to your site, but where I've found so many interesting blogs to read. Though truthfully, there are a lot of boring blogs out there, but what blogexplosion does is at least I give the blog a chance. But there are so many interesting blogs out there, some of which I'll be highlighting in the future. The site is still pretty new, so I'm sure it'll get more popular as time goes on.

So check it out:

I swear, this is my last post for today. It's just been a pretty busy day!

It's been three months since my retinal surgery. The retinal specialist gave me the OK to get contacts again.

I went to the vision center on Michigan Avenue today to arrange to get some contact lenses. I like to call it "Where the Hot Optometrists Are". I guess a prerequisite to work as an eye doctor on Michigan Avenue is to have an athletic body, stunning good looks and a killer smile.

They remembered me from my awful glasses fiasco a couple months ago. My eye doctor was really cool and explained everything to me - how my eye is still healing, what vision to expect in the next 2 years, how having contacts would be better for my sight than my glasses, etc. He took care to make sure I understood everything and that I was comfortable. He said my eyes are healing very well, and that my vision is surprisingly good for someone who just had surgery. (which my retinal specialist had already told me).

Vision-wise, I think my left eye is pretty bad. He'd show me that big fat E on the eye chart and I would have to say, "Big fuzzy splotch! But I could cheat and tell you it's an E."

There's something wonderful about going to the eye doctor, when they cycle through the different lenses and you get to experience vision that is for a moment, crystal clear. However, that whole, "Which one is better? A? or B? A? or B?" Most of the time I can tell which one is better. Sometime's I'm like, "Uh, I dunno. Go back to A. No, go back to B. A again." But once in a while they hit that lens that makes you go, "Ahh! That's a good one! I like that one!"

So yeah. Monday, I get my contacts.

Glorious, glorious contacts.

I can't wait!

If you're not doing anything right now, or are one the west coast, watch Smallville.

Tom Welling in all his shirtless glory.

...and he dances, too!

Since I've been out of the office so much, and silently (though publicly on this blog) complained about missing Free Taco Day (and other company parties), my boss T. took me out today to make up for it and treat me for working so hard away from the office. For free lunch day we went to Emilio's, Tapas and Wine Bar which was pretty much empty, but the tapas were scrumptious and the sangria plentiful.

So I ate like a wee li'l piggy and drank sangria to my hearts content.

And the bill came and T. pulled out his Discover card and the waitress was away with it.

She then came back to say that they don't accept Discover.

Alas, he had no other credit card on him.

So I whipped out my company card and paid for my free lunch.

...and that is the story of my life.

Of course, T. gets the reciept so I can get my money back...if I even remember that this happened....

Amy wrote to tell me she has a blog, so I've added her to my ever growing link list. So check out her site, which is about the life of a woman with celiac sprue, going through life living with a gluten-free diet (which is a lot harder than you think it is!)

Gluten-Free Empowerment - brought to you by the Wonderfully cool and hip AMY!

Just wanted to share a contest with you on Redpac's photoblog:

I'll be in Arlington, VA all next week for work and I doubt I'll have a non-work internet connection. Pics to return next Saturday.

Anyone want to take a guess at how many emails I will have when I get back on Friday night? Closest one gets a Redpac Prize Pack which I will mail out to you (if I can't give it to you in person.) Leave a comment with your guess. Deadline for entry is Friday Nov. 12 at 10pm Central Time.

Here's a hint to base your guess on. From Friday afternoon till 7 pm Sunday I got 383 emails. Guess Away!

He's pretty desperate for guesses and asked me to pimp him out on my blog.

so far it looks like I have about 6 entries in the guess the email count contest...but I want more! Pimp the contest on your site. If the winning guess comes from a referal from your site you will also win a prize.

Can you sense the need in him? Poor thing. So head out over there, enjoy his pictures which Richard Roeper from the Chicago Sun-Times called "a ton of funny, irreverent stuff", and take a guess in his contest.

Picture This: Fold

State Street Bridge Unfolds - Chicago, IL: June 2003

The bridges in Chicago always fascinate me. I must have a million and one pics of them in different stages of, um, up and down. Whatever you call it. But it's so cool to look down the Chicago river and see all the bridges folded up. Unfortunately, this is the only one I have uploaded. Once I get my Chicago gallery up, you'll see what I'm talking about. Look for it soon, like early 2008 or something. *evil grin*

When I was in Columbus, I saw that there was a sushi restaurant by my hotel. I haven't had sushi in months, so I thought about it all day, fantasizing about those tender, mouthwatering pieces of raw fish.

I got to the restaurant and was a little sad that the selection of different sushi and rolls. Nothing out of the ordinary. So I decided to go with a tempura dragon roll (shrimp tempura roll with eel on the outside) and a simple salmon roll. I put in my order (it was takeout), picked up a magazine from the rack and stood at the counter, flipping through the pages.

This guy comes into the sushi restaurant, and you could tell he was in a hurry. He looked at me and said, "Hey, there!". I responded with a meek, "Hi." Really wasn't in the mood for making new friends, but I wanted to be polite.

He picked up a takeout menu and looked through it quickly. He puts it down and looks at me.

I know what's coming. Do you?

So the guy turns to me and says, "Can I have a spicy salmon roll, a Philadelphia roll and a california roll? And make it to go."

I stared at him blankly and said, "Sorry, I don't work here."

The man then imploded into himself, totally embarrassed. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! You were standing at the counter and I, uh..." and he stopped, realizing that if he said any more he would be digging himself even deeper into the hole he had created.

"It's ok, it's an easy mistake." I said, trying to calm him down. "The waitress is over there, but they're pretty busy tonight."

"Oh, ok." So he waited. And I waited. It was a bit uncomfortable and it was taking so long that I was about ready to take his order and bring it ot the sushi guys for him. Finally, he mumbled something about missing a ride and left.

Right after he left, a family came in. The looked at me. I smiled at them and pointed to the waitress, before anything was said. They then smiled at me and waited to be seated. Crisis averted.

Not to say that I wouldn't like to work at a sushi restaurant. But I think they'd fire me immediately after finding out that someone was eating all the eel and salmon sashimi.

I think one of the biggest I can get on this blog is to know that I've inspired someone to go out and create their own. I guess knowing that I'm out there spilling out my dirty laundry for the whole world to see as a weird sort of therapy makes it a little easier for other people to do the same thing...

Anyway, I guess sometimes I don't inspire as much as I TELL people to create their own blog, as see here with my conversation with "The Landlord".

TheLandlord: never mind...here is the link...remember in your drunken state the other night when you told me to do this???
TheLandlord: http://www.livejournal.com/users/vodkaredbull/
TheLandlord: you have created a monster
Miss Yano: haha
Miss Yano: i remember talking to you
Miss Yano: but don't remember telling you to create a blog
TheLandlord: it was more like...(drunken sluring) hey....you need to start a journal with all your escapades...drool....swerve....
Miss Yano: wow...i'm proud!

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I've also added a whole bunch of blogs since the last time I wrote about this...so here's the rundown of the new sites I've added:

Anita: Liberal, outspoken, and someone who knows the ecstacy that is Graeter's ice cream. Read her post election thread, it's pretty good.

Carla: The LBC gal that I hung out with a total of, um, TWO times when I was in California. Both times, the fact that we read each other's sites was not mentioned, but it was unspoken. A pretty cool chick who has given me the title of 'the connoisseur'. I kinda like that!

Erina: The first time I actually met Erina, she came up to me and introduced herself. Immediately upon meeting her you can sense that she is a sweet and good person. It's obvious from her posts, also.

Karl: A faithful reader and fellow Chicago Cubs fan. He's only just started blogging and he's doing a great job! Though I think he's going to change his blog title once he turns 33.

Kimmy: I don't know how I didn't have this post in here before. Melanie's partner in crime Kimmy is ultra-cool, and I give her a lot of props for still playing football after all these years!

Linda J: My Portland connection, which insists that there are sunny days in Portland and hates with when I refer to California as 'Cali'.

Marin: Wow, a skater that actually updates her blog regularly and cares about spelling and punctuation (most of the time anyway). It's fun to see the world through her eyes.

Marky Mark: The smoothest dancer I've ever seen, and super-huggable, to boot. He was an Elm Street Girl for a couple hours, but long enough to enjoy Free Panties. Not in a perverted way, of course.

Monique: The site was gone, and now it's back again. She says what she wants and takes no prisoners.

Pat: Another blog that rose from the ashes of deletion. He's my comic book homie, he lets me in on the latest scoops and this guy can schmooze comic creators like nobody's business. And he sent me rockin' sketches. See ya at WWC!

Stan: Part of what I've come to call my Long Beach Family - the people who made California feel like home for me and Dave when we were out there.

Tara: Yet another new blogger. A Hawaiian living on the mainland, she's got a lot of good stuff to share.

Tom: "The Landlord", who has so many interesting adventures, that I guess I told him he should have a blog. And he has!

I swear I had added more since the last time, but I guess not! Welcome to my blogroll, people!

So I've been out of the office for 12 of the last 15 work days, traveling to Buffalo, Indianapolis and Columbus. I'm so relieved to be back in the office for a full week, and sleeping in my own bed.

I came into the office this morning to find all this junk on my desk:

I have no idea what these little circles are used for, but I know we've been cleaning out all our paraphanelia from our old products, since they're really not going to be used anymore. The guys thought this would be a nice little welcome home present, to let me know that they're thinking of me while I'm gone.

Jerks!

Now I've gotta clean all this crap off my desk.

...and plot my revenge.

Fine. I know they meant well, in their twisted little technerd brains. Yeah, I'm talking to you, technerd! It's almost, in a little weird way, touching.

But it doesn't make up for the fact that I missed free taco day!

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In other news...

Last weekend we went to Trully's to watch my copy of Shrek 2 which a couple of the cousins haven't seen yet. We ordered some pizza with gyro as a topping (which was REALLY good, though a little salty) and laughed a lot at the movie. The pepper spray, catnip and thong parts always give me a burst of the giggles! "Say something crazy... like you're wearing ladies underwear."

Yesterday we went over to Maui's for Jillian's 2nd birthday party. She looked too cute in her little pink birthday outfit (sorry, didn't take any pictures yesterday) and she was so happy playing and screaming with her little friends.

And the Bears won, which made the weekend that much better!

From Beata's...

If it weren't so funny it would be sad. Ok fine, it's sad. All the things I've done are in bold. Because I have no shame in showing what a loser I am! :-P

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.Well, not that many, but enough!
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you. Not only do I do that, but I IM him, too!
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.
6. You go home after a long day at work you still answer the phone in a business manner.
7. You make phone calls from home, you accidentally dial "9" to get an outside line.
8. You've sat at the same desk for four years and worked for three different companies. One more buyout and this'll be true!
10. You learn about your redundancy on the 11 o'clock news.
11. Your boss doesn't have the ability to do your job. Depends on which boss you're talking about!
12. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home.
13. Every commercial on television has a website at the bottom of the screen.
14. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
15. You get up in the morning and go online before getting your coffee.
16. You start tilting your head sideways to smile.
17. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.
18. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.
19. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.
20. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.

Sad. So sad!
AND NOW U R LAUGHING at yourself

Yesterday I got back from Columbus at around 8:30pm. I was tired and pretty grumpy that I missed free taco bar day at the office (one of my coworkers won a drawing at a restaurant).

Called Dave to tell him that I was home and he was wondering if I was up for going out to Minx for Emer's birthday. And although I was dead tired, I haven't been out in god knows how long, and of course, I can't miss Emer's birthday! So I got home, got ready really fast and we picked up Dave's man-lover Gil on the way to the bar.

It was weird being out, and I was so tired I just wanted to chill out and people watch. Minx was pretty busy that night, but the crowd there really reminded me of the old times at school - minus the underage drinkers, drunken dancing and cigarettes in the air. It's always a great thing when our friends get together - seeing how everyone is growing up, how their lives are changing, and just reminiscing about old times. Which is always inevitable! But good to hear. I really miss the old times at U of I, but it's good to know that we are all still close, that we have these occasions to get together.

And I'd like to give my warmest congratulations to my Sister Hag on her engagement. Don't know if it's truly out in the public yet so I won't say your name, but I'm so happy for you! If you need any advice for the wedding, just email me. I'm chock full of wedding advice! Hags in the house, whassssup!!! :-P

Happy Birthday , Emer!

The last several months have brought so many life changes, and I've been so unsure of where I stand, or what I'm becoming or who I want to be or who I should be. I'm a homeowner now, but I never realized how difficult it is to actually maintain a home. I work for a new company, and there are so many new responsibilities that I have to learn, while maintaining my previous commitments, and I think I'm one of many in the company who is a little confused of where they stand and where their future lies. There are other aspects in my life where I question where my loyalties lie, what really matters, what kind of person I have become and what kind of people I surround myself with. My world has been a little crazy, a little off, a little out of control.

I heard this song the other day, and it made me think. I've been so into working out who I want to be, what I think people want me to be, that I've lost sight of who I am. I've transformed my life into something complicated and confusing. I had forgotten that I was perfectly happy with the old me - just because my environments change doesn't mean I have to change myself. A lot of stress has come from trying to be something that I'm not.

So yeah, I'm trying to find myself, go back to the basics and try to not take things as seriously anymore. Just because I may be surrounded by things and people that change, doesn't mean that I have to make myself change. I can't let the lies, goss

So welcome back, me, I've missed you.

Halloween is my favorite holiday, so what better time to test out my hostess skills? So me and Dave decided to have a small get together to start off with, and I called it our Halloween Haunted House Warming Party. We invited a few people, and said that costumes were opintional.

I was stressing so much over getting food and desserts ready. I worked pretty hard on getting the menu together:

- orange and black bruschetta on halloween french rounds
- halloweenies - mini sausages wrapped in croissant dough
- oreo crust pumpkin pies with vanilla cool whip
- haunted cupcakes
- spicy bat wings (and a little undercooked, too)
- worms and dirt
- shrimp and dill deviled eggs

...um...I don't remember what else. It was all a blur!

But it was a pretty successful party. Mel brough some Filipino spaghetti (with hotdogs and everything!) and other people brought some other tasty treats and drinks. The girls came over early to help prepare and give me a hand with the cooking. It was really odd that I was cooking all this food and all Claudine brought was meatballs.

It was nice to have everyone over, and we had a lot of fun watching each other switch to different costumes. Marilyn was an 80's girl, Cleopatra, a whore, a lounge singer, and god knows what else. Manny was the only outside guest to dress up, as an Illini basketball player. Don't ask me who. I don't know.

We had more food than we could eat, and tons of desserts! After eating and watching some movies, we started watching the Bear's game, and we won! The guys were yelling and cheering and Jillian was upstairs screaming everytime she'd hear Maui cheering. She's so cute!

It was a bit hard to be a domestic hostess, but it was so great to have everyone over, just chilling out and having fun.

Next up, the REAL housewarming party! Don't know when, but it'll be in the next couple months!

Here's some pics from the night:

Don't have much time to process all my halloween pics, but here's a little something from last weekend!

Can ya guess who I am?

I can always go to Margaret Cho's blog and find something that can make me laugh or think. She doesn't pull any punches. Here's her post election thoughts that I wanted to share with you...click on the link above for her whole site:

I know that we would like to question the whole of democracy. I can't believe Bush won either, but there isn't time to despair. What is needed now is action, not hopelessness. What is important is that there has been tremendous progress in mobilizing people to create change. Remember, more voters turned out this year than in the last three decades. Although it might be said that we can't expect change overnight, there really was a very rapid shift in the way we view politics. We have become unafraid of voicing our opinions, using our power, pooling our resources, and allowing our differences to aid us instead of keeping us apart.

And I love this little bit (I was unaware of Britney's political affiliation until now):

My friend years ago had this joke, where he was talking about how he'd tell his girlfriend that he thought she was being a bitch, to which she'd reply - "Oh you'll KNOW when I'm being a bitch." Republicans don't even know how nasty we can be. You think people are pissed off today, just wait until the inauguration. Can you imagine all the boos and jeers during Brooks & Dunn's set? Just the radical uncoolness of their musicians compared to Democratic rock stars is fairly awesome to consider. Brooks & Dunn vs. Pearl Jam. Charlie Daniels going toe to toe with Bruce Springsteen. Leann Womack against Moby. Britney Spears facing off the entire Hip Hop Summit. If it wasn't so ridiculously sad, it would be funny. If 'these colors' don't run now, they will soon.

And from the hero of internet geeks everywhere, Wil Wheaton, who's view is a lot more extreme than mine, but I do have to agree with the first part...

Apparently, my country holds a fundamentally different set of values than I thought we did, and that scares the shit out of me. I still believe that Bush is bad for America, and though I'm virtually certain that the next four years will be an absolute disaster. Not just because we have gotten four more years of the Bush agenda, but because this election has been an enthusiastic endorsement of that agenda.

And from AndrewSullivan.com, who Walter described to me as a non-partisan homosexual blogger...

I've been trying to think of what to say about what appears to be the enormous success the Republicans had in using gay couples' rights to gain critical votes in key states. In eight more states now, gay couples have no relationship rights at all. Their legal ability to visit a spouse in hospital, to pass on property, to have legal protections for their children has been gutted. If you are a gay couple living in Alabama, you know one thing: your family has no standing under the law; and it can and will be violated by strangers. I'm not surprised by this. When you put a tiny and despised minority up for a popular vote, the minority usually loses. But it is deeply, deeply dispiriting nonetheless. A lot of gay people are devastated this morning, and terrified. We have seen, and not for the first time, how using fear of a minority can be so effective a tool in building a political movement. The single most important issue for Republican voters, according to exit polls, was not the war on terror or Iraq or the economy. It was "moral values." Karl Rove understood the American psyche better than I did. By demonizing gay couples, the Republicans were able to bring in whole swathes of new anti-gay believers into their party. With new senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn, two of the most anti-gay politicians in America, we can only brace ourselves for what is now coming.

Oh, and if you missed that DeMint fiasco, here's a ditty about it, from gay.com:

On the Oct. 17 show, Russert turned his sights on South Carolina senatorial candidate Jim DeMint. Russert played a debate video clip in which DeMint declared, "If a person is a practicing homosexual, they should not be teaching in our schools." DeMint later added that "a single woman who is pregnant and living with her boyfriend" should also be banned from classrooms.

Too many journalists back away from raising serious questions about bigotry for fear of appearing partisan. Russert understands that while today it is the GOP that traffics in prejudice, the next time around it could just as well be the Democrats or the Greens. Anyone who advocates discrimination should face strict scrutiny, no matter the ideological justification.

Bravo to Tim Russert. I'm sure John Stewart has a picture of you hanging on a wall somewhere. Anyway, if you want to read the whole exchange between Russert and DeMint, which is actually quite hilarious because DeMint just won't admit his feelings about the situation, you can check out the transcript at Only Connect.

Well, at least we got Barack Obama in the senate - by a whopping 70% of the vote - the biggest margin of victory in Illinois history!

"We have to remind ourselves that this is really the end of the beginning. This is not the end itself," Obama said in his victory speech Tuesday night. He won by 45 percentage points, collecting more votes than any Illinois politician in history

"In the ultimate equation we will not be measured by the margin of our victory, but we will be measured by whether we are able to deliver concrete improvements to the lives of so many people all across the state who are struggling," Obama said.

And to lighten things up a bit up in here, here's a little something about Nader, courtesy of The Onion:

Nader Supporters Blame Electoral Defeat On Bush, Kerry WASHINGTON, DC—Supporters of presidential candidate Ralph Nader blamed his defeat Tuesday on George W. Bush and John Kerry, claiming that the two candidates "ate up" his share of the electoral votes. "This election was stolen out from under Mr. Nader by Bush and Kerry, who diverted his votes to the right and the left," Nader campaign manager Theresa Amato said. "It's an outrage. If Nader were the only candidate, he would be president right now." In his concession speech, Nader characterized Bush and Kerry as spoilers.

Ok all, I'm getting off my soapbox. That's my last political post for a while. I hate getting involved with politics, but I just had to vent for a bit to get this all off my chest.

This post is made in memory of Aaron, who would have posted like crazy during this election and would have had a thousand articles referenced. I know he's up there, somewhere, saying, 'You guys are SCREWED!'

So I came to Columbus with a one-way ticket - because they had no idea how long this project would take. My bossman told me that it would take about three days or so, so that's what I scheduled my hotel and car for.

But I could be here much longer than that.

The thing about working support at a software company is that a lot of your skills are based solely on the product that you sell. I knew this was a trap long ago, so as much as I could I tried picking up some knowledge on products and skills that I could use outside of the company, like SQL server, Oracle, Crystal Reports, etc. But really, 80% of my knowledge was still software related.

So I was pretty happy when my new company asked me to do some report troubleshooting for them. I'm pretty good with Crystal, I can do that!

I came into town and worked really hard, knowing that this was a test of sorts - to see how much knowledge I have and if this knowledge is something that they can use. So I worked diligently on my project, and word got around, and other people needed some work done, and so on. So my stay here was extended to tomorrow, and maybe even Friday.

It's been about 4 weeks since I've had a full week at home. 6 weeks if you take into account that we had a user conference, too. I'm tired!

When I called my hotel yesterday to say that I'll be staying another day, they said that they were booked for the night. So I had to go around like a nomad, trying to find a place to stay for the night. Luckily I was able to find a hotel that isn't too far away (and has free internet access!!!)

I really need to take a break, get some rest, stay in my home and see my husband. Just seeing each other on weekends isn't enough! I swear, I saw him more when he was away at school!

______________________________________________________

In other news...

- I'd love to comment on the election, but I'm too angry, frustrated and ticked off right now. Maybe later. Maybe never. There's nothing I can do about it right now anyway - I voted, that's all I can do. OBAMA IN 2008!!!!!!

- I'm having sushi for the first time in a long time. I was a bit wary about getting good sushi in Columbus, but I'm having a dragon roll right now and it's the most succulent, flavorful dragon roll I've ever had! Sushiko in Columbus! Go there!

- I've been living on Mountain Dew Code Red and Starbucks Coffee all week. I've been so tired!

- The radio stations in Columbus suck.

- Went to lunch with so coworkers and we went to a new Mexican place in town. One of them's from England and I just love hearing him talk. He was looking at the menu, and he said to the lady - "I'll have one of those Chingy-cha-cha's". It made me laugh out loud. Inside my head, that is.

- One of the best lines I've heard in a while: I was at a client site and she was talking to one of her coworkers on the phone and he was coming up the stairs to meet us. All of the sudden she started laughing and said, 'Ok, just get here when you can!' Turns out it was a long flight of stairs and he was gasping for air, so he told her, "If I sound like I'm dying, I'm not. I'm just fat."

- What's with the music nowadays? I swear, there's really nothing good on the radio now. Although I'm a little partial to Snoop's new song, just because he's damn cute and he's from *says all ghetto* DA LBC!

That's all for now.

They better have the WB here in this hotel or someone's gonna get a'hurtin'! I need my smallville fix!

Just going through my referral logs and I found this:

Asian dating -- Over 2000 Filipinas, Over 1000 Chinese -- and More

Do a search for 'Yano'.

Eew. How did I get on this thing? Anyway, I'm taken, and I'm not available for mail order. Being sent out in a small box would make me horribly claustrophobic.

Got this from Leen's.

You Are a New School Democrat

You like partying and politics - and are likely to be young and affluent. You're less religious, traditional, and uptight than most Democrats. Smoking pot, homosexuality, and gambling are all okay in your book. You prefer that the government help people take care of themselves.

Well, it's not Halloween anymore so I needed to change my layout. Haven't had much time lately so I just went back to an old favorite!

This layout makes me feel like karate chopping someone. Hee-yah!

Enjoy!

So election day is finally here!

It's interesting going through it in Ohio, which has achived some sort of celebrity status in this election. The lines at the polls have been crazy - it's all over the local news, and even though they cut off the lines at 7:30pm, the lines are about 175 people deep, meaning that the last person in line will probably be putting in their votes at about midnight. The sad thing is, it was pouring cats and dogs earlier, and I know that some people were waiting outside. Poor things! I think it's incredible that these people are sticking it out, just to vote.

As for me, I punched in for Kerry. I really tried to take an unbiased look at both candidates. But there was one thing I've thought about - 'Are we better off now than we were 4 years ago?' And we're not. We're actually doing a lot worse. So I'd rather take my chances with someone new than support someone who I don't believe will make any changes - changes where in four years I'll look back and say, 'Things are better now!'

Dave, on the other hand, is for Bush. I can understand his point of view, considering that Edwards is a malpractice lawyer and the Kerry stand on tort reform (malpractice suits).

We've had a lot of debates, and both of us are pretty grounded in who we're supporting.

So basically, our votes evened out. One for Kerry, one for Bush. Kerry and Bush won't be sending us a thank you card for our votes this year.

But at least we voted...hopefully you did, too!

Here's a couple stats:

- 62% were for banning gay marriage in Ohio. Just when you think that there's progress being made in this country, you see stats like this that make you think that maybe we're taking a step back.

- 17% of the voters were 18-29 years old. After MTV's super push to register young voters, the percentage of young voters is EXACTLY the same as it was in 2000. How sad! I'm glad I'm almost out of that age bracket.

- I'm watching the news right now in Columbus, and they're showing live feeds from the polling places that still have people in line. From the looks of these people, I'd say they're Democrats. I'm crossing my fingers. Right now it's 52% to 47% in favor of Bush right now. Argh!

- I'm really hoping Bush loses Florida. That would be just classic.

- I can't believe that Tom Brokaw actually made a 'Survivor' reference in his report, saying, "One of these candidates is going to get voted off the island!"

All this election stuff is so stressing!

I had something amazingly life changing, inspirational, heartfelt, and mindblowing to post. Witty and exciting stories about my fantasticly fun weekend, complete with pictures.

But I'm too lazy.

Instead, you get to hear about how grumpy, tired, crabby and sleep deprived I am.

And I'm in Columbus, too. That makes it, what, like 3 weeks in a row I'm out of the office. You'd think I'd get a break after the company was sold. I rarely see my husband and I'm afraid the fish are gonna die.

For more than a week I haven't averaged more than 4 hours of sleep - yesterday, I got two, since my mini-Halloween party got out late, I went to sleep at about 1:30 only to wake up at 3:30 to catch a 6:30 plane to Columbus.

So yeah, I'm exhausted, moody, stressed easily irritated and bitchy today.

Luckily, this is a pretty rare thing.

I shall wallow in my bitchiness now.