This is my New old love, Neville Brand. He played Reese Bennett on Laredo, a western in the mid-60's. As a result of my Digital Converter Box, I now get Retro TV Network and watch Laredo religiously every weekend. The Reese Bennett character is silly, kinda dumb, very gallant, and always gets the job done. I was reading about him (Neville Brand) today and found he was actually in the army before he was an actor; in fact he came to acting by being in war education films, and then used his GI Bill to go to acting school. Isn't that interesting? Anyway. He died of emphysema in '92. Why am I finding these men to love who have died or die when I discover them? First Crichton croaks, then I find Brand, and find out he already croaked. It's kind of rude if you ask me.

I was watching "Alias Smith and Jones" today, and he (Neville) was playing a real bad honcho who was in cahoots with a few other guys and were holding 7 people hostage in a trading post. Since I was half asleep, and since follows Alias Smith and Jones follows Laredo, I was confused and couldn't figure out why Reese was pretending to be a bad guy, NOR why he seemed so smart in this episode!!! :) It was 10 minutes before the end of the episode before I realized it was a different show and a different guy, LOL.

So today I am awoke to a New Reality and a New Beginning. It's a bit personal to broadcast all over the internet, but suffice it to say that I have achieved a personal goal I have been struggling to reach for a Very Long Time. I will start 2009 in a position that I have been striving unsuccessfully for for over a year, maybe 2 or 3. I will start in a position that will lift a lot of stress from my life. I am proud, excited, happy, a little ashamed that it took me so long, but relieved, and feeling accomplished and empowered. Hooray! Those 2 of you that follow this blog know what I'm talking about and I thank you for all your support and not being mean to me when you saw me make the same stupid mistakes over and over again.

And with that, I think perhaps it's a good time to clean my bathroom. :)

Happy Boxing Day

Happy Boxing Day! #1 Cuz says that her little brother celebrates this day with fervor. I may join him in this! Since Christmas is so tough for me, it gives me something non-traditional to look forward to. :)

Boxing Day is celebrated on December 26^th. It is a statutory holiday in the federal jurisdiction and in Ontario. If it falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, the working day immediately preceding or following Boxing Day is considered a legal holiday.

Hee hee.

Anyway. It is a slush factory out there and I have to go to Northgate today. I am wondering if I should put some plastic bags inside of my boots. I'm also wondering if I should wear my big, black, shitkicker Sketchers. They have really stiff soles. I wonder if those are better or worse for slushy snow. They are good for putting crooks in cat tails, that's for sure. Im' still confinced that the reason Miss Henri's tail is crooked is from on eof the times she jumped under my feet when I was wearing those suckers.

OK , I think I'll go paint a swatch on my wall and see if I've gotten the right color. If so, I'll go up to Ace later and get a gallon.

Right now I'm thinking scrambled alarm clocks and bacon.

Getting ready

Well it's 5:57, I'm finishing up an episode of Dragnet and getting ready to head out into the wild snowy night. I just got some bad news from my dad, and while it sucks, it's worse for him and I don't know how the next few months are going to be. He needs me. Which is nice, but tough in a way; especially when I can't get up there.

Anyway, I feel the need to be around other people, and besides I haven't gotten gifts for dad or the GF.

And in other sad news, Retro TV Network has decided that a good Christmas Gift to the masses is 34...count 'em...THIRTY FOUR hours of Leave it to Beaver!! You know what that means, don't you? No more Dragnet, no more Alfred Hitchcock Hour, no more Wagon Trail, Laredo, or Alias Smith and Jones until after Christmas. Ugh. This is gonna suck. So I'll come back tonight and soak it all up and then maybe go to Blockbuster or something. The library.

OK Time to boot up and get out there. Let's see if the bus is running or if I have to hike up to Target.

Quote of the Day

had to save this one, too:

"To know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)"

Joy

So one of the profs in my dept. has finally picked up on the whole "make coffee instead of buy it" principle of saving money. So he is bringing his own coffee to work. It started yesterday with him bringing his cup for half and half every hour or so, clanging his spoon, stirring his coffee with vigor and gusto. A bit annoying, but I could deal.

Well this morning, he goes into full force. It sounds like a freakin construction site in there!!!! There's the grinding, which normally goes smoothly, but with him, it was whiiiirrrrr, WHIRRRRRR, whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine THUD bang bang clank whiirrrrr!!!! After about 5 minutes of banging and clanging, crashing and booming I yelled "what the hell is going on in there, it sounds like a construction site!" He said "fresh-brewed coffee." I said "is this going to be going on every morning?" He said yes. sigh. I said "greaaaat...."

But now that the apocolyptic noise is over, I have to admit it smells fantastic. :) It's one of my favorite smells. That and the smell of toast.

Frosty Days

Holy blowing snowdrifts, batman, it's COLD here! It was a balmy 23 degrees this morning, as you know from before. I like the picture to the left because it bears such a close resemblance to beach grass when it's all frozen and wilty. The picture to the right doesn't convey the winteriness I intended, but you have to admit it is a very Majestic tree. Here's the scoop:

Seattle Area Weather: Temperature: 37F, 3C. Winds: 4 mph from the NNW. Barometric pressure: 30.06 in (1018 mbar). Relative humidity: 45%. Seattle forecast. The sun rose today at 7:51 and will set at 16:18. The moon is waning gibbous with 86% of the moon's visible disk illuminated.

I must say, the moon has been absolutely GORGEOUS.

Land a-goshen, it is colder than a well digger's ass in the Yukon out there. 23 degrees, to be exact!!! I stood at my bus stop for about 20 minutes watching all manner of icy vehicle go by; there was a school bus that had snow on top and it was blowing off in clouds. It was so fine it looked like steam or smoke. Finally caught a bus that was nice and toasty, and closed my eyes for much of the trip to work.

When I GOT to work I was greeed with complaints about some noise in the attic. Like, why the hell is it assumed that it's this office's responsibility to deal with anything that goes wrong in this building? It's freakin ridiculous. So I called Facilities Services anyway.

Now I'm waiting for my boss' appointment to get here, and then I will venture back out into the cold to take grades over to the Registrar. (shiver, chatter). I am getting a bit stiff and sore from last night's butt-plant, too. :( Poor me.

So when I got home from my adventure, and upon taking out the garbage and such, I noticed this little trail of Froot Loops...to the left, the green Froot Loops lead out the door; to the right, the pink Froot Loops lead in the door from the outside. It's like I have my own little Hansel and Gretel in my building! I don't know whose kid(s) left these but they were too precious to pick up. :) Well at least I know I won't get lost.

So I did manage to go on my little adventure. I went out to the bus stop, already a little late. Neighbor Ben was outside having a smokey so we talked about Coconut Vinegar and pork adobo. You see, they got some coconut vinegar at the Filipino store, and they gave me a whole bottle for myself! So I now have to figure out how to use the damned stuff. I can go to the Asian Store and find a nice piece of pork. Anyway, the bus was late, so I didn't miss it, but not too late. I went to Rite-Aid and got some paper products and new face scrub cause I'm OUT. Then I toodled up to the office to get my camera so could take some fancy shots of the snow, but by the time I retreived it it was dark out, so too bad for you. I made the return trip to the Ave JUST in time to catch the 72 home! I was so pleased.

So I had been walking so carefully on this sojourn, this adventure into the cold, and when I got back to Lake City I was feeling all sure of myself and comfy cause I was home and knew I was safe. So I stepped off the bus and fell RIGHT on my ass!!! All I knew is there were eyes looking at me, "are you ok? are you alright? do you need help up?" and I felt like a deer caught in the headlights, and said "FUCK!!!!" which I think startled some of my concerned audience. So I assured them that I was alright, then proceeded to go to the store, crying just a little bit because I felt sorry for myself. But Pani was at QFC so I told her my sad story and she gave me 2 hugs, and then I told Mike, too, for good measure and he gave me a goodly amount of sympathy as well. Then chugged home and here I am! I had a lovely bowl of clam spaghetti for dinner and am doing another mini-season of my cast iron skillet because I had to use soap to get all the parm out after my decadent dinner. Now I'm going to do some veggie prep for tomorrow.

Goodnight.

Oh yeah and quote of the day:

Kindnesses are easily forgotten; but injuries!—what worthy man does not keep those in mind?

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863)

So here it is, a cold, snowy Sunday afternoon, and me without my camera. I feel naked with no pictures for my blog. It started in the evening, and I went shopping in the first flurries. I was so happy I couldn't get the goofy grin off my face. I did laundry all night in varying degrees of snow; sometimes I'd go out and there'd be big, fluffy flakes; sometimes they were thin and icy; sometimes a small drift, sometimes a vigorous flurry. It was wonderful.

Last night I was quite productive. I got ALL of my shredding done, which was a relief. I sorted and filed a bunch of papers, washed my sheets and made my bed, cleaned up my room partly, made some carrot soup, which turned out to be quite tasty after some doctoring, washed and put away a LOT of plastics, and did the dishes. It was kinda nice. Today I have been pretty lazy. I had a sad morning of missing the OMA; something about not having him here for the first snow of the year just made me all blue, so I had a good little cry, watched an episode of Star Trek, and took a little nap. Felt better after that.

Now I'm considering going into the world and getting my camera so you can see all the snowy wonder. It's supposed to snow again tonight and then get down to 16 - 21 degrees. Can you imagine? And me with no winter coat. Oh well, that's why god invented layers.

So I am finishing up my carrot soup and an absolutely lovely salad, and there's a half-eaten pear on the coffee table which I will finish up, and then plan the rest of my afternoon.

Well here it is the end of another perfectly good Christmas party. Here's a picture of my Christmas Cactus to commemorate the auspicious occasion. Now we have a big fat hairy buttload of leftovers, mostly sweets, which I don't eat, so I'm pawning them off on anyone who walks by. Except for the truffles and the Swiss Chocolates, of course. I took some of those, and some delicious cheeses, and even a goat cheese, which I bit into by mistake, and just about retched. But, I do have a friend who likes it, so I'm bringing it home for her. Meanwhile one of my students brought me cookies, and one of my profs gave me a bath set which looks like all kinds of relaxing goodness.

Tonight I have a date with a friend up on Capitol Hill. We'll go to a place called Boom Noodle, to which I have never been, but it looks promising.

If I'm not too full I'll give the full report later. Now I've got some posters to send out, and I will leave you with the image of these mutant carrots I got at the Asian Market last week. As you can see, they are just about as big as my foot. They even have little nublets at the end, like little carrot toes. I should see about making some carrot soup with them. Have lovely evenings.

Hooray!

Hallelujah and praise be to Allah, I am DONE WITH CALC for THREE WEEKS. And the capper is, my instructor is giving me an incomplete so that I can review the chapter I completely bombed and retake the test in Winter Quarter. Does that kick ass, or what!!

So to celebrate I returned some overdue materials to the library, and was rewarded by finding a dollar. Just a little icing on the cake! :) Now I have my german oral to dread tomorrow; luckily it is pretty short and then we can get to the party part, where we eat German food and laugh and play with glee.

For now, I'm going to whip up some sweet and sour shrimp over rice and I got oatmeal too cause I thought that a good hearty breakfast is in order tomorrow. :)

Is it Still Over?

I was watching National Treasure. My favorite Country Artist of All Time, Randy Travis, was performing for the President and singing my favorite Randy Travis song of all time (well one of many), and it goes:

"Is it still over? Are we still through? Since my phone still ain't ringin', I'll assume it still ain't you..."

This is absolutely one of my favoritest song lyrics of all time, I swear. It's simple and clever.

Anyway. 8 more days til the end of my quarter. Pray for me, willya? I'm beyond tired right now, in fact I think I'm going to go into our little "library" and have a little nap on my makeshift bed of armless chairs. Maybe I'll have something interesting to say later.