My Hurricane Adventure

So as I've mentioned before - we had friends of the family that lived in New Orleans that we had no idea as to their situation after Hurricane Katrina. Last night, we heard that they are ok and were in Ohio. They lost everything, but being ok is a good thing.

Now I guess I must explain as to why this has been such an adventure for me. About two weeks ago, I started going to webpages looking to see if our friends had posted information about there whereabouts. Nothing. Then last week, I found someone in LA looking for our friends. So I called the number posted on the message and asked if they had heard from them. Nada, darn. We exchanged information and promised to keep each other informed. Then last night, we get an email from my godmother's daughter that they had heard from them and where they were (see paragraph one). So we immediately email them and my dad wanted to put the information about who was looking for them and I found someone else looking for them as well. What the hell possessed me to be the messenger, I dont know, but I called both people back to pass on the information. I feel rather good about that. Anyways, I got to talking to one of the enlisted guys that was loitering in my office about it and its interesting how certain manners are allowed to be thrown out the window. Think about it - here I am calling someone who posted their phone number on the internet about this. I think it speaks to the closeness and kindness we could have for one another if we chose to.

Its Officially Official...

Officially got the job offer today and I ACCEPTED!!! Yeah me! I start October 10th. I gave my two weeks notice and most people were shocked that I was leaving but not really surprised. I'm super excited - after I got the official offer (because I knew on Friday they wanted me but we didnt have anything on paper) I walked around with this look on my face that said "I dont care". Short timers syndrome really sets in quick with me. I was just happy this was my first step to getting back to LA and starting my life over. Closer to friends, family, LA Kings, nightlife, culture, LA Kings, beach...Some cant believe that I'm leaving all this desert for traffic, noise, pollution, overcrowding, and the psychics. Frankly, I can't wait. Obviously there are things that need to be worked out but you cant wait around for something to happen, you have to just do it.

P/S I had another job interview on Friday morning and WHOA! That has to go down as the strangest job interview in my life - to the point where I called the agency and said HELL NO I'M NOT INTERESTED. Stay tuned...

Seriously, let me call them first

I have a second interview with the owner of the psychic bidness. I also have another interview with another company - honestly I'm all about the recruiter thing so I'm hoping to get that job.

Ok - gotta get on the road.

Can I make a call first?

No post yesterday because I went to LA to interview for job placement. Let me say that as time consuming as it is to deal with an agency - it is so worth it. They do all the work for you! So I had my appointment at 830am and I had an interview at 2pm with a company. Ok - this is a story...so much so that I had to call people to tell them about it even though its going in the blog. Remember what the title of this blog is - Misadventures of Life....this is MY life people....here goes.

I met with one of the recruiters who thought my experience and personality would be a good
match for this position. And then she says "I have to tell you what kind of company it is". Now, they way she said this led me to believe the company was evil, I mean its not like she was going to say "Ok - this company is a shoe manufacturer" oh no, this was something else. And then she says is - (don't laugh) "Its a psychic hotline" (stop laughing). If I had a camera, I would have taken a picture of my face when she said it. I know these are companies, but to actually work for one? The laughter was starting to build inside. Then said said quickly (probably in response to the look on my face) "But they are legit!" Still with the laughter in my head. She actually asked me if I'd be ashamed of working there and asked me what my friends would think - I said that they wouldnt be surprised. They explained the job - its a recruiting job - yes my first question was "Do I have to recruit the psychics?". The answer would be no - they have their own recruiter, however this job would be to hire everyone else, customer service reps, tech people, admin assistants and such. I went to the interview and it sounds like an interesting job- I dug the people and the atmosphere. I'm not going to get more into it on here, but damn it was hysterical. So thus the call reference in the title, Juan said I should say I called the hotline and say tell them that their psychic told me that I got the job.

BLOG OF THE WEEK!!!

So this blog of the week is an interesting one (but on a certain level they are all interesting right?). Its one about a set of identical twins that decided to switch places to see if they could pull it off. One twin is a psychology major in her doctorate program while the other sister is in her second year of law school. The blog is from the point of view of the psychology major in law school. Poor girl. Its called the Twinkie Experiment. Now I've been having trouble recently being able to scroll to the bottom of the page, I hope you guys dont have an issue. Might be my stupid computer. They started the blog in August so its not a lot of reading to catch up on.

Gotta Love the Gloomy Weather

It started to rain last night and its been gloomy all day - can I say I love it? Sometimes too much sunshine is too much - its like a friend that is always optimistic, you want to tell them to shut up or have them fall just so they'd calm down a bit. Thats kind of how I was feeling - it was a little to "happy" around here. Damn that makes me sound like a bitch huh. But I'm sure you all know what I mean, I just say it out loud is all.

I never got to post what I did over the weekend (I've been busy). I went to the pre-season Kings vs Ducks game at Staples with the Jakeman on Saturday. Got a real taste of what being a season ticket holder is going to be like. Met my seat neighbor. Boy let me say that the day after sitting next to him - the word FANATIC really doesnt apply to me, which I guess is a good thing. I'm so glad hockey is back....yeah! Sunday went to my nephew's birthday party and had an indepth discussion with family members and strangers as to what the technical terms for family members are.

So lets play: Who is this person to me?

My dad's sister is my aunt (yes, I know) so this aunt's son is my cousin (1st cousin), my cousin's child is my 2nd cousin? my nephew? I say nephew but some people said it was 2nd cousin. Answers welcomed - no matter what I'm still the aunt in this case. Just curious to see what you all think.

The party was in Griffith Park and for as long as I lived in the area, I did not realize just how big that park is and how much stuff is there! Gotta go back and explore it a bit more.

So I had something else to say and I completely spaced it - seriously, I had made note of all these witty comments that put in here and now - NADA. What a crock. Sucks that I may have to start doing outlines of my damn blog post. Oh I think I have it - I was watching "How I met your Mother" last night (pretty cute - gonna check it out again next week) and the main character was obessessing about how he didnt kiss the girl he had gone out with at the end of the night so he does this romantic gesture and dresses up and goes to her apartment at about 1am to kiss her and his friend (played by Neil Patrick Harris) says "This is totally going in my blog" and I found it so hilarious because I say that all the time when people do something funny or, even better, stupid. So since this blogging thing creates an invisible community its interesting how we can connect with other people just through, what basically come down to, public pen pals. Thats all we are. I write (post) - you write back (comment) and keep up with one another's lives, that is if you have a blog, others I have to resort to calling and actually having some sort of conversation with from time to time (damn you Oscar). I've had moments that I just put stuff out there for shits and giggles and other times I totally vent on this thing. I do read other blogs, not just the ones linked here and you find this common ground that is like support group or something. See - I rambled.

How Smart Is Your Right Foot?

You must try this--it's amazing and takes only seconds

This is so funny that it will boggle your mind.
And you will keep trying at least 50 more times to see if you can outsmart your foot, but you can't.

1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.

2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction.

I told you so... . And there's nothing you can do about it!

Shiver Me Timbers!

Talk Like a Pirate Day is TODAY! No, I'm not kidding. Someone sent me this website and September 19th is the official "Talk Like A Pirate Day" I'm all over it.

FEATURED READER: Evan

Evan finally answers my questions and even more finally sends me his picture for this thing. Apparently I'm a bit of a celebrity with him, even though we've never met. Evan is my friend Kelena's husband and by virtue of association - is my friend too. All I have to say is that I'm nervous that I'm notorious.






I dig the studly pose...









1) Where do you live? I rotate between living in Raeford, NC and Kuwait...4 months there, 4 months here...it's a vicious cycle! No doubt, stupid military and their need to have you well trained and deploy you were they want you.

2) What do you do? I am Loadmaster on the C-130E Hercules cargo aircraft...the greatest flying machine ever built! One of my hornet guys called it "a flying gas station". I personally really dig the harrier but hey, its "your moment".

3) Why do you read my blog? Because it never fails to enterain me. The sharp wit and humor of your writing is probably the envy of the Blog World! Yeah, lets both keep telling ourselves that.

4) What is your favorite story? This is going to sound cheesy, but I gotta say it...my favorite post so far has been the featured reader on my wife, Kelena...love ya sweetie! You are right, that is cheesy.

5) Seriously - are you that bored over there that you read my blog? Seriously, "bored" has nothing to do with it. I look forward to your posts every day and will look forward to them just as much when I'm back at my real home in North Carolina! Yeah, Kelena already warned me about you and the comment posting.

6) So any single guys in your unit? DETAILS! Tons of them...and they all have great insurance, medical, and dental. Were those the kind of details you were talking about? No - I meant like pictures, personalities...we need to work on our communication.

7) What is your favorite chick flick? That question is so unfair! Are you trying to ruin your rep?!?! Because I am a movie nut and love ALL different types and genres of movies. I do have several "chick flicks" in my collection. My favorite in any genre could vary from time to time depending on a wide array outside influencing factors, but for the time being the first two that pop into my head are Serendipity with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale and Return to Me with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver. This question is akin to asking a woman what her pair of shoes are. My favorite shoes are my black converse...see how easy that was for me?

8) What do you miss most from home? (Don't say Kelena, that a cop out) If you didn't want me to say Kelena, then you shouldn't have asked what I missed the most. However, a close second are our chihuahuas: Chico, Mia, and Lucky...they are like my kids!!! KISS ASS

9) Vegas, Baby...VEGAS!!! I soooooo cannot wait to go to Vegas!!! I am really looking forward to meeting you and everyone else that Kelena talks about all the time. There are basically two kinds of Vegas trips for me: Gambling trip and Relaxing trip. This one is going to be the relaxing trip that I desperately need after coming back from a four month deployment. Stay at a great hotel (Bellagio), have great food which includes but is not limited to In-N-Out Burger although its not quite the same as Cali In-N-Out, take in a couple of shows, go dancing with my beautiful wife, and maybe have a spa day. The relaxing trip is always with Kelena. The gambling trip is usually with my Dad and borther or another friend, because Kelena is not into the gambling thing. But when I got to gamble, I go to gamble! I may not leave the tables for like 30-40 hours straight...it's kind of the complete opposite of the relaxing Vegas trip. No kidding but let me ask you this - you didn't want your rep to be ruined because I asked you what your favorite chick flick but you admit to having a spa day?!?!

10) Seriously, any single, cute, funny, interesting guys in your unit? None with ALL of the above qualifications. Pick like your top two qualifications and get back to me. Am I given the "guy" as an automatic qualification?

Friday...FINALLY!

Goodness its been quite a week. Since its been a while since I've taken time off for the hell of it, coming back to a full 5 day work week has been a reality check. I know that 5 days is what most people work but we get spoiled and work compressed work weeks and get every other Friday off. With strategically placed sick or vacation days, you can get yourself some nifty time off. Anyways, I'm tired and ready to be sleeping in this weekend.

General question for the masses...is 7:15am too early for "Stars and Stripes Forever?" blaring out of a coworker's stereo? Rockstar knows where the rest of this rant is going to go.

Did I mention I'm in a somewhat bad mood? I've come to realize that I'm not concentrating on work. I've noticed some things that have slipped past my radar and I've made some big mistakes - frankly I've had a bit too much on my plate. Yesterday, someone went completely out of there way to point out my mistake on something in such a rude and disrespectful way, that I left work early. I was so pissed. Anways, I'm trying not to let it get to me, but it showed me (again) how petty people can be around here and its bullshit. Pushes my masterplan of winning the lottery or running my own business. I'm thinking the own business thing is what will probably happen first - in like 10 years or so. My problem is that I'm a loyal person and this is persuading me not to be. To say "Fuck it" and just walk away - but I'm not that type of person, although at the moment, I'm feeling like I could be.

Just for Oscar
YOUR mother...dad left her "in charge" (Oscar already said oh god!) of recording Survivor: Guatemala last night. ***I did not know this*** We had ABC on which had America's Funniest Home Videos and the show had started, about 5 minutes in mom says "What time is that Survivor or whatever show on?" I told her it was on right now on CBS. Then she tells me that I need to record it right now for dad. Ok - knowing my dad, the sole reason he wanted to record the show was to see what they were showing off about Guatemala, not the show itself. When I got to it and hit record - all that had passed. Then we had to sit there and watch the whole show and I had to hear mom laughing (pointing and laughing) at the contestants when it started to rain saying things like "Dont they know it always rains there?" or when they had to sleep out in the jungle "These people arent going to make it". Honestly, I was waiting for a story about how she survived out in the jungle for a week with nothing but swiss army knife and her hopes and dreams. Although I did learn that, according to mom, that lake they kept traveling back and forth on is filled with crocodiles AND we have a great uncle that lives there. WHO KNEW?!?!

Am I A Bad Parent?

Last night was our very first parent/teacher conference. Yes, I know. I'm kind of shocked that after 3 weeks of preschool - they are setting these meetings up. Obviously parenting is a new thing to me - yes, I have been a parent for almost 4 years now, but every 6 months or so, something extremely new comes along that it throws a major curve ball into your happy routine. So now, my child is a preschooler. A PRESCHOOLER! Let me tell you somethings that I thought were going on versus what was happening.

I thought: Jakeman is the South room
Reality: Jakeman is the EAST room (this is important since they tell you things like picture day for the South room is on, lets say, Tuesday and pictures for the East room is Thursday - big difference que no?)

I thought: Thats a bunch of junkmail they put in your parent box
Reality: Thats a whole bunch of INFORMATION they put in your box

I thought: They play all day long - its like a glorified day care.
Reality: There is a method to their madness!

So last night was a parent night versus the dreaded parent teacher conference. Now, these nights are held on a monthly basis. MONTHLY BASIS? And they have events like potluck lunches, walk a thons, class events....what the hell have I gotten myself into? In one night, I've appreciated all the crap my parents went through with my brother and I while growing up. The director of the center got up and started describing in depth about the program that the Jakeman is in. They showed a video and we sat in chairs made for 5 year olds. I actually was impressed with the alternate ways they teach things to the kids. For example, they have a giant pushpin that the kids use to create pictures using a stencil or outline - in reality they are strenghtening the muscles to use a pencil. Very interesting - right?

A quick funny for Auntie Shannon
On Tuesday night, I was telling my parents about the parent teacher conference the following night. Here is my conversation with Jacob when he overheard that phrase.

Jacob: "Mom, what is that?"
Me: "A parent teacher conference? I'm going to go to your school and talk to your teachers about how you are doing in the class"
Jacob: "Like playing?"
Me (being a smartass and not realizing it) "No, to see if you are being a good boy or a bad boy in school"
Jacob (with his bewildered look): "Mommy, I'm so sorry for everything I've done. I promise to be a good boy."
Yes, I was doubled over with the laughter.

Being Denied of Sleep and the Little Things

I don't know what the hell is wrong with me, but I've been waking up at 4:30am for the past 5 days. I'm not saying I wake up and go back to sleep - oh no, I wake up and am out of bed and ready to go. This morning I tried to force myself to go back to sleep - so I laid in bed. I kept hitting the snooze which leads me to a question for the general public. What is the average snooze time on an alarm clock? I though it was about 6 minutes - my alarm clock snoozes for 15 minutes, which I think is a really long time. Anyways - just putting that out there.

I've neglected talking about something here for some reason - last week I did something I've been wanting to do for the past 10 years. I bought season seats for my favorite hockey team. I've budgeted and saved up some money - not to mention they have a really good payment plan and the tickets are cheap as hell. Even more incentive for me to move to LA so I wouldn't miss the during the week games. Anyways - I'm so excited to be doing this. I know its frivolous but I cant deny trying to get what I want anymore. I've come to realize over the past year (for various reasons) that life is way too short to sit back and not do the little thing that make you happy and that other people make think is an extravagance - you know? I don't go on weekly shopping sprees, I don't collect anything, or go out excessively. I lead a pretty humble life - this is my extravagance. I think maybe its part of the rebelling people do when they change their life. Doesnt matter what my excuses are, I have one reason, and one alone - I've wanted this for so long and now I'm not denying myself anymore.

Speaking of not denying oneself - I'm back on the job hunt. This time, its an aggressive push. I have two possible interviews next week. I have to figure some stuff out before I settle on a date and time but its back on. I'm nervous about the whole thing because I know its going to move fast but sometimes you need to be pushed in the pool to swim instead of getting the courage to jump in yourself.

What Surreal Object Are You?

My friend had this link as a bulletin on myspace - and I took the quiz and this is what I am. What the hell? I can't even be something real....oh wait, thats right, its just a stupid website!



A Cartoon Anteater

What surreal object are you?
brought to you by

Back to Work

I open my email to find 110 new emails! Including 5 that say I'm over my limit. Out of those, only 12 actually applied to me. What joy.

P/S Scott - I WIN!

FUNNEL CAKE!!!

Yes, the fair is in town. I remember growing up and when the fair would show up - it would be the place to be. Not only while in elementary or junior high school - but in high school the fair took on another meaning. Because in high school, I was on flag team (don't laugh) and the fair brought on the parade that would put our high school against our local band rival. Our football team sucked so the pride of our school rested on us - actually it was the badminton team but for the sake of MY blog - its the band/flag team. For as much as I lived in a small community growing up, I now live in a small town and the fair really does take on a different meaning.

Let me do some comparison.

Then: The Grand Marshall was a local celebrity - like the news achor on television.
Now: The Grand Marshall is some old guy I've never even heard of.

Then: The Mayor rides in a classic convertible car and is respected througout the community.
Now: The Mayor rides in a classic car with 7 other people and owns the Wienerschnitzel.

Then: Floats competed for prizes and were adorned with various things such as flowers by volunteers who put in hours of effort.
Now: A flat bed truck has lawn chairs with pots of plants and flowers and a big sign that says "Flowers borrowed from Home Depot" (not donated...but BORROWED)

Then: The best entry I saw was this solar powered car created by some engineering students at Cal State Los Angeles.
Now: The funniest entry I saw today was a 1980 Nissan pick up truck with faded body paint and some women pushing strollers.

Something I need to mention about the local fair is that anytime it comes to town - it gets windy. And I mean WINDY. I'm not talking an occassional breeze - oh no, its gale force winds that force you to take refuge. The local joke is that if it gets really windy all of a sudden the first thing we ask is "Is the fair in town?" So this afternoon I took the Jakeman to the fair. Figured if we get there in the late afternoon, the wind wouldnt be THAT bad. (See the foresight I'm plugging in here?) Ok, so we get there about 5:30pm and the two things on our agenda are 1) Jacob getting cotton candy and 2) Melissa getting funnel cake. We arrive and its a little windy, not that bad but yes, rather windy. We do a lap of the area and scope out any rides the Jakeman may want to go on. Um, my parental radar immediately went off and tried to make the rides as scary as possible or told him that he was too short to go on. Yes I suck, but you all have seen the conditions of these rides!!! My child is learning the art of negotiation and I had to beat him to the punch. After a few games of bingo, we hit the cotton candy stand and then off to get my funnel cake. Now the wind is starting to pick up a bit. I get handed my funnel cake with powdered sugar and the wind blows some of that sugar on my black shirt - son of a gun! So I put the funnel cake down a bit and we head into one of the exhibition halls to get out of the wind. Jacob is walking behind me to hide from the wind and we duck into the hall. We get inside and I look at him and the boy is covered in powdered sugar!!! It was HYSTERICAL! And oh no, it wasnt just the shirt, it was arms, face, hair....yes, I didn't have a camera. Maybe I'll re-enact it for the webcam tomorrow and click away. After we finished, we started to walk around when the wind had become steady. I gave him the games or rides option and he chose the games. Won a few toys and it was time to go. As we were heading out - you could see the dust being brought towards you - it was so windy. Sucks living in the desert sometimes - ok not sometimes, all the time but thats a different post. At this point, it was so bad - we had to hide behind cars while looking for my car in the parking lot. I'm still cleaning dirt out of my ears.

Blog of the Week, PROPS, One More Katrina thing...

Blog of the Week
Ok - this week's blog is called Eye of the Storm. Its about two journalists who stayed behind during Hurricane Katrina. Its really interesting to read how they start off thinking its going to be an adventure (like maybe other people who stayed behind felt) and then they convey the destruction they see and experience.

PROPS!
Major props to Carol for having my back yesterday. Couldn't have done it without you. Oscar wants props for remember my birthday but I made mention about it on the blog...doesnt count. But thanks for calling me last week. Much love bro...much love.

Katrina Thing
Alright, so I was watching the news and they showed this video of a woman who the police were trying to evacuate from New Orleans. She didnt want to go and brandished a handgun and a knife. Ok this lady was about 60 years old. The police TACKLED her to get the gun away. I'm still trying to find the video to post on the blog.

Vacation Highlights

Ok - a few interesting things have happened on my wee little vacation. I'm sure they are interesting to me because of my warped little mind - but hey its my blog, I'll do what I want.

Blast From The Past
Myspace is like a haven for people from the past. As I've mentioned before, my friend Ivan from San Diego found me on MySpace and it was a joy to catch up with him. But last night my peeps, last night, I had to CALL someone and send IM messages out of sheer disbelief as to who emailed me. Now its not so much the person but how much this person has changed. WOW! I wish I could create a little emoticon of a drooling face. I went to high school with this guy and he was tall, long hair, glasses, dorky, always extremely sweet and funny - now he got contacts (or lasik, I didnt ask), lots and lots of muscles, tattoos, still sweet and funny. Where is that drooly emoticon?

My Slave Labor
Yes, I know it sounds worse than what it is, but let me paint a picture for you. I went to wash my car (auto wash - gotta love it) and Jacob just loves going through it with me. So afterwards, since I'm trying to be a caring car owner, I went to vacuum the damn thing. But Mr. Helper wanted to help, so I stood back while he took the trash out and then proceeded to vacuum the car. Now, if I smoked, the picture would have been perfect because I was leaning up against the car just hanging out while my 3 yr old was busily vacuuming the car - picture that - he's bent over vacuuming while I'm just standing there looking obliviously at the street. Some woman actually did look at me and I'm like "What?" then I realized how the scene played. Luckily the quarters ran out right about there and we left - I'll armor all it tomorrow.

I've Got To Stop Watching MSNBC
Yes, I have purposely not talked about Katrina. I don't know what the hell is wrong with me but everytime I end up channel surfing I end up watching the Katrina coverage. Something about me is that I love watching disaster coverage - its horrible, I know. But I dont know why I get sucked into it. And needless to say - its freaking depressing! We actually have family friends that lived near New Orleans that we still dont know what happened to. I've been going website to website looking for information on them - any kind of information but I cant find them- but our gut is saying they left the area.

Featured Reader
Ok - I selected the next featured reader. Gotta get the picture and the questionnaire answered. Hopefully I'll have that over the weekend.

Yahoo+Norton=Annoying Pop Ups
I downloaded this new Yahoo with Voice and now I get these annoying little pop ups from my Norton Antivirus. Can I go back and download an older version of Yahoo IM? What a bunch of crap.

My IM Stalker
For a while now, there is this guy who tries to hit me up to meet up with him to get busy. I constantly tell him I'm not interested but god love his persistance. I get an IM about once a week from him. To me this is more entertainment than an annoyance. I just ignore his IM windows but I dont have the heart to flat out send him to Yahoo IGNORE land. You seriously have to piss me off for that to happen, and it has happened. So anyways, I was chatting with Kelena yesterday and he hit me up again - this time I looked up his profile to see if he put a picture up (out of sheer curiousity) and there is a picture of him (waist down) with a "friend" pleasuring him. I swear - I cant get away from penis pictures.

45 minutes for Ice Cream?

Yeah - thats how long we waited yesterday at the new Coldstone's Creamery in our town. I took the Jakeman to go get ice cream and the line was out the door. I had driven by the new place over the weekend and figured that going right before school lets out would be the best time. So we get there and apparently school had already let out. Yeah, line was almost to the door. In the Jakeman's thinking, we didn't have to wait - because there was another line, a shorter line...yeah, that was the EXIT. So I get in line (because I know better) and he goes to wait at the exit and is trying to get the attention of the gal behind the counter. He finally gave up and came to wait in line. 45 minutes later...I would have left after 15 minutes, but I was already there and the whole "setting an example thing"...so we get to the front of the line - sweet victory and Jacob turns to me and says "Mommy, I have to potty!" Mind you, this boy tells you he has to go, about 3 seconds before he HAS to go. I actually said "Are you sure?" all the while he's doing the 'dance'. So I look at the people behind me and tell them to go ahead of me and we duck into the restroom. We come out and the people let us back at the front of the line. We get our ice cream and head home. I just thought it was funny.

Movie Reviews and a special TV Review

Apparently a good thing about being on vacation is all the free time to do whatever it is you want to do. That little plan, however, doesnt work out too well when you live in the middle of nowhere and you have to find different ways to entertain yourself. For me, the weekend was full of lounging around on my bed and watching tv. Ahh the joy of laziness. But at least yesterday I did all my laundry and managed to do some "spring/late summer" cleaning. A little productive - not much, but a little.

Must Love Dogs - Finally got my fill of John Cusack in this pretty cute romantic comedy. Like most romatic comedies its relatively predictable but I'm willing to shell out the extra cash for Johnny boy and Diane Lane. Ok, more for John Cusack. Oh yeah, and I saw my old buddy Kirk Trutner in it too. You did great as the deli guy! Oh wait, he doesnt read this - darn it.

All About Eve - a true classic and on my AFI list that I needed to cross off. People, this movie is so awesome, its unbelievable.

A Civil Action - I stayed up late and caught this on TNT. The beauty of staying up late is falling asleep during the movie and not knowing how it ends...so if someone knows how this ends, I would greatly appreciate it - THANKS!

My Super Sweet 16 - Oh dear god! I have never ever EVER seen more spoiled little girls than on this show. I came across an episode that the girl actually told her mom to shut up and sit down on the couch while she looked for her dress. I know - I would have been bitch slapped from here to New York if I talked to my mom that way. Anyways, its just unbelievable how spoiled these girls are.

Whew!

My busy ass week is over and I finally get around to posting it. There are many aspects of this week that need to be posted - for sheer venting reasons and its weird how we try to phrase things in our minds for others to read. Sometimes when I write something I write it for myself and end up erasing it. Other times I just start typing and say fuck it.

Two huge events (for me anyways) happened this week.

The Jakeman had his very first day of school.
Yes I know I mentioned that. I cant believe my child is old enough to go to school. I just cant believe it. I dropped him off and he was so excited. Since he was born - my mom took care of him so for me its very strange for him to be somewhere else other than home. I'm so excited to see what he is going to learn and how other kids will challenge him. I do know that he's going to get sick more - which was evident when he missed on Thursday and passed his cold on to me. I know its good for him - don't get me wrong. I just want to be a fly on the wall and watch him try to show off for the teachers. When I picked him up, she told me little things that he did and it occured to me that I was the parent. Don't look at my blog with that tone of face- I know this. But sometimes you have moments that you say "Oh yeah, I'M the parent." Most of the time, you play with them its like you are a buddy or even older sibling - you know? Then comes the doctor's visits or the disciplinary actions and it clicks that YOU have to be the grown up. Ahh, the joy of it all.

Rockstar has left the building
I'm so unbelievably sad that when I return from vacation my boss will be officially be gone. We had the big ceremony on Friday and where someone else relieved him and he's getting ready to move back East for a bigger and better job. I had come to grips - its part of the whole military thing. But sometimes you can't help but get attached to the people you work with, its human nature. Well I did good during the ceremony, even when he got his promotion (yeah Cappy! I can't say that to you at work but I can say that here). I had to go to the car and when I came back and saw that his name had been replaced - I freaking lost it. I had to go to the bathroom and calm down. Then I walked his family out and started to cry again. I swear I'm such a wimp. Dont get me wrong - I'm a fan of the person who took over for him - he is awesome. But I'm still going to miss the Rockstar. But what did make me just laugh (and I promised Rockstar I'd put this in here) is what happened to the bunnies. The bunnies you ask? You remember, the ones my Abuelita gave me. Well - he read the post and I brought the bunnies in during the week and left them on his desk. So Friday he and his family were in there gathering the last of his things when his daughters found the bunnies and "just had to have them". Rockstar's wife calls me into the office and the two girls ask if they can keep the bunnies. I was heartbroken to part with them but got over it about 3 seconds later. The funny part was when I told them which one was the girl bunny and which one was the boy bunny and they both had the same look I gave my abuelita. Classic!

Ok - movie reviews to come in another post.

Stop and Breathe

Holy crap it has been busy so far this week and its not going to end. Lots of work stuff is going on and as of Friday afternoon - I'm on vacation from work. YEAH! Still not sure what I'm going to be doing, but I'll probably be catching up on some sleep and spending quality time with the Jakeman. So quick recap:

Newness Event for the week (yes, its that good)
I had never taken my child to his first day of school. Yup- it was Jakeman's first day of preschool and let me say, I cried more than he did. I'll probably get more into this in another post.

Havent had time to watch any movies so far this week but I want to go see Must Love Dogs tonight. We shall see.

I'm so happy August is over - this month has pretty much sucked ass because of something I've been dealing with, I lost 6lbs this month from stress. Who knew that would finally be an effective weight loss program for me. So happy September!

Job Search Update: I called around and I'm hoping to have some interviews set up for next week while I'm on vacation. We shall see.

One last thing - WTF is up with the counter? I was neck and neck with Scott's page views and now I'm down to 2. I'm convinced he figure out someway to reset it.

Happy Thursday!!!