they say a picture is worth a thousand words.
this was friday night.
the stuff on the floor? it came from the sink and was spattered all over the kitchen. it smelled like a dirty toilet.
October 2006
Monthly Archive
567
hard day
i had a hard day at work yesterday. that’s about all i’m going to say about it, but it did result in me writing to sp guy to meet me after work for a drink and dinner.
it was just what i needed.
as we sat down i got a call from a number i didn’t recognize. i thought it might be the dentist reminding me again about my appointment in the morning. when i listened to my voicemail it turned out to be the fill in realtor (my normal realtor is on vaca). she seems totally on top of things and we sorted out a time to meet and a plan of attack. yay house.
after dinner we wandered toward my car, stopping at the used bookstore along the way. there may have been a number of books purchased, and that number may be five.
soon, oh soon, i’ll find myself eating nice dinners and browsing bookstores without such feelings of guilt for not doing what i *should* be doing instead. of course, the dinner and drinks will be at my house and the bookstore browsing won’t be as fruitful in terms of new book buying.
i’ll be house poor in a nonce but i think i’m ready for my own parking spot.
566
how many times?
when i call someone and they don’t answer, i tend to believe they’re busy or don’t want to talk to me for some other reason.
i don’t call right back… unless it’s an emergency.
when i’m busy at work and an unknown number comes in, i don’t answer. when i’m in a meeting with my boss, and the phone vibrates in my pocket, i don’t even check to see who it is.
unless they call right back! calling twice in a row is a signal that someone really really needs to talk to you asap! emergency!
right? … right?
apparently not.
apparently the new thing among doctors’ and dentists’ front office staff is just to keep calling back again and again and again until you pick up. in a meeting with my boss i excused myself to find the person calling me several times was confirming an appointment, and just now i saw a number come through on my mobile which i didn’t recognize. i didn’t answer because i was in the middle of something.
but then they called on my office phone, so i stopped and answered. it was my dentist’s office confirming tomorrow’s appointment. i went to the mobile; she’d just called three times in a row leaving two voice mails! (one, unintentional.)
next time i think i’ll be compelled to say something.
565
growing up?
i rid my house of *two* truckfuls of extra, un-needed stuff this weekend.
sunday i loaded the truck i borrowed from sp guy with a huge amount of clothes for the clothing swap later that day. these girls had no idea what they were in store for when they invited me!
i had breakfast in the brand newly opened deboce park cafe. it’s smaller, but feels roomier, than the dolores park cafe. it’s a side effect of the sleeker furniture and lighter coloured wood, i’m sure. there were a huge number of families and dogs. one little girl was obsessed with grabbing the candy/energy bars they had stocked at infant/toddler height. mom was not as amused and told her, ‘you don’t want those.’ … wrong! she wanted them very much!!
fortified with yumminess i headed over to e’ville to check out some open houses. one agent tried to tell me that the market was going UP, and proof of that was how many units they’d sold last month. i failed to see the direct correlation. he also had no idea about pet restrictions in the building. this was the selling agent, people!
whatever, they were 10 year old properties anyhow. i’m more interested in new construction.
as i drove around from open house to open house, i felt myself becoming less and less excited about the whole prospect of looking. not so much less excited about having a nice place to live, but just … i’m not sure. a reallly heavy feeling strikes me when i have to talk about the search and how it’s going and what i’m looking for and what i have it narrowed down to.
part of that is that i’m not finding just exactly what i want where i want it. part of it is the feeling of being in between worlds. one foot in the grown up, nice things world, and one in the still a kid world. actually, i feel like it’s closer to just a few toes in the grown up world. i feel like i’m faking it, and someone’s bound to notice.
but, of course, not my friends who don’t own their own houses or wear diamonds. they’re all going to think i’m rich. they’re going to think i think myself too good for them and they’ll stop hanging out with me.
oh, no, i’ll be discovered by the other young (yet grown up) people in my building who will have bought their condos, sports cars, and diamonds on their own. they’ll ask me to the opera and some fancy night club and fancy dinner, and i’ll have to say no. and they’ll see i’m just a fake, it’s all an act, and they’ll stop hanging out with me, too.
what’s that? oh, you think i don’t know it’s all in my imaginiation? you think i don’t see how this maps so closely on to the uber-common grad student i’m not good enough story?
somehow, that doesn’t make it go away any easier, though.
guess it’s just part of growing up.
brunch in half moon bay today as the last round of birthday food. i went out there with wild. we had a great day browsing the shops and eating our way throught the town… or at least trying to. we made a grand attempt at pumpkin ice cream, but were thwarted. somehow the ice cream place had let their pumpkin go soft, too soft to be served in a cone even. i can’t imagine how this happened as none of the other flavours were in the same state.
after touring the main street, we headed down for a stroll on the beach. every so often we would catch the stench of death (litterally, it turned out). as we rounded the corner back to the parking strip, we heard the woman in front of us call out to her friend, ‘look [name], there’s another dead seal!’ sure enough, there was a dead seal on the beach. i declined to take pictures of it, poor thing.
these are my feet in the bathroom of the hotel where we had brunch. mmmmmm, stuffed french toast.
563
real estate
i’m feeling completely overwhelmed by real estate questions. i’m talking to the computer now about the listings. answering email questions out loud!
*sigh* good thing i’m going to half moon bay today. it will be nice to get away from it all.
560
day of surprises
what could be better than chocolate and karaoke and a potential condo?
why, free samples of unusual chocolate and free online karaoke and getting to know about the condo before it goes on the market!
while i was working from home to get that much healthier before jumping back into the hotbed of germs my office has become (everyone is sick) my realtor called. he was running out the door to the airport but had just heard from someone that he would like to sell his condo. sfrealto thought it would be something it was interested, so he called me about it before it even got put on the market! it’s pretty nice, parking spot, in house laundry, and a view you could kill for! the whole place has just been renovated and has a gas stove and an electric convection oven! it’s also set up to have a home projection theatre. it’s just a little pricey if you look at the cost per square foot. i’d like to know there’s some room for my investment to appreciate. i told him as much, and told him my mom would be here in a week and would love to see it. so… hopefully, by this time next week the question will be resolved, it will be this one, or e-ville… unless something else fantastic comes along in sf in the meantime.
i came down the hill and had dinner at a local cafe, then went for a walk just to stretch my legs. on the way back to my car i wandered into a chocolate shop. the owner, jack, helped me pick out some chocolate for a friend and then a piece for me. i ate my piece as we chatted about housing and chocolate and business. he was filling little bags with a pistachio bark which also had chilli in it. as we talked he let me taste a little. SO GOOD! i probably would have bought some there and then if i wasn’t already stuffed full from dinner and the candy i’d just eaten for dessert. i rolled out of there with a promise to come back soon. the store is called chocolate covered and is on 24th street. he just moved, so the addres here is incorrect, though it’s on the same street. if you’re in the city around 24th, you should absolutely make a stop here!
i figured blog reading was about the most strenous activity i could rally myself to do in this chocolate sedated state. when i logged on i found a link to an online karaoke site where you can sing along at home just for yourself, or… OR… record the song and post it on their site! check out sing shot for some fun vocal stylings! not sure you’re up for ‘over the rainbow’ just yet. no worries, warm up with ‘twinkle, twinkle, little star’, or ‘twinkle, twinkle, take a fucking nap’, whichever strikes your fancy. i’m not sure if i’m horrified or excited. i just have to laugh.
all in all, i have to say the day was full of smile inducing surprises!
i stayed home from work today since i still felt like crud when i woke up. i think it’s better to nip this thing in the bud and not wait till i can hardly drive myself home to decide to stay in bed.
i’ve been thinking about things i want and things that make me happy. i was in bed in my pjs doing something on the computer when someone knocked on the door and rang the bell. i was hoping it was someone sending get well flowers or soup, but since hardly anyone knows i’m here today it seemed unlikely.
i was right, it wasn’t soup or flowers, it was a kid selling subscriptions to magazines to get points to get to go to europe. he was super friendly and witty. normally i just turn them down but jimmy was funny and told me i could sponsor a subscription to the ronald mcdonald house. i picked out thomas and friends because i always liked thomas the tank engine myself. while he wrote out the form he chatted. he asked how to spell my name correctly, and when it came time to fill in the phone number blank he said, ‘you know, for dinner and a movie this weekend.’ he said he wanted to go into marketing and i think he’s just the right kind of schmooser to do it. when he asked if i had any other questions or concerns i hesitated, then told him i thought he’d find things might go easier for him if he quit smoking. not just because of health issues, i said, but i know a number of people who are strongly biased against smokers, and the fact that people could smell it on him could be a strike against him before he even got started. just something to chew on.
when he left we knocked elbows instead of high fiving or shaking hands since i didn’t want to pass my germs on to him. it was a little bright spot in my day of sitting alone in my room, both for the company and for the feeling that i do have enough money to buy a subscription to a magazine for children and families who are having a hard time.
while i was flitting around on the web i saw a picture of a woman getting flowers. it reminded me of when i lived in england. i was 13 and bought flowers for my mother every once in a while.
one day i was buying a one pound (cost, not weight) bouquet from a street vendor on my way home from a day of wandering around high street. the street vendor son was with him helping out in the back of their set up. the son spied me and when his dad went back to wrap the bouquet or write out a recipt or whatever it was he was doing, the son whispered something to him. as he walked back around front to where i was standing, the dad picked up a second bouqet just like the one i had picked out. he handed them both to me with a nod to his son. i smiled, shyly, and thanked him. i didn’t really know what to do so i just blushed, said thanks, and walked on home.
still, it’s a great memory and always makes me smile.
557
yesterday’s feet
i actually did take a picture of my feet yesterday, i just never found the time or energy to post it until now.
i worked from home all morning; the person i thought was going to help me take some stuff to goodwill didn’t show but that was all right. i ran out of the house, nearly late as usual, to stop by the post office on the way to meet my realtor. i’d recieved a package for my birthday from hamster_grrl with all sorts of great stuff. she burned some great songs for me, sent me a new book and returned one i’d bought for her that i could use at this point, a rediculously hysterical card, bought a mala for me in australia, and included some musk flavoured life savers. (the box is in the other room, but i think covers the contents.)
house hunting was again a bust. the right one is out there, i’m sure, it’s just taking me some time.
i had a fantastic talk with my therapist about some of the feelings that came up for me on my birthday. i left feeling pretty good about things and came home ready to get some more stuff done for work.
by a few hours later, though, my throat was hurting and i could feel some congestion in my ears. i walked down to the drugstore to stock up on cold supplies and fill my new (my third) asthma prescription. this one *really* makes me look like a dork. i suppose it’s an attempt to prevent me losing my voice again, but he prescibed a spacer to use between the inhailer and my mouth. it’s like a teeny tiny gas chamber, except it looks huge when you compare it to a normal inhailer. i puff the medicine into it and then inhale slowly from there and exhale back into it and inhale again. i feel very space aged.
i had the pleasure of running into roxyblue and her brother at the drugstore. we chatted a while but i declined to go walking with them since i really wanted to get home and go to bed due to the cold i felt coming on.
i thought i might be encouraged by this project to wear my cute shoes more often. but when i got dressed this morning i felt so blah that i had to go with the super easy trail shoes that i don’t even pull the laces tight on. they manage to stay on my feet just fine without sqeezing them, which is all right by me!
i think i got buttons’ cold this weekend. it’s right there on the edge. my muscles are just a tad achy, but also the asthma is back and so i didn’t sleep well. fingers crossed that losing my voice with the advair was a reaction to the powder form and not the steroid… otherwise thing could get really ugly for me! which would you pick? breathing or talking?
i’m writing some training today for our newest team member. just in case i was thinking of going back to tech writing… maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if i didn’t feel like crap-ola light. (which is not quite as bad as full crap-ola.)
on to the gratitude list!
*i was not involved in the 4 car 1 big rig accident this morning
*lunch with friends
*reading glasses!
*indian pizza/planning ahead
*found all my expensive flatwear
*oven-ready hash browns
*party shuffle
i dreamed about a cute little single family home in the east bay a few nights ago. today while i was house hunting out that direction, i found just the one i dreamed about! to be honest, i’d seen the listing before the dream so the fact that the colour was really similar isn’t *that* big about a third of my storage room! and i’m sure this is only the first pass and that i’ll see more and more that i can feng shui away as the first pile leaves.
>5 things
*watching a kid cary a bag of kettle corn the size of his body
*finding a parking space during the street fair near my realtor’s office
*ipod speakers from sp guy
*boxes!
*contacts
*little sammiches to go
*feng shui encouragement
*neat-o personalized wine labels
552
super saturday
i started a post this morning but ended up losing it. i was on the phone trying to sort out where to have my birthday brunch (the first place wouldn’t have room for us, the second didn’t exist!) when i noticed galahad was limping pretty badly. he wasn’t putting any weight on his left front paw as he stood. i called the vet and they told me to bring him in imediately.
so, it was off to the vet with us while buttons re-coordinated the brunch again! luckily, i was already dressed.
after almost $200 at the vet, which included x-rays of his two paws, we discoverd that his wrist/ankle is not broken. they gave him a shot of pain killer and instructions to give him half a baby asprin ever 2-3 days starting monday if he still needs it. apparently cats don’t matabolize analgisics very well or very quickly.
i got out of the vet just in time to drive home and drop off galahad and drive over to the third and final choice for brunch to arrive exactly on time for our second try at reservation times of the day. *whew*
brunch was great and afterwords went to see my friend’s first photography show in sf open studios. he was thrilled to have so many people in his place looking at his work. i was pretty pleased for him, as well.
unfortunately, he’d recently lost one camera and broken another. i lent him my camera for the day, since it’s closer to his normal digital point and shoot than his other back up. all day i was having camera envy, thinking of things i would have shot if only i had my camera with me! 
he’s a much better photographer, though, and i certainly don’t regret helping him document this day.
afteword buttons and i ran a number of little errands before she had to go home and rest up before a fundraiser she’s helping out with tonight. i’m home with my dopy cat who’s completely spaced out on the pain meds the vet gave him and procrastinating the feng shuiing i have to do in the storage room.
>5 things
- french toast
- squeeze in appointments at the vet
- all beatles, all day on the radio
- jack daniels
- reading glasses
- gerber daisy bouquet
- gerber daisy hair ornament
- boxes for feng shuiing that junk right out of my life
- mystery package slip in the mail
550
Birthday!
i made it to 33; didn’t get hit by a truck. i’m staying home from work, but no one else is, so i’m cleaning house. i’m going to feng shui the heck out of things this weekend. boxes are coming from garma and another friend.
but, i also need to eat and go pick up my reading glasses. and i’m going to end up at osento for girl soup with buttons later this afternoon/evening.
i haven’t even showered yet and it’s already 11!
dad did send a case of wine. joint b-day and christmas. the personalized labels have a photograph i shot on the front. lilies with impatience in the background. maybe i can scan something in to show y’all later.
>5 things
my cat!
birthday call from creampuff
birthday text from flo
birthday e-card from ms.w across the bay
sleeping in
camera phones
floating holidays
nearby breakfast cafes
wine from dad
encouragement to cull the belongings
nearby non-permit parking
- cheap grocery store butter cookies
- applesauce
- super soft ‘magic’ scarfs
- cherry flavoured chap-aid (generic chap-stick)
- mls on the interweb
- funny pen swag from customer care week
- digital camera
- sudoku
- cafes at work
- email for planning
- manager; for stepping in when i’m super stressed
- early birthday cards
548
feet
i’ve decided on an ‘art project’. every day from now until my 34th birthday i’m going to take a picture of my feet. sometimes, i’m sure, i’ll be out of posting range, but those days i’ll just save up the pictures and post them when i get back.
this is me at work!
547
birthday wishes
Happy Birthday Princess Jennifred!
woo hooo! we made it to 33. or, you did. i could get hit by a bus tonight and never make it.
one more year and we’ll have outlived jesus, too. that’s saying something. what, i don’t know, but something.
here is my virtual birthday gift to you!!
546
moo.com
i got my mini cards from moo.com today! oh, so cute! i love them. photos later, i promise. then i can make self referential cards!
*giggle*
i’m supposed to go to dallas this weekend for an old freind’s wedding. i was going to take sp guy with me and go to the state fair for my birthday… an old tradition that dates back to my freshman year in college.
but now sp guy is not going due to us having broken up and the couple people i’m still in touch with don’t seem to have time to see me. seeing all my high school friends again would be fun, but the cost of the hotel and rental car on top of the plane ticket is high. and do i want to pay that much to be alone in a city where i used to live? is it worth it to spend the extra money to see some people i’m not really in touch with anymore?
maybe i should write off the cost of the ticket and stay here, work thursday and just take friday off.
what would you do?
EDIT: the decision is made. i cancelled the tickets and the cost is good toware another ticket in the next year. there is some sadness, but it seems right.
this particular dance is performed by a troup of deaf dancers. it’s absolutely beautiful.
i got buzzed by the blue angels after dropping mom and dad off at the airport sunday. ok, maybe not buzzed exactly, but they flew closer to me than at any other time during the weekend. turns out, hearing very loud jet noises while still very near the airport makes me nervous! luckily, it didn’t take me too long to sort out what i was hearing.
we celebrated my birthday while the ‘rents were here. mom found a really beautiful pen for me. it’s a blue swirlly pattern and has a very nice weight to it. she said she looked for green, but they didn’t have a green one out right now. the company has a different person design each pen so they’re all wildly different and all limited editions. and, they write well!
she also bought me a new set of dishes. the one i have is over ten years old and i never loved loved loved it. although they are nice dishes. mom had spotted the new ones before i’d said i wanted dishes and thought they were just up my alley. she was right! classic style with mix and match colours.
we spent saturday and sunday looking at condos and lofts in both sf and the east bay. they both say they’re encouraged, but i’m exhausted! extending the search to the east bay is intimidating. who has the time to work with two realtors?
flo and i were planning to go to decompression after mom and dad left, but she was also feeling anti-big crowd so she gave me a cookie and we went to hoop and spin poi in the park. from there we went to a fabulous birthday sushi dinner and stopped for a pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream on the way home, where we played trivial pursuit after playing with plutoes (the corn snake) for a while. it was exactly the speed i was looking for!
