'm sitting on the "balcony" of my room, midnight in Vegas, listening to a thunderstorm that's rolling in.

'm also wearing a tank top with the slogan "Life's too short for soft porn."

Yeh, things aren't so bad.

(My plans for the evening fell through, so I am just sitting, relaxing, and trying to think happy thoughts.)

So, it's been a while since I bought any new-to-me music. When it was brought to my attention that a local record shop is having a buy-one-get-one deal on used CDs, was there really much question that I was SO THERE?

Shouldn't be, really.

So I got my heiney up this a.m. at early-o'clock to go have breakfast with a friend and hit said sale.

When we got there, BuddyFriend goes "... aren't you going to get a basket?" "Of course not." "Why? Aren't you planning to buy lotsa music?" "Oh, totally. If I get a basket, I will over-shop."

An hour later, when he walks up to me, I have a stack of CDs all the way up my arm, and he asks again "You sure you don't want a basket?" "Yep, this way, I have a limit - if I can't carry any more, I know I have to stop." "That makes a weird kinda sense." "I do that sometimes."

So: 32 CDs and $150 later, I have a boatload of replacements and a buncha new stuff too. Dr. John; Modest Mouse; Morphine I've never picked up, catalogue-fillers from REM, Sonic Youth, Jane's, Bauhaus, and Siouxsie; Derek Trucks; Buzzcocks; Bratmobile; Disco Biscuits; Muddy Waters; Flaming Lips; and more. Mmmmm. Music!


I am a happy girl right now.

Oh, and Happy Fourth of July. Or something like that.

It's always interesting to me how one can spend so much time with a person and have such vastly different physical responses.

Why is it that one day, all I want is to snuggle... and another day, all I want to do is to sink my teeth into the tender flesh of the neck, while I ride at a gallop until eyes roll up and there's a pop like warm champagne?


I wonder why that is?

(PS: Today marked an upturn in my week. Then again, it is Friday, so maybe that helped :P)

You might be slightly overstressed if you consider setting yourself on fire for the relaxing hospital stay.

This weekend, I plan to see this movie. Yes, I am excited. Yes, it fulfills my need for weaponry and Angelina Jolie. Yes, I expect to have my brains dribbling from my ears when it's over.

Because I am pretty excited to see said movie, I poked around some on IMDB (like ya do).

Which is where I found this, the Best Comment Evar:
"They gave it negative reviews based on expectations for a movie it is not? [text removed for irrelevance]
...On the other hand, I really hated Finding Nemo because it had too much water and a lack of martial arts."

*giggles*

PS: I am not doing that 3-Things lemming, 'cos I seriously don't have anything I've done that other ppl I know haven't also done - performing, driving, traveling, touring, getting the cops called on me for playing pattycake in the middle of the night... Someone's always been with me, and many of them are on Ye Olde FList. Yes, I really am that boring, and I am ok with that.

... Now that I think about it, though, I may be the only person who has had the cops called on her for dancing in the middle of the night (a wholly different incident than the aforementioned pattycake debacle) - in FRONT of the police station. Yes, I was IN FRONT OF THE STATION when someone was compelled to call the cops and tell them I was there. So Handy Dandy Cop Man comes out, looks at me for a minute, and I press "Pause" on my Walkman (before iPods, children, we had things called "Walkmen" and we would put these things called "tapes" in them. The tapes played music, and you could then take the music with you! Without a whole stereo! It was all very excting, you see, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth)(yes, I wrote that just for you, little miss cutie pants)(wait, where was I?). *scrolls back* Oh, right.

So, I paused my tape, and sed "Yes, ossifer?" like a good girl, and:
He sed "Are you high or anything?"

Me: "No, sir."

Him: "Drunk?"

Me: "No, sir."

Him: "You sure?"

Me: "Yessir."

Him, very confused now: "Why you dancin' out here in the middle of the night?"

Me: "'Cos I wanted to dance, but my dorm room isn't big enough, and the dance studio is locked, and it's Wednesday, so even if I had a car and could go up to Charlotte, there's nothing going on, and so I figured the safest place to dance would be here."

Ossifer: "... You're sure you're not on nuthin'?"

Me: "Yessir! Just thought if I was here, y'all'd see if anyone started messin' with me, so it was safer than anywhere else."

Ossifer: "Well, I reckon that makes sense. We just had a call about you, so I hadda come check on ya. But I reckon yer not hurtin' no one, and no one can hear your music, so ya ain't disturbin' the peace... I reckon all I can do is tell you to carry on, then. And watch out for cars."

So. That's my one thing I have done that maybe no one else has done. But I could be wrong.

So I just got done with a four and a half hour dinner, and my phone is recharging before I head out to the parties for the night, and while I am sitting here, I thought I would relate this little quick story.

I went to dinner with a bunch of colleagues and clients, and there was a guy I didn't know there (this is becoming much more rare). So, I start chatting with him to find out where he works and what he does for them and all that (like you do). I introduce myself and we chat for a moment, and he tells me that he works for ProgramX. I ask what he does over there at ProgramX. and he tells me that he is revamping their entire program. I say "Awesome, that sounds great!" And he just looks at me, like I have crawled out of some hole. I continue trying to converse with him, though 'cos HI, that's my job, and I ask him what all he's doing, and what new things they are going to roll out as part of the revamp, and he continues to look at me with grreat disdain and says "Like I am going to tell you that."

*blink*
*blink*

Um, ok. 'cos GOD FORBID you tell me how you're improving your program so we might want to, OH I DUNNO, figure out how to help you or something.

One of my larger clients is sitting there next to us while this is going on (the one who invited him and had interjected what Teh God-Forsaken Pr0n Factory does and position in the industry, incidentally), and looks at me, completely flabbergasted.

I must say, I was too.

But! I am nothing if not determined, so I continue to try to have a conversation with this guy, and inquire as to what he did prior to joining ProgramX, and he tells me "I was in the music industry, selling "niche" products and materials."

*blink*

Hold on a second. You just, basically, told me you were a DRUG DEALER. Have you LOST YOUR MIND?

YES. As it turns out, he has.

He proceeds to spend the rest of dinner completely alienating everyone at the dinner - all of whom are pretty major players in the industry, it must be said, PLUS the industry's Gay Mafia, to boot.

Then he managed to keep going.

He tried to talk about investments.

And tell me I didn't know anything about them.

He told me that the SF Muni Worker's retirement plan is the largest privately managed retirement plan in the world. And I said "No, it's not." And he said "Excuse me, but yes, it most certainly is." and I replied "Actually, I am sorry, but no, it is NOT. CALPERS is the largest privately managed retirement fund in the world. SF Muni Worker's is a sub-set of CALPERS." "Oh, it's the same thing."

"Again, I am sorry, but it is not the same thing. The SFMW fund is a section of the CALEPRS plan as a whole, certainly, but in and of itself, it is neither a) the largest nor b) individually managed in a seperate portfolio."

"Excuse me, but I think I know what I am talking about."

"And excuse me, but I am pertty sure that you don't. Especially since I spent several years trading about $2 billion of the CALPERS portfolio, in a few different models."

... he didn't really talk to me any more after that, until my dinner companion poured me another Diet Coke (another AA person), DoucheBag from ProgramX makes a comment about the amount of soda we have consumed, and since we are both pretty well out of the recovery closet in the industry anyhow (and Companion is both a member of the Gay Mafia and a Major Player, it bears mentioning here), we basically say "well, yeh, we do that, recovery, heavy drinking, etc."

This is when it gets AWESOME, as DoucheBag of the year continues to not have any idea of whom he's talking to, begins to argue with us about alcoholism, how it's NOT a disease, how we are just undisciplined, how being an alcoholic is a sign of a weak constitution, and how if we could just learn how to be in control of our weakness it wouldn't be an issue.

I am not kidding.

So. Not only did he basically tell me that I was not worthy to know about how he's "improving" ProgramX, was an arrogant prick to pretty much all TWENTY PEOPLE at the dinner, argued with me about a former client, BUT he also told both me AND a major industry Gay Mafia that we are weak undisciplined losers. Brililant, asshole.

SO I was pretty highly amused when we all went to get cabs after dinner, and he climbed into one, and not a single person would get in the cab with him... in part 'cos of what he had said to me over the course of dinner. Heh. It amused the hell out of me to have several of the folks at the dinner actually day "Does he even know who you are?!" *giggles* It amuses me to think that there are people who think I am someone. Regardless, it's kinda awesome.

Hee.

Yes, I am an evil, evil woman.

But seriously: Don't tell me that I am weak, stupid, or not worthy of knowing about your program, asshole. You will regret it.

We have bets on how long he's going to last, since the clients who threw the dinner in the first place were also treated like shit by him.

Fucker. That should be fun for him to explain to his bosses when he gets back home next week, why no one will work with them anymore. Good luck with that.

Reposted as TxtLJ seems to have eaten my formatting:
Everyone keeps talking about how hot and miserable it is. It's not, really - don't get me wrong: it's certainly hot (yum!), but the humidity is so low as to be negligible (32%).

Perfect hammock weather. Mmmmm :) Gorgeous.

(Yop, I am posting this from said hammock, book and smokes at the ready. I plan to spend the next few hours RIGHT HERE. It's bliss.)
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I've had to come inside to finish my laundry - folding and sorting so I have clothes packed and ready to go with me to the office in the morning so I can make the flight in the afternoon. Already packed for 'Roo, and test-packed Ilse to ensure all our gear will fit with room for me and my show suitcase top return in her as well.

Yesterday was spent in the attic, and sorting through all manner of camping gear (5 sleeping bags? Really? How'd we end up with five sleeping bags? And HOW many tents? Hmmm. I think maybe we don't need to take all of those.) to establish what we will actually need/ use.

After we de-funked, we headed out to the Rockabilly BBQ, but all the BBQ was gone, the cars weren't as interesting as we had hoped, and there weren't many people around (though to be fair, we never bothered going indside), so we retired to air conditioning and lounged excessively until far too late, watching movies and bad television and talking. It was kinda one of those perfect nights, just talking and cuddling and laughing. When I finally woke up this morning, I was still completely suffused with well-being and happiness.

Friday, we went off to have dinner at Razzoo's (we love it, but don't go as often as we might like) and watched The Strangers, whigh might've been less dumb has the audience not been so participatory - but they were, and it took some of the fun out of it. Though I will admit, it's been a long time since I've been in an audience yelling at the screen, and it does have charms of its own. Not that it would've improved it all that much NOT to have had the audience we did. The movie itself was about what you would expect, but the pacing was kinda weak and there were times I wanted to yell at the screen... 'cos I wanted the "Bad Guys" to DO SOMETHING ALREADY, DAMN. I give it a solid score of "Meh."

And then there were milkshakes to be had. I dunno when "Heath bar" came to sound like "cheesecake," but either way, it was yummy, if a little much by the time all was said and done.
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I'm not entirely sure why my weekend recaps always go backwards - I've noticed it time and again, that I always end up posting about Saturday, and then going back to Friday. Hmm.
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Now, I am off to finish my ironing and folding and putting away and setting the house to something that resembles "rights" before I leave it in HotRod's hands for days on end. :P

Someone sent me this link, and yea, I am verily amused. Actually, though, I dunno how I've managed to miss this site as a whole for the last pile of years - it appears to have been around for ages (check out that h0tt '98-era design!), and it's got incredibly useful information that I wish I had known about a few years ago. I really like the correlative/ experiential viewpoints, 'cos I can relate to the analogies really well. My relationship is like a fridge; how do I fix it? Awesome. The pet/ partner metaphor? That makes sense in my critter-companion-addled brain meats. This definately merits closer study.
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I also hapened across this article, which seems at first glance to encapsulate (to me) the main reason we, as a species, kinda suck. I dunno... Maybe I am just too nasty-spirited or summat, but it seems kinda like the height of hubris for us to presume that it actually has anything to do with us. In this particular case, it is even more galling 'cos the subtext - again, to ME - seems to be "Well, but we like to EAT salmon, and sea lions are taking my food. They're so greedy! What about ME?"

But maybe I am wrong.
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In other news: busy weekend, but good. Carowinds was... Well, "meh" is about all I can muster up right now - I wasn't really feeling it, and I was kinda not in the mood to stand in lines for retarded long, and it was hot and HotRod was vaguely cranky (see above re: hot and add: "bright"), and I was having one of those times when crowds were kinda making me wig out. None of which is particularly conducive to a happy Carowinds outing. But then we bought a mattress, and I was pretty happy about that, 'cos we've been looking at mattresses for about.. Oh, three years or so. [Hey, I am thorough, ai'ight? I do not like to rush into these large-dollar purchases.]

After that, grabbed a shower and ran down to Mac's Speed Shop to have dinner with xambrius (*nom*nom*nom*) before we headed to Tremont for GWAR, who was... Well. GWAR. It was a good time, and I am SO glad to have been able to hang w/ Big Brudder, but I was headachey from having not had as much beveragey goodness as I might coulda and crowds were still kinda wiggin' me out some and everyone looked like they were twelve. Plus, I love me some GWAR, but y'all... I love them in 4-5 song bursts. After about an hour, I was pretty much done.

Sunday, we overslept - after I got up to take the girls out 'n whatnot, I crawled back into bed (not the new one, not just yet - but OH, Thursday night, I am going to wallow around. Wallow, I tell ya!) and promptly passed the hell out.

... I have to admit, waking up to HotRod flipping out 'cos we've overslept is NOT the way to ensure a chipper and upbeat me. Just in case you were curious. Also: OW, fucker! Stop jabbing me in the ribs! :P But off we went, and looked at pretty pretty sharp-'n-pointy, and bang-'splodey, and didn't buy any of 'em (though I was completely enamoured of this teeny guy) and per HotRod's request, I am starting to learn what I like in a gun and have a few under consideration.

Still running late, we dashed back to the house in time for me to grab some stuff and run over to mystrys and kaoslyon's hizzy for some hang time, while HotRod had some plans to hit the range. By the time we both got back home, we were both pretty well toast and decided fuck cooking, we're having pizza again. So we put Annie Hall in the dvd player, ate some pizza, and promptly passed the hell out... We woke up as the end credits began, put the pizza away, and went to sleep in the bed.

And now it's Monday, and I am having a good day, and on my way to a conference call. YAY!

Who is Bruce?

Why is he so determined to bring Jeff Lynne down?

Tonight, after all our VERY RIGOROUS Butt-Sitting, HotRod and I got motivated and decided to go get some food (we coulda eaten here, except we haven't gotten motivated as yet to go to the grocery, and are pretty much down to popcorn and frozen quail (don't ask)).

So we went off in search of some dinner and wound up at a steak-house chain. We felt badly 'cos we had poked around waiting to hear back from a friend about grabbing a bite, so we walked in the door at five minutes 'til closing. The hostess wasn't all that thrilled ("Are you still seating?" "*heaves sigh* For four more minutes..."), but our waiter was pleasant, and we immediately apologised for being so late to come in and be "that table." He was nice