Can’t get there from here. Again?

I have learned that if I leave work early I should take the El. It is slower (especially with all the construction) but I can count on it being there and not waiting for half an hour before it shows up. I needed to get home to tidy up before the game-nighters arrived. The place was fine for a blind man, but he didn’t trip over dust bunnies.
I had been wanting to go to the old hood for a little shopping and since it was on the way, I’d just duck off there and not add more than 20 minutes before I was home. All went well till I tried to get back on the EL. With the construction I was confused about how to get in. I walked below as trains approached overhead and then walked back the other way. I had passed it. I ran in as above the undistinguishable voice said something about departure. I hurried up the stairs as fast as the indifferent morons ahead of me would let me go. They announce the door closings and I slip between pokey and slow at the top of the stairs and leap into the car just as the doors close.
Wheee. Made it. I look about triumphantly. Just a short ride now. I almost never take the train I can’t remember, is it 2 or 3 stops away? Leaning on a post I look up, the rout maps are missing from above the doors. I look out the window enjoying quick productive shopping trip, my excellent escape, the view from above and see the color code and name of this train is not right. Well not for me. Not today. We blow past the first stop, pause as train takes the right of way. That’s fine I’ll just get off and walk back from the next stop. We pass mine and 2 more. Okay I’ll take a cab. Good thing I got cash before I went on this adventure. We rattle on without a stop approaching. I text “Maybe home late” Receive “On way home now”. I look around and I have no idea when I’ll be home. I type “Maybe you can pick me up” but don’t send it because I have no idea where I’ll be or even when. I don’t know that this train won’t have a stop for another 7 miles. By the time it does stop I can still afford the cab, but I don’t see anywhere around I could catch one. I send the text and follow it up with a picture of the station sign. And rush off to catch a train, any train at this point, but preferably mine.

There is an end in sight

Napoleonic Mercury
I find it a little odd that the hottest planet would have such a complex. Sure it’s the smallest and it has nothing (no natural satellites and no substantial atmosphere) but does that really mean it has to set us in a tailspin?

So I was reading about Mercury Retrogrades. They only happen about three times a year and it lasts for about 3 weeks. This time is from June 16 to July 10, 2007. Next, from October 11 to November 1, 2007. And then from January 28 to February 18, 2008. It occurs when the planet Mercury travels back on its own orbit and, from our view, appears to be orbiting backward. The Mercury Retrograde is an astrological event that’s currently throwing our electronic tools, communication networks, planes, trains and automobiles out of whack.

Wait, did I just say “astrological” WTF am I reading. It sounded real till…

“…As a rule, both Geminis and Virgos are primarily affected since Mercury is their planetary ruler (i.e. the planet that lords over their sign and has the most cache). However, depending on the zodiac sector Mercury is traveling through at the time of the Retrograde, other signs are also affected.”

so is this real or really bullshit? And HOW did I end up reading this

It seems because 2007 is universally a NINE year (in numerology), signifying a time of completion and endings, the Mercury retrograde process becomes important in the adjustments required for our journey through the end of the NINE-year cycle – that started in 1999 – to bring issues to closure and final completion.

Well at least that's good there is an end in sight.
Amen

You can't get there from here

Trapped on a city bus. No way through. No way off. No way out.

"And shoes are ALWAYS important! How DARE you say otherwise!!!"

Well, Da’ is off and I’d like nothing better than good wine, good smoke, long tub soak and a good enough friend to sit and listen* and occasionally fetch me more wine. Unfortunately I have to work so I can take time off for the dress fittings, the wedding, and the honeymoon.
beach drinks, just keep thinking Beach Drinks
We’re looking into a Rainforest honeymoon now. I’d love to see them before they are gone and the euro is killing the dollar right now anyway. It’s neat to see these places trying to save the Rainforest by making an Eco-friendly tourist place. So what if the shacks are shacks, some are posh shacks built in the treetops. Sweeet.

*the best parties usually end up in the kitchen and the best conversations (if female) are often had in a bathroom


R sent out a mass mailing to his family last night
“So I just wanted to put out a notice that even before the wedding my job situation might be shifting… I thought if something happened quickly - I should send something out now and simplify the phone calls down the road”
I guess it’s best since we have an extended family (3 moms and 3 dads, not to mention siblings)
An interview tomorrow.
Phone interview next week.
Another deal in the wings.

This IS going to happen. He HAS decided to leave the job. We just don’t know where he’ll land yet.

The good news…
I think I found shoes.

It’s true I have fallen thru the cracks and gotten lost

This week was a visit from the infamous
Poppa’san


A couple days turned into a week. I have to go exchange his ticket at the train station today and I just hope I can (in the age of tightened security) otherwise it crack o’ dawn at the station tomorrow.

He’s found all the nearby restaurants and this weekend went to 2 parties. The mans got more of a social life than I do. Today he’s off to visit another friend and hopefully when he lights his cigar he’ll make sure the stove burner is off.

Got a call from my best friend (matron of honor). She passed up an off Broadway role to be in my wedding. Geewhiz, I get the guilt without even being offered the satisfaction of getting to be the bigger person.

R compounded the stress of last week with job offers.
Apple called him out of the blue. Wait, didn’t we just go through this a year ago? Yeah, like while we were trying to buy the condo. But it seems their timing is good for him. He is angrily spinning his little cog-like wheels in his current job, and feeling less and less useful Hey, you there, monkey. Go fix that glitch we made by hiring an outside team to do what we could have done using our resources
So he lining up a bunch of ducks and may go shooting them. I still feel a bit insecure in all this, but 2 offers are at least in town and not 2000 miles away.
How would that be for a first year of marriage?
I’ll stay here with a Condo I can’t afford while we try to sell and enjoy the last golden moments of a job I like while you live in a cardboard box in Cali.

Oh, yeah. I’m so far beyond stress right now almost nothing can touch me.
*knocks on wood*

Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority realize name change necessary

perdita newswhir

A Wildcreek golfer hit a bad shot and started a brush fire that consumed 15-20 acres northeast of the golf course.
The golfer had knocked his ball into the grass beyond the course. When he tried to play back to the fairway, his club struck something that created a spark that started a fire.

Unconfirmed reports of the talk back at the club house included resident ol'man punch as saying that's how the course got it's name back in aught 2, and some began to nod off as his checkers buddy explained "the history of it is..."
The general consensus over beers seemed to be that they should change their name or stop setting boundaries of flint.



Google the real story for yourself I'm busy emailing MythBusters

The Tales Of KAGE

AP Wire

This weekend “KAGE” was seen in Decatur.
Paparazzi reported they spent most of the week
sequestered in the lake front property with 2
unidentified men. Neighbors reported loud
conversations late into the night and the Sanitation
Department spokesperson stated, “there were enough
bottle and can recycling to put my kid through
college”.
Earlier reports of KAGE’s involvement in the
local zoo missing 2 rare birds and a snake were
discovered to be premature when the bloated
constrictor confessed to staging the whole thing for a
tasty snack.
There have been rumors of a backyard blow out to take
place in August. Several “Sources” say white shotguns
have been flying off the shelves of nearby Wal-Mart’s
as well as washtubs and waders from the Rural King. It
is only our guess what out local trashy duo will be
coming up with next.

Exclusive!!

Law enforcement sources tell us KAGE's medical condition was purely psychological and that they were in peril of having a nervous breakdown, causing an early release this morning.

Psychiatrist Dr. Bob Who visited KAGE in jail yesterday and the day before. We're told after Who's visit yesterday, he reported KAGE to be in a fragile mental state. "She kept mumbling that she had a "show" to do with a pile of gay men, and then became severely agitated about 4:30 p.m., saying she "just needed to chill."

KAGE's behavior in the weeks prior to the planned incarceration (for a public indecency charge last fall, when they were caught urinating in the First Christian Church's baptismal font) has been increasingly unstable. Only last week they were found in the backyard of a well-to-do neighborhood committing acts of vandalism. "What startled me at first," said Sergeant Dick Withem, who reported from the scene, "were their repeated shouts of 'Death to pink!' as they tore through the flower beds. But I was even more suprised to find them covered head to toe in dense, lemon-flavored cake. From the lingering smell when I had to refinish the upholstery, I'm fairly certain that raspberries were involved."

More reports as they arrive from your first source for celebrity news!

UpDateEr
It seems Psychiatrist Dr. Bob Who’s reports to the authorities about KAGE’s health were falsified. According to a recently dismissed employee, Rose Tyler who gave several tabloids simultaneous individual exclusives by popping in and out of a shimmering-whooping callbox .

KAGE’s reported breakdown was in part to cover up for a Centers for Disease Control investigation. KAGE was is to have created, and been carrying, their own signature plague. The early release from prison was arranged by CDC officials who wanted to run tests but not cause a panic. Rose went on to reveal the "show" referred to with a pile of gay men, was an actual show KAGE had to get to. She speculated it might be some “live-bang-club” considering previous reports of lemon cake wrestling. “The Doctor didn’t tell me, but et’s wot KAGE and their like do when their not waiting for the Snappers or dodging the Flith”

The CDC released a statement today stating that the
“KAGE Plague” may be followed by Strep Throat like symptoms.
The doctors who (no relation to Dr. Who) examined KAGE have confirmed it is not actually Strep but refer to it merely as worrisome and “Not right”. Doctors also gave KAGE a prescription for Xanax. “All you had to do was look in her eyes to be frightened. So, yes, I did just incase the breakdown wasn't a complete fabrication”.

Marketing genius Lex Luthor plans to release KAGE’s signature plague in November. “It’s particularly painful, totally believable but not deadly and that’s what people really look for around the holiday season”

Male dragonflies grab females by the head

So typical.


My friends were complaining about the Cicadas.
“Their huge, it doesn’t matter if you are squeamish about bugs or not, they’ll set you squealing and jumping”.
Sure, especially in the numbers you find them in. I totally get it. But how about having mating dragonflies land on you. I like dragonflies but they are huge and suddenly finding an eight winged two headed five inch creature on you, in flagrante delicto, is a little startling.

Not so startling that I didn’t stop to take a picture of them in the 69 position.

CDC gives "kinda clear"

The CDC released a statement today stating that the *“Jason Plague” may be followed by strep like symptoms.
The doctors have confirmed it is not actually Strep throat but refer to it merely as worrisome and “Not right”

What to do about it? Nothing. Sit here in pain I guess.
The usual stuff is hardly effective any more (Saltwater gargle, dissolving aspirin in the back of my throat, Chloraseptic spray) last night I ordered EXTRA HOT Szechwan in the hopes I could burn off all the nerve endings in my throat.
Stupid Americanized Chinese, it was NOT hot enough.


*Jason is the person we are blaming for this epidemic, altho’ I have it on good authority he is not likely patient zero

That's not what I thought it was

The high fever gone, the horrid cold blown, drugged and drained into submission, the throat still very sore. Very swollen, very red.
I tried all the usual remedies. Hot tea, throat spray, slowly sliding bourbon over the offensive area (hard but not impossible to do to tonsils).

Having tried all these (and many more) this weekend while visiting the in-laws (Dr. Dad) I made a point to tell the Dr. he had to look at my throat and let me know if I should go to a doctor (he refuses to treat family, which is fine as I refuse to see doctors). He asked if I had taken any antibiotics yet. Uh, no. I haven’t gone to see a doctor yet, that’s why I want you to look at it. Tell me if I NEED to see a doctor. I reminded him of this twice and even made a special trip by his house, but it never got done and Sunday I was feeling a little *better so I said, awww screw it.
As of yesterday I am regretting that. The swollen bulgy node like things on the side of my neck encouraged me to find a mirror and a flashlight. I now realize this Yuck is out of control.
Sure red and swollen but the spots ore not supposed to be there. Even I know that.

So Dr. if you wouldn’t mind calling me back and letting me come into the office so you can tell me if it’s Strep or Tonsillitis, and then we can most likely do nothing about it seeing as I have had it for a week and am no longer contagious, that would be awesome.



* It could have been due to the little flakey leftover crumbled bits of Vicodin I rubbed on my gums as I chopped them up into halves and quarters for my mom to dose her for her painfully immobile arm.

Well it’s been a fun couple of weeks.
First off R and I were sick. Fever, followed by colds of plague like proportions. I was so sick if I’d had the energy I’d have gone to the doctor, and I’ve done that already in the past 5 years.

Due to that I missed out on a rare occasion to get together with my favorite party people.

I lost a friend. I don’t know what to do about that. I’m trying the inactive “given time and space” I don’t think it’s going to work.

And I found another old friend, or rather he found me.
I’m rather excited about this reunion. Bouf was always a special guy. He could move from clique to clique and hang out with the girls without restrictions. Probably this A-sexual treatment was not what he wanted during those trying high school years but he managed to spite it anyway. He was brilliant but only seemed to actually work on his VW’s. He was unassumingly sweet and surprisingly saucy (yum). But most of all he was the kind of fellow you want to put in your pocket.

Now friend from the past is on the west coast and (as corrected when I called him Mr.) “That’s Dr. to you”. It’s been 10 years since we saw each other last and we talked on the phone for over an hour. Rolled right back into it. That’s what I want in a friend. The kind of person, no matter how long it has been, you always feel at ease with.

Today I leave work early to drive to Bean town. We have a tasting tonight for the wedding part of this madness. Food, booze, fabric, cakes, etc. with the in-laws and try not to worry about the cost.
Then over to my mum’s to plant and garden and clean. Then follow that up with a graduation party for one of my 3rd or 4th cousins that my mom thinks I HAVE to go to, then back in time to join the other set of in-laws and bro/sis in-law after dinner for R’s birthday.
Then sleep for a few hours and back to work on Monday.
See ya then