Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Here we go again...


Room 165 by Todd Klassey



Okay, I know... it's been like 2 weeks. Although between you and me, I don't think anyone is standing by with bated breath, waiting for my next post.

Biggest change here to date? I'm in school again. Yep, the fall semester at City College. And, I've changed my major. When I got out of high school, I swore I was going to be a renown journalist (not famous - I want nothing to do with paparazzi) but respected in the community for being a good writer. I envisioned myself documenting a journey down the Nile River for National Geographic. Or penning an article about my trip to London and my stay at the Zetter Hotel. Or sharing all the juicy details about going backstage and having intimate conversations with that minute's hottest band a la Cameron Crowe, courtesy of Rolling Stone. Unfortunately for me, at the time I wasn't too keen on having to deal with people. Add that to the realization that it's a cutthroat world out there and jobs like that don't fall into some girl's lap right out of college... well, I decided that maybe Journalism wasn't my calling right at that moment.


So, I switched gears and decided to just get my degree in English. It was broad, general and vague enough to pretty much cover all sorts of bases. I would be qualified to be a writer if I wanted to or work in some kind of communications-type job. But then I got to thinking that English might be TOO vague and TOO general.


So, I spent some time trying to figure out what it is I really love. What I really want to do. Here I am, almost 30, and I'm thinking about what I want to be when I grow up. My thoughts kept going back to the artistic side of things. I'm always happiest when taking a picture, editing the photograph, writing a story, sculpting, painting, drawing, quilting, decopauging. Making a mosiac, a collage, a shelf, a layout. I'm happiest when I create. I'm also happiest when I get to work alone and late into the night. So, with all this in mind, I've taken my love of art and mashed it into my love of order and Voila! I'm going to major in Graphic Design. Should be a pretty good fit, right? I'll let you know when I'm burned out and still have 3 weeks to go in the semester...

Monday, August 15, 2005

A Salute to Eddie's Birthday


So, I know I should post about Eddie's birthday, but I'm kinda short on time right now. And I want to do it right the first time, with pictures and all. So, here is a small taste of how the extravaganza began...

1. Drinking the Shot, 2. Umm... Is that supposed to taste good?, 3. I don't like "Red-Headed Sluts"

Thursday, August 11, 2005

badge

badge
badge,
originally uploaded by Darling Clementine.
Now I'm legit with my bona fide badge. This qualifies, right?

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Tales of a Suburban House-frau


Vebate on Flickr

So very tired this morning.... so very tired every morning, seems like. Spent all weekend at a soccer tournament - 5 games in all on Sunday and Saturday. I know Marisa is the one (who played) who should be most tired, but she's on summer vacay and has no job. No rest for the weary, I tell ya!

Also, since I am such a night owl (hoot! hoot!) I tend to be exhausted in the mornings and then forget how tired I was by around 5:00 or so in the evening. Which means that I picked up working on my quilt project last night around 10:00, took a break and went with Mike to walk the dogs, came back to the house around 11:15 and said I had only 10 more minutes... then got caught up in it again and didn't stop until 12:30 or so. He tried to blame me for keeping him up, but I pointed out that I didn't chain him to the couch in front of the tv and force him to watch 8 Legged Freaks, now did I? What was my fault was going up to bed and then persuading him to join me in a little ill-timed hanky panky. Later, Indie apparently wanted in on the action since he decided to wait for Mike to fall asleep before tearing into the room and up onto the bed - making a slumbering Mike part of his personal Indy 500 (Indie's 500?). That or playing freeze tag by jumping up, sinking his claws into his side and then running away. Tag! You're it! Gotcha with my sharp claws! 'Round 2:00, after much cursing and threatening of bodily harm of aforementioned ill-mannered feline, I finally drifted off to sleep, only to be awoke (awoken? awaked? woke up?) by the alarm a mere 4 hours later... at least he let me sleep in.

This morning, I dragged my sleep-sodden body out of bed, got ready for work, slipping on a button-up shirt and a pair of jeans. That's office attire, right? I knitted on the way to the office while Mike navigated our way through the usual mess of traffic. We've been listening to the DaVinci Code on tape - one of Mike's coworkers let him borrow it. I was against it at first, being that the only other book on tape I slept to, I mean listened to, was when he was interested in hearing a George Washington biography. Snooooze! This one isn't so bad though. Not as good as reading the book myself, but on the upside, at least I don't get carsick.

So now I'm at work... previously mentioned button up shirt keeps popping open at the top button, making me an unwitting sexpot at the least appropriate times. Couldn't endure a 9 hour day on my dulled senses alone, so I ran out and got a supersized coffee, full of carmelly (and extra caffeineted (sp?) espresso-y) goodness. Was going to round out that breakfast of champions with something that resembled meat, cheese, egg and heart attack on a bun (can I get hash browns with that?) but was tired of driving and settled for a slice of pumpkin bread instead. Huzzah!

So, that's my morning. At least I still had a parking spot when I got back from the coffee shop. It's the little things that I look forward to in my day...

Monday, August 01, 2005

I can't cram anything else in here!

IMG_1602


I had an extremely busy weekend... I just didn't do much. That doesn't really make sense, I guess. How about, 'there wasn't much variety'? That's more like it.

Mike told me last week that M had a soccer tournament this weekend. The plus side? It was going to be held at a soccer park on Coronado. Yay! Weekend at the beach! I visualized myself getting a nice golden tan, swimming in the sparkling blue water and sipping mai tais with the jellyfish. Then reality kicks in: There were 2 games scheduled for Saturday and 1 game for sure on Sunday, with the potential for another 2. Tell me again where I signed up for this??

Usually, when I know we're going to be in San Diego, I try and catch up with my San Diego Crew. They gave me so much shit when they found out I was moving to T-Mec, mostly because I was the one who put together a lot of the happy hours and parties and the like. And I had a place downtown, within walking distance to the bars. And a great view. (Tell me again why I moved?)

Anyway, I dropped my party girl persona when I moved to the suburbs (the party-girl and I, we have occasional reunions every now and then) and became a soccer-mom, er, soccer-potential-step-mom? (I have a hard time with this, every now and then. This whole idea of inheriting kids. Not just kids, mind you, but inheriting teenagers. I missed out on all the cute baby/little kid stuff. And having never had any of my own, I treat them more as my pals and let the adult/child relationship kind of fall by the wayside.) Sorry, got side-tracked. So, since I knew we were going to be down south, I tried to be efficient and squeeeeeeeze every last drop of quality time out of this trip and make plans with a couple of friends in between games. Note to self: This strategy does not make for a relaxing weekend.

The first game we went to was early on Saturday morning. Way too early. Like, up-by-6:00-on-a-Saturday-morning too early. I was tired - I think the girls were too. We ended up losing, 2-4. Seemed like the parents were more competitive than their kids at this point. There were a few we had to tie to their chairs just so they wouldn't run out onto the field and kick for their kids.

After the game, Mike, the kid-let and I, went north to La Jolla Shores to meet up with a girlfriend of mine I had lost touch with. (Backstory: We met at girls' camp when we were 12, introduced by a mutual friend. In high school, bound by both honors classes and religious affiliation, we hung out a lot - at parties, school, etc... After we graduated, we drifted apart, but when I moved into the apartment complex she was managing, we became thick as thieves. I was out with her when she went on her first date with her future husband. I visited her in the hospital when both of her sons were born. We talked over relationship problems. We celebrated successes in our lives. We offered each other advice and a listening ear. She was a bridesmaid at my wedding. Then I got divorced. And while my "X" stayed in the apartment complex, I moved out. I guess part of the divorce settlement was that he got to keep most of my friends. This friend and I made promises to keep in touch, but those fell by the wayside. Outta sight, outta mind, I guess. She was busy with kids and family while I was busy with new boyfriends and then a new life in a house an hour away. We sporadically e-mailed and then she invited me to a picnic held last Saturday.) I went early, so as the avoid the X-factor, and we took an hour or two to catch up. We have a shared history, so we had things to talk about, but it's hard to re-establish a close connection in such a short amount of time. I took some pictures of her twins - born only a few weeks ago - and we promised again to take some time and get together. Hopefully we'll follow through this time.

The rest of the weekend went something like this:

Saturday
Soccer - Win
Party @ Mike's co-worker's house
Sunday
Soccer - Win
Lunch
Soccer - (Semi-finals) Win
Breathe, Pee
Soccer - (Finals) Tie game, go into over-time with penalty kicks, head to head in penalty kicks until after 3 or 4 girls, we lose. Boo.

Got home Sunday night - walked the dog, got aloe for my sunburn (ouch!) and collapsed in a heap on my bed. Didn't move until the alarm went off too early on Monday morning.

There you have it folks! My weekend extravaganza!