excited!!!

So, in something like three hours I leave for New York! For a bachelorette party! And we're staying at the Trump Towers for free! Yahoo!!!!

What a lucky girl I am! This is NY trip #2! Yippee!

So, I leave for NY today, and am there until Saturday afternoon. I get home, come check on the kitties and maybe take a power nap or wash my jeans (I love stretch jeans, but I hate how they get all loose after you wear them twice) and then Mattie the Mazda and I drive up to Richmond to ring in the New Year. I think we're coming back on Sunday--Otto will be up there already, and he'll be sans car because Dan and Cory are the coolest, and they are coming to get him today.

Whew!

I'm a little concerned that I have an addiction. To sushi. I had a little bit on Saturday night, ordered it on Monday so we could use our new sushi plates and then I had it last night. And I'm maybe having it for lunch (Dan, Cory, Otto and I always have sushi if we go out to eat together) and then I'm eating at Sushi Samba tonight. Yummy, and good for me, and I'm even getting it pretty cheap, but still...

Right.

Time to get my carry-on/purse together (I did find a pretty orange one at Kohl's!--but they don't show that color online), go eat lunch with the awesome ride-givers Dan and Cory and go to New York! And, um, hope to goodness that I can handle the public transportation there. I'm a little nervous, but I'm even more of a cheapskate. :)

Enjoy ringing in the New Year!

etc.

I forgot to tell y'all the line o' the night for last Saturday evening. So, we're at Otto's Aunt and Uncle's place (which was new, ginormous and beautiful) and I'm upstairs with Barbie (the wife of Otto's cousin Cameron--Barbie is my age) and Cameron's brother Chris. I've asked about a painting on a table in their living room--one sitting between a picture of Cameron and a picture of Chris. I've been told it's a very realistic looking painting of a girl named Jessica, and she's Otto's Aunt's god-daughter. And in it she's holding a wine glass and a gun.

So, I say, "why is she holding a wine glass and a gun? what an odd combination."
Barbie says something about how you never know, I'm halfway there, since I'm already holding a martini glass.
And Chris says "I've got a gun you can hold" in the tone of voice that adequately conveyed to which type of gun he was referring.

Yikes. Barbie and I stared at him, then laughed, then promptly teetered downstairs in our heels with our cosmos.

Contrary to Sex and the City, heels+full martini glasses do not equal sexy. They equal almost spilling your drink down the beautiful wood stairs of a beautiful new house.

I'm relieved to know that I have much, much longer to apply for grad school than I though. Much. I was freaking out a little--but it turns out that I read the "international student" date, not the"I'm a US Citizen" date. Sigh of relief. Now back GRE studying, school picking and degree investigation.

this? this? this?

so many choices, so many cities, so little guidance. yeesh.

yikes. and double yikes.

so. um. sometimes you can be surprised by missing the little things. like your family. and you realize it too late, and you're already crying and, um, yikes. it's bad when you know your siblings and relatives would be making you crazy, but you wish you were with them. and it's just plain odd to have a hankering for chili on christmas eve when 1) you don't even like chili, really, 2) you just ate a ton of food in bite size form and 3)you've complained at least a little about how your family has chili every year on christmas eve. but you still miss it.

and a poll: if one is planning, say, a Christmas day breakfast--not the kind that you dress up for, but certainly the not-your-usual-breakfast type--is it okay to let your son and his girlfriend sleep in while the rest of the family eats? and by sleep in, I mean not even try to wake them up or let you know that people are out and about, all the while knowing fully that these people are sleeping in a soundproof room, so they won't hear everyone get up? ps, people took the time to shower and help cook, and never woke these people up. hmm.

right.

anyhoo. check out benzos. and regina spektor, if you haven't yet. and be nice to your pets. because they deserve it, trust me.

from oh so long ago...

We fish you a hairy Chrismoose and a hippo new dear :)

Merry Christmas everybody! And Happy Hanukkah too.

convenient, no?

Which Sex and the City Player Are You? Find out @ She's Crafty

also, I joined myspace but it's being finicky about me adding friends. yick.

candles, bread and grape juice

No, that's not a weird meal. It's the situation about which I'm disappointed. See, except for last year and the year I was downing codiene-infused cough syrup, I've been to a Christmas Eve candlelight service pretty much every year of my life. I was quite bummed last year as I completed my fifth of nine or so total hours at O'Hare, talking to the guy from Kentucky sitting next to me in the bar, when I realized that there was NO way I'd get to Tulsa in time to go to the Christmas Eve service. I even found one to go to the first year I lived in chapel hill, despite having to contact six or seven churches to find one that I liked...

So, I've been looking for one to go to in Shallotte, NC...and it ain't happening.

Probably because I kind of have strict requirements.
1. United Methodist.
2. No Communion.
3. have candles.
4. there's not any other requirements.

But alas, the country bumpkin churches up there are all about the Communion on Christmas Eve. Which I think is kind of dumb. See, here's my logic: although I fully agree that the significance of Jesus lies heavily on the fact that He gave us forgiveness for our sins through his death, I believe that this is the time to celebrate His pretty darn cool birth, what with the star and Immaculate Conception and all. To me, it's not a time to remember His death and sacrifice through Communion, instead we should be joyful and thankful. Maybe it's just me. But now that I'm a pseudo-grown up I think I should get to be picky about what kind of service I go to, and it's unfortunate that my current option is none at all. If Otto's family goes to church, I'll go, but I kind of doubt they will--at some point or another they've learned about being a Jehovah's Witness, and though only one of them is still one, the rest are rather jaded from that experience. And since they don't celebrate holidays, well, you get the picture.

I'm also kinda wishing I were coming to Tulsa. But I'm not. And I would rather visit when I have more vacation and things aren't so hectic, but still...

On a brighter note, it's so so so close to the weekend, and to Christmas, and hurrah! :)

so, I don't usually do this, but...

I'm going to post about music.

this is pretty fun. you can get one of her albums, Soviet Kitsch, on amazon. (PS, does anyone else think of Bartley every time you hear the word kitsch? I do.) I like all of the onomatopoeia she uses. listen to "poor little rich boy" or "us" or "your honor."

and I like them too. they're an odd style, but kind of catchy/intriguing. I like their more-talking songs. like "these things take time." this sucker is crazy expensive on amazon, but you can buy it off their website for like twelve bucks.

the mall is insane. in. sane. but they let me return my $200 phone. and I got new jeans. so i'm pretty sure it was worth it....ooh and I got Otto a Nautica wallet from TJMaxx for c-h-e-a-p.

now, all I need to find is a big purse. like, the kind of size of purse you'd want to bring as a carry-on with a book, small water bottle, purse stuff, camera, medicine and an extra pair of underwear. which you have to bring because you're getting to New York later than everyone else is, and they're taking your bag on their flight so you can just take a taxi to dinner. it needs to be a big going-out purse. and one that isn't $98. i looked at four stores today--no luck yet. hopefully soon.

smart women

smart women

I particularly like this one.

I like the "crave good company" one too, but it's just not as good. Bummer that this one's only 8 oz, which is not beer size :) I like their tape too--smart women hold it together! ha!

also, thanks for the wallet suggestions. In the interest of getting the most bang for the buck (pun totally intended) I'm going to check out TJMaxx and see what they have. No point in paying more than I have to--plus that means more presents if it's cheaper. Yahoo!

Off for a night of shopping at the Maul, trying not to get trampled and returning my $200 cell phone since I got one on ebay for $50.

change of plans.

so, I babysat last night, and my friend Tom (the father of the children I babysat) let me have back the phone he borrowed/bought from me.

bad news is the power button doesn't work--you have to take a toothpick or paperclip to it after taking off the cover in order to get it to work.

soooo, I'm taking back the $200 phone, and I'm using this phone until my phone from ebay (which I'll hopefully win soon) arrives. I'm very nervous about travelling and having my phone not turn on successfully. especially when NYC transit is on strike (I'm going there next week for a bachelorette party!). sooo, it looks like I'll be trading a $200 phone for a $65 phone.

also, I'm trying to find a Methodist church in or near Shallotte, NC, which has a candlelight service at which they do not serve communion--is that too much to ask?

thanks for the wallet advice. I'm still debating.

by george, I think I've got it. so, I've had a request to start posting my pictures where you can click on them and make them bigger. I switched from bloggerbot/hello to just using the blogger picture icon thingy, but it's not as good. I may go back a few posts and try to update. or maybe not. we'll see. so, um, check this out again or something, since I've figured it out.... :)

what they don't tell you at the dentist...

is that this "social trauma" that's "affecting my oral health" really means that my dentist could, I don't know, buy my old car. I already have over $1200 worth of dental work that needs doing--and that's just the part that I pay for...

yikes.

so, I guess that I don't want my two front teeth for Christmas, I want bits and pieces of a couple of teeth...

hooray for not spending $200

so, I used to keep my old cell phone on hand precisely for problems like this. but two weeks ago (yes, really) I sold my old phone to a friend of mine. He'd had it for a while, but finally paid me $20 two weeks ago. And look where I am.

however, he just bought himself a new razor phone, so he's going to either let me have my old one back or he'll let me use another of his old ones. I know that three months is kind of a long time, but's it's just plain hard to pay $200 for a phone when I know that on March 30th I can get the same phone for like $30-$50 by renewing my contract. And since I have eleventy billion minutes on rollover on cingular, I'll be doing that. So, um yeah.

yay for not having to spend $200. and a special yay for not having to spend $200 at Christmas time. :)

more paintings and a new phone

so, I got a new phone. it was $200, though I do have a mail in rebate. which is good. but still not so good. it was sad--the cingular guy actually rooted through the drawers at the store to see if he could find an old phone to give me. i had to pay retail. ouch. it says it's super cheap on the website, but it was $180 plus fees and all. So, yeah, $200. Yeesh.

but, I did do the math, and although it did hurt to pay for the phone, if I'd been paying for phone insurance the whole time I would have paid more over time than I did for this new phone. i can still return it if anyone has a working cingular-network phone that they'd like to loan me until March :)

right. anyway, here's another painting like the first one I did. the upper right part doesn't exactly look like that--it's where the tape is, and I haven't removed the paint yet, so yeah. I also made one for someone, but I figure she should get to see it before I post it on my blog. I do like painting.

where's a good place to get a wallet for a boy? don't say JCrew, Sterling... and why did Dubya address the public tonight? sigh.

as cake would say...

no phone no phone
I just want to be alone today

except that it's not that I want to be alone, it's that my phone's gone bye-bye. Which is a bummer, but I think I can sign a new contract and get another one--I hope. Besides, people were complaining that it buzzed all the time. So hopefully it will work out cheaply enough. It got wet last night.

And when someone asked me to tell the drunk guy the most uncommon word I knew, I broke out the Latin. And told them mutuniatus. So the drunk guy is supposed to remember that. We'll see.

So, um, yeah. operation:church and new phone has begun.

real simple?

So, does anyone want a subscription to real simple? I really like this magazine, and I've been given a buy-one-get-one free offer. I figure I might as well take advantage of it. It's $29 for me to either renew my subscription or for me to renew mine AND get one for someone else. Let me know if you're interested.

Here's a painting I did last night. My friend Natalie inspired it, and I'm going to paint another one or two with different hues. I also went out to a bar at 1:15 in the morning. I was sitting at home sipping on wine and relaxing and painting, and some friends called from the bar that was five minutes from my house. Needless to say, I knew they'd keep calling until I came there. It ended up being pretty fun though since my beer was free and one of the guys was celebrating winning $108 at poker. Woo hoo.

Today:more painting, a tiny bit of shopping, and studying for the GRE. Yeehaw.

a few quickies.

Last night I made infused olive oil with my friend Paige and her friend Heather. It was very fun, except that Heather kind of grilled me about my divorce since she’s in the process of getting one. I find it so hard to believe how close-minded people are, and I am AMAZED that people think there’s some predetermined amount of time you should wait before dating again. Puh-leeze. It’s all about you and your heart and your mental stability. And it’s just plain foolish to let a very good opportunity pass you by just because you’ve told yourself that there’s some ridiculous rule. Yeesh. Anyhoo, here’s a pic of the oils we made. They were prettier last night because they were a little clearer then before stuff infused more. The green is Rosemary-Garlic and the red is super duper Hot Pepper. Paige and I went a little overboard on the second batch, and our new red pepper flakes we bought were rather hearty.



Also, I found out on Wednesday that, and I quote, “[my] social trauma is affecting [my] oral health.” This made me laugh for two minutes in front of my dentist. Apparently the last year and a half of my life, which included moving-buying a car-starting school-getting divorced-moving again-a new relationship-a major surgery-new pet-money issues et al., can be called “social trauma.” And she said it’s common to see scary things like the beginning of cavities in-between the teeth in people who’ve been having a lot of stress. Yay fun. So Divorce=dental problems. Ha!

I am so so so glad it’s Friday. Hope you have fun plans for tonight! Anybody have any good girl movie suggestions? I plan on hanging out at home in my pajamas, painting and watching a movie to relax before I start operation:gre study. I have some loaners, but I'm up for suggestions too. I do, after all, have a the whole weekend ahead of me! :)

a whole year.

A new year, a new name. It’s my blogiversary. ;)

So, a little explanation that I never really gave…see, last year I started my blog because Sterling suggested it--as a form of catharsis and as a way of keeping people informed of my life without eating up too many precious cell phone minutes. Plus it would allow me to not spend all my time repeating myself. :) Anyway, so I needed a name, and I came up with derring-do or dalliance--inspired by Fiona Apple and the book I had my freshman year of college that had two thousand odd words I should know. And now, I’ve changed it, and I thought I’d explain.

Fiona Apple-To Your Love

So this last year I’ve been finding/using my derring-do, fully aware that I might just be wasting my time. But as it turns out instead I’ve found my derring-do, my friends, my strength and I’ve gained oodles of perspective (good for the tummy, y’know?) and it’s time for me to dance the rigadoon. And I’m gonna revel in it.

have an excellent day. I'm going to enjoy sushi at lunch and have my home-made chai all day!

when?

so, I can't help but wonder. ...when?

when it is okay to stop trying so hard, to let things go, to harvest that apathy that's been kind of slowly growing inside of you, reminding you that you're not responsible for everything?
when is it okay to be selfish, to be bitchy, to do unto others how you would prefer they do unto you, even if it's mean to prefer they do that to you?
when it it okay to invite someone to something and hope and pray they decline the offer?
when is it okay to be realistic? demanding? reliable?
and when is it okay to be an adult?

I mean, I was hoping we were all past the ridiculous idea of being catty and scared and chickens. I'm not sure about that anymore. When? Sometimes I just don't know. But now seems like a good time to start.

hmm.

anyway.

Renee came into town for a 20 hour whirlwind of fun. We had a good time. We are adding two quotes to "the book" and together we discovered that there's a sonic a mere 14.8 miles from my apartment! Mmm mmm mmm I love toaster sandwiches. While Otto's in CT for the next nine days I will definitely be going there as a treat at least once. It's far enough away to remind me that sushi is better for me than sonic, but it will sometimes be worth the journey.

Here we are at the mellow mushroom.

I'm also very pleased because I found a home for one of my paintings. I made it around this time last year (a little earlier than now) because I thought it was pretty, and the mood struck me. My "husband at the time" as Jennifer Aniston would say, kind of ruined it for me, asking me to paint us in. I said I didn't want to, and finally put two little brown dots at the foot of the tower representing us, a notion he didn't appreciate. (In asddition to not wanting to do it, I also don't draw people--it's not something I can do well at all) So anyway, I'm pleased that I could give this painting that I love to someone that I love--Renee. :) This is the second painting I've given her, and both are of places she lived. I told her I didn't really want to paint Tulsa or OKC right now, but perhaps some day I could paint them and Dallas too. I'm going to make time to take lots of artsy pictures the next time I come in to Tulsa because I would like to paint it. Maybe Brookside. Or Riverside. Something with a side in it. Anyway, here it is.

I just bought some glass bottles and jars and a couple of cute Christmas candles. And champagne glasses, since I had none. Anyone know where I can get fun-colored UNSCENTED pillar candles? World Market is not the place, and of course pier 1 isn't either. But World Market is such a cool store. Now if only we could get a hobby lobby and a garden ridge in NC, I'd be set. I can do without an ikea, for now. But it might factor in to where I go to school ;)

Hazel is making this post take longer than usual. This kitten plays fetch. But only with furry mice--the cloth ones simply will not do! Right. Okay, bedtime. Hope I can sleep after my two hours of zonking out once I got home today....

Tomorrow night, drinking with the girls! Yay for the semester being over! (I think my grade will be posted at 1am--that's when they update it) And the next day I'm making infused olive oil and spice rubs for Christmas presents/Holiday presents. (that's what the bottles and jars are for--yahoo!)

Oh, and PS: hooray!!! I got a B+ in thermo AND I got a 19/20 on my final paper. This is AWESOME! Or, amazing even. Plus, I like it that my grad gpa is higher than my undergrad gpa. I was super worried I'd get a B-, which would make my overall grad gpa lower than 3.5, which was not the best thing for applying for schools, but yay! :) what an excellent way to begin wednedsay.

rocky pictures

so, I now have rocky raccoon stuck in my head--good thing it's a peppy song, maybe it will make collecting diesel samples more pleasant!... anyway, I think blogger likes me better right now. enjoy the pictures.

here's us with the muddy Ruby...

the fender bended.

the pretty view of the rest of the forest.

what a trail looks like (sometimes) from the passenger's seat of a very bouncy jeep (it took me four tries to get this shot.)

climbing over rocks.

watching out for the tree. this was NOT the tree that took a bite out of the fender--that was more of a stump, actually...

gifts, rocks and pizza, oh my!

I should never play dirty santa/grab bag/white elephant again. I have no luck. The worst thing I’ve ever gotten? An empty cigar box full of pens that don’t work (thank you, Philip Boone). But this weekend at the Kappa Delta party I got something that may have been even worse—a perforated wiping pad. It’s for cleaning computer screens. Yikes. Thank goodness Otto took it away from me. He said I was very gracious about it, but he could tell that I was less than thrilled about my acquisition. Instead I got a cute ornament-shaped cookie jar. That’s waaay better than the perforated wiping pad!

We also played trivial pursuit, and had a lot of fun. If you know me, you know fun and trivial pursuit usually don’t go in the same sentence unless there’s a “not” in front of it. But I really enjoyed it. We played the 90s game, and tweaked the rules a bit so the game didn’t last three million hours. Fun fun fun.

Also, I’m officially done with thermo. (hooray!) My prof emailed me to let me know he’d gotten my paper successfully, and that it looked “interesting.” He has not yet read it. If you want to read it, then, um, you’re a dork. But I’ll let you. It’s about using supercritical CO2 to removed the iso-humulone from the hops used in the beer making process. See, I told you, it’s nerdy.

Yesterday we went offroading at Uwharrie National Forest. Though I didn’t think so when I woke up at 6am, it was definitely worth it. So pretty and lots of fun. Only bad part is that Otto banged up his fender flare. But Ruby (his Jeep) is nice and muddy, and he only mussed up the plastic. We then GORGED ourselves at Sonic. g-o-r-g-e-d. They have them in NC, but they’re few and far between. I think we spent $16 on a meal for two. At SONIC. Then we came home and I made my mom’s pizza so we could eat it for lunch today. It needs some fine-tuning, but it’s not a bad first attempt.

Today, Renee comes in to town. Tonight, Mellow Mushroom and Narnia!!! And calling Sterling to see how LA is going…

I'll post pictures later. Blogger is being finicky.

wow.

the epitome of nerdiness?

it snowed in oklahoma

So, yesterday my divorce was final, and it snowed in Oklahoma.

okay, some of you probably know that already, but it's very interesting to me.

And here's why:
On every day of significance in our relationship, it rained.

Our first date.
Our first picnic together.
The day he asked me to be his girlfriend.
The first time I met his family.
Our first out-of-town trip.
The day he proposed.
The day we got married.
The day we left for our honeymoon.
The day we left for North Carolina.
The day we moved into the house we bought together.
The day I decided to leave him.
The day I moved out.
The day we signed the separation agreement.

all of them rained. some with snow or wind or sunlight thrown into the mix. but all af them rained.

and yesterday it snowed.

twenty score and ten

that's how many days I've been waiting for this to be final.

the legal system may be slow, but at least it works.

-sigh-of-relief-

I'm glad that neither one of us has to worry about this any more.

the dixie chicks are right.

some days you gotta dance
live it up when you get the chance
'cause when the world doesn't make no sense
and you're feeling just a little to tense
gotta loosen up those chains and dance

salsa
rumba
swing
triple step swing
foxtrot

dance lessons are very fun. I highly recommend them. And they can be cheap too—three ½ hour lessons and group event for $50 total at Fred Astaire in Durham. See if there’s an intro package at somewhere near you—it’s worth it I promise.

I’ve five more days to finish my paper. At least I’ve started it. I just need to keep chugging. I think this will make good random-enginerd-party banter.

I found out yesterday that I’m moving to different office. Likely because I’m a girl and not a PhD. It’s kind of silly in the first place, but even sillier because my current office is going to be for “future use.”

Also, anybody want to get me the least exciting gift EVER for Christmas? Riiiight. It's a pity that I need it.

cigar paraphernalia

since Sterling gave me such an awesome gift I'll be getting this and this (there's a version that's just the ashtray, but it's only $5 more for the other items!)

here's a pic of the humidor and the ashtray--aren't they fun? I wish I had a balcony.

"So know this, little one. Whether you are the Messiah, or you become a rabbi, or even if you are nothing more than a farmer, here is the sum of all I can teach you, and all that I know: treat others as you would like to be treated."

-the rabbi Hillel, from Christopher Moore's "Lamb"

sometimes I wish people would remember this. When you're in line and you have eleventy-billion items, let the person behind you with two things go first. Don't cut people off or fight for parking spaces--you've got good legs, so park farther away and use 'em. Share with others. Show respect. Smile. Give compliments to random people if you mean them. Be courteous, be kind and be polite. Think about how what you just did would be like if you were in the other person's shoes--would it have been nice? Did you hurt their feelings? Are you having to rationalize your actions? Or would they be pleased with the situation? Hmm.

ouch.

so, I still hurt. My head hurts, my stomach hurts, my arms hurt--all from drinking. Plus, something else made my heart hurt :(. All that, and I have to write a paper. It's not going anywhere, and it's hard to write a paper involving beer when beer kind of made your day semi-miserable. Well, beer and gin and tonics and wine and a cigar. Yay for my birthday presents! :)

I sold a cigar for $2 last night. I also had a really hot random guy kiss me on the cheek and ask me if he could kiss me on the lips (of course I said no and promptly left, but still). Today I recovered, almost booted at the grocery store, went to the mall, had sushi and will get to have guac later today. Otto's holding the guac ransom while I work on my paper.

The Christmas party was really fun, actually. It was amusing to see all of the double takes (I worked at this company for a year and eight months, and quit in August to work at where I work now). Someone actually said "holy shit, look who's here!" It was a really good time--and don't we look cute?

And the Hike was GREAT! We cut out of the party early, picked up Paige and Jess and met Erik and Greg out. We went to Player's Retreat, Sadlacks, Western Lanes, Left Right Wings, some Asian place, Amore's and ended at the Farmhouse. It was funny, and we had a really good time.

Here we are at Wings

And the Bowling Alley

The street sign at the Farmhouse had a beer in it.

And smoking our cigars at the Farmhouse (where the kissing and the selling happened). It's me, Erik, Paige, Jess, Greg and Otto.

ouch continued

and posted out of order for your reading ease...

blogger apparently has a picture limit, so here are a few more... beginning with the guys at the farmhouse.

Paige and me.

22 ounce Sapporos with sushi, in an effort to recover. ;)

everybody wang chung tonight

a song for Friday... :)

mmm beer...

-Homer Simpson

So, I need a good quote about beer. I want to put it underneath my title in my thermo paper. Because, well, I just do. But none of these seem appropriate...except maybe the one about oxygen and hydrogen, or the one about fermentation, or the one by Lincoln. But they might not be right either. Hmm, hmm, hmm. Little help? And some light reading...

You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline; It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.-- Frank Zappa

Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.-- Ernest Hemmingway

Always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.-- Winston Churchill

He was a wise man who invented beer.-- Plato

Time is never wasted when you're wasted all the time.-- Catherine Zandonella

Sir, if you were my husband, I would poison your drink.-- Lady Astor to Winston Churchill Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it.-- His reply.

Work is the curse of the drinking class.-- Oscar Wilde

When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.-- Henny Youngman

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.-- Benjamin Franklin

Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.-- Dave Barry

The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.-- Humphrey Bogart

People who drink light "beer" don't like the taste of beer; they just like to pee a lot.-- Capital Brewery, Middleton, WI

Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world.-- Kaiser Wilhelm

I would kill everyone in this room for a drop of sweet beer.-- Homer Simpson

Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.-- Dave Barry

I drink to make other people interesting.-- George Jean Nathan

They who drink beer will think beer.-- Washington Irving

An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.-- For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemmingway

You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.-- Dean Martin

I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. Frank Sinatra

A woman drove me to drink and I didn't even have the decency to thank her.W.C. Fields

"Fermentation may have been a greater discovery than fire."-David Rains Wallace

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer."-Abraham Lincoln

When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading. Henny Youngman

assorted.

So, at Walmart tonight, while waiting in line I told a man that I liked his tie. It was one of those cool orange and blue ones, and very schnazzy. So I told him so. To which he said, "thanks, do you want it?" And I said, "um, no, but thanks." He hesitated, and then explained the following.

In the past when someone has complimented his tie he has said, "thanks, do you want it?" (In a hospital a man said yes once, and he gave it to him) This comes from a tradition having to do with coaches (I assume basketball). If a coach ever compliments your tie you're supposed to say, "thanks, do you want it?" If they do accept it, it becomes a lucky thing, apparently.

Gobi and Hazel are wonderful, wonderful kitty cats. Just wonderful. And Hazel taught herself how to play fetch (yes, really). She isn't certain what her name is yet, but she plays fetch. She's especially fond of playing fetch with Otto. She's also the one that was opening the door at night, and she has a bit of an obsession with fuzzy mice. But hey, who doesn't?

I am getting very excited about Christmas. My wreath will arrive on Monday, hopefully. I wish I could afford to buy a tree and ornaments. But, alas, it isn't in the budget--that's a big investment. I may buy a little tiny live tree and see if i can get it to grow. We'll see.

I'm very excited about the Christmas party tomorrow night. I'm going to look hot, and then we're going O-U-T out to the Hillsborough Hike. NC State students (et al) do it--you go to Hillsborough street in Raleigh and get a drink from every establishment that sells alcohol. Some of them even have alcohol on just this night and the one in the spring. It's nuts!

Also, I'm bothered because I feel disgustingly trendy. Because of things like this and this. And isn't it interesting that these women both left the men? Hmm... But, really, this is out of control. Earlier this year I was so happy to be likened to Jennifer Aniston. But now I feel like a damn statistic. A much happier, stronger, more Carrie-like statistic, but a statistic nonetheless.

sigh.

okay, time to finish making sure my light gray cardigan becomes black for the party tomorrow, and then teeth brushing and bed going. And more printing for the new love of my life (if love is determined by the amount of time you spend thinking about/with something) my thermodynamics paper.

engineering science?

hmmm.
maybe this is for me.