quote of the day.

snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they do when they stick together. -verna m. kelly

there is no "i" in pecker...

as Sterling's dad would say.

and I won with my dick.

:)

Yeah, so we played Scrabble last night. Dirty Scrabble, I guess you could say. And I creamed 'em...224 for me, 190 for Otto and 120 for Sterling. (To Sterling's credit, I do have to say that he did keep having either all vowels or all consonants.)

It was like normal scrabble, except that we got to use proper nouns, slang and/or dirty words--and anything related to sex, alcohol or drugs got double points, as did any racial word (though there were none played).



So, at one point in the game Otto played "donated." The end "d" was in the bottom right corner of the board, three spaces above the triple word score. And when "i," "c" and "k" showed up in my hand I knew what to play--and earned 64 points with it! (also made the word "ti"). I'd been able to play "pecker" or "penis" earlier in the game, but there was nowhere to put it. That's where the saying came from.

anyhoo.

We went to Mellow Mushroom last night--very fun. Lots of yummy beer, and yummy pizza too.
And I learned a VERY VERY important lesson.

IF YOU RENT A CAR FROM PRICELINE YOU SHOULD KEEP IT THE NUMBER OF DAYS YOU SAY YOU WILL OR THEY'LL CHARGE YOU LIKE MAD.

Needless to say, after renting a car for me to drive so that Sterling the twenty-four-year-old could drive my Mazda3, Mattie, we thought everything was good to go. I pricelined it for $35.10 total, and was quite pleased. So last night, prior to going to the Mellow Mushroom, we went to the airport to drop it off since it's only a few minutes away from the apartment. And they were going to charge me $158 over the money I'd already paid. In. Sane. So, we took care of the problem. I almost made a scene, it was awful. I said phrases like, "as a fellow consumer.." and "think about what you could do with an extra $160." Ri-damn-diculous. Or Ri-cock-ulous, as Paige would say. Grr. I even said that they should give me the car and I'd go park it at our apt until this morning, if that's what it took to get it for the amount I pricelined it for.

But now it's all okay.

and thank goodness.

Now it's time to shower, go ride go-karts with Otto and Sterling, and then go to a special dinner for our exciting day! Hooray!

a tulsan is Miss America!

on abc news!

and on kotv in tulsa!

how fun is that?  and she was a ballerina at the Tulsa School of Ballet.  Good old Miss Larkin.  :) (one of the five Indian Prima Ballerinas from Tulsa, Ok, if you didn't know) She's the one who led me to think that you dance to dance better, you work to work better, you try so you can try harder--and if you have fun in the process, that's icing on the cake. She was amazing.  She's the only seventy-ish year old person I know who could stand on her head longer than a bunch of twelve-year-olds--and be more graceful when she stood up.  Wow oh wow.

the hurricanes

kicked some arse.

that was an extra super very fun game. it was a little odd that since it was organized by someone at work I was sitting next to a bunch of work people drinking a beer on a Monday night, but still. Very very fun! It was weird to hear people cheering for the hurricanes and it not be Tulsa.

Sterling comes into town tomorrow. There's some MAJOR cleaning that needs to go on between now and then. Plus some planning/organizing since I'm not at all sure when I need to have things ready, or when I'm supposed to entertain him (as opposed to Ellen) or whatever. I really hate it when things are disorganized. I'm all about going with the flow, but at the same time there's a point where it's not practical to have a friend fly out from the west coast and not even know where he's going to sleep. It's kind of bothering me a whole whole whole lot. But anyhoo.

So, work is a strange sitch. I feel like someone asked me to do secretary/admin stuff yesterday, and it really pissed me off since I have a friggin' engineering degree. AAAAAAH. I was proud of myself though 'cause I told him I wouldn't do it unless he would let me teach him how to use the program so he could do it himself. There's nothing wrong with doing admin stuff, don't get me wrong. It's just not what they pay me for, y'know? It makes me think of a situation that happened last year involving recycling. Perhaps I'll email it to my blog later to share a good laugh with you!

and will it post in color?

perhaps, perhaps not.

but you shouldn't use hotmail

because it puts a funny link at the end of your emails!!! maybe gmail won't do it...

email to my blog

so it seems like you can email to your blog instead of typing it out.
something that could be particularly handy during work. I found this under
settings-> email...

try it, you'll like it :)

_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE!
http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/

virginia weekend.

SO MUCH FUN!!! *

On Friday we drove to VA after eating yummy Moe's for dinner, then had a glass of wine, caught up, watched part of Revenge of the Nerds and went to bed.

Saturday--up and at 'em early in the AM. Drove to Harrisonburg, collecting Lauren on the way since Vernon got to Dan and Cory's at 815. The trails in George Washington National Forest were excellent. Well, at least the ones that were open were. And Dan let me drive his jeep!

Otto and Vernon were a lot of fun to ride with, see? Except that I didn't get to take any pics of the two funny things we saw--the trailer with a chimney and the outhouses. Silly plastic on the removable top!

Here's Me, Cory and Lauren looking at the map. Let me tell you, we definitely went on trails that weren't listed! It was a lot of fun having three girls there...

And here's the guys looking "manly" at the end of the trail. They wanted to try to cross this stream thing, but we were afraid that Daniel wouldn't make it, plus there wasn't anywhere to go afterwards anyway...and there was no place to turn around.

And here's the view from the last trail we went on--do note that you can see the side of the road as we travel along the highway! Yikes!

This is the sunset on the way home. The whole trip made me think of that girl scout song..."i love the mountains, I love the rolling hills, I love the flowers, I love the daffodils..." etc.

We got home later than we'd planned on Saturday, plus we had trouble finding sushi grade fish, so making sushi waited until Sunday. But in the end it was yummy, fun, and cheap! $15 or so for all four of us, if you're only counting the cost of what we actually used. It took awhile though, and shrimp tempura is hard to make. We're totally doing this again though.


Otto and me making our rolls.

Carrie with her yellowfin roll.

Carrie's yellowfin roll flower. Otto wanted to add the pickled ginger garnish there.

And a tip--get the sharpest knife ever and use a sawing motion to cut these bad boys. And go easy on the rice.

Boy, oh, boy. If you'd told me a year ago that I would have spent this weekend off-roading, driving some of the off-roading myself and making sushi I would have laughed so hard I would have cried!

*except for the part where otto and I argued about shoes! ha! it's a pity I left my shoes at home by accident and then had to buy these very cute but very uncomfy monstrosities from target for $6.03. also, cobblestone in downtown richmond + heels = bad news.

Tonight, to the Carolina Hurricanes game!

annulled.

so, my marriage has been annulled.

which, um, means it kind of sort of never existed, as I understand it.

so, do I have an "ex-husband?" and if not what to I call him? my old roommate? ;)

seriously though. I don't understand the Catholic church. I mean, it's great or whatever, but I can't quite wrap my head around it. Oh well.

time to pack for VA!!!

as michael would say...

just beat it.

and that's precisely what we're going to do to Dan's Jeep Cherokee this weekend--beat the hell out of it. Admittedly it's not nearly as cool as Miranda's Rhino-liner covered Jeep, but this one has leather seats and an awesome stereo, so we'll let that go. :)

I'm excited too because Dan's going to let me drive his jeep some. It's an automatic (Otto's is a stick) so I feel more comfy in it. I'm learning how to drive a stick shift, but I haven't mastered it yet. Starting on a hill is a surefire way to make me have to remind myself to breathe and not get frustrated.

So tonight, to Richmond.
Tomorrow, to Harrisonburg, then back to Richmond for the making of the sushi.
Sunday, sleep in, come home, clean and watch Sunday night TV. And play with Hazel Louise and Gobi Leroy. (Sorry Jess, we tried for Dwayne (pronounced dee-wayne) but it just didn't stick).

Oh, and PS, Sterling Gates you better let me know what the dealio is about this week, buster.

weird nights beget weird dreams.

so, the most vivid part I can recall is being in a parade of some type--one that passed through a cruise ship--and pausing to take a picture of the Tulsa skyline from the water. Like the Staten Island Ferry and NYC, except it was a completely different angle, and it was Tulsa, but with some small additions. Weirder still was that my camera wouldn't work correctly, so I just snapped a few and left. And when I viewed them I saw that I'd focused into the water, and there you could see a shark attacking a turtle, and then another one of just the shark, but it was blurry.

then went looking for Otto and I found him in the ship's arcade. And then David showed up, and he had on one of those old-fashioned I'm going on an adventure in the jungle outfits with the funny hats, and everything had blue piping.

and earlier in the night someone told me how I needed a new one of my fancy bookmarks and cut one for me. but mind you, my "fancy bookmarks" are pieces of ribbon. polka-dotted, in fact.


riiiight.


anyhoo. my work situation's gotten a little shaken up. Sherlock's real name is Rick, by the way. (which I didn't realize until a few days ago is actually the end of "derrick.") We're getting along just fine now, and I no longer question if he's posturing. Yesterday I found out I'm being phased off the diesel project, which is what we were both working on, and I'm slightly bummed because I was just starting to get in the comfort zone. So now I'm working on Lora's project. something about membrane selectivity for H2S over CO2, and using flurohydrocarbon polymers for the membranes.

I. Am. Such. A. Nerd.

Y'all recall the donkey from Shrek? We'll instead of hearing him say "in the morning I'm making waffles!" think of him saying "this weekend we're making sushi!"
why? because we like it. And because we'll all be together for offroading. And because if it's bad 1) we have beer and 2) we can order sushi or pizza (if we're tired of looking at the raw fish!)

school, ideas and nipples, oh my!

You can pinch your friends,
You can pinch your nipples,
And apparently you can pinch your friend’s nipples.
And they can pinch your boyfriend’s too.

Ah, Ellen. :)

Girl’s poker night on Friday was swell. Three of the seven didn’t have the five bones to get in, so we played for nothing. And after an hour we stopped playing and the played spoons. And then Kings. And then more Kings. Yikes. PS-I didn’t know this, but Kings is totally like circle of death, but slightly different. Very fun though.

Especially after the “Firanda” drink that Ellen’s friend Miranda gave me (it’s a fake Miranda, hence the Firanda). It had one-two-three-four shots of rum in it. And tasted like cranberry juice and sprite.

I’m reconsidering my potential degree choice after talking to Dr. Tom Harris, my personal cheerleader, former professor and former boss. He also told me I need to look at better schools, like MIT, Harvard and Cornell. So, um, I’m getting right on that rose, though I do find that a little intimidating. Only thing is, I’m told that if I motivate myself into starting research early, and if I can get my two classes to transfer I may be able to cut some time off of getting my PhD. If I even go for that. But at more prestigious schools they're purists, and there's none of this transfering business.

Decisions, decisions.

And I’m worried about my kitty Gobi. His little heart is going berserk. I gave him medicine and took him to the vet and all, but it’s still scaring me. And I found out that it could be worse than I thought—I thought I would just come home one day to a dead kitty, but it turns out I could also come home to a kitty who can’t use his leg or legs or can’t move. So scary. :( But I’m doing what I can. It’s just on my mind. He’s behaving normally and playing a lot though, so I think that’s a good sign.

And he and Hazel are getting along so very well. They are adorable.

Right. Anyhoo.

Also (and I know, I know, I always want opinions) Otto and I are going to a Heaven and Hell party in Delaware (at the same place we went to the Studio 54 party) and we need outfits. He has a Priest costume, and thinks I should either a)be a pregnant nun or b)find a sexy nun outfit. Or we could do something less offensive. But I need ideas.

derrick, much?

Um, whoa. So I’m not sure if this is the karma monster coming to get me, or what. But yikes.

PS-whadda you know, there’s a song called karma monster!!!

So there’s this new guy at work—let’s call him Sherlock. Seems pretty nice—even a little too nice—but still nice. Perhaps a bit odd ‘cause he uses smiley faces in work related emails, maybe a little over-interested in others—but he’s new, and he seems pretty smart, and he is like a ten-years older blonde Derrick Oneal. Creeps. Me. The. F*ck. Out.

Creeps.

I emailed a co-worker a link to our TU grad pics for the ChE dept, and she saw it. But it’s more than just appearances—it’s mannerisms and things he says, e.g. “because he’s the big boss man.” So friggin weird.

And then I almost collided with a man on a motorcycle today. He was speeeeeeeeding. And when I tried to change lanes he actually sped up. I had my turn signal on for ten whole seconds before I moved, and this man sped up into my blind spot. Yikes. He then zipped around me into the other lane, gave me an exasperated hand wave while he passed me and then wove through cars. Bet his name was Derek. Or Derrick. Or Derik. Or Derrek. Or something. Because I haven't met a Derrick that I like--at least not one that I don't come to dislike eventually.

And even more karma monster attacks--yesterday while baking my mom’s pizza on my brand new pizza stone the olive oil I’d used to “season” the stone ran EVERYWHERE, and now my oven is dirty dirty dirty.

Hopefully tomorrow, Friday the 13th, will be better.

knock on wood. particle board. plastic. whatever.

unleaded.

I’m tired of unleaded. Unleaded gas, unleaded soda, unleaded sugar, unleaded sausage, you name it.

Of course, I’m only bothered by the gas ‘cause it’s expensive. The rest are because their fake—engineered.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I AM a freaking engineer. But I sometimes have issues with these engineered things. Not as much as the issues I have with people who only eat free range chickens or no-fat-no-sodium-no-carb-no-calorie-no-chemicals-no-taste food, but still issues. I just prefer the type of engineering that goes into things like this.

Also, I wish it would snow in RTP. And I wish I could figure out what I want to do about grad school. And I hope I get the KayDee scholarship from nationals (though that’s highly, highly unlikely—I’ve already gotten that super neato Corre Anding Stegall National Leadership Award from them, I’m not so certain I’ll get much else). Oh, and I hope this horrid rental car I’m driving doesn’t cause me to get in any wrecks. That too.

I have a friend from Kentucky, and I noticed something—when you are going to go to the place that sells food (like Albertson’s, for instance), do you say you’re going to a) the grocery, b) the grocery store or c) the store? I’m wondering if it’s another location thing. Hmm. I've already learned new words for vomiting and getting drunk and I'm not sure what else (these "southerners" are changing the way I speak--yikes!) so maybe this is just another one of those things...

also, this firefox thing is picky. it won't do the correct font on my blog. hmm. I had to use internet explorer in order for it to work properly. hmm hmm hmm.

postponed...and in a rush

the chinese food and rice was postponed (no soy sauce, as otto had taken it to work with him and accidentally left it there)

the king kong watching was postponed since we had to have dinner first, and didn't want fast food (mmm mmm mmm mexican!)

and then someone (me) had the super duper brilliant idea of working out before getting the day started. except that means that the movie now starts in forty five minutes and my hair is still wet! oopsie.

tonight, we're playing clue!!!

lessons.

Important lesson I learned this week: 2-propanol (aka isopropanol, which is like ethanol with an extra carbon and some hydrogens sticking off the side) eats through Teflon tape. I learned this while soaking my membrane tube in said 2-propanol, when the liquid started cascading out the bottom of my makeshift test tube (made from a teflon tape covered cork and some plastic tubing). Boy oh boy, that was fun to clean up.

It reminds me of a lesson I learned a few years ago: aluminum foil deteriorates at 600 C. It will ruin your catalysts when you calcine them. It turns into a thin papery substance that crumbles into little tiny bits when you touch it.

And another important lesson I need to learn? It’s about toxic people, toxic relationships. Honestly, perhaps we all need to learn it…

It has occurred to me that there are some people in my life who sometimes make me uncomfy, who sometimes exclude me, who sometimes seem to avoid talking to me—or at least who (intentionally or not) sometimes make me feel excluded and avoided. If they were my boyfriend, sometimes I think I’d dump their ass. But these people are my friends, and the rest of the time all is hunky dory. So that makes the situation trickier, methinks. What happened to being honest grown-ups, I ask? Or to at least pretending to be grown-ups? yeesh. Hopefully life will calm the eff down soon, and I can stop having stressful events long enough to let these chill pills I've been downing do their thing.

And then I’ve realized something else too…
I’ve a knack for introducing people, having them become friends, and then having them leave me out. Case(s) in point: my fourth grade best friends, Erin and Laura, who then became friends with just one another. Or in middle school, where I introduced Courtney to Melissa, and eventually they became the best of friends, and I was their third wheel. Or right when we got to high school, and Sterling and I together introduced our respective friends to one another’s, and they off and became the “cool” group, leaving us drama-loving-overachiever-smarties to ourselves. I don’t regret this last one though—I’m actually glad I wasn’t in the “cool” group. And maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it sure seems that way. But I digress.

And perhaps I'll just leave it at ouch. And maybe a why (not a why me, though--this isn't a pity party) and a what can I do to stop this? And in the meantime, what should I do? Yeesh.

On a much happier note, today is Friday, I’m going to see King Kong with my free movie passes, and my house is now full of groceries. Oh, how I love having groceries. And fresh produce. Gotta love it. I’m also going to try and go halvesies on a new pan with Otto since we jointly ruined it, and maybe buy a nylon wisk. And cook Chinese food—mmm mmm mmm I love fried rice. Plus, the directions I found crack me up, since they refer to cooking fried rice while in the buff. Ha!

new year's!

Finally--pictures from New Year's. It was fun, and worth the messy travel stuff, though I would have much preferred the non-messy-travel version where I flew to Raleigh, began with a 120-240 nap, drove home, washed clothes while taking a nap with the kitties and then drove while rocking out to pleasant music and talking on the phone. Now that would have been ideal. All in all I still had an excellent time though...


Otto really wanted me to kiss his cheek--I had to put on special lipstick!


Cory and Carrie R*chardson. No relation, except that we think we may have been sisters in a former life (not that I believe in that--but it makes for a good story!).


Otto being DJ. Notice the lipstick smears. He had this brilliant idea that I should put on a ton of lipstick and kiss him so he'd have lipstick marks. Not quite as hot as he thought...


Dan being DJ and wearing his fabric mullet. They went go-karting earlier that day and the people made them wear helmets, and wear these under to avoid lice, the plague, leprosy etc.


The girls--Laura, Cory, Molly and me! (There were more--including the drama causers--they just weren't around when all the drunken picture taking was going on.)


And here's me with my flask and a cigar. Bad lighting, but funny pic, methinks. It was a bummer too because I had to put my cigar down like two minutes later to go solve a situation with the drama-drama. That, and we think the dog may have eaten it...


There were two of these signs, both conveying the same message. One of the drama causing duo was getting all in someone's face, and Otto and Lindsay had to think of a good way to make them chill out--so I drew them each a little sign. Ended up being both handy and funny that night :)

gobi

gobi would totally do this for me. I'd have to train him first, but he'd totally do it. I mean, last night when I was all upset he slept on my pillow again--and kept Hazel off of it so that he could keep me company by himself like he used to :)

yay for cats.

the best laid plans...

I had so much fun this past weekend. Bachelorette fun and a New Year's celebration!!!

Except I should not ever ever be allowed to travel on any day whose name is "Eve." Last Christmas I spent a bajillion hours in O'Hare. And on New Year's Eve I was in LaGuardia from 1100-630, running on four hours of sleep, two fruity drinks, two tang and tonics, two airplane bottles of apple run, a vodka tonic, hits off Adriana's rasperry vodka filled flask and I'm not sure what else. It was miserable. I changed my plans from going to Raleigh then driving to Richmond to just flying to Richmond after my flight was cancelled. And I had to rent a car to get home the next day. I was sooooo tired. I'm totally writing Delta a letter. Anyhoo. Crazy stuff though. I'll post NYE pics soon.

Below you'll see lotsa Bachelorette party pics. We went to Sushi Samba, Tavern on the Green, Rockafeller Center, shopping on Fifth Avenue, FAOSchwartz (but couldn't go in due to the line), Lucky Cheng's (with waiters in drag), a show called Savage Men (a very crazy male review!) and lots of cute bars. Very fun. The only bad parts were that Ariel got sick one morning and missed Tavern on the Green (it was $25 a pop to cancel, so we went without her) and that Rachel was negative and doesn't smile in pictures. Ugh. Oh well, we still had fun!!!

Also, Ariel gave us all hip flasks--pink leather with our initials engraved on a plate. I have a fun NYE pic when I'm using it, I'll show you soon. And also, I'm proud of myself for taking a bus, two subway trains and walking five blocks to get to my friends all by myself! I bought a cute belt, cuter purse, and now want a puffy coat and cowboy boots. Yikes!

All in all, good stuff. Except for the travelling craziness. :)

Rachel, me, Audrey, Adriana, Ariel and Kristen. Rachel was fun, but she never smiles in pictures--on purpose! I'm having to crop her out of everything possible.

everyone but Adriana in front of the Christmas Tree in Rockafeller Center. Ariel was't feeling well, so she hid behind a diet coke can!

this one's for Sterling. Remember those cigars he bought me for my birthday? they were Te Amo's. And this was right outside the subway station.

Me, Audrey and a drunkity drunk drunk Ariel. This was shortly before we called it a night.

ariel, audrey, me and kristen. ariel was allergic to the boa, so she had me wear it. and check out my new cute $15 purse from NY!

ariel had a candy necklace that we were supposed to get boys to eat off of--but the boys I brought over made me do it too!

taking our big apple rum shot since we were in the big apple!

bachelorette!