minivans are the new porsch 911

see minivan

see minivans licence plate cover

am i missing something here?

i'd like to thank the academy

i'd just like to mark this momentous occasion...

i have made it to this person's list of current obsessions!

tears. lots of tears.

a survey. please respond

let's say you have a friend.

and let's say that said friend is on a slippery slope to self destruction, a path that is marked with subtle pitfalls- many that are hard to decipher unless you yourself have actually been on a similar road, or at least seen that road taken by too many others...

but let's also say that you're no longer close enough to said friend to be comfortable in voicing your concern to them directly. however, you know said friend has other friends who might be more influential, and you could probably say something to said other friends. what do you do?

no really, i want to know.

who needs wordsworth?

three of my favorite quotes from last weekend. explanations given to the best of my ability

"you're a pimp dude, have some cabbage"

-this was tim referring to his methodology or criteria for tipping

"that's a cell phone?"

-the first thing out of rachel's mouth when she saw tim's old phone.

but really, people have home phones smaller than that.

"it's the emoticons with noses that make me want to rip my arm off and beat myself with it."

-natalie. enough said.

is this work?

so...catching a red sox game in the middle of the day, compliments of your place of employment, isn't anything to complain about.

so i won't.

and you will be my muse

dear mr. bellamy,

hi. remember me? section 113, row L, seat 19. green jacket. i was the only person at your saturday night concert above the age of 17- save the senior citizen two rows behind me whose rear never left the seat- rock on, grandma. i just wanted to thank you for putting on perhaps the most amazing concert i've ever seen in my entire life. i must admit that i was skeptical of the venue at first. though i can appreciate and celebrate your rising success and popularity, i am one who has always preferred a smaller music scene to an arena, and a part of me will miss the days where $5 (or sometimes just a smile and a wink-depending on who was working the door) could get me into your show at that rat hole someone passed off as a night club. however, from the moment you opened with "take a bow" all my pretense flew out the window and i couldn't sit still until after your second encore, "knights of cydonia" (a perfect closing number, in my opinion). thank you, also, for going old school a bit and incorporating a number of pieces from showbiz and origin of symmetry, which no doubt meant more to granny and me than could have to the rest of the toddlers in attendance. a thoughtful shout out to your groupies. still, hearing "starlight" live nearly brought tears to my eyes and in that moment i felt akin to brace-face sophomore on the front row who's mascara stained cheeks shone in the light of the well placed pyrotechnics. that song will be played at my wedding.

there were so many other amazing moments, the least of which included the piano light parade during "sunburn", the extended guitar solo in "hysteria", and singing along with the crowd to "time is running out", three of my most favorite songs ever, and you literally brought down the house with "supermassive black hole". well, maybe not the whole house, but at least that one girl that i saw fall off her chair. you brought her down. kudos.

anyway, i may not be able to claim the position of number one fan, but i probably fall in your top thousands. what i'm saying is i really like you guys and i'd appreciate your re-appearance in boston as soon as possible. give my love to chris and dominic, and maybe i'll catch up with y'all in bucharest in october.

yours truly,

fan #4,723 (or something like that)

i'll go it alone

today i purchased 1 ticket to Muse. 1.

...

only a concert of this rocking magnitude could make me forget that i'm going there alone.

my house is a very very very fine house

today i will write about my house in salt lake city. why? oh, i don't know, maybe because i've become acutely aware of it as of late due to the busted waterline that's been filling my basement with water for the past 5-days, of which my renters failed to tell me about until yesterday.

anyway, so this is my house. it's located in the historic district of salt lake, is about 107 years old, and ugly as all get out from the outside. don't let the greek flag appearance throw you off, it's actually a pretty cool place. please, come inside with me...

this is the front room. it looks a little bare since this is post-move-to-boston photography. actually, it was always a little bare, but is my favorite room in the house at a certain time of day when the sun pours through the window and warms the couch perfectly. it made for a great reading room. i miss it.

this hallway connects the back bedroom to the front room, and there is a bathroom in-between. neither of those rooms are interesting enough to warrant their own picture, though i will mention that the shower in that bathroom has 3 different shower heads, one from the side, one from the front, and one from the back. so that's pretty cool. the yellow makes me happy. yellow=cheerful.

upstairs is the "master" bathroom with this huge jetted tub that seems to impress people. i hate baths. waste of time in my opinion, and the thought of soaking in my own grime just doesn't appeal. maybe i shouldn't admit that i'm grimy. oh well.

the best part of this room though is the view out the window. it looks out over the backyard of mine and the surrounding properties, and also onto my apple tree, which produces the best apples in the world. i miss that too.

back downstairs, the front room connects to the dining room, (and the knee bone connects to the shin bone) which is the first room you enter in the house. in the corner on the left you will note my beloved piano, and in the right, my amazingly resilient palm tree. i'm pretty sure i watered that thing, maybe, once every 3-4 months, but it's still going strong!

oh, and that's cafe rio on the table- my 9th love in life.

beyond that lies the kitchen. this is one view and below is another. it was here that i developed my love for cooking. maybe it happened here because the 5' x 7' apartment kitchens i'd been dealing with for years previous just didn't scream "hey! come spend time in here!" and my mom's kitchen growing up only represented dishes duty.

nevertheless, you can see how having two, count them, two ovens and loads of counter space might have increased my appetite (pun intended) for cooking.

and last, but definitely not least is my favorite room in the house- the laundry room. odd? yes, but the lime green soothes my soul and i love it. please take a moment to notice the shelf upon which a bunch of crap is piled. my brother installed said shelf so that we could put the tv there and watch it while doing laundry. subsequently, this room got the most attention.

anyway, this post is boring and i've got a flooded basement. better go.

totally worth blogging

this is the final message i got from my little brother on gchat today:

Geoff: okay your about as exciting as a marmoset to talk to, so im gonna sign off. Love you bye

charming, isn't he?

originally untitled

for some reason it won't let me put a title on this. hmmm.

rachel requested a new post. and since i like to give rachel pretty much anything she wants, here we go.

i couldn't think of anything to blog about, so i'm going to blog about my blog. i looked up what i wrote about on this day last year, which can be found here, as well as one year prior to that which can be found here. both entries speak to some pretty significant experiences in my life and i'm feeling a little more ok about the fact that i found 3 journals last night that had all been started and quitted only a month or two later. is quitted a word?

i've been asked by a few people "why blog?". to those people i would say, "why not blog?" not necessarily because i think that is a valid answer, but because people tend to get stumped when you answer their questions with a question. while they're scratching their heads in search of a response, you can run away or stuff a candy bar in your mouth to prevent further discussion.

so to you my friends (and creepy person who googled "seagull procreation" and was sent to a previous post), tell me- why blog?

i am eeyore

if you want to read what some psychologists have said about me, here it is:
http://typelogic.com/istj.html

they're actually quite accurate.

if you want to find out what they have to say about you, go here: http://www.kisa.ca/personality/

good luck.

step 1: admitting you have a problem

and i do.

the problem is shoes.

i'm addicted to buying shoes. there, i've said it. as of yesterday, i've purchased 3 pairs this week, which my co-worker pointed out (unnecessarily and unsolicited, i might add) is an average of 1.5 pairs per day. i'm so ashamed.

but really, the problem is that i actually do need 2 very specific pairs of shoes (read: boring, boring work appropriate- one pair brown, one pair black, blah blah blah). can i help it if while combing the racks at dsw- actually looking for aforementioned specific and necessary shoes- a beautiful pair of nicole miller satin stiletto's jumps out at me, which just happen to be my size and happen to be marked down from $175 to $16? or perhaps i stumble upon a pair of vince camuto brown, studded, leather soled pumps at 80% off? can you blame me? yes? well, granted, i could choose to spend my lunch break in a more constructive and less expensive manner, but how can one bring themselves to choose that higher path knowing that somewhere amidst the rows and rows of leftovers, cast off's, and irregulars, lie that perfect pair of twolips red leather slingbacks?

oh, and did i mention that the dsw summer sale starts on thursday? triple points people! oh the shoemanity!

rachel- please?

do you like flock of seagulls?

seattle, wa: one of the most beautiful places i've ever seen.

i arrived hours before anyone else, so took myself on a tour of the city- including to the aquarium where i pet these lovely dudes above (maybe they're chicks, i don't know. do starfish have genders? and furthermore, how do they procreate? well, a blog for another day)

and saw this amazing mountain, which was definitely the tallest mountain i've ever seen, at least to that point (see forthcoming pictures from alaska...)

and another view. can't get enough.

this was a cool boat at the dock on the wharf. i was feeding the seagulls (as directed by the sign at ivans seafood).
marie and me.
this trip brought to you in part by jet blue airways and the deficit in my bank account, but mostly by the two lovely people above.

loved it.

and we're back.

this blog is brought to you in part because it's just been a while, but mostly because i see that i'm quickly approaching colleens max time allowed for not blogging and staying linked to her page. so in honor of her birthday yesterday, and her one-year boston anniversary today, i blog...

so what's new? a lot. new job, new roommates, new perspective on life. new people, new shoes, new places to eat lunch, and new lunch mates. new gchat friends, new books, new glasses (eek),
new grass, and other new stuff too sacred for this blog. i'm loving it all so much. have i ever mentioned that my life rocks? well it does. remember when i went to alaska 2 weeks ago? yeah, that was awesome (pictures and a blog forthcoming). oh, oh, and remember when i went to seattle for preston and marie's wedding reception and it was fantastically amazing? yeah, i remember that (pictures and a blog forthcoming). my life is honestly chalk full of great stuff, due in part to the fact that i live in boston- pretty much one of the best cities in the entire world- but also because of my fantastic friends and family. now you know i love you all, but i have to highlight a few people in my life for just one sec. first, my mom. favorite moment of this week was when she called to see if carri and i want the 2 trench coats she found in the basement, which she plans to throw out. trench coats. anyway, there's also rachel, who makes me feel like every time i'm in her presence i'm the best thing since sliced bread. and also nat, who gchat battles with me better than anyone i know, and who's company i'm always a fan- no matter the circumstances. the point is, i freaking love my life and that's as much as i have to say right now.

ZZZZzzzzz

remember when i used to blog? yeah, that was cool...

before i go

some randomness before i pack up the computer and ship it back to the place from whence it came:

i'm a horrible blog friend. i realize i've not commented on any one's posts in weeks, but that doesn't mean i'm not reading them. i love you all. you rock my world, and please keep up the good work. i fear that my inability to check blogs and comment will only increase from here on out.

today is beautiful. i laid on my roof for nearly an hour before coming in to clean out my closet and put away all my winter clothes. just my luck, it will drop to negative 12 tonight and i'll be sorry.

speaking of cold, i'm headed to anchorage on sunday (after making a fantastic stop in seattle for preston and marie's wedding reception). apparently, however, it's not too cold there, so i won't need to unpack said winter clothes.

hummus is good.

kayaking on the charles is a splendid activity. i recommend doing it. i also recommend using the word "splendid".

i need a slurpee.

i need a car to get said slurpee.

maybe i'll ride the t into harvard square to get a slurpee.

ok. gotta go.

my life's mantra

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." -- Mario Andretti

i love her

living deliberately

peggy would probably do this post more justice, but since she's on sabbatical, you'll have to put up with me.

let me just say that she and i took a lovely swim in walden pond today. first swim of the season, baby!

also, we met her new boyfriend harry, and she built them a pet pig named hubert (pictured below).

so there you go, about as boring a post as ever, but a monumental day of the year worth documenting.

especially for erin

i need to point out a few things:

a. shady mcshaderson. who is she? who knows.
b. software programmer in training. 35 years later, he still dresses the same.
c. erin's 'UGE glasses. she could probably lick them if she tried.
d. yes, not only is my hair crimped, there is also a random section pulled to the side.
e. 3 words: acid wash jeans.
f. tree growing out of concrete. amazing.

welcome to 1988.

only in boston...

can you go to opening night of the boston pops (with ben folds) and see a fistfight break out in the balcony.

black sheep

first day of kindergarten and senior year.
i'd say that my parents pretty much set me up to be different.

setting expectations

i am a hermit until thursday evening. who will play with me then?

anyone?

anyone?

do you guys even remember me?

done y done!

last week was spent in mesa, arizona watching these two people join in holy matrimony

we had breakfast the morning before at the t.c. eggingtons, only the best breakfast place in the country. someone has morning face!

preston getting cold feet? no, of course not.

i think we might be dreaming of our beds right now

okay, marie. let's take a good one.

no really, a good one this time.
we got manicures and pedicures and went shopping at the mall later that day. seth got me the biggest drink known to man. this one's for you peg!

then later that night preston's parents hosted a dinner for the family and close friends. this is marie and me in the car on our way. we clean up nice, no?

the ceremony was very beautiful, of course. i cried, of course. we then waited for them outside of the temple in the beautiful az sun. the couple emerges victorious!

all the friends: alyssa, cameron, jen, marie, preston, seth, julie, kylee, jared.

congrats you guys! i love you!

a phoenix from the ashes

i had to call the cops last night on this couple that was fighting in front of my house. the guy was shoving the girl into a fence and they were yelling and screaming at each other. as far as i could tell (and i hope this is true), they were breaking up.

within a matter of about 45 seconds, while i was still on the phone with the 911 operator, two cop cars came screaming down the road. it's amazing that we live in a country where we can call the police, and actually have them come to our aide.

i'm still a little shaken up by the whole thing, i guess. i don't really know what is wrong with me today, but i feel gripped with anxiety and i just want to cry. instead, i think i'll get on a plane with 4 of my best friends and fly to warmer climates. adios!

just a little plug for a good cause...

confession # 3 (at least)

my crush list:

1. jack black
2. snoop dogg
3. eminem

...

.....

.......

i'm so ashamed!

i've said it before

and i'll say it again.

guster makes me happy!



(live in boston in december)

i dare anyone to listen to the song amsterdam and not feel happy.

oh what a night

last night i did a couple of things i haven't done in years:

• used a floppy disk
• had dinner with a homeless man

well, maybe we didn't have dinner together per se, but i was at kinko's in harvard square at about 2:30 am when in walks homeless man, whom i recognize as being the dude that practically lives in front of burdicks- please tell me someone else knows who i'm talking about, the man is practically a boston staple- and sits down at the computer right across from us and proceeds to eat a pretty delicious smelling dinner. it was weird, to say the least, and his food made me hungry.

as for the floppy disk, what can i say? i rock it old school.

my turn! my turn!

more than likely no one cares, but what they hey...

as seen here and here, the game is this: you put your itunes or ipod or windows media player or some ipod wannabe (or even disc man if your still rockin it old school) on shuffle and fill in each scene with the corresponding song, beginning with the first song that starts playing. you can't skip over any songs, you just have to take them as they come.

the following are what i came up with. things got off to an iffy start, but towards the end it was a little creepy how well the songs fit. see for yourself...

opening credits: "never let you go"- inxs
this song has such a long intro that we'd never even get to the words before the credits were over. also, there's a saxophone- don't all opening credits need a saxophone?

waking up: "slow down"- howie day
okay, i can see the day is starting out on the wrong foot...

first day at school: "treat her like a lady"- celine dion
yeah! sheesh! what's a girl got to do to get some respect around here?

falling in love: "winter solstice"- kaddisfly
"i am becoming ever more aware..." that this is my love life- a wintery solstice.

fight song: "space dementia"- muse
what's more frightening than a dementia? meh- muse always gets my blood pumping.

breaking up: "i slept with someone in fall out boy and all i got was this stupid song written about me"- fall out boy
no joke. this is the song that came up. i don't even know what to say.

prom: chapter 53 of "great expectations"- charles dickens
when are there not great expectations for prom? did i mention that i slipped in some water and fell at my prom? didn't expect that.

life's ok: "where is the love"- celine dion
you sing it celine. actually, i'm embarrassed that this is the 2nd celine song to come up. i wish this activity was proving me to be cool.

mental breakdown: "tourniquet" - evanescence
uh...wow. this is worse than i thought.

driving: "shoot the moon"- norah jones
i can't drive well at night. oncoming lights bother my eyes.

inner smile: "the runaways"- anberlin
okay, okay, i admit it! i'm addicted to america's next top model- you got me! i'm so ashamed!!!

flashback: "kiss from a rose"- seal
oh man, i hated this time of life. horrible flashback. make it stop.

getting back together: "love is a crime"- anastasia (from the soundtrack to "chicago")
amen sista.

wedding: chapter 25 of "great expectations"- charles dickens
hopefully my expectations have gotten a bit more grand than they were for prom...i'm just sayin...

birth of a child: "all creatures of our god and king"- mormon tabernacle choir
and a creature of me! appropriate.

final battle: "all the joy"- rachel mccartney
a wonderful look back at all things good. or, well, it's a rockin song.

death scene: "i hear noises"- tegan and sara
some people see the light, i hear the noises...

funeral: "she has no time"-keane
no, she certainly doesnt.

well, that was fun.

i scream...no, literally

okay, sorry, yesterday's post was a little heavy. my bad.

last night i had a dream that i had to make the decision to give up either ice cream or slurpee's for the rest of my life. luckily, i woke up before i had to make the fateful choice.

that was the worst nightmare i've ever had.

confession # something

i once almost married someone.

that's kind of weird to admit on a blog, but i want to remember that today i am feeling really grateful that i didn't. sometimes i miss him, or at least the idea of him, but we were not the right people for each other and i know it would have been a great disservice to us both.

that's pretty much all i have to say. relationships blah blah blah....

this is what we're doing right now...

and yes, that's a look of true terror on rachel's face.

feeling hot, hot, hot!

the bahamas...

looked a lot like this:

and the water was clear and beautiful like this:

and as we walked along the beach we saw this:

then sitting on a dock we looked down to see this:

um...we looked like this?

okay, maybe more like this:

we spent a heck of a lot of this!

but when it was all over, we were like this:

and now for a more thorough report:

*

date: march 15th- 19th, 2007

place: nassau, bahamas

reason: none in particular

*

we arrived in nassau around noon on thursday, march 15th and took an extremely overpriced taxi to our hotel. we would soon learn that overpricing wasn't limited to transportation, but was actually a common occurrence among every consumable good from the vending machine to the hotel we were staying in. this was lesson 1 in the bahamas.

*

lesson 2 was soon to follow, which was that everything runs on bahamian time; at least 1 hour slower than u.s. time (which i guess is more like 2 hours slower than east coast time). i'm not talking about time zones, but rather the pace at which everything moves. after changing into shorts and t-shirts we wandered over to a little shack of a restaurant on the beach to get some food. the service was not bad, our waitress was friendly, but if during the process of putting in our order, delivering our food, and getting us the check she had moved any slower she might have been going backwards. what should have been a quick, maybe 30 minute meal became an hour and a half ordeal. not once was our water refilled. okay, point taken.

*

lesson 3 occurred concurrent with lesson 2 which is that the men in the bahamas are extremely friendly and flirty. when the waitress approached us about the bill she said, "that man over there will take care of you." of course we assumed we would pay the man over there. it wasn't until we stood up and turned around and realized she was talking about the customer that had been sitting at the bar ( the same one who sang along with every single song that played on the radio) as being the man that would "take care" of us. a little embarrassed and confused, but mostly flattered we thanked him as we walked out. in his bahamian accent he said, "you ladies enjoy your vacation." ...!!...

*

so lessons aside, we spent all of our time sleeping in, swimming, and basking in the beautiful sunlight and reading all day on the beach (i started and finished the book life of pi in 3 days. bnb 4ever!). we were able to wander into downtown nassau where the streets are lined with all kinds of high end clothing and jewelry stores which somehow thrive despite the fact that black market replica's of almost everything in the stores can be purchased at the straw market at one end of the street. In that area it's nearly impossible to find any decently priced meals-refer to lesson 1-and the streets are packed with tourists from all over the world. it wasn't until sunday as we took a 45 minute jitney (bus) ride to the outskirts of the island to go to church that we saw the real culture of the island. it reminded me of guatemala. at night we watched movies on my laptop and fell asleep to the sweet sounds of underage spring breakers partying at the pool below us. in the morning (okay, early afternoon) we awoke to the sound of a parade going down the street and steel drums playing the tune to "feeling hot, hot, hot!" all in all it was pretty awesome.

*

so, my overall impression of the bahamas was this... although it was a good time, it was waaaaaaay to expensive for what it was. granted, we were on the main island (the capital) which is bound to be more dirty, more expensive, and more populated than other islands. if you're going to go, may i recommend a different island than nassau. also, and this will explain why none of my peeps got any gifts, unless you have hundreds of dollars to blow on stuff for friends, don't expect to get anything for anyone. on that same note, if you want to shop because you do have hundreds of dollars to blow on yourself or people, this might be the place for you. but you probably don't, cause if you're reading this it's because i know you (well, maybe) and i don't think i know anyone who has hundreds of dollars to blow, but if you do let me know and i'd be happy to be your tour guide for the bahamas.

*

until next trip.

because she won't share

and i think it's brilliant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJOXXEHxJio

not to mention...

there are a few things i need to recount from this weekend past...

friday: i can't remember much except that i worked from my bed all the live long day. it rocked. oh yeah, then there was that "win a date" thing at the church, where everyone who went felt the need to come up with some excuse for being there (i went to support ky)...it was...um...it was...uh....anyway...

saturday: climbing. not just climbing- OUTDOOR climbing! hooray! it was a toasty 45 degrees on saturday so of course we (marie, bryce, katie, other guy, and gil) headed out to the quarry to get our climb on. we roped up in 2 different places on this rock face, one more challenging than the other, and did each route a few times each. then, when it was all over i cleared the route by climbing to the top, over the ropes and the top of the cliff, and unhooked all the gear, than threw it down to the people below and hiked back down. it was freaking awesome!!!!!

sunday: i was told that i'm not allowed to blog about this. so i'm not going to tell you that i went to the e.r. with someone (for the sake of discretion we'll call her m. thompson...no,no...marie t) but anyway, i'm not going to tell you that someone else came (p. criddle) and someone else (p. deming) to keep us company and that we smuggled disgusting hospital cafeteria food into the room, then left without much of a resolution... but you didn't hear that from me.

monday: yes, i know that's not a weekend day, but still- it's worth mentioning. last night the roomies and me and our honorary roomie, marie, went to ikea! we ate meatballs then walked around and bought unnecessary stuff. it was a blast as usual, except that marie got sick. looks like meatballs are off the menu for her wedding.

tuesday: (because this just happened) i found a new love. it's an audi s4. why, brian, why? this is a v8 4.2 liter, 340 hp...are you serious? anyway, top down/music blasting, we cruised out to concord at about 90 mph. it's a beautiful day and a beautiful car. sigh.

ok, i'm done.

who's on youtube?

a ugoogoly

dear friends and family,

i'd like to take this opportunity to ask for a moment of silence for the cheat, who left us on tuesday march 6th, 2007 at approximately 12:47 pm. survived by his loving owner and many passengers, he will not soon be forgotten.

the decision to sell the cheat was not an easy one, but was made after much consideration to the fact that keeping him in boston was like keeping a golden retriever in a high rise apartment. horrible roads and traffic in our great city were just too stifling to the thousands of dollars of work and modifications previously done for increased speed and the cheat's innermost desire to be driven fast. sweet releif was rarely found save for the tiny stretch of frontage road on either side of route 2 in belmont. still, it was not enough to satisfy the beast and feeling it unfair to keep him around any longer, he was taken to ohio last weekend where he was sold at the auto auction to a loving dealership who will no doubt find him a more appropriate home. a home where he will be free to be as fast and reckless as possible, endangering lives all around- just as he was intended to do. sigh.

i can't say i won't miss him dearly. i can say, however, i won't miss dropping at least $500 every time he goes to the shop for some reason or another. i won't miss scanning the streets for every tiny pothole coming my way, and i wn't miss worrying about damaging the ground effects every time i pull out of my driveway. and though it may surprise you, i probably won't miss the flames either.

some may wonder, are the days of fast cars and easy men* over for me? perhaps for a time. of course, there's always that z3 i love so much...

*don't worry mom and dad, it's just a joke.

i am an island

guess what world?

i am not a rock.

for the most part, i hide my emotions well.

i deal with stuff on my own.

i bottle things up.

then sometimes i break.

and i hurt people because i am selfish.

then i cry. a lot.

and i feel

lonely.

incredibly lonely.

and the loneliness increases because of my rebellious nature.

"let me come to that conclusion on my own," i say.

even though i already have.

but i hope that someday i grow up.

and maybe in the meantime, you can love me anyway?

less is more

some may wonder why i removed my last two picture blog posts. the truth is, i don't like they way they look. i think they take up too much space and probably everyone that i would want to see them has at this point.

plus, it's my blog and i'll do what i want so back off! :)

ok, really- i'm just tired of people mistaking me for clark gable.

not tonight

is a really good song by tegan and sarah. most people hate them, but i hate those people. not really.

it's friday afternoon, so naturally, time for some senseless rambling...

i was reading one of my many started-but-not-finished journals the other night. the first entry, of course, indicates a commitment on my part to write frequently. that entry is on january 26th, 2006. the next entry is on march 1st, and the following (and final) entry is on april 10th. so much for the commitment.

but then i got to thinking, what do i want a journal for anyway? i have a blog which pretty much covers the highlights of my life should my posterity somehow ever become interested. i know, i know, a journal is supposed to be more personal. and sure, there are things in my journals that i'd never post on a blog, but when it comes down to it, i'm pretty sure i don't want my kids knowing some of the crap i've done or continue to do. and yes, perhaps some would argue that it may help my kids to identify more with me, but i've never read my parents journals and somehow i've still managed to believe that they are human beings. so in short, i'm done feeling bad about not being a journal writer...yeah, maybe that's what i'll give up for lent...journals.

last night i went climbing with marie. it was awesome as always, and i climbed a 5.8, which i consider to be a feat for someone who 1. lacks upper body strength, and 2. has only been climbing maybe 5 times? plus, marie gave me a high five, so that means something, right? of course, that was right after she got done doing the same climb one handed. make no mistake, that marie is a climber! she did tell me that i have to buy my own chalk bag now. maybe it's because i kept forgetting to give hers to her before she took off up the rock. i blame her at least 50% for that. but ok, ok, i'll get my own.

i've had my i-tunes shuffling through all my music (and audio books, podcasts, etc.) today which gives me the chance to listen to a lot of stuff i don't normally gravitate to on my own. besides, it's kind of exciting to listen to a chapter of great expectations stuffed somewhere between 'tool' and 'the flaming lips'. yeah, no, i don't actually listen to the whole chapter, but if i let it play for a few minutes, i can consider that my reading quota for the day has been fulfilled.

let's see, what else can i say for posterity sake? um...

uh...

er...

don't do drugs!

for lent

today is ash wednesday, which means 2 things:

1. i missed a ton of mardi gras parties last night. (dang!*)
2. time to decide what to give up for lent.

i guess i could go with the usual things; soda, chocolate (i'd rather die than give that up), candy, etc...or get more traditional and go without meat (but it's what's for dinner)...or maybe get creative and give up something like gchat or television series on dvd (i shudder to think of living life without either)...

when i asked a friend about what she was going to give up she said, "my assumptions." i've been thinking about that a lot and wonder if perhaps i should reach in deeper and find those personality traits or characteristics or habits which ultimately make my life harder, but which i can't seem to function without- and maybe give them up for the next 46 days.

so, what are you going to give up?

*by the way, i way preferred my pancake evening to any mardi gras party around. there were no parades, no masks, and no beads, but there was syrup...sweet, sweet syrup!

oh, and one more thing...

thank you, preston, for pointing out that today is

NATIONAL PANCAKE DAY!!!

yes, i will be making and enjoying some this eve.

i want candy

you know your sugar craving is serious when you actually consider pulling that box of jujubes that you threw away out of the garbage for one last hurrah.

just hypothetically speaking...