10 Things I Learned This Weekend

1. I can be suckered into just about anything under the right conditions.
2. I am a lot more patient than I think I am, but I do have a limit. I hit it about 5 hours in.
3. Gordo loves me. He loves me so much that he doesn't want to share me with anyone else, and he is not shy about expressing his displeasure at the sight of me doing things like, say, showing affection to anyone else...like my poor, unsuspecting, understanding, and incredibly patient boyfriend.
4. Gordo's displeasure at being put in a kennel is best expressed by pathetically barking like mad and ripping his dog bed to shreds.
5. I'm the sheep whisperer...or maybe just incredibly lucky. Sometimes.
6. If one is going to accidentally set sheep loose in the parking lot of a hotel, one should prepare to encounter several people around who will try (and mostly fail) to help, point, laugh, and take pictures/video. One should also plan on having a sheep whisperer (me) and an untrained Australian Shepherd on hand.
7. Memphis-style BBQ is highly overrated (but maybe that's just been my experience). What I mean to say is, the BBQ in Memphis sucks just as much as the roads in Memphis.
8. Trish (the GPS)'s map update I paid $80 for isn't so much an update as it is a total fusterclucking.
9. Cracker Barrel breakfasts actually expand in your stomach after you eat them. One breakfast can be enough for a person's belly for at least 12 hours.
10. My job is over me just as much as I'm over it (HR sent out the job posting for my soon-to-be vacant position this morning).

upcoming birthday goings on

Just a little list I'm compiling to keep track of stuff (because the whiteboard calendar can't possibly handle it all).

Friday (Jan 23rd):
Martinis & IMAX (woohoo! Martinis for dinner!)

Saturday (Jan 24th):
I don't know...brunch, maybe?
birthday party! (for which I need to find an oversized flannel shirt...or a prom dress)

Sunday (Jan 25th):
Birthday phone call from mom (which I have to figure out how to record so it can be shared with the world)
Belgian waffles?
Hawks v. Suns game with Chris

Other possible things to do while Chris is in town, depending upon how long he'll let me keep him here:

The Vortex for burgers

Agnes & Muriel's for other nummies

Indian food (Vatica, maybe? or Desi Spice? any other good ones I'm forgetting or don't know about? I'm keeping my eye on this post...)

Snow Mountain!! @ Stone Mountain

feed the ducks @ Piedmont

Martin Luther King, Jr. Center

trivia (as we didn't quite make it there last time)

King Tut? Jury is still out...

Animal encounter @ Chattahoochee Nature Center

Dialogue in the Dark

Norman Rockwell's Home for the Holidays @ Atlanta History Center

Outbreak: Plagues that Changed History/ The Work of Bryn Barnard @ CDC

Shakespeare Tavern (Romeo and Juliet)

I'm sure I'll find more stuff to add to the list, but for now...that'll do, pig. That'll do.

my life is so exciting, i could probably go to sleep.

Saturday has consisted so far of:

The Tudors
Buddy snugglins
eating (relatively healthfully)
Lipstick Jungle, thanks to hulu.com (because the show is so bad, not even my DVR will record it when i ask it to)
Intervention, while drinking a glass of wine (is that wrong?)

...but the kicker...

bubble bath + same glass of wine from above + poetry (Carolyn Forché) + candles + music (Cat Power + Portishead) = could I be any more of a girl?

A good bath always gives me much needed perspective. Maybe it's something about my ears being under the water, which drowns out everything else clouding my judgment, or at least serves as a buffer from it for a little while. While my ears were under, I came up with a list of things I need to do (or things I was beating myself up about):

go back to the gym regularly, starting tomorrow (no greater motivation than taking a bath. Gross.)
stop moping about the dog
give the dog as much attention and affection as I can while I still can
stop spending money (because maybe then I could afford doggie chemo)
no more beer or wine
eat less
find a new job
pick up the phone once in a while
pick up a pen every day


I ended up pouring half a glass of wine down the drain.

Do you ever find yourself doing something ridiculous, but just you can't stop?

Because I'm so paranoid about my house getting broken into while I'm in Tulsa for Thanksgiving, I have decided it's a good idea to catalogue my DVD, CD, book*, and record collections, just in case I need to provide State Farm with a list of stolen items.

Seriously.

While it isn't taking as long as I thought it would, I have about a hundred other things I should be doing, like, say, more laundry so I at least have something clean to wear on the drive out. Earlier today (when I was organizing and listing the DVDs), I got sucked into watching The States on the History Channel for an embarrassingly long time.

What is my malfunction?!

Other ridiculous things I plan to do before I leave, because I'm so paranoid:

make sure my renters' insurance is good to go

copy all music purchased from iTunes to DVD, or at least make a list of it

copy all pictures from the desktop onto DVDs, in case vandals steal my desktop

copy all writing/poetry stuff from desktop to laptop, also in case of desktop theft

move something heavy to block the back door from a would-be intruder (though this might cause some trouble upon our return, when Chester makes a mad dash for the back door to pee)

ask/tell the landlord about putting a lock on the gate

*...Yeah. I'm not going to have time to do this part. Like, ever. But I need to at least do some of the really, really old ones that are worth more than the new paperbacks.

Oh! P.S. I found one of my two my most favorite Christmas CD ever in the history of time, remembered that it's getting to be about that time, and started listening to it on repeat...which I will no doubt be doing until 2009 (minus road trip time, because that would be breaking the rules). For those curious...here it is.


originally posted here.