December 2007 Archives

My vacay is drawing to a close and at this time tomorrow night I will be landing on the West coast. It will technically be 3 hours from now, though the clock on the wall will say now. Time zones blow my mind. If I think about it too much I get a little freaked out. How can it seriously be a different time somewhere else? What about people who live on one side of the line and work on the other? Why does Arizona get to opt out of daylight saving time? Why do I have to do all this MATH?!

I am suffering from a severe Dramamine hangover; we went on an extended boat tour of the Intracoastal Waterway and looked at all the million dollar mansions and palm trees with candy cane Christmas lights. Oh and I went to CVS (!!!) and  Dunkin' Donuts today. It made me miss Ruby more than usual.

Updates from the homefront inform me that I've missed yet another white Christmas. And I didn't even get a tan.

I've come up with the first of twelve monthly themes for Wishville (see previous entry Themes for details). January will be "Do It Herself" month. I've got some Big Plans for taking charge in 2008 -- rewiring the electrical outlets in my apartment, installing my extensive Frankenstella chrome package (crash bars, cowl protectors, passenger foot pegs, etc.), and perhaps a field trip to Babeland -- very much in line with the theme of the month.

This trip inspired several epiphanies on which I will elaborate soon -- I am no longer a product of my childhood, I have a slew of incredible friends, and I am never leaving Seattle again.

Wish me uneventful travels. See you on Pacific Mountain Time.

Christmas Day in Deerfield Beach, FL

Yes, Dunkin Donuts.

I figured it out! My 25 super-grainy photos have suddenly been liberated from my super-crappy phone! I don't know why I'm so excited!!

THE PURPLE SLUT:

Okay so I got the stoopie pics off my cell phone and here they are in all their 50 pixel glory. These are from the day with the snow in Seattle. You know, the day. We only get one.

A bunch of us went to lunch and came out two hours later and it was, like, all snow. For real! Look:

That's the Aloha St. sign. What are those crazy cars doing on the road?!

At Uwajimaya on Sunday, buried beneath the Hello Kitty stationery, I found The Best Planner Ever. It is positively Japanese in all its Engrish glory. The cover is black fabric and has two little anime pigs on it, one black and one white. The little black pig is sideways and the little white pig has a little red heart over its head. The calendar has lots of areas for goal-setting and list making, including a weight control graph, "Imaging for 2008" and a color map of the Tokyo subway system. The best part is the first page of each month, which has a big blank square labeled, "Theme for This Month."

I have a major sleeping problem. In short, I don't. At least not on an appropriate schedule like normal people. Little of what I do is normal, though, so big shocker there.

For a couple of years I would go to bed at a normal time, physically and mentally tired, and then wake up to full consciousness every 20 minutes. I'd fall back asleep, but then wake up 20 minutes later. This went on all night. Evenings stretched on longer for me than daytime. I was always sleepy, confused and disoriented.

When I lived on the houseboat, sleeping quarters were tight. The stateroom was only six feet long, so the full-size bed just barely fit. And there were two humans and at least one feline in the bed each night. Both humans happen to be at least six feet tall, and one cat is more than 16 pounds. That's a lot of body mass for a petite mattress. It was during that time period that my sleeping problems became significantly worse.

Boy Former sent me this pic today of Cat Former eating a pen. I nearly peed my pants. Jasper has the scariest teeth I have ever seen.

And yes, I'm well aware that I've been letting other people run the blog posting around here but I'm just plain lazy this week. Deal with it.

I do have an exciting entry brewing that includes insomnia, memory loss, somnambulism and synthetic oil. Can't wait to share.

V.VB sent me this photo of her car this morning with the subject line, "A Little New England Time for You". Makes my ride to work this morning seem rather balmy. New Haven might have a white Christmas -- wish I could be there...

I have to go to a department work party this afternoon at a pool hall/game extravaganza place. I don't know how to bowl. They won't have a single thing on the menu I would eat. Everyone but me will be drunk. Oh, and PS: I organized the party.

I got a new hat. That was not part of the plan.

Historically, I have not been one those people who rolls with the punches, flies by the seat of her pants, or smoothly transitions to "Plan B" when the course of events changes abruptly. I am well aware that life does not often unfold as mapped out, but that doesn't stop me from being the coach with the clipboard, visor, stopwatch, walkie-talkie and whistle. I am a professional organizer -- it's been my job for so many years -- planning events down to the last detail with itineraries and time schedules, handling all the nitty gritties like Mapquesting and phone calling. I can't help that it spills over into my personal life. Much like Tupperware and Excel spreadsheets, obsessive planning is a guilty pleasure I relish with gusto. I could have worse hang-ups -- agoraphobia or a rubber chicken fetish, for example.

Waiting for Celeste. Photo credit: JJ.

Oh, sigh. Tis only December and already I am crabby and tired of being cold and wet.

Right after Thanksgiving I acquired the flu and landed in bed for a week. I ate three boxes of clementines and drank ginger tea. I watched the entire first season of CSI on DVD. Yesterday, operating on 3 out of 4 cylinders, I returned to work. It was surreal, having slept nearly the entire previous week away.