The best of craigslist.

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/all/


A link to the best of craigs list. If you got some time to kill cause your bored, this is a great place to do it.

Um.. so this is a tad strange to be blogging about.. but

But i just found it too weird to talk to my friends about, so i thought that i would write about it instead. You know, some times you need to get things out to process them, and talking about it may just not be easy. So, thats when you blog. Some people write a journal, but i blog instead, what can i say...

OK, heres the deal. My brother, as some of you know, died when i was 12. As im sure you can imagine, it was, shall i say, the suck -- to put it eloquently. So, well.. i have always known, or have known, since my brother died, that when he was only a young teenager he had a baby that he and the mother put up for adoption. You know how you can put your contact name on the adoption information, so if the kid ever wants to contact his family he can? Well, after my brother died, my mom contacted the adoption agency to make sure her name was on the form, so if my brother's kid ever went looking for his family he wouldnt end up empty handed when he got to his dad's side.
Well.. the other day my mom gets a call from said agency, and sure enough, like a million years after the fact, this "kid" who of course is no longer a kid by any means (in fact he HAS kids - or at least one) has contacted the agency and wants to reach my mom. Long story short, of course its long already, he calls her, and they talk. Not only do they talk, but it turns out he has Face book, and they become friends on face book. So. Here is where i stand. This is the message on face book that i sent him:
Hi..

So, i sat, staring at my computer screen, trying to decide what the hell i should write to my new found nephew. i started with something funny. i erased it. Then i wrote something serious. i erased that too. i guess i just find the whole thing just a little surreal (as im sure you do as well), and for one of the few times in my life, i wasnt quite sure what to say. Hi, My name is Tiresa, and .. we're related. Well... thats what i have settled on. Hi my name is Tiresa, and were related. Wait, didnt i say that already?
im 31, i am currently living in Omaha. i was born in Winnipeg, raised in Brandon, and moved to Vancouver when I was 14. i went to school, was valedictorian of my high school graduating class, took some time off, worked, went to college, then university, graduated and then married and moved to california when i was 29. i dont have kids, i have cats -- its easier to beat them with out getting in trouble. i work with at risk youth, which is the best birth control in the world. My husband is in the Air Force, which is how i ended up in the states. We've been married for 2 years and 3 months. His name is christopher, and he just deployed.
i pretend that i am a musician. In truth i play infrequently and im not very good (but dont tell anyone, it would shatter my dreams). i am more tattooed than everyone I associate with in Omaha put together, but thats easy 'cause there's only one tattooed person here that i know, and she has a tiny cookie monster on her shoulder blade (albeit cute). i like granola and yogurt, hot wings, KD, anything thats BBQ'ed, and love to sing along to the radio at the top of my lungs in the car when no one is looking. And, i hate capitalizing the letter i in a sentence when refering to myself, and i rarely use aposrophes.
Well, thats my life in a nutshell. Your turn.
t.

Like i said, i know i dont really open up a whole ton to share personal stuff, especially in this impersonal medium, but, as some of you know, and as i have said, im not really one to discuss things like this, and i felt the need to get this off my chest. So. Yeah, mission accomplished. If any of you all feel like i left something important out.. feel free to make your comments. If you dont, dont. i feel like Ive gotten the therapeutic value that i was looking for.
As always, thanks for reading.

Fairs and gang wars -- oh my!

So, as some of you have gathered from random posts on peoples Face book walls, I was at the local fair last week, waiting in line for a ride, when we heard about 10gun shots. Me and Christopher were at the fair with a friend of ours, Ben, and we all just kind of looked at each other like "was that what we think it was" and then 2 seconds later a herd of people came charging at us yelling "gun"! Well, its loud at the fair, games and rides and people yelling, and loud music, so it was hard to tell what was really going on. We ran with the people, to the other side of the ride strip (when a group of running people yell gun, you run first, ask questions later). We ran about 20 feet, really, just to the other side of the middle strip of the fair where the rides were, and on this side, people were still playing games, and just sort of milling about. We all just sort of looked at each other, standing next to the game where there is a wall of balloons, where you have to throw darts at them and pop them to win a prize. We hear 3 balloons pop in a row, and look at each other wondering if thats what we may have heard. I of course, being the naive canadian, assumed that because there was no more commotion, and because the rides hadnt all shut down, that it must have been a car back firing or the balloon game, and i start to walk back determined to get my money's worth of my ride pass. Just at that very second, like 75+ people came charging right at us again, even more panicked than last time, all screaming, pushing, and fighting their way away from where the gun was going off. Unfortunately, the fair was fenced in, and we were all at the back of the grounds by the fence, trapped. So, we all pushed as far as we could, towards the fence, then walked/ran upwards along it towards the front gate. We learned on the way that the shots occurred in the parking lot, right on the other side of the fence that we were walking along, right on the other side of where we were standing in line to get on a ride -- about 20 feet away from us. No one was hit, and I guess what happened was there were shots exchanged between 2 groups of people. There were what seemed like a billion cops there with in a matter of seconds, and they took a ton of people in. After we got out the front gate, we were walking along the main road, trying to walk back to Ben's apartment where we parked. Ben wanted to cut through the parking lot. He turned in, and I looked over to see where he was going, saw like 5 cops with their guns drawn, and a hand full of people laying on the ground getting handcuffed, like right in the path that Ben was taking, not but 10 feet in front of us. I just grabbed him by the shoulder and steered him back to the sidewalk and said "i think well take the long way".

names

So, we got a new kitten, and we are having a hard time naming it. Its a female calico, and is growing like a weed. She is fearless, but startles easily, and is all around a pretty nice little girl. Anyone have any suggestions?

The trophy

The trophy
sat in the window, where it had for years now, collecting dust. The gold sticker covering the base was beginning to peal at the corners, not unlike the chipped paint on the outside wall of the apartment building. It was a blue building, and not a pretty blue either, more like the washed out blue that you would find in the psychiatric ward of a hospital. The peeling paint was an expression of how old the apartment was, but it didn’t stick out in the neighborhood, because all the buildings were old. They reminded Emmanuel of war veterans, battered and left forgotten. Emmanuel’s trophy sat in the old window, covered in dust and cigarette ashes that had blown back in through the window that Emmanuel leaned out of when he was sneaking cigarettes from his mother. Not that she would notice, when she was home, she slept, while Emmanuel arranged dinner, and watched his little brother Jose. But, she was hardly ever home these days, working 3 jobs to afford that rundown one bedroom apartment. Emmanuel and Jose slept in the bedroom, Maria slept on the couch. As an illegal, under the table jobs don’t pay much, and even with three of them, getting rent together was a challenge every month. That and she had to keep dumping money into that old beater of a car. Something had to get her to work; the city was too big to walk anywhere. When Emmanuel Sr. was alive, the children’s father, Maria only had one job, cleaning for an older woman on the outside of town. The number 17 bus got her there, and on days where Emmanuel got off work early he picked Maria up on his way home. Sometimes, as a treat, they would stop off at the little taqueria and pick up dinner for the family, Manney (Emmanuel Jr.) and Jose loved the tacos from that little shack of a restaurant. Those days had long left the Gonzales family, back in what seemed like a life time ago, when Manny played baseball every summer and basketball during the school year. He was so active then, but now with Emmanuel gone, Maria couldn’t afford the sport fees for Manny to play, she didn’t have the time to take him to the baseball field anymore, and Manny’s attendance record at school was too poor to allow him onto the school team. Not that Manny would play now, even if he was able. Manny had different interests now; trophies plated with cheap gold stickers were a goal of the past. Trophies were for babies and mama’s boys, and at 14 Manny could care less about sports or school. Only a year earlier, when he met Paco sitting on the short brick fence outside his apartment building, the beginning of the end unfolded for Manny. Everyone was afraid of Paco. He was 18, covered in tattoos, and always had a Camel Filter hanging out of his mouth. He was the kid that all the parents in the neighborhood told their sons not to hang out with, and their daughters not to date. But Manny wasn’t afraid of Paco, like many young boys without fathers, Manny admired him. He never had anyone telling him what to do, he didn’t go to school, always had a pretty girlfriend, a nice car, and of course, Paco always had money. He had hundreds on him at a given time, and kept it in his pocket, as huge roll, always finding excuses to dig it out and flash around to the younger kids, asking them if they wanted some too. Manny was tired, tired of being poor, tired of not ever having anything, while so many other people had everything. So, when Paco was taunting the children with the money, Manny walked right up to him while the others shied away. Of course Paco wasn’t giving the money away free, there is always a price to pay, and Manny wasn’t stupid, even at 13 he knew how gangs made money. He often watched from his bedroom window, as people pulled over to the curb in front of his apartment, waiting in their idling cars for the kid sitting on the brick fence to walk over to the driver side window. To a passerby, it looked like they kid and driver were friends, and just talking, but Manny had a bird’s eye view and each time he saw the driver hand cash over to the kid. The kid never handed anything back, but instead, diligently returned to his spot on the brick fence. But, the car would always wait, and after a the kid on the fence made a call on his cell phone someone would come out of the building, walk over to the car and they would take off together. Most of the time, they just drove around the corner, the kid would get out of the car, and go back inside the apartment complex. Drugs. And Manny knew all about them. His father Emmanuel had given all the knowledge Manny needed about all different sorts of drugs, and even at 13, Manny knew more about them than most people would. He knew that they took your money, or they made you money, but never both. He knew that they could take your life, and could take fathers away from families, changing them forever. So, that sunny day, three weeks after his Manny’s 13th birthday where he stayed home with his brother and watched black and white cartoons on a TV that barely got 2 channels, he knew exactly what he was doing when he walked right up to Paco, and said that he wanted to make some money. And Paco, knowing all the boys on the block, knew that Manny’s father had died a few years ago, and that Maria was desperate for work. She was a parent, but he still knew his boss always had work for women. He had tried to offer her a job, but knowing what he meant Maria cursed at him in Spanish, storming into the apartment building. Almost as an afterthought, she stuck her head back out the door, and yelled to Paco a warning to stay away from her boys. They were good boys. Paco laughed to himself. They were good boys, and the oldest Manny was smart too, and just the perfect age to start working for him. Manny began working that same day. He started as a lookout, and an errand boy. He was forever running to the gas station down the street for chips and soda’s for the rotating kid that sat on the front brick fence, and for the group of guys that stayed inside the apartment. Manny wasn’t allowed into the apartment, where Paco spent most of his time. Instead, when one of the guys came out, on the way to the idling car at the curb, he’d stop by Manny, toss him a twenty dollar bill and give him an order. They always let him keep the change. Everyone liked Manny. He did what he was supposed to do, whistle when he saw a cop car coming. He never asked questions, and always was respectful to the older guys in the apartment. So, after only a year went by, Paco asked Manny if he wanted the job sitting on the fence. It was more responsibility, he could get in more trouble, but not much being a juvenile with a clean record, and of course it was more money too. Manny was out of school for the summer, had just turned 14, and had just spent another lonesome birthday at home with his brother, watching that same old shitty TV. He was thrilled to have the opportunity, and thanked Paco graciously. Manny liked being the money guy, and he liked the feeling of power he had holding on to a cell phone. At the end of a busy day, there was often close to a thousand dollars in his pocket, and he kept it in a roll just like Paco did. When school started back up, Manny didn’t care. He didn’t see a use for school; he hated his teachers and his classmates too. He liked sitting on the fence, waiting for cars to pull up. He liked having the money in his pocket, even if only a small fraction of it was his. Manny was good with his money, he didn’t blow it on junk food and CDs like the other fence kids did. Manny bought food from the gas station, and kept the rest in a box under his bed. One day, while he was occupying his regular spot on the wall, a van pulled up with 3 of the older guys that usually hung out in the apartment with Paco. One got out, and propped open the door to the apartment complex, as the other 2 guys started to unload boxes from the back of the van into the blue building, watching over their shoulders. When they were done unloading, Manny had counted over 20 boxes marked Sony that had gone into the building. It looked like TVs and DVD players, but Manny had never seen a new one in a box before, so he wasn’t sure. The next day, 4 kids that shared Manny’s job were bragging about their new TVs that they had bought off Paco. Manny had never had a colour TV before. Before he had started working, he had felt lucky to have the old black and white TV with the bunny ear antennas. When one of the boys he worked with came up to Manny’s apartment to get him for his shift on the wall he had laughed at Manny’s little brother sitting in front of that TV trying to tune in a channel by playing with the broken antennas. Manny was angry, and when he saw Paco, he asked how he could get a nice TV. Paco didn’t say anything; instead he just smiled, took a drag off his smoke, got into his car and left. Manny shrugged it off, and went back to doing what he did. That night, after he was done working, Manny walked over to the taqueria and grabbed himself a couple of tacos, sat down and enjoyed them. He ordered some to go, enough for Jose and his mother, and went back home to the blue apartment. It was after 9:00pm, and he knew that his mom would be just getting home, and he was excited to have been able to get tacos for his family; there hadn’t been food in the house all week. He opened the door to the building and headed upstairs to his apartment. When he got to his floor, he could hear the screaming before he was out of the stairwell. He could hear his mother’s voice raving that something was totally unacceptable. Take it and go, she was yelling, and leave my Manny alone. She was swearing and calling someone names. Manny rounded the corner, just in time to see Paco push Maria against the door to their apartment. One of the Sony TV boxes was resting outside the apartment door on the ground. Manny was close enough to hear Paco growl something nasty at his mother, something along the lines of had she just taken his offer, then Manny wouldn’t have to be working and providing things like this TVs for his family. But, Paco wasn’t yelling. Instead, he was dangerously close to Maria, pushing himself against her. She was struggling to get away, but Paco’s tattooed arm held straight across her chest pinning both her shoulders back against the wall. He reached out with his other hand, and aggressively grabbed Maria’s breast. He leaned in towards her ear to whisper something to her, or to kiss her, Manny couldn’t tell, and Maria was turning her head at such an awkward angle it looked as if her neck was broken, to keep her face as far as she could from Paco’s disgusting warm breath. He smelled like stale beer and cigarettes. Time seemed like it had stopped to Manny, and he couldn’t tell if hours or minutes had elapsed, when in reality it all this had played out in a matter of seconds. Manny’s heart started to pound in his throat; every muscle tensed. Weaponless, he rushed Paco in an attempt to push him off his mother. They intertwined, and although Manny was much smaller than Paco, he managed to shake his footing so that Paco lost his balance, stumbling inside the apartment. The two of them fell to the floor, and within a second Paco was on top of Manny. Maria, hysterical, screamed at Paco to get off her son, forgetting about Jose who ran into his and Manny’s bedroom once they toppled into the apartment. Paco slammed Manny’s head into the floor, saying how they should be grateful for everything he had done to help out their family. With one final strike there was a sickening deep thud. Manny’s eyes rolled to the back of his head, and blood pooled around his dark hair. Maria screamed, and Paco turned towards her, leaping from his crouched position over Manny towards a frenzied mother. He didn’t want to hurt her; he just needed her to shut up so he could think. It all happened so fast, and now he was worried that he may have killed Manny. But, she wouldn’t stop screaming, and the blood wouldn’t stop pouring out, the pool getting bigger and darker with every millisecond that ticked painfully by. He tackled Maria, and they fell to the ground. She tried to claw her way out, but Paco was too strong. He just kept saying shut up, shut up bitch, over and over, but Maria couldn’t stop screaming. Manny wasn’t moving. Paco cupped his hand over her mouth, and although she tried to shake him off she couldn’t. Paco took his other hand, and clamped it over the hand on Maria’s mouth; he locked both of his elbows, pushing down. It seemed like forever, and he just kept telling Maria to shut up. He needed to think. Had he just killed Manny? How had all this happened? He was just trying to give these fuckers a new TV. He looked at the old TV in the middle of the living room. He stared at it, at the broken antennas sticking out the back of it. He didn’t look down to his hands over Maria’s mouth, didn’t see her eyes bulging as she struggled to take a breath. He didn’t see her take her last breath. And, he didn’t see her die. He got up, stepped over Manny, and backed towards the front door, still staring at that damn old TV. He heard a click, and looked over towards the bedroom door where the sound had come from. Jose. He forgot about Jose. He knew the people in this apartment building would be too scared to tell the police what had happened here. It wasn’t their family that had been murdered, so they would keep their mouths shut. But, Jose on the other hand, was a liability he couldn’t afford. He was alone now, and would be angry, and would have nothing to lose by telling the cops exactly how this all went down. He walked around Maria’s body, and pushed open the bedroom door. Jose Gripped the trophy over his head, pressed up against the wall beside the doorway. He gripped the trophy so hard that his fingers were white. Paco stepped into the room to look for Jose, but it was too late, Jose held the trophy from the top, around the figurines head, like a bat, and swung upwards right into Paco’s eye. He cut his cheek and blood immediately spilled out of the gash, and poured over the peeling corners of the trophy, poured over Jose’s white hands. Jose swung over and over again. He swung the trophy until Paco fell, then he swung the trophy like a hammer, over and over again into Paco’s face. Time ceased to exist, and he kept swinging and swinging until Paco no longer had a face. When he was sure Paco wasn’t going to get up, Jose went into the bathroom, carrying the trophy. Pulling the shower curtain aside he turned the water in the bathtub on, and held the trophy under it, washing away the blood, washing away the ashes, and washing away the dust on his brother’s trophy that he had admired so much. He turned the water off, sat on the bathroom floor, and while he waited for the cops to come he leaned against the tub clinging to
the trophy.

insomnia

So, its after midnight and i cant sleep. Every time i lay down to go to bed, the wheels in my brain just start a-racing, and I'm left to think and rethink every minuscule detail in my life. Should i have done this, how will i do that. It is in the wee hours where one is forcing themselves to try to go to sleep where regrets are formed, and abstract ideas toss around and around until they form themselves into something substantial.

It was tonight, that i started thinking about keys. Yes, keys.. like a house key, or a car key. Those simple little metal things, that can be colour coded, and at some hardware stores you can even get them pre-painted to don the logo of your favorite sports team. Keys: a symbol of responsibility, the icon of adulthood. Its not to often we think about our keys, not of course unless we lose them. Keys, tiny pieces of metal, are symbolic of the ever increasing responsibility we attain as we journey down our developemental paths. The first time we receive our very first key, it is a monumental occasion, thought over by our parents, probably late at night, while they tossed and turned, forcing sleep upon themselves. As a child you get your first key, to your house, and probably lose it once or maybe even twice, before your parent (in my case my mother), gets some sort of tacky god awful string, and ties that key around your neck, a forshadowing of the heavy responsibility that keys will bring in the future. This first key, even has a title for its bearer, the child goes from just a regular every day school goer, to the infamous "latch-key-kid". Its a fairly slow progression up the key responsibility ladder, though everything at that age seems to take forever. You soon carry your bike key.. possibly a locker key. You may even be a responsible young person, and have a key ring for these few keys. I myself, didn't take on the task of key ring duty until i took on my next title: renter. Yes, i was an apartment renter before i owned a car. And with that set of keys, and new title, came oh so much more responsibility -- rent and the joyous utility bills. From there, its just a hop skip and jump until you get a new set of keys to tack onto your ever increasing in weight key ring -- literally and figuratively -- you get a work key, you are now an employee. You have to show up, some times maybe open a store, and the responsibility mounts even higher. Soon, you move up, you get a new title, you become a manager, you get even more keys, to the safe, to the store room. Of course now you are no longer only responsible for yourself, you have staff to look out for. Most likely by this time, hopefully, you have a vehicle. Thus, you have 2 new keys - the door key, and the engine key, and most likely a spare set somewhere for this 2 ton paper weight of responsibility. Here we see a meshing and interdependency developing with your keys, with out some, you wouldn't have others. With out the office keys, would you have a house key? a car key? Not very likely. Of course, home owning entails way more keys than renting, and arguably you would get more keys if you owned; the garage, the shed, an office room, or private study. And, just when it seems that you have peaked at the key acquisition progression, you come to a full circle when of course, you have to get copies of your aging parent's house keys, when it becomes time for you to care for them. You don the title "caregiver" with these keys, and as your parents tossed and turned decades ago, you now have tossed and turned many sleepless nights trying to decide if the time is right to take their keys. Key after key, responsibility after responsibility, title after title, we start early in life, and it doesn't ever seem to stop... until of course, we start losing our keys, our titles, and yes, our responsibilities -- either by choice, or by force. We retire, family members yell at us when we try to drive and eventually force us to relinquish our car keys (and the spares), and we have to give our children the key to our own houses. They take our keys, they take our responsibility. In the end, many of us will go to nursing homes, and we, like the latch key kids we once were, will most likely be reduced to only one key, our room key. Knowing me, I'll still be so damned irresponsible ill have to wear the bloody thing around my neck so i don't lose it.

catching up

So, yes yes.. its been forever since i posted on my blog. I didnt think anyone really read it anymore, now that i have face book, it seems that i just message people back and forth on that thing instead of just doing massive posting updates. But, alas, i figured id post for those of you not so savvy to yet have facebook.. and for those of you that love my stories so much you want to hear them twice.

Things have been fairly uneventful here in omaha generally. Its cold as hell, but not as cold as i thought it would be. We've had a few good snow storms, and one crazy ice storm, but all in all, its been tollerable. Unfortunetly, as soon as the weather got cold i got sick, and have pretty much stayed sick. I had some bad sinus thing, and i just cant seem to kick it, but then again, christopher had the flu last week, and i'd take a sinus thing over the flu any day.

We did have some excitement in our little mexican ghetto a little while ago... We pulled into our parking space behind our apartment, and found a mexican hiding in the bushes behind the driveway. The cops were around the corner looking for him. We pulled back out of our driveway and let the cops know the dude was back there. Im not a big fan of tattletailing, but some one was stabbed the month before on our block, so i figured if the cops were out looking for him in the cold, it may be for a good purpose. Anyway, Christopher showed them where the guy was hiding (i thought he was dead when we pulled up, just cause of the hunched up way he was laying -- it looked totally surreal). Anyway, he went back there with the 2 cops, i waited in the car, 2 more cops pulled up and were walking back to the back driveway where C and the other cops were, when C came jogging back to the car with his black hoodie, hood up. Needless to say, the 2 new cops coming onto the scene were startled, and started yelling at him to put his hands up etc, they gave him a full pat down and mini interrogation before the original 2 cops came out from behind our place, saying "whoa whoa, hes with us". It was pretty comical. Anyway, i guess the dude they were looking for had done something fairly substantial cause they had the police helicoptor hovering and circling above our place looking for him. It was pretty crazy.

Christophers mom had surgery to remove a walnut sized tumor from her throat. She got out of the hospital today, and the tumor was large, but wasnt spreading. She should have a very speedy recovery, and everything should be fine.

My papers are done and ready to be turned in. I have been to the doctor and am officially immunized and disease free. Unfortunetly, after countless appointments to the immigration office to answer all my questions, we have all the papaers complete, photos taken, everything ready to go, and of course we cannot find christopher's birth certificate anywhere. We have to get a copy ordered now before we can send my application off.

Speaking of birth certificates, Christopher's birthday is right around the corner -- on march 4th. Im trying to convince his brother (twin for those of you that dont know or have forgotten) to come spend it up here with us, so they can be together. Gettin that boy out of his state is like asking paris hilton to lay off the drugs and eat some food. So, im not holding my breath. PS, I hope you read this blake. The truth hurts.

Well... that is all i have to say. I hope you all are awesome. I miss you vancouverites like mad. Take care everyone. Until my next post in another few months, xxoo.

this is getting old

...but I guess i will still post -- out of habbit perhaps, coupled with a handfull of boredome.

I thought id give you all a quick update. My fish are both dead. Kaput. Off to fishy heaven. The first one -- mortimer -- died about a month ago, at the hands (or should i say paws) of Admiral tibbits. I woke up in the morning, went to the kitchen, and saw mortimers tank, empty, and gravel all over the floor. Though i looked, I didnt find poor mortimer scaley body anywhere in the kitchen, and i assumed that tibbits ate him. I know it was tibbits cause Minouche is too fat to jump up onto the counters. Later that day, i found Mortimer on the carpet, when i stepped on him. Yay, that was fun. Our second fish, Demitrius, died just this last week, at the hands of our friend V (that is his nickname, and thank god, cause i cant spell his real name). V was our house sitter for the first few days me and christopher were away. He called a couple of days after we left. The following is an excerpt from that conversation.

V: I think your fish is dead.
Chris: why do you say that?
V: its just sitting on the bottom of the tank
Chris: It does that alot, its just a betta, they dont really do very much.
V: oh ok then.

The next day i got a call from my friend jen who was looking after the house and kittens for the last few days we were away. The following is an excerpt from that converstation.

Jen: Your fish is dead. I flushed it.

So aparently V was right, the fish wasnt just resting at the bottom of the tank. It was indeed, very dead. Well, you never can expect too much from house/pet sitters i suppose. At least he didnt kill one of the kittens.

Christmas travel plans

I think ive told most of you through facebook, but for those that i missed, i thought id let you know that Im comming home for a visit in 2.5 weeks. I get in on december 4th and am leaving the 18th. Ill be there long enough to get sick of you all, and the rain -- long enough for omaha to look appealing again. Other than that, things are the same here. Quiet, the weather is great, getting cold finally but, its been sunny almost every day for the last 2 months. Ill take the cold over grey pissy rain. I heard that the weather is ok in van, no snow yet, unlike last year, so im keeping my fingers crossed that itll stay nice until i get there. Next week, were going to Christophers mom's place for thanksgiving, were staying for just under a week, and then i leave for van a few days after we get back. Then a few days after i get back here, were going back to Christophers moms place for the holidays (or at least part of em). Im excited to be doing so much travelling -- and to get to go home close enough to dec 25th to feel like i was home for christmas. See those of you that live in van soon! Those of you that dont, i hope all is well... happy thanks giving to the americans.

well informed

You know, I have a bad feeling about this post, cause, like other created in boredom, they just dont have that entertaining quality that I hope for. So, consider this a warning.

Hello all of you left reading my blog. Its been a while, so I thought Id say hello. The zombie in the attic gives its greetings as well. I swear its scratching in code. It says some nights that it wants to feed on my supple brain. Others it just says that its bored. Thanks to you all for your great suggestions on how to rid my paranormal phenomena, but, i have decided not to do anything about it. I dont want to anger it, it has not been malicious to me, so, why should i be malicious to it? Secondly, it was here first, so... possession is like 9/10th of the law right? According to the zombie, this is their apartment.

Things in omaha are quiet... mostly cause C is out of town at the moment. But, we have the house set up finally, and i know i know, i need to take some pictures of it for you guys. Those of you that are still reading this blog at blogspot.com wont have the good fortune of seeing these pictures, as i have given up posting them here because it takes to much effort. Instead, as some of you know, i finally caved, and made a facebook account, where its super easy to upload pictures. So, if you wanna see some T pics, you have to get a facebook account (ahem Tom and Mel).
Anyway, Omaha. Its been kind of stormy here, and its pretty cool watching the lightening and stuff. But, this morning, an alarm woke me up, and it wasnt my clock alarm. The tornado warning siren was going off. It was a freeky way to be woken up thats for sure. But, the house is still here, and I dont see a yellow brick road so, all is well.

For those of you following my grief with my citizenship application, I have found out some more information about this process. A few months ago, they changed the prices of the different forms you have to send in. One of these forms has been jacked to 930$ from 340$! What a rip off. Man, they must be raking it in. That is just one of the changes, i was too shocked/disgusted/afraid to look to see what the rest of the price changes were. So, that kind of put a wrench in the spokes to say the least. Also, and im sure this will please my mother, if not more of you, i have found out that i need to have a passport, with a stamped entry in to the US to prove my arrival date. Ya ya, you know what this means -- i have to come home again. I have to get a passport, and then fly back here. Im thrilled to be able to see you all, but, im a little frustrated that i didnt just go ahead and get it the last time i was back. Although, i guess that wouldnt solve the problem im in, cause id still be coming back in order to fly back to the US to get it stamped. So, no date yet, but I will be coming back sooner or later.

The kittens are getting big, Minouche is a pig, and monopolizes the food dish. I put down 2 dishs, but he just eats out of what ever one tibbits is trying to get to. So, we have one kitty thats a lot bigger than the other. Plus, Tibbits is way more active than Minouche, so, well.. im preparing myself for Minouche to be a big Fat-Pat cat (fat pat, is my loving new nickname for him).

Well, thats it for my update. Hope all is awesome with you guys! take care! xxooo

omaha hauntings

There is some sort of supernatural phenomena occuring in the place we moved into. I think that its possible that a zombie lives in the attic... and just the other night, it was scratching to get at me. I swear it has to be a zombie, cause a rodent wouldnt have been scratching in the same room i was in, right above my head, and it would have scurried off when i hit the wall. It also wouldnt have scratched in the same spot for an hour and a half. I have come to the conclusion that it must be a zombie and not a ghost, cause why would a ghost scratch? would it not just float through the ceiling...? Also, although not as impressive as the zombie in the attic tale, the other night, we turned out all the lights and went to bed, but something awoke us around 3am. The dinning room light had been turned on (the room right out side our bedroom). Its happend 2 other times since, so no, we did not forget to turn out the light. Also, often, when you shut the bathroom door, after it shuts, it loudly pulls against itself, like some one is on the other side of the door pulling at it with one swift tug. So yeah, the house is haunted.. with zombies that have telekinesis.

Kittens galore

So, things are pretty much the same. I just wanted to let you all know that we are getting settled in ok, and just yesterday we adopted 2 kittens. They are brothers, and are a few months old. We have not yet named them, so if you have any ideas say so in the comment section. Man, I dont remember kittens being such hard work, but they are. They are into everything, dont sleep more than a few hours at a time, and are more needy than a co-dependent girlfriend. God help me, what have i done!?

Corn, Heat, and tornado warnings: a tale of nebraska

Hello all, I just wanted to let those who read this thing, if there are any of you left, know that C and I arrived in omaha. We found a cool place, and have been busy trying to find ways to fill it up. You probably could fit 2.5 of our last apartments in here, not to mention its got super tall ceilings so it looks even bigger.
The week we first got here, we stayed in a hotel while we looked for a place. We arrived at about 1am, so had no idea what the area surrounding the hotel looked like. The next morning, i drew the curtains to see that (and i shit you not), we were surrounded by miles of corn. I had kind of just assumed that everyone was exaggerating about the corn, but, apparenly they werent. The first week we got here, there was also a heat wave. Ive felt hot before, but not humidity like this. It was almost as if I was stepping into the bathroom somewhere in hell while the devil was taking a shower. Hot and wet. This week the temperature has subsided. But, only cause they are having some of the worst thunderstorms they have had in a while here. I have never seen anything like it... and I am almost certain that the extreemness of the storms are my fault. The first storm we saw, we watched from our car. It started a few miles away, and we watched as the fork lightning struck down about 20 times or so. Looked really awesome. That one came and went over head, and i was left saying to chris "that wasnt so bad, i thought it was gunna be more scary after what everyone said about the storms". Well, 2 days later, we were home when the next one hit. It was so bad that the sky turned so dark it looked like 10pm and it was 5. The lighting and thunder went on so long that it seemed like hours, and the sky lit up so much that the street light sensor thought it was day, and it turned off half way through the storm. About 30 minutes into it, I heard this siren, turned to Chris and asked what it was, and saw with his reluctance in tellign me that it wasnt any normal siren. Apparently it was a tornado siren. Weeeeeeee. But, things are well... miss you all. t

oh yeah...

Did i forget to mention that im taking a little 2 week detour to vancouver?

rollin' rollin' rollin'

Well the ball has started rolling, and like a snowball at the top of a very large hill, this sucker has got its momentum and its not stopping. The ball is moving.. I am moving -- quite literally! It just kind of hit me, the other day... when the moving company guy came to asses my house. Its very strange, cause i put in my moving request as Christopher was getting his travel arrangements for texas, so, i wasnt really thinking about my request. How it works is like this: I apply for a day that i want my crap packed and moved, and they confirm or deny that. So, i wasnt really thinking much about my move, cause I hadnt heard about my confirmation, and with Christopher gone, i just wasnt going to ponder it until i had my follow up meeting with the transportation office on base -- which isnt until this comming friday. This appointment is where im supposed to hear about my moving date confirmation. But, the moving company called, and like i said, they sent some one to come do the assessment to see what all i have to move... and they say i got the date i requested.. which means im homeless in less than a month. In fact, Im homeless in less than 3 weeks, cause i gave myself enough time to drive to omaha and look for places before the months end. The movers are comming the 26th, and all of a sudden i am wishing that i had booked it a few days earlier. Watch out for that snow boulder down below!!! Run! At least the military moves all your crap for you. They pack it and everything -- which is cool, and very odd and uncomfortable at the same time. So, that is me. How are all you? i SAID.. how are all of YOU???

yay

Just to let you all know, Christopher passed his Dari test. Of those that were left in the class, they ALL passed the DLTP. Its the first time in the history of the dari program that there was a 100% pass rate for the DPTP. So, he offically leaves July 5th. One week this comming thrusday -- this thursday is his graduation. His mom and step dad are comming into town for it, and staying for a few days. Then we have 5 days to pack up all his crap and get him off to texas. Hell stay there for a month or so, then he goes to Washington state. We meet up in Omaha October 15. Pretty crazy.

Other than that, things are same old here. Just got alot of life arrangement type things that were working on. Putting in our moving request, change of base info at the base... stuff like that. Been looking for places in Omaha through craigslist. Yay craigslist. Thats us in a nut shell.. missing you guys.. post a comment or something sometime you jackasses.

in the loop

Howdy everyone... hope this post find you all well. Christopher has almost finnished all his tests, he only has one section left of the Farsi DLPT. His Dari test seems to have gone well (knock on wood), and we will know for sure by tomorrow afternoon. He has his graduation next thursday, and i believe his mother is comming into town for that. Blake left a couple of days ago. The weekend before he left we all went to the Santa Cruz board walk with 2 couples from Christophers class. It was very cool... rides right on a huge beach. Some really cool rides too. Some one took a couple of pictures, but im not sure if ill ever see them or what they are of, but if you want to see what it looks like at the boardwalk heres the link.
(www.beachboardwalk.com/). Well thats about it, just wanted to keep you in the loop with the tests and all. Miss you guys..
t

playing tourist

So, its been a pretty full week, and first off let me say happy birthday to all my friends who have had birthdays in the last little bit. Happy birthday Kat, Cheryl, and sarah. Hope you all had great days, and got all the goods you hoped for. As for us, we've been playing tourist. Blake called last monday to tell us that he was flying out the next day to come see us. We went to san fran to pick him up, but his luggage went to san jose, so we stopped there to get his stuff on the way back. So, we've been hanging with blake, gone to the aquarium, the beaches, out to eat and what not.... Im hoping next weekend were gunna go to the santa cruz board walk -- rides and roller coasters and what not... Ive been trying to get Christopher to go for some time now, so its the perfect excuse. That, and if he passes his test this week, he will be gone in 3 weeks, so were running out of time. He starts his test tomorrow, and it goes until friday. He tests for the Farsi DLPT starting next tuesday, and it goes till thursday i believe. 2 weeks of testing, YAY!... i remember when i was horrified at my first 3 hour exam. I would have died to have tests so long they lasted 3 full days! So, anyway... thats what the deal is here. Hope all you vancouverites are enjoying the rain.. hehehe. Miss you!
xxoo
t

A quick update

Hello everyone. I just thought id give you guys a quick update about whats going on here. Christopher is writing his last exam of his program today, besides the final proficiency exam. That exam, the DLPT, is what will determine where we go and when. His classes are just about done though, with a month to go until his formal graduation, and regardless of what happens with his DLPT he will be passing his program and will have earned college credit for it -- almost a whole BA in language worth of credit. His DLPT is scheduled for mid june i believe, and if he passes that he goes off to Texas for cryptology classes, and then Oregon for survival school. If he passes the DLPT he leaves for these other classes on July 5th, and is scheduled to be in Nebraska for 6 months of flight school on October 15 - where i will be allowed join him. If he doesnt pass the DLPT he goes on a retest status, where they give him 2 months to study his ass off and then take the test again. Of the 5 years that they have had this particular language program here, less that 100 have successfully graduated the Dari program -- and to make things worse, the failure rate of the Dari DLPT is one of the highest for all the languages they offer here on base. So, we will wait and see. Of course we are thinking possitively - and hoping for the best. I thought id let you all know so you could think good thoughts for us too. Hope all is well with everyone. Ill keep you posted about our plans.

Beachcombers

Yes, i am awear that most of you are either not canadian or not old enough, and thus have no idea who, or what The Beachcombers was. Regardless, i thought it would be a good title for a post sharing my beach hiking pictures with all of you. With out further ado:



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**Instert pourly speled titels hear**

You know what makes me sick? People that actually update their blogs daily -- and with interesting lengthy posts no less. I mean, seriously... who has the time or will to do that, let alone the insite to be able to think of something interesting to write about day in and day out?

Funny story, well.. i think its funny.. i was driving Christopher back to class the other day at lunch, and he was pestering me (in a joking way). After he starting poking me in the ribs i decided id have to pull over till he stopped. Im not a big fan of being tickled let alone while im behind the wheel. Anyway, after pulling over, TWICE... he still wasnt getting the picture, so while we were stopped i tossed his wallet out the car window. When he un-did his seat belt and got out of the car to get it i started to drive away. Now dont get me wrong, i didnt speed off and just leave him there, im not mean like that. However, i also didnt stop to let him back in. I did manage to slow down enough that he could jump in with out hurting himself.

Other than that, things are cool, well.. warm to be more exact. It was beautiful out today, and its looking like its gunna be that way all week. Its a good week for it, cause christophers twin brother is going to be flying into town tomorrow or the next day (hes flying standby -- good times). The last time he came it was just after christmas, and the weather was ok for winter, but it was still fairly chilly. Its georgous out now, so, thats cool.

K im out of things to say, like i said a few paragraphs ago, im just not that insitefull. Hope everyone is doing good. Im missing all you vancouverites like crazy.
t

what the hell..

So, I was checking my email today, and in the subject field there was an email titled "women: get your hair back in 4 weeks". I used to just delete these spam mailings but recently i have decided that i will be victorious over the spam mail -- and i have set out to unsubcribe myself from all these random lists that i magically appeared on. How i got on to a hair growth for women mail list i will never know, but that is besides the point. Anyway, I used to get like 20-30 spam emails a day, but i finally have weeded it down to 2 or 3. Its been less than 5 for a few weeks now, and no matter what i do, i just cant seem to get rid off all of them. Some of the tricky bastards dont even have an "unsubscribe here" link. But, all and all, i still feel as if i have won the battle cause, lets be real here, less than 5 junk email is truely a victory... is it not? Furthermore, I dont always get a ton of email, so on weeks where im not hearing from anyone, at least i can read about how i can get my hair back, or the classic, how to enlarge ones penis. I realize that none of this is spectacularly interesting, but, i feel like i havent made touch with any of you that may be left reading my blog these days. A few links and some pictures just doesnt seem to have that personal touch that my blog had at the begining of its creation. Originally, i sat down to type something totally different to you all, but checked my email before composing my post, totally lost my train of thought, and was left with this beauty. Enjoy...

david blaine street magic spoof

Um... ya.

GUESS WHAT THIS IS!

heres a hint, its NOT a paperweight!

Mr. Deity

Mr Deity: Episode 1, Mr Deity and the evil

Mr Deity: Episode 2, Mr. Deity and the really big favor.

Episode 3: Mr Deity and the light

Episode 4: Mr. Deity and the messages

Episode 5: Mr. Deity and Lucifer

dan le sac VS scroobius pip

... for your viewing pleasure. Yay youtube. Dont forget, theyre "just a band"

here a deer, there a deer, everywhere a deer deer

I know ive mentioned to a few of you, if not on my blog generally, that we have alot of deer in monterey. These deer arent like any other, in fact, the ones on base wont move when you walk by them. They are all pretty fearless. But, its cool, cause you can get up close and check em out, which isnt something a city girl like me has had much chance to do. The other day, there were 2 young bucks grazing in our back lot and i snapped some shots of em through the window.


These nex shots are of a neighbourhood cat, stalking the deer.








But, the deer didnt fear the cat, and instead they decided to take a nap. If i was doctor sues im sure i could write a book based on that line. But im not, so ill just show you the picutres instead.

word on the street......

better late than never

So, as i had mentioned to some of you, about a month ago now, a group of us went on a tour of a lighthouse. It was cool to get out down the coast, it really is beautiful down there. The tour itself was.. well.. it was a tour. Im not really a big fan of tours, id rather just look at things on my own time, i hate waiting for a group, and im not really one for learning about the history behind whatever im looking at. I prefer just to see it. Ive had my stint in school, i feel like im done learning for some time. Other than that, and the 50hour a mile winds and the freezing weather, the tour was cool. I got a bunch of nifty picutres to post.

this one is a shot of the hill that the lighthouse is on taken from the highway. We had to park at the bottom of this thing, and walk up... into 50 mile an hour winds.

This is a shot of what the edge of the path that we were walking up looked like. In the brochure for the tour it said "do not chase objects or people over the edge of the trail" I personally think that that goes with out saying, as im sure you can see with this last shot.


This is just a shot of the coast from the lighthouse hill. And another shot of the rocks below us, more proof of why not to chase anything off the path.



Heres some shots of the lighthouse itself.

Seven deadly sins

Ahhhh too true too true. Kootoes to whomever was brilliant enought to plot this out. Im going to hell.

Happy birthday to christopher

Sunday was Christopher's birthday. It was a nice chilled day... we had cake (as you can see), balloons, and went out to one of those japanese places that has the grill built right into the table. Id never been to one of those places before, so it was pretty neat. They even sang a version of happy birhday, and brought us ice cream. They also had a full sized candle for C to blow out, on some wierd ass birthday podium thing -- and they gave him a great hat. They tried to get him to dance around to the birhday song, but he wasnt having any of it. All and all it was a good day.

does any one really listen?

I was leaving base today, and as always I said good bye to the gaurd working there. I always say something along the lines of "bye, have a nice night", or some rendition. Today, I said have a good night, and the gaurd said "good, hows it going?" I mean, seriously, does have a good night sound anything like how are you doing? Furthermore, who asks some one how theyre doing as they are going? "bye, how are you doing??" I didnt say anything back, but instead wondered the whole way home how often people just hear what they want to hear. Its not a new thought, but i went on that tangent for a few blocks before i realized that ive been here close to a year now, and go to base at the least 4 times a week... and i have never once had some one say something that made as little sence as that. In fact, i couldnt remember one time in the last few years where ive said something that was responded to totally inappropriately. So, then i spent the next few blocks thinking about how people have this ONE experience, but then chalk it up to an every day experience. THAT person didnt listen to me, so, no one really listens. Ya know what i mean?

Further more, Im sure that poor gaurd thinks, "what a bitch, I asked her how she was doing, and she didnt even look at me -- what a snob"

A bored housewife: a letter of complaint to Take Home Chef

Dear viewer relations,

I would like to make a comment/complaint about your show, "Take Home Chef". I used to watch this show all the time, and enjoyed it, until I started to notice that the people that Curtis was "taking home" were all particularly affluent people. I personally do not have anything against affulent people, but I find this frustrating when watching "Take Home Chef" for many different reasons. First off, there is the issue of representation. As I have already mentioned, it seems to me that the people Curtis are cooking with are, by and large, people that are of a higher socio-economic back ground. Hence, the show does not take a reflective sample of the population, but rather focuses on a specifically small sample. Unfortunetly, what this leads to is obvious: the creation of a show where the main characters are people that the majority of your viewers can not identify with. Even worse, not only can they not identify with the people on your show, but they end up disliking or even resenting these people that "need help". The whole premise of this show is to help people, and yet time and time again you select those who really have the means to help themselves, ingoring so many people that truely need the assistance, people who cannot afford to take a cooking class, or dine out in restaurants every other evening (unlike most of the people on your show). Never have I watched Take Home Chef and thought "well thats great, he really helped that couple out", but have often thought, "those people can afford their own personal chef, what on earth is he even doing there". The last show I watched, I turned off after the crew pulled up into this woman's drive way, in her brand new Lexus, to her towering eight bedroom home, which over-looked the ocean. I just find it distasteful, frustrating, and such a shame that you, as a programming entity as well as a helping body, can not effectively represent the population at large, and provide assistance to a group who are most able to find means to help themselves, while a majority of the population remains ignored.

Thank you for your time in reading my concern,
T*****A D**E

2 ton paper weight

Well... we've been experiencing some problems with our bronco. Whenever you use the clutch it makes this grinding sound, thats sort of reminiscent to the sound of a lawnmower going over a tin can. The breaks squeek. There is a bad oil leak. The break fluid drains out as soon as you fill it up. Smoke billows out from under the hood if its running more than 10 minutes. It makes a weird whining sound. So, yeah, theres a few things going on with the bronco. The other day, we were going on some light house tour with some people from class, and our car wouldnt start, and so we decided we should take it in.

Well.. long story short, everything that could be wrong with the thing IS wrong with it, and the mechanic went out of his way to explain to us just WHY it would be unsafe for us to drive it home. The owner and manager came to talk to us about how he "cant emphasize enough that they dont recomend that we drive it home". The blue book value of our bronco is 1200$ if its in perfect condition... and well as i have explained its far from that. The estimated cost of fixing just the most major things (ie the clutch and the breaks -- which by the way are pretty much totally out), is appz 3500$. So, alas, we now have a 2 ton paper weight sitting in our parking spot, collecting dust. At least we got home ok from the shop.
:)

evolution

i dont have anything to say really .. I just saw this video, and thought some of you may like to see it - if you havent yet.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMxxelZHs8Y&NR


Im not technologically inclined like some of my friends (tom) who can just type a word and the word links whomever clicks on it to a certain site. I actually have to put the web address. Its less pretty but it works.

and so it was a trip to vancouver

Hello hello hello everyone in blog land. Like the new look? I figured, the new year deserves a new look, so i hacked off all my hair, changed my blog back ground, converted it to a new version (im no longer in beta version, whatever the hell that means), and due to a massive perplexion brought on by my frenchi friend mel, i also changed my blog name, to something that will suit me where ever i may end up. My new and improved blog name is now "itinerant_tee" and for those of you who arent scholars, this is what it means:

itinerant \eye-TIN-uhr-uhnt\, adjective:1. Passing or traveling from place to place; wandering.

(dont feel bad, i had to look it up)

So, death to cali t! Death to the old blog... and so long hair. I know its not the biggest picture, but i havent taken any but this one, since i had my hair cut. By the way, thanks Cheryl for the awesome clips. For those of you who dont know, or are totally stupid, that is my mom... Jerrie. (the spelling of my moms name is just for your Kat, as you seem to spell it more and more wrong everytime you try ;)

Vancouver was great. I cant tell you how nice it was to see everyone. Thank you rachel for comming to get me from seattle, and dont worry, you dont have to pay that speeding ticket if you dont plan on going down there ever again. Just think of it this way, I wont make you come back to seattle to get me next time if you havent paid the ticket off by then.

We had a nice little get together at my moms place, and pretty much everyone made an appearance. Even Tanya and scotty... i am totally highly impressed they made it, even if it was close to midnight. After they left, we broke out the trivial persuit pop culture, cause we are that cool, and played till after 1, and finnished off most of the grub (note to blog readers, rosy makes the best chocolate cake IN THE WORLD).

Here are some random shots from that night:


Ya ya ya... i know your thrilled to have your picture posted kat.. but in less you plan on flying down to california, theres really not one damn thing you can do about it... is there? hehehe.. no theres not.

Ha! dont let this picture fool you, neither of these two are sweet OR innocent. Just FYI.

We went to the hudsons landing one night, and though i cant speak for everyone else, i thought it was a blast! I think that may have been my favorite night in town... and thats not just because i got to kick toms ass at pool, but that sure helped. It was just all around a great night. Here is the hudsons landing:

After, we stopped by tom and mels new place so anita and i could see it. Totally cool place. Here is a shot of us, minus mel, on the way up to their suite.

So that, in a nut shell, was my trip to vancouver. There was a few coffees at the grind, lots of good food ( still cant believe there are 14$ salads at earls), and lots of laughs. On a serious note though, i have to say that it was sort of weird going back, I guess even though it hasnt been that long, it feels like its been forever since i had been there, and because so much has changed with me, i guess i was sort of expecting vancouver to have changed as well. On the other hand, i would have been highly upset if i had gotten there and everything was different. Ill say this, it was good to see everyone, and it was especially great to have some time with my mom. I even beat her at scrabble once! Nothing like growing up and beating your parents at the things that they taught you how to do. Feels good... feels damn good. Choke on that mom! hehehehe. Anyway. I love you all, and it was great to see you.

Oh yeah, i have one last thing to say to you guys (for old times sake):

and so it was a road trip: a christmas story part II

So, where was I? Ah yes, a nine hour drive from SC, a stop over in Tennesse, grabbing a twin, and hitting the road. I wanted all you canadians to see to see just how far of a drive it is from south carolina to our place here in cali. Here is the link to see it on google maps:

http://www.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wl&qen&tab=wl&q

(my directions thing didnt work, but you can see SC on the very far right side, and Cali, on the very far left -- for you geographically ignorant canadians).

So, after we left Tennesse, we only stopped for the neccessities, gas, food and the bathroom - in that order. I tell you, I saw some gnarly bathrooms on that road trip, but nothing beats the horror show that I was privy to in LA. We decided to detour south of our route, and bipass colorado, as they were having a snow storm, and instead drive the width of texas. That state is huge! We had dinner in the evening on the eastern boarder, drove all night, and when we had breakfast we were still in texas! I had the 2-5 driving shift, as we decided it may be best to let me drive when all other sound minded people were sleeping. I was driving when the sky started to lighten, and we could see that there was desert all around us -- but it wasnt as I imagined the desert to be. It was very pretty, with lots of hills and a beatiful sunrise.


We drove and drove and drove, and came close enough to the mexican border that we began to see patrol cars, another highly effective american plan to aid in illegal immigration (this is where i roll my eyes). Anyway, we saw a ton of those trucks, but not one illegal running around on the side of the road, so who knows, maybe they are infact effective (this is where you would hear my sarcasm if we were speaking).

Of course we saw some interesting billboards in texas, this one, didnt surprise me at all considering our location, but if was say, on the outskirts of vancouver, i think it would have been more strange. Regardless, i got a good laugh.



Speaking of odd billboards, i dont know if you can see whats in this picture or not, but its a giant wood and metal roadrunner. Its like, at least 15 feet high, maybe taller it was hard to tell from the highway.


Also an odd billboard, and a bad picture, is this billboard/wood cut out of a baby, playing by itself in a lone feild. As far as I can tell there is no Ad that goes with this baby. Its just a baby sitting, all alone, in a feild. Talk about neglect. Maybe its a subliminal public service announcement. Who knows, but it is definetly odd, dont you think? No offence texas, i know i know, dont mess with texas, even if they have strange things on the sides of their roads.


K theres nothing odd about this next shot, its just the classic desert cactus shot. It was SO warm here that i was uncomfortable in long sleeves when we stopped at the gas station.

Looks hot, dont it?


Once we got out of texas the drive seemed not to drag on as bad as it had been. Its possible by that time we were all just a bit sleep deprived, and were suffering from cabin fever. Everything seemed that much more funny, especially the orange sunglasses that stowed away in Cs glove box. They were hours of fun. Just ask Christopher.. doesnt he look like hes having a blast?


This shot is taken through the glasses. Like I said, they were hours of fun (for me anyway). Who needs photo shop, or sepia function on their cameras when you got a fancy pair of yellow sunglasses??




I was really amazed to see how much new mexico, and the southern edges of Cali were just like texas geographically speaking. I mean, i know it never rains where i am in cali, but we have greenery. There wasnt alot of that along the eastern cali border, and for the most part, its hard to tell where my pictures are from, after we hit texas.

Heres a cool shot, of what the area looked like generally. Really cool rock formations -- and cheryl i thought about you the whole way through this part, and how you'd climb every rock there if you had the chance. Especially this one!


The sun set a few hours after we crossed the Cali border, and it was a georgous sunset. My pictures just dont do it justice, but heres a few anyways.


I was a little dissapointed that the sun went down before we got to LA, cause i wanted to see what it looked like. Well that was before I went through LA. As far as Im concerned now, that place could fall into the ocean and i wouldnt think twice about it. It was terrible. We got lost. Had to use this bathroom at a gas station that was so gross it rivals the nasty shell at the corner of clark and 6th. You know the one, the one that has the black light in it so junkies cant shoot up in it? Not to mention the wonderful graffitti, garbage, and aroma of je ne sais quoi. Anyway, we went further into LA than we wanted to cause we veered off onto the wrong highway. We went pretty far into LA, turned off the highway to try to pee and get directions, when we got back on the freeway, it wasnt the one we got off of. So, in trying to find the freeway we were on before the gas station, we saw a sign for the original highway we had accidently gotten off. Ureeka, it was like a gift from god, and we were yet again, on our way home, after a 2 hour detour of HellLa. We had to drive through a mountain pass to get home, just out side of LA. I had no idea they had mountains there. It was so windy, christopher was double handed and white knuckling it on the steering wheel, and i still thought the wind was going to pick us up and put us in the other lane. We made it through, and shortly there after we were driving along, and christopher and I smelled this unbelievably horrid stench. I ignored it, blowing it off as a farm, but after about 10 minutes, it just got stronger, and there was no farm in sight. Christopher looked over at me and whispered that maybe his brother had had an "accident". I shook my head, no, its just not possible for a grown man to deficate in his own pants, with out copious amounts of drugs or alcohol. But, as time passed and the smell got worse, i was frightened to admit he may be right. I think eventually our giggling woke blake up, and we watched him through the rearview to see if he was upset about anything. Finally C broke down and asked him if everything was ok, and i guess my initial hypothesis was correct, altough we couldnt see them, we had to be passing some sort of farm. Blake was clean. Heheheh. I took over driving, and yet again, geography that i had previously considered hills, became yet again mountains, and of course the california fog rolled in right at that time. I looked over at the clock after about an hour or so of driving. It was midnight, on the button, new years eve. I looked over at blake, my perfect copiolet and muttered grumpily "happy new years" as i gripped the steering wheel, driving through foggy mountains about 2 or so hours from home. We made in at about 3am and went straight to bed, and i tell you, i havent slept that well in a very long time.

So you kids know, I am heading to vancouver for 10 whole days tomorrow! So, not that its that strange for me to go 10 days with out posting, but i thought id tell ya just incase any of you were wondering where the heck i was. For you other folks, I will see you very soon!

And so it was christmas: a christmas story, part I

Ah yes, another christmas come and gone. Christopher and I were talking about it yesterday, and we both agree that it feels like we've been back for over a month. I thought about it, and realized that Christmas WAS almost a month ago now. Time just flies.

So, we started our trip in the monterey airport at 4am. Because of the time of year, and the elevated saftey threat, we were advised to fly 2 hours early. What a bunch of BS, the front desk checker inner people dont even show up until 4:30, and of course our people were late. Oh well, I like getting little sleep the night before I fly, so I can sleep the whole way there. Note to readers: people do not enjoy getting their photographs taken at 4 am. ESPECIALLY people who barely tollerate it at a decent hour.


So, we arrived in Nashville in the afternoon, the flight was uneventful, and our luggage arrived on time, as we did. Thats always a bonus. We only stayed a night, but I got to meet Christopher's grandparent who were very sweet. His grandfather was funny as hell. I also got to meet their family's new dog jack, a rescued shitzu (or how ever you spell it), who has recently undergone some serious surgery from being attacked by the neighbour's dog -- so jack is on his 3rd doggie life. We had a wonderful dinner out, where we saw Reba Macintyre the country singer. She has a house out that way, and looks exactly as she does on TV.


So, left to right in this picture are the grandparents, Christopher's mom, his twin, him, and in the front his step dad.

So the next day, we got into Christopher's truck, and made our way to his dads house in South carolina. Jack decided he should drive.



It was about a 9 hour drive to Christopher's dad and step mom's house, and other than a little rain, it was a nice drive. They have these GINORMOUS fireworks stores littered all over the highways out there. I mean, they are bigger than Cosco!



Seriously, can you believe this? Its a far cry from buying bottle rockets out of the "bad kids" locker in Junior high, like most canadian kids are forced to do.



There wasnt a ton to look at along the way, a few rolling hills that the locals probably call mountains, but are nothing but hills if you live near the rockies (as most of my fan base does). I managed to pull off a nice shot of a lake that were zooming past at like 120kms. Its one one of the local "mountains" I was talking about.


We made it to his dads house in one piece, and only with a tad of car trouble as we were arriving. Something about the gears, but as I dont know much about cars, and less about stick shifts, I will leave it at "car trouble". We got in late, so late the furballs were all long asleep under the christmas tree.

I snapped a few shots with my camera, but as some of you already know, one of my favorite things about going to Christopher's dads place is that i get to use his camera, so the next day he pulled it out for me, and I didnt use my camera one more time that trip. Very cool... he burned all my pics from his camera onto a disc, and of course now i cant find it anywhere, so all my pics from SC are lost. I did however get one shot of Paddi's (c's step mom) brother's pugs. They were SO sweet... I wanted to take them home with me.

I also got a picture of C and me, in my new shirt that his dad and Paddi got for me











Unfortunetly, thats all the shots i have from his dads place, too bad too cause its a cool house. They have a silo built into part of it, it was a real silo, and they redid the inside of it. We slept at the top of it the first few nights we were there. Its got a winding staircase to get to the top, and has a tin roof. It rained while we were there, and it sounded SO cool on the silo's tin roof. So, we stayed in SC for a few days, had a nice relaxing time, didnt do a whole hell of alot. Ate, shopped, and put a few puzzles together. That was fine with me. We headed back to nashville, where Christopher made me drive my first drive longer than 5 minutes not on a country back road. Yes, i learned how to drive stick on a highway going through what seemed alot more like mountains when IM driving. EEK. I drove for a couple of hours on the highway, then through part of the city, with lights and everything. I found it very stressful, but got us there without stalling. I was overly thankful when C said I could pull over and he would drive the rest of the way. I wouldnt have driven at all, but he pitched such a fit that i felt so bad i had to drive. We were at a gas station, where he announced your driving, and tried to get into the passanger seat. I didnt agree, and fought him for the passenger seat -- the whole while pleading "STOP.. your making a scene.. just DRIVE". Well, he won the wrestle, and beat me into the seat, so i just sat on his lap. He wasnt impressed - got out, and drove in silence for about an hour. Finally, like i said, i felt SO bad, i was forced to tell him i'd drive. And drive i did. SO we made it back to tennesse, stayed another night, had a very nice time. We went to the Opry mills hotel, which is HUGE. They get all decorated with lights at christmas, and lots of people go. Its hard to see the hotel, but thats the front view of one of the buildings, with all the trees lit outside.






So, thats opry mills hotel. It was pretty. They sure do deck the halls there every year. Im glad I got a chance to see it.

So, we slept at his moms, house, woke up the next day, had a great breakfast prepared by debbie (Cs mom).. and then me, christopher, and his twin brother blake hit the road. Little did i know at that time that that night was the last time id sleep in a bed for 6 states, and like 3000 miles. The boys decided that it would be a good idea to drive straight through to cali. But, I will leave that tale for my next post, a christmas story, part II.

Ho Ho Ho

Well well well.. its that time of year again. For those of you who dont know, me and Christopher are flying into nashville, gunna see his mom and brother. We're not staying there though, were only gunna grab his car and then were driving to South Carolina to spend the holiday with his dad. We're then driving back to nashville, spending some time there with his mom, and kidnapping his brother and driving back to california. So, We will be driving from coast to coast. So.. everyone think good thoughts for the weather for our drive back.


Now.. some cool news. Im planning a trip home. I havent booked my ticket yet, we are still in the planning stage of it all... and need to figure out how long Christopher's brother is staying with us. But, its looking like i will be there mid to late January. Im gunna fly into seattle, cause its like 300$ cheaper. So.... my sweet heart rachel has offered to either pick me up, or take me back down to seattle.... so....... that only leaves me needing one ride. So..... if theres any one with a car looking for some extra karma points, lemme know. Ill give you double the points for a trip down to seattle. A great way to make good on any bad things you did at Christmas.. ;)

Well everyone. Stay safe this holiday. Have lots of fun, eat lots of food, and open lots of presents. I miss you all, and cant wait to see you.

I told you my socks were too small for your feet!

So, christopher and I have been having this ongoing argument about whether he fits into my socks or not...cause he steals em all the time and i tell him not to. Well, i think we can all see who won that argument today.

Id forgo a pair of socks, even my most comfie ones, just to confirm my rightness in an argument. And i know that a few (if not all) of you would make the same sacrifice.

As for everything else here in monterey... its quiet -- which is nice. Nothing too eventful has happend, but tomorrow is american thanksgiving. We got a bird to stuff and cook, and Christopher has a 4 day weekend. So, technically today is his friday... weeeeeeeeeee!

Ive taken a few random pictures over the last bit here, and wanted to post about em, but they dont really constitute their own post, so.. i figured id do like what sitcoms do when they dont have any bright ideas for a new episode, ill do a clips episode -- a picture montage.

Im not sure this picture turned out well enough for people to be able to tell what it is. I know cause i took it. But, we had the coolest full moon here the other week, and thats a shot of it, comming up between the trees.

This is a picture of el gato. He likes to come in and pose for me. Turned out kinda cool i think. I took like a hundred (ok im exagerating) so i was bound to get a good one. He was in here the other day, and didnt like the fact that i was paying attention to the computer instead of him, so he hopped up infront of the monitor. Please note his unimpressed look. You can really see the fog in that one, when it blows in like that, its like sitting in the clouds -- you can totally just watch them blow by. That day in particular, it was pretty strange.. the fog was rolling in up the hill, then it would receed again, only to slowly crawl back up the hill. It was like the ocean was breathing in cold enough weather to be able to see each breath.

This last shot is the same one that i posted above, i just kinda farked around with it on this arty photoshop like program. I thought it turned out kinda cool, so i figured id post it.

Well, thats the end of my clips montage. Hope you enjoyed it, please tune in again next week, same time, same place.

here fishy fishy fishy fishy

So we finally went to the aquarium here. Not really alot to say about it, besides the fact that it was HUGE, and filled with a ton of little kids. I guess the pictures are pretty self explanitory.


that creepy thing im touching in this picture is some sort of crap. Yes, your allowed to touch things in this part of the aquarium.

house guest

So, we have had a friend just begging to come and stay with us, and finally we broke down and let him in.





His name is technically Sachel, but we have dubbed him "el gato" which i believe is spanish for the cat. Lol.. knowing my ability in spanish, weve probably been calling him little tree or something like that for all i know. Anyway, thats his name now as far as im concerned - no matter what it really means. El gato's owner lives upstairs, and over a few apartments. He is NOT douglas's cat as i first believed (thank god). Douglas, by the way has moved out. Hooray for us.



So, anyway.. el gato is one of the nicest cats ive ever met (besides THE Kat of course). He leaps out at you from behind the bushes, to attack you for some vicious petting. He meows ALL the time, even when your petting him he makes this little MAh mah m

ah sort of sound. He also drools if he is really into being pet. This picture is not the most flattering, but it shows you, my dedicated reader, how el gato meows all the time, even when posing for a photograph. Though, this picture was taken on halloween, and i wonder if maybe he wasnt just a tad possessed that night.


He is a very sweet cat. He likes nothing better than just to curl up on your lap and take a nap. It was after him that the term catnap was coined im sure. Dont tell christopher, but I brough him in today again, and he curled up on my belly while i read some stephen king. We both ended up sleeping. Im not sure who drooled more.

catching up

well... i guess its been a long time since i wrote anything. Ive had alot on my mind, and havent gotten around to blogging. The weather has been nice, all the locals are saying that were getting a nice indian summer here. There hasnt been much fog, so the stars over the bay at night look fantastic. Furthermore, we get killer cool sunrises too. They're much prettier than the sunsets.
Even for 6:30 am theyre pretty. And it takes alot to be pretty that early in the morning.


So, another event in the Douglas-the-bad-neighbour-saga.. we got a knock on the door fairly late in the evening the other night. Christopher and i just kind of looked at each other, knowing that late night knocking is never good. So, christopher answers the door.. and yes, its Douglas. Get this... hes holding a piece of paper, and he says "well im sure youve heard by now that im being evicted, im fighting it, and was hoping that you would sign this" he passes the paper towards Christopher, who looks at it - its hand written - and he askes "what does this word say" pointing at a scribbled word. "it says neighbour" Douglas replies. Christopher just looks at Douglas, like hes kidding, and says bluntly "no, i dont think so". He closes the door, and tells me the paper said "i would like it if douglas continued to be my neighbour." So, yeah.. we didnt sign it. I on the other hand, may have taken the paper, and signed YA RIGHT.. or.. NOT ON YOUR LIFE.. or something to that effect.

The other night, i was sleeping as most people are doing at 4:30am. Its been nice enough here to sleep with the bedroom window wide open, and i like seeing the stars as im falling asleep, so we sleep with the blinds pulled all the way up. So... im laying there (as most people do when most people are sleeping at 4:30am) when i wake up suddenly. I was kind of groggy and confused, and couldnt figure out why i woke up. Then i heard the noise. It sorta sounded like some one was creeping around under my window. I heard it a week ago or so, but couldnt see any one when i looked... as was the case this time. After scowering the back feild thing under my window, i layed back down. But, a second later i heard the noise again. i cracked it up to me being paraniod, probably just the neighbours cat catching bugs or something. So, i managed to fall back asleep, just to be woken up about 10 minutes later to dogs in the neighbourhood barking.. i laid there a second.. then heard the noise. Not the same noise.. no no no.. this was spooky.. it was almost a tearing sound. It was so strange. No grogginess this time. I woke right up, sat straight up, straining my ears to listen to the sound. But, as soon as i sat up, the bed creaked and the noise stopped. Wide eyed, i stared out the window, only to see the same wide eyed look times 4 looking back at me. Naturally, i took a picture. For those of you that cant tell, thats four raccoons climbing the tree right outside my window. They looked at me, i looked at them... Im not sure who was more shocked. They decided the tree wasnt as safe as they had originally thought, so they proceeded to climb back down. It took forever, and the sound of their claws in the bark was almost as bad as nails on a chalkboard. Needless to say, ive stopped putting bread outside the window for the birds... and i havent seen the racoons since.

starting fights (a story for cheryl)

So.. theres one thing that im good at, and thats starting a good fight. Unfortunetly today, i started a fight, unbeknownst to me. A fight really isnt fun unless both parties are awear its happening. Otherwise, one side may be too in shock to be able to act accordingly as was the case today. This fine afternoon, i was taking a cab home from a long day at the doctors. OK.. wait. Lemme start at the begining. I had to go to the doctor today, its far enough away that i have to take a cab to get there (and back). The base sits at the top of the hill that i now live on the other side on, and the doctor's office is way on the bottom of the other side. So, when ever we need to go via cab into monterey, we just cut through the base (like i needed to do today). You just have to have base ID which me and christopher both have. Its NEVER a problem, the cabbies never really seem to mind -- they do however have to pop the trunk and their hoods to show they aint packing a car bomb -- but no biggie right? OK so, I go to the doctor, take a cab through base --which like always isnt a problem. The doctor's appointment is for an MRI for my knees which as some of you know have been bothering me on and off for just over a year now. So any way, i was under the impression that an mri was like some new age technology that would be speedy and .. all new-age-technology-like. WRONG. Its this huge bulky LOUD machine that takes FOREVER to take a series of pictures. I have no idea how many the thing actually takes but i was in there for like an hour and a half. The actual picture taking (and sitting perfectly still) lasted for about an hour. Not my idea of a good time. So, after this wonderful way to spend my afternoon, I walk to the place where cabs wait for fares, but there isnt any, so i call one. I give the dispatcher my location, and my destination which is right out side the back gates of the base. To cut through base, its like a 5 minute drive.. straight up the hill, in the main gate to the base, and right out the back and your at my place, or... you can go all the way around the base, down a road like robson street, with traffic galore, and tons of one way and "you cant turn here" streets - which takes about 15 minutes. So, when the cab gets there i say what i always do when i get in. I give em my address, and then let them know i have an ID that gets me through base, so id like to cut through. Often the cabbies ask if you can cut through, sometimes they dont... i figure they hope they get the more expensive go around fare. So ive learned just to let em know right away you got ID and you want the cheap direct route, no funny business. OK.. so i get in.. say my speal.. then ask the guy how his day has been, you know polite cabbie chit chat. He barks out back to me "it was fine until you asked to cut through the base" He was so rude about it i thought he may be kidding, then i thought maybe i was in one of those candid camera cars so i looked around, but no camera. He immediately launches into this lecture about how weird it is for me to ask to cut through base, and that no one makes requests like that. I politely said that as i dont have a car, and i live right on the other side of base, that i frequently take cabs through the base, and not one cabbie has said a word about it. All of this takes place in about 2 blocks. He was still ranting when i said, "look if its that much of a problem for you to go through base, just let me out here, ill call another cab".. i wasnt rude, though i should have been.. i really was just totally in shock about the whole thing. So he says to me that letting me out is a good idea, but he wants me to pay the 3.00$ - and let me tell ya, he wasnt asking nicely. I said "look, your the one with the problem here, im not paying you cause you dont want to take me where i want to go." He promptly pulled over, and said abruptly "get out" so i did. I was good too. I didnt slam the door, i didnt yell.. i didnt really say much. I got out my cell and called the cab company... and got the dispatcher on the line. Before i could tell him what had happened, he said to me that a replacement cab was on its way. He didnt appologise, he didnt even hear me out. THATS when i got mad. I was furious. And just at that second the cabbie that kicked me to the curb drove by, and thats when i gave him the finger. Unfortunetly, it was rush hour at a busy intersection, and im sure 4 other drivers thought i was giving them the finger.. but ohwell. I felt better about the whole thing.

who needs rooster fights -- lets bet on fish

OK ok ok.. so i havent blogged in forever. And im left wondering, is my life so boring that i have absolutely NOTHING to report to those who care enough to read my blog? Surely I have something that is happening in my life that is worth relaying. For the last week, or two even, ive thought this through, and the only answer i have is... god my life is boring. Boring is good though, its calm and lacking in crisis. So.. i can deal with that. Seriously though, I have finally have something worth blogging about -- there are 2 new members to my family. Blog -- meet Mortimer and Demitrius the 3rd... Demitrius & Mortimer-- meet my blog.
As some of you fish experts out there may know, these are called Bettas which are also known as fighting fish. You cant put 2 of em in the same tank, cause theyll kill each other. I didnt really believe that, no you sickos i didnt put em in the same tank to find out... but.. i didnt believe it cause they really dont do anything. These fish are Lazy (note the capital L). Seriously, they dont do a thing, and often i catch them napping on their plants... too lazy to swim even. So, i put their tanks really close together to see if i could get some action out of these two.. and sure enough if they didnt puff up all their fins and what not, and start slamming into the sides of their tanks to try to get to one another. So, now once every few days, i do that to ensure theyre getting their proper excercise (and im getting my proper entertainment). Anyway, i think that there is some market potential for this. I mean, think about all the cash those illegal rooster fights bring in... and you have to spend so much to feed and care for roosters. So, just think, there would be some serious gain in cash just by the small overhead there is in caring for these fuckers. Betta fighting could have some serious economic potential.

Betta fish: $4.00
Betta bowl: $5.00
Betta food: $2.00
Betta carnage: Priceless...

" i just sat on your glasses, but i think theyre ok"

"if you were my neighbour, i wouldnt like you very much either"

So... were finally starting to meet people in the building, but i think i liked it better before. We've had this ongoing saga thatsbrewing with the guy who lives upstairs that raged this weekend to the point of calling the police. I guess i should start at the begining... douglas is about 60 he is bald on top and has a HUGE mustash to make up for it. Ive never trusted anyone with a big mustash -- if you ask me theyre hiding something, besides their upper lip. Anyway.... douglas drinks wine. Alot of wine from what i can tell. He also doesnt seem to go to work. If he does work, its not until after noon, so he can stay up fairly late. Douglas also hates our building manager. I mean hate with a capital H. We have a leak in our bathroom comming from his bathroom, and hes been refusing to let the manager in to his place to fix it. Douglas is also the type of guy that corrects you if you call the building manager the landlord. It really irks him. Douglas is close to 60 and has been living here for 30 years. Thats half of his life drinking and carrying on with loud voices as he does. Douglas likes to get his freak-on with his girlfriend in the wee hours of the morning/night. I dont mind an active social life, as long as i dont have to hear it but.. hes got this squeek in his bed that is loud enough to wake both Christopher and myself out of a deep sleep. He also likes to get his freak on in the tub (believe me i know cause i can hear it), but i believe thats how the leak ended up destroying our ceiling. OK..so.. the story goes like this. Douglas has either kept me and C up, or woken us more than half of the days/nights weve been here so far. This place has thin walls and floors, but like good neighbours we've been biting our tongues. Well, the other night douglas had a lady friend over. They stayed up late drinking (or i assume they were cause youd have to be drunk to hang out with douglas)... so first it was the same crap as always.. loud voices, music.. till after we went to bed.. well till after C was able to fall asleep. I laid there staring at the ceiling where i listened to them walk to the bathroom where they proceeded to have a bath and get funky. It was truely gross -- between the swishing of the water, the squeeking on the bottom of the tub, or the constant Drip drip dripping of their sex water trickling down onto my bathroom floor -- i thought i was going to puke. Finally they quieted down enough for me to fall asleep...not for long of course. We were both woken up by the perverts squeeking bed.. We laid there for a bit.. trying to decide what to do.. but i mean, his bed is LOUD. You could hear it all.. and we really didnt want too. After 2 weeks of his shit, and the fact that Christopher had to get up at 5:30 (it was after 1am by this point) this was the straw that broke the cammels back. Christopher stood straight up in the bed, and gave a sturdy knock on the ceiling at the fornicators. They stopped... for like 2 minutes, and then started back up like nothing had happend. The next day i was home alone.. and douglas was making a ton of noise upstairs. Well.. we had just gotten our computer speakers all hooked up, all 5 of them with a bass box and all. So..every time douglas got loud, i turned up the music. I can play that game.. Anyway, he never came to talk to me or anything... instead he waited until later that night (thank god C was there - or it may have gotten realllly ugly) he came down and knocked on our door. We answered and he said.. ."did i offend you last night"? we said.. "well it wasnt offensive persay but you were keeping us up so i thought id let you know.."
"well id appreciate it if you didnt do that again, its very rude".. we said something about how we dont enjoy listening to him, that hes kept us up more nights than not.. it kinda went back and forth for a bit.. with him getting a bit more beligerant as the conversation went on. Finally, he says.. well im flattered i keep you up, im old enough to be your father. And i quickly say, "ya, but that doesnt mean you get to talk to us like you are, maybe you should come back and we'll discuss this when your not drunk". Well. He sure didnt like that. He started ranting "well stick a finger in your dimple" He headed up the stairs to his place, we closed the door. It wasnt even but 2 minutes that he was back knocking on our door. C opened it, and he started threating to call the cops on us, and that if he did C "would get kicked out of his school and sent to iraq" and then of course ranted some more about my dimples. We got our landlord (sorry... our BUILDING MANAGER) to call the cops... who came promply as they have delt with douglas more than once in the past. They took our statements first, where i pretended to almost cry, accusing him of harrassing us (a cute, nice young military couple) by saying C was going to die in iraq, and that he wanted to touch me inappropriatly. I have to admit, hollywood needs to discover me. Anyway... they went up to douglas' place, where he then tried convince the cops he was right.. and the cops didnt like that. The one thats delt with him before actually said "if i was your neighbour i woudnt like you very much either". As far as im concerned that was the victory right there.

Humans: a definition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a15KgyXBX24

This is possibly one of the best things ive seen posted on the net - a must see. Enjoy.

boating and unpacking - oh my

wow.. what a packed weekend, and it sure went fast. We got a call saturday that christophers stuff was arriving sunday. I was enjoying a pleasant day boating when we got the call.

I think my cigarette boat could have gone faster if it wasnt for the chain linking it to the coin box. But, i still had fun.

So, as many of you know, christopher's stuff came from tennesse. The airforce hired a moving company from that area to get his stuff over here. Man, now that guy was "about as country as you can get" according to christopher.

I have not seen a mullet that fine (or that greasy) in a very long time - if ever.

Now, i shot this picture on the sly, so its not very good, but i had to show off this mullet even if it wasnt a great representation of it.

That is also a picture of my font door. Charming isnt it?

We also got a smoking deal on a couch this weekend. Heres christopher, taking the new couch for a test ride, tired out before the mover even came..

and a picture of our technology hub where we sat for hours on the floor infront of the laptop, as weve been without a phone or tv or stereo.

Once we get everything set up, ill take some more pics of what the place looks like all set up.. as it is now, its insane but atleast looks lived in. I also have a table for the laptop, instead of that fancy box that its on in that picture. So, were living the highlife. lol..

I miss you all tons. Take care.

why you shouldnt leave toothpicks on the ground