Deathly (Aimee Mann) (This freaked me out)

Whew, it was an exhausting weekend as all racing weekends are. It was also an emotional roller coaster with Katherine's accident on Sunday with three laps left in the race. If you don't know what I'm talking about you apparently watch less TV than I do, and that's impressive! On lap 48 of 51, Katherine Legge's Warriors in Pink (Breast Cancer) car lost the main piece to its rear wing which mean she lost all of her downforce just as she was about to enter the fastest corner on the track (the Kink at Road America). She took the turn/curve at full speed (about 170 mph) and obviously lost control as she had no downforce to keep the car on the track. Her car immediately went airborne and did exactly what it's been designed to do – protect the driver from injury while coming apart in a very scary fashion. One problem with Road America is that it is so freaking huge (4+ miles around) that there is no Diamondvision and you only know what's happening by the PA system which doesn't work fabulously well when cars are roaring past you at 750 hp. We heard "…lost a wing…" "…Will Power…", so for a good five minutes I thought Will Power (Australian rookie, leader of the Rookie of the Year right now) was in the kitty litter somewhere. Then I heard, "…car pieces flying everywhere, the way it's supposed to…" and "…Katherine Legge…" That might have been from someone in front of us who had a scanner.

They announced they were Red Flagging (stopping) the race due to the debris. I was at Toronto when they had to red flag the race near the end because of Jeff Krosnoff's accident and I quietly freaked out. At this point, I started to say a Hail Mary, but remembered I had put my brand new rosary card in my purse. I dug it out and proceeded to say a rosary to keep Katherine safe. They were saying NOTHING from the PA and I learned in Toronto that that is generally not a good sign. They like to err on the side of caution when they don't know what's going on, understandably but it was freaking me out. When I got done with the rosary, I looked at my racing friends and I could tell that Chan had been crying and that Cam looked very concerned. Everybody was sitting quietly (except for the drunken asshole at the top of the hill who kept yelling something completely unintelligible) and ostensibly praying. HRH was trying to call somebody to find out what they were saying on TV and came to me to get my friend Jim's phone #. He told us, "She smiled in the ambulance and gave the thumbs up." We shared the information and the relief in the air was palpable. I then got a text message from Ursamajor saying "I'm sure you heard, but Katherine is awake and alert. Gave the thumbs up in the ambulance." And then another one: "Just showed her walking around." I almost started crying then from the release of the tension.

It was obvious everybody in the area was trying to call someone on their cell phones because I had very intermittent service and at one point I had to give up trying to call Jim and just texted him back saying "Thanks for the news, service for shit right now." Or something like that. After the 40 minute red flag, they continued the race and AJ hung on for the win which was great because I really wasn't ready for the championship to be decided with two races left to go in the series.

After the race, we went to the paddock to see what was up (instead of heading straight home). HRH wanted to see the car. She said, "If anything had happened to her, I wouldn't want to see it, but since she walked away with a bruise on her knee, I want to see it." The crew had the tent flaps down and zipped, but they had to transfer it into the hauler eventually, so we waited a few minutes and they brought it out. I got a picture of it, although it was covered up. And it was obviously only the tub (where the driver sits).

I talked to Melissa, a quasi-friend I see at races, who works in the Champ Car Merchandise Trailer and she said the paddock was SILENT until the news came that she was okay. And she had run down to the PKV area after it happened and she said all of Katherine's crew members were crying. And when we were walking back to the car, I said to HRH, "Emotion is so exhausting." I was just wrung out from the lows and the highs of the day. I felt like I couldn't breathe during the time we didn’t know if Katherine was okay. Even now just thinking about it, my chest is tight and a tad painful.

HRH called me last night to tell me that Katherine has been on every morning news show there is and then some. If it had been Oriol in that accident, would he be getting the publicity and coverage that Katherine is getting? I say, No, but I'm not complaining because anytime Champ Car gets good publicity is a good thing in my book. Unfortunately, we don't have another race until Oct. 22, so this probably won't translate into more people watching, but if one or two click in, that would be nice. I know I'm trying desperately to convert my loyal readers. ;-) Although I'm just thankful if you read my racing posts!

I'm sure there's more to tell you, but that was the thing that stuck out most in my mind.

Bombers Bay

The weekend was one of my usual crazy super busy weekends. It started with the DSO with guest conductor, Sir Neville Marriner. I was pretty damned excited as I've heard his name for what seems like my entire life. He's been the conductor at the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields forever which he formed in 1959. The man across the aisle from my seats at Orchestra Hall has had season tickets longer than me, and we've been talking for the past couple of years. I talked to him on Friday before the concert to tell him how excited I was about seeing Sir Neville for the first time in my life and he said he was just as excited. It's so nice having a fellow classical music geek to talk to once in a while.

Dinner before the symphony was at TJ's, of course. The owner stopped by to say Hi as we used to work together and she told me about a new jazz club she and her husband has opened in downtown Detroit. I have forgotten the name of it, but I know where it's located, if anybody wants to check it out.

Saturday I was supposed to go "plowing" with the Libertarian. I wasn't exactly sure what this all entailed, but I was willing to check it out. I was picturing myself with a pitchfork throwing hay around, but it turns out that we were just going to watch people on antique tractors plowing a field. I'm such a city girl!!!

He was going to pick me up Saturday morning at 10:00 something he was not looking forward to, but then he got a call from the guy whose field it was and turns out that all the bloody rain last week had the field a tad wet – standing water was the term used. It actually worked out well, because that gave me time to do some laundry.

It was Mom's birthday, so my brother got us all together that afternoon to go down to the Calder Dairy so that Mom could see cows as Mom loves cows. I drove myself as the Libertarian lives just around the block (if the back of beyond has blocks) from the dairy and we were going to go driving. It had been two months since I had been driving, and I needed to practice.

Occasionally it's very handy to drive in a convoy because then your brother-in-law can let you know that you have a flat tire (dammit!). Thankfully the Libertarian is a tool-owning kind of guy and he had a fancy tire gauge pressure taker and a compressor to put air into my very flat tire. It has a slow leak, so I took it to Belle Tire after work yesterday. (The Libertarian met me there so that I could still go to the gym. Turns out that my tire had made friends with a nail, but we nipped that new relationship in the bud yesterday.)

Back to the dairy, where I got licked on the knee by a cow. It was kind of disgusting as I was wearing jeans at the time and I could feel the dampness. Yuk. I took lots of pictures but still need to get them uploaded to flickr.com. There was a 3 day old calf – so cute!!!

After wandering about the farm looking at all the animals for about 30 minutes we got ice cream. I got the chocolate peanut butter and I have to say it was pretty darn good. Their ice cream is a little weird in that it doesn't seem to get hard like most ice creams. It was pretty soft, but airy.

The Libertarian showed up a little before 5:00 and met everybody (poor guy) – BAB, SIL, the Terror Children, OS, BIL, and niece. He already knew Mom and YS. We wandered around the dairy for a little while – he wanted to see the baby calf. When we were all done looking at all the animals, I informed him that I was following him in my car to his house. I was not about to attempt to drive a stick shift for the first time in two months in front of my less than supportive family. Oh, they think they're supportive, but making fun of me and asking him if he's worried about his clutch is NOT supportive. Besides, I think it was important that we get my little car with the flat tire to his place.

Before we put air in the tire we went for a drive (before it got too cold for the Jeep) and he asked if I wanted a parking lot or the roads. I chose the parking lot, so he directed me and I drove there. I was having huge issues that day and the damn thing kept stalling and I was getting frustrated. He was getting ticked at the Jeep (said he was glad it was doing this since he had just taken it apart and was feeling bad about it, but now that it was stalling on me quite regularly, he figured it deserved it) and finally opened the hood and turned up the idle as it sounded like there was a miss in the engine. After that, no problem and I tooled around these crazy two lane country roads and it seemed like every time I got to a stop sign there was somebody behind me. They always figured out pretty quickly that I wasn't moving quickly and they'd pass me immediately. If I had been in my car I would have been annoyed, but since I was completely tentative in my driving, I was very happy when they would do it.

At one point I came up on a railroad crossing (actually there were a number of them, but only one had a Stop sign) and the damn Jeep stalled when I stopped. I wouldn't have been too worried, except that I was on a slope and railroad tracks freak me the hell out. I have heard stories all my life about cars stalling on railroad tracks and getting hit by a train. I had to stop and breathe and not think about it and I made it first try. I was very glad that I didn't have to go back that way although that night I had a dream that I stalled the damn thing on the tracks and couldn't get it started and of course a train was coming. Needless to say, I jerked awake. That was not fun.

After driving we put air in my tire and then went out to dinner to see what would happen. The tire had lost a pound of air which I guess wasn't too bad. We then spent a good hour trying to figure out how to put the jack back under the spare tire. It's been sitting in my trunk for the past year and a half and was driving me crazy not being where it belonged. I had asked Belle Tire at least twice before to put it back, but the technician apparently didn't feel like it because it was never done and I never felt like going back in and complaining. I felt much better about not doing it myself when it took the Libertarian a good hour to figure it out.

I had two margaritas at dinner (I really need to avoid cheap tequila – see Jose Cuervo) as it doesn't make my stomach happy. The place we went to for dinner carried every shitty American beer you can think of, along with Sam Adams. I should have gone with the Sam Adams, but for some reason thought I wanted a margarita. So wrong. We sat in the living room listening to music and talking about whatever. I don't even remember. Then he had to give me directions for getting home as I had absolutely no clue. Thankfully it wasn't hard and it only took me 30 minutes and not the 40 he said. I might be a bit of a speed demon. I still got home pretty late though, and I was exhausted all day Sunday.

Sunday was Mass with Mom and YS (another 2 hours which just ticked me off). I was leery about driving all over metro Detroit with a tire going flat, so I took my car home and Mom and YS came and picked me up. We were going to the Franklin Cider Mill for Mom's b-day. We picked up the nephew on the way as he's away at college (but not that away, as it's an easy commute made every day by people who live around here, but he doesn't have a car, so I guess that's as good a reason as any). When we dropped him off we had to see his dorm room. Wow, dorm rooms have gotten pretty nice. It's more an apt than a dorm room with a full kitchen, two bathrooms (with two sinks each) and two bedrooms (two boys in each) and a laundry room with nicer laundry facilities than in my apt. bldg. Talk about spoiled!

Mom & YS dropped me off and then Pamela came over and cut my hair. Highlight of the day – even moreso than the three cider mill doughnuts I had (yeah, I felt nauseous after the third one) – what can I say, I prefer my hair short. I was asleep by 8:00 p.m. that night which was lovely. I love my sleep.

I leave Thursday for Road America for what will be my last race of the season. So sad. And if it rains in Wisconsin this weekend I'll NOT be happy, so please keep your fingers crossed for a nice, autumnal dry weekend. I hate being wet at the racetrack. Thank God HRH's Mini has heated seats (God's gift).

Blind Date from Hell (Redux)

Yesterday I was reading The West Virginia Surf Report and Jeff told the story about his worst date ever and asked his readers to tell their tales. I posted this two years ago, but since I had about three readers back then, I decided to repost because it's a great "bad date" story.

Back in 1997, I was living in San Francisco and had gone to one of the local radio station's Birthday parties that they throw for themselves. Flock of Seagulls, The Fixx, They Might Be Giants, Poe and The Cardigans all played at this concert and it was rockin'. The Fixx looked the same, if a tad older. They Might Be Giants looked EXACTLY the same – you'd never have guessed that 15 years had passed while Flock of Seagulls had aged badly and looked particularly jowly. Oh yeah, the music was GREAT! ;-)

I saw this really cute guy and as Julius had disappeared to hit on chicks, I started talking to him and his friend. Cute guy's name was Dustin (can't remember friend's name) and at some point we all exchanged phone #s. I ended up inviting Dustin to go to the Sharks/Red Wings game with me. He had never been to a hockey game but was willing to check it out. As is always the case with me, he wasn't actually interested in me at all, but the nameless friend thought I was way cool and was intent on finding a friend of his to date me. Nameless was married with children, BTW, and I was NOT interested in him anyway.

I get a call from Nameless one day because he had found a friend with whom to fix me up and I hate to be judgmental w/o meeting people, so I agree to this blind date. BIG MISTAKE. Blind date's name is Carmelo. Julius being the adult that he is had to make fun of his name and asked if I was dating a candy bar. *sigh* Good thing I love the big lug (Julius, not Carmelo). By this time, I had moved out of Julius' apt. and gotten my own in the same building (Thank God for this, as you'll see later.) We had one of those closed circuit television cameras so that you can see the front door on your cable TV. Day of the big date arrives (I think I had talked to Carmelo prior to this to set it up, but I don't remember. It was nine years ago, you know.) and it was a Thursday, if I remember correctly and there was something on TV that I had to tape (can't remember for the life of me what it was now, but it was VERY important at the time), so when he rang me I checked the closed circuit and told him that I would be down in a minute. I quickly set the VCR, grabbed my black leather motorcycle jacket and went downstairs. When I got outside there was nobody right outside the door, so I looked around and saw a Philippino guy standing in front of a truck in the bldg.'s driveway. I ask him if he's Carmelo and he says No. I'm puzzled as there is nobody else around. I look down the block and still see nobody, but start heading for the corner, thinking he went to the coffee shop. As I'm walking away, I hear, "Just kidding. I'm Carmelo." I gave him The Look and said, "Not funny." Then he proceeded to tell me what a funny guy he is. Oh yeah, that's funny. At this point, the date's 30 seconds old and I'm already annoyed. Oh, and he asked me if I was surprised to find out he was Philippino and did I care. Um no, I do have a brain and it's not like Carmelo is a real popular name among the Anglo-Saxon crowd. Just because you're an idiot doesn't mean I'm one. (Yeah, I had a good attitude about this date, didn't I?)

We start walking up the street while I tell him the different restaurant choices we have. We decide on this restaurant on Fillmore at Jackson, called, funnily enough, The Jackson Fillmore, and as we are walking he makes conversation by touching the Senna sticker I had on my jacket that was coming off. Now, this sticker was located right at butt-level, so this guy, within five minutes of meeting me, is touching my ass. I told him who Senna is and told him that the "sticker is fine, it's not going to come off," i.e., Yo, jackass, quit touching my ass. I didn't exactly say that as I was trying to be refined, but he kept touching it, pretending he's trying to make it stick. I finally told him to stop it.

We get to the restaurant and get seated right in front of the plate glass window. He asked if I wanted a glass of wine and I said "No thanks." He got a glass of red wine which was apparently to die for. He kept offering me a sip and I kept saying "No, thank you. I don't like red wine." This happened at least three times. Finally he said, "I'm not trying to get you drunk." Yeah, right. Whatever.

I don't remember the conversation we were having, but I can't believe I was discussing anything that would induce him to say the following: "So, do you like strangulation?" I gaped at him, thinking to myself "What an idiot, strangulation leads to death. Who would answer yes to this question?" And I gasp, "No" with the most incredulous look ever on my face. Everybody tells me that I should have left right there and then, but I didn't want to be rude.

During dinner one of my friends from work walked by and saw me sitting in the front window and made faces at me as he walked past. I had to giggle as I was having such a horrible time at this point.

After dinner we walked back down Fillmore to my bldg. I wanted him to leave but was just not assertive enough to say, "Well, it's been nice…" before he said, "Want to get a drink somewhere?" Shit. I really had to pee at this point but didn't want to let him into my apt., and didn't really want to pee in a bar when home was so close. So, we went up to Julius' (see, I told you he was going to come in handy), and I peed while Julius entertained. Then we went up to the corner bar which is now John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom Room, but wasn't then, but for the life of me I can't remember the name as this was the only time I ever went in there. I had a Guinness and wondered how quickly I could get out of this and go home. For the record, the Guinness was the highlight of the night. We had the one beer and we walked to his car (which was on the way to my apt.) and I left him there.

The next day at work everybody asked me how it went, and when I told them about the strangulation line they all just looked askance at me. Someone said something and that's when (I'm a little slow when it comes to that sort of thing, I must admit) I realised that he wasn't talking about strangulation as a death device, but as a sexual thing. OOOOHHHH!!!! My friends all laughed at me for being so naïve, and for months after that the friend who had walked past the restaurant would make gestures at me with his hands wrapped around his neck.

Nameless called me a couple of days later to see how it went. I said, "Don’t ever fix Carmelo up with women you actually like!" He asked why, of course. And I told him about the sticker "Remember the sticker on my jacket and its placement?" "Yes." He was appalled that he had so brazenly touched me so early in the date. And then I told him about the strangulation comment. He was again appalled and apologised. I told him it was okay, just don't set up Carmelo again! I talked to Nameless a few weeks later and the strangulation story had gotten around Carmelo's work, so he was taking a whole lot of ribbing and he was insisting that he hadn't meant it like that at all. Uh huh. Right.

And that's my story of Worst Date Ever (although I have had a couple of doozies since I got home, just nothing as bad as this).

Aria (featuring the Medieval Babes)

You know the day is going to suck when you wake up 22 minutes late and then because of sleeping in you leave for work when you should already be there and then get caught in a friggin' downpour. As my friends say (but in Polish, which I have no idea how to spell), "God punishes." I was halfway to work when all of a sudden the heavens opened up and water gushed from the sky. I contemplated running briefly, but could tell that it wasn't going to matter, I was going to be soaked to the bone whether I ran or not. The rain caused my pants to drag further down until they were five inches past my shoes (that would be my wet shoes and sopping socks) and caught under my heels. The water ran down my neck and under my fleece. I usually bypass the first door and walk in the second door I come to, but not today. Thankfully there was a rest room about 50 feet inside the door and I went there and got paper towel to dry my hair as it was plastered to my scalp. Thank God for short hair and style that doesn't rely on any effort. Also Thank Pamela.

I squished my way through the building and came upon the biggest motherf***ing cockroach I have ever seen in my life. I went to step on it, but it came at me, so I decided that discretion was the better part of valor. It didn't stop me from finding the cleaning guy (he was in the men's room cleaning and I hollered, "Hello." He came out and I said, "Could you please kill a cockroach? I went to do it, but it was bigger than me." He just laughed at me but he obliged. It was at the end of the hallway but it was so friggin' huge it could be seen. "You mean by the garbage can?" "Yup." I was damn near the length of the hallway away when I heard him stomp the crap out of it and said something about how big it was.

I'm sure a day that started out so inauspiciously with oversleeping, a rain soaking and the biggest motherf***ing cockroach ever is not going to be a good day. I'm now sitting at my desk with my shoes and socks off drying in front of my illegal heater. My pants are still not dry, although they are close. And I just wrung a goodly amount of water from my fleece. Stupid forecasters.

The really galling part? The damn downpour lasted maybe five minutes. I can't wait for my friend to get here as she's bringing me dry socks.

Still drying out

You Are: 40% Dog, 60% Cat

You and cats have a lot in common. You're both smart and in charge - with a good amount of attitude. However, you do have a very playful side that occasionally comes out!

Are You More Cat or Dog?

Beethoven, Symphony #7, Poco sostenuto - vivace

Happy Friday to one and all!!!

What a day! I got to work this morning to find out that I had an 8:00 a.m. meeting which included a 10:00 deadline to compile all the information from said meeting and send to somebody else. Yeah, the problem was that it took me longer than an hour to compile all the data, so the person who needed it after me didn't get until 15 minutes before his meeting. I felt bad, but it wasn't my fault. They need to stop scheduling 8:00 a.m. meeting at 8:00 the night before. The turnaround time in this place is ridiculous. "Here's a massive project, but I need to have it back in an hour." Yeah, right.

I've been a complete slacker this week exercise-wise. Tuesday I had to get to the post office as I had books to mail to IL, DVDs to return to my buddy Woof (who occasionally comments) and CDs to The Netherlands because apparently the new Bob Dylan is so special you can't buy in Canada or Europe.

Wednesday was the baseball game (synopsis below) and then I had dinner plans with a dear friend back downtown. And yesterday I felt like sitting outside since it was lovely and there shall be so few days of sitting outside in the sun left here in the Mitten State.

The baseball game Wednesday was interesting – as was the weather. At game time, it was 82˚F (27.8˚C) within an hour it had dropped to 71˚F (21.6˚C) and then the rains came. The weather forecasters were right, for once, with their prediction of Isolated Thunderstorms. My brother works in a high-rise in Dearborn from which he can see downtown Detroit. He said it was sunny in Dearborn, but he could tell it was pouring downtown. The rains held off until the bottom of the 8th Inning when the Tigers got a rally going and tied the game up at 4 apiece with zero out. Jim Leyland, manager, decided to have Kevin Hooper (yeah, I had never heard of him either) for Dimitri Young (Love you, DY and miss you). This caused the Mariners to get all stupid and decide to change pitchers. Now, mind you, I understand (although I'm not a big fan of) the whole changing pitchers late in the game to get the match-up you want (leftie vs rightie – or whatver), but for Pete's sake, this kid had yet to bat in the major league and they have to change their pitcher for him? But first the trainer had to come out and assess the current pitcher and then the manager had to come out and discuss it all with the entire infield, and then when the Ump (who gave them way more time than normally allowed) started to stroll out to the mound, they decided to call in somebody from the bullpen. He jogged in, and then had to warm up (and all this time it's raining, just not too hard yet). He pitched to Kevin, Kevin bunted, advancing the runners, while he got tagged at 1st. Next batter was Magglio. I think they pitched to him and he swung at the first pitch and popped up. Sean Casey (newly acquired first baseman from Pittsburgh) was next in the batting order. But the Mariners decided that they needed to fiddle-fart around some more, so out comes the pitching coach. And then out comes the manager, and then goes out the call to the bullpen. And that point it was raining damn hard, and the grounds crew started putting out the tarp.

3.5 hours later (the second rain delay in a row for the Tigers/Mariners), they re-start the game but the momentum of that inning is long gone, just like the Mariners wanted and the Tigers lose to the last place Mariners. No, I didn't stay. I had dinner plans that night, and it was obvious it was going to be LONG delay. This all means that before yesterday's game against the Twins, the Tigers were four games up on the Twins (4½ on the White Sox) and we were facing a four games series against the Twins. Thankfully, Justin Verlander, our rookie sensation pitcher, did his thing and we ended up winning the game, so now we're five up on the Twins with three more games to play against them. I hope they can keep it up!!!

Now on to the monthly excitement of what books I read and movies I watched back in August:

Books:

The Unfair Advantage by Mark Donohue with Paul Van Valkenburgh (325 pages)
I had started this book in July, but it was a bit dense with engineering terms, so it took me a little time to get through it. I loved it, although unless you're an automotive engineer or a rabid race fan, it probably won't appeal to you.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (656 pages)
A friend from SF had recommended this book years ago, but I hadn't gotten around to picking it up. Then I saw somebody else recommend it to Kristin when she was requesting book suggestions last year. Kristin read it and recommended it in her diary. I figured I was destined to read it when it showed up in the box of books returned to me from Schprockie. He told me it was mine to keep or do whatever with it. I quite liked Kavalier & Clay and would definitely recommend it. I'm not even into cartoon/graphic novel history or anything like that. It's simply a well-written, well-thought out story that makes you think. Warning: It made me cry.

Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer (304 pages)
After the behemoth that was Kavalier & Clay I wanted something short and not too involved. And what better for that than a "Young Adult" book. I've read all of Mr. Colfer's Artemis Fowl books which I quite liked. Half Moon Investigations was as good as the Artemis Fowl books – well written, funny, and just plain fun. I definitely recommend this as well as the Artemis Fowl collection.

Mars and Venus on a Date: A Guide for Navigating the 5 Stages of Dating to Create a Loving and Lasting Relationship by John Gray, Ph.D. (400 pages)
I actually found this book quite helpful, although I figured it was just going to be another "How To Get A Man" book which I find singularly annoying as they mostly tell women not to be themselves. This book actually explained how men think and essentially why. It was kind of a "Men for Dummies" book.

Puck is a Four Letter Word by Frank Orr (278 pages)
This book was hilarious and gave what I think is a fairly accurate portrayal of the trials and tribulations of free agency & expansion teams despite the fact that it was a straight up novel. The amazing thing I thought was that it was written in the early 80s, but pretty well predicted the Rangers Stanley Cup win and the lockout (although the timing was reversed). If you like hockey even a little bit I would recommend this book.

Movies:

High Sierra (TCM) – 92% approval rating - It was Bogart and film noir. What else do I need to say?

Chicago (G) – This has an 88% approval rating at rottentomatoes.com, but I'm afraid that I don't agree with that at all. I would put this on my list of movies I never need to see again, ever. I thought Renee Zellweger was terrible and couldn't dance to save her life. I didn't think the damn thing was ever going to end.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (TCM) – 100% approval rating - I had seen this years and years and years ago, but didn't really remember much beyond the bandito saying "Badges? Badges? We don't need no stinking badges." I had watched it the first time because I had read the book by B Traven. It's an interesting study on greed and how it affects people. I definitely recommend this.

A Very Long Engagement (N) – 78% approval rating – Not only was the engagement very long, so too was the movie. I actually liked it, although it was a bit interminable. Lead character was played by Audrey Tautou of Amelie fame, but this movie takes place during and after WWI, so she plays a different type character. It actually reminded me of The Story of Qiu Ju in how determined she was.

Leon, the Professional (N) – 81% approval rating – This movie was a tad bit violent, but good. It was Natalie Portman's film debut and she was very very good, I thought. It also has Gary Oldman doing his usual excellent job playing someone "icky." I don't really appreciate violent movies, but I quite liked this one.

Kate & Leopold (K) – 48% approval rating – Yup, the critics hated this, but I love this movie. I've watched it a number of times – mostly when I need a Hugh Jackman fix – and I still like it. It's your basic romantic comedy with some time travel thrown in. What can I say, it worked for me.

La Femme Nikita (N) – 85% approval rating – I remember my friends all watching this movie when it came out, but I somehow missed it. Again, a bit violent, but a good movie and you actually end up caring about the female assassin. It's in French, so as long as that doesn't bother you, I say go for it.

9½ Weeks (N) – 59% approval rating – I remember my parents went and saw this movie when it came out at the recommendation of one of the FF's co-workers. The FF was appalled at the sex scenes and absolutely hated the movie. I don't remember Mom having an opinion. I thought it was a tad overdone and didn't see why Kim Basinger's character went along with Mickey Rourke's character. I'm glad I saw it because I can now make up my own mind about it, but it wasn't all that good.

Paradise Road (K) – 53% approval rating – I liked this movie, but I have a tendency to appreciate true stories that celebrate the spirit of people and the indomitableness of said spirit. I didn't read the reviews so I don't know why the critics didn't like it, but I did. And that's all that matters, to me, at least!

Tonight is opening night of the DSO. My favorite conductor (after Neemi Jarvi, of course), Peter Oundjian is conducting Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" with piano soloist Lang Lang and Beethoven's Symphony #7. I'm sure it's going to be incredible. I have no idea what they're playing next week, because I only care that I'm finally going to see Sir Neville Mariner conduct! I think I've heard his name my entire life, so that'll be pretty freaking exciting. Ah, my classical music geekness rears its ugly head!!!

I hope you all have a good weekend and please keep your fingers crossed that the rain stays away for once over the weekend!

TTFN!

Lamentation

I'm outta here in two hours as I'm going to the Tigers game today. I hope the weather clears up because I'm not really in the mood to get wet. I'm going with the incredible Glen who got the tix for my b-day. I'll be sitting in the first row behind home plate upper deck. How cool is that????? PRAY FOR NO RAIN!!!

Pet Peeve: People who bathe in their friggin' cologne. We used to have a guy in our dept who would do that. I was so happy when we got rid of him, but another dept. brought him back, but didn't actually give him a desk, so he's squatting in my dept making us all gag once again. Vile, simply vile.

Heather did this survey a while back and I stole it for a dry period. She had borrowed it from someone else, El Sid, whom I'm much too lazy to go and find just to link to her. It was much longer but I deleted stupid questions like when I have gym period. Oh, and I answered this yesterday but didn't have time to post it, so some answers would be different if I cared enough to go back and change them.

1. ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT?
Cervical diskectomy & fusion – it's in the crease in my neck and everybody tells me that they can't see it, but I can.

2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR ROOM?
The dreamcatcher Clarity sent me for Christmas last year. In fact, it's the only thing hung in the entire apt. as I've been lazy and uninspired with the picture hanging.

3. WHAT DOES YOUR CELL PHONE LOOK LIKE?
Black & silver flip phone – pretty basic

4. WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO?
Goth/industrial/punk/New Wave mostly, but also big into Classical.

5. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN?
No, because Mom doesn't remember when her middle child was born. I think she could tell you the time of all her other children, but she can't even tell me if it were morning, noon, or night.

6. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW?
To be skinny again

7. WHAT DO YOU MISS?
Crispy Crunch Tofu from Thai Stick in San Francisco – official name was Tofu Krob or something like that.

8. WHAT IS THE VELOCITY OF AN UNLADEN SPARROW IN FLIGHT?
I'm deferring to El Sid on this one as she had the right answer.

9. DO YOU PREFER HOT DOGS OR HAMBURGERS?
Boca burgers

10. WHAT ARE YOU CONSIDERED [[PREP, GOTH, JOCK, ETC]]?
I'm thinking this has to be another teenager-inspired survey. We didn't have goths when we were in high school – just jocks and burnouts, and probably whatever they called the "brains." I was a brain.

11. DO YOU GET SCARED IN THE DARK?
Not usually.

12. THE LAST PERSON TO MAKE YOU CRY?
Me, for being stupid and letting someone else upset me.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COLOGNE / PERFUME?
Vanilla by The Body Shop

14. WHAT KIND OF HAIR/EYE COLOR DO YOU LIKE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Dark hair/dark eyes

15. COFFEE OR ENERGY DRINKS?
Neither, I avoid anything that makes me jittery.

16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIZZA TOPPING?
Mushrooms (real, not canned – blech) and onions

17. IF YOU COULD EAT ANYTHING RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I'm full from lunch, but I can tell you it wouldn't have been the shitty piece of pizza I got from the cafeteria.

18. WHO IS THE LAST PERSON YOU MADE MAD?
Me, for letting someone else upset me.

19. DO YOU SPEAK ANOTHER LANGUAGE?
Mas o menos

20. WHAT WAS THE FIRST GIFT SOMEONE EVER GAVE YOU:
The first gift I remember receiving from someone outside the family was a b-day present for my 12th birthday. It was a stuffed beanbag multi-colored bean bag dog which I still have to this day. Her name is Daphne. If I remember I'll take a pic and attach it.

21. DO YOU LIKE SOMEONE?
Unfortunately.

22. ARE YOU DOUBLE JOINTED?
No, I'm lucky to be normally jointed, I'm so uncoordinated.

23. FAVORITE CLOTHING STORE?
It used to be Chico's. I haven't come up with a replacement yet.

24. WOULD YOU FALL IN LOVE KNOWING THAT THE PERSON IS TAKEN?
Hard to control with whom you fall in love, but I certainly wouldn't act on it if the person were taken.

25. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO TELL SOMEONE HOW MUCH THEY MEAN TO YOU?
Knit them a scarf or make them a rosary (if they're not Catholic, though, this might confuse them).

26. BLONDES OR BRUNETTES?
What about redheads? I'm offended.

27. WHO IS THE NUMBER ONE PERSON YOU CALL OFTEN?
Probably Martha and we don't even talk that often.

28. WHAT ANNOYS YOU MOST?
Stupidity & men – they seem to go hand-in-hand.

29. HAVE YOU BEEN OUT OF THE U.S.?
Since I live in Detroit, I'm discounting Windsor, Ontario, Canada as having been out of the country. Yes, I've been to Mexico many times (but never enough), Toronto, ONT, Edmonton, ALB & Cairo, Egypt.

30. YOUR WEAKNESSES?
Kryptonite & having food in the house

31. FIRST JOB?
Babysitting, of course, but if we're talking first job with W-2 form, that'd be Burger King.

32. EVER DONE A PRANK CALL?
No, not my style.

33. WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU FILLED OUT THIS?
Reading blogs and doing the Happy Dance because the Mandatory Golf (or stay inside and play cards for 8 hours) Outing has been canceled.

34. IF YOU COULD GET PLASTIC SURGERY WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Absolutely nothing. Not that I'm perfect or perfectly gorgeous, but I think plastic surgery is unbelievably stupid unless a deformity is being fixed.

35. WHY DID YOU FILL OUT THIS SURVEY?
Because I forgot to bring the notebook where I write down the books read and movies watched for the month with me and I didn't feel like telling you all about how I spent damn near the entire weekend sitting at home all by myself.

36. WHAT DO YOU GET COMPLIMENTED ABOUT MOST?
My cool Chucks (entire collection soon to be posted at flickr.com)

37. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF ALCOHOL BECAME LEGAL FOR ANY AGE?
I have to agree with whoever I stole this survey from: "Start avoiding the bars, because they'd be full of fucking kids."

38. WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY?
So far, I've gotten nothing (except for a check from Grandma) from the family. My friends, however, came through in style: sweet ass tix to tomorrow's Tigers game, sweet ass framed papyrus from Egypt to go with my collection, extremely sweet ass framed pics of My Igor with his wine label – oh, also autographed. Utterly cool. I gave my mom a list of movies or a couple of different pairs of Chucks that I want, but so far nothing.

39. HOW MANY KIDS DO YOU WANT?
The number that I have now. ZERO, ZIP, ZILCH, CERO.

40. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
My Aunt Kathy who had gone into the convent. My Mom is VERY Catholic.

41. DO YOU WISH ON STARS?
Yup, fat lot of good it has ever done me.

42. WHICH FINGER[S] IS YOUR FAVORITE?
I like them all, although I like them better when I'm skinny.

43. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY?
Yesterday when I heard Steve Irwin had died.

44. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
Sometimes I write better than others.

45. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
I'm a vegetarian, I don't eat lunch meat, but when I did, I didn't like any of it, but could suffer through liverwurst if I had to. PB&J was the sandwich of choice.

46. ANY BAD HABITS?
Seriously thinking about not answering the phone when it rings.

47. WHAT IS YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING CD ON THE SHELF?
I suppose people will think I should be embarrassed by my Barry Manilow CDs. I also have Helen Reddy & Neil Diamond.

48. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOURSELF?
God, I'd hope so.

49. HAVE YOU EVER TOLD A SECRET YOU SWORE NOT TO TELL?
Possibly, but it might have been when I was a stupid ass teenager.

50. DO LOOKS MATTER?
Yes, but I find that a person whom you didn't think was all that attractive can become moreso as you get to know him/her and find that you like them. The opposite is also true.

51. HOW DO YOU RELEASE YOUR ANGER?
In the car, I rant and yell and scream and call people names. Otherwise, I have a tendency to cry.

52. WHERE IS YOUR SECOND HOME?
I barely have a first home.

53. DO YOU TRUST OTHERS EASILY?
Yes, sometimes too easily.

54. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD?
When I think child, I think young, so I'm going to say this stuffed pillow in the shape of a duck." I couldn't say my Ds, so it was "Guck."

55. HOW MANY NUMBERS ARE ON YOUR CELL PHONE?
I like the smart ass response given by the previous survey purveyor, so I'm stealing it: "the usual... zero through nine."

56. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
Do certain political science professors pee in the woods?

57. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A MOSH PIT?
Yes, quite accidentally, however, as they came about after I was much too old to be that stupid, and had seen people come out with the imprint of a boot on their face.

58. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GIRL/GUY?
I've given up.

59. WHAT'S YOUR NICKNAME(S)?
Kat, 'Leenie, Lemur, Grammar Police, Adverb Police.

60. DO YOU UN-TIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Have to unless I want to break an ankle as I wear only high-tops.

61. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
Mother Lode – vanilla ice cream with ribbons of caramel and chocolate covered toffee pieces. YUM!!!

62. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ARTIST/BAND?
Joy Division

63. HOW MANY WISDOM TEETH DO YOU HAVE?
Those suckers came out the day before my b-day oh so many years ago. Can you say Birthday Jello?

64. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Delerium's Karma album.

65. LAST THING YOU ATE?
My new favorite chocolate bar: Lindt Swiss Classic Bittersweet Chocolate with chopped hazelnuts.

66. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Martha yesterday (although I might have talked to somebody here at work, but who cares about that).

67. WHATS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Eyes & smile

68. FAVORITE THOUGHT PROVOKING SONG?
Marianne by Tori Amos – it's about a girl who killed herself when they were in school. She told the story at the concert I went to shortly after a close friend had killed himself. Her explanation of the song was so like my response to hearing about my friend's death that I sat there and cried.

69. FAVORITE THING TO DO:?
Knit, read, bead, watch movies, go to races, go to baseball & hockey games

70. FAVORITE DRINK:
Guinness

71. FAVORITE ZODIAC SIGN:
I guess Leo since that's what I am.

72. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SPORT?
Champ Car Racing, of course

73. WHAT IS YOUR HAIR COLOR?
Strawberry blonde, although my hairdresser says I'm more just a redhead than a strawberry blonde.

74. WHAT IS YOUR EYE COLOR?
Blue

75. DO YOU WEAR GLASSES?
Since I was 8.

76. SIBLINGS?
Two of each, one of each older and younger – I'm a true middle child.

77. FAVORITE MONTH?
August

78. DO YOU LIKE SUSHI?
Only vegetarian

79. LAST THING YOU WATCHED?
Meet Joe Black was on AMC last night and I watched that. I'm totally over Brad Pitt, not that he was ever on The List or even close to making the list, but I still love that movie.

80. Favorite Day of the Year?
Thanksgiving

81. ARE YOU TOO SHY TO ASK SOMEONE OUT?
No, but I've learned from experience that men don't want to be asked out – regardless of what they say – so I have given up. They have to ask me.

82. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Summer, beyond the shadow of a doubt!

83. KISSES OR HUGS?
Hugs, although finding someone who knows how to kiss without it being a war is a good thing.

84. RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE NIGHT STANDS?
Relationship

85. BIGGEST FEAR?
That this country will be stupid enough to vote Republican again.

Truly - Wise Buddha Radio Edit

I had one of my usual stupid busy weekends two weekends ago, but it was my birthday weekend, so it was to be expected. And unlike most people when I drink more than one or two drinks, I have major issues sleeping, so I spent Saturday and Sunday really tired. Sure, I was able to sleep Sunday night which is unusual, but I didn’t get to bed early enough to make up what I missed the previous two nights.

Martha was out of town the week leading up to my birthday weekend, so I wrangled up some work friends to go out for drinks after work. I had made these plans before I knew that Sci-Fi was going to be showing an all day Stargate SG-1 marathon, but I’m glad I went out instead of staying home to watch TV. That’s kind of lame. We just hung out and talked about work and the usual co-worker type conversation.

HRH was coming in on Saturday for the Birthday Baseball Game, so I knew I had to get up to clean the apt. but I was awake at 4:30 with a major headache (I was home by 7:30 which means I had stopped drinking by 7:15, but I still had a hangover). I finally gave in and got water, ibuprofen and crackers. But it was too bloody humid to sleep. It was the shittiest bloody day of the summer - weatherwise. Cold (60s) and High High HIGH humidity – my least favorite kind of weather – let’s sweat and be sticky and miserable but cold at the same time. It sucked! I actually cranked the AC and CLOSED ALL THE WINDOWS. I never close the windows in the summer, but it was too icky nasty not to. I cleaned the bathroom, washed the bathroom and kitchen floor, vacuumed and made up the couch into a bed for HRH. And it was all done by some ridiculously early hour like 10:00 a.m. I try not to be out of bed before 10:00 a.m. on Saturdays!!!! Yes, I'm a slacker.

HRH showed up around 2:00, I guess. Crossing the Ambassador Bridge from Windsor to Detroit was a nightmare that weekend. It took the Libertarian an hour and a half to cross it Saturday morning around 2:30 a.m. as there were only two people working. It wasn't much better when HRH crossed over. HRH had expressed an interest in seeing the Henry Ford Museum, so we walked across the street to check it out. I had thought I had never been in the museum before but I figured out I had been. I would have bet money on me never having been there, except for one quick trip in a few months back to give my friend Malcolm his Dan Gurney for President bumper sticker. [Don't be fooled by that price. The last time I stocked up (when you have Dane, the inconsiderate shithead parking his 1978 Cadillac as if it's a Toyota Echo, you occasionally have to replace your bumper stickers and cover up the damage the jackass has done to your bumper) they were $10 a piece.] Malcolm is a conservator there and he has more cool stories (if you're a huge racing geek like me) that will make you weep with jealousy (like having breakfast with Dan Gurney and driving Old 16 with Paul Newman). And if you don't care about cars, he was involved in the restoration of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House. Very cool.

HRH thought the Henry Ford museum contained only cars built by Ford, although an example of every one ever built. At first, she was confused by the Honda that was there. If you go here, you can view the slideshow of the pics I took at the museum. I tried to take pictures of the plaques that explained them and sometimes they come before the car, sometimes after, sometimes between pics of the same car. I did not take a picture of the mother huge train that is in there, but every person who walked up to it said, "It's huge." I heard that they had to dismantle part of the building, including the roof, to get the sucker in there. There is more than cars in the museum, not that you could tell that from my slideshow, but if you check out their website, you'll see they have lots of other stuff (not that I could tell you what those other things are as I've only ever seen the cars).

Saturday night was the baseball game and even though the Tiges lost (dammit!), I had a good time, and it didn't hurt that there were fireworks after the game. I didn't take pics of those for some reason. Sunday was spent with my dear friend Suzy who came from Toronto to celebrate my birthday. I picked her up around 10:00 for breakfast (at a lovely greasy spoon coney island) and then we went straight to Greenfield Village, the other half of Henry Ford's vision of preserving American history and a staple of field trips for all Detroit schoolkids. In fact, the field trips I remember were the Village and the Zoo. I honestly don't remember any other field trip. What do kids in other states/cities do for field trips?

I took zero pictures in the Village, for some insane unknown reason, although I distinctly remember carrying my camera around the entire darn day. Suzy already did her write-up of the day, and she did a much better job than I would, so go and read her very well-written and much more interesting account.

And she got to experience my favorite restaurant which she wrote about as well.

And there ya go, my birthday weekend in all its glory!