Future Ex-Girlfriend

I got tagged by Fermi to list my ten favorite things that start with "K" about two weeks ago and I'm finally getting around to it. It's even worse when you realise I volunteered for the tagging. I did this same game last year with the letter "L."

My excuses are myriad: 1) Justin's No Hitter begged me to blog about it. 2) I was busy on Thursday getting ready for my weekend trip to Austin. 3) I was gone Friday - Sunday in Austin. 4) Yesterday was just busy, besides me being very tired from the 12 hour ordeal that getting home was on Sunday.

Austin was cool (actually, it was hot and extremely humid). I went for a wedding along with a number of other Michigan friends, so it was one big party weekend, except for the airport on Sunday and even then, it would have been worse if there hadn't been a good nine of us affected by the Dallas-Fort Worth airport power outage.

Friday was a pizza party at the bride & groom's house where I ate so much pizza it wasn't even funny. Saturday we could have gone to help set up for the wedding, but the alternate plan was going to Waterloo Records. A trip to an ultra cool record store beats out cleaning a bar and decorating it for a wedding.

When I walked in the door I felt the same way I did the first time I walked into The World's Greatest Yarn Store - completely overwhelmed. I immediately found DIY: Do It Yourself about the Rise of Independent Music After Punk. I found this fascinating as I had just finished reading about it in this book: Rip It Up and Start Again. There was also a CD of American Hardcore, but saw there was a DVD of it, so I decided I would rent the DVD from Netflix to see if I need the album. Due to the same book mentioned earlier and the Ian Curtis book from last month, I was on a mission to find The Idiot by Iggy Pop and Low by David Bowie. Although the Sex Pistols are normally given all the credit for a good number of the postpunk bands, these two albums are listed as the ones that most inspired people to want to make music. The Pistols just gave them the wherewithal to try. I also picked up Chairs Missing by Wire, which was one of the original postpunk bands about which I had read in the book.

I started out in the New section and the only Low they had was a Japanese import for $27. Uh no! They did have The Idiot new as well. Then I found found the Used section. Oy vey. Luckily, Low & The Idiot were available used, so that was very exciting. I found a bunch of other Iggy which I didn't have so I grabbed those. Then Rick said, "Did you see the boxsets?" ARGH!!! I behaved myself, but only because I stopped before I got too far into it. Then Rick said, "Did you see this?" NO!!!! "This" was this 70s punk boxset. Yeah, you know it. I had to get it. I put the extra Iggy Pop CDs back, keeping only The Idiot. I put back the Talk Talk, as well.

Then when I'm standing in line to pay for my booty, GtG handed me Chutes Too Narrow by The Shins saying I had to have it. And then in a fit of generosity I picked up TWO postcards for Blue Meany.

Okay, now on to the actual post of the day:

Kaleidoscope – I absolutely love kaleidoscopes, but they have to be the real ones, not those icky fake stupid fly eyes ones. They have to have the little bits of colored glass (or plastic) that move as you turn the tube. I found one at FAO Schwartz in Vegas two years in their old-fashioned tin toy department. It wasn't expensive and it sits on my nightstand. I found out that my BIL makes them, but he hasn't made me one yet. I think I'll need to nag him.

Kabob - When I lived in San Francisco there was a vegan restaurant near the apartment which had these incredible Zen Kabobs made from seitan. They were so fabulous that when the restaurant closed to focus on their bakery (you might have eaten their cookies if you flew United a few years back) TAS and I went a couple of times the last week to indulge.

Kahlo - I never had an overarching interest in Frida Kahlo until I saw the movie and then went to her house in Coyoacan in Mexico City. Art is so much more interesting to me when I know what the artist was thinking or feeling. My mom was so interested after the trip that she's taken to buying books about Frida.

K - The symbol for strikes in baseball. After last week's no-hitter and Justin's 8 strikeouts, I decided to add it to the list. I do not like the "K" when it's my guys striking out.

Kamehameha - I learned about King Kamehameha way back in grade school and for some reason his name stuck with me my whole life. I couldn't tell you anything about him now without doing a google search, but I know I found him fascinating when I was young.

Karnak - I've never been to Karnak but I have grand dreams of getting back to Egypt and seeing everything I didn't see the first time around.

Keaton (Buster) - I never really knew anything about Buster Keaton until I saw Benny & Joon. Johnny Depp's portrayal of Sam intrigued me, so I ended up renting a bunch of Buster Keaton movies which I quite enjoyed.

Khufu (Cheops) - More ancient Egypt, but I actually not only saw his pyramid, but went inside it. He was apparently quite the bastard, I just like his pyramid.

knit - Duh! It's all I do. Remember, if you need a scarf, let me know. I have you covered. I'm already working on scarves for the Christmas craft show season.

kohlrabi - This is a very popular vegetable when my family (extended) has a veggie tray for get togethers. It goes quickly. I've never had any way but raw. I need to buy some for myself.

Night Boat to Cairo

I have more fun new projects which need my attention, but sadly, I don't have permission to access the information that I need and won't get it until tomorrow. How handy is that?

Yesterday I was reading an article on the latest airline quality report and saw that starting in June Spirit Airlines is going to charge people $5 per checked bag, if the trip was booked on-line. If you did it some other way (???), it's $10 per checked bag. My issue here is that because of the new regulations designed to keep me safe from people needing more than 3 oz of contact solution (oh wait, that's me), it's damned near impossible to fly anywhere and NOT check a bag, if you wear contacts. If I had gone on my trip to BWI/VA two weekends ago, the only way I could have done it without checking a bag was to wait until I got there to buy my contact solutions. And then I was going to have the YS bring the contraband back with her when she moved back to MI. That’s not going to work tomorrow for my Vegas trip, so I have to check a bag. Thankfully I'm not flying Spirit and won't ever be again, thank you very much.

As if flying weren't horrendous enough to begin with, they've now made it even more hideous and I've reached the point where I simply don't want to fly anymore. I was going to say that after Vegas, I won't have to fly again this year as I'm only going to Cleveland (and hopefully, Road America), but I just remembered I have a wedding in Austin, TX in June. Shit, more flying.

The Tigers lost their home opener yesterday in the 10th inning. Now, I don't want to second guess the skipper, Jim Leyland, but I do not understand why he put Joel Zumaya in to pitch the 7th inning for two innings and then Todd Jones, our saver, in the 9th when the game was tied. Okay, maybe I am second guessing him, but wouldn't it have made more sense to put in a middle reliever, say Jason Grilli?, in the 7th and possibly the 8th, then Joel in the 9th and 10th, and if need be, Todd Jones after that. Fernando Rodney did a great job for us in the playoffs, but he's normally a bit erratic and that's the Fernando that showed up yesterday (single, walk, hit batter to fill the bases). Ah well, it's one game, but it didn't stop HRH from calling me as soon as the game was over. I answered the phone "What? You called to gloat already?" as she lives in the GTA. She just laughed as she doesn't actually care about baseball, but simply enjoys giving me a hard time.

I did a load of laundry yesterday while watching the game (and since I didn't go to the gym, I lifted my hand weights and did crunches and leg lifts), because I wore a few shirts last week which I wanted to take with me to Vegas. Tonight I will be packing as I'm leaving right after work tomorrow. For once, I've planned my trip well, as the weather here is supposed to turn wintry tomorrow. Today it's going to be 70F with a 30-degree drop for tomorrow with a "wintry mix." And it's going to be 80-90F in Vegas. Yes, I'm taking my sunblock, but I fear that I'll be blinding people with my winter white legs, particularly the drivers.

Is there an age when a woman should stop wearing shorts? Because I'm feeling like shorts are inappropriate for a woman of my age, but if you think I'm wearing pants or jeans when it's 90F, you've lost your mind. Should I stop at Target today and see if they have some slightly longer shorts (not that my shorts are short short or anything), but if I'm uncomfortable in them, that probably means something, eh?

Another stolen book survey follows:

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?
I don't care, although certain books have to be hardover – Harry Potter, for one. I do like trade paperbacks, but won't go out of my way to get them.

Amazon or brick and mortar? Borders, generally, but will buy from amazon.

Barnes & Noble or Borders? Borders, it's a Michigan original.

Bookmark or dogear? Bookmark. I remember back in the day I never needed to bookmark because I always knew where I was in a book. Now that I’m old, I need to bookmark. I despise dog-earing, and hate it when I lend my books out and people do that. So rude!

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? I put authors together, but other than that, it's mostly by genre or size. I know where most of the books are, though, and even when I move I try to put the books exactly where they were before.

Keep, throw away, or sell? Are you kidding? Have you seen my house? Books are everywhere. I can't even imagine throwing away a book! I have traded ones I hated back to the used bookstore so I could get more books, however. And I only trade in ones I hated (The Red Tent comes to mind).

Keep dustjacket or toss it? I definitely keep them.

Read with dustjacket or remove it? I read with the dustcover, but have learned to remove it when I lend them out because they've come back sans dustcover or with a ruined dustcover. Again, this pisses me off.

Short story or novel? Novels, I'm not a fan of the short story – except for Poe's.

Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)? Neither, I can't stand short stories.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Hard to say as I love them both. I, however, wasn't totally thrilled with the ending to Lemony Snicket, and since I don't know how HP ends yet (July 21), I will reserve judgement. If she kills off Harry, I will be severely PISSED OFF.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? As I do my reading generally while eating or at the gym, I stop when I'm done eating or when the hour is up on the elliptical.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? Both, I love fairy tales.

Buy or Borrow? Oh, buy, but will borrow if it's something I’m not sure I'm going to want to keep.

New or used? Both, I'm not picky, but have a tendency to buy new more often, just because it's easier.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? All three, including the blurb on the jacket cover.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger? Tidy ending. Lemony Snicket almost killed me as I had to wait for each new book.

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? ANY time I can get a minute.

Stand-alone or series? Both.

Favorite series? There are so many!!! Artemis Fowl, Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket, Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone series, Karen Kijewski's Kat Colorado series, Christian Jacq's Egyptian series.

Favorite children's book? Pokey Little Puppy

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? Queen of Freedom Trilogy by Christian Jacq

Favorite books read last year? The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde, Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr, Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis by Jimmy Carter and The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury

Favorite books of all time? The Eight by Katherine Neville

Least favorite book you finished last year? I know I’m going to be taken to task for this one, but it was The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

What are you reading right now? The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald

What are you reading next? Either V for Vendetta or Vanity Fair

A Small Victory

Today is the last day of winter and may I say that it couldn't come soon enough for me? I hate winter with a passion for so many reasons, namely I hate being cold. I hate having to bundle up to leave the house, I hate having to put on shoes, I hate the big coats you have to wear and then try to arrange yourself behind the steering wheel. Life is so much easier in the summer. You just shove your feet into sandals and run out the door (assuming you're fully dressed to start with, of course). I want to open my windows and feel fresh air blowing through the house. And since it appears the Muslims kicked the partying Mexicans out of the house next door, my summer will be quiet once again. I hope.

I have discovered something about myself since I got my iPod. I have a thing for male voices which sound extraordinarily alike – which I didn't really realise before. I have a lot of Peter Murphy, Joy Division, Nick Cave, Iggy Pop, Bauhaus, Billy Idol, Love & Rockets, The Stooges, Tones on Tail, etc. on my Nano and if it's a song I don't know particularly well (i.e., I haven't heard it a thousand times before), I discovered that a lot of times I had to look to see who it was. And this weekend I added two CDs by Voltaire and three from The Cruxshadows, so I just added to my obsession, which is all I can think to describe it. I never noticed that Peter Murphy and Nick Cave and Iggy really sounded all that much alike. And they don't always, but every so often there will be a song that makes me think, "Who is this?" And then kick myself because I should have known.

Friday and Monday I was eating my breakfast sandwich and trying to read The Picture of Dorian Gray (which I finished last night). Now, I take about 3 minutes to eat my breakfast, so it's not like I'm taking an overabundant amount of time or anything, but I want those three minutes for Oscar Wilde. Well, on Friday one of the supervisors stopped by my desk and just started chatting. WTH is up with that? Can he not see I’m reading a book and eating my breakfast? He said something, I answered and went back to my book, but he kept going, wanting to tell me a story about a dog or something. I turned back to him, apparently not hiding the look on my face which said "Can't you tell I'm reading my book?" although I didn't realise it. He said, "Oh, do you want me to go away so you can read your book?" "Yes." I mean, really, is 3 minutes too much to ask for some peace? And today? The YS called. Now, granted (or as one of the stupid secretaries would say, Granite), she couldn't know that I was eating my breakfast, as she's in Virginia and I'm in Michigan, but it did mean that I got about two paragraphs read. I thought if I got my breakfast right at 7:00 when the cafeteria opened, I wouldn't have to worry about someone interrupting because there's nobody freaking here at this hour. *sigh* I'm not even PMSing, so I have no idea why things are annoying me so badly, except that it happens all the time at work. I'm eating my lunch at my desk with my book and people just stop by and don't go away when they see I'm eating my lunch. If it's a quick question, I don't mind too much, but people who just stand there chatting while my lunch gets cold really piss me off. How rude!!!

I called the guy who moved us over to Building C(rappy) yesterday to find out when we're moving back and he said he wasn't sure because he talked to the move coordinator on Monday and found out that the guy has to find 80 desks for some other people. I told him that I need to get out of this building and sooner rather than later as it's making me sick (literally). He didn't know anything essentially, but I told him that I would be harassing him every single day until we move back to Bldg. A. He understands as he knows how crapping this building is. Then this morning the supervisor who interrupted my breakfast on Friday told me that supposedly we're moving back at the end of April. We shall see. I’m tired of not feeling well. I couldn't even do my full hour on the elliptical yesterday because I just couldn't breathe, and then I went to bed at 7:00 p.m. I was positive someone (namely my mother since she was traveling yesterday and she likes to call to tell me she's home) would call, so I put the phone on silent. Nobody called, but I know if I hadn't that damn thing would have rung and that would have pissed me off.

I leave Friday for Baltimore/DC/VA for the weekend. My good friend Railroad lives in Baltimore and I haven't seen her since her wedding (which she tells me was five and a half years ago – ARGH – where does the time go?), so I'm flying into BWI and RR is picking me up and I'm meeting her little boy and we're going to spend the night hanging out and catching up. I'm really looking forward to seeing her. Then Saturday she'll drive me into DC to meet up with the YS whose friend from PT school is also coming into town, so we're going to check out monuments. Saturday night is the SuperDiamond concert which is always a fun time. I don't come home until Sunday evening, but have no idea what Sunday has in store, other than getting PT school friend to the airport and then driving me back to BWI. BWI isn't ultra convenient to Alexandria, VA, but it worked for RR, and I simply refuse to fly into National now that it's named for a certain now dead President who was most definitely not one of the greatest presidents ever, regardless of what some Republicans will tell you. I just hope I feel well enough to enjoy the weekend!

A month or so ago, I told you about BlueMeany's blog and to go read it because she's so damn funny, remember? Anyway, she leaves today for her second deployment to Iraq (even though she was supposed to get out of the army in April) which is supposed to last about a year, so go over to her site and wish her well and keep her in your thoughts and prayers (if you're so inclined). Thanks.