Category Archives: friends

July 1, 2008 · 12:02 am

Camping Season

Yup, we got our gear together and went camping! It took no fewer than 80 (yes, I counted) email messages during the week leading up to the trip, plus phone, text, IM, and real-life conversations.

EIGHTY.

Somehow, we all managed to converge on one campground (many thanks to Joe and Megan for taking off work and heading up early to snag two beautiful sites!) and nobody got lost or stuck in traffic. The weather was beautiful, the injuries were minor, the bug bites were only two, and the sunburns were kept to a minimum. We did lose two campers whose dogs were unaccustomed to the cold nighttime temps and had to head home early. Jason dropped his bacon in the dirt. The campfire insisted on periodically becoming a mass of choking, blinding smoke. (My favorite quote of the weekend, from Jason: “I just put my contacts back in. It was like putting campfire IN MY EYES.”)

While Jason and Christine hiked a nearby 14er, the rest of us decided to take a more leisurely stroll. So, 2.5 miles and 1800 vertical feet later (and don’t forget a number of snow-covered paths!) we reached Silver Dollar Lake. The 2.5 miles back to our tents was much easier!

Tossing and turning in “bed” one night, I decided that I was too old and creaky for this shit. Of course, by morning I was already mentally shopping for my new campstove. The next trip won’t be until August, so I have a few weeks to gear up.

Click on the photo for more.

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Filed under camping, friends, vacation

June 19, 2008 · 11:32 pm

How to spend a day.

Wake up; notice mysterious scratches on neck.

While moisturizing, notice three bruises on leg.

Putting on shoes, notice cut on toe.

Mousing at the office, notice cut on palm of hand. Chalk that one up to stigmata. ;)

Seriously wonder WHAT the hell happened in my sleep.

Work like crazy to hit noon deadline by 12:15.

Try to upload ridiculous amounts of data to FTP site.

Burn DVDs instead.

Ask vendor about pick-up.

Wait for vendor.

Decide to call courier.

Vendor arranges pick-up.

Agree to help out at last minute for fancy-pants fundraiser.

Decide to leave early in order to accomplish above.

Manage to leave 10 minutes early.

Sit in traffic.

Wait to hear fundraiser dress code.

Scarf down dinner.

Wait to hear fundraiser dress code.

Fix windshield (better, this time) before rain hits.

Wait to hear fundraiser dress code.

Realize that laundry situation is dire; will likely be out of clean underwear tomorrow.

Decide to bag last-minute volunteer effort for fundraiser, so that I can start laundry before 8pm.

Send email explaining such to fundraiser volunteer buddy.

Answer door for fundraiser volunteer buddy, who didn’t get email.

Realize that we don’t know how to get IN to fundraiser event at which we are last-minute volunteering.

Be social.

Walk fundraiser volunteer buddy to car; notice neighbors’ puppy behaving unusually well.

Notice neighbors.

Be social.

Sit on stoop, playing with neighbors’ new Ultimate Deluxe Super Cool Transformers toys.

See above.

Pet stray cat that has wandered up.

Stray cat is very friendly.

Stray cat is very pretty.

Stray cat is quite skinny.

Fetch katsnax for stray cat.

Defer requests from neighbors for me to take in stray cat.

Stray cat won’t go away.

Wonder if fundraiser volunteer buddy needs a third cat?

Stray cat keeps curling up in my lap.

Stray cat is not fixed. Leaving stray cat outside would be irresponsible.

Neighbor calls Animal Control. Closed.

Fundraiser volunteer buddy calls Police Dispatch.

Fetch cat carrier from basement.

Say good-bye to fundraiser volunteer buddy and stray cat. Still don’t know if they’re going home, or to police station.

Say good-night to neighbors.

Start laundry at 10pm.

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Filed under friends

May 27, 2008 · 11:14 pm

sore and achey and cheap

SORE AND ACHEY: I was able to see a massage therapist on Tuesday, and she was great, but there is still residual neck pain. Add to that the muscle tensing involved in getting a new tattoo Tuesday night, as well as the lingering sting from being poked with needles 80-gazillion times, and you will understand why I’m so looking forward to, say, three days from now. By then, my neck should be healed, my muscles relaxed, and all that will remain will be the freshly itchy, healing skin. Woo. Party time. Big shout out to Nova for bravely baring her ankles to the tattoo artist’s gun. So brave, in fact, in spite of a last-minute swap of artists. Her appointment was originally with Dean, who was called away on an emergency, and Dan filled in (no pun intended) with no notice. Such an unexpected snag would have thrown me for a loop, but she took it in stride. Also, many thanks to Greg for chatting with me the whole time about art school and ’rods. Mostly ’rods. And a few spare thank-yous to Mike (no page link) for repeatedly referring to me as “Miss” instead of “Ma’am.” You are a gentlemen, sir.

CHEAP: A large car show that I mentioned in an earlier post is scheduled for this weekend. I was looking forward to it, until I found out that admission tickets cost $15 $17 dollars. SEVENTEEN doll-hairs. If that admission ticket is good for all three days (and it could very well take three days to admire the rumored 2,500 cars), then it’s not a bad deal. But for those of us who only have one day to spare, it’s a bit steep. Even if I can nose out a coupon, it will likely only knock off a couple of dollars. That show may be a no-go, yo.

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Filed under cars, friends, tattoo

May 26, 2008 · 11:26 pm

feeling unprepared

Tuesday is the big day. The day of my next tattoo. The one that I’ve been planning in my head for a bit over a year, and planning on “paper” for the last week or so. I had asked two different pros for help with the artwork; but both flaked on me, leaving me to create it on my own. I am now breaking two of my own tattoo rules: nothing on my back where I have to contort to see it, and nothing I’ve drawn myself.

I expect that the final design, as applied, will be imperfect. Tattoos are done by hand, after all. As is the hot-rod pinstriping that this tattoo is based on, so the imperfection is something I can live with. But… I want the art to be as perfect as possible going in, so that the tattoo artist has a good foundation from which to deviate. And I’m obsessing. It will be permanent, after all. I am so glad that I’m putting it on my back, so that I can’t easily see it and be haunted by changes I would make were I to look at it every day. Because every day, I have been moving the lines around. Every. Single. Day. While I’m writing this, in fact. Tuesday evening, the madness has to stop.

I might be on Vicodin during the tattoo after all, because I horked my neck Sunday morning. I’m starting to think that this is some old teenage headbanging injury that I keep aggravating. I few times a year, I am nearly immobilized by making some minor move that winds up royally jacking me up. Sunday, I stretched. Yep, that’s right. I stretched. Your average, everyday, just-got-out-of-bed stretch. PING! Can’t move my head. I spent most of the day on the couch with my microwave heating pad, alternating between Advil and Vicodin. Monday was an improvement, but I still feel pretty beat up. I don’t know if I’ll be able to run over to my massage therapy office on Tuesday, but I hope to get this worked out a bit before I have to sit in the tattoo artist’s chair for an hour. I’ll be tense enough during that, thankyouverymuch, without the additional muscle spasms.

The evil morning stretch preceded a wonderful breakfast prepared by Joe for those of us who spent the night after Nova‘s birthday/Paris party. French toast, of course, and granola and yogurt and berries. Oh my! I would have posted the photos sooner, but really, I was that laid out. Besides, the photos coming from Phoenix are much more interesting! MARS, people. Fekkin’ Mars.

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Filed under friends, tattoo

May 23, 2008 · 12:19 am

Perspective

Terminal illness. Family deaths. Looming divorce. The swift and unexpected wreckage left behind by a tornado, which killed at least one person and destroyed crops, homes, and businesses in a community about 60 50 miles north of me on Thursday.

None of it makes my own problems go away, but it sure makes me feel like a heel for getting worked up over them.

David: …well this is thoroughly depressing.
Nigel: It really puts perspective on things, though, doesn’t it?
David: Too much, there’s too much fucking perspective now.

So I’ll take a deep breath, I’ll put on a smile, I’ll enjoy the time I have with my friends. A Friday night showing of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. A belated birthday party. A barbecue at a friend’s house. Maybe a barbecue at my house, to celebrate my new patio umbrella (lunatic squirrels finally ate through the old one). A moment remembering my grandfather, who served in the Army during WWII, and thinking about my great uncle Harry, who was killed in service. A lot of time devoted to perfecting the artwork I’ll be having permanently embedded under my epidermis on Tuesday night. Not at all anxious about that, no.

Best wishes for a weekend spent with those you love, and who love you.