Friday’s Feast 158: 

Appetizer
Who is the easiest person for you to talk to? Wow…um, talking isn’t my forte. There isn’t any person in particular. Her Majesty is the only person I can talk to for hours, though–whether online or on the phone.

Soup
If you could live in any ancient city during the height of the quality of its society and culture, which one would you choose? Somewhere in either Italy or Scotland.

Salad
What is the most exciting event you’ve ever witnessed? The first thing that comes to mind is a lunar eclipse. Have I ever mentioned how I love the moon?

Main Course
If you were a celebrity, what would you do for a publicity stunt? Have a dance party and boogie down the peoples!

Dessert
What do you consider the ideal age to have a first child? 25–or somewhere around that.

Friday Fill-in #35:

1. The last time someone flirted with me was this Wednesday at work–it happens pretty often.
2. I am SO glad I took that road trip with friends on Tuesday.
3. Where in the world is my head? I know I left it around here somewhere!
4. Long weekends are a nice change.
5. Coming up next: Tigger’s 5 day party…once all of our wallets recover from my party.
6. I adore pugs.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to spending time with Girlz (maybe), tomorrow my plans include laundry and Sunday, I want to sleep!

Wow.

That about sums it up. However, I will continue for reasons of clarification.

As I sit here, preparing to re-adjust myself to the regular schedule of life after the last of my guests have left and eagerly creating my blog post, I realize…whoa, I almost forgot about the dance party! The road trip was such a blast!

Don’t get me wrong. Monday was awesome, too. The happy newly weds, Tigger (aka, Kenjo) and Her Majesty, arrived first with lots of games and two speakers–each larger than I. Then, The Hacker came contributing the CD player and his own set of speakers. (We could really have blasted the neighborhood but we didn’t want to get any complaints.)

Having not yet done the shopping for the road trip, we were just leaving my place to do so when C4 arrived. We snatched her up and took her along–she being the only one familiar with the area.

We returned home to be greeted by Trin and My Evil Twin–and two boxes of donuts and two gallons of ice cream! Oh, Trin got me an adorable pair of sandals, too. Todah! I love them!!

The rest of the evening I remember as fun and frenzied chaos as we set up the sound system, gabbed, danced, gabbed, danced, gabbed, took down the sound system, gabbed, played games, and gabbed. For a change of pace, there was a little skirmish involving The Hacker’s marshmallows engaging in flight–but I have no idea who initiated that. I just know I finished it. 

We stayed up much too late trying to catch The Hacker who played a bad guy in one of our games. Once he was caught, he went home and everyone else went to bed. We got up around 6-6:30 to load Jasper (the blood red van) and meet up with C4’s boyfriend (we need a nickname for him!). Unfortunately, we didn’t make it out until about 7:30 (details, details ).

We stopped in beloved Sequim at the Oak Table restaurant for breakfast. As I gazed around exclaiming at features I remembered and soaking up what I didn’t, we seemed to perk up at the table. Maybe it was our dashing and witty waiter, who, despite the frantic pleas of my friends, gave me unlimited refills on my coffee. Mmm…gooooood coffee.

Before leaving (and after giving our awesome waiter generous tips), we snagged our waiter and another of the staff to take pictures with them in front of the restaurant.

The rest of the trip was uneventful until we reached the Olympic Nat’l Park. Jasper belched noxious fumes in protest of the uneven terrain, but the Park Ranger assured us we were ok when we mentioned the recent oil change.

We entertained ourselves in various ways at the hot springs. Relaxing, sunning, soaking,  drowning the insects that dared to bite us, splashing, touching the bottom of the swimming pool (not the hot pools), grabbing and pulling each other underwater, and various acrobatics.

We also enjoyed the deli’s curly fries, onion rings, and smoothies. Before leaving, I made sure we checked out the tourist shop. Trin bought us all that rock candy on a stick. Mm.

The only souvenirs we have from the trip (besides a few bug bites, dirty laundry, and a few bruises here and there), are pictures. On the way back home, we stopped at some scenic spots for pics. I’ll be putting those up on my myspace.

I’m going to skip over the stop at the restaurant–it was boring except for a game we played with our fortune cookies. Oh, and someone started a mild spitball fight…but I can’t imagine who that could be.

We got home and watched The Frisco Kid as the crowning point of our trip.  Then, The Girlz and C4’s boyfriend left. Tigger and Her Majesty stayed overnight and left this morning.

Rats! I really should have gotten a picture of that marshmallow mush on Her Majesty’s back. That was priceless. 

Unconscious Mutterings, Week 238:

1. Uneven :: bars (those bars in gymnastics–can’t remember what they’re called)
2. Wonder :: …Woman
3. Spider :: …man (one of my favorite–good–superdudes)
4. Emma :: by Jane Austen
5. Swing :: dancing (maybe I’ll try it one day)
6. Orbit :: satellite
7. Flirt :: fun–lol!
8. Donation :: charity
9. Veil :: wedding…
10. Atmosphere :: Do you feel a chill…? (LOL! I’m listening to too many thrillers on audiobook.)

randomness…feed your mind and your blog

week of August 26: Farewell Summer

Well, this is it. Summer is nearly finished. That was fast.

What have you done this summer? A little of everything, I imagine.

Did you go for a vacation? No–that’s happening this Tuesday!!

Did you work? All the time.

Did you have a fling? …Yeah. 

How was your summer and are you happy or sad to see it end? It was…fast! Wow! However, weather-wise, I’m glad to see it end. Bring on the rain! (…er, after my outdoor dance party.)

My dance party is tomorrow evening!! My road trip to Sol Duc is the following day. Yeah, baby! This is the biggest thing ever!! (Sorry, 21st birthday. There’s no way you can beat this!)

Friday’s Feast 157:

Appetizer
Say there’s a book written about your life. Who would you want to narrate the audio version? Oh! I totally would want Ilyana Kadushin to do it!

Soup
Take the letters from your favorite kind of nut and write a sentence. (Example: Perhaps every avenue needs understanding today.) A llama moseyed on Nighttime Drive.

Salad
If you could go back in time and spend one week in another decade, which decade would you choose? Wow. Um. In myexperience of movies, time travel is not a good idea. I would like to experience the elegance and propiety of former days. I just don’t know which decade, I’d choose.

Main Course
Name a song that brings back memories for you. Green Onions. (Don’t ask.)

Dessert
Do you prefer to wash your hands in cold water or warm water? As hot as I can stand it.

Friday’s Fill-in #34: 

1. I see the sky beginning to lighten.
2. I hear seagulls.
3. I touch the keys on my keyboard.
4. I taste scrambled eggs and toast.
5. I smell my spiced apple cider.
6. I sense time running out.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to last minute shopping for the road trip, tomorrow my plans include preparing the house for my guests and Sunday, I want to get my nails done!

Wish I could blog more, but I have to get ready for work. Farewell! 

So, I went to hang out with my Girlz and their family yesterday evening, and C4 told me of her plans to go see Stardust. Of course, I had to go, too–even though I had planned not stay up late because I had things to do in the morning. It was sooo worth it. We kidnapped My Evil Twin so that I had someone to bury my face into for the scary stuff (I’m sensitive when it comes to movies; spirits and ghosts I can handle–animated dead bodies…heck no! Ew, ew, ew!!!!).

It was so awesome. Very Princess Bride-esque. Awesome special effects; great suspense; lovable characters (even the bad ones, lol). And that adorable Tristan (played by Charlie Cox)–with the longer hair and the white jacket. Yu-u-ummy!

*ahem* So, yes; I loved the movie. I am totally going to own it. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t get home until after midnight. And guess what was on tv? Stargate! I haven’t seen that show in over two months! So, I watched the rest of that episode…and another Stargate came on!! Argh! I stayed up to watch that one, too, because I was so keyed up from watching Stardust (stupid hot Tristan and stupid, freaky, animated, dead body!).

Finally, at 2 a.m. I went to bed…with the Hunting Fear audiobook because I can’t go to sleep without some voice talking. (Yeah, "Hunting Fear" sounds like the perfect bedtime story, doesn’t it?) I got up at 9 because that was as late as I could push it. I didn’t have any coffee because my tummy is still troubling me.

Stupid tummy! I needed coffee today. It was great that my shift was short–because I never did wake up. Maybe that was a good thing, too. My customers were determined to be troublesome today, but I was too out of it to respond. "Is that all I can do for you? That’ll be such-and-such-a-price. Here’s your change. Thank you. Have a great day." I may have even shared a drooping smile or two.

On a final note, I’m getting good at working on my novel regularly–a little each day. Soon will come the final, ultimate battle! Muahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unconscious Mutterings, Week 237:

1. Darling :: sweet talk
2. Majesty :: Her… (don’t mess with Her Majesty–she has swords and she knows how to use them!
3. Pebble :: …s, Fred Flintstone’s daughter
4. Fate :: destiny
5. Instant :: coffee–not bad in a pinch
6. Screen :: flat (tv or computer monitor–I love them)
7. Unplugged :: me without coffee *shudder*
8. Dairy :: ice creeeeeeeeeeeeeeam!
9. Benefactor :: cha-ching!
10. Market :: I’ll trade you this [worthless] cow for that [untameable] horse.

It started troubling me Friday at work, but fortunately I had a short shift. Unfortunately, the buses couldn’t get their schedules right. I missed one and the girl I was waiting with said we should try the one across the street–it would take us to the same place. This second bus was never known to be late. Guess what? It was.

Fortunately, it picked us up in time that we didn’t miss the second ferry. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it home before Imah could unlock the door for me (I still don’t have my own house key yet).

No sweat. I was bored anyway. I called my Girlz, and they picked me up and took me home (to my home-away-from-home). We had a blast there…as always. I’m hoping to go over there today, too. It depends on if I can get all the paperwork done by closing time today.

*Growl* That means NO INTERRUPTIONS!!

Friday’s Feast 156:

Appetizer
Describe your laundry routine. Do you have a certain day when you do it all, or do you just wash whatever you need for the next day? Once a week. No particular day–whenever we have a day off.

Soup
In your opinion, what age will you be when you’ll consider yourself to truly be old? Hmm, somewhere around fifty. Still…there’s old and there’s OLD. As a child I had this ballet teacher who was definitely over fifty but, physically, put us self-assured little brats to shame. I bet she could easily have kicked our tiny hinies. (And from 20 yr. old to the world: 30 is NOT old! Geez. People actually mature around that age. Usually…)

Salad
What is one of your goals? Is it short-term, long-term, or both? To finish my novel. As for the term…I’ve been working on the series for about 7 years. What do you think?

Main Course
Name something unbelievable you’ve seen or read lately. Um…that’s pastor’s wife getting off the hook for murdering her husband. That was more bizarre than the Kay Hooper audiobooks I’m listening to.

Dessert
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how happy are you today? Uh, I’d say 11, but I’m pretty sure it’s monthly thing.  (Yeah, extremely hyper or extremely angry…I like the first one.)

Friday Fun: Friday Flavors:

Friday Fill-in #33:

1. There’s coffee and then there’s goooooood coffee! (LOL! Got that from a Garfield cartoon.)
2. Subscribe to Amazon.com because it’s awesome!
3. I love a good book because it helps me refined my own writing–and it’s enjoyable, too.
4. My favourite position is lounging–I guess I’m just a down-to-floor kind of girl. LOL!
5. I need to quit my "old" job–as much as I love my co-workers.
6. I need to start saving money.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to finishing season 1 of The Office, tomorrow my plans include work (what else?) and Sunday, I want to watch Stardust! (Yeah, right.)

OMG! This is hilarious! Check out this site: Draw a pig! (Hey, it isn’t like I’m eating the pig, ok?) Anyway, here’s mine:

You drew the pig:

Toward the middle, you are a realist. (Uh…you know I’m a fiction writer, right? I live in my own little world…and there’s nothing real about…except maybe the murders…neh. Rafim, naiads, and magic daggers that never miss their target–not real stuff.)

Facing left, you believe in tradition, are friendly, and remember dates (birthdays, etc.) (Yes to the first–to an extent. Uh…the second is highly debatable. The third…well, God bless yahoo calendar alerts. LOL!)

With few details, you are emotional and naive, they care little for details and are a risk-taker. (Are you calling me Emo? For the last time…I AM NOT EMO. Goth, maybe. A little. And hey, I totally care about details…when it comes to writing. Risk-taker? Me? Only when I’m hyper.)

With 4 legs showing, they are secure, stubborn, and stick to their ideals. (Stubborn. That’s a nice way of putting it.)

The size of the ears indicates how good a listener you are.
The bigger the better. You drew medium sized ears, you are a good listener. (If you give me a good story. Remember: truth is stranger than fiction.)

The length of the tail indicates the quality of your sex life.
And again more is better! You drew medium sized tail. (What the he–er, bloody dickens?! When I’m married, sure…to that genius Jew out there. Yeah, I’m waiting for you…oops. I think I scared him away!)

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Unconscious Mutterings, Week 236:

1. Voyage :: Bon…
2. Patricia :: …Polacco
3. Transformation :: popular entertainment theme
4. Vocabulary :: helps to have one if you’re a writer
5. San Francisco:: I left my heart… (I love Chance’s version on Homeward Bound 2).
6. Edward :: …Cullen!!! (Sexier than you since 1901.)
7. Sawyer :: Tom…
8. Literary :: agent
9. Tiger :: Siberian
10. Seal :: Navy…

Friday’s Feast 155:

Appetizer
What is your favorite kind of pie? Apple–with lots of ice cream!!

Soup
Name something that made you smile this week. My awesome (some might say crazy) co-workers.

Salad
What do you do to cool off when the weather is hot and humid? Settle down with an orange cream-sicle or a bowl of honey nut cheerios–and read, get on the net, or work on my novel.

Main Course
You receive $1,000 in the mail with a letter that says you can only use the money to redecorate one room in your home.  Which room do you pick, and what do you buy to spruce it up? My bedroom, of course–anything pink and/or sparkly: some cute curtains, pink carpet, all new dark wood furniture. Oo.

Dessert
Fill in the blank:  My wayward heart says yes, but I know better. 

Five on Friday: Time Management:

1. Do you wear a watch? I used to, but it isn’t compatible with my germophobic tendencies of frequently washing my hands. I just use my cellphone now. However, because I’m a freak about clocks and time, there are clocks everywhere at my home. In my room alone, there are five clocks (not counting the cellphone I use to wake me up.) LOL!

2. How often do you look at the time, either on a watch or some other timepiece? Oh…every few minutes.

3. Would you say you have a good sense of time? In other words, how good are you at estimating how much time has passed? Not at all–that’s why I’m obsessed about having clocks around me!

4. Are you early, punctual, or perpetually late? I like to be early.

5. Do you ever wish your time management skills were different? How? It’s nothing that’s impossible to change now. I do need to work on my time management (yeah, working on a novel series for 7 years is way too long!).

Friday Fill-in #32:

1. My commute is short and serene.
2. Colorful best describes my neighborhood. LOL!
3. My neighbors are very, very interesting!
4. My Girlz’ place is my favorite place to eat that’s close to home.
5. If there’s one thing I’d change about my community, it would be modernizing the place.
6. The thing I miss most about the town (city/area/swamp) I grew up in is the forest and creek I could run away to and hide and play in. Man, I miss that life.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to sleeping, tomorrow my plans include work and Sunday, I want to see Stardust!! (Yeah…ri-ight.)

I want to see Stardust so badly. It’s totally a go-to-the-theater movie. However, I’m trying to save up my money for the road trip. 

Imah’s giving me a horrible time about my dance party, so I haven’t bothered to tell her about the road trip. She’s going to flip about that, but oh well. I’m never going to get anything positive from her. She’s definitely not coming (though I do feel slightly bad about that–I can’t subject my friends to her negativity). I’m beginning to wish I could keep her out of the dance party. 

Well, I’ve almost gotten it all worked out. I just need to make a call to get some info. Get your swimming gear, girls (and guys)! 

This is awesome! And adorable. I love this kid.

Watch this! A feisty 7 yr. old defends her mother against a robber!