Where's Steph?

Fortune Teller

2009-11-17T07:01:18Z

I was unexpectedly delayed at work tonight and thus had to settle for another fast-food dinner option for what's probably been the 100th day in a row. I honestly can't remember the last time I went to the grocery store and bought food I could make into a meal. I also can't remember the last time I ate at a table that wasn't my desk.

...I take that back, I got to go out on a great date right before Halloween and we sat at a real table. But other than that...not so much.

Anyway, so I went by my favorite Chinese food take-out spot in San Ramon and got my usual. They give you SOOOO much food at this place that it lasts me for at least three dinners and it's only $5. Total deal. The only thing about ordering from here is that I feel like I need to make them think I'm taking the food home to share with someone else, and not just little old me, so I always ask for "a couple of fortune cookies" to go with my order.

I love the fortune cookie. I wait till the end of the meal and I refuse to look at the fortune until I'm finished with the cookie, otherwise the fortune won't come true. Duh.

Usually they mean nothing - a bunch of wishy-washy, vague words. But I was intrigued by what I read on my little fortune slip tonight: "Your dearest wish will come true."

Here are my immediate thoughts/questions:
Was I supposed to wish before I ate the cookie?
What's my wish?
Is it a wish I've already made (like when blowing out my birthday candles) or something I'm supposed to wish for now?
What's the significance of "dearest?"
Will I know what my wish is when it comes true? If I don't know what my dearest wish is then how will I know if it has come true?
How do you make a dearest wish?
Do I need to make this wish NOW, or can it wait till I feel like I REALLY need it?
I don't want to waste any old wish on this fortune. What's something really good to wish for?
I wish I could figure this out.

Shit...did I just waste my wish?

OMG, a consecutive post! Don't fall over in shock.

2009-11-14T00:28:19Z

Things I've done to get through this afternoon:

-went downstairs to deposit and pick up the mail, even though it's not my responsibility.
-checked my email a million times. Yep, still nothing. One million and one times.
-read the newspaper. The Chron has a new glossy front page. Schmancy, but I fear impractical and not going to appeal to people to purchase more papers.
-looked up New Years Eve party ideas for San Diego.
-checked out facebook and twitter, but had nothing worthwhile to say.
-responded to any loose end emails; mostly to friends planning events.
-chewed some gum
-spun around in my chair a little bit
-restocked the fax machine with paper
-read some blogs on the crackberry that I've been neglecting this week.
Checked my mail AGAIN.

Still 30 minutes left and everything I need to do that's work-related is pending and the people that need to approve it are probably gone for the week. Lame.

Sigh. I'm really not that big a fan of Fridays. Either I'm swamped or bored to tears.

bellacantare @ 2009-11-12T22:24:00

2009-11-13T06:24:23Z

Not to discourage anyone from reading further, but this may possibly be the worst 12 of 12 ever. My camera died, so half of these are camera phone photos. Also, before my camera died, I got exactly 15 minutes to leave the office in order to pick up a perscription and treat myself to a cooke (thanks Lori for the cookie gram!) and didn't realize I forgot my camera till I was on my way back. Oy, today was a mess. I'm honestly shocked that I even got 12 shots. Next month will be better...promise.

Oh, and check out Chad's blog for the 12 of 12 info and see all the other 12-vers.

6:50am - bought myself a jewelry armoire on clearance at Pier 1 yesterday while I was out with my mom. Score! I wasn't even looking and BAM, there it was. :-) Heavier than you can even believe; I'm shocked I was able to get it into the house and down the stairs.

7:38am - who says we don't have fall colors in California?

2:39pm - only break I got all day to walk down the street to Walgreens. This is a lamp post outside of the little pub next to Walgreens. Totally random wimsy in the middle of all that concrete and steel. Too bad it was on my camera phone and came out really washed out.

2:45pm - best cookies in SF. Hands down. Maybe best ever.

3pm - I miss the little fuzz butt, so I put the photo I took of her from a 12 of 12 forever ago as my desktop background.

3:14pm - You know when you're in a new relationship when every text on your phone is from your boyfriend...

5:59pm - Time for tennis shoes. Too bad I'm still not leaving.

6:31pm - ah, finally done. I spend way too much time looking at this hallway.

6:35pm - BART doors in action.

6:41pm - this absolutely cracked me up. I'm sooooo a Taurus. "When you park it, you park it." LOVE that.

7:35pm - You'd think this is some nice, little bistro or something, but NO, it's McDonald's in San Ramon. When did they start making it look all snazzy??

8:39pm - Do you know what this means?? I finally have Cable! And a DVR! Ooops, it's after 10pm now, gotta start watching my recording of Project Runway. Till next month!

October exploded and some of it spewed into November

2009-11-10T06:35:41Z

Hi Hi, I feel like every post I start out by apologizing for not posting. It's November, and typically I'd be posting every day as part of NaBloPoMo, but alas, my life is too crazy to focus enough on myself and my writing. It makes me sad, but I keep pushing on. I know eventually I'll get back to having some time for myself, for friends and for family, but for now it's been all about work, unpacking and Ray of Light.

Oh yeah, I moved. I moved on Oct 18th. It's been almost a month, and I'm still completely surrounded by boxes. My new roommate left a note on my bedroom door last night saying that she hoped I was okay because she hadn't seen me in over a week. She called me last Wednesday morning to make sure I was alive because I hadn't come home.

I hadn't been home because I stayed overnight in San Francisco for work. I was working late because of a large conference and big client party. Usually gigs like that are fun, but this one was ALL work. I'm still not sure how I survived last week.

Ray of Light did a fantastic and extremely successful production of The Who's Tommy. I am so overjoyed by how far this little company has come in the last nine years and I can not wait to see what's in store for us next. I know I'm only a small part of the company, and I put in what I can, but what I get out of it makes me so happy that it's pretty much always worth all the extra exhaustion that comes from volunteering for show after show.
Take a look at these great reviews: Here. Here. And here. Plus we had a consistent 4 3/4 stars out of a maximum of 5 stars on www.goldstar.com given by the general public that came to see the show.

What else did you miss? Oh, Halloween. I had THE BEST costume. Well, maybe not THE best of all time, but it was sooo good. Everyone had to do a double take - they didn't know it was me!

I was a cigarette girl. Cute wig and hat, a corset and a box full of candy and other assorted goodies. Me and my fav theatre family and a little Capt'n time; I don't think I can remember having a better Halloween.

Whoo hoo...Ahoy Capt'n! ;-) haha, I couldn't resist.

Photos of the entire night are on my flickr page.

Sigh...time for bed. The Capt'n is insisting that I'm in bed by 9:30p every night this week so that I can get a good night's rest. Eh, I'm only an hour late, plus he's stuck in the Gulf of Mexico for another 50 days. :-p So, pppffffttt. Castle is on tonight! I can't miss it!!

What Happened to Paula Dean?

2009-10-26T14:58:27Z

Odd dream last night. I dreamt that Paula Dean died.

Completely random. I don't even watch her show, but I know she's the Southern woman that starts most of the dishes she makes on her cooking show with "a stick of buttah and two cups of sugah."

In my dream I read the headline, "Paula Dean dies unexpectedly," on MSN.com's homepage in the entertainment headlines area. I didn't click to get the full story, but the headline made me think it was a health related death and not some tragic accident or homicide. Considering how she cooks, could this be foreshadowing? Am I clarevoyant??

The whole thing felt sooooo real, like I actually read it. In the shower this morning I had the thought that I should email my friend Lori to warn her that she may want a different Halloween costume, because she's planning to go as Paula and it might be just a little "too soon." But as I thought about it, I realized that I hadn't been on my computer last night. So I checked the news when I got out of the shower and confirmed that I must have dreamed the whole thing up.

Weird, right? Why would I dream about the death of a woman I don't know and I don't even watch her TV show?

And Now...The End is Near...

2009-10-18T08:20:18Z

So I mentioned in my October 12 of 12 that I was in the middle of moving. Tomorrow is the official big move day. The U-haul has been rented and the boxes are packed and Cory is getting here at 11am to help me move my mattress, TV and wardobe boxes. OK, I'll most likely make him help me move the rest of the boxes as well because what's the point of having a fake boyfriend if you can't make him do manual labor when you need it?

The move has come about for a couple of reasons - mainly that my roommates are married now and they'd like to live as a couple and not like three roommates, which is definitely the situation we're in. Works out great for me, but I know they're itching to have the place to themselves. Also, they're trying to have a family, so whenever that happens, I'd have to leave anyway since my room would be the nursery. So there are no hard feelings, I'm not being kicked out nor am I leaving in a huff because Dan used my bathroom again...and didn't flush...again.

Honestly this is really hard. I like it here (regardless of the issues that come with living with an oblivious male) and after four years here this really feels like home. I'm comfortable and relaxed here - considering how zany my life is, it's such a comfort to come home and really feel like I belong here. Of course I hope this will be the same case with the new place I'm moving into, but you never know, and that's unsettling.

I'll be basically keeping the same situation - renting a room from someone that owns and lives in the house. I'll have my own space, my own bathroom (with the promise that I'm the only one using it), I won't have as big of a closet as I do now, but I'm gaining a sliding glass door that leads to a perfect little patio over looking a golf-course style lake. Lovely. In fact, as I was building IKEA furniture in my new room today, I had the door open and could hear all the little ducks in the lake splashing and quaking and it made me feel so relaxed.

Speaking of IKEA building...LOOK AT ME!!

This only took me THREE HOURS, but it was soooo worth it. I love it.

These only took me an hour....ok, and a half. And don't look too closely at that bookshelf, I know that middle, non-movable shelf is backwards, but I couldn't take the whole thing apart at that point. That's the bad part about IKEA furniture - once you secure those little screw fasteners over the bolts, it's pretty much impossible to remove them. Plus I'd already nailed the back to the shelf, so even if I'd been able to take it apart and reverse the shelf, there would have been nail holes all through it. So I went to Home Depot and got a stain to match the wood and I'm going to make it look a little less janky. I hope.

So I'm back home...home for at least one more night. I'm trying to keep it together, but every time Shelby comes in and looks at me with her big puppy eyes I want to cry. The cute, little fuzz-butt is definitely the hardest part about moving. I know I'll see her again and visit with and go out with Lyn on occasion, but I'll never be back here with Shelby on my bed or have her greet me when I walk through the door after a long day at work or know that even if I'm coming home to an empty house, there's always a Shelby-dog to keep me company. Not that she'd protect me from anything or anyone, but she's comforting all the same.

Shelby is fast asleep next to me; Lyn is home and Bug usually sleeps with her, but it's almost like she knows it's my last night here and is keeping me company while I'm sad.

Ok, time for me to sleep. My back is killing me, my arms are sore and I've got so much left to do tomorrow. OY, where are the moving fairies??!!?? This is when I need a real boyfriend. Between Cory and a real boyfriend, just imagine the manual labor I could get done.

Why I knew I should have worn a cami under my blouse

2009-10-15T00:15:51Z

How long do you suppose the top button of my fitted button-down was undone today? I work with mostly boys (yes, boys), who would never think to tell me that I'm completely exposed, that is, if they even noticed, but then there are two of my bosses. More mature, but just as likely to not say a word, mostly out of embarrassment that they can TOTALLY SEE MY BRA. I was with them for the last hour or so of work and I'm mortified that I was very likely flashing a good amount of cleavage in their direction.
Or maybe that fedex box that I grab and held against my chest as I hurried out the door did it...? I didn't notice my indecent display until after I grabbed the box and stopped in the restroom before heading to the drop-off box and then BART.

Yeah, that's it. No need to worry. Heh heh. Um...right?

Sigh. :-/

bellacantare @ 2009-10-12T22:28:00

2009-10-13T06:08:37Z

At least you can always count on me posting a 12 of 12, so you know you get at least one post a month from me. There has been just absolute craziness between a short trip to see the Capt'n, packing for my move this weekend and the all around zaniness of my office and workload. OH! and Ray of Light is producing The Who's Tommy, which opens this weekend. If you're in the SF area and want to see the show for free - all you have to do is sign up to usher/sell concessions. www.roltheatre.com or email me at stephanie@roltheatre.com

Back to 12 of 12 - check out Chad's BLOG for more twelvers and all the details.

12:46am - working on the volunteer schedule for Tommy.

7:22am - up and ready to leave the house. Decided to take a pic of the current state of my room - lots of boxes. Furniture gone. So sad. :-(

1:57pm: Stuck inside all day. Not by choice. Would have braved the new, cool, overcast skies to have been able to get away for a few minutes today. But, sadly, no such luck.

4:57pm: Still stuck. My co-worker brought me a little chocolate to say thank you for the extra help today that kept me inside and chained to my desk.

6:19pm: Back in the east bay. I always think of the cranes whenever I think of Oakland. Still overcast - rain is on its way. Hello fall.

7:07pm: Took a trip over to Pier 1. Interested in getting a bedside table that's both small, but can be used for multiple things - drawers for personal affects, a shelf for my laptop, and extra space for more storage. I liked this one because the bottom shelf is fitted for wine bottle - would be a good three-in-one cabinet for my new smaller space. Price is a bit...OUCH.

7:16pm: This one wouldn't have as many uses, but it's soooo cute!

7:34pm: Took another small jaunt over to Cost Plus. I like this one a lot, but it may be too large for the space I plan to put it in. Grrr...decorating is HARD.

7:43pm: These caught my eye. I fell in love with Marzipan when I was in Toledo in April - none of the little shops in Spain had any marzipan like this.

7:47pm: Oooo, liked this one too...unfortunately it's not for sale. It was the cabinet in the woman's bathroom. Dagnabit.

8:03pm: Going a bit nostalgic with an old John Mayer CD. Go ahead...laugh...he may be smarmy, but he's a damn good musician.

ok...and he's cute.

8:18pm: Finally - DINNER. A little stop off at San Ramon's Orient Express. It's the best chinese...so much for soooo little. $5! This will feed me for three dinners.

Bonus shot! Figured I needed to get in at least one self-portrait for the month. My favorite PJ shirt :-)

Happy how-the-hell-is-it-already October!

Go ahead with your own life, this is my life...

2009-10-08T04:37:50Z

New guy at work that's all of 22 and I are the only ones left in the office and so we crank up the radio to 103.7 The Band - all awesome, rock-out, sing along to, fantastic band anthem songs.
One of my favs of the evening begins to play - Billy Joel's "My Life." I kinda do a little jig and realize new guy isn't as happy as I am. How could he not be?? Awesome song, reminds me of...ah man...

ME: "Hey (new guy); name the sitcom this song was the theme song for."

NG: "Uh...no idea."

ME: "Bosom Buddies!!"

NG: "Wha??"

ME: "Bosom Buddies. Tom Hanks? Sitcom? Cross-dresser? 80's?

NG: "No clue."

ME: "Why ya gotta make me feel old?"

Sigh. Anyone else get the reference? Bueller??

Flight Delay

2009-10-06T02:59:45Z

So I'm on my way back to Oakland from LAX airport and my flight is slightly delayed. The fact that I had an insanely slow shuttle driver taking me to the airport after my ferry from Catalina came into San Pedro at a snail's pace making me 20 minutes late, I feel a little annoyed that I ran through the airport to find that my plane isn't boarding for another 30 minutes. Bah. BUT, just to continue with my annoyed behavior (only for sake of blog fodder of course) I will now list the types of airport people I have encountered so far tonight that bug me. Ahem:

Slaker surfer dude in board shorts and flip flops who keeps going back and forth in front of me to get more Starbucks. He's dragging his heels and the sound is almost as annoying as his thinning, stringy, dirty hair.

The large Indian family that keeps getting up as a whole group, grandma, parents, kids and luggage to go to the bathroom, head back to their seats, go check the desk to see if we're boarding yet, go back to their seats, go get Starbucks, go back to their seats. HEY! Send one representative! Your group keeps making a big breeze as you pass by me and you're making me cold.

The twenty-something blondie in 5-inch stilettos and rolling bag talking on her speaker phone as she walks by. Why do I care that you're saving Daniel a seat and he thinks that's cool? Also, what's with the heels? What will you do if you have to make an emergency landing?? At least wear sensible heels if you need to look nice. Leave the high-class hooker heels in your bag.

The woman I was behind exiting the bathroom. You don't stop in the doorway and block everyone's path while you figure out which direction to go. As a person that's perpetually lost, just step aside, it makes the world a much happier place and keeps me from plowing through you.

Any other type that I'm missing? That was kind of fun. A little amusing.

Season Fail

2009-09-15T14:08:11Z

This is ridiculous. I shouldn't have to put away my flip-flops until at least October. What's up with Fall coming early?? Did we even get summer? Oh wait, it must have been summer during the two weeks I was dying alone in my room. FAIL.

September 12 of 12

2009-09-13T04:49:27Z

Welcome to September's edition - check out Chad's blog for more twelvers.

It's an all college football 12 of 12 this month. Go CAL Bears!

10:44am - Obligatory shot of Shelby. She looks all emo because she knows I'm leaving. This is her watching me put my shoes on and get my purse together.

10:45am: Making sure I have my tickets to the game. UCB Bears vs East Washington Eagles. Whoo!

12:32pm - Outside the student center. The CAL drumline usually gathers first to perform for the crowds at the Bear's Lair. I love how they line up their hats on the ground during their performance.

12:39pm - This is my friend Cory. It's his first CAL game. That's my hat. The photo wasn't staged or anything.

12:40pm - I was just shooting whatever inside the campus pub while we waited for our hot dogs and fries, but I ended up kinda liking this shot.

1:57pm - Finally up at Memorial Stadium.

2:21pm - As a bandgeek, THIS is my most favorite part of going to the CAL games. The band enters with so much energy and then you get the canon blast there in the middle and they quick step out into a "flying" wedge and the drum major runs out and leap-frogs over one of the band members at the front and then they start playing Big C. It's soooo exciting!

2:24pm - The tubas are such hams.

2:34pm - Bears in the mist.

3:03pm - My season tickets some how landed me right, smack dab in the middle of a bunch of families with kids under 10. The little girl next to us had the cutest little galoshes on.

5:36pm - Final score. Cory said early on in the game, "These Eagles aren't welcome at Hotel California, are they?" It's jokes like that one that make me keep Cory around. Great rout. Can't wait to see our ranking next week!

5:39pm - Cory and me waiting for the stadium to clear...who am I kidding, I was waiting so I could watch the band's post-game show.

Is anyone else shocked that it's September? Just wondering.

Things I Wish Would Magically Happen

2009-09-11T04:05:04Z

Sometimes when I'm on my way home from work and it's been a particularly long day, like today, where I've left my house before the sun rises and I'm not back to my car and headed home until long after the sun has set, sometimes my mind wanders to the things I want to do or meant to do or are on my "will do when I have time" list. Here are the items that popped into my head on the walk to my car tonight.

Things I wish would magically happen:
1) A pedicure. A really good one.
2) My laundry. Especially the things that need to be hand washed.
3) A clean bathroom
4) Dinner
5) That my parking spot would be closer when I'm walking back to my car at night than it was in the morning
6) and that my car would be clean inside and out
7) That all the people/friends I need to call or email back already knew what I needed to tell them
8) Exercise
9) Blogging

The Itchy Chronicles

2009-09-09T06:04:35Z

I'm thinking I might change the tagline of this blog from "Where's Steph" to "What Disease/Infection Steph Has Today." Catchy don't ya think?

Let me preface this post by showing you this photo:

This is me having fun with Jenny and Clair less than a month ago. Look how happy and unsuspecting I look.

This is me today.

OK, that's not really me. But I've been feeling about as ugly as that mask for weeks. Ever since I got back from Europe in May it has been one cold after another, bad sinus pressure and some migraine headaches thrown in here and there, a constant cough and a little bit of lethargy when the colds and sinus pressure were bad. My immune system has been so unreliable and horrible at it's job that it makes the "Olly Girls" look like model employees.

I wrote last week that I finally went in to see my doctor after being sick for a couple weeks. I hated having to go because I was sick of the song and dance about taking OTC meds and "breathing in the steam from a bowl of hot water." I went in armed with a dozen reasons why I needed something prescribed and got a prescription for a sinus infection. I walked away feeling like, "Ok, now I FINALLY have some antibiotics and I should feel fine shortly." First Strike

As of Wednesday morning I could barely talk. I went into work determined to not take any more time off since I already used most of my Paid Time Off allotment on Europe and then being sick after Europe. But by noon on Wednesday it was pretty obvious that I needed to go home. My face was puffier than the Pillsbury Doughboy's, I was talking (this is so un-PC) like Marley Matlin and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed.

Thursday morning - wake up, can't talk, my throat feels like it's on fire, the sinus pressure is gone, but my nose and sinuses are still completely stuffed up. I try to eat soup, but I can barely drink water my throat is burning so badly with each swallow. I keep taking my prescription and pray that the drugs will help my sore throat.
Thursday night - I'm ridiculously hungry but still can eat anything due to the throat pain. I go downstairs at midnight and tell my roomie that I think I need to go to the ER. She talks me out of it and gives me a bunch of vitamins to boost my immune system, some heavy-duty nasal spray that we hope will get some stuff moving in my nose, some mint tea and a popsicle. My throat still hurts, but I'm feeling better and I plan to wake up early and go into the doctor's office for their morning drop-in clinic.

Friday morning I go straight from my bed to my car and down the street to my doctor's office. I haven't showered since Wednesday morning, I'm still puffy, I still can't talk or swallow and I'm an absolute, frustrated mess. The head doctor is on-call for the clinic and she takes one look at my throat and goes, "Did anyone do a strep test on you." NO. She consults an ear, nose, throat doctor prescribes a different antibiotic to fight both the sinus infection and whatever is going on with my throat and she gives me a steroid to help the inflammation in my throat so I can eat something. She also has me go get a mono test and an allergy test. I spent an hour waiting to have my blood drawn, but I left thinking, "Why didn't they just do all this the first time I came in? Oh well, at least I'll feel better now." Second Strike.

Parents pick me up Friday night to bring me back to Pittsburg so they can dote on me and let me rest. No offense mom, but I did more work staying with you guys than I would have staying home. But at least I got real food - I haven't been to the grocery store in forever and was living off of Campbell's soup and toast. By Saturday I'm starting to be able to breathe through my nose. SUCCESS! and by Sunday afternoon my throat stops hurting. I get dropped off at home Sunday night, give Shelby some pets and hugs and go to bed thinking, "I'm so happy. I feel so much better and I have a whole day off still tomorrow to rest and possibly run a couple errands, you know, like buying myself food.

Monday morning: I wake up with the worst, bright red, splotchy, itchy, disgusting, what the hell is this from rash all over my face and palms. Honestly, my first instinct was that Shelby must have rolled in Poison Oak again (she did it a couple weeks ago) and no one noticed and she has it on her coat and I touched her and OMG, then I went and washed my face and OMG, "I have poison oak!!!"
Then my male roommate took one look at me and said, "Wow, you're having an allergic reaction to your antibiotic." What?
Now, I vent about Dan a lot, but he is a nurse and knows what he's talking about. He said it's a classic reaction and it's normal for someone to get it after a few days. He gave me some benedryl and sent me back to bed. I apologized to Shelby for blaming the rash on her. I think we're cool. She let me play with her squeaker ball earlier.

Monday night the rash isn't getting any better and in fact, it looks like it's spreading. I'm supposed to take another antibiotic but don't know if I should, so I call the on-call doctor. She says, don't take it, the rash doesn't sound too bad, just make sure that if I have any trouble breathing or swallowing that I get to the hospital immediately. I spend the rest of the night second guessing every breath. "Was that too shallow?" "I'm feeling a bit wheezy. I think. Is that normal?"

This morning - I wake up early and get to work, rash and all, because I HAVE to be at work, I can NOT take off anymore time. I have to take a cold shower because hot or even warm water makes the rash burn. I pile on makeup to try to hide some of the blotchiness on my face and throw the bottle of benedryl into my purse. The stuff makes me sleepy, but it's the only thing I've got at this point.
I leave the doctor's office a message at 7am to please put me on a different antibiotic so the original infections do not return. I finally get a phone call back around 1:30pm and have that new prescription by the time I leave work and head home. I'm not overly optimistic this time - I've learned my lesson. The itchiness is subsiding from my face and hands, but lucky me, now my legs and feet are itchy. I suppose I should be happy that my body is only allowing two or three body parts to be itchy at a time instead of all over all the time.

I get home, and my phone rings about 6:30pm. It's the doc I saw Friday morning at the drop-in clinic. She said, "we figured out what's wrong with you. You. Have. Mono!!" She said it like I frickin' won a trip to Disneyland. I tell her that it doesn't make sense because I've SEEN people with mono and they can't get out of bed. If I have mono or had mono at any point, well, it's possibly the mildest case in the world because, Hi, if only you silly doctors would have given me something to get rid of the sinus infections I kept complaining about, then I wouldn't still be feeling so sick. But instead, I've been fighting these infections for months and now you're telling me that I have mono. I'm sorry, you've been wrong WAY too much lately for me to believe you this time. Strike three - you're out.

Here's why I don't have mono:
1. I'm still averaging about 10 hours a day at work, I'm gone from home for at least 12 hours unless I've got an activity or I'm meeting a friend for dinner, I barely get six hours of sleep a night and I'm still able to get out of bed each morning. How can I have mono when I'm not normally tired? I've only been tired when I've had sinus pressure.

2. I didn't lose any weight. When Clair had mono she lost weight. If I'm frickin' gonna have this disease my ass better look better in pants.

These arguments are about as scientifically sound as all the other bullshit these doctors have been feeding me for months.

Things I've learned this week

2009-09-02T03:44:29Z

I know it's only Tuesday, but I thought I'd enlighten you.

1) I have a sinus infection. I'm puffy, stuffy, sleepy, raspy, wheezy and drier than the mohave. Wow, I might have just given birth to a whole new idea for dwarfs.
My throat hurts a bunch now too. The doc I saw at a clinic yesterday said I could have strep, but he wasn't going to test for it, he was just going to give me some drugs that would take care of whatever might be happening in my throat as well as my sinus infection.

2) My HMO sucketh. I've been having sinus issues since...well, forever. I've been going to this doctor/HMO group for almost four years and EVERY TIME I go in sick, it's because I'm complaining about my sinus and allergy problems. I pay my $20 co-pay and then they tell me to go get Claritin-D and Mucinex. I should buy stock. I asked for preventative measures and I was told to go get a blood test done to determine if I have respiratory allergies. What about other allergies?? That kind that involves a normal allergy test with the skin pricking?? I'm too weak to fight for myself.

However, 3) I think I've learned how to stick it to the system. The doc I saw yesterday said that if I'd come in any sooner (I waited about two weeks before I gave in and paid another co-pay) he would have just told me to keep using the Claritin and Mucinex, but because it had been two weeks, he could prescribe something.
Um...so either I wait two weeks the next time I'm feeling like crappo, OR I frickin' LIE TO MY DOCTOR and tell him/her that I've had symptoms for two weeks. Then I'll cry and pretend to blow my nose but can't because all the mucus is stuck (I apologize for using the word mucus. Sorry). Oh, I MUST have a sinus infection! OH DEAR, is there anything for that???

That's the biggest lesson really. Lying is the best policy.

Here's a thought...

2009-08-29T06:25:54Z

You know how you say, "Karma's a bitch," when someone does something rude or mean to you? It's your own little way of saying, "hey, they'll get what they deserve for this some time down the road."

Well...what if what that person did to you is actually YOUR karma coming back to bite you in the butt? What if you're getting what YOU deserve for something dishonest or mean you did months ago?

Total random thought I had today while I was sitting outside at lunch admiring the pretty clouds above the FiDi.

Dude, I was in a FlashMob!

2009-08-25T05:51:54Z

Ok mom, don't panic, I didn't join a group that's flashing innocent bystanders. I took part in a really cool, "spur of the moment" performance in Union Square on August 16th (HEY, I'm blogging, don't complain that this is old news...if it's new to you, it's NEWS). I say "Spur of the moment," because while the random people in Union Square that day had no clue we were coming, we (a group of very talented and diverse people either a part of Ray of Light Theatre or friends of or randomly through the grapevine heard of this) practiced the dance routine for hours. But let me back up and explain some key points.

1) What the heck is a FlashMob??
A) Example A: You can also click HERE if the video doesn't show up below.

It could also be something simple like this: Example B

2) How the heck do you get to be a part of this really cool thing??

Well, sometimes you have to know the right people. Theater audition sites, Craigslist, or just being friends with weirdos like him, her, him and of course him. Usually calls are vaguely announced via facebook, myspace (is anyone still using that?) and text message blasts.

3) Was it fun??

Doooooood, so ridiculously fun. Totally worth giving up a whole Sunday for. I spent all day with friends being silly and then performing in front of stunned and confused people. It was a great rush. Also, the rehearsal took place at the old SF Mint over on 5th and Mission. We got full access to the whole building. We peeked in vaults, ran through the hallways and danced in the court yard for hours. OK, so that last part was a little hard and not as much fun as the peeking and running (ok, that sounds odd, but you know what I mean).

4) What's the point of all this??
Besides getting to do something new and cool. It was tri-fold. 1) Publicity for Ray of Light's newest production, TOMMY the Musical to be performed at the Victoria Theatre in SF through Oct and part of Nov. Go to www.ROLTheatre.com for more info. B) Promotion for Wolfgang's Vault. and Tres) To coincide with the 40th anniversary of Woodstock celebration that was happening in Union Square on Aug 16th.

5) Well, what did you perform? Can I see it???

Geez, don't you ever say, "please?"

HERE

Hope you enjoyed it - I sure did.

August 12 of 12

2009-08-14T05:05:56Z

Hoping to be in bed by 10pm - I've got 29 minutes to post this. Let's hope LJ doesn't suck at uploading photos like usual.

I heart Chad and this project found HERE, don't mind me, I'm just in a crabby mood.

5:34am - waking up

5:35am: View of my recently cleaned room. It's cluttered for sure, but at least the clothes, shoes (most of them anyway), mail, junk, etc has been picked up, tossed out or put away. Additional vacuuming and dusting and my roommates probably thought I had invited the queen over.

11:09am: Running an errand on Caifornia between Davis and Drumm streets. This is where the California/VanNess Cable Cars line up before taking off.

11:18am: New sculptures appeared on Front Street between California and Sacramento right next to the Walgreens a couple months ago. Not sure what the point is except the street beggar had to find a new corner.

11:20am: Heading back to my office. There are always pretty pink flowers in these flower pots. This is also when I realized that I'd failed to grab some lunch while I was out, so I snuck into the little cafe to the right. They're expensive and slow and the food isn't great, but it's location is quite convenient.

11:31: Took 10 minutes to get a pre-made sandwich and a salad. I was the only customer. I don't understand why they're so slow, but the food LOOKS good, doesn't it? It wasn't so great. It's a ham and brie sandwich, but there was A LOT of brie, so I was feeling a little cheesed out by the end of the meal.

5:32pm: Exiting the Walnut Creek BART station. Gotta love the Mt. Diablo view - pretty much doesn't matter where you are in the area, it's always looming all magnificent in the distance.

5:33pm: Opposite viewing direction from the last photo. Augh, the bain of my existence - Bay Area Rapid Transit. Stupid unions going on strike next week - what the F do the commuters do?? You're already making over $100,000 to sit and let a computer run the train, why the hell are you arguing over a 3% raise when there are thousands of people in our area that would kill to have that kind of job at the moment.
Selfish, greedy, awful unions. The strikers should be ashamed of themselves.

5:36pm: Continuing on my walk through Walnut Creek. Have you ever really noticed how GINORMOUS stop lights are?

5:40pm: End destination for my walk. My car is siiiiiick and they can't figure out what's wrong with it. It's running, but just not well. Going back in tomorrow actually.

8:45pm: Actually had an interesting evening. I drove into Pittsburg to attend a committee meeting for my 10-year high school reunion. I just forgot to take any photos. This is on Highway 4 - Westbound. The sky looked so ominous. And although this is blurry, I still really like it.

11:38pm: End of the day. Typing up notes from the meeting to email to the committee. Don't you like my striped PJ pants? Gap on sale. Look at how there's already a dresser drawer open with clothes trying to escape in the background...

OKAY - it's now 10:02pm. I'm late, but not tooooo bad. Good night!

I Fail.

2009-08-13T07:04:30Z

I know, I know. I haven't posted one single thing since last month's 12 of 12 and now it's the 12th of August and I'm still not going to post anything worth while. I'm just too tired to upload all my photos, so I promise to do that tomorrow. As for regular posting, well, I have BLOGGER'S BLOCK. For reals.

I was sick for awhile so that was sucking the life out of me. And in between sickness and health there was a lot of busyness. There's still lots of busyness, but I found a few hours this past weekend to catch up with someone. Someone that some of you do not approve of. Well, that's not entirely true, most of you have never met him. But I like him and that's all that matters at the moment. There was much talking and laughing and just all around having a nice afternoon. Plus there was ice cream.

I call this one, "Dork with ice cream."

July 12 of 12

2009-07-13T06:58:35Z

Yea! It's another edition of 12 of 12. I totally look forward to this all month and I get really excited when the 12th falls on a weekend so you lovely ~~people~~ person can enjoy photos from outside my office. Today was so jam packed that I think I have more photos to choose from for this edition of 12 of 12 than any other 12 of 12 I've ever done.

Sooooo, without further ado, (further or do?)...here we go...check out Chad's blog for more twelvers and the explanation behind this whole shabang.

10:01am: The, "Oh shit, I just remembered it's 12 of 12" shot. Waiting for my mom to pick me up to go to the Alameda County Fair.

11:31am: I like the collections exhibit. However, some don't really seem super creative to me. Like this one - Sugar Packet collection. None of them were very exotic or different - there's one from Denny's up front for goodness sakes. Nothing from out of the Bay Area except for a sugar packet from the Ahwahnee Hotel at Yosemite. I give this "First Place" collection a big WHATEV.

12:25pm: I just thought this was a good capture. This little girl was giggling up a storm every time her mom leaned her stroller car back like that. I wanna ride around in a stroller car. :-( My mom said I was too big.

12:31pm: Taking a breather at the livestock auction. Poor little piggy.

12:40pm: My mom talking to the goat. They had a "connection."

12:44pm: Three little piggies.

12:44pm: I couldn't help but take a photo of the one pig's hoof totally grabbing the other pig's ass. Well, it looked that way.

1:19pm: Horse races. We didn't bet but my mom was pretty lucky at picking the winners.

4:42pm: On my way into the City to see Jess one last time and help her pack up some of the last stuff. Yes, I was driving and taking photos. What? It was a camera, not my cell phone. Totally still within the rules of the law.

5:41pm: NoLa = New Orleans, LA. Kitchen Shit. I told Jess that it was self explanatory labeling.

8:05pm: Then the boys came home from a day spent at the Indian Casino. Lance (standing in the back) needed a Band-Aid (T) and brought out his new rainbow colored bandages. We all took one and the posing began (this one is in Lance's bathroom). This is the shot we all agreed we'd used if we ever formed a band. We just need a good band name. The Gandages (mix of the word gay (because they're rainbow colored!) and the word bandages) is the only thing we thought of, but we're taking name suggestions.

9:40pm: One last hug :-( We got a lot done. Jess, don't forget I'm you're only friend that helped you pack!! I'm such a rockstar friend, I can't believe you'd ever want to leave me. :-( You're fired. Again. But not really. Cause I need a place to stay when I come to New Orleans. So I re-hire you.

Summer rainstorm

2009-07-12T03:48:02Z

It's raining in Danville. In July.

I'm sitting outside (under an umbrella) at The Sideboard; just finished eating dinner and now I'm happily reading the last of my book, "She's Come Undone," and I just feel...well, happy. I'm alone, but still happy. Go figure.

Now Hiring

2009-07-07T04:45:58Z

Now taking applications for a best gal friend. Must enjoy happy hours, spontaneous trips to wine country, the ability to gossip about everyone and everything but in a non-petty, non-mean way and be comfortable regarding all facets of conversation including but not limited to relationships, sex, work, health and food. Must be able to commit to at least one outing per week, either surrounding food or some cultural event (retail therapy is acceptable and encouraged). Should mingle well with other existing gal pals. Should also have the balls to call me out on my shit as needed.

Must have sense of humor and appease me when I want to stage photos with you as the subject.

Recommended Qualifications; but negotiable:
Live in the San Francisco Bay Area
Be Canadian to keep up my quota of Canadian friends.
Have a comfortable couch or guest room where I can crash at a moment's notice
Have the same taste in sundresses and large sunglasses

Please send resume with references and shoe size to WillMissJessHorriblyWhenSheMovesToNewOrleansNextWeek@sadfriend.com

Full of PRIDE

2009-07-05T08:25:00Z

I know today (well, it's after midnight, so yesterday) was the country's birthday and it's always one of my favorite holidays to celebrate because I'm a nut for fireworks (the professional kind, not the kind that the idiots down the block blow up), but LAST weekend was a whole other kind of celebration that brings the city of San Francisco to a virtual standstill with revelers.

PRIDE! Beautiful, fun, zany, awesome and PRIDEFUL.

This was the very first time I got to watch or join in on the Pride Parade. I'd always been out of town or off doing other things that conflicted with the parade. So, why not volunteer to be a contingent monitor with the Ray of Light float this year and not only march down Market Street but help lead the ROLT float? Sooooo cool.

This was the ROLT float and our lead for our next show, Zach. We were promoting our new show, TOMMY, which will be at the Victoria Theatre in SF starting a month-long run the second weekend in October. SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT:  Check out our Website, www.tommysf.com for more info on the show and the company.

Isn't Zach so cute? He sang through the whole parade and got the crowd really into his performances. I can't wait to see him onstage as Tommy.

Here are two more cuties...Carol and Joey. They joined the company a couple of shows ago and I can't possibly express what a great addition they both have been in talent and spirit and just all-around awesomeness.  People like them are the main reason why I don't think I'll ever quit this company. It's a commute to come into the city on the weekends for shows and it's a draining experience to do month-long runs (even when I'm not onstage), but as soon as the run is over we all can't wait to do it all over again.

And we dance around like this all the time, not just for Pride.

Me with Linda and Nick S. Go Crew!!

Me and the handsome boys - Micah and Justin. Go producers!



It was a fun, colorful, wonderful day with great, open-minded people. That's my kind of town.

Great job guys!

Welcome Back to my Random Life

2009-07-02T06:25:27Z

Hello old blog. How have you been? I know it's been a while; I don't have any great excuses. Sometimes the words come and sometimes they don't. I'm sorry I've been cheating on you with the likes of Facebook and Twitter. I've also been wiling away the hours watching "So You Think You Can Dance," and spending a lot of quality time with some awesome friends. It's summer and the warm weather is just begging me to be outside and do more and see more and go to more places until I absolutely crash into bed from utter exhaustion only to wake up a measly few hours later and do it all over again. I've never wanted to be a coffee drinker so much before in my life. Every morning is a bigger and bigger struggle to get up and even more difficult than that is staying awake at work while tackling some pretty tedious projects. But I push through and every day I leave the office excited to join some old friend or see a show or cheer at a game or maybe just have a beer and laugh and chat and share with the wonderful people in my life.

There's one thing about summer that never changes for me. It never feels quite like summer to me unless I've been to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. It's my chance to relive childhood memories over and over and over again. Yeah, it's not as iconic as Disneyland, it doesn't have the fastest or newest rides like Six Flags or Great America, but it's special to me. And even if all I get to do is ride the Giant Dipper and take a spin on the carousel, that's all that's really required for me to look around and finally acknowledge that regardless of how hot the weather was before, that NOW, it is finally summer.







Woody sightings!!! Too fun!

And just to show off an already fantastic day on the Boardwalk - a dolphin sighting. How lucky am I?

Fun in the Neighborhood

2009-06-23T06:55:11Z

I've been doing a lot of traveling in the last few years, which is great considering I did very little traveling while I was growing up, BUT don't think I've forgotten all of the amazing things to do and see in the Bay Area.

The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park was recently renovated and re-opened to the public and I'd been ~~DYING~~ really, really wanting to go. I'm not a sciencey kinda girl, but the idea of seeing penguins and running around in a rainforest just sounded like the best way to spend my Memorial Day.





Snakes and albino alligators and penguins, OH MY! And while I went thinking the penguins would be my favorite part, my favorite memory came from a little wayward butterfly and one curious little girl.

First I spotted the beauty on one of the railings on the outskirts of the rainforest's upper canopy. He was so still I almost thought it was fake.

He had a pretty sweet view of the food court.

I thought he was about to fly away, but he stayed and that's when I got my favorite shot of the day...

That was the best part of my day. That little girl stood there like that, just watching and admiring the pretty butterfly. She probably could have reached out and touched it if she wanted to.



Then came the aquarium. Jelly fish i've seen, but that weird blue thing? That's a harlequin shrimp. What the...??? How does something like that even come to exist?!?

Don't even get me started on this guy.

One of my last stops was the Living Roof on top of the museum. It was too foggy to get a good shot, but it was kinda cool to see this grassy and flower-filled roof.

Go check out the Academy of Sciences HERE and don't forget to take public transportation to get there!