Get-A-Date April 2006

Well, seeing how well it worked to give myself a deadline to find a new job, I tried it on my love-life. The deadline is May 1st... and it doesn't look good.

I mean, miracles never cease, but I'm being realistic here. It's tomorrow. So today I'm going to church and then I think I'll grab some sushi or something... and then I'll most likely go home.

Where are all the guys hanging out? I don't know! Somebody told me to hang out at a golf course. But that's the only place people can think of for me to go a-guy huntin'. Well, I've heard "bowling alley" and "library" too, but... How pitiful is this?!? I suppose I should have looked in the yellow pages for good ideas.

Maybe a gym? Of course, I'll need a membership to hang out there more than once. And honestly, I was hit on once at the gym and I was very annoyed. Not only was the guy a creep, but I was trying to work out!!!

My mom tried to set me up with a guy at church ("He's really rich!!"), but I could see right away that he and I wouldn't match. He was probably around my age (give or take 5 years), but looked much older. Not older like wrinkles and stuff, but older as in no fun, no silliness, no adventure.

I could go hang out at a coffee shop, but I'd probably get all loaded on caffine and then meeting some guy could be disasterous! I wouldn't be able to shut up and I'd be all gittery! Of course the people that worked there might call the cops on me for loitering. Hm. I suppose I could meet a guy in uniform that way...

Well, we'll see what happens today and tomorrow. Maybe I'll get inspired to go somewhere and I'll get a date!!! Maybe at the grocery store! Maybe a park! Maybe a Harley Davidson shop!... Oh, well, maybe not there...

Age and Stuff

For some reason it seems that I've seen a lot of people aging around me, but I don't feel like I've aged as much. Especially when I see somebody I haven't seen in a while, I think, "Wow, he/she looks so different! Like an adult and stuff." But I don't feel the same way. Except when I get up and my back hurts. Or when my knees sound like Pop Rocks. Or when younger people annoy me. Whatever.

Speaking of changing the subject, I ate my lunch at the courthouse the other day since it was so sunny. Here's the side... I wanted to get the front, but there was a lady smoking and staring at me. I didn't want her in my picture.



And this is facing the street...



Closer to the courthouse, there were various shrubs and flowers. I love sunny days!!

Roger

For a while now Roger has had some difficulties starting up. Sometimes not starting at all. Of course I just had to give him a second, and then he'd start, but very labored. I was hoping all he needed was a tune-up...

Lucky for me, Jeff knows quite a bit about vehicles and how they work. He got everything I needed and then looked under the hood and, after giving me the look of shame, ordered a valve cover gasket as well.

We ended up replacing the cap and rotor, plugs and wires, PCV valve, thermostat, valve cover gasket, cleaned the combustion chamber out and flushed the coolant. I gotta tell ya, Roger is feeling fine!!! We took him out for a victory lap (and to blow out some of the gunk) and for the first mile or two there was a nice blue smoke following me. That'll teach the guy behind me for following too close! But it cleared up pretty quickly and Jeff and I enjoyed the smooth ride. Well, smooth for a Jeep.

When we got back, Jeff took me for a ride on his four-wheeler. Duke knew what was going on and took off like a shot! He loves that thing! He gets to race it and boy does he run fast! Jeff is kind of a daredevil and there was only one or two times when I was a little scared, but I trust him (obviously with my life!) and I knew it would all be good. We caught air a couple of times and I'm sure we were going faster than 100 m.p.h. at a few of points.

All in all, it was a great weekend. When I drove Roger home, I had a smile on my face. It's nice that he's running so great! Especially when I'll be using him for a bit of travel in the next couple of months.

For some reason, I don't have any good pictures of him right now, so I'll just have to get some! I just took the doors off because it's been nice and sunny... Maybe I'll give him a (much needed) bath and take some pictures.
AAARRRRRGG!!!

Devil Cats

I sometimes open my door so the cats can stare out the screen door into the lovely front yard. This neighborhood is FULL of cats. No joke, there are probably five cats visible at any given time. Well, a couple of those are black like my Grace, and one of them just happened to saunter by the screen door yesterday morning. I don't know what happened, but suddenly there was a horrible screaming and things falling down and whatnot. I ran into the living room to see Grace (10 lbs.) chasing Buddy (18.5 lbs.). He's very brave toward other cats and animals, but when it comes to Grace... Well, even I'm afraid of her when she's mad!
Grace gets all slinky and her ears go back and all you see are white fangs and green, evil eyes. It's pretty freaky.
All day they were angry at each other, and all night. Hissing, yelling, the whole shebang. For the most part, one stayed upstairs and one downstairs.
This morning they finally started to chill out. They were in the same room as each other, separated by me. Still growling and hissing, but in the same room!
By the time I came home tonight, they're almost back to normal. They've been running around, chasing each other... Generally having fun. Once in a while they look at each other with narrowed eyes, but it's been mostly calm this evening.
*sigh* Maybe I'll be able to sleep tonight without being woken up by, "RRRRREEEEEEOOOOOOOWWWWWRRRRRRRR!!!!", and "HIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!"

I feel pretty... oh, so pretty...

I realize I haven't posted in a while, but it's actually been a pretty busy week for me. I had a solo, well really three performances on Easter Sunday. I haven't had a solo in a while, so I was on the nervous side. That frustrates me because I feel pretty relaxed, but when I sing, it's obvious my vocal chords are not relaxed. The first service was... okay. I could have been a lot better. The second and third were better as I was a little more comfortable. My friend Jeff was at the second service to cheer me on (and made me feel great about my performance) and my Mom was at the third. She was concentrating on the taping, so she really didn't hear much of it until she got home and watched the tape. That's fine with me! :)

Then the next day on Monday, I drove 200 miles to a job interview. It wasn't like any interview I've been on before really. It was more of a photo shoot (to promote their new thing), but it was very relaxed and fun. I laughed and had a good time, and yet still had somewhat of an interview. Today I got an official offer that I would be a freakin' moron to turn down. Praise God!!! I'll be getting somewhere around a 60% raise. It's awesome. The first two months or so will be a lot of travel, ie., living out of hotels and stuff, but it will be worth it.

So I'm pooped. There's a lot of stress involved in solos and job changes. I'm hoping to go to bed early and sleeeeeeep!!!
More later.

Is it summer yet? (warning: nostalgia ahead)

On my way home I had the window unzipped (it's a soft-top Jeep!) and I was driving along when I smelled something... familiar. Something that I hadn't smelled in a long time. It was food, but there was something else to it. All I could think of was that I wanted it. I wasn't sure what it was, but I was so hungry for it. Then it hit me: It's food cooked in warm air.

It's the smell of summer.

I got a quick glimpse of summer barbques, of playing in the yard while grandma cooked dinner. Of coming home just as it got dark, shoes squishing from wading through the creek and finding dinner ready. Of chatting outside on the porch, smelling neighbors cooking their food, hearing the comfortable murmur of other people's lives. Lawnmowers mowing, trying to beat the sunset. Mosquitoes biting, but nobody noticing because they are too busy playing. Sleeping with the familiar hum of the fan, rotating so that it blows slow waves of tepid air over your body. Staring out of a window, held captive by work or school, greedy to be in the sun that burns so quickly. Falling asleep exhausted, only to awaken to a blue sky that promises so much good.

Dear Lord, I can't wait for summer.

April Showers

I gotta say, I'm getting tired of this spring rain. I wake up in the morning and see that it's overcast. Where's the sun?!? The flowers need freakin' sun to grow too!!
My skin started to take on a blue hue, so I put on a little Tan in a Can. Brown in a Bottle. Color in a Canister. Whatever you want to call it, it's sunless tanning lotion. I just needed a little color on my skin, even if it were temporary! I'm thinking about going to a tanning booth. I'll just have to see what those kinds of things cost, as I've never been to one.
Speaking of work, here's my one sentence:

Yesterday I was the only one who showed up for work and ended up vacuuming because I was so bored until 4pm when my boss called and gave me a bunch of work to do (I get off at 5:30pm).

Okay, it was kind of a long sentence... Sorry. And speaking of jobs and whatnot, I'm being recruited for a pharmacy technician position. It's a totally different company. A friend of mine who worked at the same place that I did also quit and went to this new company and she loves it. She's a pharmacist, so it's a little different. But she has been "talking me up" to her boss for quite some time now and I finally talked to him.
It's an interesting proposition... If they do indeed want me to take the job. I'm looking at $3 more an hour (which is nice) and a company car as I would be a "floater", filling in for people who are on vacation or sick or whatever. I like this! I wouldn't be working with the same people all the time - I would be working with many different people. My hotel would be paid for and my gas. And of course, I wouldn't be putting mileage on Roger. But it's not for sure yet. We'll see.
I wasn't exactly looking to get back into that business, but if the money and job is right, it might not be so bad.
Ahh, if I could only get paid to sing!

My new look!

I would like to thank Faythe and Rayleen for my new blogger look!!! Woo-hoo!!! I love it! AAARRRGGGGG!!!! Here be a pint 'o grog in yur honurrrr!

Saturday

I'm watching Saturday morning cartoons. They've really changed since I was little, that's for sure! I remember when I was around 5 years old, I would wake up a neighbor at around 6 am (I don't remember because I couldn't tell time, but I remember she was always asleep) because they not only had a huge tv, but they got different channels which included... Woody Woodpecker!!! I watched it again as an adult and... Well, I'm sad to say I was a little annoyed. Woody can do with some decaf.
Then of course there the good 'ol Looney Tunes and all that. Everybody loves Bugs, Daffy, Taz, and well, the list goes on. They're classic! Now there's this new thing called Loonatics Unleashed. It has the same basic characters, but in the future or whatever. And they have powers of course. I like it, but I'm not incredibly hard to please when it comes to cartoons.

My favorite was always The Tick. That's not a good link, but it's really hard to find a good link. The tick was awesome. (Yeah, that's right - I said awesome!) He was stupid but funny. Honest yet kind. He was great!

So now I watch these new cartoons and hope to be amused. I mean, what's a Saturday morning without cartoons?

Side note: My landlord just rang the doorbell and my sweet cat Grace, who was peacefully sleeping on my lap, just left holes in my leg. Ow.

Ah, April

My lawn was getting absolutely out of control! As soon as April hit, the grass knew and shot up. I actually came home from work and saw my neighbor's lawn mower and got motivated. I grabbed mine.



I actually had to go over it twice, it was so long. Here's some cut and some uncut lawn:



And the aftermath!



I actually enjoy mowing the lawn. I need to do it again already because that was a few days ago and there has been some rebellion. I think another go would make it perfect. And this is my weapon of choice:



I'm thinking about naming it... Any ideas?

Just Another Day

Thursday. I'm having problems uploading pictures for some reason.

Aside from that, I've been watching a bit of Starsky and Hutch as I mentioned earlier, and I think I love Hutch, AKA David Soul. Well, the younger version of him. Okay, maybe love is a strong word for it, but where are all the guys like Hutch?!? Strong, semi-quiet, witty, cute, masculine... Seriously, where ARE these guys?!? *sigh* I think I might be addicted.

Do you have a TV star that you think is "the bee's knees"? Am I so pathetic? Why won't my hair grow faster? Do I need more vitamins?

It's Wednesday

Okay, I know you're all sick of hearing me complain about work, so I tried to make a vow to myself not to post about it... But we all know that's just silly. So I've modified the vow. I can only post one sentence about work. And the rest has to be about other stuff. So here's today's work-post:

Today my boss made a client wait 40 minutes to see her, and a prospective clerk waited very close to an hour for his interview.

Okay, moving on.

Here is another glorious shot of Duke's place... it's one of my favorites.



On a totally different subject, Easter Sunday is coming up soon. I have a solo down at church and I'm really excited about it. First, most of you know that I love to sing. Quite honestly, it's all I've ever wanted to do since I was about 5 or 6 years old. Of course it's not exactly an easy business to get into and you can't just pick up a band wherever you want, so it's always been on the back burner. But I really love to sing... It's like breathing. I feel, I am, I love and I live when I sing. But whatever. You never really know how good you are until you "make it", because if people tell you that you sound great, they might just be nice or related to you. It's a strange thing.

Anyway, the reason why I'm excited is because not only is one of my best friends ever going to hear me sing for the first time, but so is my MOM!!! She's seen me sing on tape once, but that's it. So I get to sing at church at all three services and my mom gets to see me!

And this is Wednesday.

Me and Duke

While Jeff was on vacation I got to hang out with Duke! Duke is the coolest. I tried to get pictures of him bounding around (sometimes bouncing higher than I am tall, I think), but he was too quick and my camera too slow. But I might have a couple of Duke here and there.

There is a pond that Duke loves, and it has ducks, reeds and other pond-y stuff. Sometimes I could hear him, but not see him so much...



And suddenly, AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!.... oh, I mean, Good boy Duke! I knew it was you...



Here he's doing a great impression of a crocodile.



If he gets tired of swimming, or as a precursor to the swim, he also enjoys digging for moles and mice. Ahh, the life of Duke.



Here's to you, Duke!