Every Parent Remembers...

.. their child's first mondegreen.

Apparently Tierney has been living under the impression that Aimee Mann was saying "Was it scary?" rather than 'Voices carry'

Gross.

One of the ads I saw today while at work was for the following:

Reusable Esophogeal / Rectal Temperature Probe

I'm not sure what is more vomit inducing - that it doubles as both a rectal AND an esophogeal (read: down the throat) probe, or that it's REUSABLE.

I think Dante and Randal would have something to say about this - Would that fall under the category of 'ass-to-mouth'?

*pukes*

Irony has a crunchy coating.

So the dentist's office has been calling me lately to remind me that it's time for the girl's check up.  I'm excited about this, because I'm finally covered for dental.  But of course, with work being nuts, I've consistently forgotten to call.

Today on my lunch hour, I sat, thoughtfully chewing on a chicken sandwich, thinking to myself "That's right, I should call the dentist today" and...

CRACK!
Friggin tooth is now a jagged shard.  From a SANDWICH of all things.

Where was I... ?  Oh right.. call dentist.

(did they plan this?) 

Nickels for your nightmares, dimes for your dying dreams.

Wow.  Some people amaze me, acting like high schoolers, while nearing 30.  He said, She said.  It's all I can do to keep from laughing hysterically.  All I can say is glad I backed off when I did.  Go with your gut, yesirree.  Sometimes soul-destroying heartache can be a good thing, when it keeps you out of other potentially drama-filled, just ridiculous situations. 

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I found a place downtown that rents out a wall to display art work for 20 bucks a month.  i'm looking into it.  They're booked up until January at this point, but that  might give me time to come up with stuff I might actually want to display and/or sell.  So far, I'm pretty hit and miss.  The stuff I think is good enough to display, I'm not sure if I would want to part with, and the stuff I'd be willing to part with, I don't know if I'd feel right asking for money for, or even having my name associated with.  I wish I had more confidence in my ability.  I dont' know if I'm being too self-critical, or if I really am just as mediocre in my pursuits as I think I am

*fishes for compliments*

Seriously though, I've said before, for once, I'd like to be prodigious at something, instead of half-decent at many things.  I'm an okay singer, an okay guitarist, okay artist, okay writer, etc etc.  I'd like to be super-awesome at something.

Something weird you may not have known about me...

I have a compulsive need to touch doors before I open them.

Wait, hear me out.

I'm prone to static shocks sometimes, especially in winter, and somewhere along the line, I have picked up a habit of touching a door before I grab the doorknob, just to ground myself.

It's like I'm afraid that if I grab the handle I may somehow electrocute myself. Half the time I'm not even concious that I'm doing it anymore.

Well, I don't know about you, but I feel better having that off my chest.

Follow-up blues

The good news: My aforementioned friend (two blogs back, before the wiki-birthday thing), is not a total asshat, with the intentions of ignoring my heartfelt confession of my feelings. I finally got the call two nights ago, so I was not forced to make a second difficult phone call.

Which brings the bad news: Apparently there is a spark lacking somewhere. So boo for me. Needless to say, I've been a bit of a wreck the past couple of nights.

I knew as soon as I answered the phone and he started talking that it was not going to go as hoped. But, alas, I was prepared for such an eventuality - hence why it had taken so long to get to that place where I was ready. I had to know I would be okay with a no.

The most important part of the conversation I think was where he apologized for leaving me hanging. He said he didn't want me to ever think that he was taking this decision lightly, and that a day hadn't gone by where he didn't think about was going (or not going) to happen.

I think we're going to be able to be friends, and I told him that. I am going to need time to lick my wounds, but I keep holding onto the fact that it's out there in the open now. Now there is nothing to do but heal, and eventually move on.

The silver lining here (because let's face it, this fucking sucks) is that even though the romantic feelings I have are not reciprocated, after talking with him, I don't question his investment into our friendship. The worst part during the last two weeks was actually wondering if maybe I had read more into the last 13 years than he had... You know, like finding out that someone you consider a really close friend merely considers you an acquaintance? That was something I was beginning to fear, and that saddened me more than anything.

I'm glad that I don't have anything to question any more. And I'm glad I did this now. I've done a lot of growing over the last year, and say, a year ago, my confidence was so low something like this might have crushed me. Although my ego has taken a blow, I still have enough 'Awesome' left to rebuild the foundation of my self-confidence.

So Yeah. I guess this is the end of an era, in a way. I'm sort of at loose ends, actually... The 'Should I's ' have been a part of my life for so long, that I'm not sure where to go from here. I'm taking a break from dating for a bit.

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In other news: I'm broke. I need to budget better, and two steps I am taking are to quit drinking Timmies (have to switch to office coffee... GAH!) and start packing myself a lunch again. I've figured I'm spending about 160 bucks a month on coffee and lunch alone. That's my CAR INSURANCE. It's ridiculous.

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I'm feeling really creative lately, but also really lazy and rebellious. There are things I know I should work on (ie, the portrait I started painting for Nicky and Franks wedding present) but I find I have many other projects in my head I want to start doing prelim sketches for, and then I feel bad because I'm not working on the damned portrait. I also want to write more, and I still want to try writing some songs, put a little three-piece together for jams and stuff.

I met a guy in my building that lives on the ground floor and has been playing guitar for 40 years. He's offered to give me lessons at a reasonable rate. I was a little offended at first, because I Have been playing for about 15 years, but he got his guitar out and we jammed and I though to myself 'erm... okay, yeah. I could learn some stuff here'. Guy's phenomenal. And doesn't have much else to do all day, apparently. Is on disability (my guess is MS or fibromyalgia) so has not much else to do but take his dogs out for short walks, and play guitar. New, interesting friends are fun.

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Two weeks until the Dandy Warhols! *dances*

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Oh, going back to the 'creative' thing, I've posted some of my artwork for yer viewing pleasure. Constructive criticism is welcome.

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Work has been nuts this week. Between one of our Co-ops leaving, and the other admin girl going on a tradeshow and holidays, my workload has almost tripled this week. I've been leaving late every day this week. Things go back to normal monday though. Oh the exciting world of used scientific equipment sales *shudders with anticipation*

I'm out. Long weekend. Getting kids ready for back to school. They apparently finally got the new building ready for teh kiddies. Wooha. Tierney has a teacher with an un-pronounceable name. And we don't even live in the city.

This looks fun, so Imma do it too.

This is stolen from Mari, Queen of the Desert and Kaydeelicious...

What happened on your birthday? Did empires crumble? Did sports dynasties form? Did nothing particularly interesting take place? Go to Wikipedia and enter your date of birth (month and day only), then post four events, three births, two deaths and one holiday.

EVENTS

August 14, 1908 - The first beauty contest is held in Folkstone, England.
August 14, 1936 - Rainey Beathea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last public execution in the United States.
August 14, 1945 - Japan accepts the Allied terms of surrender in World War II and the Emperor records the Imperial Rescript on Surrender (August 15 in Japan Standard Time).
August 14, 2003 - Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada.

BIRTHS
August 14, 1851 - Doc Holliday, American Gambler and dentist
August 14, 1945 - Steve Martin, Comedian
August 14, 1950 - Gary Larson, Cartoonist

DEATHS
August 14, 582, - Tiberius II Constantine, Byzantine emperor
August 14, 1952 - William Randolph Hearst, American Newspaper Magnate.

HOLIDAYS
National Creamsicle Day

I think finding out that I share a birthday with Gary Larson may just be the single most incredible discovery of my life.

And yeah my 25th birthday was a memorable one, for many people.
I could have sworn Elvis died on my birthday.

Bite Me Hollywood, you lying sons of bitches.

I will never in my life watch another romantic comedy. I have been lied to. There are no happy endings. It's Action and/or Slasher flicks from now on. At least when life doesn't imitate them, it's a GOOD thing.

I should probably explain my blog previous to this, for those who could access it. That, my friends, was the written equivalent to my general reaction Tuesday before last, when I finally bit the bullet and confessed my more-than-friendly feelings to a friend of many many years. In my time on earth, I have never felt so close to a full-fledged cardiac arrest, or at the very least, hyperventilation to the point of passing out. I won't get into the conversation, but it was not terribly long, I came out and said what I needed to say, and told him to think on it for a day or two. No knee-jerk reactions please. At the very least, I thought it was at least a little promising.

It was time to come clean, anyways, because I had been holding onto this knowledge for over four years. I had always waited for a good time to tell him, but there was never a good time, and I came to realize that there will be no 'perfect time' - there will pretty much be bad times to tell him, and worse times to tell him. I figured one random night over the phone while he was kind of between relationships was better than drunkenly banging on his hotel room door the night before his wedding.

I have not had much luck in relationships over this time, and I think along with the hurt from the separation, I also think that I have been holding most guys up against this one particular friend.. I would fear commiting 'just in case'. Sabotage. I eventually came to the conclusion that until I had this 'what if?' question resolved, I would never give another man a fair chance.

Things have not turned out well. Definitely not as I hoped. I don't even need to say what I hoped, the hollywood ending would do. But this is not even as I had expected. Having prepared myself for the worst, I had prepared myself for the 'I don't think this would be a good idea, lets just be friends'. I also prepared myself for some weirdness, but I figured the weirdness would mostly be my doing.

What I was not prepared for was a week and a half of almost utter silence (other than a short birthday text). I was not prepared to be held in limbo. I don't like limbo. Hell, I don't even like TO limbo. Of all the people in the world, he was one person I thought grown-up enough to be able to deal with being faced with one's feelings. I thought him capable of paying me the respect of at least speaking with me about it.

I don't know if he's at all cognizant of how difficult it was for me to come out and say what I did. And now what I feel is worse than rejected. I feel utterly disregarded. And like perhaps 13 years of friendship meant more to me than it ever did to him. And it's breaking my heart.

So fuck you Hollywood. Fuck you Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. Fuck you Ashley Judd and Hugh Jackman. Fuck you Julia Roberts and whoever you happen to be starring opposite this week. John Cusack, you can take that big old Boombox and Shove it up your ass. Fuck you Molly Ringwald, because Andrew McCarthy is a pussy and Jon Cryer was totally the shit. Screw you all for giving girls like me hope for jumping the gap from friendship to something more.

Confessions of a headphone junkie

Originally written for the Tay Township Report, January 2008

I lost a dear friend of mine two weeks ago. As I was driving home from work, I stopped to pick my children up at their father's house, and hit pause on my iPod Nano. When I came back, all signs of life had disappeared. Frantically, I held down the play button, waiting for the tiny screen to light up. I cradle it's tiny body in my hands, uttering words of encouragement, lightly sprinkled with the odd obscenity, in hopes of talking it out of its apparent technological suicide. After a few minutes, I realized I would have to drive home, with only the radio and the happy squeals of my children for company, for that long five minute drive home. Dejected, I listened to the spurts of chatter and sporadic bursts of melody, as the car stereo scanned in search of a station to suit my needs. Upon arriving home, I crossed my fingers as I plugged my little silver and pink friend into my computer, certain that, like someone in insulin shock, all it needed was a little juice. Nothing.

It may be time for an introduction. My name is Andrea, and I have a problem. I am a full-fledged music junkie. There are plenty of music lovers in the world, but I am an addict. I used music the way others used anti-depressants, as a method of keeping me balanced. When I clean, when I drive, when I walk, when I exercise, it's there, keeping me company. In the early days of my current employment, one of the main draws of the job wasn't the pay, or the hours, but the fact that I was able to spend over 7 hours a day with my then-generic-brand mp3 player, as dear to me then as my little buddy is now. My head would swirl with ideas for playlists. I spent an entire day listening to nothing but the Pixies. More recently I embarked on a plan to listen to every track in my music collection, alphabetically by title. I was excited, and life was good. Poor thing didn't make it past the 'I's.

Upon returning to work after a period of mourning (okay, it was monday) I settled back into my routine. It was then, I had a revelation. Although I had never realized it before, my co-workers wanted to talk to me. Perhaps I was happily distracted, or maybe I just plain couldn't hear them over the melodic strains of Social Distortion, but they had been attempting to communicate with me, and I had been missing out. Every junkie hits that moment, when they realize that their habit has become a hindrance on their life in some way. I realized that my physical and metaphorical attachment to those little earbuds were having a negative effect on my social life - and probably my hearing as well.

It's been two weeks. In a moment of optimism and desperation, I've just plugged my little buddy back into my computer, and imagine that... a tiny, faint apple appeared on it's screen. I'm joyous, but also wary. I hope that, given this second chance, my little friend and I can start over in a relationship thats a little more healthy, for both of us.

Well, I’m out like a cheap plaid leisure suit...

I'm taking the kiddies and heading for the wilds of nothern ontario (and minnesota, Wisconsin, and upper peninsula Michigan) off to see meliss, my best bud in the world.

I have my iPod packed up with all the fantasticness I could fit onto 2 lousy Gigs... that should get me most of the way there, I hope.

I'm hoping my little Betty's trunk can fit all the crazy crap that I have had to pack for this journey.

Eating some cereal, having a coffee, gonna make me a buttload of sammiches (I have a goal to actually stop to eat no more than once... that being said, I've bought a stupid amount of food for the cooler.

Happy Trails all... I'll return in a week!

I'll miss ya, you know who you are.