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May 31, 2005

One of my cubicle neighbors

One of my cubicle neighbors at work talks a lot. And loudly. And she sits in close proximity to me, so I hear every last god-damned word that she says about everything (which is a considerable amount of information!).

So far, today, I have learned the following from her 6,000 personal phone calls (each 1 hour long) :

  • how her mom sliced her wrist
  • how she, herself, broke her knee
  • how her mom lost all of her front teeth
  • the style of dentures that her mom wears
  • who is interviewing for the open position in her group
  • who is a jerk and who is sooo nice
  • her "friend" owns a sushi restaurant [even though when she calls this "friend" to try and wriggle a free lunch out of him, he doesn't know her name or recall any of the people that she says she's associated with "you know, Bill's friend? You don't know Bill? Well what about Amanda?"]
  • which airline she's taking because the times were the same for United and American, but UA has "better airplanes"
  • who in our office got declined for AAA auto insurance [her friend works there and when she's bored randomly goes through people's employers and looks for ours* and then calls Cube Neighbor to spill the beans on who has too many tickets, accidents, etc.]

*my company is a large local company, with approx. 3,000 employees in these 2 buildings.


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Posted by giddygirlie at 11:40 AM |

May 30, 2005

I channeled past by mistake

I channeled past by mistake the other night and saw part of the Jackson trial on E! and saw the Jay Leno impersonator. I laughed at the freak-show chin implant-thingy and then channeled away.

Later I learned it was Jimmy Kimmel. No shit, here are the pictures.


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Posted by giddygirlie at 12:59 AM |

May 25, 2005

**update - Thursday** Thank you

**update - Thursday** Thank you everyone who sent over their love, good energy, and sweet notes. It was a late night, working through some crap, but we've got it all back under control. We should have a new roomie by the end of the weekend (dear little brother) and we'll be well on our way to raising our first college-age kid. ------------------------------

something big is looming. something really big. something really big and scary and black and dark and horrible and i am terrified and deeply frightened. i am swallowing the lump in my throat right now and trying to face it as brave as i can, but it's just not that easy.

if anyone has any extra good energy to send my way, tonight is the night. round about 10pm, the cards will be on the table and i need all the back-up that i can get.

good wishes to you all.


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Posted by giddygirlie at 3:29 PM |

May 24, 2005

A while ago, I posted

A while ago, I posted a picture of my pill bottle, wondering if anyone else has one like this... then last night, I saw in Newsweek that this is actually a designer bottle. Ooh la la! You can read all about it here [more in-depth than the Newsweek sideline]. Kind of a neat idea, actually.

Also last night I read an entire book. Now, before you start harrassing me (Ryan, I said SHUTEEEEE!!), the book was short (168 pages) with LARGE font and it was a small sized book = 2 hours of reading. Anyway, it was a good book -- and that makes the first book of the week and my "to be read" pile is empty. :( Any suggestions?


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Posted by giddygirlie at 11:50 AM |

May 23, 2005

Saturday, I coordinated a theater

Saturday, I coordinated a theater buy-out for a private screening of Star Wars, Ep.III, which as you can imagine was insane. The theater we bought out seated 586 people and we filled in nearly every seat -- it was amazing! I was "working" through most of the beginning of the movie (there were trailers? When??) : handing out door prizes, helping people find seats in the dark (nope, I wasn't kidding when I said we were sold out and to come early for a good seat), etc. I missed some of the opening battle part (evidently) but since I am not a die-hard Star Wars person, it didn't bother me.

The movie was... really good, and very emotionally draining, and I still think I need to see it again. I missed so much, because I was constantly jumping out of my seat to help people. I also purposely didn't let myself get emotionally invested... I severely wanted to let myself get lost in it, get wrapped up and cry. But since I was "on duty", I couldn't. BUT I did leave lusting for Hayden Christiansen, which I think we are all morally obligated to do. This face in particular gives me goosebumps (oh, and I checked, he's 24 so it's totally legal).

Then Sunday I spent the afternoon at a birthday gathering for my Great Aunt, which was nice, but I was so tired from being so overwhelmed all of last week, that I really just wanted to go home and take a nap. When I did get home, I did just that -- I read the last of Running With Scissors and then slept for about 45 minutes. Oh, but before that, Ryan and I went to Rite Aid to get an ice cream cone (Chocolate Malted Krunch) and I saw this little girl, waiting at the pharmacy with her mom and brother. It was very clear that both kids were yanked right out of the pool (they were dripping wet) and were trying to entertain themselves while the prescription was being filled. Then Ryan and I headed over for Disneyland, to watch the new fireworks show. It was amazing. My pictures are less than spectacular, but whatever -- at least I posted something. ;)


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Posted by giddygirlie at 10:28 AM |

May 19, 2005

In relation to yesterday's post,

In relation to yesterday's post, what I eat on an average day reads something akin to most people's garbage contents. Not that I eat orange peels (on purpose) or anything, but I eat so scarcely and so sporadically. No wonder I am always so hungry and tired.

Yesterday :

  • 10am - half a sip of lukewarm water (it was lukewarm, therefore gross, so it was poured out)
  • 11:30am - one piece of a Bit O Honey
  • 1:30pm - handful of spicy chips
  • 9pm - half a turkey whatever-else-is-left-sandwich (Ruckus ate most of the turkey and Monkey ate the olives)

Today :

  • 8:35am - half of a small danish (too sweet)
  • 9:30am - cup of tea
  • 10am - 4 hash brown nuggets (read : deep fried tater tots)
  • 12:33pm - nothing else so far
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Posted by giddygirlie at 12:29 PM |

May 18, 2005

Who am I fooling? I

Who am I fooling? I can't cook. Or maybe I can, I really don't know. I don't cook. Sure, every now and then (Christmas and Mother's Day) we have people over, so I toss a few shrimp on the barbie and hope that my Martha-esque veggie tray will distract people (dip in a bell pepper! Mia, you're a genius!). But other than that, we eat simply. It's stuff that either a bright dog could whip together (canned food + dry food = delicacy!) or it's take out. I know, I know, expensive... blah blah BLAH... but that's not even what makes me feel dumb.

I watch Food Network all. the. time. And especially love the Saturday morning cooking shows "see, even lazy a-holes like you can make this!" I take a lot of my cheap tricks from those shows. Love, love, love.

Although I have to admit to one cheat : I was making chocolate whipped cream for Mother's Day (to go with strawberries - yum!) and I didn't have the cocoa powder that the recipe called for - really, who does? does ANYONE keep cocoa in the cupboard? Shut up, no you don't! - and so I used the next best thing : instant hot chocolate mix. And you know what? It was freaking GOOD. Yeah, sure, I should have read the packet and realized that it was the kind with the mini marshmallows, but I didn't. And now I have this vat (approximate size) of choco whipped cream in the freezer* that has little floaty marshmallows in it. But is that really so bad? I mean, aren't marshmallows essentially whipped cream that just got frozen in time?

*you probably know, but I didn't, that whipping cream QUADRUPLES in volume when you mix it up. Already in the memory bank file : don't use the small bowl


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Posted by giddygirlie at 1:01 PM |

May 16, 2005

Yesterday was a blur of

Yesterday was a blur of busy. We knew it was going to be a strange day when we get on the freeway and there had just been a bad accident (no cops or anything yet), then we're getting to the 55 fwy onramp and the Mustang 3 cars behind us suddenly forgets which is the velocitator and which is the deceleratrix (Simpsons humor, excuse me) and guns the car, loses control, manages to avoid hitting the car right behind me, but rams himself into the retaining wall. Geez. Then all the cars in front of us start slowing, and once we creep to the bottom of the ramp, we see a REALLY bad accident with 6 cars, and there is a family standing on the side of the road, their BMW crumpled, and the little girls are crying and wearing their bathing suits and terrycloth covers -- they were on their way to the beach!

But we forged ahead and drove on to the big ass swap meet in Santa Fe Springs (it used to be a drive-in theater!!) to browse around. My sister is a big-time swap meet shopper - shopper in general, really - and she loves loves loves this one, so I thought I'd give it a try. It was pretty cool and there are a lot of things on my list of "crap to buy at the swap meet", but the one serious flaw was a lack of an ATM! It was a bit more challenging to shop with $7 cash, but I did end up finding an excellent beach hat (yeah, yeah, laugh it up - my nose burns like a mofo these days) and a couple of funny things for people, which I will mail out this week.

We then went to one of our 2 most favorite family-owned Italian food places : Lupo's and gorged on spicy mussel steamers (waaaaaay hotter than I remember). After that I took Ryan on a tour of my old neighborhood - where I grew up before we moved to South OC (and I subsequently met him, in high school). Our old house looke exactly the same, which was odd. It made me sort of jealous and kinda homesick. Weird. Since we were close by, we headed off for Disneyland, to watch the fireworks. Turns out it was the ONE night in the past week that they were showing them at "regular time" (9:25pm for those of you familiar), and it was only 7pm when we got there. We opted not to wait for 2.5 hours, and get home so late, so we sailed with the Pirates of the Carribean, and then came home. I finished up a couple of projects that I was working on, and stuck them in the mailbox (yay!)

I was pretty tired when I crawled into bed with my newest book and read 'til midnight, when my eyes refused to stay open. I am still pretty tired, but I'm glad that I got out and had some fun this weekend, even thought it was Fucking Hot (91 degrees! and humid! puke!!).


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Posted by giddygirlie at 1:18 PM |

May 12, 2005

Last night, at Evan's behest,

Last night, at Evan's behest, we went to see a Richard Flamer speak at the Mexican Cultural Center in Santa Ana. Evan has been really involved in fundraising for the Zapatistas and is planning a trip to Chiapas for late this summer, where he'll help build houses and schools and then he'll head back into Mexico City for a little art and culture. Pretty ambitious for 20, huh?

Anyway, the speaker started much later than planned, and the event lasted even longer, and it was so full of information - sadness, really - about the state of the world. That this one small region of Mexico is quite literally the end of the free world, and they are being pushed to their limits. They are indigenous people who refuse to be exploited by the Corporations of the World, they don't want to work for 12 cents an hour, don't want to be told what to do by Nike, don't want to assemble cars that they could never dream of driving. They want to be left alone, and that makes them a threat. It was so overwhelming... especially knowing that there is no escape from the life you're born into - and by heredity, you are part of the problem. I was so utterly drained when I dragged myself into bed at midnight last night (after working from 6am - 6pm) that I just wanted to cry. I finished reading my book, just to distract myself, but when the lights were off, I cried.

It turns out that my tears were not in vain. Some of you needed them last night [you know who you are] and you can rest assured that every burst of energy in my body was singing out to you. And to all the people everywhere who are hurting.


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Posted by giddygirlie at 12:23 PM |

May 11, 2005

It's 2 months away, but

It's 2 months away, but I am already psyched for the Fair. Lame? Yes. but in my defense...
  • X is playing. $20. dude. -- let me know if you're going too, I want to get a posse together!
  • the Vandals, Flogging Molly, & Goldfinger are playing. another $20 show! *swoon*
  • funnel cake
  • free Speedway!
  • I'm entering a couple of my collections into the contest : my Tink collection and my stir stick collection [yes, I am that cool. like, enter-your-collection-to-the-fair cool]

I always forget about Speedway and how really W.T. but kind of cool it is. Jenn and I went to the Fair a couple of years ago and stopped by, just out of curiosity, and there were side car races. Have you seen these things? INSANE. The "swinger" just basically hangs on to the back of the bike. Then they called out the racers names and I gasped. "Oh my god, that's Dan!" So we waited until after the race and went over and said hello and what-not and reconnected with some old friends. [here is their picture, racing] See? W.T. motorsports bring people together.

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Posted by giddygirlie at 9:48 AM |

May 10, 2005

It's ok not to like

It's ok not to like everybody, right? I mean, I am a tolerant person, but that doesn't mean that I have to actually like everyone. Then why do I feel so guilty??

Ok, [deep breath] here it goes : peanuts, you are no longer my favorite in this Trail Mix. Now that the almonds and cashews and raisins and dried cherried are gone, I am throwing out the rest of the bag. But don't be sad! The white chocolate chips are going with you.


--unrelated--

I have a new video of Ruckus catching snackies. It's frankly not his best work, but he keeps getting camera shy!


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Posted by giddygirlie at 1:56 PM |

May 9, 2005

Dan pointed out this site

Dan pointed out this site in an old post and I started browsing through it today and there are so many things on there that just make me want to cry.
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Posted by giddygirlie at 2:26 PM |

You know that drink is

You know that drink is working it's way through when you're looking at your Scrabble rack and you're pretty sure that you see something brewing...

Apparently, I am not alone in having the WORST scrabble hand ever. This isn't my picture (above), but it was the exact combo that I drew on Friday night. And while I sat there for like 30 minutes, trying to plan my next move, I must have reached for my tiles at least 10 times with an "a ha!" flying off my lips... only to realize that UA is an airline code and not legal in Scrabble Land, or IUD is also an abbreviation that isn't legal -- plus, you need a "D" (which there weren't any).

Also, you know you're a lil' tipsy when someone does a double play -- something like "at" and "it" -- at you're all "whooooa. duuuuude."

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Posted by giddygirlie at 9:11 AM |

May 5, 2005

J : thank you so

J : thank you so much for the box of chocolates, that was really sweet of you. Vietnamese Client : You berry welcome, lady, you hep me get goot job. Ees so nice of you. J : these are going to ruin my diet for sure! VC : Oh, ees ok. You fat, but you hab small face.

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Posted by giddygirlie at 10:17 PM |

If someone asks you

If someone asks you what the best part of Cinco De Mayo is and you don't say "Mexican Coke" then your priorities are clearly out of place.

We have Mexican Coke in glass bottles (and not those dinky 10 oz ones, either!) at one of my events today, but it isn't cold enough for my personal taste, so I had to improvize. Yes, I do rule. Thank you.


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Posted by giddygirlie at 2:27 PM |

May 4, 2005

Today at Disneyland was really

Today at Disneyland was really great, not only did we get to preview some things that the public won't see 'til tomorrow, but also because it wasn't very busy... the lines were manageable and the crowds tended to flock to where ever Christina Aguilera was rumored to be. There was tons of media and I really should have worn hot pink or something, so you could pick me out of the background on Telemundo or whatever.

Everyone said "take pictures" and I obliged -- I took 2 cameras and more than 250 pictures. I have uploaded most to my Flickr page, so gorge yourself on my nerdishness. I am too tired right now to properly comment on any of them, so they probably won't make much sense... but there are a couple of me & Ryan that turned out ok (I like the self-portraits, myself) that you might like to laugh at.

On our way home we stopped off at Olive Garden and gorged ourselves on breadsticks (my bad joke : when you eat too many bread sticks, you're on garlic overloaf) and salad (I am an addict for that dressing!) and soup. We then ventured into the attached mall and browsed the Disney Store, where I picked up a couple more Tinker Bell things for my collection (addict!) which I will eventually post to Flickr also. Maybe tomorrow.

Tonight while the pictures were uploading, I started making another cake for someone sweet (suspense!) and burned 3 CDs of pictures to print at Target and then I looked at the clock and realized it was almost midnight and now here I am... and I really need to go to bed.


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Posted by giddygirlie at 11:52 PM |

May 2, 2005

you know that your life

you know that your life has reached a pinnacle of lameness when the suggestion for what to do with the evening goes like this "Oooh, let's go by Comics, Toons, & Toys and see if the new Josh Medors* comic is out... and we can get a copy of Easy Way**"

Le sigh. On the upside, I did get a Togos sandwich out of the deal.


*Josh, if you read this, I mean no offense. Please hire my husband.
**yeah, that's a shot out to ya, Chris... and for the record, we bought 2 copies. Full cover price, bro. We got your back - now go squeeze that new baby of yours for me!


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Posted by giddygirlie at 11:02 PM |

toilet Originally uploaded by

toilet Originally uploaded by giddygirlie.
For Styro
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Posted by giddygirlie at 10:25 AM |

May 1, 2005

I took Friday off from

I took Friday off from work to celebrate the finish of my microbio class and just to unwind. We spent the day at Disneyland -- I figured it would be the best time to go, before they unveil their big 50th anniversary bash. It was actually REALLY nice. It was the Magic Music Day, so there were lots of kids, but it wasn't too busy. We had intended to videotape the Storybookland ride for our niece, who desperately wants to ride it and see all of the little houses, but she is too intimidated by the beginning of the ride, where the boat travels through the mouth of the whale (Monstro). Unfortunately, it was closed (secret refurbishment) until next week. Oh, well.

Instead, we took a break and watched the Snow White musical - sounds dorky, but it was REALLY good and very well put together. We were impressed enough to hop over to California Adventure and check out the Aladdin musical, which we've never taken the time to see. It also was fantastic and I kept saying "Miss Bliss would love this!" If you have a chance - go see it. Really, it was that good.

I just received my invite for the Top Secret Special High Falutin' Invite-Only event on May 4th. The park is officially closed that day, except by special invitation (that's me!!). I am thrilled, because I am a total geek and this whole thing is a media/celebrity circus deal to hype up the May 5th kick-off so I am really looking forward to it. So keep an eye out on the local news -- that will be me, arm-in-arm with Johnny Depp and/or Orlando Bloom... or, at the very least, Hilary Duff. Eat your heart out! From what I hear from underground sources, we may get a sneak peek at the refurbished Space Mountain (not scheduled to reopen 'til July). If we do, you'll be the first to know! I'm taking Ryan with me as my eye witness, so he can vouch for my coolness and celebrity connections!

On Friday we also bought the golden mouse ears -- you know, the mouse ear hats? -- that are limited edition for the 50th anniversary (these ones are special gold color with shiny gold ears). Ryan hates them and has steadfastly rejected my requests for over 10 years to buy/wear mouse ears on the basis that he is not the same caliber of geek that I am. But he finally caved and agreed that it would be "cute" to get the hats, as collector's items (i.e., put them in my curio cabinet, not wear them). Also, if you're interested, the hand-embroidery for the hats is being phased out! Replaced by machines, how sad. The guy who did the embroidery on ours was really talented and made everything very curlycue, which is why it makes me so sad to see it go away... I even got Ryan to put on the ears for one picture (I will post tomorrow when I get in to work), which is a collector's item in and of itself.


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Posted by giddygirlie at 9:59 PM |