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January 31, 2006

My friends crashed the high



My friends crashed the high school reunion, which is classic. Why pay $65 for a crappy dinner when you can show up an hour late and just WALK IN and no one knows the difference?

They said the whole thing was so lame. Our graduating class had something like 275 kids in it, and there were maybe 50 people who showed up (I didn't either, for the record). Good thing Zach and Breck were there with the mustaches to lighten up the situation.

Also, yes, this is a pirated image but you would LAUGH if you saw the rest of this person's pictures. There are 42 pictures total and none of them are in focus or centered or at ALL professional looking. Man, I am in the wrong business. I can take a handful of crappy pictures and ditch out. That's easy!

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Posted by giddygirlie at 12:15 PM |

January 27, 2006

could this possibly be the



could this possibly be the funniest picture on the internet?

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Posted by giddygirlie at 5:49 PM |

this is a healthy

this is a healthy lunch, right?
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Posted by giddygirlie at 1:55 PM |

January 26, 2006

Usually when we play Scrabble,

Usually when we play Scrabble, Ryan doesn't like to keep score. Evan and I say pshaw. It's not like we're ruthlessly competitive or anything. Many is a time when I'll fall to the floor, moaning "what can you spell with 3 Rs, 2 Ts, and no vowels?!" and Ryan will chime in "you could make "it" right there, at least its something and you may get a new letter on your next draw." So, as you can see, our games are friendly, so there's no reason NOT to keep score.
 
I believe that you have to. Not out of competition, but out of sportsmanship. What will drive you to reach for that Triple Word Score, if you're not monitoring points?
 
So last night, I talked Ryan into playing WITH score-keeping. Evan missed out to go make out with his girlfriend. Whatever, dude. And lemme tell ya, the game was WAAAAAAY more fun. Actual conversation snippet :
 
R : Is sexercises a word? [to add an 's' to the front of 'exercises']
M : ha ha ha [continues for 5 full minutes]
R : ha ha ha [continues for 5 full minutes]
R : whooo... ok, now my stomach hurts. And my face hurts. Why was that so funny? Is sexercises a word?
M : *snort, chuckle* um...
R : I mean, like don't they teach classes like that?
M : Not at our gym, honey.
 
M : fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. I hate consonants. How did I get SO MANY??
R : I'm sure there's something...
M : [interrupting] - no! I need to get rid of all these Ts. Hmmm... is TT a word?
R : Uh, I don't think so.
M : Damn, because I could really do something... hey! Is thope a word?
R : Man, I thope not because I could have played that a long time ago.
M : We should just re-create the language, make up our own voscrabulary.
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Posted by giddygirlie at 9:39 AM |

January 24, 2006

Scent is the strongest sense

Scent is the strongest sense tied to memory. It allows us to recall events faster than any other, which makes sense, since there are so many fewer chemical and electrical reactions that need to take place in order for your brain to recall a particular memory. That's why people get all swoony-eyed when they smell cookies (thinking of grandma) or Old Spice (lovable ol' dad).
 
For me, one of my fastest recall senses is sound. I don't have a competent sounding reason for this, but my sense of hearing is overdeveloped (just go with me on this one) and so sound means a lot to me. I bet I'd kick ass on one of those audio tests where they ask you to identify the sound, and I could correctly answer "it's a short woman using a synthetic-bristle broom upside down to brush the cobwebs off the high ceiling". A gift or a curse.
 
Music in particular can take me back to places or times and remind me of people. Even incomplete memories -- things that I can identify as being from my childhood, but that I couldn't name a time or place. Listening to my Launchcast station today, I came across this whole stream of songs that gave me flashback after flashback.
 
"Seasick Yet Still Docked" by Morrissey -- reminds me of a rainy night somewhere around 1998 when Ryan and I were curled up in bed, freezing, and kept losing power in the house (it was downright stormy) but when we did have electricity, we were listening to the Your Arsenal CD and kept getting to this song (3rd, I think) before the power would go out again. It was a nice cozy feeling to be there with him.
 
"No Woman No Cry" by Bob Marley -- brought me back to the claustrophobia-in-denial feeling of being in the MRI scanner
 
"Toxic Toast" by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones -- traveling to Boston for New Year's Eve and crying in the Holiday Inn lobby, when they wouldn't let us check in because they had a New Year's Eve policy of not allowing anyone under 21 to check in alone on NYE. I tried explaining to a manager that we were from California, we didn't know where else to go, so he had the shuttle driver take us to about 5 other places before we found somewhere that would let a bunch of 17 and 18 year old kids take a room. Ironically, it was the Crowne Plaza, which was 100x nicer and only $30 or so more expensive. [Also funny : the website now says you must be 21 to rent a room]
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Posted by giddygirlie at 1:14 PM |

January 22, 2006

Following Sandy's advice (Never Pay

Following Sandy's advice (Never Pay Retail), I headed out yesterday to the Disney Outlet store nearby to score me some marked-down Disneyana. Actually, to be honest, I was buying Xmas presents. There were some people in our clan that I knew we weren't going to see until Feb., so I just crossed them off my pre-Christmas shopping list.

Disney outlets do not disappoint, my friend. Basically, the store sells all of the merchandise from the theme parks that don't sell well or are dated or past season. If you want a hooded sweatshirt with Mickey on the front that says 2005, they were priced two for $13. Original retail $38 each. Yeah, it's that good.

I was in search of a couple of holiday items (ornaments, etc.) but ended up finding a whole buncha goodies instead. I bought a couple of these collectible limited edition pins (retail $18) for a couple of people (no, seriously, people collect these) and they were a couple of dollars each! I got my niece a whole set-up of Minnie Mouse stationery with a cool pen, cute 3D stickers, note cards, etc. for under $5 for the whole lot. I got myself a few things as well (who am I to deny myself, of all people?) and walked outta there done shopping for $24!!! No, really.

The ONLY hard thing for me when discount shopping is where to stop. "This is kinda cute -- and it's only $10, maybe I should get it." I get carried away and at one point had Mickey Mouse hoodies in my basket for everyone I know. You're lucky that Ryan was with me, to put a stop to the madness, or else you'd be wearing Christmas mouse ear hats. All of you.


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Posted by giddygirlie at 7:56 PM |

January 20, 2006

there are SO MANY good



there are SO MANY good things about getting a package in the mail from Choppa -- but when it's something like this, you fall to your knees and faint a little.

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Posted by giddygirlie at 11:05 AM |

January 19, 2006

One of my colleagues leaves

One of my colleagues leaves her itsy bitsy baby teacup chihuahua with a neighbor during the day, while she is at work, and the other day her doggie was sick. Apparently it threw up more than 20 times (which instantly poses the question "how much can an itsy bitsy baby teacup chihuahua throw up anyway??") and one of the incidents was on the neighbor's couch.
 
Now, my work friend felt terrible about this and immediately offered to pay to have the couch professionally cleaned, etc. (although the question persists "how much can an itsy bitsy baby teacup chihuahua throw up, and how much damage could it possibly do??") But then the neighbor tells her that no professional cleaners will touch her sofa, because it's untreated leather and no one wants to risk ruining it. So my work friend is kind of in the position that she feels bad, but what can she do?
 
So the neighbor calls yesterday, hysterical, because she's tried to clean her own couch, using some cleaner or another and she soaked it in some cleaner and it wouldn't dry (not warm enough inside), so she drug the WHOLE COUCH outside into the yard to let it dry in the sun. Guess what? The cleaner and the sun BLEACHED OUT the damn couch. So now the neighbor is freaking out and says that the dog is no longer welcome at her house -- how could this have happened, etc.
 
I feel so bad, because my friend is the sweetest little pixie that you could ever want to meet and she is wracked with guilt about what to do. Should she pay to have the couch repaired? Does she owe her a new couch? How much is she responsible? She didn't tell the lady to use cleaner on the couch... so is she responsible for the damage? I feel so bad, because I don't know what to say (except the usual : fuck 'em), but this is her neighbor and her friend and now their whole relationship is rocky because of a small dog's small barf incident. Where do you go from there?
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Posted by giddygirlie at 1:54 PM |

January 17, 2006

look at how cute the



look at how cute the design on my toenails turned out! I didn't do this one, I give my nail lady full credit. But I am super pleased with how cute it is.

Feel free to envy.

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Posted by giddygirlie at 1:23 PM |

January 13, 2006

No, seriously. How awesome is



No, seriously. How awesome is the Santa with the huge-ass bling belt??

Also featured, my buddy Jackson in his picture-with-Santa debut.

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Posted by giddygirlie at 9:10 AM |

January 11, 2006

I took the recommendation on

I took the recommendation on high authority, after a bachelor friend of mine told me that it worked wonders in his shower. Knowing that he's on a quarterly/bi-annual bathroom cleansing schedule, I figured that it had to work.
 
I sprayed it on and let it sit (thanks to the suggestion) and walked away. I accidentally left it on for like 3 hours, because I got busy doing other things and when I remembered, I did a quick rinse with the shower. It was vaguely cleaner, but not really "great". Disappointed, I grabbed a sponge and wiped over the area and to my surprise it just came off without any scrubbing or provokation. It was slightly awesome.
 
Then when it rinsed away every shred of evidence that people lived in this bathtub -- let alone an INKER who gets black ink on everything in the whole dang house -- I was impressed. Literally floored.
 
For these reasons, Kaboom is my new favorite. It was like $3 at Target -- I recommend this to anyone who hates to clean and wants the cleanser to do all the hard work.
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Posted by giddygirlie at 1:06 PM |

January 10, 2006

This morning, I was driving

This morning, I was driving to work, rocking out to The Slackers, courtesy of my new MP3 player. Too many text messages left my phone battery low, so I plugged it into the charger to refuel (only takes 5 minutes!). At the red light, I saw this ridiculous car, so I whipped the digital camera outta my purse and snapped a shot.
 
This is now my every day existence. I am wired from the minute I wake up (courtesy of the alarm clock) to the moment I fall asleep (coaxed along by the white noise machine). I spend at least 8 hours of my waking day, tied by the fingertips to a keyboard, manipulating electronic files of indecipherable code into something resembling a spreadsheet or document.
 
It's quite amazing. Even more amazing still is that 10 years ago, I barely had a computer at all. I lived by the typewriter and died by the hand-written document. Ah, the times they are a-changin'.
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Posted by giddygirlie at 11:12 AM |

January 9, 2006

This weekend, while miserably suffering

This weekend, while miserably suffering the dry coughs of my remnant cold (dry hack = dry heaves), I read "A Girl Named Zippy" which is a book that I have passed over 1,000,000 times at the used book store, but decided to give a chance and MAN is that book funny. Seriously, it's not really about anything, but some of the things she says...
 
case in point : "don't be mean or I'll turn you upside down and spit in your butt"
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Posted by giddygirlie at 6:17 PM |

January 1, 2006

From Styro Four Jobs You’ve

From Styro

Four Jobs You’ve Had in Your Life: preschool teacher, barista, travel agent, wife
Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over: Say Anything, Arrested Development*, Nightmare Before Christmas, South Park
Four Places You’ve Lived: a triplex, a big house, a canyon retreat, an urban apartment
Four TV Shows You Love to Watch: Arrested Development, Futurama, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Six Feet Under
Four Places You’ve Been on Vacation: Boston, MA; Turks & Caicos Islands; Cancun, Mexico; Palm Beach, FL
Four Websites You Visit Daily: Flickr, my webmail, craftster, most of my blogroll [even if I don't comment, I'm lurking]
Four of Your Favorite Foods: chicken tikka masala, garlic fries, Sharon's potato bake, Del Taco breakfast burritos
Four Places You’d Rather Be: Hawaii, Palm Springs, Mexico, Costa Rica
Four Albums You Can’t Live Without: "The Question"by The Slackers; "Motherland" by Natalie Merchant; "Don't Know How to Party" by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones; "Rise Above" by Black Flag

*not a movie technically, but it is on DVD


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Posted by giddygirlie at 7:00 PM |

Well the cooties got into

Well the cooties got into my lungs by Friday -- hooray bronchitis! -- and so I have been pretty damn miserable. The upswing : at home in my jammies. The downside : at home in my jammies. Do you know how fucking STIR CRAZY I am right now?? aiiiiieeee!!

We called off our NYE plans on account of the fact that I am a walking snot monster and coughing up violent phlegm wads that are making my eyeballs ache. If I bust a capillary, I swear to god, I am running myself on my sword... Anyway, we skipped the grand, fabu party that we were supposed to go to in exchange for noodle soup, hot tea, and some Scrabble. WOOOOO!! Yeah, I know you're jealous at my party lifestyle. Don't hate the player, hate the pnemococcus.

But it was all just as well. On cue, the rains rolled in yesterday and soaked the place and only let up for about 2 hours with just enough time for everyone to lob off their midnight fireworks. It was alright. I'm not a NYE loyalist anyway -- 4th of July is a whole other story, I wouldn't miss that. I'd be dragging my IV pole with me to that throw-down.

So today, I am again house-bound and bored to freaking tears. My eyeballs hurt too much to read, and anyway my brain is still fuzzy so storylines would be lost on me anyhow. I have already watched brain melting TV (including 10 minutes of the Gastenau Girls and I still couldn't figure out why they have a show and why they are supposed to be famous -- it was so bad, I actually got out of bed to turn it off), and seen my holiday gift movies 5 times each. So now I am scrounging the internet, trying to stave off boredom, and I see that Styro has posted a time waster for me -- huzzah!! -- which will be my next post.

I don't really get into Resolutions at the new year, but this year, I am starting a new job. Tuesday, I begin my foray into the wacky world of marketing at the same company where I have been for the past 600 years. There's a whole long backstory as to why I am taking this leap out of my current role, but I don't want to kick off '06 by being Dooced, so I'll save that for later. It's going to be a good fit for me, I think, and a chance to really show influential people my talents and could launch me into a new orbit of radness. Or I could totally decline into insanity -- stay tuned to find out.


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Posted by giddygirlie at 6:54 PM |