One more

I just needed to share with you that I have currently been sitting on the couch, not moving, besides typing and changing channels for the last THREE hours. DESPITE the fact that I have had to pee for the last hour and a half or so. I should probably fix that.

Borders Bullshit

So I had a great idea while at work today. I can get a very low wireless signal at work and it is unsecured, and therefore free. Some might say that I am stealing it but those people are dumb. Anyway, the connection is iffy at best, so it gets annoying when the computer disconnects and reconnects all the time. You know, causing me to wait to waste time buying stuff and reading blogs when I am being paid for doing other things. Yes, I know I shouldn’t complain. I figured I would leave at 2 and go to Borders, get some coffee and check my email uninterrupted for a few minutes on my way to my next job. Come to find out, Borders charges you to use their internet. Of course I found this out after I paid for coffee. So I am writing this on Word. Cause I am WAY too cheap to pay $6 to use the internet for 20 minutes when I came in thinking it would be free. I already pay for the internet at home (sure it’s only $10 a month, including cable….living with people rocks sometimes). What difference does it make anyway? This will be posted, but maybe not for 4 hours or so. Nobody cares that much to make waiting a few hours a big deal.

I wasn’t even planning on blogging, so everyone should be happy that this happened and that they now get to read about my complaining. Lucky you.

Last night my dad and I went out to eat at the Ocean Grill, on MLK ave, right by the Monona Terrace. We got there a little before 5, which was when our reservation was for, so we sat at the bar and had a couple of drinks. I had champagne flavored with a raspberry syrup. It was delish. Dad had a ‘perfectly made’ brandy old-fashioned sweet. Later I ordered Calamari appetizer, a chicken breast entre over pureed squash and couscous, and a French white wine cake with fruit reduction and homemade whipped cream. It was great. My dad can be quoted as saying, ‘I think this is the best meal that I have ever had in my life’.

Awake!

Today, I woke up very awake. I had energy, I wanted to see the sun. I didn't know that I hadn't been feeling that way for at least a month or so. But today was different.

I went to bed around 2 this morning and woke up at 9 on my own. My first thought was: I have just enough time to get ready and try out the church that's two blocks away. So that's what I did. I merrily walked to the church and really liked what they had to offer.

First, it is a Methodist church. I was actually baptized in a Methodist church (!) and my dad's side still attends regularly. The pastor is a woman in her early thirties. That scores points just for being rare, but she seems to be pretty progressive as well. She is rumored to have stood on her head during a children's sermon once too. Which, I can't do...so-more props. The church is around 115 years old, and tiny. Was a 'country church'....which is about a mile or so from the capitol. It's also small in terms of members, maybe around 150. And so far, I have met around 20 of these people and they have all been very wonderful and welcoming. Just... nice. I attended a fellowship meeting afterwards (!!) and joined a small class that will teach me what united methodist really means and how it compares to other denominations. I have actually wanted to learn about the differences between denominations for quite a while, so it's exciting.

It feels good to be awake. I couldn't recommend it more. Eat salad.

New Ideas

I almost just wrote that it isn't Friday, but I am not a liar. I am just kind of slow. This week went excellently, I might report.

1. I ate two salads. It's a start
2. I am in the middle of getting in contact with a guy I met at Delta Lodge, a cute smarty. Facebook, come through for me man! I am also going out tomorrow night with friends who, apparently, are on a mission to find me a 'love connection'. This happened without my begging.
3. I am really considering teaching English overseas for a year. Specifically, I am looking at Korea though this website.
4. I talked to someone today who knows someone looking for piano students.


Many changes just beyond the horizon hopefully. All of this in a four day week, plus being sick the whole time. What am I doing right?!

This ain't no disco.

I am home from a very full weekend of skiing in northern hickville, er... Wisconsin. We left Thursday, at the crack of midmorning. It snowed and blow-ed and knocked about 50 cars off the road between here and Delta, but we were resilient and made it up there unscathed. Everyone up there had dinner at the Scenic Drive Bar, the highlight for me being the jalapeño cheese curds. Back up at Cliffside (the cabin that I stayed in, with 8 of my closest Hoofer friends) the fire was roaring, and my loft bedroom was about 85 degrees. A little too warm...

Friday we made a pilgrimage to Iron River, WI to ski at 'After Hours'. I did about 6k, ate and did another two or so. That was more than enough. When we got back to cliffside, I talked to the owner of Delta Lodge about how hot our cabin was, and we got a lecture about the mechanics of heating a cabin in such cold weather (read: negative teens). The lecture began with, "Listen, this ain't no disco, it's northern Wisconsin." No shit. I obviously was not going to argue about it, I have no choice but to believe someone when they open with a line like that. Friday night we ate a dish with noodles. spinach and pasta sauce, bsed a little around the fire and went to sleep in a much more appropriately heated cabin.


Saturday we went to Vallhalla ski area, which was beautiful and had freshly fallen snow. Of course, there has to be SOME downside, and that was the extreme cold temperatures. The high for that day was around -4 w/o windchill. I only went about 4k, spent the rest of the time playing Blokus by the fire in the chalet. Saturday night was lasagna and game night, neither of which were all that exciting.

Sunday was spent at Ashwabay, and the best stories originate there, for me. Ashwabay is both a downhill and x-country ski resort, so they have a T-Bar lift to the top of the hill for both kinds of trails. But, apparently I am not smart enough for the lift. My roommate and I were going to be partners on the lift. As we got in position the ski patrol guy loudly said, "DO NOT SIT'. So, what did I do when the bar comes around? I sat, naturally. This caused both of us to fall. But we were not giving up that quickly. We got in position again. I was determined not to sit, and I didn't sit. But we got about 20 feet up the hill and my roommate started worrying out loud about how she couldn't keep her skis straight. And then she fell, and I fell. I fell right on the wooden bar that normally would be on your butt, pulling you up. The rope from the top extends so the bar actually reaches the ground easily. That hurt so badly. I couldn't hardly stand up or breathe. I actually almost cried. They had to stop the lift because it took us so long to stand up and get out of the way. After that, there was no way I was trying a third time. I mean, what if that happened 3/4 of the way up? I would have been screwed! Anyway, after that I was so frustrated. I tried the bunny hill twice. First time went pretty fine, I didn't fall, but I wasn't really in control either. Second time, I ended up taking my skis off half way down and crying in the middle of the hill. Yes, I am that girl. L and I made our way UP the hill via trails and then s.l.o.w.l.y. came down one of the downhill trails before heading home. Went to the bar again to watch the packers lose, sadly. Back to Delta Lodge and basically straight to bed.

Came home today to snow and blowing winds. Gotta end like it started I guess. If you want to see pictures from this weekend, including one of the result of my two falls, click here.

Presenting: Seacow Roadtrip

So, I believe this is an appropriate follow up to my last post. The 'Seacow' was something that was started by my friends in early high school. It's basically a notebook of ridiculous quotes or stupid happenings that we wanted to share with our friends. Of course, on the EPIC ROADTRIP we had some funny things to say. And document. I found this artifact today in my car. What follows is confidential, so only first initials shall be used for the quoted.

J - "Oh my god, I thought I was going to drown" (After swallowing too much soda)
-awkward pause-
L - "Where's the seacow?"
K-"If I could live in any other time I would to be in the wild wild west."
J- "Walk up Syndrome? OH! Skydome.
Unknown, L perhaps - "Cute! It's a dust storm!"
Again unknown, K? - "Reduce speed my asshole!"
C - "What's a Buckeye?" L - "IT'S A POISONOUS NUT!'

ok, break. Quotes without citations will be denoted with a U from now on. There seems to be a lot of them. Slackers.

U - "We need Tupperware to steal crustaceans"
K - "I encourage shanking"
J - "Lia, SHUT UP!... Please be nice to me"
K- "Can you hold this? I dropped the cap in my crotch"
K- "What is this?! Some kind of semi (truck) circus?"
C - "I miss your face"
U - "Ahhhhhh! I got beef on me!"
L- "Taco coffee burps are not tasty"
K - "Dinosaurs and vaginas. That's all we're talking about!"
J - "If I tried to fart now, I would pee all over the seat"
L - "___________, the world needs to see you with balls in your face"
U -"wow.... slugs like it rough"
U- "Oh! Butt sex! Super!
L- "My mouth's on fuego"
L, when confused by the highway direction - "They wouldn't make me jerk off like that would they?"

And then there was the list of the Dumbest Town Names in the Country.

Pulltight, AL
Manly Hot Springs, AK
Bald Knob, AR
Smut Eye, AL
Yankton, SD
Magic City, ID
Megargle, AL
Swaildale, IA
Packwood, IA
Grundy Center, IA

And now you know.

he he

I am so drunk. seeing double. I love you.

Jen