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Is it any indication of my level of psychosis, that the only positive I can see in getting my wisdom teeth removed is some enforced time during which I can't eat, and will therefore lose a few pounds? I'm actually waiting until after I recover from that to go clothes shopping. How pathetic am I?
I'm grateful for red grapes. You may think I'm crazy, but I gotta say that the ones we've been getting from the grocery store lately are so damn good.
I have a group meeting this afternoon that goes from 12:30 until 5:00. I was originally going to put this under "Thinking", but I think it belongs here, instead.
Heh.
Nothing, but I've been listening to the new Norah Jones CD "Feels Like Home". I don't know the words yet.
2003 - We'd just returned from Hawaii.
2002 - Arizona is on fire.
2001 - More letters from Michael at Boot Camp.
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June 23, 2004
Prattle
I need to make my WordGoddess quota for the month, and I also have to get my butt in gear if I'm going to finish AlphaBytes. So I'm sitting here, casting around for any idea that will result in a somewhat-bulky entry type thing. And I'm drawing a blank. Instead, you'll get meta prattle as I sum up the small things that have been going on. Much of this may only matter to me, in order to record some minor-seeming details of my life that years from now will hold meaning. That's what we journal for, right? So, sorry for the lack of interesting topics.
I contacted my old riding instructor (who owned the stable I used to board my horses at) yesterday. I'd been spending time on this site where you can look up satellite images of any address. I looked up Grandma's house, and our house, and the stable. In order to find the stable's address I did a Google search, and came across her name mentioned in a local news article about the stable from 1997. A Google search on her name revealed a project she's working on at the moment, and an e-mail address. I haven't spoken to her in, what, fifteen years? Good God. So I dropped her a line, and got a response in my in-box this morning. She seemed really glad to hear from me, saying that my e-mail "means a lot as I reflect back on the wonderful young women like yourself who graced my life with your presence." Her kids - boys around my age - are grown, one has a family of his own. They've been living in Connecticut for a couple of years, and next week she's moving back to Maine - "Time to go home," as she put it. Indeed. I'm envious all over the place.
She taught me a lot of things about riding and caring for horses, and reduced my board by a generous amount in exchange for using my horse for client's lessons, and for me to perform a certain amount of work around the property (mucking out, feeding, turning out and bringing in, cooling the lesson horses, raking the track around the edge of the indoor arena, minor repair jobs). She took an interest in my future, encouraging me to go to school and telling me how smart I was. And she organized a donation for me when my horse was injured and I had to get him down to Tufts University in Massachusetts (it turned out to be a broken nose, but all we could see was that he was bleeding from his nostril - Tufts has the diagnostic equipment we needed). There were times that I felt a little bit of resentment because my horse and I had to work for the same things that the rich little girls with their doctor and dentist parents were just given, but that was hardly her fault. She gave me a dose of reality right from the get go. To the tune of, "You can't always have things your own way, you have to work hard and KEEP working hard, and sacrifice is a bitch sometimes." Yes, I did resent it sometimes when she pulled me away from events early because I had to help with the chores, and I didn't like it when I'd arrive at the stable to ride, only to find my horse being used in a lesson. But that was the deal, and even as I fussed about it, I realized that.
We had a house full of boys last night. Marie's boyfriend brought three of his friends over to hang out, shoot pool, and play video games. We cooked up hot dogs and french fries for everyone, and Calvin and I settled in the living room to watch TV. Several circuits through all the channels revealed that summertime TV does, indeed, suck ass. So we put in the "Blue Collar Comedy Tour" DVD. The kids, who had been playing pool, soon trooped into the living room and draped themselves all over the love seat, pulled up chairs from the kitchen table, and sat on the floor. About halfway through, Marie's girlfriend (girl friend? Her friend that's a girl) arrived, causing the non-attached boys (read, everyone except Marie's boyfriend) to leap up and fall all over themselves offering her a seat. And there we sat, Calvin and I surrounded by a posse of teenagers, for two hours, laughing at hick comedy. We're the cool parents.
My girlfriend Dani just left my cubicle, after having a protracted discussion about my 30th birthday celebration. I keep having to remind her that ALL I want is for a bunch of friends to get together for drinks and dancing. Just tell people where and when, and if they want to come they can come. No balloons, no confetti, no weird hats that I have to wear all night proclaiming me the Birthday Girl. No elaborate plans - just drinking and dancing. Dani is an Event Planner Extraordinare, it's hard for her to keep it simple. I even said "no gifts", but she drew the line, there. "People give gifts because it makes them feel good, Laura. Stop being selfish." Which, you know, doesn't suck, but I'd hate for people to think it's an expectation. So I gave her a link to my Amazon wish list to add to the invite (some readers asked for the link - I'm not pimping for presents, I swear!).
Anyway! If anybody's going to be in the Phoenix area around July 31st (my birthday's on the 20th, but folks are going to be out of town that week/weekend), drop me an e-mail if you'd like to join in on the festivities!
Calvin, Marie and I are planning on a trip to the San Diego area from September 2nd through the 5th. We plan to hit Seaport Village and the San Diego Zoo, lounge around on the beach, and get some good visiting in with Michael, Lilly, and the baby. If anybody knows of an inexpensive but quality hotel on the beach in the San Diego/Del Mar/Oceanside/La Jolla/Carlsbad area, can you e-mail me? The last time we booked a place, it was the most disgusting HOLE ever. Don't ever stay at the Best Western in Oceanside. Trust me.
This trip will be especially enjoyable, I think. It's the only "out of town" thing we have planned for this year, and after the summer we're expecting to have, it'll be a welcome relief. Calvin's carrying the on-call pager all the time, now. And he's working all of the 4th of July weekend. I'm working up to 50 hours a week, myself, and I'm getting my wisdom teeth removed on July 9th (gulp - two weeks from this Friday!). We have yearly debt pay-off goals set for ourselves, and it looks like we will have accomplished all but $1,000 of it by September 1st. At which point we'll celebrate by going to the Phil Collins concert on the night of the 1st, then leave the morning of the 2nd to drop a (hopefully small) load of cash in San Diego. Ah, well, we have to LIVE among all this working, too.
I'm starting to get the itch to get the HELL out of Arizona for a while.
This entry brought to you by the letter "P".
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