blue!

surreal
it's very surreal, sometimes, being married to a soldier. For example, driving on base to cash my paycheck or get groceries, and having to stop for armed soldiers crossing the street. Or a Stryker. Also, working today at the rubber stamp place -- getting all these supplies for people to make sugary-cutesy scrapbooks and cards out of -- while knowing my husband was somewhere lying in the dirt practicing shooting things with a machine gun.

It rained today, so he lay in the mud most of the day -- his clothes got to be a mess. He *may* have another range tomorrow, so his outdoor gear and pants has to be ready for that. So he's got them hanging up in the bathroom, with the heat up full blast, and a portable fan on. He doesn't want to turn on the bathroom light, because when the light turns on the bathroom fan turns on, and it sucks all the heat out of the bathroom. So we are using a flashlight. So I go to the bathroom in the dark, except for the flashlight, with random camo stuff hanging all around, and this lovely smell of damp mildew. I don't mind, but it's amusing... the weird things that happen when your mate is in the Army.

Today I moved a bunch of heavy shit around in the warehouse, like yesterday. They are rearranging large sections of the warehouse, building new shelves and shit... plus they have a big sale starting, so it's going to be mad busy this week and next -- YAY! that means i work. that means i get full week's paycheck. Anyway, for a while I wondered if the warehouse didn't use to be a grocery store -- there is a full wall of windows, like grocery store windows, now painted over with murals -- and a pair of automatic doors in that wall. (Except they don't work anymore, you have to pry them open if you want to go out that way). Also, there is a lot of random shit like a soup station, an ice cream bar, a meat slicer, coffee makers and spilled coffee beans... etc. Oh and a sign saying "Please Wait to be Seated." (I want that). They are starting to sort through all that crap, to sell on ebay.

Two doors down from the warehouse, there is a small grocery/general store. It's a pitiful excuse for a grocery, but you can get dog food and beer. And coffee every morning, which I do. Today I found out that the grocery used to be much bigger, more of a "real" grocery, and in the space rubber stamp now occupies. And rubber stamp was where the grocery is... the grocery needed to be smaller, because of new chain groceries being competition, and the warehouse needed to grow. Ron said the rubber stamp workers pretty much by themselves cleared out the grocery store and made it into the warehouse. A big job. And Argentina, Ricardo, and their mother (who all, with another brother, work at rubber stamp) used to manage a mexican restaurant in the grocery.

Interesting...

I like my job. I really do. Lately it's been much more stable. I hope it continues that way. I know at some point I have to find a job with more of a future. But for now, I am making money and not stressing out incredibly. The only thing I really don't like about it is the commute. From home to there isn't so bad, but from there to Ft Lewis to get Ceri in the evenings... ugh. Traffic nightmare.

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: gorillaz

life sucks!
and supposedly January 24th is the worst day of the year. Far from Christmas,,, far from any three or four day weekend... holiday bills... taxes coming up...

whatever, my January 24th hasn't been so bad. This YEAR, however, has been bad for me. I threw up on the second, and otherwise have been very stressed and upset due to the news that Ceri is going to Iraq this year. I don't consciously think about that much, but it definitely has me stressed, however much I pretend it doesn't.

Today was good... I worked really hard at work, so despite having a cold it wasn't bad. Part of the warehouse is getting moved to a (less damp, mildewy, dripping and cramped) part of the warehouse. I spent the entire day putting that part of the warehouse into boxes. Hard physical labor... it makes me happy. I love it when I can actually work and do something that has some visible results... it's my favorite thing ever. Tomorrow we have to finish boxing up that part of the warehouse, and then move it to the other side of the warehouse, put it back in order... PLUS a big sale starts tomorrow, so it will be busy that way too. I expect more than enough work for the rest of the week... which is a good thing :) :) :)

Current Mood: blank
Current Music: ATP

new poem
here is a "poem" i wroted.

There’s a man falls down drunk at my feet

kicks his boots off but doesn’t succeed; they thud

heavily

I’m married to him

I love him, peaceful drunk sleeping kitten, with those

big

boots.

there’s a lot of crap scattered around, broken

beer bottles, wine boxes, empty

cigarette cartons, bandaids...

One time, big drunk kitten spilled rubbing alcohol

all over the floor.

there’s a lot of, my cat comes out, rubs

her body against mine

feed me

there’s a constant

there’s a constant beauty

this is my life...

Current Mood: anxious
Current Music: gorillaz

time...
time goes too fast.

Ceri found out that B detachment (hereafter named B Det) is to deploy to Iraq in August, but C Det (which he is in) is not. But they need more people to deploy, so some from C Det would be switched to B Det. I was still hopeful that that would not include Ceri, but Monday he showed me a printout he got saying he will be switched to B Det next month so he can deploy with them in August. Arrrgh... Not only that, but EDAS says he is assigned to Germany in June. But he says they can always "stop lost" him which means he doesn't go to Germany but to Iraq. So what is gonna happen? We have no idea. Will he go straight to Iraq? ANd I will stay here. Will he go to Germany first? For how long? WIll I stay here, while he goes to Germany, then Iraq, or do I go to Germany and stay in Germany while he is in Iraq? I would rather stay here if he is going to Iraq, I like Washington, but then, if he is going to Germany for a while, of course I wnat to go with him... could I possibly go to Germany till he deploys, then come back to WA? What the fuck is gonna happen? We don't know. I don't like this not knowing. I like my life here; I want it to continue. I don't know what is going to happen.

Being a military wife means not having any control over my own life. All I can do is try to get back on the ball - one of my new year's resolutions - with doing my own creative stuff, writing and drawing. Other than that... I'm a feather in the wind, the wind of the Army's whims. It's not up to me. I don't even know. Where will I end up, when my husband is sent far away for a year? He will get to deploy with Sgt Bradshaw, who he really likes, which is great for him, but I'll be left alone...

I don't know what is gonna happen! And worse, I have no control over it! I hate this!

But I don't regret marrying Ceri. I love him so much. He is my completion... my mate. The half of my heart that makes my heart whole...

Current Mood: anxious
Current Music: bright eyes

such a fright!
Today I went to pick Ceri up from work, but he wasn't there yet, still doing PT. Najera was there. He was brimming with some news he wanted to tell Ceri. What's up, I said.

He saw Ceri's name on the list for TDY -- temporaty duty -- in California. That means Ceri would have to go to California for a month, leaving me behind. AAAGHH! My heart shattered. To be alone for a month, knowing he'll probably deploy this year too? Oh no...

Najera was hoping he could switch with Ceri, since he is from Cali and could then visit his family and such.

I was hoping hard, and had Ceri call him when we got home.

Turns out it's the other Williams -- Josh -- Second Class -- Mr. Fuckup. Maybe they want to be rid of him for a month... Anyway, THANK GOODNESS... I was so stressed...

I'm sort of stressed subconsciously all the time about this deployment stuff, anyway. Consciously everything goes by as normal -- and far too fast -- but somewhere deep down, I'm stressed.

Current Mood: cranky
Current Music: ATP

wow....
so... i so totally relate to the lyrics from bright eyes, many scorn him, saying he is too emo and pretentious. but consider the following:

"... and you climb up the stairs... to that coffin you call your apartment. and you slink in a chair... brush the snow from your hair... and you drink the cold away. and you're not really sure what you're doing this for.. but you need something to fill up the day. a few more hours..."

i'm sorry, did he sneak into my life or something? wow...

my aparmetn is no longer a coffin now that a ceri lives there as well. still these lyrics call up such vivid memories of levittown, of binghamton...

a few more hours... how did he read my brain?

i can't possibly see this kid as too pretentious, 'cause i've lived these lyrics he writes.

In the new year, i will try to live more vividly... drink (and etc) less... be aware more... do more drawing and writing. wish me luck...

ceri sleeps, on the futon. kitty slinks, on the floor. i baked her tuna fish treats out of the cook book today. she likes. i like too. not bad. kind of like crab cakes. i have to experiment to make more palatable version for humans...

we tasted champagne at jake's, lots of people were there, it was quite a party atmosphere. the champagne was hard to drink, so incredibly fizzy! but it was good. we bought a bottle of tokay dessert wine, and some onyx -- i got a bottle of onyx to send to my mom in nj! yay!

happy new year! the ONE good thing that happened this year was me marrying ceri. otherwise. considering the entire planet. it was kind of a sucky year. let's hope 2006 will be better from everyone!

peace out (me, my throat hurts, i wish i had more eggnog, but i dont...)

liz :)

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: bright eyes

here we go
tomorrow is New Year's Eve! and finally, we will get to do champagne tasting. It turns out that Mike and Heather will be out of town. Oh well... in any case, I don't plan to go over to their house, because i will be tempted to drink... ;) I'm trying to drink less... to clear my brain... so I can work on my art/writing some more. We will stay home instead New Year's Eve, after tasting champagne, so I may do this staying clear-headed thing...

I finished a bead bracelet and have another bead project i am working on... will work on that instead of drinking. I hope it is nice tomorrow, or at least not pouring, so I can take a walk too.

Today at work was very slow, but they had me picking all day, I was the only picker once things got too slow. That was nice. I like picking, and apparently I am good at it, since they left me as the only picker... :) But the picks were slim, and in between I stocked. Eventually stocking got all done, and I spent the last half hour wandering around straightening stuff up. Blarg... still, I WORKED as opposed to staying home, and they asked me to come back Monday... yay! Due to the new break/lunch schedule, the day is not quite so bad... my break is at 9:30 and lunch isn't till 1:15, which means the longest, most terrible part of the day happens before lunch, and the rest isn't so long. My last break is at 3:45 so I only have half an hour left after break. This kind of breaking-up of the day, I can handle. I like putting my lunch off till later...

I finished a drawing and am working on a new one. Yay! I also met this lady who owns a cafe in Lakewood, she is very friendly, and I talked to her some... made my first friend out here that wasn't originally Ceri's friend. That makes me feel good.

Lady at the grocery in Brown's Point (where I work) pointed out that my hair matched her sweater (blue). I love how many compliments I get on my blue hair. I love having blue hair. It makes me stand out. And it is pretty. Blue is my favorite color... :) :) :)

I'm babbling. Happy New Year. I'll share details about the champagne once it happens!

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: ATP

crappy christmas
i have to say, this was not the greatest christmas ever. the one thing i can say about it is, i didn't get forced to eat a lot of christmas junk that would make me feel guilty and terrible. the other thing it, i got to open presents with my husband, which was fun and nice. and we got nice christmas presents. he gave me something temporary while he ordered the *real* thing he wanted to get me off the internet (the temporary present was a cowboy bebop comic book). i got him bjork music video dvd and two bottles of dessert wine (the tokay was incredibly delicious). christmas eve he had to work all day and all night... 24 hours... that sucked. i worked on some drawing while alone. christmas night we visited our friend mike because his wife heather had to work all day and night CHRISTMAS... but i wasnt feeling well to begin with and i ended up feeling absolutely awful. i went home early and ceri came home later. i spent my time shaking on the floor, feeling i would die, and was happy when ceri came home, but he drank too many beers and puked in the sink, very loudly and long, making me run outside because if i listened to him puke i would puke too. then i was still sick all night and all the next day and still not feeling great tuesday when i went back to work. not all that great now to tell you the truth. but tens of thousands of times better than on christmas... i felt so bad i thought i would die. hopefully rest of week will be better. we are going to a champagne tasting on new years eve, and hanging out with heather and mike and some friends. hopefully i will not be sick this time...

wish me luck!

Current Mood: anxious
Current Music: bright eyes

me whining
this american government thinks little of me. the only claim to notice i have is being a soldier's wife. as such, i ain't much. and if i weren't married to ceri, i would be nothing but just a woman... working her ass off for below living standards... considering herself lucky to be able to live in her mother's house, because otherwise she would be homeless... overeducated and underemployed, and unable to pay her medical bills. Eventually, she would have no mother to fall back on, and be nothing and nowhere... homeless and under, if not unemployed. Yer basic retail job doesn't cover so many costs...

and there are so many out there who DON'T have a mother whom they can live with... or even worse, also have children that they can't take care of...a day off of work or leaving early to take care of your child may mean you lose your job, and either way you are "neglectful."

When can some common sense, and common human compassion come into government? Why does it all have to be so cruel? "The free market," ... bullshit. It's only good if you have some money to start with. Otherwise, you're screwed. Why, in such a rich age, must so many suffer? In third world countries where all except the wealthy suffer... and, erm, in first world countries where all except the wealthy suffer. Where is human kindness?

I dunno, I'm just ranting.

merry christmas. toys for tots was several thousand toys short this year, i dunno if they managed to make it up in the last few days or not. if not, several thousand less kids will get random toys from pitying strangers... to make them feel like shit if they understand... merry christmas.

Current Mood: confused
Current Music: bright eyes

christmas eve
and i am all alone. ceri has 24-hour cq. i dropped him off at 8 am, i pick him up at 8 am in the morning. but then we get to open presents! my mom sent us two and josie one, i got ceri two and he got me one. i can't wait for him to open them. he will be thrilled, i think, with the dvd of bjork videos. also i got him two bottles of different dessert wines. i can't wait for him to open them... so he can share them with me! muhahahaha... other than that we are not really doing anything for the holiday. neither of us really care. sgt cole is having a party at her house, we are going to that. i bought a packet of Lebkuchen to bring to her.

I made a gingerbread house, which Ceri helped me decorate; I brought it to his work and left it there; it is getting eaten by various soldiers. it looks like a big car crashed thru the front now! people were impressed: "I tried to make one of those but it didn't work!" people apparently aren't so big on my icing (made of powdered sugar, egg whites, and water) but like the gingerbread. my house is very solidly constructed, they may have to take a hammer to it to eat the rest. i even put roof beams in to help hold the roof up.

kitty and i are alone tonight, but that's ok. i dont mind a night alone here and there. i am, after all, something of a loner. we are drinking hot gluehwein (ok, I am drinking hot gluehwein, kitty is drinking water)... but it will be hard when ceri deploys. he should do so somewhere between june and september. i'm ok tonight because i know i get him back in the morning. i don't know how i will deal with him being gone. i'm not too worried about it, i've spent too many months on high alert, now i am numb to the idea. i don't really think about it. i guess it is in a corner of my subconscious, because i keep having these nightmares about losing ceri. but consciously, i am numb to the idea. but when it actually happens... i don't know how i will feel. when i hug him goodbye, how can i ever finish hugging him if i know he will be gone for a year? and to iraq of all places... how can i get enough of touching him before he goes? you have to be strong to be a soldier, but you also have to be unbelievably strong to be a soldier's spouse... i think that often goes unrecognized.

if (when) heather goes with them, mike will stay back alone, since he is no longer in the army. they spent a year in iraq together already... hopefully if ceri and heather go, i can keep in touch with mike...

*sigh*

merry christmas! and happy new year, don't let the time go too fast (but it always goes too fast)!

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: bright eyes

scooter
we stopped in at Steilacoom Wine and Brew today, to say hi to Jake and because Ceri wanted some beer. Jake had his black scooter inside the shop, protected from the rain. He says he hasn't driving it for several days... since when last week we had freezing fog, causing black ice to form on the roads... people around here are not used to the concept of black ice, they figure, hey it's not raining! Cool! And drive fast and get in accidents. Those of us who know how to drive in snow and ice are more careful... but you can't trust those around you. So Jake left off driving his scooter for the time being. He says it's great driving it... it goes soooo fast... but there aren't that many scooter/motorcyclists in Washington, so people don't really know to stay cautious of them... like the snow thing. I guess the rain deters motorcycle folks.

We are going to a champagne tasting new year's eve, and gonna bring our friend Heather. Yay!

Thanks to gifts of money for Christmas, we are not SO broke for once. Oh and I should get my paycheck in the mail tomoorw. Woohoo! We better not let it go to our heads, thoguh...

I got a Christmas present for Ceri. Bjork Medulla videos. Shhh... don't tell him!

:)

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: ATP

arrrghh...
So we got a big talking-to at Rubber Stamp because as a whole, we have been making too many mistakes on orders. One of the results of this is that we can't use personal CD players anymore... aaak. The CD player helped me not go insane. It's doubly irritating because I know I'm not the one who has been making the mistakes. I'm always very careful to be accurate even while wearing a CD player.

The mistakes made are so fucking dumb too. Well, stuff like mixing up the orders or leaving trays out while boxing... that I have nothing to do with, I don't box, or normally barbecue. Stocking errors -- these are so dumb, I know I don't do this because I'm careful not to! People have been putting things in bins without looking in the bin first to see what is already in there. So as a result people are putting things in the bin above, the bin below, the bin across the aisle... making it confusing for the pickers. I always look in the bin first, so I know I'm not guilty of this. Irritating!

Another REALLY stupid thing -- there are these little packets of charms or brads or eyelets or swaroski crystals, which the receivers rubber band together in packets of 10 to make it easier for the stockers. I always take the rubber bands off, but some don't. REGARDLESS -- how dumb do you have to be, when your pick sheet calls for one little packet, to pick up the ENTIRE RUBBER BANDED PACKET OF TEN? And then the customer gets ten free ones, he/she is NOT gonna complain about that. Retarded!!!!!!

But they DO complain about getting the wrong shit in their order, or having shit missing from their order. That's not me, that's the boxers. But how... suck.

So we got a half hour lecture from Ron about how we have to shape up or else all of us, including Ron, will be out of a job! So no more CD player... gaaah. That will make the days TERRIBLY long (like they weren't long enough already).

One good thing is that Ron named me and a few others as part of the "core team" -- "They're not here all the time, but when orders pick up, Ian, Demond, James and Elizabeth are the first people I call." Yay. I'm happy about that...

Otherwise, the day at work was pretty good (if LONG. Knowing that week vacation is coming up, made me very impatient to get the hell outta there). Natalie gave us all presents -- a mug with candies and hot cocoa in it! And we got a bunch of free defective stuff (which I am using to make some Christmas cards). And near the very end of the day, Ron ran into me, and he said "Elizabeth, say the lucky number twelve." I said, "Huh?" He said,
"Okay! Lucky number twelve, here ya go, unless you don't want it..." "It" was a packet of Christmas stamps. Woo hoo! More free stuff! (But why the number twelve?)

Ceri is on CQ tonight, so I am alone. He was allowed to come home for two hours (after getting home, it was only one hour he could spend at home...) We spent it curled up on the futon watching "Return of the Jedi." I can't wait for Ceri's return so I can hug him some more. Still, it is nice to be alone for an evening. Sometimes I like to be alone. However, just for an evening! I will be terribly lonely when Ceri is gone for a year on deployment.

Oh yeah, speaking of that, they got a speech from their colonel today; the PSB is not gonna break up, but they will deploy between June and September. Considering how fast time flies... arrrgh.

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: gorillaz

september 11
that day

i remember what i was doing on september 11, 2001. i was at work at njm. the evening before (monday), i had chatted with my friend Ray, who worked at the world trade center, but we broke off earl because he had to be at work early the next day. "I'll talk to you tomorrow night," I said, and logged off, confident that tomorrow would be just anotehr day.

I was sitting at my desk inthe basement of NJM Insurance Company when a coworker, Rob, said "Somebody flew a plane thru the twin towers." I didn't think much of this. I pictured somebody flying a plane *between* the towers... I remembered a news article earlier in the year about a parachutist getting stuck on the statue of liberty. So I laughed, and said, "Hey, I have a friend who works in the twin towers."

An hour or two later, extremely disturbing images were showing up on the company intranet... and extremely disturbing announcements were being made over the PA system. I was like... "Fuck... I have a friend who works in the twin towers..."

None of us could do anything productive all day. My mind was blasted to hell. Finally they let us off early...

The next day, the break and lunch rooms smelled to high heaven, because they didn't have the night crew around to clean it up...

In the car on the way home, on I-95 in PA... I still had my Acura, Sven, at that point... I broke down into tears while driving. I don't know how I made it home...

I felt like my brain had been bashed in. I felt like when I was a sophomore in college and randomly decided to suddenly quit my anti-depressant medication... I ended up with hallucinations and just feeling permanently like I was in a dream. I couldn't wake up then... I couldn't wake up now. I walked around the block seeing a small girl, curled up into a huddle, crying, crying endlessly, and no one could comfort her...

I got a small amount of comfort from the confusion of others. At the pharmacy, the girl totally misrang my purchase. In confusion, she was like... well name the price, I'll put it in... I don't care. I was only drinking, not eating. A week later I was sent home sick because i had driven myself so far down into the ground. No really... my supervisor ORDERED me to go home (sadly several months later I found out that I had gone over my maximum sick days and got my pay docked for a year.) In the bathroom, I overheard a friend from central files saying, "I feel like... my brain is messed up." I could totally sympathize with that!

I ddin't heard from Ray and didn't hear from Ray. I called a number you were supposed to call to track down survivors. Nothing, just a message. I shook every time the telephone rang.

FINALLY... Ray shows up on AOL. Over a month later (I expect his family had to evacuate since they lived on the lower east side). I never asked him what happened. I was just so glad he was ok...

Current Mood: weird
Current Music: ATP

sea lions
there are sea lions in steilacoom.

as someone from the east coast, this just blows my mind. i mean... SEA LIONS... do they really exist, outside of zoos and tv? yes... yes they do.

We went down there today and saw them -- a group of bulls on one side barking up a storm, and a group of cows on the other side just chilling. The noisy ones were SO LOUD! ARRK ARRK ARRK ARRK ARRK... !!!!!

This evening Ceri woke me up and dragged my sleepy ass out to Steilacoom again, where we clambered across the beach and then climbed into a broken part of the back of the marina on our way closer to them. We climbed up onto this very derelict wooden platform filled with all kinds of crap and random boats and such... made our way across it onto a ramp leading downwards... ended up on a sort of floating platform where we sat and watched the sea lions. Eventually, they started to get curious and COME TOWARDS US!!!!! A train spooked them off and then I had to pee so we left, but we will go back again... maybe with fish... maybe if we go back regularly they will get to know us and come closer. Although the thought of them coming closer kind of frightens me... they are very large...

but it was so cool, sitting there watching them... listening to them... feeling them. We could hear them breathing and splashing (and ARRK ARRK ARRK ARRK-ing)... the thing we were sitting on was bobbing up and down on the water so I felt like I was breathing with them...

We walked back along the train tracks, and ducked into a hollow as a train came by. Whoah! big train. I could feel the wind on my face! Shadows from the bushy plants on the sides of the train cars. It was so big and gorgeous, I thought, it is like a prayer. I said this to Ceri and he said it would be even better stoned. (Maybe next time then! ;) )

I'm in such awe. SEA LIONS! ARRK ARRK ARRK!!!!!!! Oh poor Ceri, now he will have to deal with a wife who goes around imitating sea lions...

Current Mood: relaxed
Current Music: Blur

port wine!!!!!!
finally, after over a month of waiting since Jake first mentioned it... the Port Wine tasting! It was... absolutely scrumptious. They had mixed nuts and chocolate, i ate some nuts... mmm. The hazelnuts tasted almost chocolatey. The port... also scrumptious. There were a couple of newer, red ports, three older, more caramely colored ports (they tasted REALLY strange, but good!), and finally, a 2003 vintage, that year apparently had a great grape season so they bottled it up and it is like 80 bucks a bottle... that shit was FANTASTIC. We bought a bottle of the cheapest port they had (still fantastic!)... and have enjoyed it this evening while watching "The Empire Strikes Back."

On New Years Eve they will have a champagne tasting... I can't wait! We plan to bring our friend Heather. *dances*

Today we baked the gingerbread for our gingerbread house. With Ceri helping me out it was much easier than doing it alone; and I planned ahead and cleared the whole table and got it all ready so it was done with minimal mess. Later tonight (if I wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep, as is my wont), or tomorrow morning, we'll make the icing and try to glue it together... then comes decoration. Woohoo! There's still some gingerbread dough that hasn't been baked, I'm gonna give it to Ceri to shape into whatever he wants for lawn decorations (I did the main building by myself. We couldnt really do it together unless we each held an end of the rolling pin).

Last night... was the longest night ever... woke up every hour after years of insanely complex and vivid dreams, only to find only an hour had passed! Arrrgh!

Cheers.

Current Mood: content
Current Music: ATP

shiny!
The guy at the liquor store gave me a shiny silver tin can that used to contain a bottle of Chivas Regal. He said, "I like to give them to people like you rather than to the restaurants"

Er... okay... Yay! I have a big shiny silver decorative can! Fits right in with the rest of our decor too (=totally random, and alcohol-related is a plus!) I have some dried roses in it for now until I finish hanging them up. I'm thumb-tacking all the red roses in random places to the wall; then next time Ceri buys me roses, of a different color, I'll thumb-tack those to the wall when they dry... eventually there will be a whole organic collage of varied roses tacked to the wall.

Our apartment is turning out to be such a masterpiece. It will be a shame when we have to move. But wait! -- then we can decorate a whole NEW apartment! Muhahahahahahahaha...

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: Bright Eyes

get the cool shoe shine!
Gorillaz have been nominated for five Grammy Awards! Yay! *does a bunch of acrobatic stuff that she can't do in reality*

I am not working again, Rubber Stamp will not be busy enough until December 27th. The reason is that people seem to not want to buy from Internet companies for the holidays. (Even though Rubber Stamp CAN and DOES... they aren't quite sure if the company will deliver the goods in time. For that reason Rubber Stamp is not only dead thru December, but it closes completely for a week leading up to Christmas). I am told they will be busy again for the new year, but in the meantime... arrgh. Once again with bills biting us up the ass. Plus Kitty came down with fleas so I had to get her some pricey medicine. I don't begrudge her it -- after all, she is our child and our responsibility -- but ack! At least Kitty is not itching anymore! It made me sad to see her itch!

I can only imagine how it is to have a HUMAN child and no reliable / sufficient income... *shudder*

I finally got up the nerve to go to Katsumi Sensei's karate class in Steilacoom. (I was gonna go Tuesday but was sick as a dog with another wicked cold. I was so sick Monday at work, even though we need the work I was grateful to be told not to come back Tuesday!) I was kind of scared about it but it's not so bad at all. A couple color belts from my regular class showed up and she had them go thru PT I and II with us, then we did some kata. I am trying to learn a new kata, I asked her if we could go thru it, we did, I still dont remember how it goes, but I will go back tuesday and ask to go thru it again! I want to get better at karate, it's hard 'cause I'm so often sick and / or injured. Plus... I really need to stop smoking! :O Easier said than done. Why did I ever start? I never smoked until I moved out here and followed Ceri's example... I thought I could just smoke *now and then* and not get addicted to it... what a fool!!!!!!! :O

We are not going to Whidbey Island this weekend because Ceri has emergency leave duty (meaning he has to be relatively near the phone and fort lewis in case they suddenly need him). I'm glad, actually, because we can't really afford it... especially with my employment grinding to a halt again. Also I will get to go to the port wine tasting Saturday ;)

We hope to make a gingerbread house this weekend! Should be fun!

Take care!

Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: ATP

snow
last night it snowed overnight (Ceri went out and had a snowball fight with the neighbors while I slept). This morning there was an inch of snow on the ground all over. But it wasn't shitty like in NJ. My car was parked under the carport, so I didn't have to clean it off, I just hopped in and drove. Also, it was warm, so the snow was melting and slushy, so it was possible to drive fairly normally.

The Tacoma Dome was white!

Driving to Fort Lewis later in the day, thru the forest... it was so pretty, there was snow on all the pine trees.

So I got the pretty winter wonderland effect MINUS all the shittiness you expect with snow. Yay! It's pretty much gone by now...

Yay!

Current Mood: blank
Current Music: Gorillaz

damn jokes...
Today, while in line at the post office to pick up a package, I somehow got into a conversation with this guy who was totally full of himself. He'd been talking to everyone, basically about how great he was (grew up in Japan, speaks fluent Japanese, is rich and considering buying a bunch of condos in Florida, was "the man" in nuclear weapons programs in Germany during the cold war... blah blah blah). Somehow it came out that I speak German, so the guy decided to test my German by telling me a long joke in German. (Yeah, he speaks fluent German as well, after all he was "the man" in nuclear weapons programs in Germany... his accent is perfect too. Only, during his story, he said "die Maedchen" instead of "das Maedchen"... ha! Take that, Mr Wonderful. I didn't bring it up.)

So, the joke was very long, but very lame. Here is the gist of it -- a Protestant boy and a Catholic girl decide to go swimming in the woods, but forgot their bathing suits. So they skinny dip. So after a short while the boy gets out and is like, "I didn't realize Protestants and Catholics were so different!"

Ah ha ha ha ha... erm...

I bet he thought I didn't understand it because I didn't laugh my ass off.

Gotta love post office lines.

The guy ahead of me was sending a package to his son in Japan -- a mechanized dinosaur! (Er, the package was a dinosaur, not his son).

Current Mood: blank
Current Music: Gorillaz

white light
to add to the "fuck, no" list of alcoholic beverages: something called "French Kiss." It's vodka flavored with vanilla. I picked it up because it was on sale, and I was curious to try it. At first I liked it -- quite sweet and nice -- but soon it seemed cloyingly sweet and I had to say, "eh... no..." Ceri had it even worse -- he liked it at first, but then it made him throw up in the sink! Ahhh...

Meanwhile, I went to bed early and was awakened at 1 AM by Ceri coming to bed. I come out to the living room and a case of Corona has sprouted from the floor. Hm... how'd that get there? We can grow beer? Cool... we'll be rich! We'll get more alcohol tomorrow since we are having our friend over for movies and drinks, but then we better cool it! ;)

More alcohol news -- tonight I went to the Class Six and they were handing out free tastes of two different kinds of Courvosier (spelling?) ... nice Scotch. Delicious! Of course I was tempted to buy some, since I feel guilty tasting stuff and not buying... but I overcame the temptation. Even at the sale price of $25 a bottle, that stuff is too expensive. Also, there were mini-bottles of Tequila Rose! Yay! That means I can have a Tequila Rose treat without having to buy an entire bottle! Just a little mushroom cup full. I love drinking cream liquer out of the mushroom cups, they're so cute and little and somehow ceremonial.

Tomorrow we get to taste barley wine at Steilacoom Wine and Brew. Sadly, we will miss next week's port tasting since we are going to Whidbey Island for the weekend. I'm kind of bummed about that, I've had really crappy port and was really curious to taste some *good* port, Jake said that good port is... well... good.

I am happy to say I worked all week (although only a half day Thursday and Friday), and get to work Monday as well. After that... I really can't say, I hope I can continue to work. I really don't mind this job, I wish I could rely on it!

Happy December! My mom sent us Advent calendars (the kind with German chocolate!). Yay, yay, yay! Ceri and I are going to make a gingerbread house!

Current Mood: content
Current Music: Gorillaz

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