Wish I was reading about Sookie Stackhouse right now

I started the Sookie Stackhouse Novels on Tuesday.  In those 6 days, I’ve read 7 of the 9(?) Books in the series.  Thus, while my happiness levels were VERY high week, my social activity was at a minimum.  What does this mean for you?  More someecards, and less stories—but I’ll do what I can. 

I went to see the infamous Da’Feets indoor soccer team play—at an 11 pm.  The De’Feets are what some of my friends who have named their team after a rocky first season with a perfect record of non-winning games.  But then, I heard a rumor that in their second season they began getting some wins in… and so I knew I had to see them live.  It was an added bonus that I got to yell and cheer with Diana as the official spectators of the game.  This game, unlike the last game I watched when Bails scored and her mother and I totally missed it, I saw every single goal scored… for both teams.   As fun as it was… it sure was hard to leave my buddy Sookie Stackhouse.

On Monday, Luke told me he searched the drawers in the theatre and couldn’t find a single chick flick… everywhere he looked was another war movie popping out at him.  Answering his plea… (the genre of Chick Flicks happens to possibly be the only hobby that I have any real knowledge of)… We have watched a movie every night. (Thank goodness, b/c distracting me from not watching any of our good TV so we can wait to watch it with D&J is killer. And no, I don’t want you to tell me what happened.)  Some classics that I have exposed Luke to are Singles, Empire Records, Never Been Kissed, Saved, Can’t Hardly Wait, Clueless, and America’s Sweethearts.  Turns out, I still quote Clueless on a regular basis… but it has been so ingrained in my vernacular that these phrases have become a part of me.  Next on my list are Reality Bites and Ten Things I Hate About You (which is a bonus HS and Seattle Movie.)  Ideally he would like HS, Seattle, or early 90’s –according to Luke anything after 94 is lame(Naturally.)  We also like to watch during dinner.  A dinner that has continued to be very yin yang for Luke b/c Mariana likes to cook.  She asked me if I eat Cereal every night… to which I said no, I had Pizza last night!  But the truth is… when left on my own I totally will just eat cereal at every chance I get.   And now you know, I love hanging out with Luke, Love Romantic Comedies, and Love (tipping my hat to Outburst) “Things that can be eaten from a bowl”… but man is it hard to tear away from Sookie Stackhouse.

I went to my first gallery opening at the Henry Art Gallery in UW.  It was pretty awesome—I am totally glad I went—and I plan on going again so I can get some culture and karaoke all in one night.  I was the DD… and had 5 people crammed into my 4 seat convertible.  I tell you this… b/c when I got pulled over AGAIN the officer asked if I had been drinking and I was like NO! as he said “cuz your car smells a lot like alcohol”.. and I replied.. “oh! Yea! We’ll (with a finger to the back) they’ve been drinkin’. “  I got pulled over for my tabs… which I promptly showed him the sticker was in my hand… I just hadn’t put it on my car b/c it had been raining so hard when I picked them up… and so I was off with a warning. But ya know, none of this would have happened if I hadn’t stayed home with Sookie Stackhouse.

How much do you hate it when someone reallllly annoys you and it turns out that not only do they like you… but they start telling you how funny and smart you are?  And as you are hearing the lovely compliments you become increasingly uncomfortable b/c you know what you’ve been thinking about them.  It makes you feel sooooooooo guilty.  It should also make them less annoying, but life isn’t fair like that.  No what avoids contact with all annoying people and doesn’t make you feel guilty at all?  Sookie Stackhouse. 

Agreed… watching the movie and TV versions is kinda crap… but what’s not crap? reading about Sookie Stackhouse.

Jason asked me if I was wearing a NY shirt in honor of the Yankees—or was I totally clueless.  I informed him I knew what was up with Philly and NY b/c I read Someecards everyday thank you very much.  He asked if Philly was like our rivals and then I had to explain that New Yorkers really only truly care about our own teams.  I would venture to guess, and maybe I’m wrong, that even the Boston Red Socks don’t truly give us a headache… b/c then we would have to admit we have to worry about something outside of our stateliness (granted I think the Jets/Giants are technically in NJ) but you get my drift.  (I’m sure Lisa will have something to say about this)  I could be making this all up… but it was funny at the time.  Almost as funny as reading Sookie Stackhouse. 

And yes… even now… I wish I had spent the time it took me to do this… reading about Sookie Stackhouse.

Be Interesting

Apparently this was last week—which you all probably knew b/c it is such a HUGE holiday but clearly I am out of the loop—and I didn’t even get Raymond a “World’s Best Boss” mug.  I am messin’ up. 

Remember how I told you Sean broke his foot?  Well, naturally being the caring and concerned sister that I am, I had three gallons of milk delivered to his house.  Luckily I warned him that he would be receiving something in advance as they just left it outside his door.  Now, clearly this falls under the  category of things I find funny but other people think are crazy… but then it got so much better!  Apparently Stacey has groceries delivered all the time, and she had just had 2 gallons of milk delivered with her other groceries the day before.  Sean proceeded to call Stacey at work, when she was already distracted and stressed, to ask what in the world was she thinking having 5 gallons of milk delivered to the house, stating that he had in his hand the receipt indicting that it cost 25 dollars to deliver thee gallons of milk that they didn’t need, and HE certainly hadn’t ordered them.  By the time Stacey got home, she was totally riled and was about to call shop rite and give them a piece of her mind… when Sean finally told her that I was the culprit.  That went so much better than I thought it was going to. 

I had this really creepy experience the other day.  I stopped by the local Circle K for some Ice—and the guy who was working there was outside smoking and chatting with a young kid.  When I entered the store, he followed suit and tried to be funny, but it came out really creepy, and then when I didn’t respond positively, he said “You must think I’m so weird.” My response was fairly neutral.  Partially b/c I was distracted and thinking about other things when I entered, and partially b/c I didn’t really follow what he was saying.  So—then he ended our awkward conversation with “Ouch!”  So maybe it wasn’t creepy—maybe it was just hella awkward, and maybe I was partly responsible for the uncomfortable moments—but even as I was rushing to put the ice in my car I felt bad about making the guy feel bad about himself.   After writing this story down, I think I know why I wasn’t going to include it in my Monday email.  Too late.  I don’t know where the delete button is.

D&J are out of town for the next two weeks.  My mom called Dawne before she left and Dawne reassured my mother that her baby and Dawne’s baby were going to be fine b/c she has the nanny coming to take care of us, and that my mom’s baby was NOT happy about the nanny coming.   So true. 

Before they left my friend from HS stopped by for a visit. (Look at that Matt, not only did I send you this weeks edition, I am going to talk about you, unabashedly, to a long list of people.  yw.)  He was driving cross country, and seeing as driving up from San Fran only added 12 hours to his trip, naturally he didn’t think twice about stopping by.  I was actually trying to remember last night distinct interactions with him from when we were in class together… and have decided my memory is clearly shot.  I could only remember three stories:  Jr year, Ms. Eschmann’s class, expressing my outrage that he was accepting the class president position when Jeanette Olli would be a much better choice to organize our 10 year reunion.  Sophomore Year, Mr. Marion’s Class, Mr. Marion told us he was collecting our HW binders, after a year and half of us being lulled into the sense of security that we didn’t need to do our homework b/c he never collected it, and then I spent all night copying all of Janette’s homework (Sorry mom and dad) and then when we got into class, Mr. Marion only collected 4 binders: Mine, Briana Sudzinki’s, Erik Heidenrich’s, and Matt Bencivenga’s.  And finally, 7^th grade, Ms. Blair’s class, we were watching Arachnophobia and I was terrified, and Matt reached under my desk and grabbed my leg and screamed like a maniac. 

This weekend was just as fascinating. J  I have no idea what anyone thinks when they come to visit—but I sure did enjoy having a visitor that I stressed about and I didn’t have a ton of pressure to entertain.  Here are some highlights of what Matt saw of my life. 

When Jordan came home on Friday night and asked what was for dinner… Dawne poured him a glass of milk and handed him a sleeve of oreos.  

Luke has decided he needs to be more interesting.  To quote his brother Nate, It’s not enough that his mother is an art director, his father is a game designer, and he plays 5 instruments.   I’ll add, on the same day he had made a little kid piano into an electric piano so he could hook it up to his amp along with creating some other fascinating new ways to make cool sounds that could also be amplified.  Nope, he believes he is just not interesting enough… and so he decided to put himself on a microbiotic diet.  He could only find one book “The hip chicks guide to the microbiotic diet.”   Matt got to go on a family trip to Uwajimaya.  The 6 of us searched for all of the crazy ingredients we had never heard of (we should have labeled them when we got home b/c last night we were a bit puzzled) and then he helped cook whole wheat tempura with Luke.  (I eventually had to bake cookies to get the sesame oil smell out of the house.) The next morning Luke justified a class of milk and chocolate chip cookies by saying there were very Yin Yang.  Sounded about right to me.

 Matty told me he saw Halloween decorations in his office the other day and actually thought why are they just now putting up decorations? Halloween was last weekend.  This is what happens when you throw a big Halloween party three weeks early.  To keep the awesomeness of the holiday alive in the house, we carved pumpkins on Saturday.  Can you guess which one was Luke’s and what he did?

How about with the lights (and by lights I mean sun(ish))on?

That’s right—Luke’s is on the left, and it is a Buddha. (Did I mention how uninteresting he is?)  Mine is naturally on the right… my interpretation of a haunted house when I have just finished reading the Martha Stewart Halloween Guide. 

Oh and we got to catch up on so much good TV… which makes Matt one of the best visitors ever.  Congratulations.  You win and your prize is… not being humiliated in public via this Monday email. 

I went to see the play version of 38 steps with Diana and Rach last Thursday—it was pretty spectacular.  There were only 4 people—so they were switching back and forth between characters.  So fun.   I included this, not because it’s funny, but b/c like Luke, I think I need to be more interesting.  And being cultural by seeing plays ups my interesting factor—and will ultimately make you like me more—right? 

I love you too.

Take a Chance, Take a Chance, Columbus Took a Chance.

Lucas came down to the office last week playing an instrument.  When I asked him what it was he said “An 80’s Flashback.  It’s what people in the 80’s thought the future would look like.”  It is a Casio DG20—and he was able to hook it up to the grand piano and play music using the flashback machine.  It is like the coolest antiquated (and no I don’t know how to pronounce this word) electronics he has ever brought into the house.   As an added bonus I learned what a MIDI file was… yea! 

He also introduced me to the wonder that is Jonathan Coulton.   Here are some lyrics from the song that reminds me of one of our web developers: 

Code Monkey get up get coffee
Code Monkey go to job
Code Monkey have boring meeting
With boring manager Rob
Rob say Code Monkey very dilligent
But his output stink
His code not “functional” or “elegant”
What do Code Monkey think?
Code Monkey think maybe manager want to write god damned login page himself
Code Monkey not say it out loud
Code Monkey not crazy, just proud

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you

Code Monkey hang around at front desk
Tell you sweater look nice
Code Monkey offer buy you soda
Bring you cup, bring you ice
You say no thank you for the soda cause
Soda make you fat
Anyway you busy with the telephone
No time for chat
Code Monkey have long walk back to cubicle he sit down pretend to work
Code Monkey not thinking so straight
Code Monkey not feeling so great

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you a lot

I was looking for a image that was making fun of the fact I was behind the times, or that I have been so submerged in the geek culture to actually find this guy funny… but instead I offer you:

I got a picture text from my sister yesterday

And then she never texted back, or called me with an explanation.  I had to call my mom.  Who does that?!  Or was I supposed to assume that b/c Kevin was playing the DS in a hospital bed that he must be just fine?

Did I mention the Halloween party on Saturday? It was the awesome.  Although we were missing around 200 people from previous years (Nate, Zach, did I mention that I miss you?), but actually really fun because I had time to get involved in all the activities.  Plus, my one friend from DC Comics (Yes, Justin, I had a friend in NY) came to visit!  My favorite part was that at 10:30 Sunday morning Marisa texted me from upstairs to say that she was up, she just didn’t want to get out of bed.  Classic.  I brought her some starbucks and Danish in bed—all the while completely jealous that I didn’t get to miss clean up. J

Marisa requested some drive by nature, so we hit up the falls and the on the way back I got a speeding ticket--First one (on my Washington License) since 2002.  I was really nice to the guy, and he was a total jerk, which was so not cool. If I am going to be pleasant about getting a 200 dollar ticket-- the least he could do is not cop (pun intended) an attitude.  

Dawne was on the someecards website today looking for inspiration for our Twilight Party invitations.  Now, you know how much I heart the someecards… so why did I feel guilty as if I exposed a sweet lovely girl like Dawne to filth and sarcasm?  

And Arcane Legions released last week!! We celebrated with mimosa’s, then I sent out some press releases, then margarita’s,then some “play testing” of other games, and a brewski.  I wish we could have a “Happy Arcane Legions Day!” at least once a week.   As an aside, we were playing this one family fun game that should have been lovely, but we (I) was so competitive, that Tyler had to completely change the rules to remove points in order to bring it back to “fun and cooperative” instead of “I hate that you might beat me so I’m not guessing.”  (Reminded me of that dark day playing catch phrase when, instead of passing the catch phrase, it was tossed into the center of the circle, Johnny folded his arms and held the device rather than give our team clues and Shane kept saying the words he shouldn’t.  *sigh* Now that certainly was a dark day for team games.)

Hey Stace, First, Happy Early Birthday, Second, this reminded me of you: 

Have an awesome Monday folks! 

Shmamily

Heeeeeeyyyooooo!

Before I start, yes Eva, I went to NY, and no, I didn’t tell you.  (I do think it’s funny you read it on facebook when I try so hard not to say anything true on the FB). I want to apologize, because it sounds like a very unkind thing to do, but truthfully, I purposely do not tell people when I am coming into town unless I know I have time to see them.   I suppose you could argue that a better friend would make time, but then you could also argue that a better friend might not have moved away to begin with, and no one gets out of that conversation happy.  In an effort to make amends, I will follow this introduction with a story that includes you… b/c you love the attention right Evivova?  And in case that doesn’t work… hopefully watching this video of naked boys will…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnQZI8O4OFc

During a very fancy schmancy dinner at a castle, my mother told us a story about driving Eva, Nikki, Jessica and I somewhere when we were lil.  As she was driving, my mother recalled Nikki confidently bringing up a conversation about sex—Nikki asked us “So what do you know about sex?” and my mother heard me immediately pipe up with “I know how to spell it!”  Some things really don’t change. 

When we were younger my mom would pull our teeth out.  Not just my teeth, but everyone in the neighborhood would send their kids over to my house with loose teeth and my mother would pull out her pliers and she’s pop it out.  (Why do I feel like I’m repeating this story..?) In fact--Kevin stopped by on Saturday with his first loose tooth.   My brother, because he apparently has fingers of steel, can pull out teeth with his bare hands.  He pulled out one of Morgan’s teeth, but it was so tiny it slipped out of his fingers and she ended up swallowing it—which led to a discussion on how to prove to the tooth fairy that there was actually an extraction.   And that long introduction brings us to the main story.   My niece Jackie had a loose tooth which Stacey was going to have to bring her to the dentist for.  So, Stacey told her that if she could wiggle it loose before her dentist appointment, thus saving money on the appointment, she would take the girls out for ice cream.  Wiggle she did.  Jackie spent considerable effort to get that tooth out… and as she encouraged Sean to yank it harder, with her sisters yelling “You can do it!” and “Will the doctor have to do the string trick if this doesn’t work?” in the background, and Jackie moaning “I better get TWO scoops!” Sean was finally able to get it out… and the root was twice as long as any other tooth he had pulled.  Aside from the obvious, I just want to know how they forgot that they have a whole freezer full of ice cream downstairs at any given time. 

Speaking of food treats and NY… I brought back some NY pizza for Rollie (Matty, check the freezer J ) When I complained about how to carry a whole pie back with me, Rollie countered with “If you can figure out a way to carry back 5 pounds of ham from NY you can get me a slice of pizza.”  Got’em.   I would like to take this opportunity to speak directly to my parents:  There are two indisputable facts that should always be assumed, no questions necessary.  Momela, I always want ham.  Frita, I always want your pea soup.   I’ll even check luggage if I have to. 

My brother was complaining about his foot which he hurt playing soccer last weekend.  I told him that he probably broke it and should go see a doctor.  So when my mom called to tell me that he did actually break his foot, and Rollie and Shana heard me respond with “I told him he broke his foot!  I knew it!” they were a tad appalled with my reaction.  Clearly, it’s unfortunate that he broke his foot.  But I told Tina the scenario, seeing as she has a gaggle of siblings and Shana and Rollie are only children and she confirmed that the first thing she would have said was “I TOLD him it was broken.”  I love when my crazy is legitimized.  You don’t have to say it Sean, I know you’re thinking it:

After going to see Trace Adkins on Friday night at West Point, my sister tried to get me to run out of our car, get Sean to roll down his window, poke him on the forehead, and then run back to the car.  When I said unequivocally, that I would NOT be doing that, and she said “you would if Dawne asked you to” (oh snap! Sooooo not true!)  She proceeded to try to poke me on the forehead.  The first time she missed and hit the top of my head, the second time she poked me in the eye.  I then had to tell her to apologize, when she refused I actually said “Mom!  Dad! Maureen poked me in the eye—and now she won’t apologize.  Can you believe you raised a daughter that wouldn’t apologize for poking someone in the eye!?”  That’s right, we will basically be 5 and 15 for-ev- OR.   You know I love you Mo—in fact:

You could say I totally loved NY through and through and especially spending time with the fam (even though I developed allergies as soon as I landed, the same allergies that completely lifted when I reached Seattle).  I had such a good time that now I completely cannot remember what happened prior going to NY.  So we’ll just have to pretend I did wildly amusing and exciting things that had absolutely nothing to do with launching Arcane Legions tomorrow (Triple Exclamation Points.  Feel free to check out www.arcanelegions.com and see what has been driving me to have a distinct dislike for all things related web development.) 

I do, however, remember that last night Dawne, Aunt Pat and I got ourselves massages and facials.   At one point, as I was turning over I said “I feel like I have towel face” and he was like “That’s cuz ya do.”   The boys were all going to play in a flight simulator… which is pretty cool, but I still think we got the better end of the deal fo sho. 

 

PS These bugs, these ugly, slow walking, but extremely loud and scary wing flapping bugs, crawl into the house every fall... and I just needed to share with you just how yucks they were--especially b/c D&J still have never seen them. 

Thanks for your attention this week.  Much appreciated.