Crack Part II

I really want a Famous Star cheeseburger from Carl's Jr. right now!

Crack and Bad Roads

Crack
We all have our own versions of crack, those little addictions and vices that take control of our lives and send us into a mind-numbing, body-shaking withdrawal if we don't get our fix. I have two big new year's resolutions this year, to eat healthier and to save money. In the past I haven't always been good about eating leftovers. Usually, I eat things for two days, get sick of it, and throw away the rest. This is bad because you throw away good food and essentially you throw away money, too. So I was good, and for the past four days (yes four, I'm just one person here), I was able to take full advantage of a good pot of chili. And, it was even on the healthy side because I added some extra tomatoes and black beans. Normally, I'm not a big fan of tomatoes and I'm picky about the types of beans I like. So, save money and eat healthy accomplished for four days. Yay! I also happened to catch Super Size Me on TV the other night, and that movie will turn anyone away from fast food. So, I was feeling resolved--eat healthy, eat leftovers and save money, and don't eat fast food! But then the crack affect starts to set in. Why? Why? Why do I have a near unbearable craving for a sausage and egg McMuffin? Ooo, and one that's still so hot it melts the cheese. And those hashbrowns... I'm comforted by the fact that it is past 10:30 a.m., and there is no way I can possibly have a sausage and egg McMuffin now, fortunately. Maybe I have PMS. But why do we crave things we know we shouldn't have? My mind says "no," but my body says "yes."

Then comes addiction number two. Checking e-mail is sometimes a bad thing if you know that you often get e-mail newsletters from certain people. I checked my email this morning to find a message reading, "Save up to 50% on select clothing at Victoria's Secret." And if that's not enough for you, how about free shipping on orders over $100. ARGHHHH!!! How evil is that? They know that most people make a New Year's resolution to save money, they know that people are trying to recover from Christmas shopping debt, yet they peddle these offers and dangle them in front of helpless and weak souls. I'm happy to say that I deleted the e-mail immediately. No clicking on any links to see the available offers, I just deleted it.

JUST SAY NO!

Bad Roads
Some of the roads here are still pretty bad after the blizzard. The main roads are fine with the exception of certain lanes being slightly narrow because of piles of snowdrifts along the side of the road. Some of the side streets are still horrible. When roads aren't plowed, the snow just gets packed down solid by cars that have no choice to drive over it. Parts of the snow melts in patches during the day, then things freeze during the night. More cars drive over things the next day, ice turns to slush, things get packed down, things freeze again, then things melt again. What you're left with is a "road" where parts are still covered with three or four inches of snow right next to patches where the road is exposed. And in places you'll also find the occasional pothole. When you drive it, you're driving on a very lumpy and bumpy road. At one point your tires could be climbing a little mound of snow only to fall suddenly into an open patch on the road. It almost feels like you are trying to drive across a road of boulders. Sitting in the driver's seat feels more like you're sitting in a boat that is being rocked back and forth. Add to the mix the fact that you're still driving on ice at times and still find yourself slipping. This is annoying, but I cringe every time I drive over roads like this. I'm not afraid of the ice or afraid of sliding, I'm afraid what the road is doing to my car. Creeping over a pile of snow and falling into a pothole can't be good for the tires or the alignment. As I drive over these streets, all I can do is grit my teeth and mutter "this would never happen in Irvine."

My Kind of Resolution

Check out this Foxtrot cartoon. This is my kind of New Year's Resolution. Although, I'm sure a lot of people already feel this way about me and my "genius" ways. Yes, I am an elitist!

Happy New Year!

It is officially the new year. Here is to hoping that this year is wonderful and even better than the last. Happy New Year to my family and all of my wonderful friends! I love all of you!

What's Going On In There?

I'm cooking my dinner right now, and in the process I managed to steam up all of the windows in my apartment. Oh well. I like to make my neighbors wonder...

It's been snowing for most of the afternoon, and the weather people are saying that we might have another big snowstorm. Looks like I'll be digging out in a few days.

Christmas Eve Dinner 2006

Because of the blizzard and problems at the airport, I decided to cancel my vacation home, so I spent this Christmas alone at home in Boulder. I did not let that get me down, though. I just finished a very nice Christmas Eve dinner. It wasn't quite as good as my Ma's cooking, but I do the best I can. On tonight's menu: chicken (marinated in garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and a tad of olive oil), green beans, and garlic mashed potatoes. Along with it, I drank a Chateau St. Michelle Riesling.

My dinner guests...

We still had a lot of snow from the recent blizzard, but our white Christmas was made even whiter with some more snow.

Digging Out

Well, the Great Blizzard of 2006 has ended, and thus begins the Great Dig Out of 2006. Yesterday, I spent some time cleaning the top of my car. I mostly just wanted to take some of the weight of the snow off the poor little thing. This morning, I decided to clear away some of the snow surrounding my car. At some point during the night or early this morning, a plow must have come through to clear our parking lot. My car had already been buried by the blizzard, but now it was buried even more by a giant snowbank created by the plow. And, to make things more interesting, the plow decided to push all, not some, but all of the snow into an empty parking slot right next to my driver's side door. In spite of the fact that I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, I still wanted to clear away some of the snow, if anything, just to make it melt a little faster. Since I don't own a shovel, I was mostly just breaking up the snow and pushing it away with a broom. Fortunately the snow from this blizzard is pretty light and airy rather than the heavy and wet snow we often get, so the broom works reasonably well. I'm taking a break right now, but will go back to tackling it later. This is just a lesson to me that at some point, I need to invest in a good shovel just in case this ever happens again.

Still Snowing

I still can't get through with the airlines, so I'm going to keep taking pictures and keep blogging. I suppose we are fortunate in the fact that we haven't lost power here in Boulder. And, surprising, in spite of all the snow it really isn't that cold. It is in the 20s, but that isn't so bad. In fact, I feel comfortable going outside with just a thermal shirt, sweatshirt, and a hat. Yes, I should probably be wearing a coat and gloves, but I don't stay out for long. The clouds seem to be thinning out and the sun is trying to shine through which is a good start to the Great Thaw of 2006! The roads are still in bad shape so who knows when things will be completely back to normal.

In front of my apartment.









Where the sidewalk ends... And, no, I didn't shovel this myself. Perish the thought!

The top of the Flatirons.

BLIZZARD 2006

If someone ever makes a Blizzard of 2006 T-shirt (and you know some entrepreneur will capitalize on this), I just might buy it.

Well, it is the morning of December 21, and I am still in Colorado and there isn't much of a chance that I will be able to leave for the next few days. I've been calling the airline all morning to make arrangements for a new flight, but in our day and age of computers and technology, I usually spend about five minutes trying to "talk" to an automated operator. After many, many tries of trying to find the right way into the back door, I realized that if I answer "I don't know" to the important questions they (the royal, computerized "they") will transfer me to a customer service rep. The only unfortunate thing is that the moment "they" transfer me, I get a busy signal and then I am disconnected. I'm not surprised, of course, because I'm sure the volume of calls they are receiving is overwhelming. I just want to talk to a human being. Oh well. I suppose I have to keep trying. Meanwhile, here are some more pictures of the morning after.


I think that large mound of snow in the center of the picture is a car.













My car, again, under almost two feet of snow.

Snow

My car under sixteen inches of snow.
















You have to admit, it is beautiful...

White Christmas

If circumstances were ideal, I would have been in California right now for my Christmas vacation. Unfortunately I live in Colorado, and we've been hit by a horrible blizzard. My initial 12:00 flight was cancelled, and I was booked for a later 5:00 flight. Now the airport is closed entirely and all flights are cancelled until tomorrow. I'm even concerned that I'll be able to leave tomorrow night because the snow isn't slowing down.

So It Begins

In yesterday's post, I began composing my list of new year's resolutions. One of them was to save money. I'm going to try to get serious about this. Earlier today, a co-worker and I were talking about our money issues. We both live alone, so neither of us is able to split the rent and utilities with anyone. We're both single, so there isn't a boyfriend or husband (or girlfriend, in my case) who can help bring in a second income. And we're both involved in publishing which usually doesn't bring in a huge salary. We both talked about our splurges and the fact that we sometimes buy things that we don't necessarily need. She likes shoes. I like things from Victoria's Secret. So we both agreed to make a serious commitment to saving money.

I took a few small steps tonight. I decided to cancel my Netflix subscription. It's not much but it will save me about $17.00 a month. Besides, one of my other resolutions was to watch less TV and spend more time reading. Maybe this will kill two birds with one stone. I also decided to take a few credit cards out of my wallet. If I don't have them with me, I can't use them, right? Most notably, I took out my Old Navy card and my Victoria's Secret Angel card. I sealed them in an envelope and I sealed the envelope with packing tape. I tried to be realistic with myself, so I wrote the date March 7, 2007 on the envelope. I promised myself that I can't open the envelope before that date. That date happens to be my birthday, so if I should decide to buy myself a gift, then I'll open it for that one day. I'll be turning 32 that day, so who knows if I will be excited or depressed to buy something sexy! If I don't buy something that day, then all the better.

This is all a small step, but at least it is a step. Now I am going to pour myself a glass of cognac and enjoy every sip of it, because who knows how long it will be before I am able to buy another bottle.

New Year, New Promises

I normally don't make new year's resolutions, probably because I lack willpower and any ability to commit to anything. Perhaps that's an exaggeration. But, maybe, just maybe, if I put my resolutions down in writing, albeit cyber writing, then maybe I'll stick to things a little better. Here we go. We'll see how I do in a few months.

1. Save money! This means no more unnecessary shopping trips to Victoria's Secret, Old Navy, Borders, Barnes & Noble, and any other such places. And just because I want a shiny new toy (like a cool digital camera), that doesn't mean that I have to buy it.

2. Eat healthier and exercise more. I've become a lazy bum over the past year. I need to change this and try to get back into shape.

3. Watch less TV and read more books. These days when I get home from work, I usually just plop down on the couch and watch TV for the rest of the night. It's a mindless way to waste away the night after a long hard day at work. But I think it is time my brain got a little more exercise, too.

4. Brush up on my Greek and Latin. I haven't been studying my Greek and Latin as much as I want to because of the aforementioned desire to plop down on the couch after work to watch TV the whole night. Maybe I'll make it my goal to read all of Homer's Odyssey (in Greek) before the year is over. Damn, that is ambitious! And insane!

5. To be a better person in general. This is probably a long shot even longer than eating healthier and exercising more. I suppose I want to be more even-keeled. I want to be less moody and I want to let things roll off my back the way they used to. I want to be more serious about the right things and less serious about the wrong things, if that makes sense. Mostly I want to go back to my loving, caring, and affectionate self and let go of the paranoid, distant, scared, and standoffish self. We'll see how I do...

Possibly, more to come later...

What Book Am I Editing?

This is why I often have a difficult time focusing at work. This is what I see when I look out my window.




Looking west at about 10:00 a.m.

Looking up at about 4:00 p.m.

Promethea

I stand alone
Surrounded by space
Covered by the night
Blinded by the darkness
I stand
Imprisoned
Bound
Arms and limbs weak from struggle
Flesh and skin torn by the chains that lock me
Warm blood sizzles in the snow staining it deep red
Screams and cries echo into silence
Steam from my hot breath fades into the cold air
I stand
Helpless and exposed
A feast for the eagle
I stand
A toy, a pawn
Mocked by the gods
My torture, my torment unending
Their joy, their pleasure eternal

Books and History

I decided to get serious today about cleaning my apartment. Today I wanted to tackle my books and bookcases. I already Pledged the bookcases, dusted my books with my little Swiffer duster (it is gentle on my books), and rearranged my books on the shelves. I have a lot of books--the result of several years in college and grad school. The sad thing is that the books I have here in Colorado are only the ones I used while I was studying Classics. I have boxes and boxes of books back home in California. Those books are from the years when I was an English major, so you can imagine how many more books I have. One of these days when I have enough money to buy my own place with a little more room for a library, I'm going to put all of my books together. As much as I love the Classics (and by Classics I mean Greek and Latin), I miss reading the other "classics." Sometimes you just want to put down the Aeschylus, Aristotle, Plato, and Homer, and you want to pick up Austen, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, or Hemingway instead. It will be nice one of these days to have a complete library of all of my books. As I think of it, I must have about 200-300 books total, and I can't even imagine how much it is all worth. There are some books, though, that you can't put a price on like a copy of Homer's Iliad (in Greek) that was printed in 1870.


On the inside of the front cover is a written note "From L. & E. M. Fisher, Dec. 25, 1886." It was obviously a Christmas gift to someone. Inside the book is a slip of paper that the previous reader was using as a bookmark. It looks like it was a single sheet from a page-a-day type of calendar. This sheet has a nice, ink drawing of what I assume to be a bank. In fact it is from the "Ohio National Bank on Cor. High and Town Sts. in Columbus, Ohio." They offer "Foreign Exchange, Money Orders, and Travelers' Cheques." The date on this calendar sheet is Tuesday, October 8, 1929. It's interesting to imagine that about 21 days later the stock market crashed on October 29 and not long after there was the Great Depression. I wonder what happened to this book. Did the owner keep it because it is something precious? Or did the owner have to sell it just to make some money to get through a few days during the Depression? It is amusing to consider the history of this book and to think of the fact that it is in my hands now.

Captured

Well, I went out and did it. I finally bought myself a very cool digital camera. I'm considering it a Christmas bonus to myself. I'm still playing with it and trying to figure out all of the features. I'm usually pretty tech savvy, but sometimes I feel like an orangutan handling this thing.



Don't worry! I don't leave my candles unattended, especially when they are around my precious books. I'm sure the Classicists out there will derive a tingle of joy from seeing those cute, little green and red books. And, yes, I did drink the cognac. It is one of the many sacrifices we make for the sake of "art."

The Law

Here are some great stories about the legal system in action. And we wonder why the rest of the world thinks we're nuts. And to think that we want to spread our style of democracy and law throughout the world. These stories are especially interesting to me because I have lived in California and I currently live in Boulder, Colorado, and I work with several lawyers.

Hacky Sack is not Juggling

What's My Name?

Winter

Icicles and trees through my dirty bedroom window. Maybe one of these days I will buy a real digital camera. I kind of like taking pictures.

Silly Me

Have you ever had one of those days where you just get home from work and pull into the parking lot of your apartment complex. You look on the passenger seat and grab your hat, but where are your gloves? You look on the floor. You look under the seat. You look in the back seat. You check the pockets of your jacket. Where are they? Did I leave them on my desk at work? Where are they? Where? Where? Where? Ah, maybe you put them in your purse or bag. Well, they are not in your bag, but have you ever discovered that they were on your hands and that you were wearing them? I'm not asking this for any particular reason, really... I'm just curious about what other people experience...

Ugh, my apartment is a mess. Maybe I should clean tonight...

Current mood: tired
Current drink: milk