Friggin' Animal Planet Up In Here...

Quote of the Day: "We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees." - Real Life Dilbert Quotes

Picture a Day #2: 

This is the new Pink Dogwood tree that I planted in the front corner.  I haven't named it yet.

This picture is actually from 5/3.  I still have to take one today.  I'm up to date on my twitter account.  I swear!

Let's talk Idol...

After much research, I've managed to discover that "Then and Now" week means that the last five standing will be singing two songs each tonight.  One song from the 1960s and one current hit. I'm trying to muster up the will to care about this.  I am mustering with all my might...and I have failed miserably. Okay, okay, so i did some more research.  I Googled the 100 greatest songs from 1960s.  Before I get to that, I have to say that all the times I've made fun of the contestants, in my head or on this blog, for being old fashioned or singing old old songs (either by choice or because Idol makes them) has just been justified.  I'm not sure how they will pick any good songs from the 1960s...since THEY HAVE ALREADY SUNG THEM ALL.  Jeez, seriously, it's going to be some slim pickins tonight. Well, actually, there are plenty of good songs left but all of them have been seriously overdone on Idol.  They really need to come up with some new theme ideas.  Like British Pop week or Hair Band week or Jenn Picks week.  And now back to the regularly scheduled ranting...

So, here are MY choices for what they should sing tonight (and since I won't pick the most overdone and boring songs from the list, it's unlikely they will actually sing any of these.  Also I realized that I don't know any of the songs on the Billboard Top 100 from this week, so i picked "now" songs that are just songs from my lifetime):

1. James Durbin: 1960s - Time of the Season (but do the Scott Wieland version), Now - The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars

2. Haley Reinhart: 1960s - Paint It Black (I realize that Siobhan Magnus did this song last year and it was decent but I'd still like to hear Haley belt it out), Now - I Love Rock & Roll by Joan Jett & The Blackhawks

3. Jacob Lusk: 1960s - I'm a Believer (Monkees version.  Not that I care, cause he's so boring), Now - I couldn't pick a single song from the last 30 years that I want him to sing...

4. Lauren Alaina: 1960s - The Loco-Motion (I'm on a friggin mission to hear that song...), Now - I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany

5. Scotty McCreery: 1960s - Blowin' In the Wind (that may be too cool for him), Now - Voodoo by Godsmack (that's definately too cool for him but he's got the deep voice to pull it off)

Anyway, a girl can dream of a world where it finally stops raining and Idol doesn't suck.

You and me ain't nothing but mammels...

I have a cat named Lucy.  She's like a year old now.  We couldn't get her spayed because she has this heart murmur and, apparently, putting her under anesthesia has a huge chance of causing her heart to stop. And now she's in friggin' heat.  That alone would be bad enough because a female cat in heat is not a fun thing. Funny but not fun.  She basically meows a lot, slithers around, and tries to do "it" with everything in the house.  The thing that's driving me batty is that my boy cat, Neo, who is also a year old, is banging her every second of every day.  Which I have to say is very strange since he's neutered.  Having his balls snipped has apparently had absolutely no effect whatsoever on his desire to sex Lucy up every chance he gets.  It's was so obnoxious last night cause they kept waking me up.  When you have to yell "get a room" at your cats, something just isn't right.  

I thought it was funny, at first, so I tried to get some video on my phone to send to Boyfriend (who's in Seattle this week for work).  As I was adjusting the lighting in the room to capture the video properly, I realized that it was kind of creepy and weird to be making such an effort to video two cats sexing each other up, so I stopped.  Even I have my creepy and weird limits.

Morpheus is also a boy cat but I guess he got snipped correctly because he wants nothing to do with the kitten sexcapades going on in my house.  He basically pushes Lucy off the bed or dresser or chair or wherever else he perched when she comes on to him.  So he's either not interested or gay, either of which is fine by me because I'm not really sure I could handle my kitten getting gang banged (someone is going to Google that and be very disappointed when my blog comes up as a result).

I think that's all I got for today. Join me tomorrow for my Thursday Idol meltdown and possibly a list of some sort.

Jenn - I can't sleep through all the racket...

It's my birthday and i'll blog if i want to...

Quote of the Day: "If the rain had ovaries, that's where I would punch it..." - Me, upon seeing that it was raining yet again.

Don't forget: Since I have to live vicariously through the adventures of others, I will be making a donation towards a project that interests me (for more information visit: Pacific Crest Trail Field Guide Project) as well as following the adventure via the blog Justin and Li An's Blog: Story the Walk.  They need to raise enough money by May 12th.  I don't usually ask for donations for things via my blog (except donations of love), but I think that this is a pretty cool idea and I would like to see it come to life.  So, take a moment and just go check it out.  I'll owe you one!  Oh, and with my birthday right around the corner, if you were thinking "hmmm...what should I get Jenn for her birthday? She's so awesome!", donating to that book is the perfect gift!! :)

Picture a Day #1:

 

That's Morpheus.  I worked from home today and he was helping out.  By making me very very sleepy.  He found that spot to be particularly wonderful cause the space heater was blowing right on him.  It was a chilly sort of day.

I got a fancy new watch...

For my birthday,

Boyfriend got me a Garmin Forerunner awesome GPS heartrate monitor watch.  I think because he hopes that the ability to monitor my heartrate will motivate me to train more and harder.  And also cause that's what I wanted.  He picked out the exact watch, though, and I love it.  It's gray and pink and awesome.  I'm sure you are dying to know some heart rate statistics..

Resting: 55

Eating Cheese: 74 (I eat with gusto which apparently has a heart pumping effect)

Petting Morpheus: 58

Eating Chocolate: 80

Doing Laundry: 75 

I have to go eat cake now, so until tomorrow...

Jenn - Let's just say that I'm turning 25...agan..

I hear there was some sort of big wedding in Europe....

Quote of the Day: "This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important interfere with it." - Real Life Dilbert Quotes

Don't forget: Since I have to live vicariously through the adventures of others, I will be making a donation towards a project that interests me (for more information visit: Pacific Crest Trail Field Guide Project) as well as following the adventure via the blog Justin and Li An's Blog: Story the Walk.  They need to raise enough money by May 12th.  I don't usually ask for donations for things via my blog (except donations of love), but I think that this is a pretty cool idea and I would like to see it come to life.  So, take a moment and just go check it out.  I'll owe you one!  Oh, and with my birthday right around the corner, if you were thinking "hmmm...what should I get Jenn for her birthday? She's so awesome!", donating to that book is the perfect gift!! :) 

 
Grassbeard...

This is what Grassbeard looks like.

He sort of needs a haircut.  I don't want him to droop over when he gets to tall. I'm not really sure where he came from. He just appeared one day in Treebeard's pot.

American Idol...

No big surprises.  Just Casey getting kicked off then running around all wierd and kissing everyone he could get his hands on in the audience.  Then, at the end of his song, he stared at Haley and all creepy like sang "you're mine" which was part of the song but also seemed to be a statement. She looked a little uncomfortable about the whole thing.  I don't like discomfort.  Steven Tyler looked like he stole his outfit from a 1970's lounge singer, as well as looking incredibly bored.  hahahahahahahahaha...

So, I keep hearing all this talk about a wedding...

So, I guess there was some big royal wedding today.  Only it was in England, so it was really in the middle of the night.  The middle of the night US time, not England time.  That would be weird if they had the wedding in the middle of the night England time.  Unless the people getting married were like really heinous, then it would make sense to have a wedding under the cover of dark dark night.  Prince William isn't that great looking, but that Kate chick is sort of good looking so she must have insisted on a daytime wedding.  I guess if you get to marry a prince (of what, I'm not sure. Cause now he's also a duke.  it's all very confusing.  I can never keep track of this stuff in the fantasy books I read, either.  If you care, here's a link to all this: Crazy England Royal Family Stuff), you aren't too picky about how good looking he is.  According to legend, they met at college and dated for a while. Then they broke up for a few months and I guess Kate was all "Um, I'm pretty sure I have to rethink my standards cause I'm not doing better then the 2nd in line to the throne of England.".  So, they got back together and now they are married.  From what I can tell, she was like a commoner before the wedding, so I guess the royals are allowed to go slumming now and not just marry their cousins. No one has any respect for tradition anymore.

So, everyone is on about the Queen's dress.  She's like 150 years old, so I'm not quite sure what folks where expecting.  It seemed very spring-like and old person styled.  Exactly as I would expect.  I was not a fan of the wedding dress, but I also don't like lace, so I might be biased.  I did really like the dress her sister was wearing as Maid of Honor.  It was pretty awesome.  And I don't think anyone looks good in that Prince outfit they have to wear.

Anyway, I'm already bored with the whole Royal Wedding thing.  There has got to be something more interesting going on in the world....so I just Googled "something more interesting going on in the world" and it would seem that there is, in fact, NOTHING more interesting going on in the world.  Google would know if there was and there isn't.  So, carry on, obsessed royal wedding folks.  You aren't missing a thing about anything else.

Poison Ivy Update...

As I'm sure you are all at the edge of your seats, wondering (possibly out loud to yourselves) "what is going on with Jenn's poison ivy?".  Well, I'm here to report that it has moved on to a sort of uncomfortable crusty, dry yet blistery, rash.  Which I think is considered to be a sort of "on it's way to healing" status.  I have more yard work to do this weekend, only now I'm armed with the knowledge:

1. I know what poison ivy looks like in all it's 70 forms and disguises. That include the rare, yet always funny Poison Ivy Wearing Glasses with a Fake Nose and Mustache variety.

Poison Ivyious Discuiseous   

2. I will be wearing a hazmat suit during all gardening.

Um, that's all the knowledge I really have.  I'm not so knowledgable, I guess...

May...

Well, May is almost upon me.  It's my lease favorite month.  I'm sure I've gone over it before: My birthday, mother's day, anniversary of dad's death, mom's birthday...it's just a very emotionally arduous month.  Oh, and i have a 20k race that i'm pathetically not ready for.  But alas, it is what it is. I am going to try to kick it off in a fun way but taking a picture every day.  I've seen a few folks doing that and I think you are supposed to start at the new year, but I'm going to to start on Monday, my 34th birthday.  Good God!  34.  I was 27 when I started this thing.  I guess 7 years is not that long except my 7 year relationship with Xanga is the longest one of my life practically. Crazy!  So, a picture a day. Starting Monday. 

Jenn - Everything you see in this blog is a fact....or is it???

Scratch it till it bleeds is my new motto...

Quote of the Day: "How long is this Beta guy going to keep testing our stuff?" - Real Life Dilbert Quotes

Don't forget: Since I have to live vicariously through the adventures of others, I will be making a donation towards this (for more information visit: Pacific Crest Trail Field Guide Project) as well as following the adventure via the blog Justin and Li An's Blog: Story the Walk.  They need to raise enough money by May 12th.  I don't usually ask for donations for things via my blog (except donations of love), but I think that this is a pretty cool idea and I would like to see it come to life.  So, take a moment and just go check it out.  I'll owe you one!

Let's talk Idol...

Hmmmm...where to begin?  Last night's episode was such a mish mash, I'm not sure where to start. There was Randy dressed like a student at Hogwarts, Jennifer Lopez not wearing any pants, Stephen Tyler having an actual moment of lucidity, and duets. I suppose starting from the beginning would be the simplest way, so here I go.
Carole King night begins with, SURPRISE, the same friggin mentor we've seen every other week.  WTF.  How much did you sell your soul for, American Idol?  Just curious.  Only this week, they did another "pretend" mentor by bringing in Babyface.  Oddly enough, I recognized him on sight.  I'm wondering how many other people did.  In my house 4 out of 5 people did NOT know who he was, even after they described who he was.  Apparently, American Idol is all about resurrecting the dead.  (NOTE: Upon looking up Babyface in Wikipedia, it would seem that there is a stretch of highway in Indianapolis that has been named after him.  Interesting...)  Anyway, the best part about Babyface was the bored look he had on his not-so-baby-53-year-old-face.  I shared that look.
Moving right along, we start with Jacob. Yawn.  And then there was some more yawning.  I guess he sings alright if you are into that genre of singing, the genre being BORING.  I keep trying to imagine him on the radio and then I imagine myself changing the station tout suite.  Then there was some horrible cameo by the always angry looking Miley Cyrus.  And that Country Girl singing the theme song from Gilmore Girls (LOVED THAT SHOW). Then, I think the next thing was Ryan making the waggly eyebrows and looking sort of frog-like while insinuating that there is some sort of horrific romance going on between Casey (kids call him Evil Jesus) and Haley.  Let's focus on that for a moment.  I'm thinking that Haley secreting has some major personality issues or Casey is like some sort of sex ninja because on what planet other than scripted tv would those two end up together?  There was a mildly amusing, yet uncomfortable interview and then the two of them singing a duet.  Haley crushes Evil Jesus when it comes to singing, and the parts where they sang together sounded like ass. This moves us right along to, crap, I forget the order they sang.  All I remember is that Scotty didn't suck, James actually sounded really good and reminded me of David Cook's performances where he just sounded awesome and didn't try so hard to be a rockstar, Scotty and the Country Chick sang their duet together and per usual sounded great together.  Ryan tried to make us think there was something going on there but Scotty looked sort of disgusted by the whole idea.  Casey was just sort of meh and I'm sort of over him.  Haley is better each week.  She has to be since she always picks the dumbest songs.  Or maybe like Steven Tyler, I was distracted by her legs.  He said he heard God in her voice, but i'm thinking it wasn't her voice he was thinking about.  He's like the aweseomest dirty old man in America. Then, in the biggest surprise of the night, James and Jacob sung REALLY well together and we were all almost treated to a nationally televised Jennifer Lopez crotch shot.  The episode was altogether sort of whatever and I was actually disappointed that no one chose to sing the Locomotion.
I will say that I think this is the most evenly matched group that I've ever seen on the show.  Last year it was so obvious that Crystal and Lee were the interesting ones and everyone else was there to sing ok every so often and lose.  The year before it was so obvious that Adam Lambert was the most interesting human being on earth and that Kris was going to win because teenage girls are who vote. The year before that David and David where obvious from the beginning.  This year, no one really stands out. I feel like whoever is the worst each week is the one that's going to get booted.  There are no obvious winners in this group.  It's a race for mediocrity.
There was a commercial for X Factor and I got one glorious moment with Simon.  I treasured that moment.  


In other news...

My poison ivy still itches.  And the smell of calamine is not my favorite.  Oh, and I've totally sold out to Amazon - FYI.


Jenn - The sun came out for like 30 seconds today!!!

The one where the poison ivy tries to defeat me...

Quote of the Day: "What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter." - Real Life Dilbert Quotes

Don't forget: Since I have to live vicariously through the adventures of others, I will be making a donation towards this (for more information visit: Pacific Crest Trail Field Guide Project) as well as following the adventure via the blog Justin and Li An's Blog: Story the Walk.  They need to raise enough money by May 12th.  I don't usually ask for donations for things via my blog (except donations of love), but I think that this is a pretty cool idea and I would like to see it come to life.  So, take a moment and just go check it out.  I'll owe you one!

Treebeard keeps on growing...

So, a bunch of months ago, I threw an avocado pit into a pot of dirt and Treebeard was born.  I will never be able to plant him outside because the weather in Indiana is not ideal for such a tree, but he's doing rather well in my master bathroom.  I have to keep him in there since it's the only place safe from the evil kittens of mass destruction.  Treebeard is not quite ready to deal with them.  Here is a picture:

Treebeard, about 6 months old

He's got a few new leaves and a couple have fallen off.  I can't figure out how to get him to grow branches but he might still be too young for that.  He's got a friend growing in his pot with him, Grassbeard.  You can't see him in this picture.  As you may have guessed, Grassbeard is a blade of grass.

Poison Ivy is a serious B-I-T-C-H....

Apparently, I have decided that the misery of my cubicle is not enough for me, nor is the endless rain that seems to be falling upon Indianapolis.  At some point during my gardening the past two weekends, I decided to roll around in some poison ivy just to see how tough I really am.  Or what really happened is that I'm a total dumbass that didn't know that poison ivy looks totally different in the spring then it does in the summer months, so I just ran around all willy nilly pulling it out of the yard.  Such a horrible misstep results in this:

Right Arm (after a week of healing)

Left Arm

I'm sure it could be much worse.  My entire face could be swelled up or some other horror.  But this is my horror, so I think I'll be just as dramatic as I want about it.  IT ITCHES SO BAD!!!  I'm currently sitting at my desk with lotion on the poison ivy and my arms bandaged like a burn victim so that I can't scratch it.  I woke up last night cause i was scratching it in my sleep. Not my favorite way to wake up, I have to say.

American Idol...

It's Wednesday, which means that I will force myself to watch yet another mediocre episode of Idol.  It's Carol King week.  I don't even know who that is.  So I Google it and it's some old chick.  One of the first things I saw was "associated with James Taylor".  Not to offend all the James Taylor and Adult Contemporary fans but, oh goodie, another week of BORING.  Seriously, is Idol just running out of ideas??  The only song on the list of songs I could find that may not suck is Locomotion. As in, everybody's doing a brand new dance now.  I'm trying to picture Blinky Guy (James, yes, I learned his name) jumping around and setting things on fire to that song.  I'm not really seeing it.  I should just start writing my scathing review of the entire thing right now.  Blah blah, boring, blah blah, Jennifer Lopez's wild mane, blah blah, Steven Tyler saying inappropriate yet hilarious things, blah blah, I hate this show.  Maybe I'll be wrong.  Maybe they will totally rock out these songs and tomorrow I'll be forced to issue a public apology to Idol for ripping into it today.  I guess we shall see.

Any Ideas....

I'm currently taking suggestions for new careers.  All I've come up with are Live a Life of Leisure (which i can't afford), Supermodel (which I'm too old for), and Superhero (though I doubt Super Sarcasm and Super Obsessive Compulsiveness really count as Super Powers).

Happy Moment of the Day:  Getting the last bag of Cheetos from the vending machine.  Especially because the item behind that last bag was stupid Sun Chips.  Bleh.

Jenn - Just because I like to arrange my M&Ms by color, then eat one color at a time until I have an equal amount of each color, then eat one at a time from each color til I'm done, doesn't make me crazy!!!

Something Awesome....

Quote of the Day: "As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday, and employees will receive their cards in two weeks." - Real Life Dilbert Quotes 

This is something worthwhile...

As some of you may or may not know, i have recently developed an obsession with the outdoors.  I've always enjoyed hiking, and in the last couple of years have started taking trips to national parks to hike those trails.  I've also recently decided to hike all of Indiana while I'm here.  Nature is friend that I'm trying to get to know a bit better (even if I will NEVER see a freaking bear).  My brother has this friend, Justin, he's known since high school who is such an inspiration.  Justin is trying to raise money to fund the writing of a field guide that documents the Pacific Crest Trail.  I think that's friggin' awesome. 

Since I have to live vicariously through the adventures of others, I will be making a donation towards this (for more information visit: Pacific Crest Trail Field Guide Project) as well as following the adventure via the blog Justin and Li An's Blog: Story the Walk.  They need to raise enough money by May 12th.  I don't usually ask for donations for things via my blog (except donations of love), but I think that this is a pretty cool idea and I would like to see it come to life.  So, take a moment and just go check it out.  I'll owe you one!

Jenn - DO IT!!!!

The pitter patter of little feet...in the middle of the night...

Quote of the Day: "Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule." - Real Life Dilbert Quotes

The Joys of Children...

So, as you may or may not know, Boyfriend has 3 minions (children).  They are all boys and they are M (Age 10), E (Age almost 12), and G (Age 14).  We have them every thursday and every other weekend, plus on various alternating holidays and such.  In the year or so that I've know them, I have learned so much.  I have learned:

1. They will always find something to bang on or bang with and the louder the banging noise they can make, the happier it makes them.  I would learn how to levitate them in the air but I'm sure it would be a wasted effort because they would just bang on themselves.

2. The only time a child will start vomiting is in the middle of the night.  And they will NEVER make it to the bathroom the first (and most vomit producing) time.  They will manage to get out of bed, come downstairs, wake us up, tell us they are sick, cry a little, wait until someone gets out of bed, walk over to lay on the couch, and then just as the adult is walking over the fridge to get something to help settle the stomach, the child will jump up and make it to just outside the bathroom door before projectile vomiting all over the place.  And the hall bathroom is right outside the master bedroom, so the adult that didn't get out of bed will be trapped in the bedroom until either Moses arrives to do some parting of the Vomit Sea or the other adult has time to clean up.
 
3. Someone is always bored.  No matter what activity is going on, there will always be someone who says they are bored.  It could be the most exciting thing that anyone in the history of man could ever imagine doing and someone will still manage to be bored. 

4. 100% of the time kids will automatically, without a moment's hesitation, say NO to anything suggested to them and say they hate it, even if they have never experienced it before.  100% of the time that I say they will like something, I have to listen to them whine about it, force them to do it (or watch it in case of movies or tv), and they end up loving it. 


5. Three kids means that 90% of the time, two kids will end up liking doing or eating whatever is suggested and one will hate it.  90% of the times that one kids hates it, it's only because they other two like it.


6. Just when I am about to lock myself in the closet because they are driving me crazy, they do something funny or cute.

I made up a whining song this weekend.  And I sang it at whoever was whining at any given moment (including Boyfriend).  Right, I'm 10.  I have to do something to counteract the whine terrorists.  The song is sung to the spider man theme:

Whineypants, Whineypants,
I see you have on your whineypants.
Do they fit or are they tight?
Doesn't matter cause it isn't right,
To be a whineypaaaaaaannntttssss,
You're being a whineypants.

I find that making up taunting songs to sing at the children relieves some of the stress. :)

Jenn - Don't get me wrong...I really do love the minions!

I should really try to post more often...I could go senile any day now...

Quote of the Day:

"Asok, I need you to create a Powerpoint presentation that will save our department from being eliminated. You must quantify the unquantifiable and that can only done by a process that I call lying."  - Pointy Haired Boss
"Lying is a process?" - Asok
"It can be, if you use enough slides." - Pointy Haired Boss

- Dilbert

Every day, I think to myself, "Self (or Awesome Self), I should really blog more often so I have a chronicle of these important days of my life to look back on when I've plunged into senility."  Then, I get distracted by something shiny, and the blogging gets pushed back another day.  I'm also realizing that it's very difficult to become a blogging sensation, known across the globe, if there is not actual blogging going on.  I'm not soooo full of myself as to believe that I, as an individual, will somehow magically become a sensation, known across the globe, simply for hanging out in my cubicle at work.  That would be ridiculous.  Totally friggin awesome, but ridiculous.  So, today, I blog.

First things First...

It's Thursday.  That means that the only thing there is worth discussing first is...American Idol.  About a month ago, I posted my letter to American Idol wherein I informed American Idol that I was unhappy in our relationship and was looking for things to change.  So far...meh.  I guess they have totally given up on the idea of mentors.  Will.I.Am showed up for a couple of episodes, but I think he just happened to be in the studio.  It didn't seem like it was planned at all.  It's just sort of annoying that it's the same dude week after week. Also, the contestants are really not getting any less boring.  Some of them try, at least, to not make me sleepy, but they really just have so little pizazz.  Perhaps Adam Lambert has ruined Idol for me.  Perhaps the absense of Simon just makes the gaping hole in my soul larger and larger each week.  I don't know.  

I will, however, give credit where credit is due and state for the record that last night's episode was FUNNY.  Most of the contestants sang off key, but they did try to kick it up a bit in the area of theatrics.  I just still don't understand what they are thinking when it comes to song choice.  Do they even listen to music?  They had their choice of songs from the last 11 years of music and those are the best they could come up with?  Meh.  Like that 16 year old girl who looks 40 (Country Singer Girl) has a pretty awesome voice but she keeps picking shit songs to sing.  And Country Singer Kid has that awesome deep voice and does country well, but it's the same EVERY WEEK.  I'm bored now.

The Great Smokey (Bearless) Mountains...

For spring break this year, we took the minions to Great Smokey Mountains National Park for a week of camping, hiking, (and even an attempt at fishing with Grandpa Rowe).  We did some good hiking.  I got to scramble up to the top of Chimney Top which was neat.  I also learned that I can go at least 4 days without a shower and pee in the woods.  Overall it was a lovely trip and I may even get around to posting some pictures on Facebook one of these days.  

Except, I did not see a single bear.  WTF?!?! I chose that place specifically for the bears!  Everyone and their mother was all "oh, yeah, we just saw a bear, you haven't?"  Not that I'm bitter.  Actually, we barely saw any signs of wildlife.  Considering the park is overrun with wild hogs, I thought I'd at least get to see one of those.  But, nooooo, I got to see a few centipedes, a squirrel, like 5 birds, and 3 snails chilling out on a pile of pooh.  Arg.

Camping did get me excited for the weather getting nice enough to get back to one of my very favorite activities...Hiking.

Hiking in Indiana...Why Not?

 Don't try to look inside the book.

That was just part of the picture when I snagged it from Amazon's website.

I plan on hiking all of the 71 (I'm currently on Number 1) trails listed in the book above in the next couple of years.  Why?  Honestly, there's not much else to do here.  I'm still trying to figure out where that waterfall on the cover is from so i can go there soon. Unless it's not a waterfall but really just some water flowing off a foot of rocks photographed using the same fancy tricks that make Hagrid appear 10 feet tall. That would really piss me off.

This weekend: #32 Turkey Run State Park

The Trek of Indiana Begins!!! 

Jenn - I should probably get some work done.

Dear American Idol...

Dear American Idol,

This season stinks.  I'm not sure what made you think that Idol could carry on without Simon Cowell, but I'm pretty sure he's laughing his ass off somewhere.  Randy is a nice guy and all but he's no Simon.  Having him sit in that chair is almost offensive.  I'll give him credit for the fact that he's a little more brutal this year, but it's the equivalent of saying that a fluffy baby bunny is feeling naughty.  Steven Tyler is doing a great Paula Abdul drag queen impression, but I only notice when I can get past the horrific outfits and understand his slurred speech.  True, years of watching the train wreck we all love, Paula, slur her way into our hearts prepared us to speak Tyler's language, but it's just not the same.  I used to love Steven Tyler and now he sort of just reminds me of a washed up singer, trying to attract a new generation of fans.  Sort of like watching David Hasselhoff on America's Got Talent.  Speaking of washed up has been singers, why the eff did you have to bring Jennifer Lopez onto the show?  Seriously, J Lo? Besides the fact that her wild mane of hair is overwhelming to look at and she seems to share the same wardrobe with Steven, she's just friggin' annoying.  God forbid Randy have an opinion that differs from hers.  I thought she would scratch his eyeballs out the other night.  And not in the cute "Paula/Simon love/hate bickering" way, but more in an "I'm Jenny from the ghetto block and I'll smack your ass back to Journey and the year 1985 if you don't start agreeing with my every thought cause i'm scary and my hair will block you from the camera" kind of way.  It's awful.  All the while, poor Ryan has got to be crying himself to sleep each night to get through this season.  Without Simon, it's like Ernie with no Burt, a Leprechaun with no Rainbow, Dorothy with no Toto...I think you get the point.  It's depressing.

And then there's the contestants...

THIS IS ALLYOU COULD FIND????  Seriously? Were your judges all having a continuous moment of insanity during the entire audition process?  Is it possible that the process is flawed?  Is it possible that they are all tone deaf?  Why did you change up the entire format of how things work after Hollywood week?  Fine. I don't get to choose from 36 trainwrecks for 10 weeks before getting to the top 12.  Whatevs.  But it's like every single person you found had never watched the show before.  It's like every single one of Simon's nightmares, one after another.  Boring, old-fashioned, karaoke, redundant, trying to sing songs that are WAY too big (i.e. Mariah, Whitney, Christina, Micheal, etc.  The untouchables), pitchy, unoriginal, spastic, screechy, the list goes on and on.  I've never fast forwarded through so much singing.  Even the good singers have been picking such boring songs, i can't take it.  If I have to hear another ballad, I'm going to vomit.  I can't even pick a winner because i sort of hate them all.  When my favorite guy is a friggin COUNTRY SINGER, all hope is lost.  I hate country music.  It all sounds the same to me.  And yet, the only one that hasn't made me want to destroy my eardrums is that country singer kid.  But yet, i still care so little this season that I haven't bothered to learn his name.  Last year, I knew Lee's name.  The year before I knew Adam's name after the first week i saw him sing.  The year before that David Cook had me at Hello.  This year, I couldn't name one contestant or tell you what they have sang.  I just know them as the Country Singer Kid, the Country Singer Girl, the Red Headed dude (who tried to be interesting but sort of freaks me out), the Blinky Rocker, the Twitchy Rod Stewart/Bradley Cooper Baby, the Annoying MySpace Chick, the 15-Year Old, Alicia Keys Light, the Pretty Girl with the Annoying North Jersey Accent, The Blond with the Tight Pants/Skirts, Jersey Shore Dude, the Gay Dude.  My guess is that this week will be the end for the Blond with the Tight Pants or Alicia Keys Light.  Whatevs, they both suck.  Your show is terrible.  And when are you going to bring in better role models or whatever you call them?  The music producers are getting boring and they are not helping these people at all. Have you run out of people who are willing to deal in mediocrity?  I wouldn't be at all surprised...

American Idol, I think it's almost time for us to end our relationship.  We've both changed over the years and I think we just want different things.  You want to suck the soul out of people and I want to hear good singers.  I guess that's just the way it is.  So, only because I have trouble letting go, I may stick around for the abuse until the end of this season.  But if things don't improve, I'm sorry, but it will be over between us.  This is not an ultimatum, it's just a fact.  I can only take so much before I can't take anymore.

Thanks for the memories (good and bad),

Jenn

The Flight of the Bumble Bee

I want to be a bumble bee...

I’m reading a triathlon training book right now.  The author talks about the bumble bee and how NASA scientists have concluded, after much study, that science shows that bumble bees can’t fly.  Their wings cannot support their furry round bodies.  Yet, the memo never made it to the bumble bee because they continue to fly around, pollinating their little furry butts off.  The point of the bumble bee story is to show how believing that you can do something is more important than what people say you cannot do.  Or something like that, I guess, since the NASA folks couldn’t actually say to the bumble bees of the world “Um, you defy physics and are therefore an impossibility. Please stop flying now.” And it’s not like they did say that and then the bumble bees ignored the naysayers and proved them wrong with their perseverance and determination and sheer will.  But I think the point is that the bumble bees believe they can fly, so they just do.  Although, how much do bumble bees really sit around thinking about and believing in themselves? I imagine not that much.  But I digress…

I do want to be like the bumble bee, though, and just do things without thinking about how hard or impossible they might be.  It’s a tough thing to do.  There are so many things that I would like to do but they all feel so out of my reach. 

When I was young, I didn’t imagine myself sitting in a cubicle, surrounded by oatmeal colored walls.  I didn’t imagine that I would read Dilbert cartoons and think “Holy Crud, that is SO true.” Yet, here I am.  I work in a cubicle, I spin my wheels, I explain the same thing over and over.  I’m bored all the time.  And always, I am a round peg trying to shove myself through a square hole.  When I was young, I didn’t not imagine myself sitting in a cubicle, but I guess I didn’t really imagine myself doing anything because I didn’t think I would make it to adulthood.  When I made it to adulthood, I was so relieved to be away from home, I spent my time just getting by.  I found something that I didn’t suck at (computers) and I sort of wandered down a path.  It didn’t occur to me that the path would lead to anywhere specific and that’s where I would have to stay.  And always, I want to change my path, but I don’t know how to or where to start.  Mostly, because I don’t know what other path I might like to try.  How many paths do I get in life?

 I’m in my early (almost mid) 30s now and I’m finally starting to really consider my future.  I feel like I’ve finally made it past levels two and three on that stupid Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid that has so been the bane of my existence thus far.  I suppose I will be around for a while, so I really should decide what it is that is important to me and what it is I want to spend my time focusing on.  I feel like so much of my time is wasted.  I suppose we can’t all have terribly important lives that are filled with great meaning.  I think I can be ok with the fact that I will not make some great impact on the world.  But I would like to have some impact on my own world and feel like I am accomplishing something that I don’t hate.  I have to decide on some goals and focus on developing a plan to accomplish those goals and then really make an effort to execute those plans towards success.  Except, I have no idea what sort of goals I want to accomplish that are more fulfilling than the goal to watch all three High School Musicals this weekend (which I’ve totally accomplished, btw).  So, how do I get focused?  What am I good at?  I don’t know.  I’m good at watching TV and knowing every movie and actor and actress.  But that’s not really a skill.   
I’ve made some big lifestyle changes in the past year or so.  I quit smoking for real. I haven’t smoked in over a year.  I never thought I would be able to do that.  I guess I had a bumble bee moment.  I started running and exercising.  I can run a couple miles in a row now, so I guess that’s a new accomplishment.   I have come to realize, though, that I need a real goal when it comes to exercise.  A focus.  Just doing it for the sake of doing it doesn’t really drive me.  I need a prize or accomplishment to work towards.  I have the mini in May to work towards but I’m starting to feel like I need to really start to be more focused towards it or I won’t take it seriously.  I want to try triathlon.  I have to keep telling myself that just because I can’t swim or bike, that I shouldn’t get discouraged.  I can learn.  Can I?  I hope so.

So, I’m trying to identify some goals.  What’s my ultimate goal? Is it Iron Man?  I suppose if I could do that I would feel like I could pretty much do anything.  My problem is that I don’t like doing things that I’m not good at doing.  Like, um, running, biking, swimming.  I know I’ll never be like a Lance or Tiger.  But maybe I could be a David Wells?  He was like a normal dude who occasionally did extraordinary things.  I think I’d like to be that one day.  A girl who spent 17 years smoking and just sitting around, then decided one day to get off her arse and be an athlete.  That sounds like a good story one day.

Do I start a training blog?  Will that help me be accountable for my training?  Who would read it? Does it matter if it gets read?  Maybe.  I feel like I can’t do something if it’s just for myself.  I’m not that motivated as a person. But if I blogged about it, I would feel like there were people watching and waiting to see what happens.  Really?  Who’s watching me or waiting for me?  That sounds a bit egotistical.  Apparently, I have a huge ego.  Who knew?


Right now, I haven’t worked out a training plan just yet.  I try to work out with weights and running and swimming like 8-10 times a week.  We just got a trainer to kick our butts once a week.  We start riding soon, too.  I’ll have a plan put together sometime this week, I guess. For now, I suppose triathlon is my short term goal.  And not loosing all my money in the stock market.  But that’s a whole different animal.

I guess we’ll see how it goes. 

Today, I am a bumble bee.

Jenn - What are you going to be?

I keep trying to blog and then I get distracted...

Quote of the Day: "Chuck Norris died once, but no one was brave enough to tell him." - Chuck Norris Facts

Since last we met...

The following this have happened:

1. Christmas with Boyfriend and the Minions: That was fun.  They got a tree that was ridiculously huge.  They got a good laugh out of it when I saw it.  It was redonkulous.  But I loved it and we all had a great holiday.
2. New Year's: Bring on the prime number new year!  There's nothing I like more than a prime number!!!
3. We went on a cruise:  I'm not sure why we returned.  We went on a five day cruise in the warm Caribbean. Boyfriend started to crunch the numbers to determine if we could afford to sell our house and live aboard a cruise ship.  Crazy!  I wouldn't hate it, though.  One of these days I might even get around to posting some pictures on Facebook (If you want to be my friend on Facebook, sent me a message and I'll send you the link).
4. I've worked like a machine:  OMG!!! Remember the days of goofing off at the office?  The days when I would write lengthy blogs about nothing because I had all this spare time?  Well those days are DEAD!!!  I worked so much in December, I banked two extra weeks of vacation time.  And January/Feb has been better but not by much.  It's ridiculous.  I'm practically crouched under my desk right now, hiding out so that I can bust this blog out.  OMG...I think someone just saw me!!!
   
5. I ran a 5k race in 30:54!!!  That's my best time.  Some of you may be thinking "Jenn, that's barely faster than walking".  Well, unless you walk 6mph, it's not!  I may not be super fast, but i ran 3.12 miles straight and that's a pretty big deal for me.  Lest we all forget, I only quit smoking a little over a year ago.  So, I will pat myself on the back, once again, for a job well done.
6. I'm developing muscles:  Not like huge body builder muscles, but we've been doing this Chalean Extreme workout series for the past two months and it's starting to show me some results.  Besides my ass muscles hurting and an inability to lift my arms, I'm seeing some other differences.  I've got shoulder muscles, like all different ones, that appear randomly during various activities.  And I can sit up straight for more then 10 seconds.  And it would appear that I am actually 5 foot 7 inches and not 5 foot 5 inches as my horrific posture used to trick me into thinking.  I may even loose that Notre Dame like hunch from my back if I keep this up.  Plus, all the lunges and squats have made my legs stronger so now i can run farther and get less tired. Which may or may not be a good thing. 
7. Jurassic Ice:  There was an ice storm a few weeks back that left like a 6inch layer of ice on Indiana.  All I'm saying is that it was the closest thing any us will ever come to seeing Hell freeze over.  It's been two weeks and the ice finally melted like yesterday. 
8. Taking the Minions Snowboarding:  So, even though God has decided to forsake me but attempting to thwart the one winter activity I wanted to do with sudden 60 degree weather, we are taking the minions snowboarding this weekend.  And the hotel we are staying at is a water park.  I imagine there will be a lot of photos and video of me falling on my arse this weekend.  Or I'll break my leg.  Which would get me out of all this darn running.  Which I'm not seeing as a negative...
9.  Fruits and Veggies:  Has anyone ever actually tried to eat all the fruits and veggies that you are supposed to eat in a day?  It's freaking hard!  I know this because I try really hard.  I think I've actually blogged about this before, but it's so hard, that I'm repeating myself. 
10. I don't really have anything to report here, but those of you who know me know I can't stop a list at 9.  Plus, I was feeling sort of sorry for myself that I had so little to report.

Jenn - I gotta catch up on some blogs...lots of reading to do!

Remember the good old days...

Quote of the Day: "I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman where the Self Help section was. She said if she told me it would defeat the purpose." - Dennis Miller


Once Upon a Time...
I used to have all this time at work to do nothing but blog and surf the interwebs and be a generally happy person.  Sure, I was always afraid that they would realize that I was more or less adding no value to the company other than Quote of the Day on my whiteboard and the occasional overly dramatic story telling.  But, I was at peace with that.  It was a care-free life and I was content.  Ok, I was sort of bored.  I'll admit that.
Now, however, I want to tear my hair out on a regular basis.  I went from like 1 small project to 10 projects.  A couple of big ones with ridiculous timelines, and a bunch of small ones that I can barely keep track of these days.  And now I feel like I never have the time to write anything and really all I want to do is write blogs about random stuff and pretty much be empty headed.  I never get to reach  my goals...

Thanksgiving...
So, I went with Boyfriend and the kids to visit his family in upstate New York.  In total, there were 6 boys between the ages of 10-14 present.  I've discovered that they way to win the awe and respect of boys in that age group is to do something the consider gross.  So, I ate the heart of the Thanksgiving turkey.  Not, like, while it was still beating or anything.  It was completely cooked.  I also discovered that some children will do anything for an extra piece of chocolate.  I offered up my chocolate turkey to any child that dared try a piece of the turkey liver.  I got three volunteers.  Two of which were boyfriend's kids and they hardly like anything at all.  Like, they don't even eat potatoes. Potatoes!!! Who doesn't eat potatoes ("mash 'em, boil 'em, put 'em in a stew," said Samwise!)???  Boyfriend's kids, that's who.  So anyway, I secured a couple of more chocolate turkeys so that everyone who participated in the challenge could have their proper reward.  I divided up the turkey liver and handed it out to the three boys.  I, along with everyone else at the Thanksgiving Dinner table, got a good amount of entertainment out of the whole thing.  I didn't realize watching children choke down food on a dare that they find gross would be so amusing.  G, Boyfriend's 14-year-old, went first.  OMG.  He put the whole piece in his mouth and starts chewing.  Then, he sort of starts gagging.  Not in an "I'm choking" kind of way, but more in an "OMG THIS IS DISCUSTING" kind of way.  He turns bright red, and runs into the kitchen for a glass of water.  I was laughing so hard.  Next, C, the 10-year-old cousin, takes his turn and pops the whole thing in his mouth.  I guess he didn't learn from G's mistakes.  Well, that kid is just funny.  He's much more verbal and dramatic than G.  He turns almost scarlet, and tells us how awful it is and how it's stuck in his braces.  Even after he was finished, every few moments he would be like "AHHHH!!! It's stuck in between my molars in the space for my grown-up one to come in!! I can't get it out!! It's like re-living it over and over!!".  I nearly peed myself.  Finally, after watching the first two, M, Boyfriend's 10-year-old, starts nibbling on his.  He ate it slowly and carefully, making sure to have lemonade at the ready.  He got the whole thing down, looks at the other two and says "that wasn't so bad".  I LOVE IT.  Smart kid, that one.  All in all, it was all very amusing.

I Heart Bill Simmons...
I don't read as much about sports as I used to.  A long long time ago, in a land far far away, there was a young Jenn who avidly read every sports-related article she could.  And then, Jenn got older, and nerdier, and slowly the sports reading slipped away, only to be a fond memory.  Every once in a while, though, I will revisit that younger, sportier version of myself, I catch up with some sports writers.  One of my absolute favorites is Bill Simmons.  He writes for ESPN.com Page 2 and he's absolutely hysteridonculous.  My brother sent me the link to his latest article, and I nearly fell out of my seat giggling.  Check it out: The Color Purple.  Anyone who's a sports fan, or a fan of anything, and is trying to get their children to follow in those footsteps should read this article.  It's great.

Books on Tape (or MP3, I guess)...
I've recently become obsessed with audio books.  I've visited them from time to time (it was the only way I could rationalize wasting anytime on the Twilight Series) but lately, I've been listening to some awesome ones.  Boyfriend and I have been foregoing tv the past week and instead have listened to Ender's Game at bedtime.  It's got a full cast doing the reading and it's just great.  On my own time, I've been listening to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  I LOVE IT.  I've read all the books myself, but I've been meaning to re-read them all lately, but don't really have the time.  Listening to them allows me to enjoy them while in the car, making dinner, cleaning, whatever...The man who reads them is just fantastic.  I look forward to having him read me all the Harry Potter books.

Jenn -Just want to get something out there...

Smokey the Bear says...Only you can prevent setting your garage on fire...

Quote of the Day: "60% of the time, it works all the time..." - Anchorman

Running is officially more hazardous to my health then smoking...
As you may or may not know, i ran a 20k race last Saturday.  I finished in 2:25:04.  The full marathon winners blew by me at (my) mile 12, (their) mile 25.  I cheered for them since they are impressive.  They didn't even look like they had broken a sweat, meanwhile, i was limping along, begging boyfriend to let me sit on the curb and amputate my legs.  Graceful is not in my vocabulary.
Fortunately, Boyfriend made me suck it up, I finished the race, got my chocolate milk and shiny finisher medal.  I felt pretty good about that.  What I did not feel good about was the pain in my left foot.  My legs were sore (by "sore", I mean "felt like every muscle fiber had died a slow torturous death") but my foot HURT.  It had been hurting whenever I walked or ran for the past couple of weeks but I assumed that was because it was supposed to hurt.  All the exercise that i've been doing for the past year has caused pain in part or all of my body, so I figured that was just part of the price I pay for greatness.  okay, mediocrityness. But apparently, it's not supposed to hurt as much as I thought.  I stress fractured my left foot.  Fun.  6 weeks of no running (darn).  I can swim, though, and Boyfriend is not letting me off the hook that easily.  He's such a slave driver!

Lessons Learned While Working from Home...
Since we have all this wood to burn in the fireplace (from the trees that got cut down), I've been having a cozy little fire going most of the time I'm home.  Including last week, when it was like 70 degrees out everyday and I was working from my kitchen table.  I burn so much that the embers never really have a chance to die down.  I learned this the HARD WAY.  Well, the almost really hard way.  More like the Medium Way.  I clean out the fireplace each time before I start another fire.  All I have to put the ash in are paper grocery bags.  I had filled one up, so I placed it in the garage to be put out with the garbage.  Fast forward a couple hours later...I smelled smoke.  But it was different smoke than the kind going up the chimney from the fireplace.  I have a sensitive sense of smell I guess.  I hobbled over to the door leading into the garage and *cough* *cough*.  There was a little smoke.  I opened up the garage door to let the smoke out.  On the ground where the paper bad of ash had been was a smoking pile of ashes.  I grabbed the hose and washed it all away.  Apparently, there were still some hidden embers that slowly smoldered in the ash and then smoldered the grocery bag.  It wasn't really a fire but I'm glad that Boyfriend wasn't around, because I'm sure he would have enjoyed giving me a hard time for "almost burning down the house".  He's very dramatic.  So, Lesson Learned #1: Do not put fireplace ash into a paper bag unless 100% sure there are no hidden embers waiting to ignite the bag.

My dog doesn't make a sound all day.  Unless I am on a phone call.  And I'm the one talking so I'm not on mute.  Lesson Learned #2: My dog loves being disruptive during important phone calls.

I just installed a new touch sensor kitchen faucet.  Besides wanting to marry it and have it's perfect little babies, it also provides me with entertainment.  My girl kitten, Lucy, no longer finds the water pistol to be a threat.  She waits until you squirt her from close range, then smacks the pistol.  This is making it difficult to keep her off the counters.  One day, while i was home working last week, she got up on the counter and accidentally touched the faucet with her face.  The water came on and scared the hell out of her!  She jumped right off the counter.  It was kind of hysterical.  Lesson Learned #3: My kitten is fearless in the face of everything, except touch sensitive water faucets.  Ha!

So, now I'm back at the office and I'd much rather be at home.  Wearing a shoe on my hurt foot is not comfortable at all and everything is really far away. 

Jenn - No races for a while...

Feeling kinda lazy about work today...soo....

Quote of the Day: The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." - Bill Watterson, Creator Calvin and Hobbes

Just a bunch of Random Thoughts...

- This morning, on my way to work, I noticed a gaggle of Canadian Geese building a tent city in a field next to work.  I HATE Canadian Geese.  They are ugly, not at all graceful, the have a blood lust gleam in their eyes and blood covered fangs (no one ever believes me about this, but it's true!).  They do that weird sideways "I can see you coming towards me but will not look directly at you as I creepily walk away" walk.  My dog eats their poop every chance she gets which is both gross and annoying.  I just find them to be a generally worthless bird that I'm not allowed to kick because they are protected or something.  Plus, I'm pretty sure if one came at me and I did try to kick it, it would grab my foot with it's claws and ninja flip me onto my back so it could peck my eyes out.  *shudders* stupid creepy geese.

- As a child, I used to walk to/from school every day.  It was about a mile and no matter what the weather, I was walking.  This means that in the freezing cold, rain, snow, whatever, I was walking.  And I did it every day.  Now, I find that I'm annoyed if I have to park 10 feet further away when it's cold.  In my defense, the parking lot at my work is REALLY far from the entrance.  Like .2 miles or something crazy.  But still, I don't know what's happened to me that I could manage a 15-20 minute walk in all sorts of conditions twice a day for the majority of my younger years and now I'm pissed if I have to spend an extra 10 seconds outside when it's cold.  I've become a wuss.  I really do hate the cold, though.

- A few weeks ago, we had to have a few trees cut down. One was dead, one was banging against the house, one was an accident by the tree-cutters.  You may or may not recall.  Well, all those trees were lying around our yard because we decided to keep them for firewood.  We had the kids last weekend and it was the first time since I've known the minions that I've been able to find something that all three boys like to do.  Chop wood.  Boyfriend "supervised" to ensure no one cut a limb off on accident.  The ax/sledge hammer was almost as big as M, the 10-year-old, but they all took turns cutting up wood.  All weekend.  It was awesome.  They were out there like 10 hours over the course of Saturday/Sunday.  It took them each like 20-30 minutes just to get one log chopped up into usable sized wood.  There was a lot of ax bouncing off the wood chops.  But they were very proud of themselves and their giant "man muscles".  G, the 14-year-old, who I didn't think I would ever convince to put down Halo and go outside was all about chopping wood.  They come over today and I wouldn't be surprised if he offered to chop some more today.  Unless their mom tells them they are not allowed.  She likes to do that.  Every time the really seem to enjoy some activity at our house, she finds some reason to tell them why they can't do it anymore.  And they are all such tattletales and I guess fear her wrath that they listen.  So, we shall see.

- Boyfriend and I watched a movie on Netfix Sunday night called Gamer.  It's about the future and how this guy invents a way to implant nanochips or whatever in people's brains so that they can be controlled by other people in video games.  His first invention was a Sim City sort of game with people being paid to be the characters and other people paying to control them.  The second game (and the purpose of the movie) is a Call of Duty type shooter where death row inmates are the players being controlled and if whoever is paying to control them gets them through 30 battles alive, they get to go free.  It has Gerard Butler (300), so I was like "aw, yeah, i'm totally watching this!".  So, it's VIOLENT.  Imagine Call of Duty with real people getting killed and Percy Jackson (Logan Lerham) controlling Gerard Butler's character who's trying to get through this alive.  There's more to it, but you get the idea.  Now getting to why I brought this up.  The wife of Gerard Butler's character is one of the people who gets paid to be a real life SIM character.  Only it's like deviant SIM where the people controlling the characters just basically dress them whorishly and everyone is doing it.  And the guy controlling the wife is GROSS.  He's a GIANT fat guy who is shown naked (well, you don't see his man parts, but I'm assuming that he's naked) and sweaty and like really into making this chick do degrading stuff.  Now getting to why I brought  you all here.  I want to know what the casting call for that part is?  "Obscenely obese, sweaty male pervert needed for role as disgusting degenerate in upcoming hollywood film"?  And WHO ANSWERS THAT CALL?!?!  Like, this dude is so desperate to break into the movie business and he's so ginormously giant and he knows this is his one big break?  I looked it up.  He's played fat men before.  I would think that at some point in your acting career, if you are only able to answer casting calls for roles like "fat guy", "Eating champion", or "degenerate sweaty fat guy in electric chair playing video games" maybe it's time to shed a few pounds.  Yeah, no one ever said I was a nice person.

- In Indianapolis' continuing effort to bring back 80's/90's music and one-hit-wonders, All 4 Love by Color Me Badd (with 2 ds so as to let you know that they are really really bad) was on the radio a few mornings ago.  That's right.  Color. Me. Frickin'. Badd.  It was during that song that I realized that my memories are 100% dependent on music.  I have almost no recollection of my childhood or teen years.  I was looking through my old yearbooks the other day and there was a picture of me with some girls from school at my mom's house (i did recognize the heinous chair and bookshelf covered in crap) but I had NO recollection of those girls ever being at my house or why they would be there.  That's a little scary.  This happens to me most of the time.  I look at a picture and I realize I must have been there because I'm in the picture but I will have no recall of where the picture was taken (without obvious clues like my mother's ugly chair) or what I was doing at the time the picture was taken.  But the minute stupid Color Me Badd comes on, I am immediately back in 8th grade, hanging out with Michelle, Sherri, Kerri and Lisa.  It's so freaking weird.  This has led me to the conclusion that for whatever reason, my memories are linked to music and if no music was playing at the time that something is happening, it will be like it never happened in my mind.  Thank god Marisa, Kate, and Judy used to force me to listen to that crappy oldies station every Saturday night when they came over or else I would have no memory of high school.  So now I just have to play music 24/7 so that I can remember my 30's.  My 20's weren't that great so losing them won't be too sad for me.  Nuts.

-  Well, my race is on Saturday.  It's going to be cold.  I'm a bit nervous.  I was sick last week and my left arch and ankle have been hurting quite a bit for the last couple of weeks, so I haven't really been running that much.  I'm sure I'll get through it but I'm also afraid that I might do some actual damage to the ankle.  I ran a little the other day and after the first mile, the ankle didn't hurt as much, so i'm hoping that it will get to feeling better as I run.  I guess we'll see.  I plan on going to bed at like 7pm tomorrow night because I have to get up ass early on Saturday to go run in the cold.  Sweet.

Well, that's all I've got for now.  I need to drink this giant Cherry Coke so that I don't fall asleep right now and I have loads of work to do before the day is done.

- Jenn...Some days there is neither rhyme nor reason...