Unexpected Adventures

On our way to a Brewers game last Sunday (to get our free Prince Fielder bobbleheads since he's Anne's MLP boyfriend), Anne, Matt, DS and I stopped at a gas station. We thought it was an innocent bathroom break, but we were wrong. They had a zoo. At the gas station.

Anne loved their plastic horse. I very much wanted to ride it, but a sign said it would bite me.

I didn't know it at the time, but Anna has an obsession with "mini" things. Good thing that chalk sign pointed it out to us.

These are apparently Indian running ducks. They ran towards us, and Anne freaked out. It was time to leave the zoo.

Until I caught sight of these... At which point I screamed, "Holy Shit! Bunnies!" and took off running. This provided no end of amusement for everyone else.

We got the game early to make sure we had plenty of time to tailgate. We were thoroughly prepared, complete with Anne's famous burgers. ...Except we forgot a spatula. Luckily, these nice young boys were suckers for my homemade cookies, and agreed to share.

Matt is an expert burger flipper.

Also, he was very proud of Ruby at this point, when she was a beer shrine and cookie holder.

DS was most excited to see Dontrell Willis pitch. This is apparently a crazy wind up move, and the boys were impressed.

No Brewers game is complete without the wiener race. Sometimes, like on this day, they have mini-wieners do relay with the regulars. I rooted for the bratwurst and lost.

While everyone else keeps quoting my "holy shit bunnies" thing, my favorite moment was when Anne kept pointing out wildlife off the freeway on the way there. First, she saw a deer. Then, she thought she saw another one, but as DS was kind enough to point out, it was a turkey. At which point Matt states, "I mean really, what is a turkey but a deer with wings?"

Classic.

Jesse can party like an 8 year old

This past Saturday, Jesse celebrated his birthday at a local park. You can't keep me away from a party that involves a swing set.

Being the birthday boy, he came in this totally sweet brown suit. Check out his little handheld keg. That thing we're on? Some sort of new fangled teeter totter. People hung from the handles in the middle while Jesse and I flung them around.

Everyone called this the puke bucket. It's like a one person merry go round, except you don't have to have someone with a power leg pushing it around in circles. Gentle movements can have you spinning super fast! No one loves to spin more than I do.

What's an 8 year old's party without a sack race?

I didn't do very well. In fact I didn't even finish. But it was hilarious, and the course was designed to go around trees and through sand. Jesse and Ben are merciless.

There was plenty of food and beer, including grilled hot dogs. I don't know why I love grilled hot dogs. Most meat creeps me out.

You really couldn't have asked for better weather.

Later that night, a homemade slip and slide was revealed. There was no hose. Instead, buckets of soapy water were thrown on some plastic. I didn't think it would work, but then, no one told me soap was involved. Here you can see DS and Jesse glistening after a go of it.

This pictures cracks me up. DS looks just like one of those kids in a real slip n slide commercial. I was slightly embarrassed that he stripped down to his underwear, but was able to have a chuckle when he later asked if we could go home and get him dry underwear. It looked like he'd wet his pants all night.

The moral of this story? If Jesse invites you to a party, you should go. Other activities including an egg and spoon race, an egg toss, and a pinata. Totally sweet stuff.

Boo!! This sucks.

So, I've been scarce here lately. Part of that has been because I never seem to have two minutes to myself anymore, much less a few for blogging. But a bigger part of that has been because I've been battling depression. It's a strange thing, depression. It sneaks up on you, and before you know it, you're drowning in your own self pity and not even your closest friends can pull you out of it. Everything people say becomes some kind of code that translates into you not being good enough. There's a small part of my brain that is still functioning enough to know that that's ridiculous, but not enough to convince the rest of it to stop crying over it all the time.

I feel slightly better than I did two weeks ago, though still not great. It's much less of an all consuming sadness, and more of being happy most of the time spiked with bouts of tears. The worst part about it is watching my friends tiptoe around me like I'm diseased or something, because they know as well as I that any little thing could set me off. When I called the doctor, the receptionist asked what the appointment was for, and then started whispering for the rest of the conversation. It's humiliating, and it doesn't matter how much logic tells me it's just another disease, I still feel dumb and worthless that I can't deal with this on my own.

Alright, so there you have it. I don't need reassurance from people that I'll be okay, but I'm probably not your best bet if you need a shoulder to cry on either. And updates may be sketchy. Though I did have a great weekend, and photos will come soon. Just kinda felt like being honest today...

The U.S. Passport Agency can suck it. That's all I have to say.

Just for Janelle

5 Reasons why I blog:

1. DS was doing it, and I'm not one to be outdone.
2. I like attention.
3. I don't call people, so this way you can keep up with me.
4. I like to think I'm funny. But it's okay that I'm the only one laughing.
5. I have stranger danger, and this lets me talk to people without talking to people. I have more friends online than in real life now....
   

Memorial Day Fun

Every year, Madison hosts something called Brat Fest. It is the largest in the world. We hold the World Record for most brats served in a single event or weekend or whatever. I had never been, so DS made sure I had a Brat Fest experience this time around.

I'm not really a brat eater, but I love the shirts that go with the festival. I was content to and get a hot dog, and then a shirt. However, DS said I can't wear a brat shirt without eating a brat, so I did. And then they were out of shirts... Jerks. I did get to touch the wiener mobile though. That was pretty cool.

Afterwards, DS took me to a park to fly my new kite, which I've named Sammy. He's a colorful lizard, with a VERY long tail. Whenever he started to fall, I yelled "Sammy! Stop it!" It only helped some of the time. Sammy is a disobedient lizard.

In case you're wondering, I was flying my kite in the exact same spot that DS and I went ice skating in this winter. I could have sworn that would be a pond, but it appears I was mistaken.

Booze Cruise

On Saturday, I went to Milwaukee for a brewery tour conducted by boat. Also known as a Booze Cruise. (Well, maybe not, but it makes me laugh.)

The first brewery was called the Rock Bottom, where I had some Naughty Scot Scotch Ale. The brewer told us how he made beer, but all I heard was when Lisa looked at these and said "That looks like SCIENCE." This picture is hereby called SCIENCE.

This was just after the first brewery (which means 2 beers into the day). Granted, they were 7.0 abv, but still. I knew we were going to have a fun time.

Lisa very much liked this giant beer.

I believe this is the third brewery. I can say with much certainty that I was drunk by this point. However, I did recognize that the river was fogging, and since low lying fog is one of my favorite things in the world, this picture was taken. I don't know if you can tell, but my pants were also completely soaked from jumping in a puddle at the second brewery.

I don't remember this at all, but I can tell you this is Ben, and we're in the back seat of Ruby, Matt's car. Also, this had to have been after Lisa missed the boat because to her, "hey we need to go, the boat is leaving" meant "run and get another beer."

Afterwards we went back to Leon's for custard. Actually, that was the second time we got custard that day. Look how happy Matt looks. That's cause I hooked him up with Anne. I'm awesome that way.

So, Booze Cruise = 5 stars. Also, everyone on this excursion will be with me when I go to Austin in September for Austin City Limits. That means ACL also has the potential to = 5 stars. Rock on.

Seattle's not bad

I had to go to Seattle for work a little while ago. Here are some random observations.

Despite feeling colder than Madison, it was much much more green. I only found out after I was there that some people call it the Emerald City, though apparently the locals do NOT.

I was disappointed to find out that Pike's market is nowhere near the window of any hospital, and therefore could not possibly be viewed while people are getting into the elevator at Seattle Grace Hospital.

The market then redeemed itself by having the most amazing collection of Fiesta ware I've EVER seen. This was only a small portion. It was breathtaking.

The Seattle Art Museum teased me by being closed the day I went because they were getting ready for a 36 hour grand re-opening the next day in celebration of their new wing. Jerks.

The public library by Rem Koolhas was interesting inside during the day. At night, it was simply mesmerizing.

The pier was pretty cool, minus all the homeless people missing limbs, each of whom had a pet dog of some sort which they used as a pity tool to get your money.

The Woodland Park Zoo had pretty decent exhibits, though they fell short in their job of educating the public. There were more signs telling you what each tree was than there was telling you what the animals were. One exhibit had nothing at all. I guess we were supposed to guess. The little bird house for things generally thought of as pets was pretty cool though. All the birds were loose, and you could buy little popsicle sticks with peanut butter and birdseed and then feed them. This little girl was adorable.

I learned a valuable lesson on this trip though. Under no circumstances should I spend more than 3 or 4 days without physically seeing someone I know and care about. I only knew one person on this trip, and I didn't even see them until day 6. I'm afraid my tendencies to self destruct overwhelmed any greatness the city tried to bestow on me. Next time, DS goes whether he likes it or not.

MLB!

Yesterday, I went to a Brewers game with my friends Anne and Matt. Matt and I are working on making Anne a baseball fan, and I think we're doing a pretty good job. In the distance, you can see Miller Park. This was the first game I've been to there where the roof was actually open. It was also the first time I've ever tailgated before the game.

Inside the stadium, there's a giant slide. The Brewers' mascot stands at the top and dances around during the game. If one of the Brewers' hits a homerun, the mascot slides down and waves the Brewers' flag at the bottom. This was also my first time getting to see this happen, and it happened twice!

After the game, Matt decided we needed to go get frozen custard from "the original custard place" in Milwaukee. He's from there, so he knows these things. Anne and I were drawn to the neon lights like mesmerized bugs. And I have to admit, the custard was pretty freakin good, even if it wasn't ice cream.

1701 A.D.

Okay, so you want to know what 1701 A.D. is? I'll tell you, because I love it so much, and you should too.

Basically, it's strategy, empire building game. It's a lot like SimCity, except it's set in 1701, and you're trying to build a city on a newly discovered island. And there are "natives" to either trade with, or fight with, and other people settling islands for their countries too. So you start off with pioneers, who live in thatched roof cottages (hahahahaha, strong bad...), and they have a certain set of needs that you have to fulfill. And as you successfully do that, your people can advance. And it's super sweet, because you can build ships in your shipyard, and put cannons on them, and train soldiers, and RULE THE WORLD!

Of course, I don't really play that way, or at least I haven't yet. Right now, I'm playing the peaceful strategy and making alliances with everyone. But maybe next time, I'll conquer everyone. BWA HA HA!

Oh, and the graphics are pretty sweet too. It was a gem of a find, because I totally just picked it up from the shelf, having no idea what it was. OH! I almost forgot the pirates. THERE ARE PIRATES!

See, you want to play it now don't you?

I am not dead

I know some of you have been wondering why I'm not posting as much. I promise that it is not because I'm dead, or because something is wrong. That's not to say that there aren't things wrong in life, but they're not keeping me from posting.

No, I haven't been posting because that would require me to spend time in front of my computer. Time that couldn't be spent playing 1701 A.D.

Here's a breakdown of my schedule in a typical week:
Monday - play 1701 A.D.
Tuesday - catch up on DVR'd tv with DS
Wednesday - go to Anne's for BSG night (aka, movie night, since BSG is on hiatus)
Thursday - TVNIGHT
Friday - random things (like the Wisconsin Movie Festival) or 1701 A.D.
Saturday - Hang out with Matt while DS climbs
Sunday - adventures with Anne, DS, or Matt, depending on who's available.

Truth is, I'm just not home much anymore. And when I am, I'm obsessing over 1701 A.D., or sometimes, Sims 2. So much so, that I haven't played Animal Crossing in three weeks. Maybe you don't realize how significant that is, but DS knows, and he says my townspeople are going to hate me.

So there you have it. Generally speaking, life is good and filled with fund and friendship. I have lots of pictures to post, but even now I'm not home, so they'll have to come later. Probably lots later, because tonight KT1 is having a birthday party, and I have to get all dolled up and shake my booty.

Happy Easter!

Sorry for the long absence. I did indeed get a haircut. It's more than what I wanted (I was after #4), but the first place I got it cut screwed it up so bad it had to be this short to fix it. Oh well, it will grow back :)

Now go eats lots of candy, 'cause I'm going to!

This is an apology

I need to correct a heinous error. I had promised one Mr. Baronet 200 brownie points for my amazing banner. It would seem I had forgotten this, and shorted him. So, here are the other 100, and an extra 10 for putting up with my negligence.

When I started the brownie points, I had originally intended it to be something you could cash in for something else. Not really sure what that something else would be. Maybe art or something. Anyone have any ideas of something they'd want from me? (and in case you've forgotten, i'm not above deleted your crappy comments, so be civil. my mom reads this after all.)

Also, on a side note that has nothing to do with the above, I am completely banning BSG from my obsession list until further notice. 2008??? COME ON!

I'm 7!

Here's what I did this weekend:

1. Went to the park
2. Threw rocks in a pond
3. Skipped through a yard
4. Chased a bunny
5. Went to the zoo
6. Blew bubbles off my balcony

Yup, one great weekend. And I'm officially a small child.

Insanity!!

I'm not even going to tell you how long I spent trying to make this work.

Okay, that's a lie. Of course I'm going to tell you... 4 hours!!

Now granted, 3 1/2 of those involved me halfway paying attention to The Departed, but still.

I'm sick of my blog for the moment. Everyone gawk at the amazing banner Willie made me, cry over his amazing lead in brownie points, and go blind from my spring palette.

Fight!

The blog and I are fighting. I thought I had updated the banner since I updated to the new version, but maybe not. I mean, I've certainly never had this much trouble adding a stupid banner. (I'm not saying the banner itself is stupid, cause it's awesome.. you'll see.. maybe.. one day.)

Anyway, if you know anything about widgets or xml or how to get my stupid banner to replace the current title bar, please let me know.

Are you wearing green today? I am!

Celebrate!

Woot! Today we are celebrating two things:
-St. Patrick's Day (which we don't really care about)
-and paying off the cost of this summer's cruise!!!

This is awesome, because it's the first major vacation DS and I have fully planned for and paid in advance. It's quite a big step for us to actually be able to say, "we want to do this, and we can afford it." Hooray for learning how to save!

I'm going to spend the day dancing to music in my head :)

I need a haircut

I am craving a new hairstyle, but I can't decide what to do. Please vote on the six choices below, or feel free to suggest one of your own.

Thank you!

Pretty Freakin' Nerdy

DS and I like to fight about which of us is the nerdiest. Tonight, the fight was settled by an unbiased third party. And by that, I mean an online quiz. DS beat me, 99-89. Still, 89 is a pretty high score. (Of course, all this really means is that, though nerdy, I'm still way cooler than he is!)

Elated

Before the concert, DS and I picked up Matt (of previous painting fame) and headed to Tutto Pasta for dinner and dessert. Is this chocolate mousse in an edible chocolate shell not amazing looking? Of course it is, and it was tasty too!


We then headed to the Barrymore to see the Ditty Bops. They are dressed in plastic outfits as part of a campaign they've started to get more people to use re-usable grocery bags.

I'm thinking about getting a pixie cut like Amanda has here (the girl on the left). What do you think?


Today, the temperatures decided to break 50, so DS and I went for a walk. Snow was melting everywhere, and the bike path we like to take was reflecting everything. Sometimes I felt like I was walking on the clouds, and sometimes I caught sweet views like this.


The creek was full of life, and the lake near my apartment is starting to break up!


It was an awesome weekend!

Hot AND Talented

These lovely ladies are coming to Madison tonight, and I have tickets!!

Are the Ditty Bops biking to me? I don't think so, so their last cross-country tour was travelled entirely by bike! They're supposed to be known for allowing pictures and dressing in theme, so hopefully I'll come back with awesome photos.

I'm so excited!!

Sooo Helpful...

I enjoy playing games at pogo.com. I have a Club Pogo membership, mostly because I enjoy working towards the badges. It's a lot like those stickers you used to get in grade school when you wrote your alphabet especially well.

This week's badge is for a game called "World Class Solitaire". When you're on the individual game's site, there's a section where Pogo lists other games you might be interested in. Their suggestion on this site?

World Class Solitaire...

Alone

DS left for Denver this morning to give a talk at some science convention. He's always leaving me for crap like that. Remember last winter? The winter I spent alone for three months? He's lucky proposed that winter, or he would have come home to an empty house.

DS leaving always presents me with the dilemma of feeding myself, at which I am notoriously bad. I asked a friend at lunch today whether I should have spaghetti o's, ramen noodles, or ravioli's. He said I should just starve than eat that crap. (I really don't see what's wrong with them, they're yummy and fill my tummy!) As it turns out, I nearly did just that. I did have some yogurt though, and I'm thankfully not hungry. I don't know what it is about cooking, but 9 times out of 10, I walk in the kitchen, look at the stove, and decide I'd rather stay hungry than turn it on. Thankfully, the same doesn't apply to baking things like cookies. Dessert is definitely worth the effort. Dinner? Not so much.

People tell me that cooking is rewarding and lots of other things that are supposed to entice me to start doing it. It's true, DS makes some tasty things that I wish I had had tonight. However, the truth is, as implied above, I'd just as soon eat ramen every night. Not even that, I'd even eat the same chicken flavor every night. There are too many things that go into common foods that I just don't like, like onions, or any type of pepper what so ever. I'm just not impressed with food enough to spend more than 3 minutes on it.

The other thing DS leaving does is make me feel lost in my apartment. I'm not sure why, we don't even really spend a lot of one-on-one time when he is here. We're kinda solitary people for the most part. But he's also like an anchor, and when he's gone, I drift from room to room as if I suddenly don't know what to do with myself. I tried to alleviate that by going clothes shopping tonight, and then working out. Hopefully, I'll get to sleep alright. It's weird going to bed when he's not here, as he's always in bed before me, and almost always fully asleep before I get there. Going to bed before him makes me feel like it's 8 o'clock, even when it's midnight.

Tomorrow's taken care of, because it's BSG night (though we're caught up on the series now, so BSG has morphed into movie night, soon to be Firefly night). Thursday should also be okay, since it's TVNIGHT with Matt. Dinner both nights is still up in the air, though BSG night usually comes with food and is therefore hopeful.

Of course, considering the hours I've already put into work this week (21, and it's only Tuesday), maybe I can just get two lunches and have dinner at work. If I were a monkey, I'd ask you to send bananas!

Swiss Cheese for Brains

SG: I hope this chocolate is as good as I imagine it will be.

DS: It'd better be, since you threatened me with bodily harm if I touched it.

SG: Did I?

DS: .. I think so ...

SG: *shrugs* eh, sounds like something I would do.





Seriously though, Gail Ambrosius is amazing. Buy her chocolate.

My cat is high

You would think that after a full day of rain, some portion of this snow would have melted, but no. You'd be wrong if you thought that. And also if you thought that the rain somehow signified the start of spring. Why are you wrong about this? Because it's once again snowing, and once again I can no longer see my driveway.

I knew that freezing temperatures holding off until mid-January would come back to bite us in the ass.

Please don't misinterpret me. I still love winter, and snow. But not when it's all in 10 foot high mounds of nastiness from plows. It was way cooler on Sunday before they screwed it all up. Like all of those super sweet snow sculptures everyone loved down there? Gone!

I've gotten a lot of presents in the mail recently, one of which was from my dear friend Kimberlina, who took my etsy purchase and turned it into something wonderful. So now, not only do I have a very nice bracelet, but also a cool zipper bag, a shirt from Ant's band, AND a sticker. Okay, I bought the band shirt. But I got a sticker and a little bag! I'm telling you, one day I'm going to get that girl to move here so I can bask in her radiance every day, instead of just that one time in Chicago. I love you!

I've also given myself gifts, in the form of two new computer games: 1701 A.D. and the new edition of Sims 2. And yet, I spent the night playing DS's newest present, MLB 2K7.... well, tomorrow's Friday!

What about my cat, you asked? Did I mention they have their first catnip toy? Winston spent the night licking it, and then rolled around making funny noises in the cat tree. I wish catnip did that to me.