thoughts



3.25.2005
yea for this article!! here comes summer :)




2.18.2005
2005!

this year, i did it right-- was in NYC for new year's. five of us got a nice room & went to MSG for the flaming lips / wilco. i drank way too much gin & tonic, wore silly 2005 glasses, and stumbled out of the show early (i.e. before midnight). vanessa and i made it back to the hotel where i passed out on the floor.... wasn't bright enough to choose the luxurious king size bed. at some point in the middle of the night, i felt compelled to shower.... was told that i missed out on the action.

been at my job for 4 months + . it's been an interesting experience thus far, getting to travel and learning new stuff. would've never guessed i'd fall into "environmental safety & health," but it seems to be an alright place to start. bascially, i'm one of three people who "manages" the safety program for the national office of job corps. i've been working from the govt office since the first of the year and will continue to do so for the time being. believe me when i say...the federal government is a WORLD OF ITS OWN!!!

we went to seattle, new orleans during mardi gras, and austin this week. sorry, but texas sucks. work is good finally....

life is looking up




10.23.2004
cleveland could have been a disaster!

i drove six hours saturday morning. rem & bruce were phenomenal.... there's just somethin' about michael stipe. unfortunately, we couldn't rock out cause the jerks behind us complained. i dunno about you, but i wanna jam at shows, not kick back like it's the theater. certainly didn't make it a bad time.

tailgating sunday was us walking around with a plastic bag of drinks, including the red stripe i couldn't open cause i had misplaced the bottle opener. here i am, wearing a portis jersey & skins hat, smiling, havin' a good time.... and my two girl friends are sporting home team gear. we asked a couple older guys to help us open a beer, and friendly banter turned into one of them causually asking for oral sex! oh my gosh, that's funny!?! another walked past us, screaming "slut" at me. someone else grabbed my ass. browns fans SUCK. the redskins suck even more for losing.

so, i've got a job.... three weeks. i was ready to quit after the second day, but now it's going alright. still feels weird.

weekend thought: mmm eddie vedder




10.01.2004
la di da di da. after the first debate, a few points...

kerry:
"i will hunt down and kill the terrorists, wherever they are."
"i...have a plan to win the war on terror."

OH, really???

bush:
"we're facing a" *long pause during which i incorrectly predicted evildoers* "group of folks who have such hatred in their heart, they'll strike anywhere, with any means."

watch the daily show re-broadcast tomorrow (fri) at 7 pm.

this didn't sway me either way; my vote was set immediately following the 2000 election. ANYBODY BUT BUSH. what are we talking about here, winning the big game??? i'll be the first to admit-- i was fantasizing about howard dean the whole 90 mins!

also, fuck the networks. tune into pbs.

sweet dreams....




9.29.2004
is there anybody out there?

time to celebrate! i start my job on tuesday! after accepting the offer, i made a snap decision to move into a townhouse with my brother and dad. wtf?! i won't be paying much more than i am here, but it will add an extra twenty, thirty minutes to my commute. not to mention, i'll be moving away from my cats, and my mom, and andy, and comfort....OH, the sadness! i need a hug.




9.19.2004
heeeee's baaackk! we shouldn't be surprised. at least we got go-go.




9.18.2004
mmm saturday morning.... words can't describe how thankful i am for not serving omelets to assholes right now. i had two interviews this week-- one with a bureau of the dept of the interior (YUCK) and the second with a private environmental consulting/engineering firm. i wasn't offered the govt job, but there's some hope i'll get a call from the other. it wouldn't be my first choice of job, that's for sure. however, it's not the deli, and it's somewhat related to the field i'd like to pursue. i'm also hoping to hear from the EPA soon!

it was great making it back to the Gorge for a third consecutive year. people who don't KNOW think i'm crazy to go all that way for a few concerts. if there's anyplace to experience live music, though, that's it. no question. i got a little goofy on our last day camping & jumped off a 43-foot cliff. couldn't even tell you what possessed me to do it because i had no real desire to try. maybe it was the beer (NO, i wasn't close to drunk), or perhaps the need to find some excitement, or even the fact carrie & i were encouraging each other. all i know, i took a couple tokes of something kind, and i was on my way up the hill. you have to step over a downed fence with a NO TRESPASSING sign to access the highest points. there were a handful of people standing around, a couple of dudes just going for it, and some guy with a tape measure making sure all is well? i dunno, i was pretty caught up in my head. kevin, a friendly head carrie had met, accompanied us up to the cliff explaining over & over what we had to do for a successful jump. after a minute, kev says, "i'm gonna jump, and one of you will go right after me." they looked at me. i respond, "okay." without any preparation, kevin walks to the edge and jumps. my heart starts racing, i give him a few seconds, a minute, and i carefully approach the edge. i'm terrified that there is nothing in front of me. i may have briefly looked down to kevin, but i knew if i waited any longer, i couldn't do it. so i went. unfortunately, i was so worried about just stepping off and clearing the face of the cliff that i wasn't ready to enter the water! from what the others said, it wasn't pretty. i think i landed in some sort of seated position, bracing myself with my arms (kind of like a gymnast on the parallel bars). it hurt BAD, knocked the wind out of me for a second, but i emerged from the water feeling totally invigorated. that was the greatest adrenaline rush of my life! it took me swimming back to shore (a fair distance) to recover, and even then, my heart & mind were racing. the next day i checked out the damage in a mirror-- black & blue bruises on my left hip & ass!!! only me! i'd do it again, too!

earlier this week, moveon.org announced the vote for change tour will culminate with a finale here in dc! this four hour show will bring together some of my all time favorite musicians-- dave matthews band, pearl jam, rem, bruce springsteen, bonnie raitt, jackson browne, james taylor, and babyface. i tried buying presale tickets but had no luck. so, i was up at 10 today when they went on sale at ticketmaster. i lucked out by getting four crappy seats behind the stage, way up top. couldn't be happier :)