Things I Have Noticed

There are several things I have noticed since being here in Colorado. Well, actually there are quite a few things, but there a few that really irk me. First, there is no Dunkin' Donuts store in the entire state. I know, I know, you are shocked and amazed, as was I when I first learned of it. The locals here try to comfort me by offering any of the numerous Starbucks locations as an alternative, but that cannot appease me. There simply is no substitute for Dunkin' Donuts coffee. None. End of the discussion. So, I have comforted myself by preparing to ask family members to at least send me packets of the coffee grinds from the grocery store. It is a sad trade off, but a doable one. Secondly, there is no Trader Joe's grocery store anywhere in the state. Imagine my surprise when I found that one of the hippest most cutting edge natural foods grocery stores cannot be found in the city that claims to be the "greenest" city in the Union. What is this all about? Trader Joe's would be the perfect compliment to the city in which I now live, but there isn't one to be found, and there are those here who do not even know what I am talking about. What has my existence come to? Thirdly, I found that there are no good Mexican restaurants in the area where I live. I didn't see any on my initial travelings around the city so I started asking and everyone who lives here very glumly informed me that the so-called Mexican restaurants here had the most terrible food one could ask for. I guess I will have to wait a few months before I can enjoy real Mexican food again. =( There are many more things I have noticed here, but those are the most pressing for now. My next post should be a more positive one about all the great things I am noticing here. In all seriousness, this place really is great and I am having a good time being here, despite the fact that I cannot have those few things mentioned above. I guess I will learn to live without them and will have to treat myself to them when I am once again in Tucson. =D

Rehearsal Follies

I have been rehearsing for a huge July 4th performance at my church. We have spent hours trying to perfect things and tonight was one more stab at getting things right. Tonight, though, everyone was tired, and as a result we ended up with what I call rehearsal follies. There were so many funny things that happened it was a wonder we actually accomplished anything. Here are some of the highlights: one of the girls in the group is consistantly using sign language to say everything everyone is saying while one of the guys tries to mimic her except his signs are totally ridiculous and usually end up with him indicating how ridiculous he thinks this girls is; during one of the big group numbers one of the guys starts acting like a wacked out NSYNC member making huge, overly exaggerated movements as he sways and sings and claps; repititions of numerous lines such as, "The flag was. . . the flag was. . .the flag was. . . What am I supposed to say?"; and guys who were supposed to be interacting with each other but couldn't keep from laughing at each other. Of course there were the blank stares as someone realized that they were supposed to say something but couldn't for the life of them remember what it was or what they were even talking about. My favorite messed up line of the evening came when we were discussing transitions and staging between numbers and we were trying to figure out how to get one of the girls to her position on time. The drummer, trying to help, said, "I know how to get her across town!" and then paused as everyone else broke into laughter. There were slips of the tongue, the bursts of laughter, the missteps, the "technical difficulties" and just general mistakes. As the evening progressed everyone's silly genes came out and by the time rehearsal had ended hardly anyone was being very serious, as can be attested to by the director starting to read one of the readings and being entirely too dramatic and continuing on even when everyone protested she stop. When one of the group noted that it was after 10 p.m. the director said, "Oh, too bad. We were having so much fun!" Of course, that didn't keep everyone from clearing the building in a matter of minutes. I guess no one thought we were having so much fun we shouldn't go home. We did actually accomplish a lot of work tonight, but we also had quite the number of follies, but I'm glad we did.

My 100th

Today is my 100th post! I can't believe I've written that much. Kinda scary actually. I don't know that I've even had enough to say to actually justify 100 posts, but I said it so, there it is. I hope you all have enjoyed the rantings and ravings along the way. Hopefully I've said something that made even a little bit of sense or could actually be considered an intelligent thought. If not, you can keep checking to see if it ever happens because I don't plan on stopping this any time soon. I have finally found the perfect way to express myself and my ideas, and since none of you ever comment on them they go pretty much uncensored. Who could ask for better freedom of speech? Anyway, here's to blogging and all my craziness, may it continue for a while yet.

*About Me* My Couch. I absolutely love my couch at home. I sit down on it and suddenly all I can think of is sleeping. It just swallows you up. It is so comfortable! Granted, it's not great for studying or actually getting anything done, but it is so wonderful to sleep on. Usually, I'm not one for sleeping on couches, but I swear whoever made this one intended people to sleep on it.

Absolute Silliness

I am at home getting ready to post a blog and absolute zaniness breaks out. My sister, who should never be up past 9 p.m. or trouble will start, is up at 10:35 p.m. and she is cleaning clothes out of her closet. If she was just cleaning that would be fine but, no, she is being absolutely bizarre. First she starts singing loudly from the closet, "You get a line, I'll get a pole honey. You get a line, I'll get a pole, babe. You get a line, I'll get a pole, we'll go fishing in the crocodile hole, honey, babe of mine" And now the craziness has really begun. With each article of clothing there is some new strange comment. "I am way too fat the wear this." (she's a size 6!!!!) "my hips are shaped really weirdly." "My butt is so big!" "Why are you sitting at the computer in your underwear?" (which I am not) "Oh look, the bottom of these pants is really loose but the bottom isn't. Hahaha." "I don't know why I bought these, they are too short." (she's talking about a pair of shorts) "Dear (talking to my niece), I found this hanger on the floor of your bedroom and it said I could have it. I asked it if it belonged to anyone and it said no." My niece responds, "Wow, I'm disturbed." All I can say is WOW!!!!!! Where did she come from? I know I am never that silly. She is absolutely one if the silliest people I know. Crazy. Anyway, ya, so now I've forgotten what I was going to post. Something about my day and dealings with Fitzgerald and how I hate arrogance. Oh, and I saw the most perfect man today and he was a doctor! I was literally speechless. I wanted to ask him his name but the words simply failed me. Now how is that for stupidity? Mr. Tall,Dark, and Handsome walks up to my counter, asks me for help and all I can manage is a smile and very few words. He even told me he was coming back later to have me do something else for him and I still couldn't get anything out. The man probably thought he was working with a deaf-mute. He was like the man your mother always told you to be on the look out for and I let him just walk away. Sigh. Of course I'm being totally ridiculous, but the man was really good looking and I wouldn't have minded having him as a customer every day. So, this post is full of ridiculous things and I will stop here for safety sake.

*About Me* Random facts: I need absolute pitch black to fall asleep at night. I hate when someone leaves a light, any light, on because I never fully fall asleep and then I don't rest. I hate cold temperatures. Anything below 60 degrees Fahrenheit is cold weather and I never swim unless it's 90 degrees or higher. 80 degrees is beautiful weather and it isn't really hot until it hits 95 degrees. My favorite time of year is spring but fall holds a very close second. I absolutely LOVE the Farside comics as well as Calvin and Hobbes. I have more nicknames than anyone I have ever met. the last time I checked it was at 20 different names. Ya, scary.

What's New

Well, I'm still feeling sick. Yesterday I was starting to feel better but then I couldn't sleep last night and I feel terrible this morning. I'm not sure why I went to work other than the fact that I'm pretty close to broke and I need the hours. I will not be very useful to anyone today and I'm not even sure I'm going to make it a whole day without going home and crashing. Anyway, despite the way I feel I actually do have some pretty funny things to post. Yesterday was, well, strange. Like I said, I went to work because I was feeling better but as the day progressed, I started feeling bad again, but I had two performances to play for so I couldn't stay sick. So, around 11:30 a. m. I dragged myself to the first one and it wasn't that bad. I thought, ok, I can handle the second one no problem. The second performance was at a nursing home that I think is probably one of the grossest here in town. Midway through the program something burned in the kitchen, which we were very close to, and smoke started wafting through the room. Now, I have a cold and it's already hard enough to get through the performance without stopping to cough or blow your nose. Add smoke to the equation and it's a hopeless cause. I thought my lungs were going to burst from the strong smoke smell and my nose was running like you wouldn't believe, and I was trying desperately not to stop playing so the kids wouldn't be thrown off. It was terrible! I was sure I was going to pass out from smoke inhalation. Anyway, we got through it and then came the long drive home, which proved to be the pinnacle of ridiculousness in my day. Now, we decided we were two members short and so we could fit everyone in this one Chevy Suburban to get back home. Imagine nine people - seven children and two adults - all squished into this huge black vehicle. The first problem: the B. O., phew!!!! I wanted to ask the kids if they believed in bathing! Of course, this set off a round of comments about smelly pits and such that went on quite some time. Second problem: these are kids and they have been focusing and working non-stop all day, so the silliness will begin now that they have a 30 minute drive until they get home. So there we were, crammed in this vehicle with music blaring. What were we listening to? The Ten Tenors singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Dancing Queen" as well as some Italian stuff to which the kids loudly sang Veggie Tale lyrics to (I must admit, I joined in on that one ;]). It was truly a sight to behold - nine people driving down the road singing "Mama mia, mama mia", "Let him go! We will not let him go!", and "You can dance, you can jive. Havin' the time of your life!" It was crazy! To make matters even more interesting there were kids in the back who were having it out using empty water bottles to knock each other up-side the head, one girl who kept yelling, "Sweet mother of Abraham!", a girl who was valiantly trying to listen to her own music on her i-pod, the ever-present blond who was dazed and confused by anything that was said, and the kid in the front who was noting that a van in front of us had no griddle (grid) on it. When we arrived at our destination and the driving zoo unloaded with much ado as the kid up front announced, "Warning! The crazy patrol is arriving!" The rest of the day was pretty interesting as well, but nothing quite like that, and boy was I glad. That was enough to last me a while! LOL!!!!!