Category Archives: Friends & Family

3rd cup of coffee

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This weekend was pretty interesting. Saturday night, Krissy dragged me to a keg party. That’s right, I said keg. Krissy’s new roommate, Judy, is in her 40’s & this was her son’s 27th birthday party (I guess she started young). The party was being thrown at Judy’s house, and since Krissy had just moved in that morning, she felt obligated to be there. I haven’t been in the presence of a keg since approximately 1997, and I really did not want to attend this particular event (cheap beer in plastic cups! whee!), but Krissy kind of guilt-tripped me into it since I totally bailed on helping her move Saturday morning. So I went.

And, as luck would have it, I ended up having a great time & I didn’t get home until almost 5 in the morning. (It’s going to take me a few days to recover from that.) The birthday boy, Judy’s son, is Hottie-Mc-Hot-Hot, but I don’t think he’s really my type. Guys who are that beautiful make me nervous. (He did kiss me at one point, but they were feeding that poor boy tequila shots like M&Ms, so I’m pretty sure he kissed everyone at some point.) But he was not the focal point of my evening, I met another guy, Tony, who was very cool & I gave him my number. He called me last night, so bonus points for that. The only weird thing there is that he reminds me a lot of someone that I dated about 5 years ago — down to them having the same birthday & driving the exact same type (and color!) car. So I don’t know if that similarity is foreshadowing doom all over the whole thing, but I guess I’ll find out.

It’s also weird because Krissy & I had a conversation at dinner on Saturday evening where she said that we end up dating the same people over & over again, and I disagreed with her because I said that most of the guys I’ve dated have been very different from each other. There are some core similarities that I’m attracted to, sure — guys who are a little bit geeky, who like a lot of the same music as me, etc. — but I tend to think of them as individuals and not as some lump of characteristics that I just date repeatedly. Then I have to go & meet the separated-at-birth twin of an ex-boyfriend, which totally destroys my argument. I don’t know how I feel about that.

mad props & a shout-out

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I have to take a moment to say how incredibly blessed I feel this weekend to have my friends. Nate, Scott & Krissy all went way above and beyond the call of duty to help me move yesterday, and they never griped about it once (I think I probably whined more than anyone, honestly). And I have to say, as much as I tend to complain about Krissy, she really trumped the guys on this one. They each put in a couple of hours apiece, which was awesome, but Krissy showed up at my place with a freakin’ rented utility van — we got almost all of my apartment in there, with the exception of some large pieces of furniture. Granted, I realize that Krissy has ulterior motives for helping me — she’s moving herself sometime in the next couple of weeks, and she wants me to help her when she does. In fact, since we still have the van today (Easter is a holiday at the van rental place, so we have it until Monday morning), we’re going to use it to haul her scuba gear down to her soon-to-be-roommate’s place. But that’s fine. I don’t have that much left to organize before tomorrow anyway.

The point is, you three are my rock stars, and I love you guys.

Side note: I had a true geek moment yesterday when we were packing & loading the van. I realized that I am totally willing to pack up my stereo & CD’s, and my TV/VCR, but mention that I might have to live without my computer for more than 24 hours, and I break out in a cold sweat. So that’s still here. I’ll put it in my car before the movers show up tomorrow morning. Yep, I’m a nerd, no doubt about it.

I have fallen in love…

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…with an apartment. On Saturday I woke up at 7:30 a.m. — which, as anyone who knows my sleep patterns will tell you, is VERY out of character for me. I usually sleep until noon on the weekends, but apartment hunting day for me is like Christmas morning for a 5 year-old. I mean, I often go to real estate web sites and look at floor plans just for fun. So I was really, really excited about this.

And as it turns out, I fell in love with the 2nd apartment that I looked at. It’s in Queen Anne, which is my favorite neighborhood near downtown Seattle. It’s full of cool little shops & restaurants, and it’s a very short walk from the Space Needle and Seattle Center. It also happens to be less than a mile from where I’ll be working, so it looks like I’ll be walking to work, which I’m excited about (lord knows I need the exercise). I got an amazing rent special for this place, otherwise there’s no way I would’ve been able to afford it. They included parking for free, which would typically run about $100/month in that neighborhood. And get this: I have my own little private deck, which faces onto a private courtyard (no street traffic noise to worry about), and it has a view of Puget Sound & the Olympic mountains. I’ll be able to watch the fireworks on the 4th of July from my living room. And it has a full-size washer & dryer. Ahhhhh… I’m freaking out, I’m so happy.

After I saw this place, I looked at a couple more just because I had appointments to see them, but my heart was set on the Queen Anne apartment. I went back that afternoon and signed the lease. I get the keys next Saturday, so I can start moving stuff in, and then my actual moving day (meaning the day I get real, honest-to-God movers to haul all of my heavy stuff, and not just my friends who I can bribe with pizza & beer) will be on Saturday, April 17th. I start the new job on Monday the 19th, so I’m timing it just right so I won’t have to take the bus from the eastside to downtown. Not that the bus system around here is bad, it’s actually quite nice, I just don’t want to have to deal with the long commute time.

So last night, Krissy & I had originally planned to go out to celebrate the new-new job, but I was inspired by my recent lease-signing, so instead she came over & helped me clean junk out of my apartment. I had so much crap from my last 2 moves that just got shoved into closets in boxes & has never been unpacked. I figure that if I haven’t needed it in 3 years, odds are pretty good that I never will, and it’s safe to chuck it. But it was good to have Krissy there, since she’s a bit more objective than me & doesn’t have any sentimental attachment to my stuff like I do. Sample conversation:

Me: But my A+ certification book, I can’t throw that away.
Krissy: Are you even A+ certified?
Me: No, I could never finish the book because it put me to sleep. But I might do it someday!
Krissy: And have you ever referenced this book for anything related to your job?
Me: Well, no….
Krissy: TRASH!!
Me: (sigh in resignation and toss it in the hefty bag)

I got better about it after a while, although I have to say that every time we made a trip to the dumpster, I could feel a flutter of a panic attack as soon as we tossed everything in there. I just need to adopt more of a Zen Buddhist mindset: it’s all just “stuff” and I can live without it. And if I can’t, it’s all replaceable.

It has also come to my attention that I am a food hoarder. We took out 2 full hefty bags that was just stuff from the pantry & freezer. I found a can of mandarin oranges that were a generic grocery store brand name… Only they were the grocery store chain in Massachusetts, and I haven’t lived there since 2001. Ick. Time to go.

Oh, one more side note that I found rather amusing: I asked all of my guy friends if they had any workman’s gloves that I could borrow, because I have to clean out my garage, and I know it’s full of cobwebs & dead bugs. I can’t deal with the idea of touching that stuff with my bare hands, but I think I’d be ok with gloves. And wouldn’t you know it, NONE of the guys I know had gloves. Then I asked Krissy. She showed up at my house last night with 2 pairs, one for me & one for her. Awesome. Girls kick ass.

happy ending

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So what, you may ask, is the perfect way to finish up your last day at a job? Well, getting to leave 2 hours early is nice. And having all of your co-workers wish you well and be totally cool about your leaving is also cool. But I have to say, the most awesome thing is having one of your now-former co-workers catch up with you in the parking lot & ask you out now that you don’t work together anymore. It’s funny, I had been told that this guy was interested in me ages ago, but I didn’t really buy it. So I guess it’s true. It’s just odd because we’ve never had a real conversation, and I don’t know if we have that much in common. We’ve mostly just exchanged “hi”s” and other niceties, but he did compliment me when I got my hair cut a couple of months ago, and again when I got my glasses. So what the hell, he’s cute and seems like a really nice guy, why not give it a shot?

The rest of the weekend has been pretty low-key. I had dinner with Nate on Friday night — I don’t think I’ve ever spent $8 on a margarita before, but man it was yummy. (Mmmm…. mango.) And last night I had a date with a new guy, who seemed very nice but very nervous. Which I don’t get because I don’t think I’m intimidating at all, but who knows, maybe he’s like that around all women at first. I had a good time, but I don’t know if there’s anything really there. I guess it all depends on whether or not he wants to go on a second date with me — right now I seem to be in a phase of going on lots of first dates & then never hearing from these dudes again. And that’s fine, I haven’t felt enough of a spark with anyone to really feel rejected when they don’t call again.

But enough about the dating thing, now I’m just getting myself all relaxed & mentally psyched to start the new job tomorrow. I’m excited.

Oh, and happy birthday to Miss Naina Sexpot, one day late.

sleepy but happy

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I had the most awesome weekend ever, and I’m completely exhausted, so this recap is going to be short. First, I had really great Mexican food with Nate on Friday night, then chilled for the rest of the evening. Saturday, I did NOTHING all damn day (ahhh, bliss), then went dancing with Krissy on Saturday night. That was cool too — Krissy ditched me, which is her usual habit when we’re in bars/clubs together, and then I find her a couple of hours later, 3 sheets to the wind and kissing some strange man. That part was pretty much par for the course, but instead of getting pissy when she ditched me, I just flirted with all kinds of different boys & had the best time chatting with people. I also danced more than I have danced in probably at least two years. Of course, I didn’t get in bed until 6 a.m. (ouch), and my knee is swollen and hurting because of all the bouncing around in high heels that I did (double ouch), but I had a great time.

And then, the absolute pinnacle of my weekend: Sunday night at The Moore with Henry Rollins. Sigh. God, how I love that man. The surprise was that Henry chose Seattle as the city where he wants to film his DVD for this tour, which we didn’t know until we got inside & saw all the cameras. And thanks to the amazing rock star seats that Scott got us (6th row center, thank you very much), it’s entirely possible that we’re going to be on this DVD when it comes out because they were filming lots of “crowd reaction” type shots. I’m buying it regardless, just because I WAS THERE, DAMMIT!! I mean, how cool is that??

Anyway, I have a date tomorrow. This is the same guy from last week who is perfectly nice but I’m not sure I’m compatible with him. He doesn’t seem to have very much in the way of life experience, and he seems a bit obsessed with his car (which is a Miata, btw), so I’m not at all sure that we mesh very well. But he seems ok and he’s easy to talk to, and I’m trying really hard to be open-minded. So we’ll see. Wish me luck.

inadvertent guilt trip

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Ever unintentionally make one of your parents feel bad? I think that’s what I just did. I was talking to my dad a few minutes ago — he & my mom have been cleaning out the attic because they want to move to a smaller house, so they’ve been going through all of the remnants of our childhood for the past few days. Which means I’ve been fielding repeated phone calls from my mother asking me if I want such-and-such, or if she should sell it at the next garage sale or give it away to some other relative. Most of it I don’t care about, things like my grandmother’s china. I don’t remember ever seeing the china, so I have no sentimental attachment to it, therefore I feel no need to keep it.

And then there are a few things I do want — my Barbie dolls, for instance. I remember when I was little, there was a girl down the street, and her mom had kept all of her Barbie’s from when she was little, and she let us play with them. We thought it was so cool to play with these dolls from the 50’s with their little poodle skirts & whatnot. So if I ever have a daughter, I’d like to give her my Barbie’s, along with the assorted bucketfuls of what will then be either cool vintage thrift store clothes or hideous 80’s garb, depending on where the fashion pendulum happens to be at the time. Call me weird, I just want to hang on to them.

Anyway, I was talking to my dad, and I explained the reason why I want to keep the Barbie dolls. This was the ensuing conversation:

Dad: I guess I was out of town a lot when you were growing up, I never knew what y’all played with.
Me: No, you were around, you just weren’t interested.
Dad: That’s not true.
Me: Yes, it is. Whenever we tried to talk to you after you got home from work, you told us to “go play somewhere”.
[Note: “Go play somewhere” is actually one of my dad’s most famous lines, my sister quotes it all the time.]
Dad: Well… I’m sorry.
Me: (suddenly realizing that this is one of the few occasions in my life I’ve ever heard my father apologize for anything, and that I must have made him feel really lousy with my previous statement) Well, you know… No big deal.

I didn’t mean to be harsh, I was just being honest. He did go out of town occasionally, that’s true, but mostly he just didn’t pay attention to what we were doing when he was home. I’m not angry about it, I got over my anger issues with my dad years ago. There are bigger things in life than whether he knew which Barbie was my favorite 20 years ago, I really don’t care. But now I feel bad that I made him feel bad.

Damn. I hate it when that happens.

mega millions, indeed

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Lotto update: I invested $3 in lottery tickets, and I won $4. After the 37-cent stamp to mail in the ticket, that brings my winnings to a grand total of 63 cents. Yeah baby!! Now I can retire!

I spent all yesterday afternoon cleaning my apartment from top to bottom, and then afterward, I really wanted to go out and do something because it felt pathetic to stay home on both Friday & Saturday nights. Unfortunately, Scott had plans, Nate is out of town, and Krissy wasn’t answering her phone. Hmm. Then I remembered Chris G., who I almost never see these days because he’s so swamped with work. So I called him at 6:30-ish on Saturday evening, and he was at the office (see what I mean?). I talked him into leaving work to go out with me, which didn’t really take a whole lot of coercion on my part. So we had dinner and then went to see “Mystic River”. I thought it was awesome. Sean Penn reminds me more & more of DeNiro as he ages, and he was incredible. Tim Robbins was great, too. That movie haunted me, I’ve been unable to get it out of my head all last night and all day today. I think that’s one way to measure a great film. Now I’m definitely rooting for Sean Penn to win Best Actor tonight.