Author Archives: Cindy

above or below the Mason Dixon line?

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Here’s a fun little quiz — Are you Yankee or Dixie?

Apparently I’m 79% Dixie, which is pretty shocking, since it was actually one point higher than my dad’s score! (For those who don’t know, my dad’s voice can best be described as a fairly dead-on impression of Foghorn Leghorn, the rooster from “Looney Tunes”.) I guess the years I’ve spent outside of the south have yet to really rub off on me. Who knew? I’m slightly comforted by the fact that my brother is more Dixie than me, at 82%. But that makes sense, as he has the thickest southern accent of anyone in our family.

In other news, the cold is now bronchitis. I went to the doctor yesterday & got some antibiotics. Fun stuff. I’m feeling a little better — the congestion has mostly moved out of my nose and further into my head, so I have a horrible headache, but I can breathe. I consider this to be a slight improvement. Still, it’s amazing how much this has killed my energy level in such a short time. I was in bed last night at 8:45. Now it’s Friday night & my only plans are to watch last night’s episode of “ER” (which I taped, because I was asleep) and then go back to bed. How sad is that?

just kill me

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The cold is full throttle now. I’m dying. I swear, if I have to blow my nose one more time, it’s going to fall off of my face, and I will forever be known as the Noseless Computer Girl of Seattle. I actually left work this morning around 10:00, and I never take sick days. This is only the 2nd time I’ve gone home sick & I’ve been working there for a year & a half — the other time was for a migraine that was so bad I was practically in tears. I took a lot more sick days at my last job, probably because I was living in Massachusetts at the time and I was sick constantly. That state & my immune system just don’t jive, which is one of the thousands of reasons I have no desire to ever set foot there again.

Anyway, I came home & took a 4-hour nap. Woke up, ate dinner, watched the new “Queer Eye” episode that I taped last night, and now it’s 7:00 and I’m about to hit the NyQuil and crawl back into bed. Ick.

sniffles

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I’m sick. I don’t know how I caught this cold, or if it’s just an allergic reaction to something, but I feel like hell. I woke up at 3 a.m. last night with my throat hurting, & I’ve felt lousy all day. It feels like there’s a fog in my head or something, everything feels fuzzy. And my nose won’t stop running, which is driving me nuts. Bah.

Oh, unrelated: last night I picked out my glasses. They’ll be ready in about a week. They’re pretty cute, actually, I don’t think they’re going to bother me too much.

Now if only this tylenol pm would hurry up & kick in….

candy hearts & booze

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Last night was a lot of fun. We got a bit of a late start because Krissy & I both had some wardrobe/hair issues, and by the time we got to Seattle, Scott was saying that he was going to wimp out because he was tired. Luckily he had also invited his friend Brian, who made fun of him & called him an old man until he (shamefacedly) agreed to come out with us. He didn’t stay long because he wasn’t feeling well, but I was really glad he showed up. So Scott put himself in a cab & went home, but Brian stuck with us the whole night, and that was awesome because he’s a really funny guy after you get a couple of drinks in him. He’s probably funny without the alcohol too, I just haven’t spent that much time around him in non-alcohol-related settings. In any case, Krissy ditched me like she usually does when we go out — I found her dry humping a bald gay man in the pool table room upstairs, then she was kissing an allegedly straight man (I have my doubts) near the bar downstairs, then she was dancing on the stage. This type of thing usually annoys the hell out of me, but since I had someone else there to chat with (and to make fun of Krissy with), it wasn’t so bad.

Since it was Valentine’s Day, it was a red-and-white themed evening — even the go-go boys that were dancing in the cages on the 2nd floor were wearing either red or white hot pants with matching mesh tank tops. Very cute. They gave out boxes of those little candy hearts with the messages on them when you paid your cover, and there were tons of boxes of them lying around everywhere. That became a major source of entertainment later in the evening when we got the munchies — Brian & I ate TONS of candy hearts, making fun of the messages on them before we chowed them down.

So finally we left Neighbours, dropped Brian off at his place, then Krissy & I stopped to grab food at the Five Point Cafe before we headed back to the eastside. A very hot guy asked Krissy & I to join him & his friends, and we did, because they were cute & there was nowhere else to sit, but they turned out to be really stupid & obnoxious. They’re minor league baseball players from Portland, and I guess that makes them special. Woo-hoo, whatever. They kept trying to get us to go back to their hotel to “party” with them after we ate. I was suddenly hit by a wave of exhaustion and realized that I had no idea what time it was. I looked at my watch. It was 4:30 a.m. Yep, time for us old folks to pack it in & call it a night. We politely declined the party invitation (not that I would’ve gone with these guys even if I had more energy, they struck me as more than slightly creepy), and we headed home. Krissy slept on my futon and just left a little while ago. Now I’m trying to get up the energy to get dressed & go about my day.

Overall, though, this was one of the most fun Valentine’s Days I’ve had yet. Definitely in the top five.

dilated pupils

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I had my eyes checked today. For the past couple of months, I’ve been getting sort of weird headaches behind my eyes, and it’s been about 5 years since my last check-up, so I figured it was time. Turns out I’m far-sighted, and I need glasses. Which is no big deal, I don’t have any weird self-image hang-ups about them making me less attractive or anything like that. If anything, I think it’ll work with my “nerdy girl” image.

Then, of course, they wanted me to pick out frames to get my glasses, but my pupils had been dilated so I couldn’t see anything in the mirror except a distorted blur of my face, and my mascara was shot from the eyedrops, so even if I had been able to see, I think I probably would’ve thought that I looked like crap… So I had them give me my prescription and I’ll worry about the frames later. But at least I got the exam part over & done with. I had to call Nate to come pick me up because I was scared to drive while everything was blurry. I slept it off for a couple of hours, then he came & got me, and took me back to get my car.

Tonight, in honor of Valentine’s Day, Krissy & I decided to go to Neighbours, because we figured that there’s no better place than a gay bar for two single straight girls on this particular evening. Then Scott called, and I coerced him into coming along with us. I figure that if we have to be forced to witness any public displays of affection, at least it won’t be from guy-girl couples. So let’s recap: I’m going to a gay bar with my crazy drama-provoking friend and my ex-boyfriend. On Valentine’s Day. Hmm. Should make for an interesting story, if nothing else.

strange workout phenomena

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This evening, I happened to be in downtown Seattle when I finished up at my last client’s site, and since my gym bag was already in the car and my membership allows me to go to all branches, I thought I’d give the downtown Seattle branch a shot. Wow. It’s huuuuuuge. It’s 3 stories, I only saw 2. I’m pretty sure it’s only stationary bikes & group exercise classes on the third floor, neither of which interest me. Couple of weird things I noticed:

(1) This gym had way more mirrors than my usual branch. And I think I’ve figured out why no one ever talks to me at the gym. I kept catching glances of myself in the mirror, and I looked thoroughly pissed off. I wasn’t, but apparently that’s my concentrating-on-the-task-at-hand face. I once caught myself in the reflection of a window with the exact same look on my face when I was changing planes at the airport. And as much as I try to focus on relaxing my face muscles so I don’t look so angry, I can’t do it. My face relaxes when the workout is over, and not a moment sooner.

(2) What the hell is up with middle-aged women who think it’s perfectly acceptable to stand around naked in the ladies’ locker room? THIS IS NOT OK!!! I don’t care how great your body is, for your age or just in general. I don’t need to see your “woo” (to use my sister’s term), so cover it up! Last week when I was at the gym, a woman stood in the locker room, blow-drying her hair & reapplying her make-up, the whole time wearing her sweater (& I assume a bra under it), shoes, and NOTHING ELSE!! She was like that when I first got there, and she was still like that 10 minutes later after I had changed into my gym clothes (in the private dressing room, thank you very much), put my hair up, and had gotten my walkman & water bottle ready. How on earth can someone be completely exposed from the waist down (except for her feet), and be comfortable like that? I just don’t get it. And it’s never women my age that do this, it seems to be exclusively limited to the 45-and-older crowd.

In a totally unrelated topic, I’ve gotten 8 responses to the online personal ad in the past 24 hours. One guy actually called me a “hottie”. Awww yeah. I also got one from a guy who’s stationed down at Fort Lewis in Tacoma, but right now he’s in Baghdad. That one made me a little sad. He said he’ll be back in April, and even though he’s probably not the type of guy that I would date, I really hope that he is. I wrote him back & told him to get home safely.