u.s. history with mr. juzeler

as autumn pointed out, i can't read surveys and i answered my favorite junior high class instead of high school. but for high school i'd have to say it's kind of a tough call. my favorites overall were:

-honors english, all three years
-physics
-advanced physics
-algebra II trig and math analysis (is that what it was called?)
-PE with autumn, danyeal, and andy bean
-yearbook
-senior issues

if i had to narrow it down to the overall, absolute BEST classes, i'd say honors engligh with mr. hansen and physics with mr. williamson. (i don't know if i mean regular physics or advanced. good question.) that english class has probably had more of an impact on the rest of my life than any of the other classes, and it was so fun. but i loved physics too. and i feel like i have to give credit to uncle ernie strobe.

99 problems

01. Best way to get over someone?
pray that you won't see them. but then you will have a class together and you'll end up getting married. that's the way it always seems to happen.

02. Current crush?
my dog

03. Is your AIM away message on?
um excuse me...that is so 1999

04. If you could eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
meals...meals...probably salad, spaghetti, and ice cream. a multiple-course meal.

05. What curse word do you use the most?
although i do sometimes curse, mostly very quietly to myself, out loud i say "pisser" a lot lately. and "pisshead".

06. Do you own an ipod?
yes. if it broke i don't know what i would do.

07. Who on your Myspace " top 8 " do you talk to the most?
brad

08. What time is your alarm clock set for?
6 am

09. Have you ever bid for something on eBay?
yes. and won.

10. Do you wear flip-flops even when its cold outside?
no. although i hate wearing socks. but sometimes they're necessary.

11. Where do you buy your groceries from?
albertsons. it's .2 seconds from my house.

12. Would you rather take the picture or be in the picture?
be in the picture. it's because i'm so good looking.

13. What was the last movie you watched?
the first half of nacho libre.

14. Do any of your friends have children?
a few.

15. If you won the lottery, whats the first thing you would buy?
a house with a huge modern kitchen.

16. Has anyone ever called you lazy?
not that i recall.

17. Do you ever take medication to help you fall asleep faster?:
no, although sometimes i enjoy taking nyquill because of that side benefit.

18. What CD is currently in your CD player?:
who uses a cd player anymore? oh wait, i do, in my car. but it's empty! i mostly listen to spokane's river 99.9. and christmas music with some tips to add intelligence to my life from john tesh.

19. Do you prefer regular or chocolate milk?
vanilla soy milk

20. Has anyone told you a secret this week?
no?

21. When was the last time someone hit you?
if it was in any sort of mean-spirited way, it was probably my brother about 15 years ago

22. What did you have for dinner?
lemon pancetta chicken with zucchini and potatoes

23. What is your biggest fear?
maybe being alone in the universe. being lost in space sounds terrifying.

24. What color is your car?
black

25. Can you whistle?
in a very wussy, one-octave-only kind of way

26. What is your favorite Christmas/winter movie?
little women. it's not a christmas movie, but it feels like one. i watch it every fall/winter.

27. Do you make your own jewelry?
only if i have some fimo clay handy

28. Have you ever participated in a protest?
not recently. i would though.

29. Who was the last person to call you?
oh.........my mom.........

30. What is your favorite ride at an amusement park?
the tower of terror

31.What is something you must do everyday?
get excercise. if i don't i feel crazy.

32. Have you ever dated one of your best friends?
well - brad is my best friend now. but we kind of became best friends while we were dating. so, no.

33. What area code are you in right now?
509

34. Did you watch cartoons as a child?
smurfs please.

35. How big is your local mall?
um...medium. medium sized and high class.

36. What is your job title?
IT application systems analyst, soon to be IT implementation coordinator

37. What do you miss most?
christmas break

38. Would you ever sky dive?
only if i were strapped to someone's back. maybe that's my biggest fear - falling out of an airplane? but let's say i was on the amazing race - i'd have to do it then. short answer: yes, in extreme circumstances only.

39. What are you allergic to?
i think maybe cats. which is ironic since my self-imposed childhood nickname was cat-lover.

43. What movie do you know every line to?
billy madison, waiting for guffman, home alone, the sound of music, the parent trap

44. Do you own any band t-shirts?
not that i can think of. that surprises me.

41. Have you ever had Jamba Juice?
you bet i have. cranberry craze is my favorite.

42. When was the last time you laughed so hard your sides hurt?
oh gosh - when i had two glasses of wine on sunday night, then spelled the word "granola" wrong on my grocery list. i spelled it "gronalo". i literally fell out of my chair. i'm a mega ultra lightweight.

45. What is your favorite candle scent?
i like a nice pine scent in the winter.

46. How many aunts and uncles do you have?
if we're talking flesh and blood related, i'll say four

48. Do you crack your knuckles?
only by accident

49. How many chairs are at your dining room table?
four - it's a table for babies. i mean a table for ants. i think i know every word to zoolander!

50. What is your favorite salad dressing?
champagne dressing. light.

51. Do you read for fun?
i don't feel like a whole person unless i'm in the middle of reading something

52. Can you speak any languages other than English?
a limited amount of french

54. Do you do your own dishes?
mostly brad does them, because the only meal i really eat at home is dinner. i cook, he does the dishes.

55. What color is your bedroom painted?
pale blue

56. Are your parents divorced?
no

57. Have you ever cried in public?
not really. i have a little, but i try to keep more than 1 or so people from knowing about it.

59. Which do you make: wishes or plans?
plans

60. Are you always trying to learn new things?
i feel like i have no choice

61. What messenger programs do you have?
please. remember what i said about 1999? if i were still in college i would though.

63. Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos?
nope

64. Do you believe that the guy should pay on the first date?
yes. unless the girl asked.

65. Can you skip rocks?
that's not something i really focus on.

67. Have you ever been to Jamaica?
no

68. What do you like to snack on at the movie theatres?
diet pepsi

69. Who is your favorite teacher?:
mr. hansen

70. Have you ever dated someone out of your race?
no

71. What is the weather like?
dark. cold. almost snowing - maybe tomorrow i hope.

72. Would you ever date someone covered in tattoos?
i would, but i can't really imagine what the circumstances would be. let's keep an open mind though, shall we?

73. Do you have an online journal?
i call it a blog

74. Have a broken heart?
only from a crush - but yes, if that counts. i've had some serious crushes.

75. What was your favorite class in high school?
junior high school...maybe geometry? or ninth grade science.

76. Do you sleep on your side, tummy, or back?
mostly back.

78. Have you ever been attracted to someone physically unattractive?
i think so - there's more to life than just looks you know.

79. When was the last time you slept on the floor?
on the floor...last christmas eve i think.

80. What is your favorite alcoholic drink?
wine...and some lady drinks: lemon drops, cosmos, straight up sugar, etc.

81. If you were born the opposite sex, what would your name have been?
steven

82. Do you like your living arrangement?
yes. except i have these two awful roommates. just kidding! i love my house, husband, and dog. except for the kitchen. it's for babies.

84. What is your mother and father's hometowns?
mom-seattle. dad-tacoma.

85. Did you ever go to the same school as your parents?
western washington university

86. How many hours of sleep do you need to function?
probably 6.5 to 7. 7 or more ideally.

87. How much is gas where you live right now?
$2.59

88. What was the last thing to scare you?
hmm...sometimes i think about what it would be like if brad died. that freaks me out.

89. Do you own a Playstation?
no. but i'm pleased to announce that we have both an xbox and a gamecube.

90. How many times have you brushed your teeth today?
twice

92. What album did you buy last?
we're waiting for the new sufjan christmas cd to finally be in stock at hastings...

93. How many pairs of shoes do you own?
lots...thirty something?

94. Are your days full and fast-paced?
very full. too full sometimes. fast-paced too.

95. Did you ever get in trouble for talking in class?
on occasion

96. Is there carpet, wood or tile in the room you're currently in?
wood

97. Were you a "planned" child?
i think so

98. Are you a good dancer?
i'm a fun dancer, when the mood strikes. good really isn't the word to describe it.

99. Are you a nice person?
overall.

i swam in lake padden once

note about previous blog:

when i am being practical, i have no desire whatsoever to swim in bellingham bay. gross me out.

don't stop, don't break, you can delight because you have a place

last tuesday i think


so i'm sitting here listening to "majesty snowbird" on repeat. it makes me feel like i have to do something besides work. i have to fake play piano on my desk and write my blog on lined paper. something about other people's creations, when they're ones i love, makes me feel like i have to create too - it resonates. i think it's why people paint landscapes and write odes - true beauty and goodness, i think, inspire action - a response. it says in the bible, "he who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't, sins" - i think that relates to our creative response to God. it's a sin not to create when inspired because to do so connects you with God, the head of all creation, and not creating separates you from him, taking away your ability to process and even to connect with others. i don't think i'm a great writer or musician, but taking the time to write and play makes me feel whole.

for me, music and books create a longing for something more than what i experience now - heightened beauty, hope, awareness, whatever. i feel a sense of something more significant to life than what i realize normally. cs lewis says that our unfulfilled desires only exist because there is a possibility for those desires to be filled, someday, someplace. music reminds me of that - it makes me aware of the longing, and gives me a glimpse at what the fulfillment will be like.

when i lived in bellingham, i spent many early summer mornings driving to work past boulevard park and then on to chuckanut. sometimes the days were so pretty that i felt compelled to swim in bellingham bay. sometimes i felt like i couldn't turn off chuckanut, the day was so great that i should just drive until i was satisfied with trees and light and water. but there was never time - i was supposed to be somewhere else. one day i realized: i will swim in bellingham bay, and drive down chuckanut, as much as i want, for eternity, if that's what it takes, in heaven. there will be time to fully experience everything i've longed for here. the need to put off the things that my heart asks for will be gone.

listening

today i had a little panic attack because i thought i had forgotten how to read music. i haven't REALLY read music in years - most of what i do these days is nothing, and if i play the piano at all it's usually improvising, playing worship songs with chord sheets, or trying to remember how to play 'tarantella' at breakneck speeds. that middle part is tough to remember. but to think that i had forgotten something that was once such a vital part of me freaked me out a bit...so on my work papers, on top of all of my notes about the documentation i need to write and the usability tests i'm going to go over with my boss tomorrow, i started scribbling treble clefs and bass clefs and trying to remember "every good boy does fine" and all of that critical information. i think i remembered it accurately. but i really should get a piano, or just play one. i miss music. or being a part of making it. i'm jealous of guitar players who can just take it on the road, borrow someone's, grab it around a campfire or at a music store or a friend's house. but i guess it's better the piano than the alto sax or something. you don't find a lot of those lying (laying?) around.

we went on a retreat this weekend with all of our high school students. not all. 70 ish. it was really good. i didn't want to go at all. nothing seemed more tiring, and almost none of the girls in my small group were going...but i went anyway, pretty much because i didn't have any real reason not to except that i wanted to be lazy. so i went anyway, and it was good. i'm exhausted today of course, and i think it made me get a cold, which i hate. but i love talking to kids. i love meeting with the girls in my cabin and asking them questions and just listening. i can't believe the horrible things that happen in these kids' families. parents say awful, awful things to their children. i know i'm not getting the whole story, since i usually don't get to hear the parent's end of it, but telling your daughter that she's fat, or lazy, or stupid, or that she's never going to get married, or that you don't like her, or that she should try not eating for a while, is a lasting, devestating, destructive comment, regardless of context. it's really clear to me that parents are broken people too. talking to these girls makes me realize that there are a lot of broken people in the world, that very few parents have answers and know how to avoid doing damage in their relationships. people are hurt, and they don't know how to deal with it. it's hard to listen to. i had seven one-on-ones with girls on saturday and spent a lot of saturday night talking with them about families, and with the exception of one, there is a lot of lasting hurt there. it doesn't, somehow, just crush me to hear all of that. i know that God is working in these girls, and guys, and i believe that he can heal them and heal their parents. i guess it's because i get to see these kids' hurt but also be with them as they experience joy and friendship and sharing and healing. i wish their parents got to do some of that.

he likes to keep his fire engine clean

for a long time i told anyone who would ask that the beatles were my favorite band, and i meant it. i think i was always somewhat of a fan, but when those anthologies were aired when i was in ninth grade (right?) i was hooked. i bought a whole slew of cds and listened to them all the time. i coveted the white album for months before picking up a copy. it's really funny to me that the first beatles album i ever had in my possession (although i think i borrowed it from autumn at first) was rubber soul. it's not what i'd think of as a starter for a new fan. i love it.

in recent years i've been hesitant to name the beatles as my favorite. i feel like i don't know enough about them, or understand the influence of their music enough, or, frankly, listen to them with the devotion a real fan should have. but i'm currently uploading all of my beatles cds to itunes. and i can't find rubber soul! where IS it? everything vanished during college. i can't find revolver either. but magical mystery tour is playing in the background as i write and it makes me feel good. it makes me feel comfortable and like myself. maybe i should regret that it's not inspiring me to go out and have adventures or smoke pot or create. but i don't feel like i need or want something to make me do those things. feeling like myself is enough. and anyway, wanting to write my first blog post in months probably DOES mean that the beatles inspired me to create. the beatles save the day!

flash the cash

sometimes my dad writes poems. he occasionally sends us emails and letters as his alter ego, "the baggist". the baggist is a character he created to entertain himself. the baggist is a storyteller who surrounds himself with an ecclectic group of associates, such as his wife, whose name i can't remember, who wears only deer skin clothing, is a writer, and lives with her husband only part time. sometimes the poems we receive from my dad are actually written by the baggist, such as this little gem that arrived in our inbox the other night. this poem is intended to convey a particular request to me and brad. if you are able to make a guess as to why my dad wrote this poem and what we are supposed to do as a result, please write a comment and i will give you a prize if you are correct - or even close to correct (i know the purpose due to some decoding prose that was added to the original email).

----
Flash the cash,
This ain't no trash.
Speak the label,
And we'll make the dash.

We be the thicket,
You buy the ticket.

With an "ooh bitty bambah"
And a fancy, "My oh my!"
We'll send you the dough.
And a "Thanks" that's styled high.

Oh, yeah.

The baggist
Bent Poem Series: From "B-ball ain't no fun day at the beach". It be work,
man."
----

he had places to go

today i was riding the bus home from work on the newly paved 37th. way up the road i saw some sort of obstruction taking up the majority of the right lane. as we got closer i could tell that it was a moving object. it was an old man in a motorized wheelchair. he was CURMUDGEONLY. he was all hunched down, VERY old, wrinkled, and scowly (late 80s, i would say), wearing an old man trucker cap (like an actual one that he probably once wore as a real live trucker, not one that he picked up after thinking how good it looked on ashton kutcher), finger on the gas, eyes glaring, taking up the whole side of the road. and the topper: there was a small american flag on a plastic stick affixed to the back of the wheelchair, either something he put there himself because he's proud to be an american, or else perhaps something one of his children attached so that oncoming traffic might notice him and not run him down. the bus had to swerve way around him, but he didn't care. he had places to go, and he was making great time.

you can call me insensitive for bringing this up, but don't you think that handicapped people probably get a real thrill when they get their first motorized wheelchair and can travel way faster than able-bodied walkers? i think that might be kind of fun.

doesn't that sound nice?

so apparently when i'm busy blogging is the first thing to go. i should get my priorities straight.

one thing i've been thinking about a lot lately is the idea that God exists outside of time. i used to find this mind-boggling and almost frightening. frightening because of the idea of heaven in conjunction with eternity and eternal existence. i didn't want my soul to be dead and over per se, but the idea of me continuing on FOREVER seemed SCARY.

but i've been reading a lot of cs lewis lately. i've been on a huge cs lewis kick since the spring and just finished another one a couple of days ago, the screwtape letters. cs lewis talks about the desires we have that are not or cannot be fulfilled on earth. like let's say i had a desire for a great, loving friendship, but never experienced one. since i have this desire for a good thing, God has to be the one who gave me that good desire, and if it can't be fulfilled here (although of course i actually do have friends, contrary to what some liar might have told you), then it holds true that that desire will someday be fulfilled for me, specifically, in heaven. i like that! and then i was thinking about it more, and i read a letter that cs lewis wrote that talked about the need for unpressured time being something that will be fulfilled in heaven. the idea is that there won't be/isn't time in heaven at all. so all the time flying by/not enough time to do anything/it seems like yesterday when i was in high school/i don't have time to sit and think/etc. things we think every day, and the desire for MORE time, or NO time, will be met in heaven where time does not exist and God exists outside of time. it's not that minutes and seconds and hours and years will be dragging by unceasingly, it's that time will not be a factor - we'll just BE. and do things. and have relationships. without any time pressure. doesn't that sound nice? it does to me.

so that's my deep thought for the day. call me jack handy.

clubhouse

oh, my dog is a problem. i love her. she is one of my best and nicest and cutest friends. but she is causing all sorts of trouble. tonight, like every morning and night, i took her for a walk. she has to wear a contraption called a Gentle Leader, so that she won't pull her little self to every interesting thing and damage her spine. she hates that Gentle Leader. does it gently lead her? yes, in fact, it does. does that make it a great walking companion? no, it does not. what it means is that instead of looking forward to her evening trot, emmy runs around the house to avoid the Gentle Leader, paws at it throughout the entire walk, and frequently races over to other people's yards while we're out so that she can rub her face in the grass and get that thing off. i don't exactly blame her. but we used to be able to go for about an hour, and now we're down to about twenty minutes, tops.

but is emmy cutting back how much she eats in relation to her limited exercise, as fitness magazine would advise? no, she certainly is not. she, much like me, knows no moderation when it comes to food (although i'm getting better). i could eat a bucket of ice cream, no problem. emmy is not allowed to have dairy or chocolate, BUT, who cares about that when there's a plum tree in the back yard and YOU CAN EAT ALL THE PLUMS YOU WANT?? and that is exactly what she's been doing, apparently. most evenings emmy spends some time in the back yard by herself under the plum tree. brad and i have started to refer to it as her clubhouse. "where's emmy?" "oh, i think she's out at her clubhouse." fantastic. but today i was dutifully scooping up her poop, and what did i see in it (gross), but millions and billions of plum pits, which she frantically swallowed whole. what did she do the entire time i scooped up her poop? ate plums. unceasingly. what is she doing as i write? prancing back to the tree for more plums. when is she going to die of plum inhalation? any day.

but she's going to do it alone, because mrs. emmy has gotten herself uninvited to my parents' house this weekend. she and my dad became best friends when my parents were here a few weeks ago, and he said we should bring her along when we came for a visit in august. well my friends, that visit is starting friday, and as of tonight, WEDNESDAY, i learned that my mom is oh so uncertain about having a dog in the house. fantastic again. so rather than have an awkward weekend of constantly watching the dog when we'd rather be visiting friends, we're scrambling to find a temporary home for her. anybody want a dog?

well, i need to go get a refreshing diet pepsi and prepare myself for an allison-free project runway. WHYYYYYYY, whyyy allison???

i've got the know-how

one thing that i find particularly silly and wrong is when people say that you don't need to use much math in real life. i love math. i'm not trying to hide it. it makes sense. it's easy. it's logical. you learn some things, memorize a few concepts, and there you have it: you know math. i use math at work all the time. if i didn't understand a few juicy tidbits about the order of operations and how parentheses work, i could be in a lot of trouble. math also allows me to worry alternatively more and less about life - less when i use it to make a budget, plan for the future, blah blah blah, boring, sensible me...and allows me to worry all the more when i see mortgage payments and car payments and vacation payments adding up...because i can add well in my head, thank you, and i can multiply those payments for any number of months with the best of them, and sometimes the sums and products of those amounts make me a little panicky. i've got the know-how, and the results can be frightening. we've got the facts, and we're voting yes. but the worrying isn't math's fault...it's just what i do.

sometimes i hate how responsible i am. i can't stop myself from reading 40 msn money articles before buying a house or hold off on saving for retirement or blow all of my money on trips and shoes and trinkets. i wish a had a little more spontaneity and a little more faith that no matter what i do, things will work out in the end. because ultimately i believe they will. but i tend to plan as if it's all up to me. it's good and bad. it's a mixed bag. it's like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife.

it's not really like that - but that really happened to me! on the way back from the pearl jam concerts at the gorge, when my brother looked like an unwashed lunatic and we didn't get home until very late, we also hadn't eaten much because the extreme heat made everything sound oh so unappetizing. except a cherry slurpee-esque thing, which i don't even like under normal circumstances. so we stopped at mcdonalds in moses lake. the drive through line inched along for days and weeks and years. finally we received our orders - mine was an asian chicken salad. i took the bag and asked mcdonalds lady if she had included any forks. she grabbed a bunch and stuffed them in the bag and basically slammed her little mcdonalds window shut. we pulled over to switch drivers and i distributed the food and utensils - AND - she gave me four spoons!! not one single fork!!! as brad drove home to spokane, i ate the mandarin orange slices and edamame and lettuce in the creepy darkness with my bare hands and couldn't help but imagine that the slimy things i was touching were worms and bugs and assorted unsavory items. the second-worst teacher i've ever had was from moses lake; maybe it's just a bad place.

skin-tight tiger tees

i am obsessed with podcasts right now. my top two favorites are the official lost podcast with damon and carlton, and tim gunn's project runway podcast. oh how i love project runway. it's the best reality show ever. and tim gunn gives me so much secret gossipy information in that pocast. he offers all of the behind-the-scenes scoop (kara janx makes him want to take a xanax; no self-respecting gay male could not know who cher is), and he uses the most ridiculous words over and over, like "caucus" and "probe". and his two catchphrases, "carry on" and "make it work" are also funny to me, PARTICULARLY when he uses them in combination, a la last week's episode: "jeffrey and allison are going to have to carry on and, frankly, make it work." AHAHAHA. he really said that. you non-fans out there probably aren't amused. well, watch the show. you'll see. and listen to the podcasts. you'll double see. also, allison is so cute.

the official lost podcast is also hilarious in a different way. there's lots of witty banter, which tim gunn can't exactly offer, and damon and carlton (lost producers) really take full advantage of the fact that we can't actually see them while they're speaking, which frees them to tell us that damon isn't wearing pants, carlton has his legs covered in a shawl, carlton has put a piece of cardboard down on the floor and is doing the worm, etc. little kid things. i take advantage of the fact that i can't see them by inaccurately picturing them as other people. i picture damon as jj abrams, but more importantly, i picture carlton as santino from project runway season two. he sounds just like him! i only wish carlton were so gangly and clothed in skin-tight tiger tees. i've never actually seen him, and i think maybe it's better that way.

piss hell piss

oh my gosh, i'm stupid. brad just told me that he knows why i haven't gotten any comments: because i didn't turn on the settings correctly! boo. piss hell piss. i'm sure that everyone has been trying to post comments left and right and has been so disappointed. well, no more. comments are now available! wheeeeee.

an architect, a cartoonist, and an actor

a few facts:

fact 1: i am completely covered with bug bites. millions on my arms. billions on my legs. a couple on my face. and best of all: i woke up this morning to discover one on my fingertip. it makes typing feel weird.

fact 2: i made "spicy tomato soup" tonight, even though it is about 95 degrees out and i couldn't get the food processor to work. and even though i had to use another sad inorganic plasic carton of tomatoes since mine STILL AREN'T READY. the soup was frighteningly spicy, mostly (we think) because instead of the recommended poblano pepper, i used a jalepeno since that was all brad could find at the store. i got a little bit on my finger (non-bug-bitten) and it's been burning ever since.

fact 3: i love curb your enthusiasm! we watched the first episode of season 5 last night (we do not have hbo, so we have to wait for the dvds) and larry is up to his old tricks. something about seeing ted danson on tv after all this time makes me happy. and i never even watched cheers. it must be because when i was little i watched three men and a little lady every time i was sick. if only every little girl could have an architect, a cartoonist, and an actor for her three hilarious fathers. i seriously think i could quote most of that movie, and i feel like no one else on earth has ever watched it.

if you have watched three men and a little lady, please post a comment to tell me your thoughts on that cinematic wonder.

chocolate pudding

i feel cranky. i wanted to change my picture on myspace and first i couldn't find the one i wanted, then i couldn't browse to it, and then i finally found it and the server is too busy. and emmy ate a chocolate chip cookie and i don't want her to die and/or throw up. and david hasselhoff is singing on tv in the other room and i want to punch him in the face. also i think i'm sleep deprived and dehydrated. does anybody else feel cranky? or fussy? brad should secretly grind up four extra strength asprin and put them in my chocolate pudding.

such a nice little life

i love my dog. she is so cute, and funny, and smart. i've been sitting in our office for the last few minutes watching her play outside. she loves sprinklers. in spokane everybody has sprinkler systems, including us. i used to think that was so weird - why would the inland northwest have sprinklers galore while the ocean-bound side of state does not? i believe it has something to do with the so-called aquifer, which i know nothing about. anyway: sprinklers. emmy loves them. ours are running right now and she is prancing from sprinkler to sprinkler, drinking water, and letting them get her all wound up. she's doing a lot of what brad and i refer to as "her circles", which are intense, ears back, body crouched low laps around the yard at breakneck speeds until she can't take it anymore. she's just a puppy. i always KNEW i was a dog person. i remember wanting a dog when i was little, but somehow i ended up with a cat. but he was a great cat (named "wisker", no 'h' - that was very important to my seven-year-old self), a small orange genius who could turn doorknobs and chased dogs out of our yard.

i had a ramona quimby diary that had spaces where i could fill in facts about myself. i'm not sure what i was thinking at the time, but in the space for "what nickname would you like to be called?", i wrote, "Cat-Lover". but when it comes down to it, i think a lot of cats kind of suck. and some dogs suck too. maybe i just like emmy. call me emmy-lover.

i think a lot of what i like about our dog is that she seems to have such a nice little life. she sleeps a lot, is curious about everything, loves us a lot, eats frantically, gets tons of exercise, and loves to make friends. and every day is full of freetime. i wish i had more freetime. my boss asked me today about what i would like my title to be going forward, and what i want my job description to include, and where do i see myself in five years...and i don't know. but the idea of freetime is the most appealing thing i can think of.

who does he think he is? james bond?

there was a bug in my lettuce today. i'm experimenting with growing my own vegetables and i picked some lettuce to put in a salad, and as i was washing it, and i looked down, and there was a huge creepy bug crawling all over me! i'm not even afraid of bugs! but it was so long and skinny and it had pincers and i did something i have honestly never done before in response to a bug: i screamed.

my garden is pretty pathetic. it's not very big, and i can't see it from the house, only if i go out behind the garage, so it gets pretty neglected. however, i love it. i like growing my own lettuce and spinach, even though the spinach all died last week and the lettuce is plagued by creepy bugs, and the peas are soooo delicious, and there are teensy green leaves popping up where carrots and green onions are going to sprout someday. mostly i'm excited about the tomatoes that should be coming any day this week. we bought a grape tomato plant because those are my favorite, and there are billions of tiny green tomato babies appearing all over it. i planned two dinners i was going to make this week around the tomatoes that i'm so excited for...but i think i've been too ambitious, because they are definitely not yet for eating, and i had to go to the store to buy a sad inorganic plastic carton to use in my salad tonight. what a sad, tragic life i have.

in non-garden-related news, what is up with j tim's new video? when i heard the song i was like, hmm, doesn't sound like justin to me, i don't love it, but it sounds like it would be soooo hot at the club. it's got "dance beat" written all over it. but there's no dancing in the video! who does he think he is? james bond? and i don't even understand what's going on anyway.

tall, tan, laid-back nomad

for some reason, writing my first blog entry makes me feel like i have writer's block, and it makes me nervous. this is ridiculous, because a) hardly anyone knows i have a blog and is going to read this and 2) (ohhhh that joke never gets old), what am i trying to prove anyway?? yesterday i was thinking that i just need to have a kick off point, and i remembered the first line my friend beth wrote in one of my high school yearbooks: "your yearbook smells like iced tea. perfect kick-off point." but i don't like tea, iced or hot, so i'm going to kick it off with an equally important topic: my brother's hair.

i saw my brother for the first time in a few months last weekend at the pearl jam concert at the gorge. we have been experiencing an extreme heatwave, as you, my loyal readers, are surely aware. brad and i stayed with our friend christy in wenatchee on saturday night (temperature on saturday: a horrifying 113 ish degrees, according to one mr. eddie vedder, who sported a tank top and shorts with his tall white socks and tennie runners - and wore the same exact thing on sunday, except with doc martens instead. explanation? "it's f***ing hot!") and we were going to meet ty at the gorge on sunday. it was blazing hot. i couldn't find him anywhere in the parking lot or at the ten club ticket pickup line. brad rushed inside to purchase some collectible posters as i called ty's cell phone repeatedly, which went straight to voicemail.

finally, i looked to my left and saw a vision in white approaching. at first i honestly didn't recognize him, but it was, in fact, my brother. he was wearing the dirtiest, filthiest white tee shirt and swim trunks of all time, a pair of borrowed sunglasses, and his feet were literally dark brown with dirt. he carried a huge backpacking backpack. i told him he looked crazy. he said he had fallen asleep under a tree, after spending the last several hours alone in the scorching heat after the friends he had camped with left early in the morning. i could not stop laughing at how ridiculous he was, and how pathetic. am i mean? maybe...mostly i think i just have a good sense of humor.

but i said i was going to talk about his hair. after we got back to spokane late sunday night he took a shower, and with the dirt removed, the freakish beauty of his hair really began to show itself. it is truly a marvel. it's probably about chin-length at its longest point. for some reason, it is kind of curly at the ends. the curly-ness makes the ends flip out perfectly, but by some hair miracle, the top portion of the hair remains wonderfully smooth and shiny. and to top it all off: he has lovely, sweeping side bangs. it is a beautifully styled coif. all of this is the result of absolutely no effort, product, or forethought. but the result is that he has the exact hairstyle that is much coveted by many a girl and woman - in fact, it is the same hairstyle that my friend noelle once worked to create on a daily basis (and maybe still does?). all in all, the look on a 21-year-old male may not be exactly "manly" or "attractive", but i found it to be equally astounding and delightful on my tall, tan, laid-back nomad brother. i'll have to see if i've got a picture i can post.

so that's about it for me. one world-class blog down, and many more to follow.

oh, i'm testing

test........boring, boring test