Oy! Henna! If you're reading this, Ms. Sakkara of Portland sends congrats on your shrimp.

Your international cabal of dancers and costumers are always watching.

Now make a damned live journal so you can read my filtered content and catch up with sakkaranoush prior to your return home...and so you and Eshe can reconnect.

Internet out again, updating from phone. Thanks comcast!

Tonight I’ll be taking the train down to Puppy’s new place for movies and pizza. In the time that I dated him, he and his sister had agreed to move back with family and play happy-family-all-together for a year or so (the fact that his father had had a stroke prompted part of this family together urge, as did time the siblings were studying abroad) so this will be the first Puppy place I’ll get to see. I’m curious to see Puppy Décor. My bet is heavy doses of IKEA. I gave him some housewarming gifts (drinking glasses, wine glasses, scented candles) when I saw him about a month ago. If things get late I’ll sleep on the new sofa bed. One of the amazing things about Puppy, beyond the boundless enthusiasm that earned him the name, is that when he said “you can sleep on the sofa bed” that’s exactly what he meant. He has his own bed. There is no seduction subtext.

I remember the first night I had him over to my place for food and movies after we discussed that we liked each other and were not seeing other people (it was a sweet conversation he initiated that went pretty much exactly like that) and the next weekend he came over to my place…

“ I wasn’t expecting that when you invited me for movies and food.”
“You’re not complaining, are you? I mean, I provided movies and food first!...”
“Not complaining!”

Me: Movies and food are code for “I’m gonna get you in my house….”
Him: Movies and food are code for “I’m a nice guy who is going to enjoy movies and food with you!”

I’m not complaining. Having a nice, clean, male friend I can relax with is a good thing. I sometimes wonder if my ex has been replaced by a asexual-podperson. It’s probably kinder and truer to say that his boundless enthusiasm makes him happy about all social interactions, even pizza and movies with an ex-girlfriend (which I think we can all agree isn’t the best social situation in the world, even if that girlfriend is me)….or, less kindly, to say that Amazon has broken him to the point that he treasures any time in the outside world.  

Don’t worry, I’m thankful to have him as a sometimes hanging-out buddy and I repay his boundless enthusiasm by never being stupid enough to talk about relationships before or after him. I suspect that he hasn’t dated since me, just because I know his work schedule hasn’t changed (movie night has been a month and a half in planning). If the topic ever comes up and it turns out he is dating but is spending one of his available-once-every-few-weeks evenings free with me…we’re gonna have to have another heart-to-heart about his boyfriend skills and priorities.

I taught four classes today; two 5th grade, two 6th grade.

The Milkman’s Sister drove us to the school, in her car full of Winney the Pooh (Pooh-san, if you’re Japanese), nearly getting us hit by a truck and then later parking in a manner that blocked the cars of 10 teachers. She lists driving as one of her hobbies. I’m beginning to think her constant errors, misspellings, incorrect use of clearly labeled trash cans, and driving style aren’t about carelessness, I think she’s a rural anarchist set to collapse the system…or that her sense of humor is more surreal than I originally imagined. Anarchist or Dadaist. Gotta be.

Whichever she is, she’s also a gossip hound. She was telling me of how one of our co-workers got to work at 6:30 this morning, and has been working on the weekends.
“He says everything is ok at home, but…”

True, I thought the same thing when she told me of his hours, but I didn’t comment. I can’t remember which co-worker this was, so I can’t recall if it’s the one she speculates is a closet case due to his effeminate nature and his love of making us all tea.

We arrived at the school and met my teammate for the day (who had dropped by city hall yesterday to discuss the lesson plan I’d written) and learned that the schedule had been changed from two classes to four. Booya! No downtime before lunch! (This is a good thing, I didn’t want downtime…I’ve had nothing but downtime.)

The class was pretty straight forward, it was all about me.

they love each other.

I received the 2008 schedule for American Player's Theatre. And dammit, they're doing A Midsummer Night's Dream! I've heard so many things about their performance of it and how tickets book fast; since they have about six different plays they do throughout the summer season, I have maybe five chances total to see it on the weekend night.

Not saying I couldn't do it on a weekday but that'd make for a hard work day after. It's in Spring Green, about an hour away and the night performances don't start till at least 7.

I'm thinking I'd really like to use whatever extra $$ I have with big paycheck to book some tickets. We had some booked last summer but ended up having an emergency brain surgery so we couldn't go (they were booked for the day after!). 100 bucks down the drain, I tried to give them to mom but since it was the flood they couldn't go either.

THIS year, I could book tickets on Aug 15th to celebrate Jeffrey's one year tumor-free anniversary (two days early). I think we'll be wanting to celebrate and I'm betting I'll be able to get tickets that far out.

So cross your fingers that tickets are available when I get my paycheck!!!

Goldie Hawn came to shop at our store today. I was dusting the sake sets (really just trying to decide which one I want to eventually buy.. and trying to waste time) & wandered over to dinnerware & they were all "OMG upstairs!" It was pretty funny. Mary Anne was going to pee herself & she was like "I have to talk to her.. I already know what I'm going to say!" so I told her to pretend I was Goldie & practice her speech. When I walked by again later Goldie & whoever it was she was with (some other woman) were down there & Mary Anne & Meredith were approaching them, giggling. Meredith just graduated college, but Mary Anne is maybe... 35? So it was pretty funny. She got Goldie to stand with her & take a pic with her cell phone to show her husband, but then was freaking out because she couldn't find it & thought it had not been saved. I found it for her & set it as her wallpaper so she wouldn't lose it again.

Anyway, it was pretty amusing. Made the hour of 4:30-5:30 go by a little quicker. Goldie Hawn is very small, & looks just as messy IRL as she does in pictures. Go figure!

I have a huge post written out about this weekend but thought I would post this one first. The other one still needs too much work.

i seriously lost count of how many times adam and i listened to the kills new album yesterday. it's so good! i really need to find my copy of their first album so adam can hear it. i think adam and i both have a band crush on them now.

i had an amazing birthday. 29 feels good. thank you for your well wishes and for coming out and making the jubileigh super. oh, and gifts = whoa! i have really amazing friends. looking around the show was just incredible. i love sharing jason with people i care about. anyone who really wanted to make it but couldn't, thank you for the texts and emails and phonecalls. i love you dudes.

tonight i will finally get my permanent crown. i am afraid my dentist will not be happy with the current condition of my teeth. yarg.

regarding the small f-list cut i just made: it's nothing personal; really. i'm just too old for this. jason and i had a really poignant conversation about friendship and even he who is so pro-friendship knows when to say when. i've tried. i know who i truly mean something to. i am not longer going to settle for something less.

I took out my drawing board to put up a new piece of paper, only to find one on there. Then I turned it over and found an unfinished drawing...so I worked on it a bit. I just need to tweek it a bit before I remove it and put some fresh paper up.

Mmmmm, stinky studio/kitchen now airing out. Thinner high.

Unzen Lemonade! Look for the bottle with the Tori Amos female impersonator!

First, congrats to all my homies with new MAMAs (Madison Area Music Awards)…Homie Father with The Spare Time Bluegrass Band and Homiez Null Device.

In Performance News:
Friday night’s performance wasn’t the best.

First small issue was my costume. I am having doubts about my white Disco Bella. It has always fit a little funny and the bra fringe hangs in a way that seems to obscure my waistline. If shortening the skirt (which I tend to catch with my toes) doesn’t do the trick in making it more danceable then I think I’ll be selling it. The front skirt panel is stitched AND snapped to the belt, and I kept worrying that with each wrong step I’m going to have a half unsnapped skirt that hangs funny.

I recently bought Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, which has 75 vegan cupcake recipes in it. I was dying to make a batch and Mother's Day with Josh's family was a perfect opportunity (so that I could make them but not eat them all!). I made the basic golden vanilla with buttercream frosting but I also added strawberry preserves to the center. I was given a homemade jar of said preserves on Friday by the mother of the student who made me the lovely candy bar card. The jar is now 1/2 gone as I also made Peanut Butter and Jelly muffins for breakfast this morning. No photo, but they came from the Deceptively Delicious recipe book. They aren't vegan because I was too lazy to modify the recipe. I'm getting off track, but the cupcakes were a big hit and all were snatched up, I didn't even get one!

I'm really enjoying cutting out dairy from my diet. I thought it would be terrible torture, but it isn't. What is torture is when I do eat dairy and my tummy gets yucky. I've been reading a lot about it and I do think that it is the main cause of my Colitis. There are 2 times a year that I get flare-ups, which are the most stressful times for me, the Hoidays, and the end of the school year. So far I am keeping my stress in check and being careful about my diet, and I don't think I'll be having a flare-up any time soon. It is so hard to cut out 100% because there are so many things that I still don't realize have dairy in them. But now when I have had something with cheese in it the taste isn't good like it used to be. I've also noticed a lot of other flavors in my food that were usually covered up with cheese. Vegan cheeses that I've tasted are grosser than just omitting cheese, but I had read on several vegan blogs about The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook, which I purchased with my cupcake book. I've heard good reviews about these recipes and I am really excited to try some, especially the quiche (which I may try tonight) and the grilled cheez.

Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit (Woodstock 1969)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xhYk9PEmXA

Jimmy Tamborello:
Dntel - Rock My Boat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixP2mFnwqEw
Do They Know It's Halloween ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgux6aGzb3k

Chad VanGaalen:
Chad VanGaalen - Clinically Dead
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXDsmSpt3so
Chad VanGaalen - Flower Gardens
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcLkWm-o3lk

Sex and the City movie comes out May 30th. Jeffrey was always planning on coming with me but recently he said, "don't you have a girlfriend to go with?". I thought about it and no, not really. UNTIL my best friend texted me and asked if I wanted to go...I had no idea she was even into it! So hell ya! Date #1.

Then at work we somehow got on the subject of movies and Tamara piped up to excitedly to tell me SATC comes out May 30th. I was like, "I KNOW!!" and we got to talking about the series and how much we both loved it. She sheepishly asks, "Lori, will you go with me?". Her man won't go so she was going alone. So hell ya! Date #2. Then Karla turns around and asks what we're talking about, we tell her and she says, "Oooo I LOVE that show!", so Karla will be tagging along.

And I KNOW that the Firehouse's lounge offers Cosmos. Wouldn't THAT be fun :D

Unfortunately these girls have only seen TBS's cut, highly edited versions. I've got to be giving them my complete series so they can REALLY see what's up. If you can't see Samantha's face as she swallows the funky spunk it just doesn't work ;)