Cocaine and Ecstasy Cause DNA Mutation:

..."Cocaine and ecstasy have proved to be more dangerous than we had imagined,'' said Giorgio Bronzetti, chief scientist at the National Center for Research's (CNR) biotechnology department. "These drugs, on top of their toxicological effects, attack DNA provoking mutations and altering the hereditary material. This is very worrying for the effects it could have on future generations,'' he said...

I dated someone in college who tried to convince me a number of times to do Ecstasy with him. I researched the drug and found that I was too uncomfortable with possible side effects to really consider it, so each time I declined. In retrospect, I am glad I made that choice.

Gah.

I was actually getting along with Mr_X0 for a while, but now he's back to annoying the piss out of me. Trying to get me to do his job, when that's not working, looking over my shoulder at what I'm doing, trying to tell me how to do my job, bitching about everything... ugh.

I feel like I was on a really nice vacation and now I'm back again. And it sucks being back.

There is a large Christmas tree in the lobby of my building at work. It smells SO good.

I want a Christmas tree.

Apparently, you can rent Christmas trees from Ikea for $9.95 plus a $10 deposit (refunded to you upon return of the tree in the form of a gift certificate). Ikea will then recycle the trees and plant a new tree for every tree that they rented out.

How wacky. I might just check it out.

Have I mentioned that I am doing something different for Christmas this year?

I'm going to fly my mother, father, and youngest sister out to visit with Mary and I. This will be my first Christmas season ever where I don't spend any time in the midwest.

I offered to fly my brother's girlfriend, as well, but she wasn't sure she'd have time enough off of work. I did not get a ticket for my brother because although there is a chance he will be back from Iraq by then, nothing is certain.

My reasons for doing this are two-fold:

First off, Mary is looking for a job. She's afraid that many places looking to hire would mainly be interested in hiring extra help for the holidays, and was afraid that she might end up being unable to head back home. She's much happier now that I'm bringing home to her.

The second reason is a little more selfish. For the last four years, I always spent at least part of the holiday season with Jeremy and his family. I really liked his family and I enjoyed spending time with them once a year, and I also cherished the time with him. We aren't dating any more and haven't been for some time now, but I will still miss the time spent with him over in Wisconsin. I guess I figured that if I shake things up, change around my holiday routine, I won't notice the other changes quite as much and there will be less danger of suffering from a bout of nostalgic holiday blues.

So, Christmas in Seattle! Joy, joy, joy.

"Litter and it will hurt," proclaim a host of freeway signs in the area.

Great. Here's to bullying the public into acting with consideration for their community and environment. That's got to be the best way to motivate.

Have you ever admired someone so much that you built them up in your mind to be larger than life, and then woken up one day to realize that they are just another person? It's not that you don't admire them anymore, but it's like you see them in a whole other light; all of a sudden you're on a level playing ground and you can relate to them like you'd relate to friends, or coworkers, or neighbors, or anyone else real.

It's a weird transition.

Bush Administration Defends Detainee Policy:

...The justices should not even get involved in any review of that power, because there is no constitutional doubt about it, the Justice Department argued in a lengthy legal brief. ...

Bah.

That's right, we don't need checks and balances. Let's put complete faith in our administration, happy little sheep. Baaaaa is right.

Royd Tolkien, the great-grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien, has a cameo in part III of the LOTR movie series, The Return of the King. Pretty damn cool.

Goodbye, F. A. O. Schwarz. :(

The commute this morning was crazy. My bus was already filled to capacity, standing room only. Then, halfway down the route, they pulled into a stop, made us all get off, and made us get onto a smaller bus so that the one we had been on could go into the shop. People had to smoosh up against each other and cram even into the stairwells on the second bus in order to fit.

Then, when we finally got to my final stop, the next bus on the same route got there at almost the same time. It's supposed to be 15 minutes behind us, but I guess we took a lot of time playing these silly bus-changing games.

Here's what's happening in my local IT industry:

Not only is AT&T cutting 70% of their IT staff, but they are forcing employees to train overseas replacements to do their jobs and they are blocking employee access to all media stories about offshoring.

Woah. Really not cool.

According to this article, my problem may simply be that I am an introvert trying to live my life as if I were an extrovert and failing miserably:

Extroverts are energized by people, and wilt or fade when alone. They often seem bored by themselves, in both senses of the expression. Leave an extrovert alone for two minutes and he will reach for his cell phone. In contrast, after an hour or two of being socially "on," we introverts need to turn off and recharge. My own formula is roughly two hours alone for every hour of socializing. This isn't antisocial. It isn't a sign of depression. It does not call for medication. For introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating. Our motto: "I'm okay, you're okay—in small doses."

Two hours alone for every hour of socializing? Now that I'm working in this tiny office around my officemate all day, I'm lucky if I get an hour to myself each day. At least I feel like that's the case. I don't know how much time I actually get to spend on my own, between work and friends and family, but it doesn't feel like enough.

Or it's entirely possible that the article is all bunk.

No offense meant to those of you who are my friends, by the way. This is an internal deal, I think. Not a problem with you.

Steve just randomly messaged me:

Steve says: how you doing?
Kathryn says: doing alright
Kathryn says: you?
Steve says: ok... ya know. the grind goes on.
Steve says: Seems like you haven't been feeling too well lately. Just wanted to tell you i was thinking about you. Smile :)

Sweet of him. We haven't spoken or hung out for a while, but he still notices that things are up with me; very nice. I do realize that I am lucky for the friends that I have.

Do you ever go through phases where you just don't want to be around your friends? Where even the people you are closest to grate on your nerves like nails on a blackboard?

Yeah.

I'm going through a super-antisocial phase. Often recently I find I don't want to be around people at all, especially my closest friends. But they expect that I'll spend this time with them and spend that time with them and there are all these commitments that they sign me up for and assume I'll go along with, and I do, so I'm around them all the time, but all the while I feel some craziness simmering inside me where nobody can see. I don't want to go anywhere, do anything, be around anybody, and I'll draw boundaries so that I'm not for a while, but then I always am again and there it is.

I'm not sure what's up with that.

I rarely get a night to myself, and when I do, it's never enough. I don't know how to make it enough. Do I need to just go into hermit-mode for a few days? A week? However long? Or would that only serve to exacerbate the problem?

I fell asleep on the bus again this morning. I'm afraid that one of these days, I won't wake up when the bus gets to my stop.

When my mother was a kid, 5 or 6 years old, she fell asleep on the bus ride home after school. Her older brother thought it would be a funny joke to leave her on the bus. She woke up later on, all alone at the end of the route. Very sad.

Here's to waking up for your bus stop and de-boarding.

I found out yesterday that someone I never thought would read my blog has been reading my blog. It's a strange feeling.

I think I'm glad, sometimes, that I don't know who regularly visits to the site. I'm afraid that if I did, it would mess with my head and I would self-censor my posts with specific people in mind as audience members, and that's really not what I'm shooting for with this journal. I'd like to be as open as possible and write for myself, not for any one specific person among you. I guess that's a mark against figuring out how to log visits.

I'm still not sure I'd like my mom to start reading, though. :)

I had raw broccoli for breakfast. My grandmother would be so proud.

Master/Slave "solution" -- I love it!

I am frustrated with so many things.

Long story short, I'm thinking of just turning off my computer for a few hours, days, weeks - I'm not sure how long. This means I will not be online from home much, if at all.

So -- if I don't respond to your emails in a timely manner, please bear with me. Maybe it's better to contact me by phone for the time being.

ARRRGH- Mozilla is pissing me off.

First off, the interface sucks ass. Yeah, so do the interfaces for most MS programs, but why should I switch over for more suckage?

Second, I set it up to check my mail. When I did so, I very carefully told it to "Leave Messages On Server" because I wasn't sure I wanted to tie myself down to it as a solution.

I guess it forgot.

It, in fact, set a number of options back to their default values without telling me and without me telling it to do so, sometime between Thursday and today.

Now I don't want to use it at all, but finding any other mail program is irrelevant at the moment since STUPID MOZILLA TOTALLY CLEANED OUT MY MAIL ACCOUNT.

I hate Mozilla.

I hate it when you type out a post, click "Post & Publish", and then blogger freaks out about having forgotten who you were and needing you to log in again, losing your post in the process.

Anyhow, happy Day-After-Thanksgiving, everyone.

My dog has this thing for pooping in front of people who admire him.

When we're walking, if someone stops us to tell us how beautiful a dog he is, it's nearly certain that he'll stop at the very next tree or bush and take a very large, smelly dump.

What's with that?

A rundown of my Thanksgiving so far:

• 3:45 AM: I wake up, unable to sleep any longer.


• 3:50 AM - 6:50 AM: I watch "My So Called Life" episodes on DVD, cuddled up with dog.


• 6:50 AM: Current epsiode of series is about Christmas, family, lost children, homes. As the episode winds to a close, I feel strangely nostalgic. I call my parents. (It's 7:00 AM here, but it's 9:00 AM there and I expect they will be awake. They aren't out of bed yet, but they have been awake for a while.)
  
  "What are you doing up?" asks my mother. The conversation starts out a little rocky, but as we get into talk more it turns out to be a really good call. I talk to my mother, my father. Eventually my youngest sister wakes up and I talk to her, as well. I have one of the best chats with my father that I've had in years. It's nice.


• 7:45 AM: I stick Miles' borrowed WinXP CD into the drive and start running the Windows Recovery Console. Eventually I get to a prompt where I start a CHKDSK /r up. It seems as if it will run forever.


• 8:00 AM: I have a lovely Thanksgiving breakfast of cheese and wine. Thank you, Alex Phelps, for the lovely New Zealand wine. Thank you, Mike Bell, for the cheese.
  
  CHKDSK is still running.


• 8:30 AM: CHKDSK is still running.


• 8:47 AM: CHKDSK tells me that I have "one or more unrecoverable errors". Great. I boot up linux, and here I am. I'm customizing my account a bit more, and it starts feeling a little more comfortable. Yay linux. Or something.


• 9:15 AM: I put on the extended version of the Lord of the Rings Part I. Go Tolkein.


• 10:30 AM: My aunt was sick yesterday, so Mary and I were under the impression that all Thanksgiving plans were off and we were left to our own devices. But now my aunt calls and tells me that she's feeling better, and Thanksgiving is back on! Yay, Thanksgiving.


• 10:32 AM: At the same time I am talking to my aunt, Mary calls. We touch base and both she and my aunt decide to shower, at which point Mary and I will meet up and we'll call the aunt again.


• 11:00 AM: Mary is done showering and starts walking to my place, and Louie and I start walking to meet her halfway.


• 11:12 AM: Here we are, about to "start the day". Yay holidays!

Do you ever feel abandoned by your friends, for no good reason, really? I hate when I get to feeling like that.

I got to have an MMR vaccine today. Ouch. Those things are distinctly unpleasant.

I also get to have a heart ultrasound done sometime soon! That sounds exciting, ne? I've had a small heart murmur at least since I was a teenager. Odds are that it is completely benign, but since I've never had it looked at closely my doctor thought it might be a good idea to do so now.

Exciting times.

And OH MY GOSH - some suppliers are ACTUALLY relabeling components. These terms have been industry standards for decades. Politically Correct Craziness gone overboard.

Los Angeles officials have asked that manufacturers, suppliers and contractors stop using the terms "master" and "slave" on computer equipment, saying such terms are unacceptable and offensive. Jeesh. Don't people have anything better to do with their time?

Do you have a living will?

Do you ever think about what you would want to have done for you under certain medical circumstances?

I don't know what I'd want. Difficult stuff to even think about.

By the way, for those of you who do know me and may have been wondering:

I am still female. I have never gone by "Marc". There is nothing going on that I'm not telling you about; I really don't know what's up with all of that.

I'm feeling... irritable with work lately. Irritated especially by the people I work for, but some by my co-workers, some by the cruddy products I work on, some by the lack of process here, etc, etc...

It's not unmanageable. I'm still pretty happy, for the most part.

But with unhappiness, with dissatisfaction, eventually you cross a line wherein it becomes better to move on to better things, where staying on is an exercise in frustration and is no longer the best or smartest course to take. Traditionally, I have stayed on long, long after I have crossed this line. I want not to do that anymore.

How do I not do that?

How do I know when I have crossed over?

The dance last night held several surprises for me.

• I seem to like Brenda's DJing less these days. Last night, I acually preferred Kirk's sets to Brenda's. He played some good stuff.


• I had a few awesome dances last night. I also had some crappy-ass dances. Usually, any given night seems to go one way or the other, but last night my dancing was all over the wall. I don't think I have ever before had such good dances AND such bad dances side by side.


• I got to the dance at the very start. Hardly anyone was there yet. That's just not something I do.


• I left fairly early, when the dance was just picking up. I was probably one of the first people to leave, but I didn't mind; it was time for me to go. That's not something I do, ever -- if I leave early, I always wonder what I might be missing out on. What fun might they have without me? I always close things out. Except last night, when I didn't.

When Linux becomes my primary operating system, I feel somewhat as if I've been permanently blinded and left to fend for myself in a stranger's house.

Mad crazy commenting going on around here lately! It's like several little mini-blogs hidden inside this blog. Crazy crazy crazy. Glad y'all are having fun, though.

So this weekend, the hard drive on my home PC that contains all my windows partitions stopped working.

I guess I'll have to brush up on linux a bit until I figure out what's up with that drive. I'll also have to find a decent linux pop-mailer. Anyhow, you might not see me IM from home much for a while, and I might be slow with personal email while I figure out whatever it is I'm doing. Please bear with me.

Last month, Microsoft fired a contract employee over a personal blog entry. I guess I should maybe watch what I say on here more than I have been.

Fortunately, for those of us still employed, Blogger has a FAQ entry on How Not To Get Fired Because Of Your Blog. Ha. It's a funny world we live in.

Mr_X0 just talked at me for an hour and 10 minutes. He expounded on all his views about the government, employment, outsourcing, social security, the European Union, the impending collapse of our country and economy due to our allowing corporations to run wild and walk all over employees...

I say "talked at" because I could hardly get a word in edgewise.

I didn't get any work done, but it's been pretty slow this week and I could afford the time without a problem. It was actually entertaining, I guess. I find the guy more and more tollerable as time passes on. The whole work-being-pretty-easy-and-non-stressfull-these-days thing helps, I'm sure.

I have a heckler. They wrote the following comment in response to some obscure post from a while back:

it is hard to move on, even when somebody makes you upset by not taking into account how other people feel. Like you yourself said, you shouldn't do things that people will probably take issue with. You do something without considering that other people might get upset, then you blame the person when they do get upset.

All this time, I thought you meant me! What else would I have thought? It was the time frame we knew each other in. But when you have pix of another friend with the same name (I really thought you meant me - you sent me the link several months ago) then someone will get upset. And you blamed me for the break up of you know what. U have to learn to be discreet. Everybody needs to feel special. The site is publically searchable via google and yahoo very easily. This is not a VPN.

Alright, whoever you are:

I do not know who you are. I have my doubts that you even know me. "All this time, I thought you meant me"? I don't know what you're talking about.

I am aware that this site is searchable, and I am fine with that. Everyone that I really know well and care about is aware of this blog and has been given the choice to read it or not. Not all of them do, but they have the choice.

I have also purposefully included identifying information with many of my posts so that people who have known me might be able to find me, should they take an inkling to do so. This was intentional.

Right.

Anyway, carry on.

From Monday's edition of the Seattle Times in an article entitled Tribes becoming political players with casino cash:

. . .Hoglund said he supports legislation to ease gambling rules off reservations because he believes tribes have got too much money and, as a result, too much power in state politics.

"It's going to play a very important and severe impact on politics in our state," he said. "Money will bring influence and ... sadly, politics has been sort of a big-money game."

That's great. I mean, if it's a big-money game, we might as well leave it in the hands of those who have always had money, and make sure nobody else can ever get enough to be a contender.

Bah.

Really, I think it's great that some minority groups are finally building up clout enough to play the whole "big money politics game". I'd like to see more minority and special interest groups able to step up the plate. Even more so, I'd like to see it become less of a "big money" game, but I don't realistically see that happening any time soon.

Today on the bus, some guy sitting across from me was reading email or text messages or something on his phone. At one point, he read something and his face just lit up. He looked so happy, and it made me happy. I don't think he was even aware that his emotions were showing, but it touched me.

I was walking home just now and some old asian guy driving an SUV almost ran me over. He was making a left turn. I was crossing in the crosswalk of the street he was turning onto -- I had the right of way -- and he only avoided hitting me because I threw myself forward and out of his path. His stupid SUV grazed my backpack as he flew by and I don't think he saw me even then.

Yes, it was dark and rainy, but jeesh, that's no excuse. PAY ATTENTION WHEN YOU ARE DRIVING.

Why do I sleep so much lately? I got 12 hours of sleep last night, 8 hours the night before, and 10-11 hours the night before that. I love sleep, but man... there's so much less time in the day when you sleep so much. I meant to go dancing last night but oops!, I was asleep.

Got my vitals taken this morning as part of a study I'm participating in. Blood pressure, as always, is low: 112/68. Weight at 135 lbs is within a healthy range, but it's skimming the top of that range and I could probably stand to drop about 5 lbs. I should maybe go a little easier on the Thai curries, much as I love them. Not pregnant, although that is no surprise as it is difficult to get with child outside of sexual intercourse or purposeful artificial insemination.

Next week I have a full-blown physical exam scheduled. Joy! I've been a little lax lately and this will be the first in two or three years. There shouldn't be any surprises there, but we'll see.

My life is not my own. I feel that way sometimes, anyhow.

Yesterday, after ultimate, my team went out for drinks. I couldn't go because I had people at home waiting for me. I am rarely able to do spur-of-the-moment things like that because there's nearly always someone waiting for my time. Four or five times this season my team went out after the game, and I wasn't able to go with them any one of those times.

I'm hardly ever bored. It's a night far and few between that I have no plans, nobody expecting anything of me, no time already slotted awayy. There's always someone expecting me or something that needs doing, constantly go go go.

I remember reading a summary of some book a while back that claimed that urban dwellers today have built up new "family" structures. Rather than the typical mother-father-children construct that we've been brought up with, these urbanites compose family units made up of friends and peers who provide the same sort of close network and support that traditional families used to provide.

I think I fit into that sort of construct these days. I'm far away from most of my family, but I have "family" all around me. And in some ways, this family is more demanding of me than my biological family ever was. They expect time, support, whatnot from me, and to give them anything less than that would be letting them down.

I don't know how to keep time enough for me in all this. I feel drained more often than I would like.

Today, for a change, I shooed everyone off for a few hours, and took a little bit of time for myself. It was nice.

To my "family" out there reading this, by the way, this is not to say that I don't love you and that I don't value your time. I do. Tremendously. You make my life something more than it is on its own, and you add great value. I'm still struggling, though, to find a balance wherein I maintain a healthy individuality.

Wow, there's another Kathryn who has been reading and commenting on my blog like mad. Cool beans.

I took yesterday off work. Nice, very nice.

And I cleaned my apartment! My bathroom feels like it belongs to someone else, it is so clean and sanitary. And the rest of my pad isn't quite there, but almost... feels good. Homey. I like being here.

And now my friend Alex from highschool is visiting for the weekend. Kickass.

Programming Genius or Serial Killer - can you tell which?

I have infected Mr_X0.

I feel like I weigh about 468 lbs. My whole body hurts, and my limbs feel so, so heavy.

I am trying to hold myself to a policy of no self-indulgence while I get over this stupid cold. I won't medicate myself (with the exception of consuming lots of tea and chicken soup), I'll go to work, and will do all the things I normally do. I'll act as if I am well and will then be well.

Only, at work today, I was feeling so poorly that I had to leave early. Then tonight I tried to go to an SSC board meeting and to my Tango class, only in Tango I got really lightheaded and almost passed out and at the board meeting I was felt overly feverish and had a really hard time concentrating.

I hate being sick.

The Fable

Once upon a time there lived a girl. She slept in a lovely little cottage made of gingerbread and candy; she was always asleep. One morning she woke up and the candy had mold on it. Her father blew her a kiss and the house fell down. She realized she was lost. She found herself walking down a crowded street, but the people were made of paper, like paper dolls. She blew everyone a kiss goodbye and watched as they blew away.


haiku for him

he peels off my clothes
like a starving man would peel an orange
his lips taste my juicy sweetness
my legs tangle with his
we become
one being
a burning furnace
in the cold cement basement of love

- Submissions for "The Lit" on My so-called Life, Episode 06: The Substitute.

HAHAH HAHAH!-ahHA ha hah ah ahg heahahaHAHAha. ha. ha.

Check it out: the software process in actuality.

Where do snot and mucus come from? Why is there all of a sudden so much more when one is sick?

And when you get all stuffed up, why is one nostril invariably more stuffed up than the other? Isn't there ample snot to go around?

and I have the sense to recognize that
I don't know how to let you go
every moment marked
with apparitions of your soul
I'm ever swiftly moving
trying to escape this desire
the yearning to be near you
I do what I have to do
the yearning to be near you
I do what I have to do
but I have the sense to recognize

that I don't know how
to let you go
I don't know how
to let you go

(excerpt from Sarah McLachlan's Do What You Have To Do)

I almost never have insomnia problems. If anything, I have trouble keeping awake, not sleeping too much -- I'd happily sleep 12-16 hours/night if I could.

I really don't envy those of you who struggle with insomnia on a daily basis. It sucks. Almost as bad as this stupid ass cold, but nothing could suck quite that bad. Except a hoover. Or maybe a turbine, or a funnel-shaped vortex.

Woke up,
couldn't sleep
stupid cold
plugged up nose
lack of air
lack of breathing
so here I am
drinking menthol-laden tea
writing this.

I have never in my life done a pullup. Well, not a real one. I could do the ones at the gym on the machine that compensates for a large part of my body weight, so I wasn't really doing pullups; I was doing pull-a-percentage-of-my-weight-ups.

How do you ever do the first real one, anyway? I can't do them because I don't have the strength, but I never build up my strength because I can't do even one. I don't have access to the gym anymore to use their cheater-machine to build my strength up.

Bah.

I was so proud of myself; I hadn't been sick all winter up until now. That may not sound like much, but I have the worst immune system in the world. Well, pretty bad, at least. I had chicken pox three times before my body caught on and finally built an immunity.

Anyhow, so much for that run; I've got a nasty cold. I feel like someone hit me in the head with a hammer, funneled two or three pounds of luke-warm water in through my ears so that it would swish around in my head all day, stomped on my chest so that I can't breathe quite right, and then plugged up my nose just for fun. I hate being sick.

----- Original Message -----
From: "august.krueger"
To: Krueger@yahoogroups.com; Hulsizer@yahoogroups.com
Cc: "Nelton, Amber"
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 11:42 AM
Subject: [Hulsizer] Leroy

I just had a quick conversation with Leroy. He says his unit has been moving south. They are no longer in Iraq. His unit is preparing to load their equipment on ships. If everything works out well, they will finish that up in three weeks and fly back to Fort McCoy for three weeks. If there are no hitches, he will be back by Christmas. So, what what are the chances that everything will work according to plan?

Augie

SWEET!

I was in a good mood last night. I'm in a good mood this morning. I've been unusually pleasant towards Mr_X0, and he's actually been fairly pleasant in return. I think maybe we're discovering new, more effective means of interracting with each other -- things probably wouldn't be working out like this, except that I'm flying so high that nothing can phase me and the good feelings seem somewhat contagious. Good stuff, Maynard.

I can't access The New York Times Online from work today. Bugger.

I had one of my best dance nights ever last night; I was so happy. Really hit a groove, was moving better than usual and was really aware of both my body and my partners' bodies. It felt so good.

And I got to dance with Jason Christodoulou - twice! So sweet.

I didn't used to get much spam; maybe 1 or 2 spam mails / month. Then, a week or so ago, I started getting 5-10 spam messages / day.

Coincidentally, I signed up for an ebay account just a week or so ago.

Coincidence?

I think not. Ebay gave out my address! Poo on ebay.

Our ultimate opponent today forfeited, so we "won" without having to actually show up. Crazy.

It's just as well though, I guess. It's been a long day and I can use the extra downtime.

Damn traffic.

It's gotten worse over time, not better. What's up with that?

I'm so selfish I'm going to make Alex and Mary drive over to the East Side to hang out with me now, because traffic isn't bad COMING here, just leaving.

Yes, I am still at work. I took a look at traffic and decided I'd be better off sticking around and playing an online game with Mary while I waited for it to clear up a bit.

Woah. Check out The Meatrix. Somebody had way too much time on their hands.

The weekend will be busy too. I have a dance workshop that spans tonight, Saturday day, and Sunday day. Then on Saturday and Sunday evenings, I'll be busy rushing around for my ultimate team's playoffs. After that are the night time dances. In whatever freetime remains, I want to work on getting my apartment cleaned up for Alex Phelp's visit next weekend. Crazy crazy busy busy bee, buzz buzz buzz.

Busy day at work today; not much time for blogging. I'm about to head home, though -- happy, happy.

A friend wrote me email last night saying that he wonders at the way I disappear when I'm not feeling 100 percent. I wonder when I picked up that habit, and whether it was the result of Jeremy rubbing off on me? I remember back in the day, getting unbearably upset about his taking space and needing downtime. Now I'm quite liberal about taking that sort of space for myself.

I had a bad day yesterday afternoon. It was as if my body and soul filled up with negativity so that nothing else could fit in. Everything was getting to me; work, people, the world in general. I dealt very poorly with several friends, snapping at them, getting extensively irritated, and ultimately cutting the conversations short. I felt loathing for anything, everything, and didn't want to deal with anybody or anything. It was all-consuming.

I don't like when I get that way. It's scary. It hadn't happened for a long time before that, and I hope it doesn't happen again for a long while yet to come.

Today, happily, is a much better day; I'm in good spirits. Even last night, sometime during the dances, I started feeling better. I think the adrenaline was good for me.

Here's to good health and good will.

Ed was on my bus today. Somehow we got to chatting about the US vs. England, Lithuania, and much of Europe, especially as pertains to homelessness, social programs, health care, etc. It left me feeling sad about the state of our country. As Ed put it, "It's great to live here if you are young and can work, but otherwise, you'd probably be better off somewhere else."

Someone in Eden Prairie, MN, listens to my favorite radio station! w00t! Way to go, KEXP! Way to go, MN!

Only the Good Die Young was playing on the radio on the way home tonight.

I remember the first time I really listened to the lyrics of that song, back in early high school -- I was scandalized. For any of you who aren't familiar with the song, it's a series of lines directed at a young Catholic girl attempting to convince her to give up her virginity, to the point of insinuating that she'll die young if she is too much of a prude. "Woah woah woah, come out, come on, Virginia don't let me wait -- you Catholic girls start much too late. But sooner or later it comes down to fate; I might as well be the one. You know that only the good die young." I couldn't believe that something so nefarious would run main-stream, and worse, that my beloved Billy Joel might be responsible.

My, how times change. The song seems almost tame to me now.

I just took The Hell Test. Here is a list of possible scores:

• 0-20: A life with the church is too corrupt for you.


• 21-40: You barely make our scale.


• 41-60: Approaching normal, you aren't much fun on a date.


• 61-100: Normal, you use your right hand like everyone else.


• 101-130: Above average, you've got a few tricks below the belt.


• 131-160: You're enjoying life to the max.


• 161-200: You're a danger to society. Who let you out on a day pass?


• 200+: You're going straight to hell.

With a score of 148, I am having a jolly time here on earth. What's your score?

It's 4:00 pm and I'm going home for the day. Kick-ass!

I just finished up some stuff that's been pretty hot at work for the last few weeks. Now, all of a sudden, there's nothing really important left to do. I'm not behind on anything. I can do background maintenance on my servers, prepare for upcoming bugs and such, but - there won't be any focus on me for a while now. Feels strange. On the bright side, work should be zero stress for all of the conceivable near future.

My boss at Company_A wrote me an email yesterday asking me to call her, so that she could "discreetly inquire" whether or not my officemate came to work yesterday and report results to his Company_A boss. That company is so messed up.

It's hard to work when you've had your eyes dilated.

Today on KUOW's The Conversation: Infidelity.

. . .are we talking about the same thing when we talk about infidelity? The boundaries can vary from relationship to relationship. Do our attitudes about infidelity change over time? Is there a degree of physical intimacy that stops short of infidelity? Is there such a thing as emotional infidelity? If you have a relationship outside your marriage or partnership where you share everything about your inner life, are you betraying your spouse or partner?

I caught a bit of this show on my way back to work after an eye exam today. Interesting topic; it feels very personally relevant. I'm going to have to listen to the entire show once they post the archive online.

I dreampt last night that my Jeremy passed away. I'm not quite sure what the dream meant. Perhaps my subconscious was trying to tell me that he is no longer a part of the life that I live now, and I need to finish moving on and letting him go? I don't know. I felt sad in the dream, though.

It is so cold here lately, and not even the consolation of snow to make it all worthwhile!

I just gave my dog his first bath in over a year. Boy, did he need it. From the way he shivered and cowered the whole time, though, you woulda thought the world was coming to an end.

It was better than the last bath though. Last time, I had to physically hold him in the tub to keep him from bolting. It was a showdown between he and myself, and we both lost out -- I think it was one of the most tramautic experiences we have ever shared. He was so upset and unhappy that he wouldn't eat BACON that Jon had made for him. Freshly made, human-grade bacon.

Anyhow, this time was better. Not great, but better, and he smells much less offensive now than he did before.

Crazy patent stuff going on lately.

I have a had a number of dreams over the last few months set in an apartment that, in the dreams, is "my" apartment. Only it's not the apartment I live in right now. It is always the same in the dreams; a bottom corner unit in the lower level of a small building, perhaps just a house. Large and roomy. A beautiful living room, kitchen, bedroom, and then a screened in patio area, as well. The floor of the patio sits just a step or two lower than the floor in the rest of the unit. There is some intricate laticework in that room that I love looking at and touching.

The unit doesn't correspond to any place I've ever lived. I can't even remember ever having visited a place similar to it. But I dream it again and again.

I don't know why I dream things like that.

Last night, Louie was in my dream. And so was a puppy; his puppy, just a few months old. He was playing with it, romping around, having a great time. They were so cute together. The puppy looked very similar, but would grow to be a bit bigger than Louie, with less peach coloring, as the mother was a full blood Pyranees. I felt so happy to have both he and the pup, knowing that even after he passed on I would still have dogs around that carried on his line.

But Louie is fixed. He will never father any puppies.

Louie is such an awesome dog. I will have a hard time letting him go, whenever he does pass on, so I can understand at least that portion of the dream.

Do I have a mark on me on me that says, "Hey, if you're married, I'd be great for an affair"? I just don't get it.

Why would you even want an affair when you've not yet been married more than a month? Why would you get married when you'd rather be sleeping around? Or if you feel you must do both, why wouldn't you marry someone who you could communicate that to, and come to an understanding together about how it might work? Why sneak around?

Or if you've been married for years, have remained relatively faithful for all of that time, and wish to remain with your spouse, why would you choose to look for sex outside the marriage now?

And why do you think you're going to do it with me?

Smoosh. Oh my - SO cute!

Two singing sisters make up the Seattle band Smoosh. 11 year-old Asya is on keys, and 9 year-old Chloe plays drums. Join them for a live set of indie-pop with elements of rap and jazz.

He (my English-challenged friend, whose name, by the way, is Ed) really is an interesting person. Here is a longer excerpt from our conversation:

Ed says: Would you like to live forever and never get old?

Kathryn says: I don't think so. I would be too sad when all my friends began to get old and I was left behind.

Ed says: That is true.

But you would try everything in this world and you would be such a wise person.

Ed says: How old is your body?

Kathryn says: 25.

Kathryn says: How old are you?

Ed says: How old is your soul? :)

The mystery of my new English-challenged friend's accent is solved; apparently he is from Lithuania, and has also lived in Scandanavia and Germany in addition to the UK and the US.

He and I have been chatting over IM today. We were talking about foods that we each enjoyed and in response to a list that I sent, he asked, "Do you kook at home all these dishes?"

So cute!

My building manager decorated my building for Halloween. Several pumpkins sit in the front foyer, right in front of the big window by the door. All week, I have been wanting to "borrow" one, turn it into a jack-o-lantern, and put it back where I found it. I'm running out of time, though.

Yesterday on the way home from work I saw some guy smoking in his car. He was inhaling deeply, pulling all that tar and nicotine and crap deep into his lungs. It left me feeling nauseated, even just seeing it from the other side of the street. I don't know how I used to do that to myself.

Every morning, as soon as he gets any indication that I am waking up, my dog starts to spaz. He runs in frantic circles around the apartment. In the course of one circle, he grabs his leash and brings it over to drop it at the foot of the bed. Often, in the course of another, he finds a plastic bag sitting here or there and brings that, as well. All the other circles are just an outlet for energy and a reminder to me -- he knows what he wants, and he knows this is the time for it.

Some nights are good, and some nights aren't as good. And some nights are up and down and up and down -- a veritible roller coaster ride, all contained within a few short hours. At least none are boring, I suppose.

Of the two songs I posted before, Never Too Late is by far the stronger one. It just moves and grooves... makes me want to get up and move myself.

Music makes me so happy.

I can hardly imagine life before recordings.

Or even worse, life before the invention of musical instruments.

Mr_X0 is OOF for the rest of the day. w00t!

Sorry for wasting your time
Five long months on the telephone line
Hours of asking if you were fine
and saying I was fine, too
Sorry, but I've got to go
The birth was quick, but the death was slow
there was so much I didn't know
so much I never knew about you

And so we disconnect
the room goes quiet around us
It's called the life effect
and it always surrounds us

Who made you happy last night?
I don't know his name
but Christ, can he fight
as I fell he told me you had a light
a light that shone inside you

I found myself a decent man, now
I love him because I can
The bravest that I've ever been -
was when I ran away from you

And so we disconnect
the room grows quiet around us
It's called the life effect
well, it always surrounds us
And so we disconnect
the room grows quiet around us
Nothing left to protect
the end has finally found us

The day is almost over
it's almost time for bed
so now you've finally lost me,
rest your weary head


-- Stars, Life Effect, from another in-studio live KEXP performance

Music of the moment: Michael Franti & Spearhead, Never Too Late. Such an awesome driving beat.

It's never too late to start the day - over
It's never too late to pick up the phone,
pick up the phone and call me
Never too late to lay your head down on my shoulders
never too late to come on home,
come on home

Here's a link to several of his songs, including Never Too Late, performed live at KEXP. Sweeeeet...

Mr_X0 is back today.

Work without him was so nice while it lasted... too bad nothing lasts forever.

A year ago this October, I baked an apple pie. I gave a piece to Alex. He kept it in his refridgerator all this time because he loved me. But then, last night, he threw it away.

Sad.

The random guy I met at the bus stop last night was randomly on my bus again this morning, and it turns out that he works in my building on my floor.

I'm not sure where he's from. He hasn't been in the US long. I know he lived in London for a while as well, but he's not a native english speaker and I can't quite place his accent.

Anyhow, we decided, since we are so close together anyway, that we should eat together in the cafeteria sometime. I sent him a note so that he would have my alias, and he responded. The last line of his email said, "I wish you to enjoy your work. :)" I LOVE stuff like that. So cute. The thought is there, and the awkward translation just adds to the charm.

The lesson with Jaimes tonight was awesome. Tangolicious!

Jaimes' friend Randy showed up towards the end of it; he was going to film Jaimes and Rachel practicing together after my lesson was done. The three of us sat around chatting for a bit while they waited for Rachel to show up. Randy remembered off the cuff exactly how many days it had been since he had last seen me -- 27. Kind of crazy, that.

Then I got to Patrick's house for practicing, but he wasn't there. Sat around for a while, but still no Patrick. I found a phone message after I gave up and came home; it turns out he had to stay late at work and didn't know how to get ahold of me. Oh well. The extra time to myself is nice.

The bus this afternoon is full; standing room only. As I was settling into place in the aisle just now, some random guy tapped me on the shoulder and offered me his seat. "Oh, no, that's alright," I said, but he insisted. I actually don't mind standing on the bus -- it is an exercise in balance and will, and a chance to feel rebellious, standing in a moving vehicle -- but I took the seat because he was so nice and I did not want to wound his sense of chivalry. So here I sit, writing this on a scrap of paper, while he stands and tries to hold his bag between his knees, read a book, and keep his balance all at the same time.

A complete stranger talked to me at the bus stop today - that's a barrier nobody had broken up until now. I was practicing movement, and he came up to talk to me about dance.