damn caffeine

well...it is almost 3am and i have resigned to the fact that caffeine is the devil. as i do not drink coffee every waking moment (like some people i know...Hallie!) it affects me more than i want to admit. my normal log-like sleep has been disturbed and i can not retreat into my usual unconscious state (i'm also talking/typing all weird). the sad thing is, i had coffee at 5pm this evening...you'd think it would have worn off by now. you'd also think that the beer i had before i went to bed might help put me down-yummy Newcastle. instead, i find myself tossing and turning, and though my eyes are heavy, my mind is racing and i can't fall asleep. lucky for you...you have an updated blog to read!

so...i've been in rochester for the past three days, and it's been wonderful and relaxing...chillin with my dad and two pooches, i've had a nice respite from my normally busy life. however, this weekend has not gone by without a few interesting moments:

1)friday, i decided to take both dogs for a walk...at the same time. mind you, my dog is an 80ish pound black lab/shephard mix and my dad's dog is a 110ish pound black lab/pitt bull mix. both are stronger in one leg than i am all together, and so, it was interesting to say the least. i figured out how to stop them from tangling leashes by keeping them on their own respective sides of the sidewalk...brayson to the left and zeke to the right. all was going well until a little boy (no older than 3 yrs) and his parents left their house and walked towards their car...right in front of me and my two large k-9s. while both dogs were excited at the prospect of smelling and then playing with this little fella, i knew they had another thing coming. i successfully kept them away from the boy and his parents, with the exception of zeke sniffing and licking the boy's hand. after making it past the family, i realized what the past 30 seconds could have looked like, in worst-case-scenario (or any future moment for that matter). these two dogs could've easily decided to follow their own desires and disregard the owner holding the other end of their leashes. i had pictures running through my head of them taking off with me still holding on, but instead of walking or even running behind them, i'm being dragged on the pavement, with no way to stop...like two dogs pulling their owner on a dog-sled, but without the dog-sled. the ice under my feet didn't help these visions. luckily, this owner prevailed, and we made it home safely and in three unscraped and undragged pieces!!

2)tonight, i went to see the Nutcracker at Eastman Theatre with my dad. it was such a treat and a pleasure to hear and to see. the orchestra (RPO) was phenomenal, as were the ballerinas!! what talent and skill and art and graceful movement and beautiful music. surprisingly, the theatre was not as full as i thought it would be. however, we did have the luck of sitting next to a sweet elderly couple who seemed to have a grand daughter in the ballet. we learned this by the way they were talking to each other during t.h.e. e.n.t.i.r.e. ballet. and this wasn't just polite whispering between an excited couple, mind you. this was talking between two people who have a hard time hearing, so they had to speak loudly and on many occasions, repeat themselves--a discussion about if who they were looking for was indeed the "third girl from the left?" "no, she's more of a blond and all those girls have brown hair". then, the woman began humming with the music. i got to nod to my dad's quiet "is she actually humming along?" a sweet couple, no doubt, but a little on the frustrating side when trying to appreciate and concentrate on the ballet itself!! of all the seats in the entire auditorium, right? ha

well, i hope that helps, and i'm able to fall asleep soon. it's now after 3am. i will never drink a cafe mocha again...well, as Lucas from Empire Records so perfectly put it..."that's not entirely true". (if you don't know every line to that movie, we can no longer be friends!!)

ps. i don't know why the time that it states i posted this blog is off...i thought i had fixed it. for the record it's actually 3:27am now :(