oh life...

so, it's thursday and it's been a really strange week. not a bad week, per se, but a strange one, it includes some work, some play, some more doctor's visits and way too much couch time. i'll explain.

monday and tuesday actually felt like 2 weeks sqweezed into two days. by 10 am monday morning, both myself and the secretary that works for us were both pulling out hair out insisting that Friday Must be coming soon. or at least the end of the day. by 1pm we just looked at each other and threw up our hands and kept going. One thing after another after another. One member in crisis while another one shows up causing a scene, while another is being admitted into a hospital, staff are behind on their care plans and complaining, and i think that either 8 hands or a 3 more clones would really help make life a little less ...excuse the word...insane.

the positive was that after work, i was able to hang out with a friend from out of town...even though he arrived later than planned. sharing music and stories was a great distraction to what was another more than unbelievable day on Tuesday, more staff issues to be dealt with...the whole nine yards. Tuesday evening involved dinner with said friend IC,
a joined drink with RR
and then a fun Jazz club
in near sub zero temperatures and windy snow conditions that made that cab drivers somewhat nervous on the streets. More sharing of music and more cold conditions in my apartment. we did have a great time, regardless of the cold January Chicago weather!! Wednesday i woke up with a right eye as red as an apple, and while it was sad to see my friend move on on his trip to California, i'm still holding my breath that he doesn't get sick too. after a trip to the doctor, i'm on Pink Eye Diagnosis #3...and prescribed to stay at home for the next three days...AGAIN. trust me, i've been beyond livid about this...i've been having trouble with dry eyes for the last few weeks and even went out to get a humidifier to help with the dryness from the extra heater in my apartment but seriously, pink eye again...uurrgh. it's like a bad dream i just can't wake up from or a really bad movie. today i went to an ophthomologist who dilated my eyes like a drug addict and put yellow drops in them. he said he sees trouble with the tear ducts on my upper eye lids, which somewhat helps understand why my eyes have been so dry...or at least have not been able to replenish tears/wetness to keep my eyes normal. There's also been some suspicion about the newer brand of contact lenses i started about 5 mnts ago. Either way, translation for treatment: lots of medicine, glasses for the next month at least, and hope that we can make sure this doesn't happen again. So i've been lazy, spending time watching movies and tv or napping. urgh.

I'm debating right now about going to a church event tomorrow night that i said i'd help volunteer for like a month ago. It's a huge benefit that people get all dressed up for and spend $175 per plate for dinner, buy things at a silent auction and then party all night. This, of course, i can not even close to afford. In volunteering i get to 'work' for the first four hours and then party with everyone else who's there, therefore attending the event for free...it's a big event they call the 'church prom' which is lame, but it's supposed to be one of the most fun events of the year. it will technically be just over 2 24 hr days of medicine...my doc said i'm contagious for about 2 days...um...i really don't wanna miss this event. but i think i'm gonna have to. suck.

so, some good, and some not good things this week. i'm bored and tired of being sick. but such is life....

taking a moment...

so i haven't had a fun blog-able story lately. it's really just a lot of work and more work. i can't tell if i'm tired of writing my life on a blog, or if i'm realizing that i'm just not that interesting. not sure...not that i'm not interesting, but just not in the mood to be interesting...uh..crap.

strangely enough, the whole Heath Ledger incident has weighed more on me than i thought it would. Anna Nicole Smith's death honestly didn't make me blink an extra eye lash...but this has seemed to be different...most people will always remember where they were when they heard about President Kennedy being shot, I'll Never forget where i was when i found out about the attack on the World Trade Center buildings on 9-11 and i'm not sure that i'll forget hearing my co-worker going on line and saying...omg, Health Ledger is dead. and while i don't mean to equate any of these events as equally tragic...they were just moments that stuck out in time. the weekend before he died i had gone to see "I'm not there" which is a tribute/documentary/independent film about Bob Dylan, and has Bob Dylan played by i think 6 different people, one of whom was Cate Blanchett, which is a phenomenal performance, but also by Heath Ledger...and it was so strange to hear that he had died because i felt as if i had just seen him. Almost like he was an old friend who i had just received an email from or something, and the thought of him no longer breathing was just absurd. But also, i think it was a realization that i'm getting older. Heath ledger of course, wasn't someone i was close to, but he was someone that was part of my growing up and someone whom i've always had great respect for. He was a heart throb but for more than just his amazingly good looks. As his fame grew he didn't just choose the feel-good parts in the feel-good movies. He chose challenging roles in movies that had substance, took chances, and made you think. He also didn't search for the spotlight and seemed to be somewhat awkward on red-carpets, somewhat vulnerable and uncomfortable. It's also strange that the Batman movie that he recently finished acting in includes his character as a really psychotic joker and he seems really scary. It will be weird to see him that way...

i don't know. it was sobering. it is sobering. and regardless of the speculation of drug abuse (which honestly i don't think was the case...not that i really know) the whole thing is just sad and still seems somewhat unbelievable. but...enough sadness and morbidity...

enjoy a few pics...
From Brokeback Mountain
From I'm not There

It's so cold here....

it's 8 degrees but feels like 0.

when you think about the difference between 32 and 64 degrees...it's the difference between snow and a nice spring day. it's a BIG difference. the difference between 32 and 0 degrees is the same difference in degrees...from cold to WAYY colder. brr. and i take back my statement in an earlier post about being able to keep my apartment warm. it's near futile....

it's so cold here, dogs pee on the sidewalks and instead of running down the side of the pavement, the pee nearly freezes mid stream...

it's true.

the things you hope you never have to do...

I bought hot sexy brown boots over christmas. the first time i wore them i thought i was going to have to cut my feet off to relieve the pain that the boots gave me. i had my sister switch shoes mid-shopping. i thought i was going to die. since then, i've been trying to work them in, a couple blocks here, a few more there. i even wore them to church on sunday (12 blocks there, a few blocks to an independent film theatre, then about 13 back home. my feet were sore at the end of the day, but MUCH better than the first go around.

i was hoping that That would be the worst of it all. however...

tonight i went downtown for a few drinks after work with some friends. i came home from work for a much needed 'freshen up' and headed out wearing my hot sexy brown boots. the bar was too far away to walk to, and it's WAYYYY below freezing, so i figured i could weather out the few blocks to the bus stop and then make it far downtown to the bar. I had a couple of beers (yummy newcastle) and had a great time with some fun friends...plans to hang out later this weekend and fun with some boys, the whole nine yards. time to go home, and time to get back on the bus and head home.

so. i go to the bus stop. two guys are standing there and i can see by their faces that they've been waiting a while, which is good because it means that a bus should be coming...they've done the crap part for me and have waited already too long in the cold. Turns out it was 16 degrees but because of the city wind chill, it felt like -2. i started The Innocence Mission album on my Ipod L'il Guy, pulled my hat down a little further and prepared to wait.20 minutes later, i was starting to have trouble feeling my feet and the wind was blowing my coat open around my knees and it was too cold to handle. I handn't wanted to walk home cause it's really a long walk, it's FREEZZINGZ, windy and i was worried about walking in heals over icy sidewalks on which i could have fallen at any time. I decided to walk toward home, not all the way home, but toward home, toward the next bus stop 2 blocks ahead, getting myself moving and getting the blood flowing, turning around periodically to check if a bus was on it's way. after going to the 5th block, i thought it was finally coming. i saw the lights and stopped, knowing i'd soon be in a warm bus to take me the rest of the way home. turns out it was a fire truck...boo. so the walk continued. and i began to realize that i might just be walking home tonight..as each block closer made the two dollars being scrunched in my mittened hand seem like a waste to give away to the bus driver. it didn't matter though, a bus never came... i finally turned east to go toward my street and the wind was literally pushing me so hard i thought i was going to have to slide over into a news paper box in order to stop being pushed into the intersection. soon i found myself at my grocery store and it was over...i had walked home. and even though i felt good cause i had walked off the cookie dough i had for dinner before i left, i couldn't believe i had made it. you'd think the 1)muscle, 2)fat, 3)skin, 4)all of the above, in my thighs would have kept me warm, but they were near numb and i was worried about frost bite...ok, well, not really, but seriously, they needed to thaw out...by the time i keyed my apartment building The Innocence Mission album was over and i had run out of music...

turns out my high heal boots got me home even in icey below freezing windy weather...Thank goodness!!

oh, by the way, my apartment is open for visitors at any time!!

is it 2008 already??

ok. so. some pics from Christmas/New Years. and perhaps a story or two....
a long ride to Grand Rapids (for some ZZzz) and then to Rochester
brayson totally took over, pushed me into the windshield and took my seat next to sis...can't you see the satisfaction in his eyes? or is that fear i see??

So, with my second bout of pink eye...(urgh)...i couldn't be a hermit the whole Christmas vacation and we all went out for dinner. i refused pics though..well, except for this one...
aren't they pretty?
yummy dessert crepes for breakfast:)
ok, so here's the story with this pic. So, we were back in Chicago after Christmas but before New Year's and we went out for a night on the town. a little while here, some time there..we end up at a club and had just dropped our coats at the coat check and we're starting our second drinks by the bar. all of a sudden we hear the sad attempt at imitating dogs, and i look at sis and said "if those guys are BARKING at us...we're SO out of here". turns out, one dark and attractive guy and his friend were actually barking at us. and i have to say, i denied my urge to throw my drink in his face, with a "you've GOT to be kidding me" as we both turn away to leave...but i didn't. i didn't want to waste my drink on a guy who obviously wouldn't be getting me another one, and i have a hard time yelling at anyone... sadly, we talked to them for a few minutes. their third friend was actually cool and had some serious moves on the dance floor. we ditched them soon after cause they were lame. a city full of hot, successful, fun guys and these two Barked at us..omg...
so, then after work monday sis and i sped back to GR to make it to my bro's band's concert...in really bad weather... They were the opening band to Domestic Problems, a well known local band that has played at the Intersection on New Year's 5 yrs in a row. A Thousand Plateaus (my bro's band) were SOOO great:)
A Thousand Plateaus
this is the band of Domestic Problems...with an ATP member...:)
oh how i love them!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR:):)

New Hampshire Debates

ok, so i'm working on paying more attention to politics to make sure that i'm going to make an informed and educated decision come the 2008 elections. This is an important time to get the sad and disappointing (to say it nicely) administration the hell out of the White House.

the New Hampshire Debates were on tonight. Interestingly on ABC but partnered with Facebook, so i watched comments on Facebook while watching the debate...

A few thoughts (though early and very subject to change)
The Republican Debate:
First of all, i don't like any of them. Honestly. and not just because the idea of keeping a Republican in the White House makes me want to move back to Canada...Guiliani was ok, i actually felt like he held his own but wasn't any stronger than anyone else. Romney, you can't trust if your life depended on it. He seems like a weasle and kind of scares me. He did, however, talk about actual Health Care changes that seem (from his point of view) to get health care for everyone in his state. I honestly didn't find Thompson or McCain to really talk about anything substantial. Huckabee, i felt to be professional and more to the point than most others. The interesting thing was, i was following the facebook posts and Everyone Loved Ron Paul. like LOVE him. i do agree that he said what young voters are talking about, but he seemed to talk more out of anger than of realistic professional position, and he didn't have anything to follow up his anger about the current state of the country. I didn't disagree with his statements, but he had nothin to offer. It brings some concern that 'the youth' all love him, but how is he going to fix anything, or work on anything?

The Democratic Debate:
The first half of the debate was all about picking at each other's short comings, and it was like being in 6th grade. i was annoyed. finally Bill Richardson comes in and says there have been hostage situations that were more civil than that current debate. it was funny. Clinton was actually the instigator of the picking on each other, which was frustrating. then Edwards came in and said that she was essentially the 'status quo' that doesn't like 'real change' aka Edwards and Obama...she got pissed. it was funny. anyways, all of that was annoying. i felt that they finally got to some points of importance in terms of the war and health care, environment, etc.. however, it still was talking generalities that 'the people deserve people to fight for them', and they really focused on past experiences and still focused on the faults of the other candidates. i'm not sure if that's what these debates are supposed to be. Edwards talked about having to stop lobbyist coctail parties and big companies from influencing the politicians, he admitted that one can't take their money, and work with the big companies and then try to challenge them. He also talked a lot about working for middle class people. Obama and Clinton about the cap and trade proposals for decreasing carbon emissions. Richardson, actually seems to have good experience as Govenor balancing budgets and creating jobs. He also was the only one that focused on education and global warming. Also, the last question to each was to give one statement each candidate may want to take back over the last multiple debates. Clinton skirted the question, Richardson actually admitted, Edwards talked about a comment about Clinton's jacket he wished to take back. Obama skirted it too.

my initial thoughts before watching were for Clinton first and Obama second. I didn't want Edwards because he's too cliche and expected as a white male, and i didn't know anything about Richardson. I have to say, i liked Edwards and Richardson better than i thought, though i'm aware that Edwards attacked Clinton and stuck with Obama because he knows he needs to get rid of her, so i'm not sure where to go with that. Clinton still brings a lot of experience, but she falls back on that constantly, and is using her husband's successes as her own too often for my comfort. Obama...i like him, but just don't feel that he would be the best candidate. it'll be interesting to see what else happens in the next year. it'll be interesting to see where things go from here...

seems that polls show Clinton and Obama to be tied at 33%, and McCain still holds a strong lead against the other Republican candidates. So it's still a battle for Democrats. however, i really don't think that any of the republicans have a fighting chance. i hope i'm right...can you imagine????????