Thirsty

Tahoe Pix

Here we go! My first Wordless Wednesday post! Completely and totally wordle--  dammit.

Birthday Wishies

Happy Birthday little shmooshiepants! For some reason I have not a single photo of you on this computer so I stole one from your mama. You are a lucky little boy to be born today, on a very cool lady's half birthday.... Anyhow, I love you and I can't wait to see you some time soon. And you should be getting a little birthday something in the mail shortly. It will be a few days late because I bought it a month ago, wrapped it 2 weeks ago, and it has not quite made it to the post office. But I'm fashionably late like that. And so are you, considering your due date....

Happy Birthday!

My weekend: A series of conversations

At 7:30 pm on Friday following an exhausting day at clinical-
Jenny: So do you wanna go out tonight?
Jules: I dunno. I'm kind of exhausted. I don't think I'm up for it.
Jenny: You're no fun!
Jules: Well I've been on my feet all day... since 6:30...
Jenny: I didn't say it wasn't legitimate. I just said you're no fun.
Jules: Fine. Come over.

While leaving the house-
Jenny: [takes off glasses and goes to "clean" them on the nearest piece of cloth-- a pair of jeans I had hung up to dry]
Jules: What are you doing?! DON'T DO THAT!!
Jenny: Jesus. Of all the things you've yelled at me for.... Of all the things you could have yelled at me for....

At the first bar-
Jenny: Can I get a vanilla vodka and-
Bartender: No. Beer and wine only
Jenny: Oh, um... a... Stella?
Bartender: You got it.
Jules: Same here.
Bartender: Okay [goes to get drinks]
Jenny: I had to try so hard to think of a beer besides PBR.

Later-
Jenny: Check out the guy in the turquoise shirt.
Jules: What about these douchebags behind us?
Douchebag 1: Did you just call us douchebags?
Jules: Oh, um. No. Haha! I meant... those guys over there. Haha!
Jenny: No! Ha! [engages in witty banter with Douchebag 2; lets him try on her glasses].
Douchebag 1: So those glasses really make you guys look smarter. Seriously, it adds like 20 points to your IQ.
Jules: Okay...


Later-
Jules: Check out this creep behind me.
Jenny: You mean the guy staring at me?
Jules: What? [tries to look over shoulder]
Jenny: Don't look at him. No! Don't look at him! No! Stop trying to look at him! No! Stop it!

In line at the club-
Jenny: We need to take pictures.

Still in line-
Guy 1: Is that a Trojan tattoo with roses?
Jules: Yep.
Guy 1: That's awesome!
[Jules & Jen meet the medical students. Introductions.]
Guy 2: So what do you guys do?
Jenny: I work at UCSC, she goes to nursing school.
Guy 2: Oh that's cool. We totally rely on nurses.
Jules: Um...

In the club-
[Jen & Jules stare around in complete sensory overload. There are no words to describe it....]
Jenny: What's with all the creepy weirdos?
Jules: What's with all the guys singing the song lyrics?
Jenny: What's with all the guys dancing with each other?
Jules: What's with all the guys in V neck shirts?
Jenny: What's with the music?
Jules: What's with the crazy people on the stage?


Later-
Douchebag: How old are you?
Jenny: 26 [holds up fingers]
Douchebag: 26?
Jenny: yeah
Douchebag: [walks away]
Jenny: Oh my god. He thinks I'm an old bar hag.

Saturday-
Jenny: I'm too sick to go to my conference.
Jules: I don't know if I believe you actually had a conference. You've barely mentioned it, you didn't write anything about it and you can't seem to describe it to me.
Jenny: Wanna see my nametag?

At Denny's
Jenny: Did you go in the handicapped stall?
Jules: [confused look]
Jenny: In the bathroom? Did you see the little short toilet? Oh, wait. Did you not go to the bathroom?
Jules: I haven't left the table.

In a bar-
Jules: Two Kamakazi shots please.
Bartender: That's ten dollars.
Jules: [tries to hand him credit card]
Bartender: You don't have cash?
Jules: No.
Bartender: You don't have ten dollars cash?
Jules: No.
Bartender: [sighs in frustration]
Later-
Jenny: Can I get a Stella please?
Bartender: Do you have cash?
Jenny: No.
Bartender: Forget it; I don't have time for this.
[I feel the need to point out that this was at a touristy bar with no minimum charge policy, on a Saturday night, in Union Square in San Francisco...]

In the second bar-
Bouncer: [standing between Jules & Jen, staring off into the distance] I've been to LA in 1993..... people don't know how bad it is there.... it's pretty bad.... but yeah I went there a long time ago.... I've been to Philly too... it's pretty bad there....
Jenny: Oh one of my best friends lives in Philly, she-
Bouncer: And I've been to Pittsburgh.... I think Pittsburgh was the worst place I've been.... Boston's pretty bad too.... I've been to Boston.... [walks away suddenly to card some people]
Jenny: Um. What the fuck?!
Jules: I DON'T KNOW.
[Bouncer comes back and resumes his speech as though he's never been away]
Bouncer: And I've been to New York.... that's probably the worst place I've ever been.... Philly is pretty bad, though.... but I think maybe New York is the worst place I've been.... [walks away again]
Jenny: We're leaving.
Jules: So I don't remember-- did we say something like "Can you please list for us the cities you've been to? And were any of them bad?"

Sunday morning-
[alarm clock goes off]
Jenny: NO!
Jules: What time do you want me to set-
Jenny: NO!!!
Jules: Okay, nevermind.


You can read Jenny's version of the events here.

America the Beautiful

About a year ago I signed up to become a "monthly supporter" for Greenpeace which means that they take money out of my account every month. Sometimes I'll forget and not budget for it and get confused about how much money I have. And then I'll go online to look at my account and remember. If I'm really broke, I'll feel slightly irritated. But never irritated enough to un-sign up, mainly because it would feel a little like tossing a lit match onto a giant redwood.

I recently drove from SF to Santa Cruz on possibly the nicest day of the year-- sunny with a light, cool breeze. And I took these pictures.

I lived in the concrete jungle of LA for 8 years and now I've moved into another city. Sometimes I forget how beautiful the earth is and how lucky I am to live where I do. But when I stood on the cliff looking out at the endless stretch of ocean (and praying for an earthquake not to come and tumble me down to certain and very painful death), it took my breath away in that wonderfully cliche way it does in young adult literature.

I'm feeling rather optimistic after the election since we will now have a president who doesn't believe that global warming is just God's way of huggin' us closer. Something must be done. Click here to support Greenpeace.

Halloweenage (part 2)

Well my one of my very favorite nights has come and gone once again. Halloween was fun, although I probably enjoyed last weekend's shenanigans even more. Friday night, I got home from the hospital, decompressed for a few hours, and started getting ready. Dan was throwing one of his Lodge parties which promised food, drinks, and interesting architecture. Since I like to wear as many costumes as possible as a general rule, I decided to go as a vampire. It is a repeat from last year, but I have the fancy hair streaks and I had bought some extra accessories. And my vampire costume involves considerably more comfortable shoes than my mad scientist costume did. Anyhow. I found my fangs in my jewelry box, put them in my mouth to see how they looked and they essentially shattered. Apparently the tooth mold isn't built to last. So I spent probably 45 minutes painstakingly re-melting the plastic, fitting it to the fang pieces and sticking them in my mouth. After a number of failed attempts in which the plastic gummed up on a spoon, a mug, my fingers, and my dress, I succeeded.

Kelly texted. They were calling a taxi. Awesome.

Thirty minutes later, I texted. Were they on their way? No. Still waiting.

At 11, Kelly called to say she was sorry but the people she was with didn't want to wait any longer so they were walking to a bar. Could I get a cab and come meet them?

At this point I was already exhausted from my long day at the hospital and I partly wanted to just heat up some cocoa and snuggle in bed watching Will & Grace. But I was already wearing a fucking Halloween costume and it would break my heart a little to take it off and let one of my very favorite holidays pass without giving it the respect it deserves. So I gathered my bearings and left the house, deciding that if I could get a cab I would go meet Kelly and if not I would make an appearance at Dan's.

There were no cabs so I took the train over to Dan's and hung out with some of my classmates. Twenty minutes after I stepped through the door my left fang shattered once again. I decided that, instead of half-snarling my way throug the party, I should remove the right one and spend the evening explaining that I was more of a "gnawing vampire." I failed at picture taking that night. But I pretty much looked like a vampire with no fangs.
Dammit.

I really shouldn't be irritated that my costume didn't work out the way I had planned because on the scale of things it's really not a big deal. But Halloween costumes are one of the things I'm usually really good at. In the past two years alone, I had some pretty awesome costumes.

I think I may have mentioned my Little Miss Sunshine costume from last year and how fantastic it was.

And then there was the mermaid, complete with dinglehopper.

And the zebra.


And this year is the first since Halloween 05 that I didn't reprise the Peacock.


I didn't wear it this year partly because Elena borrowed my feathers and hasn't returned them (well, I moved 300 miles away which made that decidedly more difficult for her).

And I have to throw this last photo in because I came across it while going through my old photobucket account and it's just amazing. Even though it showcases Miss Grace's jackass of an ex boyfriend I think it's fantastic. Plus, it's technically Gabey's first Halloween since he's curled up in her belly at 6 months gestation.


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

football, 40s, fools, and fish heads

I kind of hate to admit this but I had almost semi-forgotten exactly how much I LOVE going to USC football games. Weird. I took a quick jaunt down to LA this past weekend to go to the game and see a few of my peeps. As a season ticket holder, I could have gone to the 2 previous home games but I've been too caught up with school and not wanting to drive down there and blah blah blah to be able to. So this was my first game of the season. AND I WAS VERY EXCITED!!! Everybody thought I was crazy 5 years ago when I bought my season tickets. "You're crazy," they said. And they were probably right. Instead of buying the student pass (since I was a grad student) or buying scalped tickets for the games I wanted to go to, I was spending, well, a lot more. But I'm very glad I made that decision. Good for you, Julia of the past. Now here's some other advice-- don't cut your hair off. You will regret it.

Michelle and I decided it would be a good idea to buy 40s and walk around campus before the game. Here we are in front of Tommy Trojan, AKA inspiration for tattoo #1.

Normally I am categorically against wearing a scarf and a tank top-- it's too "combination of the seasons" like wearing ski pants and flip flops or a mini skirt and ugg boots. Although, come to think of it there have been many occasions when I wear my fauxfurry boots and a skirt when I'm going out on the town so I guess I don't really have any room to be up on my high horse. But if I saw someone wearing a tank top and a scarf, I might judge them. So I don't blame anybody who saw me on Saturday and perhaps judged me. But- the weather was nice and I wanted to show off my ink and I still had to wear something cardinal and gold. Plus I was drinking a 40 and all of my ideas seemed like good ones at the time.

Including the idea to 'take a bunch of photos at the game!' Since I have been going to the games for 8 years now, it is likely that I already have several versions of the following photos. But here they are again....

I took this flower picture as we were walking to the game. Michelle thought it looked hopeful.

After the Trojan victory, we were walking to the bookstore and out of the corner of my eye I saw this woman who had been walking next to us trip, stumble, and fall on her face. She had a little boy with her who said "help. help." in that faint, terrified way that a traumatized kid might. So Michelle and I hurried over to the woman whose nose was bleeding profusely. Michelle gave her some tissues and I jumped into Student Nurse mode and instructed her to pinch the bridge of her nose and apply pressure with the tissue. And then I found out how frustrating it is when someone doesn't listen to you. She kept just sniffing and swiping at her nose with the tissues and then putting them down. She wouldn't hold the tissue to her nose so she got blood all over her hands, face, and the grass around her. Great. So Michelle went to look for the public safety people and called them while I stayed with the woman and tried to help her with the tissues. She seemed really out of it and the little boy looked terrified.

I asked the woman her name. She wouldn't tell me.

I asked if she had been drinking. She stared at me.

I asked if she was planning to drive somewhere. She said "Certainly not."

I told her it looked like she was swaying a little while she was sitting. She said, "You are."

She definitely wanted to be left alone. Every few minutes she would say something like "Okay. Thank you." which clearly meant "LEAVE ME ALONE NOW." But if there's one thing I'm good at it's sticking around whether I'm wanted or not and was also concerned about the little boy so I stayed with them until the public safety guys showed up. Then we told them what had happened, I alcohol swabbed the hell out of my hands, and Michelle and I took off for the bookstore where I rewarded myself with a new sweatshirt.

I got to spend some time with C which was really nice, and then on Sunday afternoon I drove back up to SF. I arrived at my apartment where Kelly was Bowiesitting for me. She opened the door and said "Hey! Welcome home! How was LA? Oh, just to warn you there's a big bag of fish heads in the bathroom."

Where's Waldo?

I'm pretty sure I know why Bowie likes our rug so much.

Second Quarter, First Clinical Day, Yay!

Today. Was. Exhausting. I just got home twenty minutes ago. And I get to arise at 5:45 and do it all again tomorrow! Yay!

I think I might have been just a teensy bit on edge today as a result of between one and all of the following: starting school again, starting clinicals again on a new unit, being too stressed out to eat much of anything, getting yelled at by the parking attendant, having my lady days come early, my recent depressed feelings regarding the loss of my childbearing years, getting into an argument and being given the silent treatment (albeit arguably deservedly), and losing twenty dollars yesterday. Failing at life? Me? Nah.

The good thing about today was that I got to have dinner with Flynne and her man, Tyler, at PF Chang's. Flynne and I were a couple of peaches since we had both had incredibly long and stressful days. Hers involved not getting a lunch break and mine may or may not have involved considering the long-term effects of strangling the parking attendant. I think Tyler's day involved wanting to drive an ice-pick into his eye socket but, since he's a gentleman, he instead offered to pay for whatever wasn't covered by Flynne's gift card. Yay!

I'm including this picture from the last time Flynne and I went out, a few weeks ago. That chick just came up and started dancing up on us. She smelled really good, though so it was okay.

And then we went back to the house where there may or may not have been some drinking 

and nudity and hot tubbing and Tyler won the prize for lamest Never Have I Ever, ever. "Never have I ever been so drunk I couldn't get up the next morning." Well then, my friend, you haven't LIVED. But, uh, thanks again for dinner :)

This may or may not have been my most scatterbrained blog post yet! Yay!