so much for the road trip...

Feeling Grumpy

Well, Steve and I were supposed to go on a road trip down south this weekend. So much for that.

First, it was cancelled because frankly, it's hard to be "just friends" sometimes and Steve wasn't comfortable with it. But he got over it, and we called the trip back on yesterday. We had been planning on leaving Thursday night, but we hadn't even decided where to go! Originally I wanted to go somewhere warm -  Northern Florida, Carolina coast, even the Ozarks. I wanted to hire a climbing guide so I could finally try climbing with ropes instead of bouldering all the time, but can't afford it.  I did, however, find out that you can go rafting/kayaking on the Chattooga nearly year-round. Need to remember that in the future!  Then we were just going to do some long day-hikes a little bit closer; maybe Mammoth Caves in KY, Shenandoah in VA or something within 10 hrs.  Alas, the weather was not on our side: Friday wouldn't be that warm, and Saturday it is supposed to rain nearly everywhere in the southeast.

Fine. I'm resourceful... so I thought dogsledding would be cool. The weather would be fine for it in Minnesota, northern MI, or even Ontario, Canada. But reservations are needed, and that doesn't work for my "spontaneous adventure" lack-of-planning. Fine again. We'll just suck it up and go up north, and learn how to snowboard. Well, this week was excellent - plenty of new snow up north. But then I find out that it will be 45 degrees this weekend, and that sounds like it might make for some sloppy-wet skiing. The lady at Crystal Mountain said people don't seem to mind, but I'm not driving 5 hrs to find that it's melted. Yuck. So here I am, sitting in my bedroom on my last unemployed Friday, writing about my failed trip.

It's not all lost, though. I think today I'm going to drive out to Pinckney and go for a nice wet muddy hike, and this evening we're going to try some climbing at Planet Rock. A disappointing end to my freedom, but I'm not dishing out money to drive south and get rained on. It's going to be 55 degrees and rainy here on Saturday, and my parents are out of town. "Party!" Ha ha yeah right.

So not looking forward to the new job... Bad vibes. My gut instinct is almost always right; still hoping to get the zoo job. I did write my possible advisor today at Montana State to see if there is any funding yet. Wouldn't that just be funny? I get all these full-time career job offers, and then funding comes through. How do you say no to free grad-school and project funding?? Especially when the project might involve studying ecological restoration in Yellowstone geothermal sites?

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According to Tickle, I will be married by Saturday, August 18, 2007. Yikes.  Guess I'd better meet a boy who can put up with me pretty soon. ;)

Stout!

Before I go to sleep, stinking of cigarettes, bar food, and beer, I thought I'd jot down a quick recap of things to remember from St. Patty's Day, 2004 at Stout Pub in Brighton:

- The screaming towel dispenser - "waaaaaooOOOOOOO!" Do it again! Do it again!

- Jason Bigg's twin prowling for some fresh meat

- The strange little lephrichan dancing in the rafters and throwing golden coins!

- Walking the gauntlet of hungry boys (men??) on the way to the bathroom

- D-Cup club recruits members in the ladies room! Show your membership proudly!

- Beer monkey and his air-guitar-god friend waiting for us like sharks! Trapped in the corner and peeking to see if the coast was clear!!

- Having to reject a hat not once, not twice, but three times from moussed-up beer monkey, while Heather learns that the lephrichan throws "pure milk chocolate treasure!!" from goon #2 (he even bit it to prove his point!)

- Trying to escape beer monkey while some stealthy dude tries to snatch me up! Steve, we need a dick-deterrent!

- Donna receiving the very same hat that beer monkey gave to me - and THEN he takes it back from her! "But it's my hat!" It's made of PLASTIC! GET OVER IT, BEER MONKEY! (And Donna looked so Cabaret! What a shame.)

- Heather's ass-shakin' sex kitten strut attracting boys from far and wide! Stop that wigglin'!

- I still don't see why Kirk thought the waitress was hot. According to Heather, she didn't "have anything to grab on to!"

- What did that strange man with the credit card say to me, and why was his arm around my back? What did you say? Everyone knows I take cash only. ;)

- Bizarr-o Denny's (Lil Chef) asking if I wanted my bagels buttered along with the cream cheese?? Has this ever happened to anyone before?

- Eating in the Clue Room, with scary girls in thepictures staring at Donna. Who would be the first to die if this were a horror movie?

Oh, and I still love the look of amazement and awe when men come up to me and my Guinness and exclaim "how can you drink that? wow!" yeah, that's right boys. watch and learn.

Just a glimpse of my evening before I go to sleep and forget it all. Thanks for a great night guys! But I still didn't get a @#%$# Guinness shirt, or even a Jameson shirt! Ebay, here I come...

last week of federally funded freedom

One week left until I jump back into the rat race of actually working for money. God bless America, unemployment has gotta be one of the silliest things I have ever taken advantage of in our government. Paid for doing nothing. Not to say I didn't earn that money - I sent out so many bloody resumes and sat in front of this computer, endlessly clicking to find a job... I really do want to work. It got so boring, and I couldn't really afford to travel as much as I wanted, and I just felt like my life was so pointless! I'm still a bit apprehensive about taking this job - in the long run, I think I could be very successful and make lots of $$, but then again, I really would love to work for the zoo. Anyone who knows me knows I belong at the zoo (har har har), but I wouldn't make as much money long-term and there isn't as much room for moving up. Assuming I get offered the job, of course. ;)

I experimented with my first-ever "tan in a bottle". I never realized just how pale I am! It didn't turn out significantly darker, so I'm thinking I'll try again. Then with Heather's help, hopefully I'll get some ridiculous picture on here with what I bought in Chicago. <wink> And no, I promise it has nothing to do with a 2 foot long dildo.

Went out and got Mark Mowers autograph last night. He's relatively new and not really in the spotlight, so I was the ONLY one there! Dorky little me walks in with 3 pucks (not all for me! i swear!) and it was just so bizarre getting the autograph of someone my age. Autographs are goofy anyway, but hey it was fun I guess. I shook his hand and some dude working there joked around and said I was going to throw the wet pucks into the bag and ruin them, and Mark laughed and said "Naw, she wouldn't do that!" Giggle giggle goes the Lisa. HA! I didn't really flirt, but if I wanted to hang around and chat, it would have been the perfect time. He's not really my type anyway - too blonde and clean-cut. I like my men dark and scruffy. ;)

Any ideas for my St. Patty's day? All I know is that this year, if those Guinness girls come back and don't give me a shirt, I'm taking it off their back. My goodness, my Guinness!

Chicago and bondage

What a great weekend!

Saturday, I decided to drive out and meet Kirk and Heather at Brynn and Casey's in Chicago. I hadn't seen them since the Pirate Party nearly 9 months ago and I was well overdue for a road trip, so why not? It was perfect driving weather too - blue skies and warm sun, with plenty of CDs and a Red Bull for good measure. Somehow I actually managed to conquer the city traffic, pick up Heather, Brynn, and Kirk from downtown, and find FREE parking in the city on a beautiful Sat. afternoon. I knew right then that it was going to be a fine weekend. We met up with Steve H in "boystown" and walked down the rainbow-laden street and stopped in every bondage shop in town, tried on drag-queen-sized (runs larger than normal - go figure) corsets, gawked at dildos bigger than the size of my arm (hi mom! pretend you didn't read that) and dreamed of the day when we can afford to be hot. Apparently it's expensive to be hot; I saw thongs with less material than a wallet going for over $100.  I personally don't want to pay that much money to have a cow product wedged up my ass. I didn't come home empty handed, but hopefully I'll have a good pic to post of what I bought soon. ;)

The Chinese-Vietnamese food place in boystown was great. Have to remember to go back there! Before Kirk had a chance to pass out, we went back to Brynn and Casey's. I love their apartment - anyone with orange walls in their bedroom is awesome in my book. We ended up staying up until the wee hours of the morning sharing ghost stories, hauntings, lucid dreaming, and well anything else in those categories. It's great to know I'm not the only one that used to be able to control my dreams 100%, and I'm not the only one that just lost it one day. In honor of that conversation, I am adding a lucid dreaming link to my page. I need to work on getting that skill back... But I suppose you need to SLEEP to dream, and I've never been good at that part. ;)

Casey made strudle in the morning and Brynn whipped out her fiddle. I had such a great time, and I never realized how cool Chicago is. I've only always been to the touristy expensive parts, but I would love to live in some of those northern areas. The houses and lofts are so great... I don't think I'll ever make up my mind where I want to live though, so that's my whim of the week.

I had a hockey game this evening, so I specifically left early Sunday just so I could make it. I missed last week, and we only have 3 more games, so I really wanted to play! But stupid me got stuck in traffic and got home too late. I was really really pissed at myself; the only reason I left was for that game, otherwise I could have spent another evening visiting them. Grrr. I messed up. At least I got to watch the Wings game and the Sopranos. And during the drive home, the Columbus Fire Crew was playing "tag" with me in the stop and go traffic. Hot firefighter pulls up and checks me out; they get stopped; I smile and pull forward. Repeat.

Tomorrow I am going to get Mark Mowers (Red Wings player) autograph for my brother. Supposedly he's young and hot so I agreed to go again for my bro. Oh darn, please don't make me see an attractive hockey player, I hate those guys! (woops, was that sarcasm??) Tues I get to go to the Wings game, Wednesday is my favorite holiday of the year (and yes, I am Irish so I have to make my kinsfolk proud), hopefully Thurs I am going out with city boys to celebrate my newfound employment, then Friday I will take off on another roadtrip. This time, somewhere warm and sunny. We were thinking North Carolina but I guess there isn't much hiking to do in the Outer Banks... not sure where to go! We didn't want to drive too far but maybe we should try the Gulf Coast of Florida?

If I had a bedtime, I'm sure it would be well past it right now. Woops. I finally got my freelance writing "how-to" book, so I guess I'm feeling inspired to keep the words coming. But I suppose I should go to sleep and practice dreaming some more.

Roll out!

Another successful night of Texas hold 'em!

Jeff had a pretty good turn out too - the pot was up to $46 or something, I think we had about 12 people playing? Not sure, all I know is that "Dos Equis" turned into "Muchos Equis" if you know what I mean. Apparently I have skill in poker that I didn't know existed. It's not the type of skill that will make me rich, but it's enough to keep me ahead. Came home this week in second place once again, with $14 more than I started with. Which means that I am currently around $24 ahead. I think I just lack the patience to battle it out for first place. Ok, so I thought Chris was bluffing and took a silly risk... but I really wanted it to be over sooner than later. Really. <wink>

That's a lot of money in my eyes. That's the difference between drinking $1.50 Labatts only during Wings games, or a big fat Guiness whenever I please. It's the difference between seeing a new movie or whipping out Slapshot for the 20th time. It's more than a tank of gas for my little Focus. And I'm gonna need that gas money... Since I am going to Chicago tomorrow (today? gee, it's almost 3am. woops.)!!!

Kirk and Heather are already there visiting Brynn and Casey, and I really would like to see them so this is my best chance to go out and visit. I haven't been to Chicago in a few years now; not since Tara and I tore up the town for my family reunion, running around the streets of the Windy City during a rain shower in cute little tanktops and shorts! Although I'll have less than 24 hrs to play with them, it's well worth the drive!

Hopefully I'll have some good stories to post on here when I get back. :)