Oot and Aboot

Yeah, yeah..it's been awhile. Forgive me, but I'm damn boring and nothing has really been happening. Let's recap shall we?
I used to live in crappy house/apt. in a crappy part of a crappy town. Tired of freezing to death and listening to Fiestas every Sunday afternoon, I broke my lease and moved. I bought a house in an altogether different town 30 miles away and am now ensconced in warmth and quiet. Two of my favourite things! Most of the time. One can only, however, sit at the kitchen table and watch the evening news while drinking wine so many nights in a row before one goes batshit crazy. The time table on this is usually about 3 days. I've been doing it for 2 months. Hey, it was exactly 2 months yesterday! Go me! Anyway, I've come to find that if you watch the local news while drinking said wine, you will become belligerent and want to kill the newscasters and weather people and stupid people they interview. Well, maybe not kill, but at least choke heartily. Or, you may want to kill yourself. Eh, either way, it takes its toll on you. I suppose all local news is a little hinky, but, jaysus, sometimes I feel dumber after watching it.
Anyway, finally I've gotten to the point where I almost have a budget and my new town is kinda cool, so I thought I would venture out to visit my new favourite bar. I know. I was shocked too. I stopped after work and got a haircut because I'm too lazy to keep up a schedule with that and desperately needed one and came home and took a shower (I can't stand the little hairs all over me) and contemplated my moves for the evening. That lasted about 5 mins til I bolted out the door like my ass was on fire and my head was catching.
I head downtown (about a 5 min drive), find a parking place finally, and walk up the street to my new home away from home. I'm pretty excited at this point because it's really the first time I've been in there without someone else coming along. Yeah, I know...freak. Anyway.... But, SURPRISE! They don't open til 5. Really? 5? What about your afternoon drinker? Discrimination I say. They were, however, nice enough to let me sit inside at the bar for 15 minutes so I didn't have to stand outside in the freezing wind. 5:00 = game on. $1.10 drafts = awesomeness. Cute Bartender = things are looking up. Music on the radio = horrid. Horrid. But, once we (the bartender, cook, and I) got to talking I didn't notice the music quite as much. But, still...dance-type music in an empty bar in the afternoon? Gag. I'm sure you all know my opinion of that genre of music anyway. 1 out of ever 4 songs that came on was decent though..must've been some popular hits station or something. I miss the variety of the 80s radio stations. I listened to an old Top 40 countdown the other week and the variety of music was shocking to my ears. It went in order through Huey Lewis, Duran Duran, Quiet Riot, something else I can't remember now...but there's no variety like that anymore. We're pigeonholed into this category or that. I'll have none of it, I tell you. Ok, ok. Ironically enough, (and I don't care if it's really ironic or not...I'm with you Alanis) the town also has a No Dancing Ordinance. Yeah, no kidding. Just like Footloose. And if I see Kevin Bacon coming, I'm punching him in the throat. There are bars where you can dance, but it has to have a separate area designated for that. Hey, I'm fine with that. I'm not a dancer, nor do I really want to see people dancing. Unless it involves glitter and dollar bills. Then that might be a different story. Where was I? Oh yeah. No Dancing. Enter a guy I will call Smiley. He's probably my age or even a little younger. Has nary a tooth in his head. Nary a one. Smiles. All. The. Time. He proceeded to tell me how the no dancing rule is true and that they will throw you out for it..especially if you're not a pretty girl. He said one time there was a girl dancing in the room upstairs where the pool tables are and no one said anything to her (duh) so he thought he would go on over and "dance" with her. I interpreted that as "I stumbled over and tried to rub all over her with my junk." And, they threw him out of the bar. I know, right? I'm guessing that this is not the first dancing incident my pal Smiley has been involved in. I would make a strong bet that that's why he doesn't have any teeth...he danced up to the wrong girl once and probably had them removed for him. I'm laughing like hell at this point because he's almost demonstrating his moves when the bartender tells him to cut it out. She looked at me and grinned...I think at this point she was ready for Smiley to go play pool and shut the hell up. But, it was definitely entertaining.

I sat there til a little after 7 and had the whole place to myself practically. It was awesome..like owning my own place but without the bills and the overhead and the worry of no one being in there. Of course, were it mine, the music would be better too. Here's a crappy picture of the inside looking back toward the street. My phone doesn't do well after dark. I tried to get a picture of Smiley too, but couldn't sneak one in. And, no, I'm not asking. I don't want to bond that much, thank you.

It's a good quiet place (at least early) and the pizza's awesome, so I think it'll work for awhile. But, being the responsible adult I am (ha!), I will stick to my new budget and only visit when I'm ready to break my television...and perhaps dance illegally.

The Pinnacle

I work in printing. Printing for banks specifically. You know, the receipts, the deposit slips, the drive up envelopes. Boring stuff.


Today I will embark upon the greatest project that I've had in my hands in 8 years.


I'm printing an envelope for a strip club!!!!

I'll let that sink in for a minute.


A strip club!


I guess people need a place to keep all those ones.....


I'm so proud. I can't wait to tell my mom that I'm contributing something to a strip club other than my paycheck.

Behold!

The glory and wonder of Christmas.........

It's no Leg Lamp, but I think it conveys the spirit.

Another visitor this weekend. I'm not sure how I feel about all this social interaction. I don't see it stopping til New Year's either. But, rest assured, 2009 will find me sitting on the couch at 12:01 a.m. enjoying the peace and quiet (possibly sleeping) and dreaming of a better year to come. For all of us.

OCD 3, Me 0

So I've been looking for some chairs and a couch to replace the couch and loveseat that I currently have in my living room. And by looking I mean stalking the auction house practically being eaten up by finding something that doesn't look like someone lived on it, in the rain, next to the sewer, with dogs, and turds. Last night, I found 2 chairs that are wonderfully clean (like no one ever even sat in them) and I had one like them a long time ago, so I was all over them! Even my nemesis, The Junk Man, didn't bid on them. Score!! Now....the Dilemma.


You see, my couch is the piece that really needs to go. The loveseat is comfortable still. However, the loveseat is too small to take over the couch's spot in the room, in front of the coffee table, in front of the fireplace (in the house that Jack built). Too. Small. It throws off the whole balance of the living room. Seriously. No, really. Enter my dad and his friend. They're telling me last night (at 10:00) how I can move this here and that there and if I move my tv to another corner and blah blah blah. The thing is, the tv can't move because I don't want a cable running across the floor all the way across the room. The table directly opposite the tv can't move because it has the wireless rear surround speaker on it and we all know that your speakers HAVE to be lined up. HAVE to. This comes as quite a surprise to men who have only recently experienced DVDs. A baffling surprise to say the least.

So, around 10:15, after a long period of postulating, I decided that we just needed to move stuff so I could see it. And, you know what? It doesn't look bad. I haven't had a chance to sit in there and see how it feels but it looks good...almost better, but I won't tell them that. My only concern is getting the fan in one of the windows this summer, but I'll worry about that then. The chairs aren't there yet. They're going to get them for me this morning since I can't seem to get out of work. Of course, if I was working instead of blogging, I could probably go. The thing is, because the room is different, I couldn't sleep last night. Couldn't sleep. I can't work today. I took over this supervisor spot without hesitation and wasn't nervous. But, you move my room around and suddenly I'm Rain Man. Hmph.


So, yeah. I'm leaving around 10:30 today and arranging and rearranging and sitting for an hour or so until it feels right. Then, I'll go back out to the grocery store like I need to and wanted to do on the way home from work today but can't because I HAVE to get there to see how things are and blah blah blah. God, I'm sick.


Have a good weekend!!

17 has turned 35

Well, 34 for now, but whatever.


When I was in college eons ago, one year every Friday was tomato soup and grilled cheese day in the cafeteria. Lacking money and homecooked meals on cold days, I looked forward to this event all week. Also, I didn't have any classes after lunch. Enjoying some tomato soup just now, I realized that it has indeed turned very cool outside and I'm also still lacking money and homecooked meals most days. See how the world's all one big circle. Stupid world.


Other than that, well, a lot...but not much. I've been busy at work for the first time in ages. After running from every sort of responsibility you can imagine for the past forever, I'm now officially a Boss. Wheee! It's no different other than now when I'm loud and opinionated, some people have to listen to me. Awesome. But, it gives me something to focus on at work other than which 90s alt. band is my favourite or which songs from the 80s that I absolutely could not live without or what I'm going to make for dinner and will it involve drinking some beer or should dinner time be pushed back to accomodate said drinking or "I can't believe it's only damn Tuesday"....Well, you get the idea.


I prepped my house for the cold weather yesterday, which basically means I just shut the storm windows. Now, I need to buy 2 heaters for the living room. I was planning this 3 weeks ago, but it was warm and they still had fans out in the store. So, being the Super Genius that I am, I forgot about it. Until it was 29 this morning. I guess I thought that if in the middle of October it's 85 degrees then naturally winter just isn't coming.


We were tailgating at a football game the other week and rode in my friend's SUV. He has a kid so naturally his car has a DVD player in the back. I wanted to watch a movie but all he had was "James and the Giant Pickle" which despite its pornish name is a kid's movie. As we're pulling out of the parking lot saying our goodbyes to all our tailgating BFFs, I may or may not have leaned out of the back window to offer this girl a ride along with the chance for her to see J (me) and the Giant Pickle. I'm not sure why she didn't get in with us....She must be gay.


Well, that's it from my corner of the cube...I'm sure somewhere here there's someone that needs to be told what to do.

Give me oysters and beer for dinner every day of the year

Behold the majesty of the rolling cooler. It was marketed as a "beach cooler." Let me just tell you how big a pile of horseshit that is. It plows sand better than it rolls, but that couldhave been from the 2 cases of beer and 20 lbs of ice in it. Whatever. False advertising I say.

remnants before sundown

Where we spent most of our days

We drove out on the beach right behind the Cape Hatteras light house.

I tried to get some pictures of the bait fish that were swimming right behind the breakers that made the water look literally like it was boiling, but they didn't turn out. The dolphin pictures are too far away, too. But, they were there dammit!!

There's also a picture of a woman from Denmark that I had to help pull out of the surf because she got a cramp apparently in her leg. It didn't turn out that well either. I think my buddy was laughing too hard to take it. I'm saying an apparent cramp because she spoke NO English at all but kept rubbing at the back of her leg. They were very appreciative though of my concern and didn't seem to mind that I smelled like beer and fish. So, score 1 point for Denmark.

It was only a week's vacation, but surprisingly unlike most vacations I've been on, the good feelings seem to be lasting a little longer this time around. We're already talking about where we want to go next year. I can't wait for the next trip somewhere!

A life lived without shoes is a good one

Here are a few pics from the Big Vacay. I'm waiting on my sets to come back, but I snagged these from everyone else.

We got to the beach on Saturday afternoon and tossed the bags in the door and headed for the beach immediately. Several beers later, we were priviliged enough to watch the mostly full moon rise over the water.

Then, the mosquitoes came out. Yeah. That's right. Mosquitoes at the beach. I've never seen it in all my life. They were so thick that you couldn't really go out after dark. Even in 30 mph + winds. Apparently, they like the coast since the Great Dismal Swamp (no joke) burnt up a few weeks ago.

Sunday...let the fishing begin!!

Squid is better as calamari.

Look at that rod, would ya? (that's what she said)

This picture isn't photoshopped. The pier really is warped and crooked like that from storms. Yet, it's amazingly sturdy. And, by Wednesday (?), very windy....

I'm propping my beer up and trying to keep it from blowing into the water.

This is Dylan, my friend's dog. He LOVED the beach. We're not posing here, however. I'm sitting on him to keep him from rushing out into the water after his owner. M was out too far for the dog to keep up with him and the surf was really rough. That ridge behind me appeared overnight. The whole beach was that high the day before. So, yeah, I got to dog-sit...and it took two of us to hold him back That can hugger in my hand? Best. Three. Bucks. Ever. EVER. You put the can down in it, and it has a lid. A lid!!!!!!!! Not only does it keep the sand and stuff out of your beer, but it also looks conspicuously like a travel coffee cup. Best 3 bucks I've ever spent.

We caught a good many fish every day, but didn't keep any. It wasn't worth the trouble of getting them back home. Besides, there was plenty of shrimp and chicken and steaks at the house waiting on us. I can't remember a week where I felt so good. I can't wait to go back next year.

Hopefully I'll have some more pictures by the end of the week