Happy Valentines Day

 If you can't, for whatever reason, spend Valentines Day with the person you love, might I suggest these FABULOUS people whom I love? 



February 14, 2012

They're the loudest, most inappropriate, margarita drinking, carbohydrate avoiding weirdo's you'll ever meet. My life wouldn't be nearly as much fun without them.  

The front porch looking out

A friend of mine from high school gave birth to twin girls this past week and in a Facebook post she thanked everyone for their kind words and said "if you think our hands are full, you should see our hearts.  This is what life is all about."

So, I don't know what it's like to have a child, much less two at once.  Honestly, there are a lot of life experiences that I haven't had yet, a lot of things that I look at, tilt my head and think...yeah, that'd probably be pretty cool."

But for everything that I haven't done or haven't figured out, there is a whole lot more that just makes me catch my breath with gratitude. 

Dinner on a Friday night with my sister and brother in law, laughing so hard that my stomach hurts and I can't catch my breath.  Having girlfriends who share their shoes and jewlery to make an outfit just that much better.  The opportunitiy forgive an old wrong. Ceiling fans. Beer.  Home, the view each morning as I pull out of the driveway on my way to work:

February 13, 2012

I clearly don't have it all figured out (and what ever would I do with the next fifty years if I had?) but for all the ambiguity that life holds for me right now...well it just ain't that rough.

Happy Sunday to Me!

Nothing says Happy Sunday like a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch for dinner.

February 12, 2012

The Brain

I learned a long time ago that by the time I'm willing to drink an Irish Car Bomb (3/4 pint Guinness with 1/2 shot Jameson and 1/2 shot Bailey's dropped in), I REALLY shouldn't be drinking one.  It's a questionable drink, I mean really, a drink that you have to literally drop the shot in and chug immediately or else it will curdle?  I'm going to repeat that: it will fucking CURDLE.  And so we chug it, as if our stomach acid is going to impede that curdling process.  So like I said, the minute someone says "car bombs!"and I think, "okay!" that's the minute I switch to water.  It's an imperfect system honed over the course of my freshman and sophomore years of college, it's not much but it's what I've got.
So you can imagine my disgust when, at the Great Outdoors in High Springs, I watched someone drink, actually drink, The Brain.


February 11, 2012

That any self-respecting bartender would swim a curdled Bailey's in what I'm pretty sure was whisky and grenadine is unbelievable in and of itself but that anyone would drink it?  That just narsty, is what that is. 

The view from the sick bed

Home sick with the flu, and really the only remotely acceptable things to take pictures of were the kittehs.  I could have taken pictures of used tea bags, my bottle of ibuprofen or the piles of tissues, but that would be gross.  Even if you hate my kitteh pictures, I think we can agree that they are superior to the carnage of the February Funk. 
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February 8, 2012

February 9, 2012

Ah the wrath of the self-righteous

SHAME ON YOU!!  And in all caps too!  They must be really serious about that. 

February 7, 2012

The best part of this note?  It was left on a car with it's own legi thandicapped sticker.

The End of Another Football Season

By the status updates I saw on Facebook, many of the people I know were drinking away the sorrows of another football season drawing to an end. I myself may have indulged in a margarita or two on Monday night but it was much more from a love for margaritas than from mourning the end of football season.

February 6, 2012

Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday and the only picture I've got is my man Boston sitting in his "car." I did in fact watch the Super Bowl, in a bar, with some friends but I failed to take any pictures of said festivities.  So...Boston it is!

February 5, 2011

February Twofer: The Medieval Fair

You have NO IDEA the kind of restraint that it took to limit this day to only two pictures.  I took over forty-two pictures and all but two of them were winners.  Seriously. Sadly the project doesn't call for forty pictures a day, it exhorts me to be decisive (something I stink at) and concise (something I'm even worse at.) Nevertheless, in keeping with my original intentions - I shall try.

The Medieval Fair has come to Gainesville every single year since I've lived here but much like the Gainesville Raceway, I've never had the urge to see it in action.  Since this year is a year for firsts, and with the promise of beer, mead and mock hand to hand combat, I decided that I had put it off long enough.

It. Was. Awesome.

Which brings me to picture number one: the time we ran into a woman with a goat, or a lamb or...something small and fuzzie.  It doesn't seem like a great picture and probably isn't because it needs a little explanation but I've got the time and seeing as you're here reading, I can only assume that you do do.  This picture is EXACTLY how our day went.

 See Sarah in the background, left?  See that perplexed look on her face?  She's thinking that there is just NO WAY that the small baby animal in the medieval woman's arms isn't a puppy?  Then there's John right next to her collaborating, "it's definitely a puppy, or at the very least, a lamb, how does this woman think she can get away with calling it a goat?"  Then there's Meredith, once again single handedly taking on the responsibility of making us socially acceptable with intelligent questions such as "is she milk producing or raised for meat?" and giving people a reason not to lynch us. I can tell you that we ALL heaved a sigh of relief to hear that she was a milk goat/puppy/foal.

February 4, 2012

Probably an even better depiction of our day (and what I would have chosen if I had it in me to be concise) is Picture #2: the purchase of the sword.

February 4, 2012

Our challenge for the day was to make a souvenir purchase of less than ten dollars.  John failed utterly and purchased nothing but fried food and beer.  I purchased a Hoggetown Brewery pint glass - not very exciting but pretty typical since it was purchased out of guilt.  Sara however, really took stock and found the heart and soul of this challenge by purchasing one one wooden sword.  She's totally not going to regret that.

Girls Night In

When I was a kid there was nothing, and I mean, NOTHING better than having a sleepover. A few Friday's ago we discovered that time has done nothing to temper the enjoyability of a girls night in with movies and pizza. 

February 3, 2012

The addition of adult beverages, not getting in trouble for cursing and everyone going home around midnight to sleep in their very own beds only made it just that much better.

The unlikely, thought-to-be impossible has happened

February 2, 2012

I found a potato chip that I absolutely have no interest in eating.  

NTAC

In keeping with my decision to share more about what I do for a living while not revealing enough to warrant my firing, it begs to be told that I work with the hugest bunch of assholes you could ever meet.

Snuggied into shared desks we've (by in large) become the kind of people that take supreme joy in picking on each other.  Notice that one is speaking too loudly comes in the form of projectiles and I realized today as I threw my body weight behind punching John in the arm, that in most offices that would count most of what we do as workplace harassment.  I would watch out for that, but according to el jefe, it's only harassment if it's unwelcome. 

The newest piece of asshole-ish entertainment that seems to be circulating the office slipping binder clips on people's sweaters and coats when they're not looking.

I know, it's pretty racy stuff but we roll fast and lose in BMT Research.

Sadly, it must be admitted that I am the no-talent-ass-clown that started this one.  And like most ass-holey behavior, it has come back to bite me.  I'm not for exactly how long I carried this little hitch-hiker around on my fleece but it was long enough that John can't remember when he put it there. 

February 1, 2012

Like I needed help looking disheveled and scatter-brained.

It's a rough life

January 31, 2012

The soporific life I lead

When I finally got around to downloading the pictures from the last couple weeks I was amazed. If I were trying to catch me a man with this blog, this series of pictures would catch me one who is okay with a mundane, cat filled life. I'll try to find a life next week.

Operation Eat Breakfast strikes again, this weeks intallment: Baked Banana Bread Oatmeal with skim milk. 

January 30, 2012

 See? this is what I was talking about. I'm kicking off the series of pictures with oatmeal. OATMEAL people. Someone just shoot me now.






The only way to blog

It's my favorite, and really the only, way to blog: with two snuggly kittehs under a blankie.  This is even better when it's cold outside, which is to say about one month out of the year, so I like to make the most of it.

January 29, 2012

Somebody that I used to know

I'm not sure what's up with my sudden need to post all these song's of the day.  I'm about 99% sure that nobody actually ends up listening to them, a suspicion that is born of my own reluctance to watch videos posted on the blogs that I follow. However if this blog only existed to reach the masses, it wouldn't exist so why would I start only posting for mass-appeal now? Exactly.

I heard this song the other morning on MTV while I was getting ready and it made me stop mid-tooth brushing, one sock on to watch.  It hit a certain cord with me that I couldn't quite peg until I read the lyrics and I realized that the very odd man was singing about one of the most heartrending almost-inevitability's of breakups.  The part that coils into a snake of fear in my stomach every time I realize that a relationship of mine is about to end.  It's always amazed me in a sad way when relationships end in bitterness and borderline hatred.  Do we just lose sight of the fact that this was someone we once loved, valued and protected?  Or is it just too hard to remember that so we focus on the now, on the hurt and on the bad?



You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness

Like resignation to the end, always the end

So when we found that we could not make sense

Well you said that we would still be friends

But I'll admit that I was glad that it was over

But you didn't have to cut me off

Make out like it never happened and now we were nothing

And I don't even need your love

But you treat me like a stranger and I feel so rough

SOTD: You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go

I've always loved Bob Dylan's music but the love is much more for the poetry of his lyrics than the actual music.  As much as this may cause my Papa to think about disowning me, I continually find myself drawn to covers of his songs. Point in case,  I love his song "It Ain't Me Babe" but I prefer Johnny Cash's cover of it.  "Blowin' in the Wind" is a beautiful song but when I Grooveshark it...it's for the Joan Baez cover.  The only real exception to this trend is "Mr. Tambourine Man", to me Dylan just does it best. 

Generally I'm alright with preferring another performer - I mean, Johnny Cash is pretty legit but my love of Dylan covers has struck again and this time, the performer isn't quite as, shall we say impressive. This is actually difficult for me to type but...Miley Cyrus has a cover of "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" and I like it.  I like it a lot and no amount of listening to Dylan's version is curing me of it.

So, here it is, my song of the day: Miley Cyrus singing Bob Dylan. (Please let me stay in the fam Papa!)

Favorite Lyrics:

Flowers on the hillside, bloomin’ crazy
Crickets talkin’ back and forth in rhyme
Blue river runnin’ slow and lazy
I could stay with you forever and never realize the time

Oh the pretty things

Be not the slave of your own 

past. Plunge into the sublime 

seas, dive deep and swim far, 

so you shall come back with 

self-respect, with new power, 

with an advanced experience 

that shall explain and overlook the old.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

REO!

Do you think they were still pumped from the REO Speedwagon concert?  Maybe just a little?

January 28, 2012

The Florida Primaries

When Mitt Romney won the Florida Republican primary, I have to admit, I was a bit relieved.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not even close what you would call a "Romney Fan", and not being a Republican I didn't get a say in this one.  It's just that I don't think that I can handle living in a state that thinks Newt Gingrich is an acceptable candidate for President of the United States.(Seriously, when Congress, CONGRESS censures you for ethics violations?!  You're up to some pretty nix level shit and I truly believe that if we are going to impeach a sitting President for sexual indiscretions, we should raise our standards for Presidential nominees high enough to rule out those censured for ethics violations.)

So I was sitting there thinking, okay - don't love the guy but if it has to be one of them...might as well be him.  Then I heard his victory speech.


"While we celebrate this victory, we must not forget what this election is really about ..."

What? Getting the economy moving?  Keeping Americans safe? Providing Americans with solid, fair health care? Supporting our educational system so that young Americans receive an education that prepares them to be competitive in the world market?

Nope

"While we celebrate this victory, we must not forget what this election is really about: defeating Barack Obama."

It's the Iowa Caucus all over again. 

I'm not so naive to think that the primaries aren't about the Republican party finding a candidate who can defeat President Obama, but it should be about so much more than just winning.  It's about what you're going to do with that win and the fact that they're not even pretending that it's about more that that, I find it disgusting and disheartening. 

a compliment worth getting OR why working here is good for my self-esteem

Me: Look...if I keep doing yoga, do you think I could look like that?

An unnamed member of the crackerjack, Heme/Onc Clinical Trials team: She's been a waif since like, age twelve.  I think she'd look like that even if she did nothing"

Me: "So you're saying no."

An unnamed member of the crackerjack, Heme/Onc Clinical Trials team: Probably not, but she was never funny.  You're funnier and nicer.  But I don't think you can do that in heels. 

Shake it out

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa

I am done with my graceless heart
So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart
'Cause I like to keep my issues strong
It's always darkest before the dawn

Gator Shitty

The beauty of living in a college town is that when you find yourself at the tail end of a bad day and in need of a good old fashioned bar crawl, there's no shortage of dirty bars and cheep beer to be had.  It's been close to a decade since they changed it's name and I've almost come to terms with the fact that they changed the name of The Purple Porpoise to Gator City.  The cheep beer helps with that too.

January 27, 2012

Pretty Lady

I don't get to spend as much time with my friend Laura as I would like. Not only did she abandon me at work to raise her incredibly charming children (three of the first mafioso's in my baby mafia) but she also lives close to the middle of nowhere and at the risk of being detoured off into the doldrums and never returning, I don't often get out there. 

Still, I get to see her every once in a while and this past Thursday we got snazzied up for a fancy party and spent the evening of schmoozing with free wine and food together.  Life is good I tell ya'.  There are no pictures of the two of us, mostly because I was behind the camera, so I leave you with a picture of her instead:
 

January 26, 2012