I still love the Wildcats...

This article cracks me up for several reasons. Apparently, I’m not supposed to be the least bit interested in March Madness and should be going to a stitch and bitch instead. What’s doubly funny about this is, Indie Rocker couldn’t care less about basketball, or really, watching organized sports on TV at all. He just doesn’t enjoy watching sports the way that Marshall, Chitown, WRX, Dutchman, my family and my college girlfriends do. However, he seems to want to humor me. He gets major points for putting the Kentucky game, unrequested by me, on the radio for the drive down to his aunt and uncle’s for dinner on Sunday. He doesn’t give a whit about any of the games, but drove for 45 minutes listening to the entire first half of the UK-Michigan State game for me and I didn’t even have to ask him to do it. We got in the truck and he asked me if the game was on the radio. He’s such a good guy.

It was a really nice Easter and a relaxing day. I’m still kind of sleepy, though, and it’s a darn good thing that I can drink coffee again!

I had an interesting talk with Chitown about relationships and have decided that most of what goes on with me and Indie Rocker is personal and while I will continue to share little tidbits, most everything about him I’m going to keep off the blog. I respect his privacy and I respect our relationship. I don’t want to find out what happens if I blab too much and it comes back to bite me. So if you want to know more than I write, you’re just going to have to email or call me!! Sorry if that makes it less interesting, but I guess that’s what happens when you date someone you actually care about. Weird, huh?

Quote of the Day: “Now is not the time to go/I feel the morning afterglow/and it feels so very strange/it’s very very frightening/I realized what’s happening/Could it be that I’d fall in love?” Morning Afterglow, Electrasy.

Watch out for the Stairs.

I’m so sore right now. I fell down the stairs this morning. Seriously. I know.

They weren’t even my stairs, since I’ve largely figured out how those work. I had to take a shower this morning, and Indie Rocker’s shower is in the basement. His stairs are carpeted and are pretty precipitous anyway. Either way, I hit the top step and on my way to the second, I lost my footing and then slid all the way down to the concrete floor on my ass. Graceful, no? Apparently it sounded like I had cartwheeled down the stairs, when it was really more of a really fast slide. I jumped up and ran into the bathroom to conceal both my embarrassment and any potential bruises that were already appearing. I heard Indie Rocker jump out of bed and run over to the top of the stairs, where he asked if I was OK, and I said that I thought only my ego was bruised. Yeah, I’m wrong. I keep finding new bruises and new sore spots. I have an awesome purple bruise right on the side of my foot. Unfortunately since I hashed last night, I can’t totally tell what’s from that and what’s from the stairs. Aggghhh.

On the bright side, it’s not like I’m the only person who’s ever slipped down a set of stairs--or probably even those stairs, for all I know. I’d probably be a lot more embarrassed if Indie Rocker wasn’t just as big a klutz as I am.

Quote of the Day: "Make me feel tiny if it makes you feel tall/But there’s always someone cooler than you/Yeah, you’re the shit/But you won’t be it for long/Oh, there’s always someone cooler than you." There's Always Someone Cooler than You, Ben Folds.

Let's take Neuroses for 200, Alex.

Help me define relationships, because I’ve apparently found myself in one again. Not that it’s a bad thing, because I’m particularly fond of the boy I’m seeing, but I’m always baffled as to where the dividing line between “hanging out/seeing each other” and “dating/together” lies. What’s really the issue is that I’m not sure that I’ve crossed it yet. And everyone I know knows how loathe I am to attach labels to anything.

Indie Rocker invited me to go to Easter dinner at his aunt and uncle’s house this weekend. While that in and of itself is really nothing to get worked up about, since I’ve already met both of them, it is the closest family he has up here and it’s still family on a holiday, no less. Meeting friends is no big deal—been there, done that. Family seems to carry a totally different connotation.

Why is that?

Is it the assumption that family is always going to be there what makes it more stressful? I don’t even know that stressful’s the right word, since I’m not stressed, per se. I’m a little nervous for sure, but it’s not going to keep me up every night until Easter (it can’t really…God bless codeine-laced cough syrup), but it’s clearly on my mind.

I’m putting too much thought into this again, aren’t I?

Quote of the Day: "Now I've just got one thing to say/If we stand still we're sure to just fade away/Look into your eyes/Look for something more/Hey now there's a solution." Don't Look Away, Helio Sequence

Bleeding Blue and White

Once again, I am shocked to discover that I was raised to be weird. I feel like this happens to me on a pretty regular basis, so I should be used to it by now.

Either way, I managed to spend the vast majority of the weekend watching basketball, which made me very happy. Quick disclaimer: ordinarily, I can’t think of anything more boring than watching regular season college basketball or anything relating to the NBA. However, the NCAA’s March Madness makes me very, very happy and very, very interested in basketball. End of Disclaimer. Part of the reason I get so into March Madness is my mother, for sure. She’s always whipping out the brackets and checking the scores. The whole fam, extended family especially, cheers for the University of Kentucky Wildcats. Seeing as half of my family graduated from there, it’s a given. Plus, UK basketball is a religion. People down there bleed blue and white. Being on the West Coast, I don’t get a lot of chances to watch UK play. Also, since Oregon almost never makes it into the men’s tourney, I have to pick a different favorite team. Go Oregon women, for the record!

So the discovery came about when I got over to Indie Rocker’s house the other night and actually started bickering with Roche because he wouldn’t change the channel to the first overtime in the West Virginia-Wake Forest game from the DVD he was watching. Um, hello? First off, he claims that I can just watch ESPN Classic or something. Second of all, isn’t the whole point of DVDs the portability and pausability? Third, he’s a guy—shouldn’t he be the one demanding the game be put on? Either way, Indie Rocker came out and changed the channel to basketball, wisely ending the argument.

Marshall and I had a good laugh over that today since she’s as into college football and March Madness as I am. I don’t actually think Indie Rocker cares either way, but he was smart enough to take my side, particularly when the game went into second overtime and became very exciting.

Quote of the Day: “I'm staring down the Eppley gate./Two more days before the plane arrives and you'll be standing here with your smile./I'm carving up the lobby seats./Pushing down the caffeine drinks./Checking the arrival screen for yours.” Southern Belles in London Sing, The Faint.

Old Friends and Iraq

One of my old friends, who is currently stationed in Mosul, got back in touch with me today and I found his platoon’s website. Check it out—it’s going to become part of the links on this page anyway. He and I have been friends for quite some time, although we haven’t talked much lately. Deployment does that to friendships.

Anyway, he’s a great guy and the webmaster on the site is his little brother, who is good friends with Speedy. Basically, our whole families are friends and since my folks are slacking and not getting me good updates, I’m delighted to find somewhere where I can get reliable updates.

Lately it’s been more and more important for me to be getting back in touch with old friends. Friendster’s been great for that as people have been coming out of the woodwork. Maybe it’s my upcoming travels or the fact that I know my life’s about to change pretty dramatically that suddenly reconnecting has become kind of important. It’s silly, but I love the fact that Little Bird calls me when she gets stuck in traffic in LA or that John suddenly shows up on Friendster and adds me to his list. Stuff like that just kind of rocks. As Hugh Grant said in “Notting Hill”: It’s nice. Surreal, but nice.

I can’t believe I just quoted that. I’m a dork!

As far as I’m doing, I’ve got a doctor’s appointment today because I’ve been sick forever and I’m tired of it. When I answered the phone last night, Indie Rocker actually started our conversation by asking me why I wasn't in bed already. Lacrosse is going well and we’ve almost got the teams set. We’re going to run scrimmages this afternoon and decide on the teams for good. Then the girls have a week off for spring break and I have a chance to set up a bunch of practice plans, since I’m a working girl and no longer get spring break. Several of my friends, however, still have a school schedule and get to go to Moab for a week. Bitches!

Quote of the Day: “I believe in a better land/a place of peace in the golden sand/the windy streets in the summer time/a cloudless day when I feel fine/We all move on." We All Move On, The Samples

Kickstarting the Fun Machine

Well, Mt. Hood Meadows is officially closed and the ocean has already started calling. My friends and I went surfing this weekend and then Marshall and I had to report for what was ostensibly our last day at the mountain. Our boss came in shortly after our first lineup and wrote that we were “suspending operations until further notice.” Which is shorthand for “we’re closed until we get a giant, highly unlikely dump of snow that must total three feet or more. Or until next November, when we will hopefully start a better, longer, more normal season that lasts more than two months."

Marshall and I also decided to kickstart the fun machine on Friday, which meant going to a BBQ at Beastie’s house followed by a rather competitive several rounds of shuffleboard and PBR at the Yukon down the street. She, Indie Rocker and I just kept trading off buying rounds and playing games until Roche showed up with our new, fabulous friend Whitty, who is a teacher and an awesome chica to boot. We started playing boys vs. girls right after Indie Rocker and I took over the jukebox. After several hours of this, Whitty decided that she’d had enough fun for the evening and the rest of us were just sober enough to stumble back to Marshall’s house and crash in little heaps. Fortunately for us, Sassy had also enjoyed too many tasty beverages that night and didn’t hear us loudly invade her house.

After three or four hours of sleep, Roche woke us all up by declaring that he desperately needed breakfast or was going to inflict pain on someone. Rather than test that theory, we all sort of stumbled around and got ready to go. I managed to stick a contact lens full of hydrogen peroxide directly in my eye, necessitating much swearing, rinsing and tears before getting it back in using copious amounts of saline. Owie.

Breakfast was quite tasty and I am quite regretting giving up coffee for Lent. Really, Easter cannot get here any faster. After eating, we all had the strength to go retrieve our cars from Beastie’s house and go home to get ready for surfing. Marshall, Indie Rocker and Strong Draught all met at my house so that we could pile into Indie Rocker’s Suburban and head out to the coast. Thank God he drove, because I don’t think any of the rest of us, save for Strong Draught, could have stayed awake!

Surfing went great, as always. Marshall and I taught Strong Draught, who is a natural. It’s actually nauseating how much of a natural he is. I kid you not, the kid stood up and rode in his third wave. I’ve never seen anybody pick up surfing as fast as he did. Why is everyone that Marshall and I teach better than we are? Why?

We decided to do dinner at the Green Room after surfing since we ran into a 40 minute wait at Cornelius Pass. After that we were all exhausted, so Marshall headed home and Indie Rocker passed out on my couch while Strong Draught and I took turns in the shower. After all that, Indie Rocker and I decided that we were too tired to do anything, so we popped open a bottle of wine and watched “Da Ali G” movie, which was totally braindead and actually really funny.

Sunday was spent helping out at the mountain. Marshall hurt her back on Saturday, so she and I helped out emptying lockers for a few hours and I avoided lessons as best I could so that we could head home early and I could get something accomplished before getting together with my fellow lacrosse coaches for some planning.

I am both looking forward to practice tonight and dreading is as we have 51 12-13 year olds with varying levels of lacrosse ability and it should be an adventure.

Quote of the Day: "And I'm sucked in by the wonder and I'm fucked up by the lies/And I dig a hole to lie in and I build some wings to fly/And I think that I could love you 'cause you know how to be free/I want you to come walk this world with me./With the light in our eyes it's hard to see/Holding on and on 'til we believe/With the light in our eyes it's hard to see/I'm not touched but I'm aching to be./I want you to come/Walk this world with me." Walk This World, Heather Nova

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Time for a little spring cleaning around here. I am changing some names, editing a few things and perhaps sprucing things up. It’s all a little ambitious and I’m not sure what all I have time for, but I can start with some name changes.

First person I need to change is Headfirst. Seeing that he’s definitely a little more than a friend now, I think I need to change his nickname to something more appropriate rather than just using his hash name. Which is kind of stupid and arbitrary anyway. So I think he’s going to be The Boy until I come up with something better. I’m almost thinking of calling him Indie Rocker just because he’s all about some really obscure music and I keep ending up going to shows and seeing people I’ve never heard of. In a sense, it’s almost like dating a really athletic version of Strong Draught. Screw it, Indie Rocker it is.

YM is now WMD. If you need to ask, I can’t tell you the story. It’s really for Marshall’s benefit and my amusement more than anything else.

I’ve been very giddy for the past few days as Indie Rocker is clearly becoming a bigger presence these days. He’s totally not my type, but for whatever reason, the more I get to know him, the cuter he gets. We seem to have a million things in common and talking to him is getting easier and easier. I don’t want to jinx it, but things are going awfully well. We went to the Kasabian and The Music show earlier this week and had a great time despite Roche’s best attempts to annoy the living shit out of me. Being bodily thrown into a mosh pit I have no interest in being in doesn’t really endear me to people. People like Roche, who have a nonexistent relationship with appropriate. Whatever. I’m sick of talking about him!

Either way, Indie Rocker and I have been hanging out quite a bit more often and I’m totally OK with that. It sort of started as this repeat offender situation, but seems to be turning into something else entirely. Which I’m totally OK with. WRX was so funny when I kind of blew off part of our OC night to go to the show. I expected him to at least be annoyed with me, but instead he remarked that he was glad that I was a little less irritated with members of his gender these days. I think he thinks I’m funny when I’m giddy. Go figure.

Quote of the Day: “Today is gonna be the day/when they’re gonna throw it back to you/by now you should’ve somehow realized what you’ve got to do/I don’t believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now.” Wonderwall, Oasis.

Continuing my bitching streak...

So I am furious with the public transportation system in my town right now, most notably because they suck and have caused me to be late to work twice this week.

Why have I been late, you ask?

Because they changed my bus route and NEGLECTED TO TELL ME. My bus doesn’t even stop at my stop at the time it is supposed to anymore. I now have to go to an entirely different stop two blocks away. Not that I knew any of this until I checked the damned website this morning.

Was there a note on the bus? No. Note on the stop itself? No. Note anywhere that might have let me know my bus was just going to stop stopping at my stop and go elsewhere so I could go screw myself as far as it was concerned? No.

I hate having to take the bus so much it hurts, sometimes.

Quote of the Day: “Pardon me for appearing desperate, but before the pilot was RIPPED FROM THE COCKPIT, he did say that no one's going to find us unless we get that transceiver working. So... is there anything?” Charlie (Dominic Monaghan), “Lost”

The flu sucks.

I am dying. OK, not really. But it kind of feels like it, since I am coughing up a lung over here. I am really not having any fun. I finally took a shower today, since I woke up looking like Medusa. Nice. I even managed to make it to the grocery store, which I wasn't functional enough to do yesterday. Baby steps, really. I am sucking down Gatorade like water and taking OTC drugs like candy. God bless the NyQuil family and Robitussin.

And my roommate wins the greatest roommate award for taking such good care of me.

Quote of the Day: I'm too drugged to think of one...