Who is Shaqua?

So a few times this week I've gotten really weird calls on my cell phone. The first time someone called asking for Shaqua. I didn't worry about it and told them they had the wrong number. Today my phone rang while I was at the clinic. I said if it wasn't my advisor, I wasn't answering the phone. Well, I didn't know the number so I answered the phone just in case. Here's how it went:

Me: Hello?
Caller: Hey! This is Republic. We did it!
Me: Um, what?
Caller: We're ready for Bandit!
Me: Um, I think you might have the wrong number.
Caller: Is this Shaqua?
Me: No, but I've gotten a couple of other calls for her. Why do people keep calling me?
Caller: Oh, your number is listed on this contract we've been working on.
Me: So I'm gonna keep getting these calls prolly, huh?
Caller: Yes, probably.
Me: Okay. Well, uh, thanks. B-bye.

What's really funny about this is that while I was typing this post, I got another call for Shaqua. Who the hell is Shaqua, and why is she putting my phone number on contracts I don't know about???

a day off

Who knew a Saturday could be so lovely? For the first time in weeks, I didn't have to go into the clinic. I stayed up late watching a stupid movie that I love so I slept late today. Almost until 9:30! When I did get up, I moved to the living room, sat in the wing back chair, and read more Japanese stuff. It's called "I am a Cat," and was written between 1904 and 1906ish by Soseki Natsume. I'm only into the third chapter of Volume one, but it's pretty danged good. It was written in chapters and published in some Japanese literary magazine as a serial. It was so popular that it was later compiled into book form and published that way. Now I have it! Thanks Joe!

While I was reading and listening to David Gray, it started to thunder. Quite a rumbling session it was! I decided to close my eyes and meditate on the sound of thunder, rain, and wind when all of a sudden the phone rang. It'd been about 30 minutes, and I'd been asleep. So much for meditation, huh? Mother wanted to take me to lunch, and I'm not one to turn down free food. It was the first time I'd eaten out someplace nice in quite the long time.

Now I just need to wait and see what tonight's alternate plans are for a friend's birthday. I may have the night off as well!

Just in case...

...you didn't believe me, read for yourself.

http://www.guidelive.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/overnight/stories/DN-muse_0920gl.ART.State.Edition2.3e5b3e2.html

MUSE!!!

Okay, now that I am mostly recovered from the girly afflictions of yesterday, I can freely post about the concert I had the pleasure of attending Tuesday night.

I saw Muse. I heard Muse. I felt the life pulse of Muse. I breathed Muse. I was Muse.

I've been going to concerts now for 20 years (no fooling! it may even be 21 years), and this was certainly the best stage show I've EVER seen. It was just the three of them on the large mostly barren stage. What made it amazing was (1) the quality of the music amplification (no feedback problems, perfect balance between the instruments and vocals, the way you could feel the music along with the band), (2) the energy of the band and the crowd--just being there made you feel euphoric, and last but certainly not least (3) the light show. Holy mother of pearl, it was BY FAR the best light show I'd ever witnessed. There were times when the crowd would fall quiet and look around the arena at the projected light patterns on the ceiling and walls during soft slow numbers. During "Knights of Cydonia" and "Hysteria", I could easily say it felt like I understood what it was like to be in a night time battle during the French Revolution Les Miserables style. The pulsating lights combined with strobes and ever changing colors with the video production behind the stage.... Arrgh! There is no good way to describe how bloody amazing it was!!! If I had the money and the time, I would drive to Atlanta to see the show there next week. I knew I loved this band, but now I have an even greater appreciation for them as not only musicians but as performers. And to say performers doesn't do it justice. They conveyed the emotions of the songs as well as the best opera singers.

I feel privileged to have been able to attend their show Tuesday night.

Back away from the Cheetos!

Looks like my normal "cycle" is returning. If talking (or reading) about this sort of thing bothers you, avert your eyes now. This whole bleeding every two weeks has gotten sooooooooooo old. I finally called the girlie doctor (actually about 3 times before we settled on an action plan), and I may be back on the road to normalcy. Yippee. Granted, being awakened at 6am with severe back pain and cramps was not the best way to start the day. Being able to count on insurance to pick up the tab for exams and drugs again is really gonna be sweet though!

Anyway, as per my normal monthly duty, I stopped by the store on the way to work and bought a bag of Cheetos, a bag of Doritos, a package of York peppermint patties, and a small bag of Hershey kisses. The original idea was to get something for a girl up here who's had a bad couple of days, but things kept jumping into my arms. Now, I'm fighting the urge to finish the bag of Cheetos. No...must...back...away.... Their gravitational pull is...not...strong...enough....{crunch!}

Damn.

Monday morning blog

*sorry--I typed this Monday and forgot to post it. Enjoy*

Okay, so my mind is not functioning well enough yet to come up with a better posting title. I thought I'd go for the obvious.

Is it only Monday? So much stuff happened this weekend that it feels like it should be Thursday already. First off, I had the long awaited talk I needed to have with a friend Friday night. No, it was nothing bad, it's just one of those "talks" that sometimes has to happen between friends of the opposite sex. You know, sometimes people can get so comfortable with each other that boundaries start to fade, and things can be said or done that make the other uncomfortable. We are now both in total agreement that our strictly platonic relationship is just that--strictly platonic. Phew. Number one crisis averted.

Saturday was interesting only in that at the vet clinic, one of the techs didn't show up (thought she wasn't scheduled, and had already made other unalterable plans). I technically wasn't scheduled to be there since I'd planned on going to see the GD for her 6th birthday. Things being what they are in my life, that trip didn't happen so I went into the clinic. Thank goodness! Otherwise things would've been really nightmarish. I actually considered not going, but when I was given the keys to the drug lockbox, I knew I had to be there just in case. We had a relief vet who was tons of fun, and the schedule was light so it was an fairly easy Saturday. Started off rough because before we officially opened, we had people without appts lining up to have their pets seen. Whoops! That and I had to call the "head receptionist" to have her walk me through the task of getting the new vet set up in the computer so she could actually administer shots and meds. Trust me, it was a lot more harrowing than it sounds. The rest of the day was fan-freaking-tastic because I napped, watched Emma and some SVU, and went to bed after reading a bit of 1904 Japanese writing.

Sunday (sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY) was typical. Choir, lunch, meet with people for drinks. The only thing different was that I had a Pampered Chef party at my place. It was fun, but it got started really late due to the freaking crazy rain. After that, some of us went to a pub for dinner (bloody expensive and not even very good--must remember that). I've been so tired that I'm afraid that I just sat there like a bump on a log.

the wait is over

I HAVE A NEW JOB!!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. After getting rear ended yesterday, crying all day, waking up with a killer migraine at 4am, and being in a fog all day today so far (from the migraine meds), I'm surprised I was with it enough to remember to go to the interview. YAY!!! I can't wait to put the degrees back to use in a lab setting!

and yet...

...as crummy as 2006 has been to me, I just on a whim called a company I know about through the vet clinic to see if they had any lab openings. I have an interview tomorrow morning.

Maybe God hasn't given up on me after all.

2006, you're fired!

Things that have happened to me in the past 5 months....

* lost my dream job
* a/c on car died
* brakes on car died
* tried to go to NYC for interview the day terrorists were arrested in London (ergo, causing the worst airport confusion I'd seen in years including cancelled flights and lost luggage)
* found out I didn't get the (dream) job I was basically promised in NYC
* roomie and best friend of many moons moved to CA
* almost didn't get registered for classes in time
* bleeding every 2 weeks for the last 3 months
* car got backed into in a parking lot smashing my trunk
* can't afford to breathe anymore

I know I'm loved.

By my cat.

For the past two nights in a row, Cornelius has brought me presents right as I was turning off the light to go to sleep. Beetles. Click beetles at that. At least he's not bringing me waterbugs or rodents. It's just unnerving to be all cosy in bed, having read a chapter or two in a book, ready to turn off the bedside lamp when something foreign gets placed carefully on your back or legs. Then it clicks. Then I jump off the bed screaming like a ninny. Two nights ago, I flicked it off my bead knowing he'd eventually find it again and eat it. Last night I never did find the thing; I only knew what it was by the quintessential sound it made. Ugh!

In other news, there really is no other news. I'm waiting to hear from my advisor regarding research time tables. I'm still going to be at the vet clinic working for peanuts. I love having an extra "laundry room" now (the empty room has become the ironing room). I love having good friends like Heather, Ange, and Lynn.

And as such, life goes on.

how could I forget

And how could the H-bomb not post it either?

Last week, we were out driving back from lunch or Starbucks or Milwaukee Joe's when two very funny things happened. First, we were passing a salon when we saw this very tall thin black woman with a huge blonde afro. At the same time we both said "Damn...'fro." Of course we cracked up because it was like human voice in stereo. A couple minutes later when we pulled into her parking lot, she was talking about having to transfer files from her computer at work to some sorta "U drive." To that, we both (again in stereo) said "You...drive!" while pointing at each other. Much more laughing ensued.

Ah...good friends!

Happy Birthday Angela!!!

To my good friend Ange...

Happy Birthday!!!

Turns out my whole weekend was based on Ange's birthday. I had a fan-freaking-tastic (if I do say so myself) party for her Sunday night. It was also in honor of my now ex-roomie (who I still haven't heard from) and his moving to Cali. We had so much fun that continued all the way to 10pm Monday! She stayed the night, and I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Yum! Then we went to lunch with Mama, went to a movie--The Illusionist--and Sephora, went back to my place, made soup, and watched The Mission when RAH came over. It was a great, relaxing Labor Day. Everyone should do that every once in a while.

Now it's Tuesday, the day after Labor Day. I woke up in a fairly good mood and came to work. Seems like I should've stayed home. Everyone up here today is all moody and/or pissy. Gotta love the emergencies and things that happen over holiday weekends. *Gosh!*

At least the weather is beautiful. I hope it lasts. Now if it were only November, cool, windy, cloudy, hockey season type tea weather!

cheering up

Well, things are going better now that the "work week" is over. Just left the vet clinic (almost on time) an hour ago and came to Mother's for laundry duty. Stoopid cat got on my bed this morning and tracked litter all in my sheets. Bad Cornman! Oh well, at least he's cute.

It was basically a crummy week. Said goodbye to the roomie and 20 minutes later got the form letter from NYC saying that another applicant was chosen. Smurlfeh! (that's a covered mouth version of an explitive) That night sucked royally (except for Peter coming over and and consoling me with a bottle of wine while we read my Maldives travel diary). The next day, I dragged myself outta bed to get to the vet clinic for the staff (staph?) meeting which was a total downer. At least we had free lunch. Oh, but wait--it was chicken. Arrgh!!! Can't something go right for me this week? After work was choir with everyone asking me about the NYC gig. Props to KC for bringing me a CD and chocolate to take my mind off the crapola! Thursday was spent mostly in front of the computer and on the phone trying to get resigstered for "class" this semester. It finally worked then I broke down into a total headachy mess. I think the stress finally got to me. Friday started off to be a good day at work, but it went downhill. I was supposed to leave the clinic about 6 so I could go home, get my laundry, and head out to my father's for dinner and a laundry date. Well, at 5:20pm, we started working on this one dog who was having trouble "going #1." Turns out the poor guy was blocked. When I finally left the clinic at 7:20(!), I knew I was going to be seriously late for dinner. I called and expected to be told not to bother (the bad frame of mind was back), but all was well. They were holding dindin for me. Thank the gods. Of course everything for the last 2 hours had been so stressful that I was sooooo not hungry. The ice cream with strawberries was fan-freaking-tastic though!

Now all I've got to do is relax while the sheets wash and dry then go to dinner with a friend (she's paying). Keep me in your happy thoughts. I still slip back into "worthless" mode every so often, but things are getting better. At least I'm not Job!