it's halloween

news flash: today is halloween.
i know that seems like a somewhat stupid comment to make, but i direct this comment to everyone who lives in the des moines metro area (note: des moines does not have a real metro, but work with me)

here is the deal. in des moines they do not have halloween. they have "beggars night"
the night BEFORE halloween is when all the kids go trick or treating.
this is one of those things that even homer simpson cannot understand.
the theory is that older kids get too out of control and jeopordize the little munchkins running around looking for candy.
personally, i don't see the difference.
however, i forgot about this silly tradition here. i thought i was in the clear, my good friend nate's birthday is today (Happy Birthday) and we are going out for that, so no need for candy at the house.

please understand that i did trick or treat as a child and had a great time. and if it was not on a friday night i would have had something to hand out.
but until i got home last night, i had spaced the beggars night thing. so i park my car and there are kids everywhere.
here is the dilemma for those of you in the back row:
i had no candy.
so i was forced into 2 options.
1. go to the grocery store and buy whatever candy was left ( the crappy stuff)
2. turn off the porch light and pray that they skipped the house.

now, what is worse? being the house that gives out the crappy candy, or the house that gives out no candy?

i opted for no candy.
lazy: yes
selfish: uh-huh
cruel to little childern: possibly

neccessary? you bet.

and to make matters worse, i have a costume party tomorrow night and well, no costume.
i should get on that.
creative juices just not flowing. so i will probably go as something predictable. in all fairness though, i can have a great time at a party in a lame costume or a cool one. doesn't bother me in the slightest.

back to reality

welcome to my whirlwind life.
it has been forever since i have written anything. actually not that long, but given everything that has gone down in the last 2.5 weeks it certainly seems like a lifetime.
so the weekend after my brother left, i went with my friend heather to chicago. we hung out with rugby players.
they are insane.
and they have no problems being naked around perfect strangers.
and they drink... a lot. a lot.

but had a great time. would totally do it again.

and then i thought, great weekend to chill out and do nothing.
wrong.
my grandfather passed away last week. so i spent thursday and friday running around getting ready and heading to omaha for all the funeral goodness.
actually there is very little goodness in a funeral. at least for me.
on the upside, saw some family memebers that i had not seen in years. had a great time with my family.
one thing about a large, irish, catholic funeral. if you aren't crying you are laughing your ass off.
but watching my dad finally breakdown and just sob was a little more than i was prepared for.
that and all my cousins, who are my age, lined up as pall bearers doing the same.
pretty freakin' emotional weekend. but i did get to see my grandpa a few weeks back when i was in omaha, so at least i had that.
relief actually.
that and my family can kick back some serious alcohol. i mean, they can drink. people were showing up with some sort of funeral food and either a 24 pack of beer or a bottle of something.
it was an exhausting few days.
glad to be home. playing catch up at work sucks.
and then next week, off to washington dc.
ah, my rock star life style.
hardly.

oh- and total weirdness, get an email from the ex boyfriend while i am in omaha. of course, i had not heard from him in oh...a year and a half. we have been broken up for almost 3 years and have not talked since i left his appartment that day. we have emailed a few times, but this was random. so i sent back a short note congratulating him (he got a new job) and just said things were good with me, hope they were with him and have a good holiday season.

he writes back and tells me he will be coming through town soon and maybe we should meet up and catch up.

um, WTF?
you are kidding right?
suffice it to say, i have not written back to that offer yet.

ugh-- holy insanity.
so i am getting a massage tomorrow. i am sure my masuese will find some knots the size of boulders on my back and shoulders.

bon voyage

patrick is in germany.
seems odd.
saw him off yesterday. my mom was not as bad as i thought she would be. although she did make us wait until he boarded the plane. KCI has the type of set up where even though you can't get into the gate area due to security, you can see it. so we watched through the glass as patrick sat there.
kinda torture really, but in situations like that, you humor your mom.
pretty emotional weekend for everyone. relived that it is over. but now, who knows what will happen...patrick is not due for iraq until about april (at least that is what he was told) so maybe in 6 months everything will be better.
not counting on it.

i have been having some messed up dreams lately. now, the weird thing is i never remember my dreams. i think these are happening between the time when my alarm goes off and i actually get out of bed. this can take up to 30-40 minutes, so it is entirely possible that i am dreaming and remembering them. but what i do recall is fairly vague, but pretty odd. i think my subconscious needs some cleaning or something.
suggestions are welcome.

happy birthday to my mom.
we sorta celebrated this weekend, but got mixed in with all the going away stuff. how's that for a birthday celebration...send your kid off to the military.
but she is doing well and you would never guess her age if you saw her.

so home this weekend as i have mentioned like 80x already, and my mom made me start going through some of my old stuff. notes from middle school, random high school pics and even some stuff from college. made me laugh. the stupid crap we used to get worked up about.

wait,
we are still getting worked up about stupid crap, except now people are married, living together or something like that instead of "going together". and instead of notes in between class it is emails back and forth.
we have just up'd the ante it seems.
i knew i hadn't grown up too much.
hah!

election day

ok i understand that california is the most populated state in the union. but do we really CARE if the govenor gets recalled or not?
i don't. now, if i was a tax paying resident of the state, different story...but come on. an actor is running, big deal.
i am just tired off all the inane press and will be more than happy when it gets done.

i hate money.
well, let me rephrase that. i hate not having money. that old adage, when you make more you spend more...it is true. i can't tell you how or why, but i never seem to have enough. and just when i get everything undercontrol... BAM! some odd and normally expensive thing happens that requires more money.
i need to win the lottery. that will solve ALL my problems.
yeah, and i have some swampland for sale as well.

so miracle of miracles...the cubs won. now, i am not a die-hard baseball fan. can't stand watching the games on TV, enjoy going to them live. my grandfather on the other hand, lived and died for that team. what really sucks is the year that he passed away was the year of the baseball strike. not that the cubs had a chance in hell of making it that year, but the one thing that he really loved was not around to watch.
plus he was not 100 years old so he never saw them in the playoffs either. i am following the games for him. he would be thrilled.
and in other baseball news.
my great friend julie's red sox's won a thriller last night. which means her red sox and her fiancees yankees will be facing each other. things could get pretty exciting in that house for the series, trust me.
if we have a cubbies/red sox world series, i am not sure what i would do.
time will tell.
enough on the sports ....

i need a change of scenery. not sure where, but it needs to be soon.
i am heading to DC in a month to do wedding dress/bridesmaid dress shopping. which means i have a month to lose 15 pounds.
i am NOT going to be the "chubby" bridesmaid.
and i am totally looking forward to that trip, but i want to go somewhere i haven't been.
for a long time
and then find a sugar daddy that will keep me in a style to which i could grow accustomed.
right.
kidding of course.
i do need something new though.

i think that is all for today.

fall has fallen

so it is official...at least i have made it official. summer is over. i can't really say i am too broken up about that fact. big fan of fall. can't explain it, but always been a favorite of mine.
i am about to launch into one of my bigger birthday months. October is one of those times, bunch of valentines day babies. six people this month alone. i need to get cards etc, lined up and ready to go for everyone. and then all my weekends this month are taken. i don't know where my time has gone, but i am looking at the weekend before thanksgiving as the first one i have open.
um, hello...where did this burst of social activity come from? i can't explain it. just works out that way. not that i am complaining.

had a kinda weird thing go down this week. looking at some pictures from my holiday party last december. i was almost sad to see, so many friends and there are now 4 or 5 people that are not talking to each other. most of them have to do with one person. i felt like my family had broken apart, and in a sense it has. my friends are my just like my family and when things happen that keep them from all being together and getting along, it really sucks. i still have good realtionships with all these people, but it seems now, every time i make plans or want to get a group together i have to consider who is talking to who, etc.
bites ass.
i guess this is life. no one ever said it was perfect.


on a lighter note, i am totally, completely, unabashadly addicted to www.homestarrunner.com
thanks again to my good friend tom for creating hours of -non-working fun for myself and klas. we trade quotes via chat all day long. and yes, we are geeks.