Work was getting stressful. Thursday, February 10, 2005 was a rough day. It was almost 7pm, I was still at work and I was exhausted. The Beast, formerly know as QA K, had come by to say hi. At that point, Infant Developer (ID) delivered some bad news to me about a project that was not going as planned (more accurately a project he had royally screwed up) and my eyes welled up with tears. Seeing this, QA K distracted ID with a bright shinny object and made motions at me: You, me, drinks, get’n the fuck outta here! Knowing this was the opportunity I had dreamed about (while doodling hearts on my notebook and writing Mrs. Jenferner Beast over and over) I jumped up, shut off my pc and grabbed my purse in one fluid motion.
We met at Chili’s where we proceeded to order food we couldn’t eat. We stared at it with absolutely no appetite. Really, the last time a crush caused me to lose my appetite was when I was 14! We finally gave up on trying to eat and spent a lot of time looking at each other and drinking nervously. It’s been said before but I’m gonna say it again, we were fully retarded! At some blurry point in the conversation Beast grabbed my hand. My heart stopped. That was the end of the beginning.
The music is ‘Never the Same’, used with permission from Rule of 3rds. A great band that split up before their time!The weather was a little bleak but it still was a great day to fly. Beast and I also took at 7.3 mile hike (after friday’s almost 8 mile hike). Sleep now!
I have to be honest, I have been a little depressed since the 3 day. I always get that way after a big event. I always have that feeling of, “ok, so now what do I do?” This time it was worse than ever. I was feeling like I was missing something in my life. After parsing that out, I realized I was not doing much to change the world I live in. I bitch a lot about how people suck, but I don’t do a lot to try to make the world a better place to live in. I do the regular stuff, like shop at local markets and mom and pop places, I hold the elevator for people, and I even let people cut in front of me in line for the off ramp. But, the 3 Day always makes me feel like I am contributing to the greater good of the world, I always miss that. So, I decided to volunteer with a Lab Rescue organization. I don’t have a lot of time on my hands, but I can help out at adoption events and walk dogs that are living in boarding facilities while waiting for a foster home. I decided to do this because my lab brings me much joy. Speaking of, here is a picture of Annabelle from earlier today (click on image for full size photo).
Lately, K and I have been kicking around the idea of a thru-hike of some kind like the PCT, ADT, or the AT. Not necessarily a this year goal, we have some prep work to do. But in that spirit we took the dogs on their first hike today. They had a blast. We went to Cottonwood Creek Falls, an easy 2 mile hike.
When we reached the falls the dogs jumped right in. There were some hairy moments with wet dogs on slippery rocks, but once they learned to be cautious they were loving it. We packed a lunch and ate by the falls, the weather was perfect and there was no one around.
We finished the day at home with a bowl of warm chili and corn bread muffins as the doggies slept soundly and happily at our feet. I think it’s gonna be a good year!
After an especially grueling couple of months of work, I needed a break. K and I had a 3 day weekend trip to Vegas on the books for a while and as it neared I was concerned. I needed rest, I needed a stress free environment, and I needed peace and quiet. Not exactly what one thinks of when thinking about Vegas. We had planned a downtown Vegas getaway so K could show me the wonders of seedy downtown Vegas and all it had to offer. However, early last week, I lost my shit. The stress had piled on and no amount of exercise could manage it. I exploded in a rage of female hormones in all their glory and it splattered all over everyone in a 5 mile radius. K saw this as a cry for help and scrambled into action. He canceled the downtown reservations and moved us to The Venetian. Actually to the Venenzia tower in The Venetian. It was quiet, it was beautiful, and it was relaxing. Here are the highlights:
Sleeping in! Curtains that block out the light and trick you into thinking its 2am instead of 11am, a fabulous invention.
A pool and several hot tubs exclusive to the Venenzia tower and shared only with a couple of people and no shrieking kids! Reading poolside with mohitos in hand.
Shopping. Mostly window shopping, drooling on Christian Louboutins ($900 for a pair of shoes? really?), but got a great looking handbag (a little more than my regular $20 purse from Kohls, but not exactly a car payment either).
An amazing suite. Bigger than our beach apartment, housekeeping and chocolates on the pillow. What more could a girl want?
Great food! Went to The Tillerman on Friday, delish! Went to B&B on Saturday night, absolutely unbelieveable.
Most importantly, great company. It was like we had just started dating, just less retarded. We laughed, we played, we snuggled!
Vegas, while still full of screaming 20 something girls, overly cologned boys who spend more on their outfits than the girls, and 14 (yes I counted) brides wearing white dresses absorbing cigarette smoke as they traipse across the casino floors looking less than thrilled on their big day, was dead. There were more tables completely empty than not. And still, there were no $5 or $10 tables on the strip on a weekend night. However, Downtown’s $5 and $10 tables were considerably busier. We played a little downtown and broke even. The only money Vegas took from us was in hotel and restaurant bills which were still considerable, but you gotta eat right? Thanks for the great getaway baby.
Haven’t been posting much lately. I have been shackled to my cube at work. Things have been stressful to say the least. My free time lately has been torn between trapeze and training for the 3day. Trying to log as many miles as possible and flying anytime I can. The flying is coming along, I really love it. There is nothing like the feeling of letting go of the bar, looking at the sky and falling into the net. I just took my turn around out of lines (vid on that coming soon) and I have started to work on an uprise. Unfortunately, I haven’t been taking the cam with me much.
K and I also took an extended weekend trip to San Fran. It was great. We got in late thursday night and walked around the city after getting settled in our downtown hotel. During our walk we happened upon some fire dancers. I really think that is what I want to learn next. The following day we hit the SFMOMA, the City Lights Book Store and China Town. We even stopped into a neighborhood bar and had a drink (something we NEVER do!). It was a great relaxing day but we still managed to walk 4+ miles. The following day started with a trap class at SF Circus Arts, followed by an amazing lunch at the Citrus Club, a walk thru the Haight, hanging in Golden Gate park and a walk to the “other” Ocean Beach. All in all 8 miles and a damn fine day. It all finished with volunteering to be bumped from an overbooked flight which resulted in 8 hours in the airport which oddly enough is long enough to get a pedicure and massage and finish the book you are reading. Of course, volunteering for the bump had it’s own reward, 1st class on the way home and free roundtrip tickets. Pics from the trip:
I have made no secret out of the fact that Chasing Joy is a high priority in my life. However, this is a relatively new concept for me. I spent the first 30 years of my life sitting back, expecting Joy to find me. And blaming the rest of the world when it didn’t. I was rarely happy and spent lots of time and energy on “I’ll be happy when…”. Now, I realize that the important part of “Chasing Joy” is the chasing part. I am the only person responsible for my happiness and I take that job seriously. So, when I saw this trailer it hit home with me:
What is on your list of things to do before you die?
Last weekend marked the beginning of my 34th year on this planet. I spent the weekend celebrating my way! We kicked off the weekend with a friday night dinner at our favorite indian joint, Tandoor. Afterwards, we spent the night in playing Magic. We were playing the new Shadowmoor theme decks. We had one game that was so crazy and long we had to leave the cards on the table and pick it up Saturday morning. I got up nice and early Saturday, got in sweats and took the dogs down to dog beach. They ran like fools, chasing and splashing in the water. I really love cold mornings on the beach with the dogs. It is peace and chaos all at once and it is wonderful.
After tubby time for the dogs and a little breakfast it was off to Trapeze High for a some swinging! In fact I spent most of Saturday, Monday and Wednesday of this last week out at the rig. This has become an addiction.
We finished off Saturday with dinner at Kings with my parents and Grandma. On Sunday the weather cleared and K and I took a scenic tour of San Diego at Sunset….from 4000 feet. It was amazing!
So, with all of the craziness at our works lately, Boyfriend and I decided it was time to get out of dodge for the weekend. I have been whining about wanting to see the play Wicked for months and since we only had a weekend, it was off to LA for us! I let K make the arrangements as he always finds cool places to stay (The Avalon in Portland and the City Inn in Denver). He booked us at the Avalon in Beverly Hills, a boutique hotel.So, Friday night we dropped the dogs off with my parents and bombed up to the hills. The hotel was very cool, if not a little snooty. The rooms were very modern. K fell in love there… with the comforter. Really, what happens in the bed when I am not there is really none of my business, lol! We were up early on Saturday with room service for breakfast, a quick card game and then the masseuses arrived. K had arranged for 90 minute deep tissue massages in our room! The massage was amazing! After the massage, it was off to the Pantages theatre to see Wicked! I listened to the audio book while walking over the last several months and loved it. It was really a great story. But, the play was AMAZING! The cast was great and the set and special effects were outstanding. The only issue I had was that the lines were sooooo long for the bathrooms that I didn’t get to go during intermission and was ready for the play to end about 45 minutes before it did.
After the play we made our way over to Venice Beach for our favorite italian resturant, C&O Trattoria. The food is great and the atmosphere is pure chaos. There is no where else like it. Chianti on the honor system, huge portions, and singing waiters and waitresses- now that’s amore! They have these garlic balls that are pure evil, I could have had a whole meal of just thoses- oh wait, I did. And, yes I did have to stop for Rolaids on the way back to the hotel.
Then, we were up early again this morning to run out to Woodland Hills for a trapeze class for me at Richie Gaona’s Flying Trapeze School. The class was a much different vibe than Trapeze High, there were a lot of professional performers and that seemed to cultivate a hard working environment. It was great to try out a different rig and get critiqued by someone new. I was still working on my backend split and caught it twice! I even tried to return to the bar, but not successfully.
As always, I had a great time. And, Richie convinced me to try a layout for the first time as the last trick of the day. Wanna know how it went? Take a look at the video below:
The weekend finished up with a walk around Venice Beach and dinner at NatRaj in Mission Viejo. The traffic was light getting home and our puppies were thrilled to see us. I am beat!
Tonight I went back to the gym for the first time in over a year! It was awesome. I was amazed at how much easier everything was 55 lbs lighter. Really the only thing holding me back most of the night was my own fear. Finally, I got mad and said, fuggit, I am not gonna have any fun if I let the fear win. And I started throwing tricks. I successfully hit a couple of front tucks and a few roundoff backhandsprings. It’s good to be strong again!
