randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

Ok, I confess that I started listening to these guys cause I’m friends with em.  But I must say that they amaze and amuse and I’m sure some of y’all would agree.  Give em a shot, check out an episode or two.  The two most recent episodes are quite amusing.  I laughed, I cried… I damn near peed my pants.

 http://straitjacketquartet.podomatic.com/

But watch out for Claus… he’s a bit odd.

So, last week at the Preston & Steve blood drive, Sisser acquired 2 tickets to the Poison/Def Leppard show.  Generous and loving that she is, Sisser took me to the show last night and damn was it awesome.  God I love seeing Poison live.  Even on an “off” night they’re damn good (last night was an “on” night, but I’ve seen a couple of “off” nights in the past).  I’ve seen Poison several times since ‘99 and loved every single show.  But I’d never seen Def Leppard.  I gotta say that they really rocked it out.  It was awesome.  I only wish they’d played Foolin.  That’s the only song that I really wanted to hear live that I didn’t get to hear.  They encored with Rock of Ages, which was awesome.

Poison’s set list was a little changed from past set lists.  I was very happy to finally hear them play a song I’ve been waiting over 20 years to hear live… and since I know that there are gonna be some Poison fans out there looking for it, I made note of the set list during the show:

• Let me go to the Show
• I Want Action
• Ride The Wind
• I Won’t Forget You
• Your Mama Don’t Dance
• CC’s Solo
• Fallen Angel
• Unskinny Bop
• Rikki’s Solo
• Every Rose
• Talk Dirty to Me
• Bret says goodnight, tells NJ/Philly we rock and  promises he’ll never play Broadway again *giggle*
• Encore: Nothing But a Good Time

The tickets we had were lawn seats, so I’m afraid I don’t have any pictures to post.  Sucks muchly.  But it was a great time.  I do love lawn seats though, I have to say.  As much as I enjoy seeing it all up close and feeling the energy just drip off the stage… the people watching on the lawn is awesome.  Not only that, you don’t have to put up with that being crushed feeling.  It’s also ideal when you’ve decided to take your child to a concert to sit on the lawn.  No, I didn’t take Gage.  Sisser did take her daughter to her first concert.  She even made her a t-shirt that says “I was born in 2005 and I love Poison.”  That little girl rocked out all night.  She was all smiles… dancing, singing along and jumping up and down in her excitement.

It was an awesome evening.

This past saturday, we did the Autism Speaks walk in the area.  It was fun, and we enjoyed it.  Our team (which consisted of myself, Gage, mom and Sisser) raised $320.  Gage got a t-shirt, so did mom and Sisser.  It was more important to me that Gage get one than I get one.  He wore his t-shirt to school today.  Gage actually walked about half of it, too.  Which made me very proud.  He handled the crowd pretty well as well.  I’d like to repeat that experience next year and in years to come.  Perhaps with a larger group next time.

They had information booths set up.  One that interested me the most was the Toys R Us booth.  They had a list of toys that are considered outstanding for kids with Autism.  On the top 10 list was 1 toy he already has (Kid K’Nex), 1 that I’ve been considering getting him (Candyland Castle) and a digital camera, which I know he loves… I just didn’t know was actually helpful to him in anyway.  Apparently trains (which he also loves) are also very good for certain skill development.  Good stuff to know.

They had guys from the 501st Legion at the walk.  It was exceptionally cool.  I got a picture with Boba Fett.  I know, I’m such a dork.  Gage was inspecting a storm trooper, I think he was trying to figure out how to dismantle the armor.  It cracked me up.

was hands down the best day of my life.  on that day, i gave birth to a beautiful and perfect baby boy.  he weighed 6 lbs and was 18 inches long.  now he weighs closer to 50 lbs and stands a little over 3 1/2 feet tall.  he’s still beautiful and he’s still perfect… and i love him more today than i did yesterday.  i couldn’t imagine my life without him, and i have a hard time remembering my life before him.

today was Gage’s 7th birthday.  my beautiful baby boy is getting so big.  i remember when he would sleep curled up in a space about 8 inches square on my chest/shoulder area.  now he’s getting close to my height.  on the very rare occasion that he curls up on me, he covers most of my torso with his head on my shoulder.  he’s such a wonderful little boy.  the light of my life and everyone who meets him just adores and falls in love with him. 

today he got a new Wii game (Endless Ocean) and a little star wars ship.  at his birthday party, he’ll get another star wars ship along with some figures, a ball, a sprinkler to play in during the summer and a few other little toys that i might pick up.  who knows what he’ll get from others, except that grammy and pop-pop are giving him a bike (w/ helmet and pads, of course).

Happy birthday, Baby Angel.

I’ve recently been turned onto the world of podcasts.  Something I’d heard of, but frankly never really got into.  To be honest, until a few weeks ago I didn’t know how to find, listen to or download one.  A friend mentioned one, said it was funny as hell and I searched them out.  It is indeed funny as hell.  I damn near pissed myself laughing.  They call themselves the Straitjacket Quartet.  I found them on podomatic.com but they are also on iTunes.  Apparently they’re also “coming soon, to the Zune.”  So definitely check them out for a good laugh.

Life is not bad.  Actually, it’s better than not bad.  I’ve been working out, which is awesome.  Not as much yet as I’d like to, but I’m building up stamina to do more frequent and longer workouts.  I’ve also taken the plunge back into the world of relationships.  Still terrified as hell, to be honest.  But so is he, so at least we’re on even ground there.  Taking our time and moving at our own pace, which is good.  He’s also a hockey fan.  Devils, actually.  Which makes for some amusing smack-talk.  He was not amused when he told me that one of his favorite retired players was Claude Lemieux and I responded with “Oh yeah, an AWESOME former Avs player!”  Yes, I know he also played for the Devils, but I pretended that didn’t happen… I’m such a shit.  But he apparently doesn’t mind that.

That’s right, I’m a bad girl.  I’ve dropped the ball on my playoff predictions and such.  At this point, I’d really like to see the Capitals go to the final.  And I’d like to see them go against anyone but the wings.  What?  Why are you laughing?  I’m an Avs fan… can’t be having the wings go to the final… that would be bad.  We don’t like when that happens.

So yeah, I haven’t been able to watch much playoff hockey.  That sucks.  But I have played the NHL 09 game on the Xbox 360 recently and REALLY enjoyed that.  It’s quite funny to see the player that is supposed to be me.  An aggressive, fighting defenseman who’s like 5′ 8″ or something with red dreadlocks (it was the closest thing to long hair the game offered).  It cracks me up everytime.  Gage is on the team, too.  I made him a nice tall grinder, who apparently scores a LOT of goals.  It’s awesome.  Xbox hockey is very interesting.  Lots of fun.

Spent 3 hours on the phone with CR tonight.  It was fun.  What’d we talk about?  All kinds of stuff.  I honestly can’t remember the last time I talked to someone that long on the phone.  My ear was starting to ache from the phone being pressed against it.  It’s all good.  Good conversations with good people are always awesome.  Part of me wants to pick up the phone and spend another 3 hours talking to him.  But that would be silly since everyone’s gotta work tomorrow and I really should be in bed right now.

In other news… can’t sleep, clown repellant only worked for so long, and that t-rex in the closet is STILL hungry after downing half of the clowns the other night.

Ok, some of the playoff matchups I picked on earlier have been decided so let’s see where we’re at thus far, shall we?  For your convenience, I’m re-posting my picks here so you don’t have to scroll, along with the turnout if the series has ended already.

San Jose v Anaheim — Sharks. (thus far they’re down 3-2… go Sharks)

Detroit v Columbus — Detroit. Won, 4-0.  No surprise.  I wish the outcome WAS a surprise.  Cause that would mean the Blue Jackets won.

Vancouver v St. Louis — Blues. Nope. Vancouver swept the series.  REALLY?  Yeah, really.

Chicago v Calgary — Flames.  (The Flames are actually trailing 3-2 in the series.  When did Chicago figure out playoff hockey?????)

Boston v Montreal — Montreal.  Nope.  Boston swept the series.

Washington v NY Rangers — Rangers.  (Series tied at 3…)

New Jersey v Carolina — New Jersey.  (Series tied at 3…)

Pittsburgh v Philadelphia — Philly.  (Nope, Pens won 4-2)

the who, why, what, when and how are unimportant.  Well, actually they are… but thats on a need to know basis.  Right now, you don’t need to know.  Maybe later.  But not at the moment.  Most important is the feeling.  And the feeling is good.  Hear that world?  I’m feeling good.  Damn good.  Me rikey this feeling.  I missed this feeling.  Ever get that giddy feeling that goes from your toes all the way up to the top of your head?  Where you feel like you’re going to dance through the next shift from hell giggling and making fun of the people that would normally piss you off, cause you just feel so good?  Where you’ve got butterflies and flip flops and all that fun but somewhat disconcerting crap going on in your tummy?  Yeah.  That feeling.  Me rikey.

Andrew (yep, same Andrew — who got yet ANOTHER blog mention, LOL) made one of the funniest menstrual euphemisms I’ve ever heard.  He was joking that he’d gone through the change and didn’t need pads anymore, and said something along the lines of “I figure I don’t need a raft for the river anymore.”  Even funnier is that the girl he was saying it to had no idea what he was talking about.

I saw one of my favorite customers today.  A sweet guy who’s been featured on the food network.  He does BBQ, and from what I understand, he’s one of the best.  Someday I’ll have to give his cooking a try.  He’s one of those customers that always manages to make me smile when he comes in.  I was so excited the first time he came through my line.  I remembered him from the show he was featured on, and I loved the episode.

Seriously people, get with the program.  We work there but we’re not your slaves, chained down to bow to your every whim.  I had a woman today push her cart around behind me so I could put her groceries in it while I bagged them.  She kept telling me “not too heavy, I can’t lift heavy things!” Ok, then why the 3-liter bottles of soda.  People tend to find those heavy.  Why all the fucking canned goods — also heavy.  And who said you didn’t have to lift a finger?  If she’s not putting the crap in the cart after I’ve bagged it, how does she know if I’m making them too heavy for her?  Add to that, she had someone help her to her car and load the groceriess for her.  So she won’t know if they’re too heavy until she gets home, and then it’s too late to complain.  Are you seriously that lazy?  SERIOUSLY????

Then I was put on UScan.  That’s my favorite.  I love watching the sheer number of people who either can’t count or can’t read.  It’s a sad statement on the education.  Can’t count to 20 or can’t deciper the words “20 items or less” I think my son could do that… and he’s only 6 and has Autism.  He just started reading.  But I bet he could figure that part of the equation out.  Then we move on to the fact that these people can’t seem to grasp that it’s the barcode, not the label that needs to be scanned.  You have any idea how many people I see at the UScan who are trying to scan the fucking label?  It cracks me up and they get pissy when I show them what they should be doing.

Then there was the customer who was taking bags off the bagging area and putting them into her cart to bag the groceries into.  She couldn’t figure out why it kept telling her to bag the item.  Here’s a newsflash… that “bagging area” is a SCALE it tells the attendant the weight of the items you’re putting into the bag alerts us if what you put in weighs more than it should and it TELLS THE COMPUTER THAT THE ITEM HAS BEEN BAGGED.  This is not rocket science people.  It’s grocery shopping.  When I explained it, she started putting the stuff she’d already bagged, the stuff I told the computer “Skip bagging” for ONTO the bagging area.  Yeah, it messed the system all up.  She bitched that next time she was just going to go through the line.  Well if you had half a brain this wouldn’t have taken so long.  Again, my son can do this.  He does it almost every time we go through the UScan.  He loves doing it.  Granted, he’s highly intelligent, but this is something a trained monkey can do.  Why can grown adults who presumably have a middle school education no figure this shit out?

I confess that I’ve been anti-relationship of late.  To be honest, I don’t know if I can do it again.  To put myself out there and be torn to shreds like I was just seems like the dumbest thing I could possibly do.  You know?  But then I find myself reconnecting with an old friend and really CONNECTING.  Something… I don’t know.  I remember years ago… eons ago… when we all hung out, there was this book.  We called it “The Universe Book.”  In which people from our group of friends (and a few enemies) were assigned roles in certain universes.  It started with the Animaniacs universe.  I was Yakko, Lan was Wakko and Mare was Dot… we actually had someone assigned to every single character in the show.  Even the Mime Time guy and Randy Beeman’s friend.  I don’t remember every universe we did, but I do recall a few significant ones…

In the Star Trek (original series) universe I was Uhura and the gentleman I’ve reconnected with (let’s call him CR for now) being assigned Scotty.  As far as I recall, we didn’t pick these characters for the most part.  It was decided on by Lan and Jay (who were mine and CR’s best friends at the time).  For those of you who don’t know, in the later movies it’s indicated/implied that these two have a romantic relationship.

In the Lion King Universe I was Timon and he was Pumbaa — best friends.

In the XMen Universe, I was Nightcrawler (ok, I INSISTED on that one) and he was Colossus — again, best friends.

In the Star Trek:TNG Universe, I was Troi and he was Riker, who were Imzadi.  I’m revealing my dorkiness by telling you that Imzadi is a Betazoid word (Troi was half Betazoid) which essentially means beloved.

Yeah, I noticed the trend back then and kept my mouth shut, but I always thought they were trying to push the two of us together.

Now I find myself thinking about this fear of entering into another relationship.  I don’t know that I can love like that again.  I damn near lost myself.  To be honest, I’m terrified.  And then I keep thinking about a song from Rent (the movie).  Another Day.  Particularly Mimi’s parts…

the heart may freeze
or it can burn
the pain will ease
if I can learn
there is no future
there is no past
i live this moment as my last

there’s only us
there’s only this
forget regret
or life is yours to miss
no other road
no other way
no day but today.

there’s only us
only tonight
we must let go
to know what’s right
no other course
no other way
no day but today

i can’t control
my destiny
i trust my soul
my only goal is just to be

there’s only now
there’s only here
give in to love
or live in fear
no other path
no other way
no day but today.

I’m not saying I’m in love or anything like that.  Honestly I don’t know that I have that kind of love to give anymore (which is a sad statement in itself).  But I find myself thinking of him randomly throughout the day.  I find myself missing him.  I find my stomach doing flip flops and the butterfly thing when I talk to him.  It’s all very strange to me.  I’ve spent a long time saying never again.  And now this connection.  The type I haven’t felt in a long time.  Very strange.  Very interesting.  But also very nice.

All sorts of stuff going on.  For starters, an old friend found me on myspace, which is always cool.  Even cooler is that he’s someone I always loved hanging out with though we didn’t hang as often as I would have liked.  He’s one of the funnest and funniest people you’ll ever meet.  Hung out with him yesterday and it was so much fun.  I truly had a blast, couldn’t eat much cause we were both laughing so much we were at risk of choking.  Good times.

Hi AnDREWWWWWW….  Just had to throw that in.

C and I have dropped the “with benefits” and he’s now got himself a girlfriend.  Which is truly awesome.  I was afraid he’d shut himself off from the idea of a relationship like I did, and I’m so glad he hasn’t.  It’s really not a happy thing to do.  We’re still gonna hang of course, cause we’re friends, and that’s also awesome.  Cause I really enjoy hanging out with him.

Got some of the old gang together the other day for a game of penny poker.  Everyone wins when everyone has a good time, so we all won.  It was an evening of hilarity that can only be produced by inside jokes and jokes that are WAAAAAY out there.  Definitely need to do that again.  Too much fun not to.  Maybe with a slightly larger group.  4 was fun, 6 would be even more fun.

FINALLY saw Dark Knight a couple of weeks ago.  “Why so serious?” is my new favorite phrase.  No, actually it’s “I’m gonna make this pencil disappear” THEN “Why so serious?”  I know, I’m crazy.  But it’s ok cause I’m bringing all of you along with me.

You still there Andrew?  Just checking.  LOL  Hope this is making work more entertaining.  Speaking of work…

WHAT THE FUCK?????  Seriously.  People just cannot seem to either read or count.  I haven’t decided which.  Again on UScan today and again with people bringing 40 and 50 items to the UScan.  Seriously?  You have to inconvenience everyone else, right?  You’re that special?  Fuck you.  You’re not special.  You’re just like everyone else, only a little dumber.  Even better, one woman goes through with like 50 items.  Instead of doing her coupons at the end of the transaction, she does them in groups.  3 times while scanning her items, she decides to take care of some coupons.  Seriously.  And all 3 times, I had to go over and help her.  Taking up time that could have been spent helping other customers, or tormenting Andrew (yes, the same Andrew) or one of the guys in produce.  THEN it comes time to pay.  At UScan you have several options… credit, debit, gift card, food stamps, even old fashioned CASH.  But you cannot write a CHECK at UScan.  Guess how she wanted to pay.  Yeah. So I had to suspend the transaction so she could pay at customer service.  I wanted to cancel her order and say “I’m sorry you can’t pay by check at the UScan, you’ll have to go to a regular register.”  But then I’d get fired.  Which would suck.  I’ll save that for when I win the lottery or something.

Ok, so my Avs didn’t make the playoffs… let’s face it, they didn’t even get close enough to smell playoff hockey down the block.  Last in the Conference and 3rd from last in the league.  I’m glad they’ve fired the manager… I hope that new management will fix whatever the problem was.

Anyhoo… the playoffs start soon and it’s time for my annual picking of the teams I think will move on to the second round.  Here goes:

San Jose v Anaheim — Sharks all the way.  I actually think the Sharks might win the conference, if not the cup, to be honest.

Detroit v Columbus — I’d love to pick Columbus, but the smart hockey fan in me says Detroit is going to win it, unless they lay down like they did against the Ducks a few years ago…

Vancouver v St. Louis — I’m gonna go with St. Louis on this one.  Why?  I don’t really know.  I like the Blues.

Chicago v Calgary — I gotta take Calgary here.

Boston v Montreal — Montreal.  Why?  Um, couldn’t tell ya.  Just what pops into my head when I think of a matchup between them.

Washington v NY Rangers — Rangers.  Though I’d love to see Theodore move to the 2nd round, my gut tells me Rangers.

New Jersey v Carolina — New Jersey.  They’re a better team.

Pittsburgh v Philadelphia — Philly.  They’re still ticked off over losing the conference last season, they’ve got something to prove.