randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

and have a cup of random.

Went to the zoo today.? It was fun but all that walking around made my feet hurt like hell.? And I get to work (on my feet) for the next 6 days.? I KNEW there was a good reason I wanted to just sit on my ass all day today… I’ll be surprised if I’m even able to walk by the end of the week.

The zoo WAS a good time, mostly.? Gage threw a couple of little fits.? He wanted to go into the gift shop, I wanted to wait till we were leaving.? Should have let him go in when we passed it… it was closed when we went back by (we didn’t realize that the zoo closes early on Sunday, DOH!).? Which lead to? another fit.? He just wanted a nice fluffy stuffed animal… but no.? Hopefully, sisser will go back in the next couple of days and get him a fluffy stuffy to cuddle.? Of all the animals we saw… the kids loved the Giant Otters the most.? The Otters were so funny to watch play in the water, and they responded to the kids standing by the glass of their enclosure.? It was really cute.

Haven’t seen Hot Russian Guy in about a month.? It sucks.? He’s such a nice guy, brightens my day when he comes in.? I’m hoping that he just went home for a visit and will be returning in the near future to start the next term at school.? He told one of my co-workers, that he’s got about 2 more years left.? So assuming that he’ll be staying at the same place, I should be seeing him again.? That would be good.? I’d love to see him outside of work, but since he’s apparently got a girlfriend… it’s probably good that I can’t see him outside of work.

I will admit that I HAVE been thinking that it would be nice to start dating again.? It would be nice to have occasional evenings out without children being involved.? It would be nice to have someone over the age of 8 to cuddle with.? And of course I wouldn’t mind some of the more adult activities that come along with dating someone.? Not that you really have to be dating to someone to do that, but personally I’d prefer it.?

I think that we should offer Alaska back to Russia free of charge, if they promise to take Sarah Palin with it… LOL

there’s something extremely appealing about Chef Eric Ripert.? Yes, I’m probably a nutbar for thinking so.? Maybe it’s the accent.? Maybe it’s that he’s such a highly regarded chef.? Or maybe he’s just hot.? I dunno, but extremely appealing.? Thank you.? Good night.

Some sad news… You may have seen him on Throwdown with Bobby Flay a few years ago, beating Flay at BBQ which is (by all accounts) something he was very good at.? Butch of Butch’s Smack Your Lips BBQ passed away recently.? Why am I mentioning it?? Well, he was one of my customers.? One of the nice ones.? Rain or shine, hail, sleet or snow, if he came in and was buying meat… there would be barbecue.? We talked everytime he came in during my shift.? He was one? HELL of a nice guy.? Gave me tips on BBQ and grilling in general when I asked and even asked about stuff I like to grill and said he might try some of the grilled veggie dishes I mentioned.? Nothing but smiles and hugs from the man, and it was really sad to hear that he’s gone.? My heart goes out to his family? and friends.? Such a vibrant person will be sorely missed, especially in the lives of those who knew him best.

I’d like to move on to the Mosque issue.? I rarely get political, because I really don’t care to deal with the shitstorm that tends to follow, but here goes.? Give it a fucking rest people.? First of all, I don’t care that there’s a Mosque being built near Ground Zero.? Yes, it was a tragic day in history and it still makes me sad that 9/11 happened.? But acting like a group of Muslims building a Mosque near Ground Zero is like kicking sand in our faces?? I call bullshit.? Seriously people?? So because they’re Muslim, they should be more respectful and build it farther away?? Ok, so does that mean that if a black man commits murder in Philadelphia then all the black people should pack up and move out of town to be more respectful of the family of the murdered party?? Newsflash, the majority of Muslims, ESPECIALLY the ones who live, raise their children and pay taxes in the United States DO NOT AGREE WITH THOSE WHO PERPETRATED? THE 9/11 ATTACKS.? Don’t you people have better things to do with your lives?? NO?? Ok, well then let’s move on to another important fact.? In the US, you have religious freedom.? That means that if there’s an available location to build your church, temple, mosque, cynogog, etc… and you have the means of securing that location for said use… TADA!? YOU CAN DO IT!? If you want to play the “you can practice your religion, but not here because of what happened here” game… well then we need to move an awful lot of christian churches that are down south.? It’s awfully insensitive to have them so close to the sites where white christian men did awful things to black christian men, women and children.? Get over yourselves people.

Only a couple of weeks left of summer, then it’s back to school time.? Gotta start taking my little out for some walks and stuff.? I’m thinking I wanna get him a decent digital camera so he can take pictures when we go out.? I think he’d have a lot of fun with that.? Also gotta get mom to show me where that fishing spot she keeps talking about is.? So I can take my little man fishing.? Gotta get that in before it gets so cold neither one of us wants to be messing with wet fish.

Work is work.? Which is why it’s not called vacation.? I could use another one of those.? That’d be good.? Keep? deciding to go? to culinary school… and then talking myself out of it.? Mainly it’s the idea of all those financial aid forms.? And finding classes that fit into my schedule while allowing me to still work some.? In the end, I think I’ll be going.? I want it too much.? Probably register to start in the spring.? My boss’ll be thrilled when I limit my hours even more than they already are.? LOL

kinda.

Went to an old friends house for a party today.? I haven’t seen him in at least 10 years, it’s been way too fucking long, cause he’s one of those people who always makes you feel good just by being around them.? He’s so funny and upbeat and full of life.? So we played in the pool a bit, then we played a little Rock Band, there was some food in there… and to finish the evening out, we all watched Hot Tub Time Machine… in the hot tub.? It was fun.? Kinda was a time machine, cause sitting there next to J, I felt like the girl I was in high school.? It was awesome.? Definitely MUST hang out with J more often.? Friends like him… yeah, that’s the good stuff.

that half of the comments that are awaiting moderation at any given time are spam… in Russian.? I’m just saying.

watching the news earlier, they did a feature on a website called rent a friend.? No, I’m not kidding.? And apparently the site is exactly that, a way for someone who wants to catch a movie or something to “rent” someone to go with them.? I HAD to check out the site.? They stress that it’s for strictly platonic engagements and that it’s not a dating or escort site.? I’m kinda floored by it.? I mean, I could see using it if you’re traveling on business or vacation to somewhere unfamiliar and want someone to show you around or something.? But if you’ve been living somewhere for a few years, surely you’ve got a friend, acquaintence or co-worker you can ask to accompany you to a movie.? The fees apparently start at $10 an hour… If I couldn’t find someone to go with me, I think I’d skip the rent a friend and go see two movies by myself instead of one with a complete stranger (who’s charging me to take them to a movie).? With the savings, I could treat myself to lunch or dinner afterward, too.

But then, there’s part of me that’s got a morbid curiosity… LOL

Started out with a run to Dunkin Donuts since my niece and nephew stayed over last night and that was their breakfast request.? That out of the way, there was some letter writing to a friend who is in desperate need of mail.? A nice 7 page letter finished up and ready to send out tomorrow is all kinds of groovy.

After watching a few hours of Shark Week, my son decided that we needed to go somewhere.? Dunno where he wanted to go, but he kept bringing me my clothes (I was lounging in PJ’s) and saying “car.”? So I thought, what the hell.? There’s a park nearby that has playground equipment, hiking trails and an area for fishing.? I asked him if he wanted to go fishing.? He was so happy he grabbed his rod and didn’t wait for me to get dressed before trying to head out the door.? We get to the park (after I got dressed, grabbed MY fishing? rod and my license), parked, checked out the map since I’d never been there before.? Apparently the fishing area is about 1/3 of a mile hike from the parking area, but it was through the woods and a nice day, so what the hell.? We get halfway there and there’s a little rumble.? Eh, it’ll probably be nothing.? We get to a fishing spot that’s so NOT a good place for fishing… you can’t get close to the shore, so the 10 or 15 feet of line that the “kiddie” fishing rods have didn’t even make it into the water.? And the area has so much tall grass, roots, fallen trees, rocks and branches that after I reeled in my first cast, I had to cut the line because it got so entangled I couldn’t get it out.? Then the sky opened up.? We had to walk back to the car in the rain, got nice and soaked.? We DID see a deer and a flock of turkey buzzards, which was kinda cool.? Since fishing didn’t work out, I got him McDonalds instead.? Nothing says I love you like a happy meal.

I might take him back to that park more often though.? Not for the fishing, but the walking through the woods.? Maybe he’ll get to see more wildlife, and it’ll be good exercise… for both of us.

After we got home, mom sent me out for KFC for the rest of us.? Watched Big Brother, watched some more Shark Week… and now I’m blogging and checking my email before heading off to bed.