Hillary Hates Hotel Lighting

"They took her down gracefully; let's put it that way," said Lenihan. (Link to CNN.)

These are the people in my neighborhood.

The goal of this exercise is to identify nine other bloggers that you would like to meet for dinner/drinks. The only caveat is that these bloggers must be strangers, you haven't met them before. State the blogger's name, a link to the blog, and why you would like him/her to be in attendance. Meme last seen at The Presurfer.

I'm up for a challenge this evening, and I think you'll be in for a treat. To mix things up a bit, I now present to you my invite list in reverse alphabetical order by blog name:

Mike from Yet Another Damn Blog - Full of dry humor and clever politics. Mike is my candidate for "most likely to be able to open the door to a conversation about religion without offending anyone seated at the table".

S from What's Brewin' Down Yonder? – S is my candidate for “most likely to have fresh jokes that can be repeated in ‘polite company’”. Though, as I’m thinking about this lineup, I doubt that the collective would be considered polite company.

Mopsa from Waitress Dreams - As a fellow clumsy lesbian, Mopsa is my candidate for "least likely to make me feel like an ass if I spill a little wine on the tablecloth".

LoriB from The Pilsbury Dough Dyke - Also local, and the friend of a friend, I'd invite Lori as my candidate to be "most likely to help keep the conversation moving". She has pulled together several very cool events for MutualFriends that I'm embarrassed to say I haven't attended. This "dinner" would be a good way to finally meet her.

Snowy from Snowshoe Crab - Imagine my surprise to learn that not only is Snowy local, she also has access to the innerworkings of a major meds manufacturer. She's my candidate for "most likely to discover the cure for Indianapolis winters".

Natalie from PickleJuice - Former slave to the association world, Natalie would definitely add flavor to the festivities. As she's currently minding the business of Mopsa, they would probably be able to form a carpool. Voted "most likely to make me spit out my wine in laughing fits".

HMS of Half Mad – A writer and former spinster, she is my candidate for “most likely to bring me back into the conversation when she realizes that I’ve been observing more than participating.”

Kim from Always the Abecedarian – Soon to be moving to the area with her partner, Kim probably wouldn’t show up. I believe they have some, ahem… “cuddling” to do. But maybe if I invite her too, you’d be able to meet my candidates for “most likely to put the spark back in Naptown".

And all that in just ten seats?! I wish I had more room. Maybe next time, I'll plan farther in advance and invite ten or twenty more.

I want a girl with a cup holder armrest...

Apparently I am too corporate for Michigan Womyn's Festival. My industry's conference is the same weekend. If work pays, I'd be stupid not to go.

So, l ladies and gentlemen... I believe that Seattle is the winner.
Just need to see if P is ready for solstice action.

P.S. - I'll dedicate a post to the first person correctly identifying the misquoted lyric in the title of this post.

Cast Your Vote

I'm considering the following for summertime festivities.
Pros and cons are listed below:

Fremont Fair
Pros:
A very cool way to spend solstice weekend.
Could be a dual trip to see P.
I've always wanted to go.
Indoor plumbing and AC.

Cons:
I'm not sure of P's schedule.
I'm not sure of my schedule.
I don't want to have a hangover on my birthday.
Is this too tame for my 30th?

Michigan Womyn's Music Festival
Pros:
Lots of like-minded women.
In drum circles. ;)
I've always wanted to go.
The idea of getting really really sunburned.

Cons:
I'm not too keen on the implications of the spelling.
Am I too "corporate"?
The idea of getting really really sunburned.
More expensive, up front.

Discuss.

Simple Friends and Real Friends

A simple friend identifies himself when he calls.
A real friend doesn't have to.

More at A Commonplace Book...

Brain Dump

The BIG SNOW has started. Let's see if it's really a big snow. I'm seriously doubting that it will be. The grocery store was packed last night after work with snow shoppers and a huge sale. Many of the shelves were empty, which I found slightly disturbing. No pastabake for me this weekend.

Going to a Planned Parenthood screening of Vera Drake tonight. Should be interesting. I didn't join Curves this week for the same reason I'm going to this event. Take a side trip to CurversforChoice.

What else? I may write about living with Barbie in college on another day. Shirles brought to mind a few really freaky stories that I'll share once I find the best way to, without incriminating anyone. Heh...

Nothing Says New Age Lesbian like...

A couple of years ago, Candy and I were out for dinner/drinks and our friendly server lady started chatting us up. As with most people, she mistook us for a couple. (Sidenote: This phenom sucks. Candy is a straight-but-not-narrow compassionate conservative.) Long story short, as we chatted, she pegged me as a "new age lesbian". Totally pegged me.

Anyway, long story short...
I want this. I really want this.
Really.

Confirming, of course, that I am a new age lesbian.
(With a big fat tax refund coming soon, so please don't let me forget about this.)

I'm a walking contradiction.

Within the past 24 hours I've:
1. Sent emails to my state's elected officials via the ACLU website asking them to put a stop to the Matrix. Check out this short video if your connection is relatively fast or if you're really bored.
2. Checked which links my org's president clicked on in the email newsletter I sent out this afternoon.

How much information is too much information?

Can you spot a fake smile?

I'm usually a decent judge of character, so I thought I'd ace this Spot the Fake Smile quiz from the BBC. Apparently, I am a decent judge of at least smiles. With 18 0f 20 correct, I'm satisfied that I can spot a fake. After all, one is a creepy older guy I would have avoided anyway. So, technically I'm only down one.

How did you do?

Deanie-babe is running in a new race.
Thanks for mentioning it Stan.
My heart was hurting a little too much to have noticed.

Hm...

I'm not entirely sure what to make of these.
I'm intrigued and somewhat disturbed.

Dirty Pretty Things

I took a mini-vacation yesterday. Yep, I left work one whole hour before our offically sanctioned closing time. This is different for me, as I typically work early and late. But, the time had come and now I'm in much better shape.

In honor of my mini-vacation, I took my own advice to baby sis on New Year's Eve and made a date with me.

I had a manicure at the mall, of all places.
I bought flowers for myself.
I bought some magazines at the local independent bookstore.
Took a nice long bath.
Called GM and caught up a little bit.

JL stopped by after he got off work early and we went through some of my craft stuff, looked through my junk drawer and messed with old ladies during the Fifteen Minute Ghetto. Good times.

I feel way better today than I have for quite some time now, in case anyone is taking score.

Hopefully I'll get around to writing about car movies someday soon. I've been holding onto this one for awhile.

Tuesdays

Tuesdays were once "be crazy go out in the middle of the week" nights. Then, they switched to "Candy has class, but I bet I can still get her to go out later" nights. Lately, they've been "go to Candy's with beverage and bitch about work nights". I believe they're about to become dreaded days, for all of the work reasons and none of the beverage reasons.

P.S. - JL once, when I was being particularly bitchy, made a comment that I was in "work mode". I've been in work mode all freaking day long.

With any luck at all, I'm going to take tomorrow afternoon off. With a twelve hour day behind me, I'm ready for an afternoon nap.

The good and bad of being somewhat femme.

Positive
Candy surprised me with gifts on Saturday. Being a relatively creative child, I was the recipient of many colorful art supply sets over the course of the years. The one multi-colored "set" that I never received was an eyeshadow kit. You know, one of the kits with eyeshadows in dozens of colors that no one in their right mind would wear. One of those. :) Now I just need an occasion.

Negative
In a move designed by a sitcom writer, I managed to ruin my favorite boots on Friday. Yes, the heel of my shoe broke off. I didn't really think that that happened. But, apparently it does.

And it was...

See, happy thoughts actually do work! I had a pretty okay day today, considering...

It's raining a very bizarre cold rain tonight, so I'm not going to be able to open my windows and enjoy the sound. Wah.

I hope JP's B-day went well. I got her a really cool (at least I thought so) writing set. Now everyone knows that she's equipped to write letters galore. Check your mailbox! I'm sure she is up late writing notes to YOU. :)

Also, elaborating a bit on the now-even-more-locally-famous-friend-Steph, you can read the article here. I haven't seen the hard copy yet, but I'm sure that it's just as lovely on recycled paper. I totally can't believe she hasn't seen the big peach yet. Have you? (I've never heard of Indiana being referred to as a sock, but hey! It works!)

Today sucked.
Tomorrow will be better.
After all, it's JP's bday + make Steph famous day.
Please send kind words their way.

Dream Diagnosis

Last night I had what was probably the most messed up dream that I've had for a long time. Some might even call it a nightmare. I dreamed that I was locked in a warehouse with some guy who was cutting off my toes with hedge trimmers.

He wasn't threatening, but I wasn't comfortable with him. He told me that he'd let me go home, if I came back the following day and let him cut off one of my feet. Pretty nice, eh?

So, I've been thinking about this in spurts for most of the day. What does this mean? Let's see, think I was anxious about going back to work?

Amputation
To dream that your limbs are amputated, signifies abandoned talents and serious, permanent loss. It indicates your feelings of frustration, powerlessness and helplessness. Sometimes amputation may also represent a situation that you have been ignoring and has finally reached a crisis point. In particular, to dream that your arms are amputated, suggests that you lack motivation. Dreaming that your legs are amputated suggests that you are limited in movements and where you want to go in life.

Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone is having a splendid new year!

I've met my resolution for 2004 (drink more wine) and have upped the ante this year with a moroe serious resolution. I am going to write a will of some sort. I already have a decent start, I think... As I don't own a house or have kiddies, I'm thinking that I can probably just pick up one of those splendid little DIY kits at Staples or somewhere and add in the things that I'll need.

In other news, my apartment is a wreck and I dread going back to work. I'm going to have to remove the pjs from my daywear rotation.